Cedric's Big Mix: 2023-01-29

Sunday, January 29, 2023

Joe and Antony, the Lucy and Ethel of National Security

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX & THOMAS FRIEDMAN IS A GREAT MAN & ANN'S MEGA DUB -- THE KOOL AID TABLE

CBS NEWS LOVES THEM SOME PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN. WHICH IS WHY THEY MAKE PART OF THE HEADLINE ABOUT HIS LATEST TOP SECRET DOCUMENT SCANDALS THAT "JOB APPROVAL REMAINS UNCHANGED." DON'T THEY MEAN THAT IT REMAINS LOW?

ONLY 44% OF THE PUBLIC APPROVES OF THE JOB JOE'S DOING. 56% DISPROVE. YOU'D THINK THAT WOULD BE A HEADLINE, RIGHT?

REACHED FOR COMMENT, JOE EXPLAINED, "ME AND CBS ARE TIGHT. I AM THEIR KEY DEMO. I WATCH ALL THEIR SHOWS AND BUY THE DEPENDS AND DENTURE CREAM THAT THEIR SPONSORS ADVERTISE. LET ME TELL YOU A LITTLE STORY. BEEN A LIFELONG CBS VIEWER. AND IT'S HOW I GOT THE IDEA TO TAKE TOP SECRET DOCUMENTS OUT OF THE WHITE HOUSE TO BEGIN WITH. THERE I WAS MAY 7, 1956, 13 Y3ARS OLD, IN FRONT OF THE TV WATCHING 'I LOVE LUCY.' MAN, VIVIAN VANCE WAS SO HOT. SO LUCY AND RICKY WERE FINISHING THEIR WHIRLWIND TRIP OF EUROPE AND COMING BACK HOME. AND LUCY? SHE'S GOT 25 POUNDS OF CHEESE SHE WANTS TO TAKE HOME TO HER MOM. RICKY SAYS IT'LL COST LIKE $50 BUCKS SO NO WAY AND THAT WAS BACK WHEN WE HAD REAL PRESIDENTS WHO CARED ABOUT THE ECONOMY SO FIFTY BUCKS WAS A LOT OF MONEY. WHERE WAS I? OH, YEAH. LUCY DECIDES TO SNEAK THE CHEESE ONTO THE PLANE WRAPPED IN A BLANKET AND PRETENDING IT'S A BABY. SO THAT'S WHAT I DID. WELL ME AND ANTONY BLINKEN COZ HE'S THE ETHEL TO MY LUCY. MAN, ANTONY BLINKEN IS SO HOT. SO I WRAPPED THE TOP SECRET DOCUMENTS UP IN A BLANKET WHILE ANTONY PUT ON A WRAP DRESS -- REMEMBER, HE WAS THE ETHEL TO MY LUCY -- AND THEN WE HOT FOOTED IT OUT OF THE WHITE HOUSE BUT WERE STOPPED RIGHT OUTSIDE THE ENTRY BY THEN-SECRETARY OF DEFENSE BOB GATES WHO ASKED, 'IF THAT'S A BABY, WHERE'S THE BOTTLE?' JUST LIKE LUCY IN THAT EPISODE, I FORGOT THE BOTTLE! BUT JOE BIDEN IS KNOWN FOR THINKING ON HIS FEET AND SO I TOLD BOB GATES, 'WE DON'T USE THE BOTTLE. HE'S BREAST FED.' AND I POPPED OPEN THE BUTTONS ON MY SHIRT AND HELD THE BLANKET UP TO THE LEFT NIP' AND THEN WE WERE OUT OF THERE!"

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

Starting in the US, SLATE explores the hate merchants in their latest HANG UP AND LISTEN episode entitled "NBC's Tony Dungy Problem." (Dungy segment starts 26 minutes and 20 seconds in.)

Tom Lawrence (SOUTH DAKOTA STANDARD) explains:

Of course, Dungy is far from alone in spewing hateful and ignorant comments about gay people. Reggie White, the great defensive tackle who was known as the “Minister of Defense” because he was an ordained pastor, repeatedly said inaccurate and offensive things about gay people.

It’s part of the culture in sports, where gay-bashing and homophobic comments and actions have long been allowed, even celebrated. Dungy was supposedly better than the run-of-the-mill athlete, but that has proven not to be the case.

Last week, he repeated an absurd claim that some schools were placing litter boxes in bathrooms for the use of students. A Minnesota legislator advocated for placing menstrual products in boys’ bathrooms.

“That’s nothing,” Dungy tweeted Wednesday morning. “Some school districts are putting litter boxes in the school bathrooms for students who identify as cats. Very important to address every student’s needs.”

That’s a tired and easily refuted claim that right-wingers have been making for a couple years now. But Dungy, who always prepared so well as a coach, recycled this idiotic claim without bothering to check it out.

Why? Because it meshed with his hateful view of some people who don’t meet with his approval, even children who can be harmed by such hateful rhetoric.

A poll conducted of LGBTQ youth in November said 45% of transgender and nonbinary youth said they’d been cyberbullied or harassed online because of increased anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and policies, and 24% said they’d been bullied at school.

It is so bad that almost 30% said they did not feel safe going to a doctor if they’re sick or injured.

Words matter. They cause serious pain. The Trevor Project’s 2022 survey on mental health reported that nearly half of all LGBTQ young people, including no binary youths, considered suicide in the last year.

That’s why Dungy’s words and attitude matter. He is entitled to his beliefs, but he needs to expect the response. There was considerable outcry, and Dungy deleted the tweet and, under pressure, issued a statement expressing regret for his hateful and ignorant remark.

Andrew Lawrence (GUARDIAN) offers:

But somewhere along the way, something in Dungy snapped. After his oldest son, James, took his own life in 2005, the coach went from speaking at conferences for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes to fundraising for a think tank that opposes same-sex marriage. When Michael Sam, pro football’s first out gay player, was drafted by the St Louis Rams in 2014, Dungy said he wouldn’t have wanted the University of Missouri linebacker on his team because of his sexual orientation and the potential distractions it might bring. Mind you, this is the same paragon of gridiron virtue who argued for Michael Vick to be rehired after the Pro Bowl quarterback was federally imprisoned for running a dog fighting ring; Dungy also said he’d welcome Ray Rice back into an NFL locker room after the Pro Bowl tailback was banished from the league for KO’ing his girlfriend.

All the while Dungy rates among the NFL’s worst television analysts, providing the least insight in the most monotone delivery. Only he could make the last minutes of Jacksonville’s wildcard comeback against Los Angeles about as thrilling as Ben Stein’s roll call in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. (Not even the great Al Michaels, clearly beaten down from announcing too many Thursday night games, could inject any more life into the broadcast.)

The low energy alone would be reason enough for NBC to at least bench Dungy. But he remains a prominent part of the network’s NFL coverage and figures to remain so next season. Sticking by dodgy NFL analysts is a routine play for NBC. Lead announcer Mike Tirico has a graveyard of sexual allegations from his ESPN days, and so does fantasy man Matthew Berry; Michele Tafoya, NBC’s longtime NFL reporter, made a full heel turn to anti-woke punditry after retiring from the sideline. It’s hardly a shock that Dung – a rich, platformed member of the jockocracy–would espouse conservative Christian ideology, or that he’d be tempted to draw sports analogies in his rhetoric. But as long as Dungy has the NFL for a bully pulpit, he’s no less polarizing a football man than Rush Limbaugh was during his brief ESPN stay. Dungy can speak his mind all he wants; you won’t read me telling him to stick to sports. But the NFL might want to think about finding a new human shield. This one’s lost his integrity.

The hate brigade is emerging to try to spread hate further.

Let's note one because I left a Tweet response.

I have never been anything but nice to Antonio Sabato Jr. I've never agreed with his politics -- but online and off, I have been nothing but nice to him. What he just did was one of the most offensive things you can do in my world. It's why I've ragged on Ann Wilson, who I like (most recently for the prig attitude regarding a song she sang that fans made a hit an that she wants to now act like she's better than). I do not tell people who to vote for. I do not use, in my offline life, I do not misuse or dishonor my fan base. I'm very aware that I have what I have because of them. That's why, though I love Ann to tears, it pisses me off when she starts doing things that are insulting your fan base.

Antonio? It wasn't women propelling his rise years ago. It was men. Men responding to his body and his beauty. Without gay (and bi) men, he'd have nothing today in the way of fame. And now he wants to support a homophobe?

Those were photos aimed at a gay audience and don't kid, I know the person over the campaign. And it's why they selected the publications those ads ran in. (And the original creator of the ads knew Antonio's appeal vanished the moment he 'thickened' -- and he was right.)

Antonio has spit on the people who gave him a national name, who gave him support and who were fans despite his meager talents.

He should be ashamed of himself. Again, in my world you do not betray your fan base. You respect them and you thank them. Junior decided to spit on whatever is left of his dwindling fan base.

At OUTSPORTS, Ken Schultz weighs in on Dungy's hate and notes, "In every one of these instances, the only agenda we’re pushing for is for the ability to enjoy sports without that sense of self-loathing weighing us down. And if you interpret our basic human need to belong as an attack on your faith, that says everything we need to know your religious beliefs."

Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "THE PEW stinks...

I'm not addicted to either/or