• Rod Blagojevich sounds alarm on the indictment of former President Trum

    From JGibson@21:1/5 to All on Tue Apr 4 12:30:20 2023
    Yes, actual headline on FoxNews.com

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  • From michael anderson@21:1/5 to JGibson on Tue Apr 4 14:23:55 2023
    On Tuesday, April 4, 2023 at 2:30:22 PM UTC-5, JGibson wrote:
    Yes, actual headline on FoxNews.com

    People can make fun of rod all they want and sure he is a huge douche(but arent most all of them on both sides?), but on the matter of that senate seat he was *exactly right*. That thing was worth a shit ton of money given the term left and how it would
    give someone possible advantage for the next race, and neither he nor anyone else was going to just give it away for nothing. Unfortunately thats just the way are system works.

    Now he got caught, but that doesnt make his statement any less true.....

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  • From xyzzy@21:1/5 to JGibson on Tue Apr 4 21:24:41 2023
    JGibson <james.m.gibson@gmail.com> wrote:
    Yes, actual headline on FoxNews.com


    I have a recent story about Blago.

    My wife’s close cousin was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer last
    summer. We saw her over Thanksgiving, she looked good, morale was good, she
    was the life of the party as usual except she was bald and couldn’t eat
    much due to Chemo.

    Anyway in December she took a turn for the worse. She and my wife grew up together in a small Illinois farm town and are both lifelong Democrats and
    also civil servants (cousin for the state of Iowa). We decided to do
    something fun for her and my wife logged onto Cameo and it turns out you
    can buy a personal video from Blago for like $125. We thought that would be
    a fun thing and thought he had a sense of humor (since he had tried to do
    that reality show) and in the request my wife wrote that he’s doing it for someone fighting cancer who is a lifelong IL Dem and she would appreciate
    some political humor from a political celebrity like him.

    Well the video he provided was so awful we never showed it to the cousin.
    All he did was talk about how himself: how his conviction was unfair and
    thank God Trump saved him from prison, God this, God that, be faithful and
    God will heal you (totally wrong thing to say to a terminal patient) and
    what a great governor he’d been and how much he’d done for everyone. Totally embarrassing and a waste of the $120, instructions completely
    ignored. Yet another way Blago was a disappointment I guess.

    And yeah the cousin died three weeks later, just after the New Year. :(. 50 years old.

    --
    “I usually skip over your posts because of your disguistng, contrarian, liberal personality.” — Altie

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  • From RoddyMcCorley@21:1/5 to JGibson on Tue Apr 4 20:49:37 2023
    On 4/4/2023 3:30 PM, JGibson wrote:
    Yes, actual headline on FoxNews.com

    Is it true that he is engaged to George Santos?
    --
    "In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In
    practice, there is." Ruben Goldberg

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  • From michael anderson@21:1/5 to xyzzy on Tue Apr 4 18:46:23 2023
    On Tuesday, April 4, 2023 at 4:24:46 PM UTC-5, xyzzy wrote:
    JGibson <james.m...@gmail.com> wrote:
    Yes, actual headline on FoxNews.com

    I have a recent story about Blago.

    My wife’s close cousin was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer last summer. We saw her over Thanksgiving, she looked good, morale was good, she was the life of the party as usual except she was bald and couldn’t eat much due to Chemo.

    Anyway in December she took a turn for the worse. She and my wife grew up together in a small Illinois farm town and are both lifelong Democrats and also civil servants (cousin for the state of Iowa). We decided to do something fun for her and my wife logged onto Cameo and it turns out you
    can buy a personal video from Blago for like $125.

    I don't understand the appeal of paying a celebrity a couple hundred bucks to read a statement for someone......I just don't. You know they are just reading something quick for a quick buck. they know it. You write it for them. I just don't see the
    appeal....

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  • From Michael Falkner@21:1/5 to JGibson on Tue Apr 4 18:46:05 2023
    On Tuesday, April 4, 2023 at 12:30:22 PM UTC-7, JGibson wrote:
    Yes, actual headline on FoxNews.com

    This was probably an all-in moment for America on both sides of the aisle.

    The 2024 Presidential campaign, and the entire future of this country, will be contested in that courtroom.

    The losing political party from this will get outlawed if Trump walks, and very well might get outlawed if he's found guilty.

    Mike

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  • From Michael Falkner@21:1/5 to michael anderson on Tue Apr 4 22:11:34 2023
    On Tuesday, April 4, 2023 at 6:46:25 PM UTC-7, michael anderson wrote:

    I don't understand the appeal of paying a celebrity a couple hundred bucks to read a statement for someone......I just don't. You know they are just reading something quick for a quick buck. they know it. You write it for them. I just don't see the
    appeal....

    Depends on the circumstances. If it's someone the recipient admires, looks up to, and needs inspiration from to carry on, I can definitely see the appeal.

    Mike

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  • From michael anderson@21:1/5 to Michael Falkner on Wed Apr 5 09:16:40 2023
    On Wednesday, April 5, 2023 at 12:11:36 AM UTC-5, Michael Falkner wrote:
    On Tuesday, April 4, 2023 at 6:46:25 PM UTC-7, michael anderson wrote:

    I don't understand the appeal of paying a celebrity a couple hundred bucks to read a statement for someone......I just don't. You know they are just reading something quick for a quick buck. they know it. You write it for them. I just don't see the
    appeal....
    Depends on the circumstances. If it's someone the recipient admires, looks up to, and needs inspiration from to carry on, I can definitely see the appeal.

    Mike

    but you would know they are just reading a statement someone wrote for them for a few hundred bucks.......given that it means nothing to the person the recipient admires almost by definition and the recipient and reader know that, thats why it makes no
    sense.

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  • From xyzzy@21:1/5 to michael anderson on Wed Apr 5 18:23:39 2023
    michael anderson <mianderson79@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Wednesday, April 5, 2023 at 12:11:36 AM UTC-5, Michael Falkner wrote:
    On Tuesday, April 4, 2023 at 6:46:25 PM UTC-7, michael anderson wrote:

    I don't understand the appeal of paying a celebrity a couple hundred
    bucks to read a statement for someone......I just don't. You know they
    are just reading something quick for a quick buck. they know it. You
    write it for them. I just don't see the appeal....
    Depends on the circumstances. If it's someone the recipient admires,
    looks up to, and needs inspiration from to carry on, I can definitely see the appeal.

    Mike

    but you would know they are just reading a statement someone wrote for
    them for a few hundred bucks.......given that it means nothing to the
    person the recipient admires almost by definition and the recipient and reader know that, thats why it makes no sense.

    It shows that the person who ordered and paid for it cares about the
    recipient and wanted to give her a lift. If Blago had 10% of the sense of
    humor we thought he did, it would have given her a chuckle in a dark time.

    I’m suspect those flowers in the bouquet sent to the hospital don’t personally care about the recipient either, but it’s still a thoughtful
    gift that shows that someone cares and went to the trouble. Similar
    concept.

    --
    “I usually skip over your posts because of your disguistng, contrarian, liberal personality.” — Altie

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  • From michael anderson@21:1/5 to xyzzy on Wed Apr 5 13:18:15 2023
    On Wednesday, April 5, 2023 at 1:23:43 PM UTC-5, xyzzy wrote:
    michael anderson <miande...@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Wednesday, April 5, 2023 at 12:11:36 AM UTC-5, Michael Falkner wrote:
    On Tuesday, April 4, 2023 at 6:46:25 PM UTC-7, michael anderson wrote: >>
    I don't understand the appeal of paying a celebrity a couple hundred
    bucks to read a statement for someone......I just don't. You know they >>> are just reading something quick for a quick buck. they know it. You
    write it for them. I just don't see the appeal....
    Depends on the circumstances. If it's someone the recipient admires,
    looks up to, and needs inspiration from to carry on, I can definitely see the appeal.

    Mike

    but you would know they are just reading a statement someone wrote for them for a few hundred bucks.......given that it means nothing to the person the recipient admires almost by definition and the recipient and reader know that, thats why it makes no sense.
    It shows that the person who ordered and paid for it cares about the recipient and wanted to give her a lift. If Blago had 10% of the sense of humor we thought he did, it would have given her a chuckle in a dark time.

    I’m suspect those flowers in the bouquet sent to the hospital don’t personally care about the recipient either, but it’s still a thoughtful gift that shows that someone cares and went to the trouble. Similar
    concept.

    flowers are aesthetically pleasing though; thats the major difference.

    The thing about this blago thing though is that it appeared he did more than 99.9% of these paid for read messages though- he put his own spin on it and
    went off script a bit. It doesn't sound like you approved/liked what he had to say, but I've actually never heard of one of the celebrity readers taking the time to do such a thing. In all cases
    they just read whatever is on the card(even to the point that sometimes people try to prank them and get them to say something innapropriate, and it often works because
    they are just mindlessly reading whatever is written to the point that they can't even pick up if it is just a prank to embarrass them)

    So I guess my point is I don't think your expectations were really reasonable(to expect Blago to 'be funny' spontaneously during the reading) given the nature of these things. It's just
    not the standard for how those things work. But what do I know as I'm actually surprised he didn't just read straight off the card and instead took the time to do some ranting
    off script.....maybe he doesn't get a lot of those(probably not right?) and thus figured he would put his own twist on it.



    --
    “I usually skip over your posts because of your disguistng, contrarian, liberal personality.” — Altie

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From xyzzy@21:1/5 to michael anderson on Thu Apr 6 00:18:08 2023
    michael anderson <mianderson79@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Wednesday, April 5, 2023 at 1:23:43 PM UTC-5, xyzzy wrote:
    michael anderson <miande...@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Wednesday, April 5, 2023 at 12:11:36 AM UTC-5, Michael Falkner wrote: >>>> On Tuesday, April 4, 2023 at 6:46:25 PM UTC-7, michael anderson wrote: >>>>
    I don't understand the appeal of paying a celebrity a couple hundred >>>>> bucks to read a statement for someone......I just don't. You know they >>>>> are just reading something quick for a quick buck. they know it. You >>>>> write it for them. I just don't see the appeal....
    Depends on the circumstances. If it's someone the recipient admires,
    looks up to, and needs inspiration from to carry on, I can definitely see the appeal.

    Mike

    but you would know they are just reading a statement someone wrote for
    them for a few hundred bucks.......given that it means nothing to the
    person the recipient admires almost by definition and the recipient and
    reader know that, thats why it makes no sense.
    It shows that the person who ordered and paid for it cares about the
    recipient and wanted to give her a lift. If Blago had 10% of the sense of
    humor we thought he did, it would have given her a chuckle in a dark time. >>
    I’m suspect those flowers in the bouquet sent to the hospital don’t
    personally care about the recipient either, but it’s still a thoughtful
    gift that shows that someone cares and went to the trouble. Similar
    concept.

    flowers are aesthetically pleasing though; thats the major difference.

    The thing about this blago thing though is that it appeared he did more
    than 99.9% of these paid for read messages though- he put his own spin on it and
    went off script a bit. It doesn't sound like you approved/liked what he
    had to say, but I've actually never heard of one of the celebrity readers taking the time to do such a thing. In all cases
    they just read whatever is on the card(even to the point that sometimes people try to prank them and get them to say something innapropriate, and
    it often works because
    they are just mindlessly reading whatever is written to the point that
    they can't even pick up if it is just a prank to embarrass them)

    So I guess my point is I don't think your expectations were really reasonable(to expect Blago to 'be funny' spontaneously during the
    reading) given the nature of these things. It's just
    not the standard for how those things work. But what do I know as I'm actually surprised he didn't just read straight off the card and instead
    took the time to do some ranting
    off script.....maybe he doesn't get a lot of those(probably not right?)
    and thus figured he would put his own twist on it.

    It doesn’t work that way. You don’t give them a script. You get something like 250 characters to tell them what you want and they compose it. You can
    pay more to have more characters to be more specific but you do not give
    them a script. That’s the whole point of Cameo, it’s in their own words. Now they might have a general outline and some standard phrases they use,
    I’m not expecting him to compose a masterpiece for $125, but part of the appeal is it’s his own words.

    I also just remembered one reason she tried Cameo. It was right after the election and the Fetterman campaign had bought a Cameo from Snooki from
    Jersey Shore to needle Oz for really being from New Jersey. It was pretty
    good and my wife thought “something like that for my cousin would give her
    a chuckle”. Here’s the Snooki Cameo if you haven’t seen it:

    https://youtu.be/ZfbnknWE7Ug

    --
    “I usually skip over your posts because of your disguistng, contrarian, liberal personality.” — Altie

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From michael anderson@21:1/5 to xyzzy on Wed Apr 5 18:52:31 2023
    On Wednesday, April 5, 2023 at 7:18:15 PM UTC-5, xyzzy wrote:
    michael anderson <miande...@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Wednesday, April 5, 2023 at 1:23:43 PM UTC-5, xyzzy wrote:
    michael anderson <miande...@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Wednesday, April 5, 2023 at 12:11:36 AM UTC-5, Michael Falkner wrote:
    On Tuesday, April 4, 2023 at 6:46:25 PM UTC-7, michael anderson wrote:

    I don't understand the appeal of paying a celebrity a couple hundred >>>>> bucks to read a statement for someone......I just don't. You know they >>>>> are just reading something quick for a quick buck. they know it. You >>>>> write it for them. I just don't see the appeal....
    Depends on the circumstances. If it's someone the recipient admires, >>>> looks up to, and needs inspiration from to carry on, I can definitely see the appeal.

    Mike

    but you would know they are just reading a statement someone wrote for >>> them for a few hundred bucks.......given that it means nothing to the >>> person the recipient admires almost by definition and the recipient and >>> reader know that, thats why it makes no sense.
    It shows that the person who ordered and paid for it cares about the
    recipient and wanted to give her a lift. If Blago had 10% of the sense of >> humor we thought he did, it would have given her a chuckle in a dark time.

    I’m suspect those flowers in the bouquet sent to the hospital don’t >> personally care about the recipient either, but it’s still a thoughtful >> gift that shows that someone cares and went to the trouble. Similar
    concept.

    flowers are aesthetically pleasing though; thats the major difference.

    The thing about this blago thing though is that it appeared he did more than 99.9% of these paid for read messages though- he put his own spin on it and
    went off script a bit. It doesn't sound like you approved/liked what he had to say, but I've actually never heard of one of the celebrity readers taking the time to do such a thing. In all cases
    they just read whatever is on the card(even to the point that sometimes people try to prank them and get them to say something innapropriate, and it often works because
    they are just mindlessly reading whatever is written to the point that they can't even pick up if it is just a prank to embarrass them)

    So I guess my point is I don't think your expectations were really reasonable(to expect Blago to 'be funny' spontaneously during the
    reading) given the nature of these things. It's just
    not the standard for how those things work. But what do I know as I'm actually surprised he didn't just read straight off the card and instead took the time to do some ranting
    off script.....maybe he doesn't get a lot of those(probably not right?) and thus figured he would put his own twist on it.
    It doesn’t work that way. You don’t give them a script. You get something
    like 250 characters to tell them what you want and they compose it. You can pay more to have more characters to be more specific but you do not give them a script. That’s the whole point of Cameo, it’s in their own words. Now they might have a general outline and some standard phrases they use, I’m not expecting him to compose a masterpiece for $125, but part of the appeal is it’s his own words.

    I also just remembered one reason she tried Cameo. It was right after the election and the Fetterman campaign had bought a Cameo from Snooki from Jersey Shore to needle Oz for really being from New Jersey. It was pretty good and my wife thought “something like that for my cousin would give her a chuckle”. Here’s the Snooki Cameo if you haven’t seen it:

    https://youtu.be/ZfbnknWE7Ug

    Hmmm I guess there are different similar services as I remember reading about one where they were writing specific statements/scripts to catch the celebrity in a gotcha moment.

    --
    “I usually skip over your posts because of your disguistng, contrarian, liberal personality.” — Altie

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)