DL Open Thread: Saturday, May 18, 2024

‘All You Can Eat’ Yourself Right Into Bankruptcy.  ‘Endless shrimp’ to put an end to Red Lobster?:

Locations of Red Lobster all over the country have been closing down, with dozens shuttering their doors this week. The company is reportedly teetering on bankruptcy, and some analysts say the money the iconic chain lost on its “endless shrimp” deal — where diners unexpectedly gobbled up enough to put the company millions of dollars in the hole — was its death blow.

The company had been bitten in the past by an all-you-can-eat special gone awry. In 2003, it advertised a special on crab legs, and the resulting swarm lost the company so much money that it prompted the departure of then-CEO Edna Morris.

To paraphrase H. L. Mencken:  “Nobody ever went broke overestimating the rapacious gluttony of the American people.”:  Underestimating, though?:

Some are offering deals to lure them back in — such as Red Lobster’s endless shrimp, which turned out to be the miscalculation on top of the cherry. The company underestimated not just how much people would eat, it overestimated how much other business it would drive.

Shower Cap’s on-the-mark stream-of-consciousness is back!  We need Shower Cap. And perhaps beer fridges…an excerpt:

Yeah, lookit all the crooks and perverts that turned out to support n’ defend their favorite rapist! Crooks, perverts, and the Governor of North Dakota. Oh, and the dumbest man in the Senate. The veep wannabes travel in packs now, parroting talking points in their matching uniforms, looking like the parents of the evil a cappella team in a direct-to-video Pitch Perfect sequel.

Missouri Republican secretary of state candidate Valentina Gomez’s buzzy new “don’t be weak and gay” campaign slogan resurrects a phrase your humble blogger last heard on the lips of Brian Boyd, in the seventh grade, as he pushed me into the girl’s bathroom.

OK, two excerpts.  I know our readership, and I think you should be reading Shower Cap.

Dark Money Groups Are People, Too:

A dark money group with ties to Trump’s inner circle dropped more than $90m on ads described as vile, racist and transphobic in the second half of 2022 alone, new tax records obtained by Documented and the Guardian reveal. The staggering sum makes the newly created group, which is based out of the nerve center for the Maga movement, one of the top political spenders in the last election cycle, as it now appears to gear up to influence voters with violent, bigoted messaging in 2024.

The newly obtained tax records also reveal that Citizens for Sanity is housed at the headquarters of the Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI), a “nerve center for the right wing” and a key component of Maga political infrastructure. CPI is staffed with former Trump officials – including his twice–indicted chief of staff Mark Meadows and the lawyer Cleta Mitchell – and has launched several other projects, including America First Legal, the legal group created by Meadows and Trump’s anti-immigrant speechwriter Stephen Miller.

Citizens for Sanity’s staggering $93m in spending eclipsed that of its parent groups, surpassing even the combined total spent by CPI ($23m), and America First Legal ($35m). The funding totals hints at the sheer amount of money flowing through CPI’s growing Capitol Hill empire, as CPI and its allies work to promote an extreme political agenda and prepare for a second Trump term. It also is further evidence that attacks on equality and attacks on democracy are often coming from the same place.

If You Read Only One Bio Of A Right-Wing Media Nutjob Today, Make It This One.  Featuring more than a cameo from Delaware’s own Lauren Witzke!:

The company’s namesake, Stew Peters, is an internet personality whose eponymous show and associated social media posts have, in just the past two days alone, suggested immigrants are “retarded cannibals,” declared “Jewish Zionist infiltration in our government” is “our enemy,” and attacked “queer perverts” who he said needed to be “brought to heel” for creating “Weimar conditions” that “must be met with Weimar solutions.” Peters, who has amassed six figure followings on the social networks Gab and Telegram along with an audience of over eighty thousand on former President Trump’s “Truth Social” platform, has shared his stage with neo-Nazi leader Nick Fuentes. Yet Peters’ evident extremism, which has included airing blatantly antisemitic cartoon caricatures in the introduction to his broadcasts, has also not stopped him from drawing established Republicans as guests on his show, including Trump’s former White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), who has been credited with appearances in six episodes, and multiple current GOP congressional candidates.

While a blend of right wing politics and hate speech is a core part of Peters’ brand, COVID conspiracy theories are what provided him some of his strongest social media momentum. Specifically, Peters gained prominence with the 2022 documentary “Died Suddenly,” which focused on what the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation described as “the evidence-free claim that COVID vaccines are causing sudden deaths in people around the world.” Peters was among the producers of the approximately hour long movie. It mixed jump cuts and archival footage — including images of 9/11, the moon landing, and bigfoot — along with interviews and easily contradicted claims to argue the vaccines are part of a population control plot engineered by the “global elite.” “Died Suddenly” concludes with onscreen text urging viewers to “let us never forget what they have done.”

Peters took the time-honored career path from would-be white rapper to RWNJ media ‘celebrity’.  Here he is trying to sound ghetto.  That was before his transitional job as a bounty hunter in Minnesota. (Have I mentioned lately that satire is dead?)  Anyway, he’s now rappin’ lips deep in lawsuits..

Oh, Lauren Witzke?:

“Died Suddenly” was produced by Peters, filmmakers Matt Skow and Nicholas Stumphauzer, who directed the movie, Edward Szall, and Lauren Witzke.

OK, I’m gonna totally breach fair use here because, well, I just can’t resist:

“Died Suddenly” wasn’t the only product of the partnership between Peters, Witzke, and Szall that, according to court documents, began in October 2021. Since then, the pair also worked with Peters on the documentary “These Little Ones,” which focused on a narrative about “elite pedophilia” with echoes of the pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy theory. They also produced two movies under the “Watch The Water” banner that were credited with originating a conspiracy theory that COVID was caused by snake venom in drinking water. Two other videos made through the partnership suggest world leaders and scientists are involved in a Satanic plot and that Americans are being enslaved by taxes, narratives that are more extreme versions of the concerns about globalists and elites that hint at antisemitic tropes and have increasingly become part of the Republican playbook. Along with producing these documentaries, Witzke and Szall also hosted their own biweekly broadcast, “Crosstalk News” on Peters’ network.

I’ve only scratched the surface.  Read. It’s healthy for you.

Stop writing.  It’s healthy for me.