Category: Journalism

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O’Beto

And now. Just in time for St. Patty’s Day. Enter Robert Francis (Beto) O’Rourke. Complete with daddy Patrick Francis issues. A mixed bag background. Lots of oversharing and youthful hijinks. Never quite made a go of small business ventures, yet his mother did. He inherited some wealth from her. Also. Daddy-in-law issues.

Vanity Fair article worth the read.

Born to run? Shades of Obama. Generational newcomer could break through. The darling of the donor class who rail against Trump’s dishonesty yet cheat to get their kids into good schools. So. We’ll see.

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The Last Journalists

Jill Abramson, former Executive Editor of the New York Times, has squandered her opportunity to tell the truth about the lack of objectivity in the current news business. The fact that she is charged with plagarism takes her valid insights off the track.

However, Lara Logan who still has a lot to lose, had the courage to speak out about modern reporting. Bias. Agendas. Scripted narratives. Editing stories to fit the prejudice and slant. It matters not to her whether it’s to the right or the left. It is rare to find anyone in so-called journalism circles brave enough to risk their careers.

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2018

Good

Theater- The Lifespan of A Fact
Daniel Radcliffe, Cherry Jones, Bobby Cannavale

World Cup Soccer
Parkland Students Rally America against guns

Dolphin jumping out of the sea in Amagansett

 

Bad & Ugly

Petulant Adolescent President
Kavanaugh confirmation hearing
Emojis
Toxic Misandry

Sad   Art Bell
Tragic   Anthony Bourdain

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Leftover Libs

What to do with all those leftovers? Boomer libs, that is. NYT columnist David Brooks contemplates the dilemma of the traditional liberal, now a relic at Thanksgiving dinner. College kids embrace anarchical progressivism, tilting at socialist ideals. Trumpian types are unrecognizable to the Ivy League alums as even those country club Repubs. Nothing seems familiar anymore. The old school lefties earned their way up the academic and jounalistic ladders. They got the top jobs. Yet. Today feel weak and beleaguered in the wake of a new wave.

Neither red. Nor blue.

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Divide & Profit

In Alexandra Pelosi, The Speaker’s daughter, I find a kindred voice. Her travels around “real America” revealed a country very different than the one portrayed on cable news everyday. Pelosi’s documentary Outside the Bubble is on HBO.

“If I hear the term ‘blue wave’ one more time, I am going to personally walk up to MSNBC and punch someone in the face,” she joked, in the HBO cafe overlooking the New York Public Library. “Yes, there’s a blue wave coming out of Manhattan and Los Angeles, where people are sitting home knitting their vagina hats. There’s no blue wave in Alabama. There’s no blue wave in Ohio.

If bridging today’s partisan chasm seems an Augean endeavor, Ms. Pelosi believes cable news is to blame. “There’s too much profit being made right now on the divide,” she said. “How many people in those cable news studios ever really go spend the night in America, not just in the Four Seasons in wherever Trump is at the moment, but I mean really go to somebody’s house, have dinner and talk to them?”  – New York Times, October 24, 2018

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Stepford Think

The Stepford Wives. A fictitious clan of suburban women who were somehow transformed into robotic subservient mates. Kind of a modern Handmaid’s Tale. Programmed to obey their masters. Men. Who made them do things in lock-step as a group. Sound familiar? It’s what Democrat feminists expect. Obsequious sycophants who vote and march as their proprietary parade.

Susan Chira’s analysis pointed out the irony and hypocrisy of this political movement in her NYTimes article, Women Don’t Think Alike. Why Do We Think They Do?

An excellent question.

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Trump & His Jesters

New York Magazine’s Olivia Nuzzi was heading out of the White House to the North Gate when she got a call on her cell phone. She didn’t recognize the number, but answered. It was Sarah Huckabee Sanders asking Olivia to come back. Trump had heard that Nuzzi was poised to write a hit piece about chaos in the administration. She was especially going to focus on rumors that he was ready to replace Chief of Staff John Kelly with Nick Ayers.

What ensued was an Oval Office farce. As Nuzzi sat opposite Trump at his Resolute Desk, a parade came through the door behind her. John Kelly. Mike Pence. Pence’s pawn Nick Ayers. Mike Pompeo. They were purportedly there for a pre-ordained “lunch” meeting. Yet sat on the couch as Trump regaled Olivia with his greatness and then solicited their allegiance.

Surprising? No. But Nuzzi writes a brilliantly revealing funny piece which shines the light on a Petulant Adolescent President. MUST READ. Tomorrow. Lunch with Kanye!

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New Justice

There may or may not be a new Justice on the Supreme Court named Brett Kavanaugh. However, there is a new justice in the country. Maybe it is necessary to swing the pendulum toward taking accusations of sexual assault more seriously. Yet it’s a dangerous precedent.

Overreach has again taken over a valid debate. Media interviews with roommates and classmates whose sources are neither vetted nor corroborated have thrown journalism standards out.

Ben Sasse of Nebraska took to the Senate floor to rail against the mishandling of the Kavanaugh nomination. He said he’d suggested nominating a woman before anyone was chosen because he knew the current cast of characters couldn’t have a nuanced discussion of sexual harassment issues. He was right. Overreach usually begets backlash. We’ll see in the mid-terms.