Archive for the ‘media’ Category

Tommy’s meltdown

Posted: October 6, 2020 by chrisharper in media
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By Christopher Harper

“Our democracy is in terrible danger — more than since the Civil War, more than after Pearl Harbor, more than during the Cuban missile crisis, and more danger than during Watergate.”

It’s rare to see a meltdown like the one DaTimes’ Tommy Friedman had in his column, which included the sentence above.

Just think about it. Tommy, who supported that great leader Mike Bloomberg in the Democrat primaries, thinks President Trump is leading the country into a civil war. He’s responsible for worse conditions than Pearl Harbor, and his leadership has led the country into a potential nuclear war? Trump is worse than Nixon?

Tommy compares the United States with Lebanon during its civil war. Tommy’s office at United Press International was just across from mine at Newsweek in Beirut. I was there, too, and I don’t see any comparisons between a war that left more than 100,000 dead with what’s happening in the United States. 

Somehow Tommy transitions from the Lebanese civil war to social media and the problems they have created. I’m no fan of Facebook and Twitter and their leftist slant, but the hyperbole of comparing guerrillas with rocket-propelled grenades in Lebanon to trolls with hurtful words is a bit much.

The solution to all of America’s problems, Tommy opines, is Joe Biden. Seriously?

“The Democratic Party sorted through all the choices, and, led by older Black men and women in South Carolina, rejected the Democratic socialist candidate and said they wanted a moderate unifier named Joe Biden,” Tommy says.

What alternate universe is Tommy living in? South Carolina voted overwhelmingly for Trump in 2016, and Democrats have virtually no power throughout the state except to vote in a meaningless primary every four years. 

What happened is that the Democrat power brokers knew that Bernie Sanders would lead to a massive election defeat. Hence, they backed a four-time loser in presidential primaries that they could control. 

Tommy’s meltdown continues in his description of Trump as “the most dishonest, dangerous, mean-spirited, divisive, and corrupt person to ever occupy the Oval Office.”

Seriously? Maybe Tommy forgot fellow journalist Warren Harding, who engaged in the most scandal-ridden presidency in history.

Maybe Franklin Pierce, who set the stage for the Civil War, or James Buchanan, who followed through on Pierce’s pro-slavery campaign? Maybe Andrew Johnson, the first president to be impeached? 

But Tommy chooses not to reflect on history; he’s on a ridiculous role. 

Tommy concludes: “So help register someone to vote for Joe Biden. Phone bank for Joe Biden. Talk to your neighbor about Joe Biden. Volunteer for Joe Biden. Drive someone to the polls to vote for Joe Biden.

“Do it as if your country’s democracy depends on it, because it does.”

DaTimes needs to put Tommy out to pasture like Americans have to do with Joe. 

Questions the mainstream media needs to be asking Biden

Posted: September 20, 2020 by John Ruberry in elections, immigration, media, News/opinion, politics
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By John Ruberry

Last week CNN hosted a town hall for Joe Biden where he was given softball questions. No, on second thought they were T-ball questions. 

The demands on whoever is president are brutal. If CNN believes that Biden can’t handle challenging queries then that in my opinion disqualifies him to be leader of the most powerful nation on the planet. And if CNN is just shilling for the Democrats, then no one should take them seriously as a news outlet. Based on their poor ratings, most people already do not. 

Here are some questions that responsible reporters should be asking Biden. The wonderful thing about the questions I’ve devised is that most of them can be posed to President Trump. Yes, a few of these queries have been given to Biden, but generally only once and with dismissive answers from the Democratic nominee.

Here we go:

  • Will you be releasing the names of your potential Supreme Court nominees, as President Trump did as a candidate in 2016 and did earlier this month?
  • Do you support “packing the Supreme Court,” that is, nominating additional justices to the court to go beyond nine members?
  • Where’s Hunter?
  • Do you unconditionally oppose Antifa?
  • Will a Biden administration investigate plots by Antifa and other groups to incite riots in cities such as Portland?
  • You favor a nationwide mask mandate to fight COVID-19. What is your legal basis for instituting one?
  • Do you support statehood for the District of Columbia? And for Puerto Rico?
  • Many states, such as Illinois, Kentucky, and New Jersey, have public-sector worker pension plans that are essentially bankrupt. Do you support a federal bailout of these and other state worker pension plans?
  • Numerous cities also have similarly under-funded pension plans. Will you back a bailout of those plans?
  • What is your position on bailing out states whose tax revenues have plummeted because of COVID-19 lockdowns?
  • Do you favor allowing states to declare bankruptcy?
  • Speaking of Illinois, in 2008 the US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Patrick Fitzgerald, was in the midst of a corruption investigation of Rod Blagojevich, the governor of the state, and Tony Rezko, a member of Blago’s inner circle who donated large sums to the campaigns of Barack Obama. Your ticket mate kept Fitzgerald in his post after becoming president. This year John Lausch, the current US Attorney in Chicago, is in the thick of investigating more public corruption. The center of this scandal appears to be longtime Illinois state House speaker Michael Madigan who is also the chairman of the state Democratic Party. If elected will you keep Lausch in his post?
  • Where’s Hunter?
  • If elected you will be older than Ronald Reagan, the oldest person to serve as president, was when he left office after two terms. Are you physically and mentally up to the office? If you are now what will happen if you one day are not?
  • Do you support the Green New Deal?
  • Do you support fracking?
  • Do you support nuclear power?
  • Do you support coal power?
  • Do you back amnesty for illegal immigrants?
  • Do you utilize teleprompters during interviews and question-and-answer sessions?
  • Where’s Hunter?

I’m sure there are many more questions readers can come up with.

John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

Quick Under the Fedora Thoughts. If Trump is for it I’m agan it Edition…

Posted: September 13, 2020 by datechguy in Always look at the bright side of Trump, catholic, crime, culture, entertainment, Israel, media, middle east, nfl, politics, Sports
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Judson: I’m agan it!

Mack: Agan What? You didn’t hear what Daniel said?

Judson: If Daniel said it I’m agan it!

Daniel Boone Ken-Tuck-E 1964

The Atlantic magazine has come out against the Nobel Peace Prize itself

If Donald Trump is for the Peace Prize they’re agan it!

Can we now assume that the Nobel Peace prize for Barack Obama was an affirmative action award?

I think it’s been really something to see the left go on a full defense of what objectively is child porn in their defense of Netflix “Cuties”

If I was Donald Trump I’d direct the AG to investigate if the movies violates US child porn laws as written.

The whole: ” If Donald Trump is against Child Porn then I’m for it” reaction from will be something to see, of course in fairness they’re already all defending it. I wonder how fast they would condemn the movie Fatima about the miracles there if Trump came out for it?

Well at least the new peace deal between Barain and Israel is something that Democrats can celebrate. Right?

If Donald Trump is for a peace deal I’m agan it!

There has been another ambush of law enforcement and the Joe Biden Voters are acting like…Joe Biden voters

https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1305043236692602882

I’m sure they’re just getting ahead of the President’s condemnation of this act of terror to be agan what he’s for.

Apparently at least one NFL player has figured it out:

“After watching Thursday’s game and also watching the Dolphins players’ video, it shows that it is not about who is standing or who is kneeling for the anthem,” Mayfield said. “But instead, coming together and taking action to create real change. Also after reading many letters and messages over the past few weeks, I have been showed (sic) that a gesture such as kneeling will only create more division or discussion about the gesture, rather than be a solution towards our country’s problems at hand. With that being said, I am choosing to stand for both anthems to show respect, love, and unity to everybody involved.”

Trump will obviously be for this so as you might guess the left is agan it but I suspect those who have invested in him as an advertising spokesman are for it. The real question is this: Given that the Ravens are expected to be blitzing a lot will his offensive line be for it or agan it?

Absence of malice?

Posted: September 8, 2020 by chrisharper in media

By Christopher Harper

After repeated examples of lousy journalism under cover of anonymous sources, it’s time to remove them from the reporter’s toolbox.

Here are some examples of false stories that came to you, the reader or viewer, as a result of anonymous sources:

—The New York Times and Judith Miller’s allegations that Saddam Hussein had vast caches of weapons of mass destruction

–The Rolling Stone “investigation” of rape on college campuses

–A New York Times story claiming that federal prosecutors were seeking a criminal investigation against Hillary Clinton for her private email accounts

–A CNN story that Congress was investigating a Russian investment fund with ties to Trump officials

–A Washington Post story that Russian hackers had penetrated the U.S. electrical grid

–An MSNBC report that Russian billionaires with ties to Vladimir Putin had co-signed a bank loan for President Trump

In these and many other cases, the prime motivation to use anonymous sources is because the reporter wanted the allegations to be true.

I worked in Washington, where I found the default is usually to promise anonymity because it usually serves the reporter and the source. At the end of the daily news cycle, it doesn’t matter whether the story was true. What counted was the number of eyeballs attracted to the story!

In a discussion on the recent Atlantic claims about Trump and the military, some of my former colleagues in journalism offered Watergate as the underlying justification for anonymous sources.

That was almost 50 years ago! For every good example of what has happened because of anonymous sources, how many bad examples have happened? It took me only a few minutes to recall the fake stories I listed at the top. Give me a few hours, and I’d come up with a basketful.

Oh, how about Dan Rather and Memogate? Maybe Little Jimmy and Janet Cook?

Moreover, news organizations rarely follow their guidelines on the use of anonymous sources. In most ethical codes, a reporter should ONLY use an unnamed source as a last resort. A senior editor usually has to approve the use, and a second source must corroborate the information.

I’ve served as an expert witness in half a dozen lawsuits where reporters and editors didn’t come close to following these guidelines and libeled innocent people.

I recommend that journalists watch Absence of Malice, the 1981 film that analyzes how the use of anonymous sources results in the death of one woman, the disgrace of local and federal prosecutors, and the end of a journalist’s career.

And I didn’t even have to mention the growing disbelief of the public toward journalists as a result of anonymous sources and other miscues.

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