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DECEMBER 3-4,  2022

YIKES!  TRUMP DOES IT AGAIN:  They used to say about Harry Truman that he did the biggest things in the biggest ways and the littlest things in the littlest ways.  

They never heard of Donald Trump who, sadly, continues to diminish himself by doing too many big things in little ways. 

The revelations of the last few days, that Twitter (along with others) withheld critical information about the Biden family from the American voting public just before the 2020 election, are major in themselves.  They raise the gravest questions about the integrity of the press, and the sanctity of elections.

This was a moment made for Donald Trump who, all along, has said the election of 2020 was not on the level.  It was a time for a thoughtful, patriotic, dignified reply by Mr. Trump, who could claim some kind of vindication.

And what do we get?  Read on, from CNN:

Former President Donald Trump called for the termination of the Constitution to overturn the 2020 election and reinstate him to power Saturday in a continuation of his election denialism and pushing of fringe conspiracy theories.

"Do you throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION? A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution," Trump wrote in a post on the social network Truth Social and accused "Big Tech" of working closely with Democrats. "Our great 'Founders' did not want, and would not condone, False & Fraudulent Elections!"

White House spokesman Andrew Bates said Saturday that Trump's remarks are "anathema to the soul of our nation, and should be universally condemned."

"You cannot only love America when you win," Bates said in a statement. "The American Constitution is a sacrosanct document that for over 200 years has guaranteed that freedom and the rule of law prevail in our great country. The Constitution brings the American people together -- regardless of party -- and elected leaders swear to uphold it. It's the ultimate monument to all of the Americans who have given their lives to defeat self-serving despots that abused their power and trampled on fundamental rights."

Trump's post came after the release of internal Twitter emails showing deliberation in 2020 over a New York Post story about material found on Hunter Biden's laptop. Employees on Twitter's legal, policy and communications teams debated -- and at times disagreed -- over whether to restrict the article under the company's hacked materials policy. The debate took place weeks before the 2020 election, when Joe Biden, Hunter Biden's father, was running against then-President Trump.

Trump announced his third presidential bid last month and is still widely considered the leader of the Republican Party. Party leaders had hoped that the former president would drop his election denialism rhetoric after lackluster results in the midterms.

COMMENT:  Trump botched it.  As usual, he went overboard, and blew a chance to show that some of his concerns over the election were valid.  Instead, he winds up almost throwing the Constitution down the incinerator chute.

Not good.  And not good for 2024.   Some recent surveys show Trump losing support among Republicans for the 2024 presidential nomination.  And he has major legal problems ahead.  He is not handling himself well.

December 3-4, 2022       Permalink 

DECEMBER 1-2,  2022

THE REVELATION – IF YOU WANT TO CALL IT THAT:   No matter what you think of Elon Musk, he is doing a real service by releasing the documents from his newly acquired Twitter service that prove how Twitter suppressed the truth about Hunter Biden and alleged corruption in the Biden family...and did so only weeks before the 2020 presidential election.  Polls show that most Americans might have voted differently had this information been public. 

The sleeziness is pathetic, not only on the part of Twitter and its ideological masters at the time, but on the part of the American press, which has largely refused to pursue the truth of the issue.  As more information comes out, our so-called "journalism" will look worse and worse...and more and more useless.  If the news business does not improve its product, and there's not much evidence that it's even interested, then visionaries with major resources will have to step forward and form new news organizations based on the principles of Joseph Pulitzer – to report the news without fear or favor, and leave opinion to the editorial page.

From Fox:

Twitter owner Elon Musk released bombshell revelations about what led the tech giant to suppress the Hunter Biden story in the final weeks of the 2020 presidential election. 
After a lengthy delay, Musk outsourced his findings to Substack journalist Matt Taibbi, who published a lengthy thread about what had transpired behind the scenes at Twitter. 

"Some of the first tools for controlling speech were designed to combat the likes of spam and financial fraudsters. Slowly, over time, Twitter staff and executives began to find more and more uses for these tools. Outsiders began petitioning the company to manipulate speech as well: first a little, then more often, then constantly," Taibbi wrote. "By 2020, requests from connected actors to delete tweets were routine. One executive would write to another: ‘More to review from the Biden team.’ The reply would come back: 'Handled.'"

Taibbi shared a screenshot of that October 2020 exchange featuring links to tweets Biden's team allegedly wanted taken down.

"Both parties had access to these tools. For instance, in 2020, requests from both the Trump White House and the Biden campaign were received and honored. However…  This system wasn't balanced," Taibbi wrote. "It was based on contacts. Because Twitter was and is overwhelmingly staffed by people of one political orientation, there were more channels, more ways to complain, open to the left (well, Democrats) than the right."

"The resulting slant in content moderation decisions is visible in the documents you’re about to read. However, it’s also the assessment of multiple current and former high-level executives," the journalist teased. 

He then quickly pivoted to the "Twitter Files" regarding the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story. 

Taibbi tweeted "there’s no evidence - that I've seen" that the federal government had a role in suppressing the Hunter Biden laptop story but that "the decision was made at the highest levels of the company, but without the knowledge of CEO Jack Dorsey, with former head of legal, policy and trust Vijaya Gadde playing a key role."

COMMENT:  By any standard, this should be a major, continuing news story.  An election was influenced.  It is the kind of thing you'd expect in a third-world country, at least one that has the internet. 

But the mainstream media, in my view, will try to crush the story by simply ignoring it.  The very people who shout regularly that Donald Trump is a threat to democracy are unlikely to concede that they are a threat to democracy.  Confession is not part of the leftist culture.

I'm not even sure there'll be a big book. 

The question remains as to whether other platforms will, in future election seasons, try again to tamper with the vote.  Unless there is a severe punishment for the people who worked the system at Twitter, I can't see why they won't try. 

December 2, 2022       Permalink

ABSOLUTELY REMARKABLE – IRANIANS CHEER U.S. SOCCER VICTORY.  From Fox: 

Amid protests in Iran that have lasted close to three months, many Iranians were rooting for the United States to defeat their own home country in Tuesday's World Cup match.

Tuesday's match was pivotal for both squads. Iran would have advanced to the knockout stage with a draw, while the USMNT needed a win, which it got, to advance.

However, some protesters feel an Iranian loss or draw will now hurt the regime on the world stage and give fuel to the protesters' fight.

In an encrypted telephone interview with Fox News Digital Monday, an Iranian woman who called herself "Mahoora" and lives in southern Iran, said, "It's not just some people in Iran, it is the majority of people in Iran that want the U.S. to win (on Tuesday). The silent majority [of Iranians] did not celebrate the regime team’s victory over Wales."

Celebrations occurred in many districts of Tehran, the capital of Iran, as well as the highly populated cities of Mashhad, Isfahan and Karaj.

Ali Safavi, a member of the foreign affairs committee of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran, released the following statement:

"The jubilant reaction across Iran over the regime soccer team’s defeat tonight reflects first and foremost the degree to which the Iranian people loath and detest the ruling mullahs and want to see it overthrown. They knew that the regime was trying to exploit the presence of its team in the World Cup to overshadow the ruthless manner with which it has cracked down on the nationwide uprising, which has left 660 protesters, including at least 60 children, dead and 30,000 (arrested). At no time in its 43-year rule, has the regime been so isolated in the eyes of the Iranian people who are determined as ever to topple it."

COMMENT:   And yet, at this electric moment in the history of Iran and the region around it, the United States is remarkably silent.   The Obama crowd, which clearly controls our Iran policy, has no sympathy for freedom fighters.  They truly believe that Iran can replace Israel as our primary ally in the region.  They also believe that the Edsel will return to American highways.

December 1, 2022       Permalink

NOVEMBER 30,  2022

LIKE WATCHING THE TITANIC SINK:  The bloodbath at CNN has started.  Will other "news" outlets follow in kind?  From the Washington Post: 

CNN is laying off hundreds of employees in a cost-cutting effort that illuminates the financial challenges facing a wide array of media companies as the economy teeters toward a possible recession.

The cuts began on Wednesday and finished on Thursday, with affected employees notified in person or via Zoom.

“It is incredibly hard to say goodbye to any one member of the CNN team,” CNN chief executive Chris Licht wrote in a Wednesday staff memo obtained by The Washington Post, describing the cuts as a “gut punch.”

Chris Cillizza, who joined CNN as a politics reporter and editor-at-large in 2017, confirmed to The Post that he has been laid off. Susan Glasser, a CNN global affairs analyst, also said that she was “one of many” part-time commentators affected by the cuts. Rachel Metz, a senior technology writer, said she was “devastated” to have been laid off on Thursday.

Other television networks are planning cost-cutting measures over the winter.

NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News and MSNBC, will lay off employees in January, according to a Business Insider report, though a news division spokesperson declined to comment Thursday. ABC News parent company Disney is similarly planning cuts under the leadership of Bob Iger, who recently returned as the company’s chief executive.

The country’s largest newspaper chain, Gannett, is undertaking a round of job cuts that is expected to affect roughly 200 journalists — at papers large and small — over the next two days. The company also laid off about 400 employees in August and froze hiring for hundreds more positions. “While incredibly difficult, implementing these efficiencies and responding decisively to the ongoing macroeconomic volatility will continue to propel Gannett’s future,” Gannett spokesperson Lark-Marie Antón said in an email.

Among those laid off was USA Today sports investigative reporter Rachel Axon, who has reported on sexual abuse in competitive sports. “I’m grateful for all those who trusted me with their stories,” she wrote on Twitter. “I’ve never forgotten the privilege of that — whether it was showing their triumphs or holding those who harmed them to account.”

One journalist for a Gannett-owned publication told The Post of being laid off over Zoom, leaving behind a newsroom of less than a dozen reporters. “They read from a script and thanked me for my service, which I find laughable,” the person said, spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk candidly.

NPR is also facing a financial shortfall that will require $10 million in budget cuts over the next 10 months, chief executive John Lansing told employees on Wednesday. Also on Wednesday, Washington Post executive editor Sally Buzbee informed employees of plans to close the company’s weekly print magazine, citing The Post’s plans for “global and digital transformation.”

“A lot of media companies right now are looking at the economy and saying to themselves, ‘We’re about to go into a recession and we’re going to need fewer people,’” said Chris Roush, dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University.

CNN employees have been no stranger to cutbacks this year, since Licht moved quickly to shut down the network’s expensive new streaming service, CNN Plus, in April, barely three weeks after it launched. At the time, a network spokesperson said that about 350 employees would be affected, though some of the star journalists hired for the service — including Chris Wallace, Audie Cornish and Kasie Hunt — have remained with the network. CNN leadership also decided to part ways earlier this year with media correspondent Brian Stelter and the staff of his weekly “Reliable Sources” show in August, as well as White House correspondent John Harwood.

At a companywide meeting last month, Licht defended the need for layoffs but said he would aim to minimize the impact on newsgathering operations, according to an audio recording obtained by The Post. The cuts, he said, are part of a “strategic reimagining of how we do business” and an attempt to better position the network for 2023. Asked whether CNN expected more layoffs next year, he told employees “not at this time.”

In a memo on Thursday afternoon, Licht said that sister network HLN — once known as Headline News — will stop producing live programming, including the morning show hosted by Robin Meade, who has also been let go. The network now mostly airs unscripted shows focused on crime and mystery.

“These are painful decisions. They’re nerve-racking for everybody involved,” said digital media executive Jon Klein, who oversaw CNN U.S. between 2005 and 2010. “The only bright side is that you come away with a clearer understanding of where the value lies in your organization.”

Cutting costs “forces executives to look hard at their business and understand what does the audience value,” he said.

Roush, of Quinnipiac University, said that some media companies “grew way too fast” and over-invested in talent before establishing a sizable audience and business model. Klein added that television news has been hit hard by the trend of “cord-cutting,” struggling to offset the loss of cable subscription revenue and advertising dollars with gains in digital subscriptions.

Although the impact on journalism is hard to predict, the cuts come at the worst possible time for American democracy, argued Victor Pickard, professor of media policy at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication.

“This is about maximizing profits for shareholders,” Pickard said in an interview. “These are crass business decisions, and they are not considering the implications for democratic society. At this time in our nation’s history, any layoffs in media workers is a step in the wrong direction.”

At the company’s town hall meeting last month, Licht urged his journalists to keep reporting and developing sources but to do so cost-efficiently in what he said is a “tough economic environment” that could continue into next year.

“Of course you should be doing source dinners,” he said. “Maybe don’t do it with a bottle of Dom Pérignon.”

COMMENT:  I'm struck by the comments of Professor Pickard of the Annenberg School.  He fears that the cuts will have an adverse effect on democracy.  Mr. Pickard might better spend his time contemplating what "journalists" actually do every day, and their effect on democracy. 

Indeed, one of the reasons for the mass cuts in news organizations is the loss of faith in journalism by the American reader and viewer.  It shows up in every poll.  Now is the time for improvement, and a new commitment to neutrality and quality. 

November 30, 2022       Permalink 

THE BOOK PART OF THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN HAS STARTED:  Ron DeSantis is writing a book.  Do you think this means he has an interest in running for president?  Well yeah, maybe...from Fox: 

EXCLUSIVE: Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida will chronicle his life in public service in a new book that will publish in late February in what will be seen by political pundits as another step by the conservative champion toward a possible 2024 presidential run.

The autobiography by DeSantis, who was overwhelmingly re-elected three weeks ago to a second four-year term steering the increasingly red Sunshine State, is titled "The Courage to Be Free: Florida's Blueprint for America's Revival." 

Word of the book, scheduled to be published Feb. 28 by Broadside, the conservative arm of HarperCollins Publishing, was shared first with Fox News Wednesday.

The publishers highlight that the autobiography will cover key moments in DeSantis’s life, from "growing up in a working-class family, playing in the Little League World Series, working his way through Yale University and Harvard Law School, volunteering for the Navy after 9/11 and serving in Iraq." 

The memoir will also detail his marriage to Casey DeSantis, their children and his wife’s battle with cancer.

Florida’s governor has seen his popularity soar among conservatives across the country the past 2½ years, courtesy of his forceful pushback against coronavirus pandemic restrictions and his aggressive actions as a culture wars warrior targeting the media and corporations.

The publishers note that the book "will center on critical issues that brought [DeSantis] to the center of the debate over the future of our country. He shares his thinking from when he was fighting back against COVID mandates and restrictions, critical race theory, woke corporations" and what they describe as "the partisan legacy media." They add that the memoir will chronicle what they call "his bold, substantial policy achievements."

DeSantis, in a statement, said that "what Florida has done is establish a blueprint for governance that has produced tangible results while serving as a rebuke to the entrenched elites who have driven our nation into the ground. Florida is proof positive that we, the people, are not powerless in the face of these elites." 

COMMENT:  Love it.  Just the right move for DeSantis, essentially launching his presidential campaign.  I can't wait to read the "reviews" in The New York Times and the Washington Post.

I wonder if anyone will make the movie.  Casting suggestions?

November 30, 2022       Permalink