Tag: news media

Trump, the News, My Wife

My wife is pissed.

She unleashed a rant this morning, growing angrier as she spoke. The focus of her ire was dual: Trump and his remarks about Iran taking out a couple American cities, and the news coverage of it.

Actually, her ire grew because of how Nebraskans reacted, laughing and cheering. I don’t know which aspect of this pissed her off more.

First, she found Trump’s comments, made in a speech in Nebraska about Iran ‘taking out San Diego or Los Angeles’ as treasonous. “A President should not be suggesting things like that.”

What triggered her was the ho-hum coverage in so much of the media. “They’re writing it off as, oh, that’s just Trump being Trump! That’s one of the big problems with our country. They keep normalizing this insane shit that Trump says.” She went on with a louder, angrier tone about this.

Then, though, her anger punched through the roof as she talked about Nebraskans’ reaction. “They laughed and cheered. Oh, those are California cities! Who cares! Well, hello, Nebraska. What would you think if Trump suggested that Iran could take out Omaha. How would you feel then?

“Did they even think about what he was saying. Do they know how much California contributes to the economy? Think your fertilizer prices are high now? How much higher those prices are going to be if the ports of Los Angeles and San Diego are gone!

“California has a huge economy! Think of all the subsidies that the government would no longer be able to pay if two California cities are destroyed. And what about the radioactive fallout? What do they think, that it’s not going to spread to more of the country, that it’s not going to drift over the Midwest?

“And look how much of the military would be damaged! The Navy has a fleet stationed there, marines!”

She was furious by this point. “I don’t care why Trump said it. No American should cheer that. No human should cheer that kind of killing and destruction.

“Even if he was just suggesting that if he didn’t take action, nobody should be cheering the possibility of someone nuking and killing someone else.”

I think I correctly conveyed the gist of what my wife said. Hard to say, because she was going loud, fast — and angry.

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Tuesday’s Political Thoughts

Dan K over at Daily Kos offers some thoughts on the past election in Short Attention Span Theater. Like me, he believes the problem wasn’t Democratic messaging; it’s voter ignorance.

As stated, that’s my take. Along with declining education and voter apathy and ignorance, I blame mass media and many organizations. For instance, AARP issued a news letter before the election that put forth what Harris and that other guy said about ‘the issues’. Nowhere did they mention the other guy’s bizarre, often demented behavior and speeches, nor his multiple gaffes and lies. No, to them, Harris and Trump were equals battling it out. Shame on them.

As an aside, now AARP’s newsletter urges everyone to contact their elected Federal officials about protecting social security and Medicare. Yeah, should of thought about that before you chickened out of putting forth a position. You reap what you sow.

Within Dan K’s post, he refers to David French’s piece in the NYT with links, “Donald [X] Is Already Starting to Fail”.

Here’s a link to Dan K’s post. Hope you’ll read it and think. Cheers

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Hillary’s Coverage

Heartbreaking, dispiriting, infuriating…these were my pissed off reactions to headline news of Hillary’s nomination.

Yes, I’m a Bernie but I’m not a DEB. The political cacophony ended part 1. Part 2 will begin after a short intermission. I can enumerate the madness of a Trump presidency, but if asked, I’ll put to others who do it better. As a progressive, Hillary is a middle of the road choice, but I accept her as the nominee best suited to my agenda and principles, and I’ll vote for her.

What triggered my reactions wasn’t about Trump vs Hillary, nor Republicans and Democrats, or Progressives battling Conservatives. This was about the media’s business as fucking usual, blind to their own fucking faults, and continuing as a catalyst to America’s mess. So many headlines touted Clinton as in, and displayed photos of Bill Clinton. Some barely bothered mentioning her name. As the hype that Hillary had shattered the glass ceiling was furthered, these neanderthalic publications displayed the man Clinton instead of the woman Clinton. I mean, damn it, really? Why?

As weighty discussions about Clinton vs Trump circulate, they’re asking, is Hillary warm enough, ignoring the frothing, shouting, threatening buffon opposing her without asking, is he fucking sane enough? Do they know they treat her differently or are they too deep into their shit to see it? And if it’s the latter, what does that announce about their professionalism, objectivity and just plain critical thinking?

These editors, publishers, and their instruments revealed much with their misguided headlines, and yeah –

I trust and respect them less, because there it is, their blind sexism in their front pages.

 

 

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