Commentary on the Worst Media and Political Class of my Lifetime
Shaving Commercial of the Day
Beyond BuzzFeed: The 10 Worst, Most Embarrassing U.S. Media Failures on the Trump/Russia Story
Great article by Glenn Greenwald. It is not possible to excerpt it here. Click over and read it. You will laugh and cry at the documented media malfeasance.
Journalism Headline of the Day
Journalism Tweet of the Day
Richard Grenell, Trump’s top ambassador, ‘delivers again,’ blocking Iran.
Paul Bedard:
“…A top Trump ambassador is winning kudos for his part in convincing Germany to ban Iranian airline Mahan Air amid allegations it ran weapons to Syria.
Officials said that Richard Grenell, U.S. ambassador to Germany, played a key role and scored his latest victory since landing last May when he warned, “German companies doing business in Iran should wind down operations immediately.”
Since arriving in Berlin, Ambassador Grenell has literally hit the ground running delivering on the president’s priorities,” said a key ally and senior Senate Republican aide.
“At the top of that list has been to ensure Europe doesn’t circumvent President Trump on Iran,” said the aide, adding, “Today is a massive win for President Trump. Because of Ambassador Grenell’s perseverance, this Iranian airline will no longer be able to fly to the largest economy in Europe. Make no mistake, Ric Grenell has become President Trump’s go-to diplomat in Europe. He delivers.”…”
Charles de Gaulle Saw Brexit Coming
He said U.K. membership would weaken the EU and divide Britain.
WALTER RUSSELL MEAD:
“…Britain’s problem with the EU goes back decades. From the 1957 Treaty of Rome to the present day, Europe has been both the opportunity Britain cannot embrace and the problem Britain cannot solve. In the 1950s, Britain stood aloof from the increasingly integrated Continent as it clung to the remnants of its empire. In the 1960s it applied, twice, to join; both times its application was scuttled, twice by the implacable, but arguably correct, French President Charles de Gaulle. In 1973 Britain finally succeeded in joining the club, but euroskepticism was already so strong in British politics that the country held a referendum on leaving in 1975. Remain won that round, but British ambivalence over Europe has never gone away.
De Gaulle—the leader of the Free French resistance in World War II who went on to found the Fifth Republic under which France still lives today—understood the problem best. He thought Britain would never truly be at home in a European union. “England in effect is insular, she is maritime,” he said in his remarks blocking Britain’s entry into what was then called the Common Market in 1963. “She has in all her doings very marked and very original habits and traditions.” He added that “the nature, the structure, the very situation that are England’s differ profoundly from those of the continentals.”
Moreover, from de Gaulle’s point of view, admitting Britain into Europe was like letting a Trojan horse through the gates. He believed Europe faced a choice between pursuing its original goal of a deep integration of the original six members and opting for a larger, looser association that included Britain. A larger and looser Europe, he believed, would be a weaker Europe. It would be unable to develop into a true world power that could face Russia and the U.S. as an equal.
Today de Gaulle looks like a prophet. EU membership has left Britain miserable and divided. The rest of the 28-member EU is overextended, stressed and geopolitically weak…”
Nitwit Headline of the Day
OCASIO-CORTEZ ON MILLENNIALS: ‘WE’RE LIKE THE WORLD IS GOING TO END IN 12 YEARS IF WE DON’T ADDRESS CLIMATE CHANGE’
Related:
I keep forgetting civilization is still humming along after all these predictions of it’s demise:
● President Obama ‘has four years to save Earth.’
—The London Guardian, January 17, 2009.
● Warming expert: Only decade left to act in time.
—NBC News, September 14, 2006.
● U.N. Predicts Disaster if Global Warming Not Checked:
A senior U.N. environmental official says entire nations could be wiped off the face of the Earth by rising sea levels if the global warming trend is not reversed by the year 2000.
Coastal flooding and crop failures would create an exodus of “eco- refugees,” threatening political chaos, said Noel Brown, director of the New York office of the U.N. Environment Program, or UNEP.
He said governments have a 10-year window of opportunity to solve the greenhouse effect before it goes beyond human control.
—AP, June 29, 1989.
Positive Headline of the Day
When the Press Sees Red
Michael Brendan Dougherty:
“…Like so many stories that supposedly conveyed the reality of Trump’s America, that so perfectly displayed white Christian menace, it turned out to be fake. Fake, like the Ohio University student who sent herself anti-gay hate mail; manufactured, like the racist harassment on a bus that Hilary Clinton tweeted about; an attempted frame-up, with liberal credulity made into the co-conspirator, like the vandalism of a Jewish cemetery done by a progressive reporter. But good enough to share, good enough to cause doxxing, and justify the harassment and assault of children. I’m still chuckling at the New York Times and the Washington Post rushing out misleading and false stories — the latter with three bylines — without doing any original reporting besides a phone call to the Native American Elder, and a survey of reactions on Twitter…”
Journalism Headline of the Day
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Is Setting Women Back Light Years In Politics
Amelia Irvine:
“…She doesn’t deserve to be lauded as millennials’ feminist icon. Her incompetence with numbers and jumbled facts validate every negative stereotype women have been trying to erase for years.
I think that there’s a lot of people more concerned about being precisely, factually, and semantically correct than about being morally right,” Ocasio-Cortez told Cooper after he asked about her careless and incorrect analysis of the defense budget. In one sentence, Ocasio-Cortez portrayed herself as a woman who is ready to subordinate facts to her moral convictions, confirming achingly anti-female stereotypes. She may as well have driven erratically down the highway or failed to catch a gently thrown ball. Of course, she later admitted that being factually correct is “absolutely important.” She just doesn’t seem to care much about facts and numbers when she’s tweeting.
Or, for that matter, when she’s speaking. In discussing with Cooper her proposal for a “Green New Deal,” which would use the full force of the government in an attempt to convert the United States to 100 percent renewable energy by 2030, she could not offer an actual answer for how such an enormous transformation would be possible. “It’s going to require a lot of rapid change that we don’t even conceive as possible right now,” was all she could say.
Shockingly, the reason we “don’t conceive of it as possible” is because it is not possible…”
Democrats’ junket in Puerto Rico goes largely unnoticed
“…More than 109 lobbyists and 39 Democrat members of Congress attended a “winter retreat” last weekend in Puerto Rico, ostensibly to help raise funds for damage caused by hurricane Maria in 2017, reports Fox News. The fun in the sun was enhanced by a limited run of the Broadway hit “Hamilton,” starring its creator, lead actor, and Democrat partisan, Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Much of the media ignored what used to be called a “junket,” probably because the cast of characters were Democrats and the major media prefer to focus on bashing President Donald Trump and Republicans.
Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., was there, which seems surprising given his acquittal (“not enough evidence,” the judge said) a year ago on corruption charges that included allegations that he cavorted with underage prostitutes in the Dominican Republic. It’s not exactly the kind of image one should want to project after so much bad publicity, but he’s a Democrat and the standards and expectations of members of that party are different…”
Related and always evergreen:
Headline of the Day
The Women’s March has twisted feminism into toxic femininity
Kimberly Ross:
“…What began as a response to President Trump’s election and his questionable behavior toward women has morphed into a symbol of another sickness, that of toxic femininity. The organizers of the Women’s March insist they promote equality, diversity, and freedom — while contradicting these values with their words and actions. Included on their page of unity principles are the terms human rights, gender justice/gender norms, racial justice, and reproductive freedom. Meanwhile, women directly associated with the campaign’s very formulation, Tamika Mallory and Sharia law-loving Linda Sarsour, are unabashed anti-Semites. Mallory, who reveres the blatantly racist Louis Farrakhan, refused to publicly condemn his words of hate during a recent exchange on “The View” with Meghan McCain. Mallory even tried to cover up her clear endorsement of hate by making it a gender issue and stating that she “should never be judged through the lens of a man.”…”
Rain in the Valley

Shutdown Image of the Day
Another Tweet on Journalism
Transcripts of Former Top FBI Lawyer Detail Pervasive Abnormalities in Trump Probe
“…Former top FBI attorney James Baker admitted to House lawmakers in October last year that the investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump 2016 presidential campaign and Russia was riddled with abnormalities.
Confronted with a damning summary of abnormalities, bias, and omissions, which transpired during the investigation, Baker told Congress that the investigation indeed was “highly unusual.” . . .
As general counsel, Baker advised senior FBI leaders on the legal aspects of key investigations and served as the liaison with the Department of Justice (DOJ). In testimony, he detailed a series of unusual steps he took in the Trump-Russia investigation, including serving as the conduit between Perkins Coie—the firm working for the Clinton 2016 presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC)—and the FBI.
Baker left his position as general counsel in early January 2018 and then resigned from the FBI in early May 2018.
Baker testified that it was Michael Sussman, a partner at Perkins Coie, who shared with him information that detailed alleged communications between servers in Trump Tower and servers located in Russia at Alfa Bank, which were eventually debunked. Sussmann was also the lawyer who spearheaded the handling of the alleged hack of the DNC servers. Baker admitted that it was highly unusual to interact with an outside counsel…”