The Contrarian
With Norm Eisen, Rubin has launched an independent effort in journalism, The Contrarian.
A little sanewashing
From NBC and The Washington Post.
Rat part
Why does this delightful story about Mark Zuckerberg have a rat part in it? Perhaps because of this news item.
Sources of truth
Robert Reich offers sources where one might find some truth.
No TV news, then and now
it’s been ten days with no TV news, save for one episode of the NBC Nightly News, when the whale-cutter’s nomination drew me back. Did I learn anything more from that “half-hour” than I already knew from reading words? No.
“Turning Off the News”
From The Borowitz Report, “Turning Off the News”: I’m not a neuroscientist like George Santos, but in my experience, turning off the news is good for your mental health. And you’ll have more time for things you actually enjoy. Read a novel. See a friend. Walk your dog. Which is what I’m going to do right now.
Spinning
From the news: “another head-turning personnel pick.” No. Make that “another head-spinning personnel pick.”
Truncated? No
On NBC Nightly News tonight, Lester Holt spoke of Kamala Harris’s “truncated campaign.” No. “Truncated” is about the end, not the beginning. If you start late and run the course, your effort has not been truncated.
Extraterrestrial replaces Anderson Cooper?
I think he’s been replaced by an extraterrestrial of the sort that once haunted the pages of the Weekly World News.
Prophecy
I always dislike it when newspeople ask their guests to prophesy.
WCBS Newsradio 880 to disappear
One of the strange pleasures of driving late at night in downstate Illinois is pulling in WCBS 880 or WINS 1010. I always like hearing about traffic and weather from a distant land.
Responses and non-answers
Lawrence O’Donnell’s commentary on yesterday’s Trump “General News Conference” is worth watching in full.
HCR on July 21
Heather Cox Richardson on yesterday’s big news.
News
I like what Fresca’s friend Marz had to say: “I don’t want us to live like this. I want to be part of the calm in the craziness.”
Crazy weather
“Grab them shades on the way out the door. Precip cast? Fuggedaboudit! I mean, we still need a tall drink of water. I just ain’t happening tonight nor tomorrow.”
“Mister”
NBC Nightly News: it’s galling to hear Michael Cohen called “Cohen” and Donald Trump called “Mister Trump,” every damn time. Too much deference.
Bravery!
O drama!
Current events
I am thinking of every post right now as a flight from current events. Those events are always on my mind. But I have no special insight into them.
Cinnamon toast and orange juice
This news item strikes me as a respite from other news.
When writers go on strike
DeSantis and Musk: that’s the kind of laughably crappy storyline you’re left with when writers go on strike.
ATTN: MSNBC
If I want to see moneyed persons exiting planes and stepping into big black vehicles, I can watch Succession. At least Succession shows what’s happening in the planes and cars.
Dies mirabilis
I hope I have the Latin right.
HCR’s latest
Reading Heather Cox Richardson is so much better than watching television-news people standing in a hurricane or its aftermath.
Food for thought
King Charles vs. Joe Biden.
Heather Cox Richardson’s latest
The March 30 installment of Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American is an especially helpful one, about CBS, Mick Mulvaney, facts, democracy, and authoritarianism.
Advice about news
Advice in The Washington Post: “How to stay up-to-date on terrible news without burning out.”
Call “Dr. Fauci” by his full name
A note to the news, not that the news is listening: When introducing or making a first reference to Dr. Anthony Fauci, please refer to him by his full name and position. He is not a cartoon or character, à la Drs. Evil, No, Oz, and Phil. So “Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases,” please.
“Mostly I read”
Ted Turner’s biographer doesn’t own a TV.
Just say no to interregnum
There is no throne. There is never not a president. And we don’t (yet) have a declaration of martial law.
Breaking news
Last night I dreamed the breaking news that Donald Trump* was replacing Mike Pence with an unidentified woman.