Is Barack Obama Really Trying to Bridge News Universes?

During the initial episode of David Letterman's new limited run program on Netflix "My Guest Needs No Introduction", former President Barack Obama laments the lack of a common baseline of facts for the news.

 In some ways, this echoes a theme that Mr. Obama emphasized in his BBC Radio interview with Prince Harry about finding common realities on the internet. And during the speech at the Dallas Police Shooting Memorial, then President Obama lamented political polarization stemming from news coverage.  

Yet is is hard not to appreciate Obama's implication that those watching Fox News are "way out there" vis-a-vis the Mainstream Media represented by  taxpayer supported National Public Radio. His quip served as a laugh line to the Netflix audience at City College, New York. Such a jibe will affirm the biases of coastal elites who cannot fathom how fly over country could vote for a guy like President Donald Trump.  But it inspires a broader question of what is news and what is the prudent way to discern truth on current events. 

Some have fantasized about having a group that evaluates the news for its truthfulness.  But as it has been tried by Politifact's Truth-o-Meter  and the Washington Post's Fact Check with the Pinocchio scale, it has proven to be skewed and lacking. 

It is repugnant to the First Amendment to contemplate having the government take a role in vetting media.  It is bad enough that social media giants like Facebook and Twitter are using "curating" newfeeds to avoid conservative stories deemed as "fake news" and algorithms which shadowbans opinions not in favor with the social media powers that be. 

Then there is the question of how to cover a story.  Recently, CNN launched an advertising campaign with the spot "This is an apple" touting "Facts First".   The Media Research Center's study of coverage of the first eight months of the Trump Administration was 91% negative stories. In another study, the MRC examined one day of coverage on CNN, when 92% of the airtime was focused on President Trump, and CNN used 96 critics and seven supporters to back up their coverage. That hardly seems like facts first or fair and balanced news.

A more difficult thing to detect is the news that the mainstream media chooses not to report. A concrete example is when undercover video exposed that Planned Parenthood clinics were selling baby body parts.  Network news did not give one second of coverage, probably because it sullied a cause with which the networks suits agree. No wonder why there is a populist outcry against "Fake News".

Another niggling aspect is what "news" mainstream media outlets choose to report.  It is interesting to see how much that makes it on a network nightly news is just recycled packages that were creating for fluffy morning news shows. ABC is notorious for cross promoting entertainment programming as news.  The Tonya Harding 20/20 episode seemed to give as much airtime to its affiliated journalists as the protagonists in order to hype a film poised for Best Picture for the Oscars, which will be broadcast on ABC.  One should expect that NBC's News will be chock full of Olympic feature stories (as it broadcasts the Winter Olympics in February) when it is not bashing the Trump Administration.

As a news junkie, it is laudable to seek out news sources which do not comfortably give "confirmation bias".  In addition, it is necessary to vet the reliability of news sources when considering stories.  However, it is dubious that President Obama wants to find a real "baseline of common facts".  His out of this world comment seems more inclined to smear those who do not buy into the line from the mainstream media, shaped by the likes of the Journo-list and then disseminated via papers of record, like the New York Times and the Washington Post, which then dictates the coverage in most of the rest of the media.

As much as one would like to believe that Mr. Obama is trying to bridge news consumption universes, this comes from a leader who gathered lawmakers around a table supposedly to work together on health care and then wanted to dictate terms.  It is likely that politically correct pressure about the consensus on the news would drown out minority opinions and counter facts.  So it would be like the pre-internet "fairness doctrine" days when there was little choice and the public could be simply swayed. 

On Overseas Attacks and Exigent Immigration

Reacting to the coordinated November 13th ISIS attacks in Paris, Republicans have expressed a recalcitrance to take Syrian refugees without vigorous vetting.  Even after an hour and a half conference call  with the White House 27 Republican governors and one Democrat Governor still oppose Syrian Refugee resettlement in their states.

During an interview with Salem Radio's Hugh Hewitt, 2016 Republican Presidential hopeful Governor  Chris Christie (R-NJ) rejected a hypothetical of allowing for immigration of orphan children Syrian refugees into America.

While President Obama was overseas to attend the G20 Summit in Turkey, President Barack Obama mocked Republicans for not being open to the Syrian Refugee immigration.





It is curious how Republicans have been criticized for offering even the most benign criticism against the President while he is on foreign soil, but Mr. Obama exhibits no compunctions against insulting his enemy-- Republicans.

To this end, Senator Ted Cruz issued a throw down to the lame duck Chief Executive.

It would be fascinating to see a debate between a politician who was acclaimed as being an incredible orator (especially when reading from the TOTUS- Telepromper of the United States) against a master debater at Harvard.

Steve Martin on Music

Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers tried to bridge the gap between seemingly insurmountable points with their tune "Atheists Don't Have No Songs".  

Brian Williams -- Trust in the Falling Rock?

Brian Williams has been the chief anchor and managing editor of the NBC Nightly News for ten years.  The 55 year old news personality also hosted a prime time news magazine show titled "Rock Center", which tried to capitalize on NBC's identification with the Manhattan landmark Rockefeller Center.  Alas, Brian Williams "Rock Center" was cancelled after two seasons in 2013 for the lack of interest.  

Perhaps the memory of Rock Center not being interesting enough encouraged Brian Williams to conflate his combat zone correspondent stories. Williams original report from Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 seemed close to the truth (without revealing that William's Chinook helicopter was a half hour behind the bird under fire).  

When Williams went on Late Night with David Letterman in 2013, the story had been embellished to having rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) and AK47s fired at William's helicopter and the pilot getting a purple heart for a wounded ear (which never happened).  

Williams revisited his war stories when paying an on the air tribute to Sgt. Major Tim Terpak who had been honored at a New York Rangers hockey game.  This caused the New York Times to scrutinize Williams ever evolving escapade. 

After Navy veterans who eyewitnessed the operation  called Williams out in Stars and Stripes for the inaccuracies in this reportage, Brian Williams claimed that he misremembered: 

“On this broadcast last week in an effort to honor and thank a veteran who protected me and so many others following a ground-fire incident in the desert during the Iraq War, I made a mistake in recalling the events of 12 years ago. It didn't take long to hear from some brave men and women in the air crews who were also in the desert. I want to apologize:  I said I was traveling in an aircraft that was hit by RPG fire. I was instead in a following aircraft. We all landed and spent two harrowing nights in a sandstorm in the desert. This was a bungled attempt by me to thank one special veteran, and by extension: our brave military men and women - Veterans everywhere -- those who have served while I did not. I hope they know they have my greatest respect… and also now my apology.”

Alas, veterans do not readily accept Williams half-hearted apology as a Fog of War mistake as the story had grown significantly in a dozen years.  Williams Chinook story had been likened to Stolen Valor as Williams claimed to be in combat in which he was not involved. 

NBC has officially refused to investigate the Chopper Whopper incident and is allowing Brian Williams to handle it himself. Presumably this is because Brian Williams has been the face of a successful NBC Nightly News operation for a decade and the network would literally and figuratively lose face by calling their star into question.  Howard Kurtz analogized that NBC is treating Brian Williams as if he was too big to fail.

In response to Conflate-Gate, Williams supposedly  self imposed a brief hiatus from the anchor chair,  so he is not the center of the news. In other words, he is waiting for the media storm to blow over. But now that Williams is established as a self-aggrandizing reporter, he may have lost his gravitas as a truth teller.

Brian Williams coverage of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 has been impeached.  Williams claimed that he saw dead bodies floating outside of his window.  Well, the Ritz Carlton is in the French Quarter, which is the highest point in New Orleans, which FEMA disputes the flooding to be low to nonexistent.   Williams claimed to have gotten dysentery from drinking floodwater, but the New Orleans Advocate quotes Dr. Brobson Lutz, who was treating people near the French Quarter: “I saw a lot of people with cuts and bruises and such, but I don’t recall a single, solitary case of gastroenteritis during Katrina or in the whole month afterward."   Three separate individuals have disputed William's claim that gangs of thugs had overrun his posh pied-de-terre in the French Quarter. 

News junkies have known for years that NBC News entities "Lean Forward" which give a liberal slant to news coverage.  This was recently demonstrated with Savanah Guthrie's softball pre-Super Bowl interview with President Obama in the White House kitchen.  Of course, GE and NBC was happy to work hand in hand with Al Gore devote 24 hours of programming for  his climate change campaign. Of course, Al Sharpton was given a platform to "resist we much" for race baiting on the George Zimmerman and Ferguson Missouri shootings.  While one could complain about the partisanship in the reportage or journalists inserting themselves into the story, at least the facts are not called into question.

At present, Brian Williams and by extension NBC News has become the butt of jokes, questioning their credibility in truth telling.  An effective internet series of memes places Brian Williams as a Zelig like figure in anachronistic poses, like being present for the lunar landings.

If Saturday Night Live were not a left leaning NBC property, it might even satirize William's tall tales.  But that is not how the Lamestream Media works today.

While the furor may subside, if Williams remains as anchor at Rockefeller Center, trust in NBC may fall like a rock.  In 1992, Dateline NBC aired a report "Waiting to Explode" which questioned the safety of GM's Chevy trucks.  To make more dramatic television, NBC strapped incendiary devices during the crash test. After this became exposed and General Motors threatened a defamation lawsuit, then NBC News President Michael Gartner admitted to the mistake and had Jane Pauley (who had no connection to the story) give a 3  1/2 minute on air apology. In the end, Gartner and three producers lost their positions as NBC News struggled to keep their bone fides as reputable reporters.

If NBC News dared to drop anchor, there might be other roles in which Brian Williams would be the perfect person. Williams would have been perfect for 30 Rock but alas the comedy series has been cancelled.  Perhaps as a correspondent for the Onion.  Maybe Steven Colbert needs a jocular sidekick for his stint on CBS's Late Night.

Then there is the question of what NBC News would do to fill the empty anchor chair. When NBC was considering a replacement  in October 2014 for David Gregory on Meet the Press, the execs at 30 Rock promised Daily Show comedian Jon Stewart a truckload of money to take the serious gig.  Stewart declined the NBC offer by saying: "News and entertainment have melded in a way. But they would be overcompensating on the entertainment side. That’s certainly not an outlandish decision, although I don’t necessarily think that’s the best direction for it.”

Jon Stewart did not want NBC News to become a joke.  So what do they do now with their credibility falling like a rock?

h/t: Adam Zyglis

Harry Reid Doubles Down on Squelching Sequestration

In response to the tragic deaths of seven Marines and many more injured during a training exercise in at Hawthorne, Nevada,  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) took to the Senate floor to blame... sequestration.

Of course Reid's, thesis makes no sense. The USMC issued a blanket ban on using the mortars and the associated tubes, as they are suspected as being defective.  Then there is the inconvenient truth that sequestration would have killed a live fire exercise for budgetary considerations.   Besides, the Marines can't take the bullets away from the huge DHS acquisitions which has been creating ammo shortages in the civilian population.

While Michael Ramirez was funny in postulating that Reid lost 98% of his remaining moral principals due to sequestration,  it is unclear if Reid still had any ethical chips left in his stash considering his cozy relations with casinos for his re-election as well as miraculously multiplying his personal wealth while serving in the Senate. 

Yet the Lamestream Media will intimate that Republicans would sell their soul to the devil for political advantage.  Consider Late Show host David Letterman's funny observation over the perceived likeness of Obama in the History Channel's "The Bible" series.

Unlike Democrat Senate Leader Reid's punch-line for sequestration, at least Letterman's laugh line  did not exploit the deaths of seven Marines to achieve his objectives, damn the truth.


h/t: Michael Ramirez

David Letterman on Icing the NHL Lockout

"The resolution to the NHL Lockout was so long in coming, they had started letting the 'Disney On Ice' skaters fight." 

~ David Letterman

Mick Jagger Stuck in a Moment?

During his recent appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, Mick Jagger quipped as the number one thing that he learned after 50 years in Rock and Roll is:

Mick Shrimpton's implosion in Spinal Tap.

 Funny stuff. But it contradicts Mick Shrimpton's wisdom from Spinal Tap: "I used to say 'sex, drugs, and rock and roll.' As long as there's sex and drugs, I can do without rock and roll."  Of course, he supposedly spontaneously combusted in concert, so he had no chance to be part of the rock of ageds.


What a drag it is getting old. Guess it's time for Mother's Little Helper or the ilk. But is there more than element of truth in Mick's admission about getting Satisfaction?

Some rock critics identify those immersed in the Rock and Roll lifestyle as being in arrested development. Does that mean that Mick Jagger is Stuck in the Moment? And U-2 (sic)?





This works out well if you are in the pantheon of Rock legends. But if you are not featured in the motorcade of generosity, how do you afford your rock and roll lifestyle?




During the RNC in Tampa, Representative  Paul Ryan (R-WU 1st) noted in his VP nominee acceptance speech:

 College graduates should not have to live out their 20s in their childhood bedrooms, staring up at fading Obama posters and wondering when they can move out and get going with life.

Must we all be stuck in the moment, whether it is at the Mom and Pop Pension or depending upon Uncle Sugar?  Well you can't always get what you want--but if you try sometime you just might find that you get what you need. 

The Celebrity in Chief's New Political Plank

September 19th was International Talk Like a Pirate Day, a fanciful faux holiday where people are encouraged to blurt out buccaneer phrases in casual conversation.  To wit, President Barack Obama tweeted this picture.

While it is kind of cute for Mr. Obama to participate in this visual joke.  But it took time and planning for the Celebrity in Chief to set up for this Pirate picture.  This same week, President Obama made time to appear on Late Night with David Letterman to face tough questions from the host such as "Have you seen me naked?"

Later, Obama went to a fund-raiser with Beyonce and Jay-Z which included a $280,000 tower of champagne.

When does President Obama have time to govern, or even attend a daily National Security briefing?

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