Tuesday, June 27, 2017

The Gaggle Has Ruined Major Media


As a member of the press for many years, I am understandably upset with the shenanigans of major media.
While I was writing news for The Evening Tribune there was a concerted effort on the part of the editorial staff to assure the news was reported in a fair and straight-forward manner. Both Managing Editor Kelly Luvison and City Editor Neil Coombs read every submission for publication with a practiced and critical eye.  Facts had to be checked. If possible, the item had to be balanced, with both sides of the story told (at times this was not possible as there were times when one of the parties refused comment. This was noted in the item so readers would know attempts were made to convey a fair and balanced piece.)The item, of, course, had to be truefiction had no place in a newspaper (unless it was labeled as such). Editorializing (the writer inserting his own opinion) was not allowed in a news story (although opinion pieces could be submitted for the Editorial Page.) And there was no such thing as an ‘Unnamed Source’. If there was a citation, there was a source. Period. All of these criteria fell under the rubric of responsible journalism.
It’s not like that anymore.
Somewhere along the line “fair and balanced’’ was tossed aside and replaced with the swill currently being presented as “news.”
Where does it say it’s okay to call the President of the United States a liar – not just once but routinely? Most of the nation’s major newspapers and news agencies have made a habit of besmirching the name and character of the rightly and unanimously elected leader of our country. The New York Times and the Washington Post are leading the way. Neither of these organs ever called Barack Obama a liar, despite such obvious opportunities as “you can keep your doctor” and “the Bengazi attack was caused by an internet video.”  Indeed, the Times and the Post, along with the White House press corps, spent eight years cheerleading the BO administration, never seeing even an iota of corruption or dishonesty. They have been tough on Hillary Clinton at times, but they never called her a liar, despite such lulus as “I set up my own computer server so I would only need one device,” “I turned over all the government emails,” and “I never sent or received classified emails.” Apparently only Donald Trump is fair game to be called a liar, although there has been no reason to do so. But then the Donald has an R after his name.
The New York Times at one time had a reputation for the highest standards of journalism. The standards stated above were reinforced over decades to force reporters and editors to be fair and to gain the public trust. Many times during my college years I referenced the Times to research an article or for a paper I was writing. I also used the Times as a journalist to verify certain information to use in a piece for the paper. The Times was, after all, the newspaper of record. You could count on everything in it being true and factual. Not anymore.
Years ago, the editorial staff of the paper was run by managing editor Abe Rosenthal. Reportedly, Rosenthal was a tough but fair taskmaster when handling the reporters in his charge. He set the rules and they were followedor else.  Rosenthal was an adherent of responsible journalism, as were Luvison and Coombs. Abe Rosenthal is no longer with us and with him went the high standards of the Times. Its true that the journalistic standards of many of the country’s major newspapers took a licking as the leanings of editors and reporters went Left and there were no Rosenthals to put a stop to it.
The current editor of the Times, a guy named Dean Baquet, sees no harm in allowing his writers to trample the standards the paper was noted for for decades. He relishes the practice of calling the president a liar and freely prints that whatever the president says is false. Under his dominion the age-old standards of determining who, what, where, how, and why has been added the reporters’ opinion. Baquet has decided that the standards of fairness and nonpartisanship can be abandoned in favor of Liberalism, apparently without consequence.
I don’t believe that is possible. I think that not only the public trust shared by the Times but many of the other major newspapers that have deemed to abandon sound journalistic standards has been lost, not to be recovered. The internet will provide truth seekers with their news

Monday, June 19, 2017

Sticking It To the Gaggle


I’ve been waiting all morning to hear a report that President Trump started the horrific forest fire in Portugal that has swept a good part of the country and burned many towns and scores of homes.

After all, it’s just the sort of thing the Left would accuse the president of doing.

Also, I’ve been listening for an item that reveals the president’s complicity in Bill Cosby’s mistrial. Or the shooting of Congressman Scalise.

This just smacks of Republican shenanigans. There is no other reason for it. The Republicans have nothing better to do than perform outrageous skullduggery on the hapless populace. Then, of course, use the Left’s trick of blaming someone else.

Certainly the worst of Republican crimes is leaking. The scoundrels in the White House have a frolicking good time leaking on the government they have stewardship over, or so the Left would have us believe.

In my many years as an observer of politics I have seen nothing like the spectacle we’re seeing now. The unprofessional conduct of the Left leaning gaggle is momentous, frightening, and unforgiveable. That the once-trustworthy news media could turn colors and betray an entire country is unconscionable. The treachery displayed by them against Mr. Trump and his government approaches treason, in my view anyway. 

I well remember how the gaggle went after Richard Nixon. It’s doubtful whether the gaggle cared if Nixon was guilty; they wanted him out of office. (Though one wonders why they settled for Gerald Ford.)

The gaggle pulled out all the stops to see President Nixon off into retirement, but did all they could to cover the many crimes of Slick Willie Clinton and his thoroughly corrupt wife. We all know there is no shame on the part of the gaggle, so we won’t look for any. But how about some jail time? I have an abiding opinion in my soul that says if the Right stopped acting like a bunch of whipped pups and prosecuted some of the obvious crimes against the Trump administration, there would be a lot fewer crimes committed. Makes sense. Right?

The problem with this scenario is that the Left has the Right on the run. Republicans and those that lean right are afraid they will be accused of something. So they run and hide. When was the last time someone on the Left was accused of something that anyone in law enforcement took seriously? Makes one wonder what’s going on in law enforcement, huh? The idea that an eager investigator can’t come up with something with which to charge a guilty party on the Left is patently ridiculous. All the lying and the leaking and lowdown skunky behavior: There has to be some illegal activity somewhere; after all, this is the Left we’re talking about.

The thing that irks is instead of jumping in and helping the Trump administration Make America Great Again, the Honking Gaggle chooses to dig in its heels and go the exact opposite way. I realize there are those out there who like what BHO did to the country. Hell, I know one and this asshole brags about how wonderful he thinks the country is doing right now. Sure, he was doing fine on his NYS teachers retirement, never mind the 95 million people out of work. He didn’t care about them. Typical Leftist asshole.

It doesn’t appear that the Leftist media or the Leftist world at large wants to see America get straightened around after the devastation of the BHO years. They must like things the way they are. As long as they have a paycheck coming, the hell with everybody else.

Most of the people I talk to are of a Conservative bent. Few of them could explain what a Conservative is, other than “I ain’t no damn Commie.” But they can tell you what a Conservative America looks like – happy people, plenty of jobs, a means of taking care of themselves (meaning no welfare), opportunities for starting businesses – all things the Left despises. 

What Conservatives don’t do is turn on the President of the United States, tell lies about him and his family, and among other things, accuse him of crimes that amount to treason, with no proof whatsoever. Conservatives may disagree with the president, may even become angry with him and yell a few dirty words. This is legitimate.

But you don’t carry on the way the shitheads on the Left are doing. What they are doing amounts to treason and arrests should be made and prison sentences handed out. The Left has promised it will never let up in its attacks on the president. Powerful people on the Right need to grow a set of balls.

One way to stop the onslaught is send a few thousand Lefties up the river,  see them leak from Sing Sing.

 

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Enjoying Yankee Baseball Again


Yankee fans who have slipped away over the past few years may want to revisit the YES channel for some really good baseball.

Bronx Bomber management has added some darn good players over the last couple of years that just might – maybe – provide a few World Series appearances in the near future – and maybe a ring or two.

Rookie outfielder Aaron Judge just might be the real thing.
What real thing, you ask? Would you believe Joe DiMaggio or Mickey Mantle?

Yeah, I know it’s much too early to know for sure what Aaron Judge will bring to banquet over the next eight, ten years or longer. But currently he’s leading the American League in homeruns (22) and RBI’s (49), BA at .347. Judge won the game against the Anaheim Angels yesterday with a two-run dinger in the 8th. He’s a big fellow, bringing a six-feet, eight inch, 280-lb frame to the plate with mucho power. Sunday he rammed a near line drive 495 feet for a his 20th homer. Reportedly, he’s a cool dude with no ego. Just an easy laid back guy.

Catcher Gary Sanchez is getting his eye at the plate, after a slow start and a spell on the DL.

DiDi Gregorius, the best all-around shortstop in the league, is hitting .344. Second baseman Starlin Castro is second in the league in hits (81), while batting .328.

Aaron Hicks, currently in centerfield, is hitting .313 standing in for injured Jacoby Ellsbury. Last year Hicks couldn’t hit a lick. Time changes everything.

Four starting players batting over .300 – sounds like an all-star team.

 

The past few years I’ve strayed from my attraction for watching Yankee baseball. They just weren’t playing well – or it could be that that team just wasn’t a good team. They lost games they should have won, and it seemed that if they ever fell behind, the game for all intents and purposes was over. At seasons end they managed a one game playoff with the Astros, in which they failed to score. My opinion of the talent on that team cratered – it seemed to me they weren’t even trying to squeeze into the playoffs. All they wanted was to head to the golf course or go fishing, or otherwise start their vacations. My interest – because of the talents of Judge, Gregorius, Sanchez, Castro, Hicks, and veteran Matt Holiday (all new talent)  has returned, and I am once again enjoying watching Yankee baseball.

 

Back in ’04, I was in the same quandary. It got to the point I wasn’t  watching TV in the pm, except for an occasional western movie. My wife had started back to work – she always worked nights – and I was back to my job of waking her.  At that time of day it was always too easy to fall asleep myself, so I turned on the TV. Not wanting to get involved in anything lengthy, I went to the YES channel to watch the Yankees for a few minutes.

A curious thing was happening. Not only were they winning nearly every game, they were coming from behind to win. Game after game. I began watching again. Who doesn’t like to watch their team win? Especially in come-from-behind style.

Then came the ’04 playoffs. Remember? Yanks up three games to none in the ALCS over the Red Sox. Everyone believing the Bombers were going to the World Series. Then the bottom fell out. The Bean Towners won the next three. The first sports team to come from an 0-3 deficit and win a best of seven series. Then to show they were not to be trifled with, Boston took out the St. Louis Cardinals in four straight in the World Series. It was their first series win in something like 86 years. The Curse of the Bambino held up for a long time, but was finally over.

Then just last year we saw the end of the Curse of Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow (or whatever) in Chicago. I find myself sort of thinking it would be nice to see Cleveland win a series and break its long drought – but not if they happen to be playing the Yanks, of course. We all have our priorities.

Monday, June 5, 2017

Using RICO on the Left?


The liberal response to the president’s rejection of the climate treaty was predictable. Had BO rejected this monstrosity, which he surely wouldn’t, the response would have been much different, as we know. I applaud President Trump for not losing his cool over the hypocrisy of the left. This accord would have done nothing but raise our taxes (yours and mine), meanwhile accomplish nothing as far as climate is concerned.

 They say the seas are rising, some glaciers are melting, but none of it means anything insofar as our (you and me) causing the heat of the planet to go up. (There has been no global warming in nearly 20 years.) Climate can, and does, change on its own from time to time.

Science has lost out to politicsglobal warming enthusiasts trying to dupe the politicians into giving them free money so they can study global warming, called currently climate change because global warming is a lie, as if their jobs depended on it, which it very likely does. But if your job is dependent on lying and attempting to hoodwink the governmentand ultimately we taxpayersinto giving you money for something that doesn’t exist, you need to find a new project or a new job. We know it’s a taxpayer rip-off when we’re told that China and Indiathe two biggest polluters (and you thought it was US, huh?) haven’t paid a dime toward preventing global warming and likely will not. It’s all bee-ess, just like the accusation that President Trump colluded with the Russians to win the election. Though there is no proof for either issue, the gaggle of geese keep spitting and honking.

I even hear it said that Rhode Island democrat senator Sheldon Whitehouse thinks it’s a swell idea to use the RICO laws (those used to put the racketeers away thirty years or so ago) to prosecute we who deny global warming. Can you imagine the temerity of this prickto deny those with a brain the right to freedom of speech. Question: why doesn’t this liberal twit propose the use of the RICO laws to go after terrorists?

“Hey, you, c’mere. Say, you look like a terrorist, you walk like a terrorist, you talk like a terrorist; I’ll bet you’re a terrorist. You’re under arrest for being a terrorist.”

“But, Ossifer, I didn’t do nothing. Honest.”

“Don’t matter. It’s called the rat test. If you look like a rat, you walk like a rat, you talk like a rat, you’re a rat. Let’s go!”

Actually, I say this tongue-in-cheek but it really doesn’t sound like a bad idea.  Problem being, it’s terribly politically incorrect and would never be allowed. How about using the RICO laws to silence the politically correct crowd? What a blessing that would be. Added benefit: recidivism rates in prisons would plummetwho would want to serve time with these maniacs?

I also heard the president of Francecan’t think of his nameinvited all the “geese” who opposed the president’s rejection of the accord to come to his countrythey would be welcomed with open arms.

Thing is, a good many of the geese are wealthy peoplemovie stars (who should be boycotted), politicians, industrialists, ad nauseaum) who own their own gas-guzzling airplanes, polluting the planet with every flight. The movie people are the worst. They use their talents (such as they are) to become rich and famous, then use their wealth and celebrity to tell lies about the environment and call for elimination of our rightsvis-a-vie their opposition to the Second Amendment.

There is no reason to listen to these people, trouble being, some of them contribute muchissimo bucks to the democrat party. (Now there’s another group we could use the RICO laws to get rid of. Think of itno freaking geese honking at every move the president makes or that would vote against us in elections. (I have some friends here locallyboth liberals who I swear go to vote at every election for the past thirty years just to nullify the votes of my wife and me.) Geese would be welcomed in prison, as I am led to believe most inmates are democrats at heart. But most are politically correct-what the hell does that mean, anyway? Politically correct? What’s correct about it? I suppose there is a political element there someplacepolitics and political correctness both smack of being loaded with bee-ess. As does liberalism, for that matter.  None of it makes any sense. It’s all bee-ess. But why is bee-ess running the country. It just doesn’t seem as though the winners of the election are doing very well.

Every time our president proposes some act or law or whatever to help get the country moving, liberals, mostly media types, attack him. I’ve got to hand it to him; I think if it was me being attacked by the gaggle of geese at every turn, I would feel compelled to strike back. Likely, I would regret my words later, but I think there would be certain times I would have say something vile. President Trump’s every move is for the betterment of a nation laid waste by his predecessor. And the left doesn’t care. The geese are still hissing and honking because Hillary isn’t president. To them, it’s all that matters. Whatever Trump does for the betterment of the country won’t matter-it will be attributed to something or someone else. (Wow! The RICO laws are sounding better and better, aren’t they?)

It would nice if there was a way to silence the geese, but then this wouldn’t be America. There is that darned First Amendment, and last I looked it’s we conservatives who abide by it, fight for it. It’s the geese we have to look out for .