The Dog Days are definitely with us. I was looking at a relatively unfamiliar news site this morning and thinking These people have terrible news judgment! Where’s the real news? Then I looked at other respected outlets and saw there just wasn’t any.
No wonder it’s Trump all the time (yesterday, the first four items on my Washington Post app on my iPad were about The Donald). Nothing’s happening.
Anyway, here are some topics you may take an interest in. If you know of anything more interesting, please bring it to our attention:
- China Devalues Its Currency Amid Economic Slowdown — See what I mean? This is at least serious news; it’s just excruciatingly dull. News to take a nap by. It’s the kind of thing that makes me want to run screaming in the opposite direction.
- Demonstrations in Ferguson lead to arrests and potential flash points — So there was a police-involved shooting in Ferguson a couple of nights back — one in which pretty much no one is alleging that cops were at fault. But unlike police-involved shootings in the rest of the country, this one is getting coverage. You know why? Because media are there for the anniversary.
- Jeb Bush wants to bring back the Bush doctrine — I’m just including this one to give Bud the heebie-jeebies.
- 100,000 people have come to recent Bernie Sanders rallies. How does he do it? — My personal theory? Everyone in America who will consider voting for Sanders has been to at least one, and possibly several, of his rallies. Some may be traveling from city to city, like Deadheads.
Come on, y’all — please come up with something better.
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Oh, here’s something, just in passing, that will probably not matter to anyone but me. And as for that, even some of my best friends have called me a pedant…
As I was driving sometime after lunch yesterday, I heard a report on ETV radio about the Ferguson unrest. And at some point, the person in the studio in New York or Washington or wherever was interviewing someone on the ground, someone who was identified as the Huffington Post’s representative in Ferguson. You know how media people like to interview each other.
I was really, really disturbed the more I listened to this person — not because of what she said, but because of the way she said it. Her speech was salted with wildly ungrammatical constructions such as “had went.” More than once, she was asked about things she had personally witnessed, and she started her observation with “I seen…” (There were one or two other painful-to-hear phrases that I’ve mercifully forgotten.) And at no point did she stop and correct herself, the way someone would do if she had just momentarily slipped.
You probably don’t care, but then you don’t know as many unemployed journalists as I do, professionals who — while they might not have broadcast voices — would NEVER mangle the language that way. I’ve worked with a lot of journalists over the years, people from all sorts of backgrounds, whose skills varied from the superb to the “can’t write his way out of a paper bag” level. Some might have used jargon that grated on my ears — such as saying “persons” when they meant “people,” or using “impact” as a verb. But I don’t think I’ve ever worked with anyone who spoke that way.
Maybe HuffPost thought a person had to speak a certain way in order to have cred on the streets of Ferguson, to blend. But that seems awfully condescending to the people of Ferguson.
Anyway, I’ve read and heard reports from all sorts of media as the types of media proliferate (but media jobs decline). And I’ve seen some real talent, and real mastery of the language, employed by people who represent this or that new medium.
But this was a new one on me, and rather disturbing…
Some of these “reporters” are hired for their social media activism. many times their journalistic skills are minimal at best.
Deeply disturbing, truly a new low. The abuse of personal pronouns is a national pastime. David Brooks is not the only person who should know better I have heard confuse ancestor and descendant. Well known publishers release books that obviously haven’t been breathed on by a competent copy editor; spell check is less expensive. I expect media interviews with semi-literate locals but I have Never heard one identified as a media representative.
8/11/1966 The Beatles John Lennon apologizes for earlier statements claiming the Beatles were more popular than Jesus and that Christianity would vanish.
Now, see, THAT would have been a talker. But I wasn’t doing Open Threads then…
Yeah,well…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KftE_V2BWo
Here’s your feel good sniper head shot story of the day.
“ISIS militants had decreed that the little boy and his father must die after branding them “infidels” because they refused to denounce their faith. They were just seconds from death when the hero sniper intervened to stop the barbaric killing in the Syrian desert.”
At a 1,000 meters, the SAS sniper took out three ISIS jihadis moments before the were going to execute the man and his son. That’s just a touch over half a mile for those of you who don’t speak metric.
Wow. Talk about a big time shot.
Wait a second… The Brits have SAS on the ground in Iraq? We’ve got no combat troops, and they’ve got SAS? How did I miss this?
The article says “Syrian desert” but you have a good point. Maybe we have guys there (very quietly), but they aren’t authorized to engage.
Well, that’s the other thing. Was this guy following his rules of engagement, or did he just decide to be a hero?
In other words, are the Brits there to engage like that, or are they supposed to be training the locals or something?
Just a guess, but I think that after the ISIS massacre on the Tunisian beach killed a bunch of British subjects, David Cameron let SAS off the leash.
I’ve never read the Express before. They don’t go in for the objective, detached journalist thing do they? Just in the first two short grafs: “Brave,” “terrified,” “crazed,” “hated,” “sick”…
Not terribly imaginative, but lurid, which seems to be the point…
They didn’t say, but I imagine that getting hit in the head by a .50 caliber sniper round is a bit of a gruesome decapitation as well – though maybe one occurring far faster. Could not have happened to a nicer guy, however.
Yeah, it’s a really powerful round. You’re correct in the approximate effect.
Like I always say: Never get into an argument with someone who can shoot you from a different time-zone.
There are a lot of stories (starting last night) about the Perry campaign running out of money. I wonder how many of the other campaigns are in the same boat or will be soon, but have so far managed to keep it from leaking.
“China Devalues Its Currency Amid Economic Slowdown — See what I mean? This is at least serious news; it’s just excruciatingly dull. News to take a nap by.”
Funny–my portfolio seems to think otherwise. Note that it might also knock that “trend” toward Chinese investment in SC (with subsidies) for a loop.
That’s all well and good for people with portfolios…
But I’m VERY weird. Even if it’s MY money (very unlikely, since practically none of the world’s money is mine), I wouldn’t be interested in reading or writing about it. Or hearing about it.
If I were wealthy, I would want to be wealthy enough to pay people so that I would never have to think about my money. I’d pay two or three different teams of people to all watch each other, with regular independent audits, and then I would just turn my back on it all…
That reminds me of one of those “Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy”:
“Consider the daffodil. And while you’re doing that, I’ll be over here, looking through your stuff.”
Maybe Trump will decide on Lizard Man for his VP.
I’m just including this one to give Bud the heebie-jeebies.
-Brad
Not to disappoint. This narrative really is interesting. Bush is claiming the job was basically done and all we had to do was stick around a bit longer and peace and social just would reign supreme throughout the world. Freedom was marching and only the interdiction by the unpatriotic, foolish Democrat president ruined all the hard work of our 43rd president thus paving the way for the rise of ISIS.
Heck, I guess blood is thicker than water and Jeb can’t throw big brother under the bus. But really, does any of this have even the tiniest basis in fact. For Pete’s sake, how long did we need to stay there? After all Obama just followed the Bush timeline. Was it really tenable to maintain American troops and get more of them shot? Really? Let’s keep in mind that American troops are not becoming casualties in Iraq. We are not spending billions. Despite the ramblings of folks like Lindsey Graham the homeland isn’t under any threat. This was a colossal mess of Bush’s making and it’s unsolvable by any western nation. It will be a messy situation because of his meddling but it’s up to the people of the area to sort things out.
And yes, the prospect of a new Bush doctrine does give me the heeby jeebies. But only a little since I don’t think Bush is going to win. President Clinton has learned much in her time in Washington and I doubt she will get anywhere close to making THAT mistake again.