Correlation much? CNN is cutting as many as 300 staffers in the wake of absolutely dismal ratings numbers for April.
There's no indication that the worst offenders -- Chris Cuomo, Brian Stelter, Manu Raju, Don Lemon, and Jim Acosta -- are going anywhere. Likely it's mostly the behind-the-scenes employees -- who have nothing to do with the network's editorial spin -- slated lose their jobs. The (mostly white) men who are responsible for sending the ratings into a tailspin with their irresponsible reporting will no doubt keep their corner offices and their cushy multi-million dollar salaries.This one is the kind of development that spurs me to attune my radar to any discussions about it that I might come across. Tariffs are bad; they're taxes, really. They distort the market values of particular goods and services, which has a ripple effect on an even wider array of goods and services. The other side of the coin, in the particular case of China, is that that country is decidedly not a good-faith trading partner. Intellectual property theft, insistence on 51 percent Chinese ownership of joint ventures, cyber-espionage. So the basic idea of letting China's trade negotiators know that we're not going to turn a blind eye, much less acquiesce to their vision of their own advantage seems like the right way to proceed. But, as I say, I'll be keeping my eye out for any economics wonks' suggestions of other ways to demonstrate hard-nosedness besides tariffs.
Pennsylvania State Representative Brian Sims is a chunk of dog vomit posing as a human being.
Dana Loesch has perfected the art of the Twitter smackdown. Here she gives Eric Swalwell what he has coming:
They (the NRA) hate me because they know I’m not the bogeyman they want ... I feel comfortable shooting guns. I do shoot guns. I think that they want the person who is proposing tougher gun laws to be someone who’s never handled a gun before.
Even though you threatened to nuke and jail people if they didn’t turn over their guns, no one hates you. They’re just uninterested.Why Betsy DeVos rocks - today's edition. An excerpt from her remarks at the Manhattan Institute's 19th annual Alexander Hamilton Awards dinner.
The kind of welcoming committee you get in post-America: Harassment of MAGA hat-wearers has been a thing for a while, but here's a new angle. A group of Asians in DC who were so attired and so harassed were defectors from North Korea.
Voracious appetite for drugs. Is that the same as addiction? Is addiction a sin? Is our old friend John Barleycorn(the traditional escape) included in society's voracious appetite for drugs?
ReplyDelete"Today, one in three Americans suffer from liver conditions, predominantly from fatty liver disease. Fatty liver is mostly caused by unhealthy eating and lifestyle habits which quickly develop into obesity and other chronic conditions. As the liver performs over 500 functions, its inability to do its job impacts other organs and can result in multiple organ failures and dangerous medical complications. Amsety´s liver health experts have studied data from the Liver Health Score to explore Americans´ most common dietary and lifestyle habits essential for liver health. The overall findings revealed that the regular consumption of alcohol, soda, fast food, sugary or salty snacks was a typical lifestyle pattern of 48% of the respondents. These unhealthy habits are becoming increasingly normalized and present a problem that it is reckless to ignore — they are killing our liver."
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-rising-crisis-how-americas-lifestyle-pushes-it-to-the-verge-of-a-liver-disease-epidemic-300837011.html
Voracious appetite is a broader category than addiction, and no, I wasn't;t referring to alcohol.
ReplyDeleteWhat then?.Opiates, cannibis, meth? After a half century of a drug war leaving us here in our land where freedom reigns with the highest incarceration in the world. And you really should include alcihol because among other dire stats for other demographics, alcohol still kills more teens than any other drug. And that was especially true in pre-post America.
ReplyDeleteVoracious appetite is not addiction then. It smells like a moral failing you'd ascribe to post-Americans.
ReplyDeleteYou must not avail yourself of much news, but this country is in the throes of a horrible hard-drug crisis. Opioids, meth. My radio-gig email always includes at least one and usually several more busts in the counties comprising south-central Indiana. This county is pouring a huge portion of its budget into programs like a recovery shelter for mothers of young children and an adult court dedicated to trying to get people on a recovery path. This country has never before had to deal with a huge portion of the populace turned into zombie-eyed junkies. It's not a problem that has occurred in isolation.
ReplyDeleteI read the news, oh boy. Local cops are among the most aggressive you will find. As for opiates, weren't they said to have been prescribed like candy by medical professionals? Who has the voracious appetite and for what?
ReplyDeleteI read the local news. Back when I knew you ypu'd yawN at it, not even subscribing to the paper. Our local cops are quite aggressive, running plates in an effort at collars Throw all the bums in jail. Alxcohol related incidents still prevIl. The history of our addiction problem in this country began long before we were united and alcoholism is still a much greTsr and graver problem
ReplyDeleteIf you're uninterested in the spiritual rot that is destroying our country, I don't know what to say to you. And both the Columbus Police Department and the Bartholomew County Sheriff's Department are organizations of the utmost integrity.
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ReplyDeleteSure. I'm in AA and uninterested in the spiritual rot. But we are a program of attraction not promotion. Nor degradation.
ReplyDeleteFortunately, not everyone is as ho-hum about the destruction of Western civilization.
ReplyDeleteMy statement about AA was a dramatic understatement. Admittedly I was shallow to bring your phrase "voracious appetite for drugs" into your varietous plaints against current Western humanity, but it threatens my deep longing for freedom of the leaf, fungi and cacti. At most only 10% get addicted to any and/or all drugs, including alcohol. Will that continue to be a basis for denying freedom (in the harshest terms) to the vast majority? Jail does not work. Prohibition does not work. Of course surrender to a God of our (current but ever changing for sincere spiritual seekers) understanding always does work wonders, if not mere miracles
ReplyDeleteI'm very gratified by the steps being taken where I live. One particular judge has tirelessly pushed for, and gotten implemented, an adult drug treatment court. She says that it will be an option open to incarcerated addicts with no history of violence. She says the days of attaching a stigma to these desperate people have to be over, that the problem is too great. People in her program will meet regularly with counselors and attend classes. Then there is the Fresh Start Recovery Center, located in the old Post Office building at 7th and Washington. It will be run by Volunteers of America and allow recovering mothers of children under 5 to have their kids with them. Then there is an office called the Hub, which will serve as a clearing house of referral services for anyone who comes in and says, "Where do I go for this particular issue related to my drug problem?" Then there is the Residents Encounter Christ program, which is basically the Emmaus Walk weekend for jail inmates. Sheriff Matt Myers has been instrumental in setting that up. I did the Saturday night candlelight service of the most recent women's weekend, and I can attest it was powerful.
ReplyDeleteMy original point still stands. We did not have anything like this number of zombie-eyed junkies roaming around in society 60 years ago.
ReplyDeleteCelebrate Recovery too. All work towards and often together for the greater glory of sobriety and serenity. Though the world, nation, state and city populations are geometrically greater than when we were born, the incidence of addiction remains roughly 10 per cent across all populations. The medical and pharmaceutical professions bears more responsibility for the opiate crisis than even the addicts themselves.
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