The press as propaganda

The New Neo Posted on by

Leighton Woodhouse writes the following, in an article entitled “How the Media Trains Journalists to Lie”:

Before the internet, a politically unpopular story might trigger a flood of nasty letters to the editor, but as long as it didn’t upset any major advertisers, the haters could be safely ignored. Now that it was the readers paying the rent, things were different. A revolt by your readers, if you were a newspaper publisher post-2016, was a direct threat to your bottom line.

But there was a threat even more perilous than that: a revolt by all the young reporters you hired to cater to the millions of outraged new subscribers you had enlisted in the fight against MAGA authoritarianism…

Today, a politically unpopular article or personality can leave a publisher besieged from the outside while facing a revolt from within…

As these changes took place across the digital media industry, Twitter became a disciplinary tool for the journalistic profession. It became the means by which the partisan and ideological vanguardists huddled inside the media’s fortress walls could find their ragtag armies on the outside and wage war together against disfavored colleagues like Weiss and McNeil.

I would add a couple of things. The first is that for most journalists today, even older ones, no one has to coerce them to lie. It is something they consider part of the job description if it furthers the politics they believe are virtuous. The younger ones chose journalism for that very reason – as the author describes. But many – not all, but many – of the older ones that haven’t left the profession are fully onboard. I believe the big turning point for this attitude was Watergate, when journalists felt pride in having brought down a president they hated. That was an awfully long time ago, and the younguns who took the credit are pretty old now.

The second thing I want to add is that there are examples of journalists who left the fold to preserve some sort of integrity, who seem to be doing fine. It takes courage, but not an absolutely extraordinary amount of courage. Bari Weiss, mentioned in the quote above, seems to have landed on her feet. Glenn Greenwald as well. Not to mention Kari Lake, who explains here why she left journalism (the video is from around the time she announced her candidacy for the Arizona governorship):

The latest on the Paul Pelosi attack

The New Neo Posted on by

You can find the federal criminal complaint here (narration of facts are on pages 4-7), and a brief summary here.

The first federal charge: “18 U.S. Code § 115 – Influencing, impeding, or retaliating against a Federal official by threatening or injuring a family member.”

The second federal charge under Title 18 U.S.C. § 1201(d): “attempting to seize or kidnap a United States official, to wit, Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.” The latter charge was based on Depape’s verbal statements to both Paul Pelosi and to investigators, as well as equipment he carried with him.

My observations:

(1) This is such a strange incident, there have been so many conflicting facts released and published, the FBI and DOJ have lost so much trust, and the entire thing has been so utterly politicized, that conspiracy theories about what really happened will probably be floating forever.

(2) That said, I think that Depape was an intruder unknown to Paul Pelosi, dressed in regular clothing and not underwear (at least, when he entered the home), and is also a bona fide crazy person as well as a Canadian who overstayed his visa by 20 years. His politics are probably a jumbled and delusional mess that could roughly be described as some form of anarchism with both right and left elements, but his politics are the least of it although the left will try to make the most of it.

(3) There remains the glaring lack of any mention of a security system, turned on or off, good or bad, malfunctioning or nonexistent. The home is in San Francisco. The Pelosis are mega-wealthy, mega-famous, and of sufficient notoriety to have received all sorts of death and/or assault threats. It would be foolhardy – and that’s a kindly way to put it – to not have some sort of very good system or even guards on hand, which they can easily afford. It matters not that Nancy Pelosi herself wasn’t home – although almost certainly there would have been better security had she been there. The Pelosi’s extraordinary wealth alone would ordinarily have sufficed to dictate some sort of system.

This is the sort of wealth I’m talking about:

The nonpartisan OpenSecrets estimated in 2009 that Pelosi’s average net worth was approximately $58 million, ranking her 13th among 25 wealthiest members of Congress. In 2014, OpenSecrets reported Pelosi’s average net worth almost doubled to approximately $101 million, ranking her 8th out of the 25 wealthiest members of Congress. Business Insider reported that Pelosi’s worth was $26.4 million in 2012 and made her the 13th richest member of Congress. In 2014, Roll Call estimated that Pelosi’s net worth was $29.35 million, ranking her the 15th wealthiest member of Congress.

Roll Call said Pelosi’s earnings are connected to her husband’s heavy investments in stocks that include Apple, Disney, Comcast and Facebook. Roll Call reported that the couple have $13.46 million in liabilities including mortgages on seven properties. According to Roll Call, Pelosi and her husband hold properties “worth at least $14.65 million, including a St. Helena vineyard in Napa Valley worth at least $5 million and commercial real estate in San Francisco”.

As of 2021, Pelosi’s net worth was valued at $120 million, making her the 6th richest person in Congress.

On the Paul Pelosi perp

The New Neo Posted on by

So many people have gone into the Paul Pelosi attack in depth that I don’t feel the need to do so at the moment. So I’ll just link to this as well as this.

I wrote at the outset I thought the perp would turn out to be a crazy person. Indeed, that seems to be the case. I also wrote that my biggest question had to do with why there was no security or no effective security. That’s still my question, and so far there’s been no answer.

It goes without saying that the left would try to make political hay of it by blaming the right. That’s certainly been their attempt. But at this point, I can’t imagine it convinces anyone but the already-convinced.

Lula’s back

The New Neo Posted on by

Brazilian politician “Lula” has won the presidency by a hair, making it his third term but not in a row.

Lula is on the left and his main opponent (and previous president) Bolsonaro is on the right. This seems to be a pattern, and not just in Brazil or the US, either: close whiplash elections leading to whiplash policies. Lula is friendly to Iran, for example, and is into the leftist view of climate change. You can learn more about him here.

In addition, Lula’s return is part of a trend that also occurred recently for the US: an elderly president. Lula is 76 years old. In addition, he’s being elected:

…after a series of corruption allegations lead to his imprisonment for 580 days. The sentences were later annulled by the Supreme Court, clearing his path to run for reelection.

That’s what the left in this country is determined to do to President Trump, of course.

Was Lula guilty? From that same Wiki profile you can see that it’s pretty convoluted:

On 4 March 2016, as part of “Operation Car Wash”, Brazilian authorities raided Lula’s home…A police statement alleged that Lula had collaborated in illegal bribes from the oil company Petrobras to benefit his political party and presidential campaign….

On 16 March 2016, Rousseff appointed Lula as her chief of staff, a position comparable to that of prime minister. This would have shielded him from arrest due to the immunity that went with the position…Supreme Court Judge Gilmar Mendes suspended Lula da Silva’s appointment on the grounds that Rousseff was trying to help Lula circumvent prosecution…

Lula was found guilty by the lower court of accepting R$3.7 million in bribes ($1.2 million US) in the form of improvements to his beachfront house, made by construction company Grupo OAS [pt], which in turn received lucrative contracts from the state-owned oil company Petrobras. Lula also faced other charges, including money laundering, influence peddling and obstruction of justice. On 12 July 2017, Sergio Moro sentenced Lula to nine and a half years in prison. Lula remained free pending his appeal. Lula’s lawyer accused the judge of bias and the judge replied that nobody, not even the former president, should be above the rule of law…

On 23 March 2021, the Supreme Federal Court ruled by a 3–2 decision that Moro, who had overseen Lula’s trial in a case, was biased against him…

On 5 April 2018, Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court (STF) voted 6–5 to deny Lula’s habeas corpus petition. The court ruled that Lula must begin serving the sentence relating to 12 July 2017 conviction, despite not having exhausted all of his appeals…

On 9 June 2019, The Intercept published leaked Telegram messages between the judge in Lula’s case, Sérgio Moro, and the Operation Car Wash lead prosecutor, Deltan Dallagnol, in which they allegedly conspired to convict Lula to prevent his candidacy for the 2018 presidential election…

On 8 November 2019, Lula was released from prison after 580 days when a Brazilian Supreme Court ended mandatory imprisonment of convicted criminals after their first appeal failed…

Judge Edson Fachin of the Supreme Federal Court annulled all convictions against Lula on 8 March 2021, ruling that the court in Curitiba which convicted him lacked jurisdiction to do so, and ordered a retrial in Brasilia. A full Supreme Court bench later upheld the ruling by an 8–3 decision on 15 April.

The UN also got into the act, as well as Bernie Sanders and the NY Times. At any rate, that’s where it seems to have ended, and now he’s president.

More here on the election:

The former leader’s victory on Sunday was the latest in a political wave across Latin America, with wins by left-leaning politicians in Argentina, Colombia and Chile. But Lula da Silva – a former union leader with a blue-collar background – has sought to reassure moderates throughout his campaign…

Hours after the results were announced, Bolsonaro had yet to concede defeat or make any public statement. Meanwhile, videos on social media showed his supporters had blocked highways in two states to protest against Lula da Silva’s victory.

“We will only leave once the army takes over the country,” one unidentified Bolsonaro supporter said in a video taken in the southern state of Santa Catarina…

[Lula] may find that enacting his agenda is an uphill battle…especially with a hostile Congress. Seats that were from the traditional right are now occupied by the far right…

In the latest elections, Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party increased its representatives in the lower house from 76 to 99, while in the Senate it doubled from seven members to 14. Lula da Silva’s Workers’ Party has also increased its number of deputies from 56 to 68 and senators from seven to eight – but overall, conservative-leaning politicians will dominate the next legislature.

A split-personality result that results in a leftist president and a legislature on the right.

NOTE: The reference in the title of this post is to this song:

It’s that candy corn time of year again

The New Neo Posted on by

Halloween was my favorite holiday as a child. Roaming outside in the dark with your friends (there were no adult escorts back then except for some of the tiniest toddlers), in costume, ringing doorbells and getting loads of candy in response – what’s not to like?

We were well-behaved kids, at least when interacting with adults, and never “tricked” anyone. I got a stash of really fine candy – except for the random Mary Janes and those little tiny sour pellets that came in thin rolls (I can’t remember the name and haven’t been able to locate it in a search, but I hated them). The candy should have lasted me for months, but in my greed I devoured it in less than a week, in reverse order of deliciousness, saving the best for last and keeping those in my top drawer till the moment came to annihilate them.

There was virtually no adult supervision of any sort except the choice of costumes, which were pretty basic. I watched the weather like a hawk, because if it was raining then Halloween was ruined; no do-overs. Sometimes it was bitter cold, and heavy coats were required, which spoiled the costumes but not the evening.

Candy corn is a special type of candy that engenders strong feelings either way. Some people detest it and don’t hesitate to tell you so. I love it, and I always have. I understand that it’s too sweet, but I find it addictive and therefore indulge only on Halloween. I’ve already had my fill of it this go-round, which usually is enough to satiate me for another year.

Open thread 10/31/22

The New Neo Posted on by

Phil Ochs was a singer/songwriter, and a leftist of the old sort. Later in his career, he was plagued by mental illness and had a tragic end. But what a beautiful and distinctive voice he had, instantly recognizable. Some of my favorite songs of Ochs’ are those with lyrics from old warhorse poems – the sort we used to learn in school – put to music. This is his rendition of the poem “The Highwayman,” a poem that had especially touched me as a youngster because the highwayman’s lady love had very dark hair and eyes, like me. The colors black and red keep recurring throughout the poem; and then there’s the great touch of “with a bunch of lace at his throat”:

The poem is featured in a moving passage in the book Angela’s Ashes. You can find the entire poem here – Ochs condensed it somewhat in the song. I wish he had included that last verse, though, to close the circle.

Robbins’ “Other Dances”: four different renditions

The New Neo Posted on by

Compare and contrast. I’ve cued up a very short (less than 2-minute) excerpt from the beginning of each video of the ballet for the purpose of easy comparison, but you can go to YouTube to watch the longer videos if you’re interested.

I find the first three performances pretty but essentially vapid. There are different degrees of connection between the man and the woman, but nothing that especially moves me. I do love Chopin, though:

This one has the wrong “feel” to me, with a lot of self-satisfied posing on the part of Osipova. It also illustrates how difficult it can sometimes be for dancers to simply walk and look natural and unaffected:

This woman keeps it simpler, which is an improvement. But are she and the man even in the same world? I see no connection whatsoever, and this is a pas de deux, after all:

And this is the couple I’ve seen do it live way back when the ballet was new: the great Baryshnikov and Makarova. Despite the blurry quality, I believe the viewer can see that they bring to it an air of connection and deep mystery that is very different from the more recent three videos above. For Makarova, who is featured in this particular portion, every movement conveys some feeling, and every phrase is surprising and special and meaningful. As for Baryshnikov, he stays connected to her and has the same spellbound focus, without hamming it up. What a pair they were!:

Ballot harvesting in Florida

The New Neo Posted on by

Whistleblowing by a Democrat in Florida:

Former Orange County Commissioner candidate Cynthia Harris filed a sworn affidavit in late August with the Secretary of State’s office alleging that illegal operations to collect third-party ballots have been going on for years in the Orlando area where voting activists are paid $10 for each ballot they collect.

She described an intricate system funded by liberal leaning organizations that dispatch ballot brokers into black communities to pressure voters to turn over their ballots. The $10 fee per ballot is divvied up among the parties who help complete the harvesting.

The collection and delivery of ballots by third parties is illegal in Florida…

“Ballot brokers typically work up to a year in advance,” she stated. “Ballot brokers visit individuals in their residences and assists the individual with filling out a request for a mail-in ballot. After the mail-in ballot arrives, the voter is instructed to wait for the ballot broker returns to the individuals residence. They are asked to not seal the certificate envelope.”

“In rare circumstances, if the voter has filled out the ballot and sealed the envelope certificate, the ballot broker will take the ballot and then steam open the sealed envelope,” the affidavit added. “The ballot broker will either correct any votes, if necessary, that were not voted according to their wishes or just throw them out.”

Harris described how, much as in Wisconsin, vulnerable patients in rehabilitation centers and nursing homes in Florida were targeted for ballot trafficking.

Florida, Wisconsin, and Arizona have received similar allegations. Please read the whole thing. The allegations dovetail with the D’Souza documentary “2000 Mules.” Perhaps the only surprising thing is that the Florida whistleblower is a Democrat, but I suppose it would take a Democrat to know about the harvesting – and also, she apparently thinks she was the victim of the system when she ran for office. That would give her some motivation to spill the beans.

Cleanest Elections Ever.

Doing a Google search for “ballot harvesting whistleblower florida” just now, I only got hits for local Florida news, and a few random sites on the right – as well as this article from May critical of the D’Souza film, and other articles about such claims that were denied in Georgia (for example, this, also from May).

Of course, this Florida news should get big national coverage, but that certainly doesn’t appear to be happening at the moment, and I wouldn’t suggest sitting on a hot stove till it does.

My sink woes

The New Neo Posted on by

When I got back from my trip out west, I noticed there was a slight smell in the vicinity of my sink. I did the old baking-soda-vinegar thing, flushed down with hot water. But I noticed over time that the smell was still lingering.

So late last night, I did again again. Whoosh! The pipe under the sink sprung a leak, and the water started oozing out from the undersink cabinet.

Ugh. And even smellier.

The plumber came today and fixed it. I had to throw out a major amount of stuff from under there that had been siting in the gunky water. The smell should resolve over the next few days.

I hadn’t done anything wrong; it just was old and worn. But I absolutely hate stuff like this. Anyone have any ideas about what to do to disinfect the cabinet under the sink?

The campaign ad game

The New Neo Posted on by

Here’s an article about a campaign ad for Fetterman:

It appears Democrat Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman’s “Trump-voting Republican” parents are not Trump-voting Republicans, but card-carrying Democrats. In what seems to be an attempt to paint himself as an everyman candidate who is more Pennsylvanian than partisan, Fetterman apparently talked his parents into claiming they are Trump voters and Republicans in one of his senate campaign ads.

“We want to tell you something about John Fetterman. He was raised by two Trump-voting Republicans right here in this house in York,” Karl and Susan Fetterman claim in the 30-second video. “Us!”

The problem is that Fetterman’s parents are not Trump supporters or Republicans. According to voting records obtained by The Federalist, Susan and Karl Fetterman have been voting Democrat for at least six years—beginning when the couple registered as Democrats to vote in the 2016 primaries.

The story caught my eye, but as I researched it I discovered that his parents might actually be telling the truth. Not that it really matters; as political lies go, it would have been a relatively minor one, and the Fetterman campaign is dominated by a far more basic lie. But here are my reflections on the ad and its background:

(1) If MAGA Republicans are so evil and so dangerous, why emphasize you were raised by two of them? Why would that be thought to appeal to the centrist voters I assume the Fetterman camp is trying to reach here? And why wouldn’t it repel the leftist MSNBC-type voters who represent his base? It might dampen their enthusiasm to vote for Fetterman.

(2) Fetterman is 53 years old. Whatever “raising” his parents did of him would be assumed to have ended at least 30, perhaps even 35, years ago, back at the end of the Reagan era and then the Bush 1 years. Trump was already famous, but it would have been impossible to vote for him because he wasn’t running for office. The Republican Party during the Reagan years was a different kettle of fish than it is today – as was just about everything.

(3) However, it’s possible Fetterman really was raised by Republicans; for example, this April 2021 article about Fetterman mentions vaguely that, when Fetterman was a teenager, “His family members were all Republicans, so he was a conservative too, though ‘not in an aggressive or angry way.'”

I love that last part – he wasn’t an angry Republican back when he was a supposed conservative.

(4) It occurred to me that Fetterman’s parents may have registered as Democrats for the 2016 primary in order to vote for their son. Sure enough, when I checked, I found this:

Fetterman ran for Pennsylvania’s Senate seat in 2016, finishing third in the Democratic primary. He ran for lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania in 2018, defeating a field of candidates that included incumbent Mike Stack in the Democratic primary and winning the election with incumbent Governor Tom Wolf.

And of course Fetterman also entered the Democratic primary in 2021. All of this could easily explain his parents’ registration as Democrats, beginning in 2016.

But Trump voters? I suppose it’s possible, and no one can challenge them anyway because, when last I checked, we still have the secret ballot.

All of that aside, I can’t figure out why the Democrats didn’t replace Fetterman early on, when it became apparent to them that he was seriously challenged in the mental arena. They seemed to think that with the enormous help of the MSM they could cover it up, and for a while they did that successfully enough. But why bother – why have to deal with it at all, why not substitute another candidate? That remains a puzzle.

Speaking of Democrat campaign ads that lie, there’s this:

The advertisement, which was paid for by the California Democrat Party, was shared by California (CA) governor Gavin Newsom and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in favor of CA’s Proposition 1, which would codify abortion as a state constitutional right.

In the advertisement, Lee University student Macy Petty is shown falling to her knees outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. and crying after the decision to topple Roe was announced on June 23. The word “sad” is flashed over the clip as a voice narrates “when [the decision] happened we got mad, sad, scared. But now, we can get to work.”

Petty, however, claims the campaign misrepresents her as she was at the Supreme Court alongside Students for Life of America- who’s logo can be seen on a banner directly behind Petty in the featured advertisement…

“It’s embarrassing for their side that they had to stoop this low…they couldn’t find a pro-choice girl who’s crying at the court. They had to manipulate footage of a pro-life girl,” she continued.

That’s a minor lie compared to the major lies that are promulgated every day by ads from the left. But it’s nevertheless interesting that the left feels the need to lie even in such a minor matter.

Then again, campaign ads in general aren’t known for their veracity. I wonder how well they work these days – how many people are actually swayed by them? I bet it’s fewer than it used to be.