02.13.23
Gilded Reframe – THE NEW YORK TIMES
Over the weekend, they staged The Brit Awards for music excellence according to those in Great Britain. It says everything that the most significant thing to come out of the ceremony was the asinine getup worn by the desperate-for-attention Sam Smith.
Sam Smith is dressed for the funeral of the Chinese spy balloon. #SamSmith #BRITs https://t.co/S16h1yunbj
— Leah Lamarr (@LeahLamarr) February 12, 2023
Also, in lesser news, Harry Stiles won the major prize, but a number of individuals were upset that men were nominated for the top honor. This is because the Brit Awards came out last year with the major announcement that they were staging gender-neutral nominations. While most in the press had nothing but positive things to report about this, the unintended result was it led to no female artists being nominated, something Mr. Styles alluded to in his acceptance speech.
This is the activist set, dealing with their own self-created results. They want to be praised for the forward-thinking of "no longer recognizing genders," then doing a complete 180 and becoming upset when it recognizes one of the genders has been excluded.
Harry Styles triumphed in a category that did not have a single female nominee — an unintended consequence of the decision by the Brit Awards to merge its categories for best male and best female artist of the year into one gender-neutral top prize. https://t.co/qcs6L0Yzii
— New York Times Music (@nytimesmusic) February 12, 2023
Prose & Contradiction – THE NEW YORK TIMES
- Quoting extensively from the man whose words you claim are threatening the nation is not a good look.
Last Fall, Maggie Haberman released her Trump-based book "Confidence Man," detailing his travails in the White House and underscoring what a supreme threat he has been, involved as she claims in the "breaking of America." It is for these reasons that it strikes one as being more than a little disingenuous that Haberman is so invested in getting Trump's message of attacks on Ron DeSantis broadcasted.
Haberman wrote an article this weekend where she was clearly bothered by the fact that Ron DeSantis has not responded to Trump's infantile insults, at least in an approved fashion. It is very obvious that she – like many others in the press – is just salivating at the chance to have these two men get into a bitter feud. That DeSantis has not taken the bait has bothered Maggie.
- "For months, Mr. DeSantis has pursued a strategy of conflict avoidance with his top rival in the shadow 2024 Republican presidential primary, delaying what is likely to be a hostile and divisive clash that forces the party's voters to pick sides. But now he faces the pressing question of how long this approach can work. Mr. Trump, who has spent weeks trying to goad Mr. DeSantis into a fight with rude nicknames like 'Ron DeSanctimonious,' is stepping up his social media-fueled assault, even as polls and interviews show that Mr. DeSantis has become the leading alternative to the former president for many voters and donors."
Haberman pimped out her article with a thread on Twitter, a clear lecture from her that Ron needs to engage, and one which amplifies Trump's attacks. So here is The NY Times scribe actually promoting the posts of the man the press has spent years telling us needs to be silenced.
When Trump posted innuendo about DeSantis on his social media site, DeSantis demurred instead of firing back. Instead, his harshest hit that week was on the press. @MichaelCBender and me on whether DeSantis is going to be able to sustain this posture https://t.co/54t0ZE5FWG
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) February 12, 2023
Artisanally-Crafted Narratives – REUTERS
- Leaving open the possibility that the car acted alone.
The news out of Israel was that a Palestinian man intentionally drove a car into a crowded bus stop just outside of Jerusalem. Reuters tellingly resorts to the tried media method of reporting on violence from the region, which is that details from Israeli officials need to be questioned while word from Palestinian authorities gets reported as unassailable facts.
In this instance, we first get the reporting on how "a car" rammed into the crowd, killing two. Then as the follow-up details come in, the notification that Israeli police shot the individual behind the wheel is met with the skeptical version that he was killed because "they said" he rammed the crowd. Usually, the very presence of the damaged car at a destroyed bus stop would be enough to take them at their word.
Israeli police fatally shot a 31-year-old Palestinian man after they said he rammed his car into a group of people at a bus stop on the outskirts of Jerusalem, killing two Israelis, including a child https://t.co/CVYHgsDcoS pic.twitter.com/EWoW38u9Mc
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 11, 2023
Low Octane Gas Lighting – ASSOCIATED PRESS
In detailing the recent news that in Florida the legislature has voted in favor of repealing the Walt Disney World special district allowances in the wake of the culture war the company chose to undertake with the governor last year, the AP rests on the long-disproven yet still-favored-by-the-press description of the Florida legislation.
- "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will soon take control of Walt Disney World's self-governing district after Senate Republicans approved a bill Friday punishing the company over its opposition to the law critics call 'Don't Say Gay.'"
Using the actual language of the bill would only lead readers becoming accurately updated on matters, it seems. Also, it is more than a little revealing that the AP chooses the description of the law by "critics" when polls have shown overwhelming support from voters for the Parental Rights in Education legislation.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will soon take control of Walt Disney World's self-governing district after Senate Republicans approved a bill Friday punishing the company over its opposition to the law critics call "Don't Say Gay." https://t.co/5xn9q4OdTT
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 11, 2023
Pre-Written Field Reports – LOS ANGELES TIMES
The LA Times decided to look at the mounting social troubles seen in the city of Portland. Crime is spiking, homelessness is widening across the city landscape, and residents and businesses are becoming more dissatisfied with the inactivity of the local government.
The Times, however, alludes to the problem directly but simply cannot seem to grasp the underlying issue – possibly because of how it would reflect on its own issues of the same caliber infecting Los Angeles. The paper seems quite flummoxed that a "progressive" city would experience all of these self-created problems. It's a real mystery, is it not, gang?
What's the matter with Portland? Shootings, theft and other crime test city's progressive strain https://t.co/IrrdjDuk7R
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) February 10, 2023
Pulitzer Prize Nomination – WASHINGTON POST
Recently it was noted, with some bemusement, what the top-trending story at the Washington Post was that day. Not some breaking national news; it needs to be pointed out. No, the readers appeared to be hungry for something else altogether.
This is the most-read story on the Washington Post? pic.twitter.com/6mHvHwUZEy
— Jeff Jarvis (@jeffjarvis) January 27, 2023
Dare we suggest this could be a sign that this popularity was likely due to the article not having content that was fabricated, slanted, biased, or otherwise in need of the numerous CORRECTIONS that WaPo has to deliver on the regular?
