Ideas, Opinions, Genealogy, and Book Reviews
I keep seeing these ads for the re-election of Donald Trump that slam Vice-President Biden for things he said and did about China mostly years ago. There is actually a quote as recent as 2019 but most are many years before then. It is classic Trump to blame his failures on the Obama administration.
Continue reading “China, Biden, and Trump”
A few days ago I wrote about fake news from Fox, Our President also plays a similar fake news game. The most recent example is an altered video which is passed on by President Trump.
Continue reading “Fake News from Donald Trump”
This is one of those “I am not a lawyer but” posts.
Continue reading “Getty Images digitally altered and misleading photos”
Years ago I reviewed a book called The President Is a Sick Man. I liked the book and thought about it when I saw the Lincoln Project ad about our current President.
The ad called #TrumpIsNotWell is on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVy_LWM091g
I liked the book which is about Grover Cleveland. The ad is a bit more disturbing.
It seems to me that Fox News has always seemed a bit problematic if you wanted to follow the news. Sometimes it was a slant I thought missed the essence of a story. Sometimes it was just what they chose to cover and what they chose to ignore. But I have found some articles that seemed OK.
Now comes the news (no surprise) that coverage of the recent protests which they have characterized as riots. I thing the overwhelming majority have been peaceful but there were occasional instance of looting or destruction of property. It the seems they misrepresented Seattle protest.
This is from the Seattle Times article Fox News runs digitally altered images in coverage of Seattle’s protests, Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone
Fox News published digitally altered and misleading photos on stories about Seattle’s Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) in what photojournalism experts called a clear violation of ethical standards for news organizations.
As part of a package of stories Friday about the zone, where demonstrators have taken over several city blocks on Capitol Hill after Seattle police abandoned the East Precinct, Fox’s website for much of the day featured a photo of a man standing with a military-style rifle in front of what appeared to be a smashed retail storefront.
The image was actually a mashup of photos from different days, taken by different photographers — it was done by splicing a Getty Images photo of an armed man, who had been at the protest zone June 10, with other images from May 30 of smashed windows in downtown Seattle. Another altered image combined the gunman photo with yet another image, making it appear as though he was standing in front of a sign declaring “You are now entering Free Cap Hill.”
Read the whole article about this unethical behavior of Fox News. They used to claim to be fair and balanced. Obviously that is no longer the case. Is there a better example of fake news?
The DOW is down over 1800 points today (June 11 2020). I suspect the Trump administration will again become a bit concerned about COVID-19. It does not seem to bother them that millions are unemployed and a hundred thousand Americans are dead. But a fall in the the stock market might get their attention.
Do you think they might actually try to do something about the pandemic ?
It took over 3 years but he finally did it.
“Defund the police” is often seen in protests lately but widely, and often purposely, misunderstood. So what is actually meant by this and how is it misunderstood? I’ll reference a couple of good articles but there is plenty written on it from various points of view. Just do a simple internet search on the phrase.
Continue reading “Defund the police”
Several years ago I read A Colony in a Nation by Chris Hayes. The book is highly relevant today. If anything, things have gotten worse for African-Americans in the United States. The title comes from American ways of policing that treat African-Americans as a colony within the United States. The privileged among us live in the Nation.
I’m so glad I subscribe to The Atlantic. I do enjoy the magazine when it comes out but what I really enjoy is its presence on the internet. They post articles daily on their website. I’m sure most of them do not make it into the printed magazine. The daily newsletter alerts me to them. I’m not sure if you need to be a subscriber to read those but you may want to try it and see.
Continue reading “General Mattis denounces President Trump”
President Trump fails us in so many ways.
Millions are unemployed and a hundred thousand Americans are dead. It did not have to be this bad but President Trump’s months of magical thinking that the COVID-19 pandemic would just go away have led to over 100,000 American deaths and a Great Depression style economy.
Continue reading “President Trump’s disastrous mix”
The COVID-19 crisis and its solution will involve societal measures as well as biomedical sciences. The latest edition of Scientific American (June 2020) has a section with several very informative articles on the coronavirus pandemic.
It is well worth reading if you have an interest in the science research in seeking a vaccine and improving treatments. There is also an article on how this paper on the longer-term consequences of this and several other article on interest.
Many of their articles on their website at https://www.scientificamerican.com/.
His months of magical thinking on COVID-19 is the most obvious example. This continues to cause loss of life and massive economic problems. President Trump continues to fail us in many ways.
Continue reading “President Trump continues to fail us”
President Trump has continued his purge of Inspector Generals (IGs) who seem willing to investigate wrongdoing in his administration. State Department Inspector General Steve Linick is the 4th Inspector General fired in recent weeks.
The latest seems to have been related to an investigation into Mike Pompeo.
Continue reading “Trump purge continues with 4th IG”
Another one by a Trump is in the running for worst prediction of year.
Even though we are less than half way though this year, I thought Present Trump would be the likely winner with his February statement about getting close to zero coronavirus cases within a couple of days. It seemed an obvious winner when we are closer to 1.5 million cases of coronavirus and over 88,000 deaths.
Continue reading “Another contender for worst prediction of year”