The Swamp

HaulCitgo wrote: ↑Sat Jan 22, 2022 2:13 pm But don't most people go to the fast food type places 5x for every time they splurge on the expensive stuff. It's not the splurge that hurts. It's a splurge. It's the everyday stuff that adds up and hits the pocketbook because you need to buy it every day for lunch.

It’s not the splurge. It’s inflation. The fact the NYT exemplified a well-off individual who now pays $1 more for a burrito (5x a year, btw), is an ass-tastic way to bring that point home. It’s troll-worthy.

HaulCitgo wrote: ↑Sat Jan 22, 2022 2:13 pm But don't most people go to the fast food type places 5x for every time they splurge on the expensive stuff. It's not the splurge that hurts. It's a splurge. It's the everyday stuff that adds up and hits the pocketbook because you need to buy it every day for lunch.

So even by your accounting using a dude on his once every two or three months trip to chipotle is a shitty example?

He eats at Chipotle 5x a week so he can save money to buy a shittier burrito for double the price. Seems to me inflation hits everyone and this guys desire to save a buck is no different than anyone else's desire to save a buck.

5x a year…

Maybe but everyone needs lunch right. It's a lot more apparent if your buying it 5x a week versus buying groceries once a month but I feel lunch price increases. Chevron is killing me these days.

The point is this guy doesn’t “need” to care about 65 cents. If you want to write about price inflation + food, find someone who is truly hurting, not some dork in a million dollar house who is appalled prices aren’t stagnant for life.

Inflation disproportionately impacts those that can least afford it but it impacts everyone including the chipotle guy. Lots of other problems can be sidestepped entirely by the rich. Just wait until the fed turns off the cheap money.

Here's my journalism beef from a couple of days ago.

The Washington Post had an op-ed about the Mask Mandates in certain school districts in Virginia, written by one Mary Vought.

Opinion: Arlington schools are wrong to buck Youngkin’s mask policy

The decision of Arlington County’s public schools to maintain their school mask mandate despite an executive order from new Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) ignores the “public” part of “public schools” in several respects. First, Youngkin won election to his post on a pledge to allow parents to choose whether their children should be forced to wear masks in school. For the governor to fulfill his promise on his Inauguration Day via an executive order amounts to implementing the expressed will of Virginia voters — which Arlington Public Schools apparently wants to defy.

The bio bit on her says this:

Mary Vought is an Independent Women’s Forum fellow. She’s the mother of two children and lives in Arlington County.

This made me think "Hmm...how did she get published in the Washington Post?", so I did a google search on her.

Turns out she is a Republican Hack, having worked for Sen Ron Johnson, Mike Pence when he was in congress, and other Republicans. And she is currently the director of the Senate Conservatives Fund. Also, her husband was the OMB Director for Trump.

Since I pointed this out on twitter, she has now blocked me.

HaulCitgo wrote: ↑Sat Jan 22, 2022 2:29 pm Maybe but everyone needs lunch right. It's a lot more apparent if your buying it 5x a week versus buying groceries once a month but I feel lunch price increases. Chevron is killing me these days.

Except he was bitching about the 5 times a year burrito, not the 5 times a week variety. And at any rate, who only goes to the grocery store once a month?

oh the premise that life is hard for those that eat out 5x/week

DaveInSeattle wrote: ↑Sat Jan 22, 2022 4:20 pm
Turns out she is a Republican Hack, having worked for Sen Ron Johnson, Mike Pence when he was in congress, and other Republicans. And she is currently the director of the Senate Conservatives Fund. Also, her husband was the OMB Director for Trump.

Since I pointed this out on twitter, she has now blocked me.

did you honestly expect a different outcome? not asking to be a jerk, either. it's how that goes for the most part. the only thing that matters is the echo chamber

semi-related: no idea why people block and not mute. mute means people don't get the satisfaction/reaction of being blocked. they simply have no idea it happened.

Brontoburglar wrote: ↑Sat Jan 22, 2022 4:54 pm

DaveInSeattle wrote: ↑Sat Jan 22, 2022 4:20 pm
Turns out she is a Republican Hack, having worked for Sen Ron Johnson, Mike Pence when he was in congress, and other Republicans. And she is currently the director of the Senate Conservatives Fund. Also, her husband was the OMB Director for Trump.

Since I pointed this out on twitter, she has now blocked me.

did you honestly expect a different outcome? not asking to be a jerk, either. it's how that goes for the most part. the only thing that matters is the echo chamber

Wasn't expecting anything to be honest...just wanted to point out to the Post that it was journalistic malpractice not to give her background to show that she probably isn't the most honest broker in the discussion.

semi-related: no idea why people block and not mute. mute means people don't get the satisfaction/reaction of being blocked. they simply have no idea it happened.

Yeah...muting is a much better way to go, I would think.

I don't think the CNN headline blurb writer thought too long about this one:

Headlines like this make me think CNN's algorithm to generate page clicks told them to mash up the terms "Americans", "forced", & "involuntary" in a story about the fucking weather.

The Times gives OpEd space to Rich Lowry (of Sarah Palin-Starbursts fame) to slurp on Ron DeSantis.



Yes, the same Rich Lowry who already has his own space, as the editor at the National Review, for writing such drivel, and the same Rich Lowry, who in the midst of the pandemic, wrote this:



and the Times decided not to allow comments on the OpEd. If I wasn't getting my NyTimes subscription for free, I'd probably be cancelling it.

https://deadspin.com/flames-fan-regrets ... 1848917630

This is the kind of article where I hope legal actions is taken. What low grade journalism frankly bordering on harassment.

DaveInSeattle wrote: ↑Fri May 13, 2022 11:25 am The Times gives OpEd space to Rich Lowry (of Sarah Palin-Starbursts fame) to slurp on Ron DeSantis.



Yes, the same Rich Lowry who already has his own space, as the editor at the National Review, for writing such drivel, and the same Rich Lowry, who in the midst of the pandemic, wrote this:



and the Times decided not to allow comments on the OpEd. If I wasn't getting my NyTimes subscription for free, I'd probably be cancelling it.

I mean, he set up mandatory questionnaires to document university faculty's political views. "without the baggage."

Fuck out of here with that nonsense.

tbf, that should go in (the end of) op-eds thread because this is actual journalism on display here by the star

Its was in the WSJ and they're the ones printing the op-ed.

thank you mister obvious

eta: if this is a discussion that op-eds in [insert publication here] should be held to the same standards as straight news stories, then I fully agree with that premise and support it. however, I think it's been long established that they are not held to the same standards given *sweeps hand in general direction of lots of outlets* a lot of pieces that have been published in op-ed sections around the country/world for years and decades

Check out bromtombudsmanburglar!

A_B wrote: ↑Wed Jul 13, 2022 3:50 pm Check out bromtombudsmanburglar!

(The End of) Portmanteau Thread

TILIAVCW that op-eds aren't journalism!

Giff wrote: ↑Thu Jul 14, 2022 10:07 am TILIAVCW that op-eds aren't journalism!

I give up on that acronym. Today I learned…

I'm fine with Bronto's notes above and will modify my statement to "why the fuck is any non-far right newspaper printing this type of op-ed".

Today I Learned In A Very Convincing Way?

And not to be super pedantic, but opeds ABSOLUTELY are a subset of journalism.

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Thu Jul 14, 2022 12:23 pm Today I Learned In A Very Convincing Way?

And not to be super pedantic, but opeds ABSOLUTELY are a subset of journalism.

Close!

Convoluted?

Closer! Condescending. The word was condescending.

So, in the end, I wasn't actually that close.

You got most the words right!

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Thu Jul 14, 2022 12:23 pm And not to be super pedantic, but opeds ABSOLUTELY are a subset of journalism.

of course. and at the risk of being deemed condescending again (I hope you're ok, giff), I don't think it's fair to cite the failing of an editorial board -- at a paper with a history of publishing op-eds with specious premises -- to believe reporting by another reputable outlet as a failure of journalism

it's absolutely a failure of journalistic practice on their end and a failure I don't think happens if the standards applied in the WSJ news section were applied in the op-ed section. that editor's note added to the top of the unchanged story was a farce.

but as a whole, actual journalism has played a pivotal role in this case and I distinguish between journalism/straight news reporting and editorials in this case because of those seemingly far different standards at outlets across the country.

This feels like more of a distinction between journalists than journalism?

I'd sure like to know who signed off on letting Maureen Dowd get double space in the NY Times this morning:

Charles in Charge

The women who overshadowed Charles are gone now. We’ll see what this new king can do, as he collects his prize in the primogeniture lottery and steps into a spotlight that’s all his own.

Nope....

And then this fawning profile of Jann Wenner, the founder of Rolling Stone:

Jann Wenner Wants to Reveal It All

We had lunch by the ocean on the deck of Mr. Wenner’s spectacular modern home, featuring a basketball court, swimming pool, tomato garden, a sculpture of a huge metal head lying on its side and Ralph Lauren and Bill O’Reilly as neighbors. We ate gazpacho with caviar and roasted Montauk black sea bass, prepared by his chef, and drank rosé. The music on tap was nuevo flamenco.

Hard no...

DaveInSeattle wrote: ↑Sat Sep 10, 2022 11:52 am Jann Wenner Wants to Reveal It All

We ate gazpacho with caviar and roasted Montauk black sea bass, prepared by his chef, and drank rosé. The music on tap was nuevo flamenco.

I think Johnnie mentioned CNN being led by a MAGA guy in another thread and liberal twitter is posting a lot about this. CNN even did a Hunter Biden laptop story last night. This is perfect for Republicans because no matter what CNN does, they'll still call them liberal and fake news (unless CNN reports a story they like), while causual political viewers' information intake will shift to the right. I always viewed CNN as the network for people who don't read or go into any depth about news stories and "stay informed" by watching CNN for a few minutes, so this shift is pretty worrisome.

EdRomero wrote: ↑Tue Sep 13, 2022 8:09 am I think Johnnie mentioned CNN being led by a MAGA guy in another thread and liberal twitter is posting a lot about this. CNN even did a Hunter Biden laptop story last night. This is perfect for Republicans because no matter what CNN does, they'll still call them liberal and fake news (unless CNN reports a story they like), while causual political viewers' information intake will shift to the right. I always viewed CNN as the network for people who don't read or go into any depth about news stories and "stay informed" by watching CNN for a few minutes, so this shift is pretty worrisome.

Any stories with a Right bent will be viewed as “even Leftist propaganda CNN said…” what I don’t get, no RW people will ever watch CNN even if they turn into OAN, but Liberals will stop watching. OTOH, by completely unverified gut feeling is CNN’s viewership is people who want to be informed but aren’t going to seek out other sources and rely on CNN to provide their opinion. If the change is subtle enough, maybe they will boil the frog and turn CNN viewers to the Right?

This Twitter thread makes a great case for why CNN is the way it is (and Fox and MSNBC). I had never really considered the affect of Citizens United on news, but this guy has some good points.