I do not know what helps or does not help the terrorists. And I’m certainly not saying that Barbara Starr helped the terrorists by publishing her report. I don’t think she did. Anymore than Glenn Greenwald did. And more importantly, I don’t think the vast majority of people you see opining on “what helps the terrorists" have any clue what does or doesn’t. But it is a problem for this country, and for the functioning of our democracy, when Glenn Greenwald’s leak reporting is treated so differently than the Barbara Starr leak reporting. When, as with Glenn Greenwald’s reporting, the leaks are not specifically designed to advance the Pentagon’s agenda, then we have shock and controversy, and calls for prosecution. But when they are [designed to advance the Pentagon’s agenda], as with the Barbara Starr reporting…radio silence.
There is a vast and growing web of secret government in this country. And simply cannot be the case, it is not acceptable, that the only things we know about it, are the things that the members of that secret government want us to know. Because at the end of the day, it is on us, it is on all of us, what our government does in our name.
Tag: msnbc
Up words
Chris Hayes moves to msnbc weekday prime time. Nice. But I can’t help but notice this:
“Up” doesn’t have a huge audience […] but it consistently beats CNN on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and it has been praised by media critics for allowing long, thoughtful conversations about politics and public policy, the kind rarely seen elsewhere on television.
These conversations usually project a liberal worldview, in line with MSNBC as a whole. But Mr. Hayes and his producers also try to book guests who don’t often get on television, including conservatives; a recent discussion with Mr. Hayes and four conservatives lit up the blogosphere. “Add this segment to the list of reasons Chris Hayes’ Up has become the most interesting weekend political show in America”
Emphasis added to help me ask exactly which feature of Up do you assume is the least likely to survive the massive transition to a “prime time audience”? Right this very second in some boardroom somewhere, somebody is saying “all that thoughtfulness may work on a Saturday morning, but…”
Bullsh? Bastar? Bitchs? Boitan? Not clear to me what he’s going for here. Must still be high. Will advise.
Step in Front of the Telescreen
Wal Mart, long known to be target number one of al Qaeda, is going to be taking part in a Department of Homeland Security fear indoctrin…er, “See Something, Say Something” terrorism interdiction program. At Wal Marts around the country.
“If you see something suspicious in the parking lot or in the store, say something immediately,” Napolitano said in the video [to be played at check-out lines in Wal Mart]. “Report suspicious activity to your local police or sheriff. If you need help ask a Wal-Mart manager for assistance.”
No doubt the next 9/11 will indeed unfold in an exurban Wal Mart parking lot, unleashing a devastating attack on a number of poorly parked SUVs and abandoned carts. Well played, DHS, well played. Another sane, sober response to the relative threat. Let’s get some porno scanners into the cart area so we can finally be safe.
Fox has lost 21% of their total viewers, and 26% of their younger viewers.
The biggest loser on the network was Bill O’Reilly who saw his program The O’Reilly Factor lose 12% of its total viewers and 21% of its young viewers. Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Bret Baier, and Greta Van Susteren rounded out the top five cable news shows, and they each posted double digit declines.
My initial thought was “people are just sick of ‘The News’” but uff-da these numbers hurt, and are specific:
Fox News is now averaging 1.831 million prime time viewers a day, and only 443,000 viewers age 25-54.
[…]
While Glenn Beck suffered double digit losses at 5PM, Chris Matthews posted modest gains of 1% overall and 8% in the demo. While Bret Baier declined, Ed Schultz has seen his viewership skyrocket at 6 PM. The Ed Show is up 24% over last year in total viewers and 8% in the demo. Keith Olbermann’s Countdown was down over last year by 6% in total viewers and 19% in the demo, but Olbermann’s was the only cable news show to gain audience since the second quarter. Rachel Maddow gained 6% in total views, but lost 1% with the demo.
Now, obviously, some of that is that msnbc has more room to grow (an odd converse to the situation The Democrat faces in the Congress, actually)…but still. The line item that’s got to shiver the timbers of one Rupert Murdoch (who, far from being any sort of true believer, simply puts up with whatever the message is so long as it makes a nice bottom line) is that demo analysis…only ~25% of your viewership is under 55? That’s what you’re selling to advertisers? Sweet Jesus, Mary, and Joseph I may yet live to see the end of that particular brand of “discourse”…
Fox has lost 21% of their total viewers, and 26% of their younger viewers.
The future does not belong to those who are content with today, apathetic toward common problems and their fellow man alike, timid and fearful in the face of new ideas and bold projects. Rather it will belong to those who can blend vision, reason and courage in a personal commitment to the ideals and great enterprises of American Society.
Edward M. Kennedy, in an undelivered paragraph written for his RFK eulogy. Print out and post in the White House if you please because we are not on drugs. We have judged the evidence and find you timid and fearful in the face of old ideas and positively cowering in the face of anything like a new idea.
We were not deceived by the idiotic rhetoric of the far right. We knew you were a centrist and a pragmatist from the get-go. We are inherently sympathetic to the cause and appreciate the moments of progress, no matter how diminished or incremental they may be, when those moments have stumbled and sputtered into being. Unlike the people you classify as not on drugs, we actually give you credit for them. And but so we’re getting awfully tired of being portrayed as a villain by the same group that treats FOXnews as a thoroughly impartial and purely journalistic concern.
As was noted on the crazed liberal outlet msnbc the other night, right now in China people are commuting on a spanking-new ~200mph MagLev train. In America, we’re un-paving roads because we can’t afford them anymore. Precisely where in that sentence can you find the “great enterprises of American Society,” Mr. Gibbs? That’s what makes us uneasy. That’s why we’re crying out for some leadership, especially if it’s just tilting at windmills. Because that’s a part of leading: taking up an important cause, no matter how unpopular or unheralded, and fighting for it, whatever may come. Yes: even if you lose.
And, not coincidentally, that is precisely what we have never seen out of this administration. Must be all the drugs.
We were not deceived by the idiotic rhetoric of the far right. We knew you were a centrist and a pragmatist from the get-go. We are inherently sympathetic to the cause and appreciate the moments of progress, no matter how diminished or incremental they may be, when those moments have stumbled and sputtered into being. Unlike the people you classify as not on drugs, we actually give you credit for them. And but so we’re getting awfully tired of being portrayed as a villain by the same group that treats FOXnews as a thoroughly impartial and purely journalistic concern.
As was noted on the crazed liberal outlet msnbc the other night, right now in China people are commuting on a spanking-new ~200mph MagLev train. In America, we’re un-paving roads because we can’t afford them anymore. Precisely where in that sentence can you find the “great enterprises of American Society,” Mr. Gibbs? That’s what makes us uneasy. That’s why we’re crying out for some leadership, especially if it’s just tilting at windmills. Because that’s a part of leading: taking up an important cause, no matter how unpopular or unheralded, and fighting for it, whatever may come. Yes: even if you lose.
And, not coincidentally, that is precisely what we have never seen out of this administration. Must be all the drugs.
Alan Grayson (D, FL) predicts exactly what was going to happen (that an amendment to the already passed healthcare bill goes through reconciliation alongside ping-ponged Senate bill), gets laughed out of the room by Chris Matthews. I’m oh so sure that Matthews is duly chastened as of this morning…
Lemkin 