Following an assignment as Roman ambassador to Carthage following the Second Punic War, Cato the Elder returned to Rome convinced that Rome’s most serious enemy had to be Dealt With.
Fewer and fewer people are getting their news from the legacy outfits, which explains their standing in the middle of the road all the time in hopes of staying alive for a few more news cycles. There are now many news options, many of them admittedly lousy but more readily available. Most people are interested in the daily news in their area and will check it out on TV and/or radio and that's about it. The most inspired reports, opinions, and analyses are here at Substack. (Remember when McLuhan said the medium is the message?)
On the other hand, if one is a print junkie, as I am, there is good news. The Atlantic is going to expand its print publication to monthly and remain something a gal can not only read during an extended power outage, but also roll up to smack a fly with when necessary.
I'm an Atlantic subscriber too, but I read it mostly online -- the type in the print edition is so small I need my magnifying glass to read it. Not unusual with print publications that are trying to save on paper costs, and it's unfortunate because their most loyal followers are probably of an age to need magnifying glasses.
Susanna - have you tried high-magnification reading glasses? I did a search and find that you can get up to +4-power glasses. That might be more convenient than using a magnifying glass. Admittedly, I don't know the extent to which your close vision is diminished but you might find this page helpful: https://www.eyebobs.com/pages/reader-strength-test
I already have reading glasses, though I could probably use a new prescription. My corrected close vision is pretty good since I make my living as an editor and sometime proofreader. <g> Mostly I'm fine with doing most of my non-book reading online. (I don't actually use a magnifying glass to read, though I've always got one handy for the "fine print.")
Well, my comment was focused on your purported need for a magnifying glass. For myself, way back when, I had superb close vision when my contacts were out (had 20-200 vision) but after cataract surgery on each eye, I opted for a distance lens for one eye and a reading lens for the other. Do wear glasses with distance correction for that second eye when out and about, particularly night driving, but that has worked wonderfully for me for over 20 years - still no need for reading glasses, for The Atlantic or other publications, even for small print on various containers, though I do want decent light in which to read them.
Agree 100% Judith. And thank you for the good news about The Atlantic! Just in time for snuggle up and ready season. Now I won't have to be soisrly in steching it out.
My idea of a free press is that Kamala is free to ignore them. Someone should poll journalists to see how many of them ever took a class in American civics, and if so, did they pass it with even a D-?
Agreed. Tom. That's why I disconnected my TV 17 months ago and no longer have the Sacramento Bee delivered to me. I don't need to pay to be lied to. It doesn't surprise me in the least that maga maggots believe the Apprentice was "real" they believe if they saw and heard it on Television it MUST be true.
In the 19th Century America began teaching every child their 3 r's Reading (w)Riting and (a)Rithmetic but then they discovered that some of those children when taught to read and write actually started "thinking" how awful!!! Ever since that mistake they have assiduously been trying to dumb down America. They seem to be succeeding in many States.
Glad to see you are mellowing in your old age.....NOT!! Another well-deserved thrust at the nattering nincopoops of the Fourth Estate. I am appalled at what I just read from Karen Tumulty in WaPo, about what Harris MUST do..... If they were any more entitled, we'd need a US edition of Burke's Peerage and our own House of Lords. Thought we'd had a mild disagreement in the late 18th century about all that. It is utterly infuriating to see the press engaged actively in putting down the team that is fighting to preserve the American political system and its form of government..... Blech!
After reading the extent of the absolute crap that so-called journalists "produced" towards Gore 24 years ago? AND got away with - and denied not too long ago? The same kind of crap being thrown at Kamala now. The GALL to think they are the arbiters of everything!
We don’t need to lay a hand on the Times or the Post or Tiger Beat on the Potomac to discredit any of them or even to facilitate their downfall. They’ve done it for us. Their coverage is at best useless and at worst some kind of both-side smokescreen. The fact that we can’t see a reliable alternative for the legacy press is unfortunate, but that doesn’t mean it ain’t time to stick a fork in these jagovs and move on to something better.
Jagovs…this leads me to believe you’re a Pittsburgher. I spell if jagoff, but either way, that’s what they are. We gave up our TV back in the Bush years. Useless. And yes to the Atlantic!
Following the axiom that the simplest explanation is the right one, the very rich aren't enthused about the prospect of a Harris presidency. When Jay Gould bragged that he could hire half the working class to kill the other half, he wasn't joking. They don't want to pay taxes and they're damn sure afraid of the unions that Trump will quite probably help them crush. They'll erase the New Deal from the history books if they can. If these pricks should win it will be our duty to make sure they don't enjoy it.
I’m old, but I remember why I liked Ike. I did wonder how smart Germany was so stupid to allow such insanity in the first place. Since my husband watched and understood so much more than I did about WW2, I learned. Never did I dream of where we are today. But I watched the following, as best I can recall:
-RR making a speech at Philadelphia, Miss early on
-GHWB, talking about shining light on the hill while denigrating Willie Horton.
-Gingrich, Delay and that group of vipers employing tactics that were only a smidge less than the TNT the current Repubs play with
-RM and Fox geared up the most ridiculous propaganda machine that I was sure would be seen for what it was. silly me
-GWB and the cretin supporters stole the 2000 election with a little more finesse than chump tried 20 years later.
-GWB cratered our reputation, our economy, and killed untold numbers of innocent people before he tried to turn over the destruction machine to John McCain, who foisted Sarah Palin and the Tea Party obstructionists on Obama, who likely assumed that there was a Republican with ethics still in DC.
-DT reared his putrid head with his egregious lie about Obama, just practice I guess for the lies he told Christians who had already been greased up by Karl Rove in 2004 so that W could continue his reign of stupid terror
-Mitt continued to be a poor excuse for ethics in government.
-MMc continued his burn it down siege against bipartisanship for Power of the Cretins.
-DT was skewered, then adored by the GOP that he destroyed, rapidly and with malice. His tenure set the stage for the drama that we have been forced to endure as the audience has been hoodwinked by bullschittery that has been building since WW2 and long before.
-The pandemic, ignored by the coward of the century, was finally put in the rear view mirror, after repubs did all the could to kill all they could.
-Our MSM has failed to inform, period.
-Putin has written, cast, and directed the drama which is geared to accomplish the same goals as the Nazi evil of a century ago.
-Joe and Kamala have pulled off a miracle of effective governing to undo the chump damage and restore our lives, our fortunes, and our future.
-the Evil of our country and our times has the money and the gall to support an enemy equal to the one that America defeated when faced with destruction and demise.
-it is up to us to do it again. David and Goliath have different faces, and the stage is set with different characters, but it is a story as old as humanity.
The interesting thing is that the article is less offensive than the headline, and I am reminded of a New York Times editor more than a century ago. An editorial writer mentioned that the stories on World War I in Europe tended to be even-handed, but the headlines favored England. The editor replied, yes, let me control the headlines and I do not care who controls the editorial page. Now add the internet to the mix. The Times's social media accounts are even worse.
How much of it is Nepo Boy and how much of it is Times staff wanting to get as many clicks as possible, I don't know. But I saw a survey saying 91% of Times readers identify as Democratic or leaning that way. They figure we need them and they can get away with it. And believe me, The Times has quite a history of arrogance.
I agree, every republican should be asked about the election as their first question of each interview. It's a go/no-go gauge.
If they say Biden won fair and square, the interview continues. If the answer is no, the test pattern should immediately appear as we hear the host say: ok interview over.
Thanks for reading that drivel so I don't have to.
Spot on Bob, turn off the lights and the cameras, and tell them that there won’t be any more questions in the future. If just some of our MSM had the courage to do that we might have been saved a lot of heartache over the last 8 years. They have allowed this bullshit to continue for far too long.
“ Trump went Full Hitler with a claim that migrants commit crimes because they have “bad genes.” “How about allowing people to come through an open border, 13,000 of which were murderers, many of them murdered far more than one person and they’re now happily living in the United States?”
Bad genes? Perhaps the most deviant set of genes is in chumps DNA! Murderers!! Indeed NO ONE elseis Responsible for more than 1,000,000 covid related death like the maliciously incompetent chump!
Nobody has told the MSM pundits that they're becoming increasingly irrelevant. At least not in a way MSM can understand or believe. As GB Shaw once wrote, a man is unlikely to understand something if his salary depends on him not understanding it.
“to (insert most any name) and the rest of the white boys who are so well beyond their sell-by dates in the DC Press Corpse: boo fucking hoo.
Kamala isn’t talking to you because she doesn’t fucking need you, that’s why.”
Hahahahahahahahaha. They are more and more obsessed with their own crumbling self images including BigWindbag at the Times. How it must grind their journalist gears that Kamala sat down with Alex Cooper, Stephen Colbert, and Howard Stern in one week for “interviews”. And that Stern reached 10 mil viewers. And that Kamala was addressed by these “hosts” with respect and warmth as is her due.
I love it. We have spankin’ fresh new media. Including my fave TC. As is possible in a democracy.
The old Press, most of them, will have their heads in the sand up to and past the election. When quicksand will encompass their asses.
Mitt as SecState? WT ever living F? Move to the center? This is asinine. Martin wants Trump in the Oval. It’s so obvious. A milk toast, don’t change anything Harris is a defeated Harris. She needs to stay progressive so the common folk know they have a chance for improvement in their lot.
after Kamala's "60 Minutes" interview was completely trashed by the other side because it was obviously edited (and TFF could free associate about how many edits there must have been for every word, the dumb prick), I watched the Howard Stern interview from Sirius/XM on YouTube. over an hour of actual STUFF. granted, HS was a very admiring audience, but if someone talks for an hour, you can get a better sense of where they're at than twenty minutes of gotcha questions on CBS.
Fewer and fewer people are getting their news from the legacy outfits, which explains their standing in the middle of the road all the time in hopes of staying alive for a few more news cycles. There are now many news options, many of them admittedly lousy but more readily available. Most people are interested in the daily news in their area and will check it out on TV and/or radio and that's about it. The most inspired reports, opinions, and analyses are here at Substack. (Remember when McLuhan said the medium is the message?)
On the other hand, if one is a print junkie, as I am, there is good news. The Atlantic is going to expand its print publication to monthly and remain something a gal can not only read during an extended power outage, but also roll up to smack a fly with when necessary.
As an Atlantic subscriber, I am glad to know that.
I'm an Atlantic subscriber too, but I read it mostly online -- the type in the print edition is so small I need my magnifying glass to read it. Not unusual with print publications that are trying to save on paper costs, and it's unfortunate because their most loyal followers are probably of an age to need magnifying glasses.
Susanna - have you tried high-magnification reading glasses? I did a search and find that you can get up to +4-power glasses. That might be more convenient than using a magnifying glass. Admittedly, I don't know the extent to which your close vision is diminished but you might find this page helpful: https://www.eyebobs.com/pages/reader-strength-test
I already have reading glasses, though I could probably use a new prescription. My corrected close vision is pretty good since I make my living as an editor and sometime proofreader. <g> Mostly I'm fine with doing most of my non-book reading online. (I don't actually use a magnifying glass to read, though I've always got one handy for the "fine print.")
Well, my comment was focused on your purported need for a magnifying glass. For myself, way back when, I had superb close vision when my contacts were out (had 20-200 vision) but after cataract surgery on each eye, I opted for a distance lens for one eye and a reading lens for the other. Do wear glasses with distance correction for that second eye when out and about, particularly night driving, but that has worked wonderfully for me for over 20 years - still no need for reading glasses, for The Atlantic or other publications, even for small print on various containers, though I do want decent light in which to read them.
And a MAGAt if they venture close
Agree 100% Judith. And thank you for the good news about The Atlantic! Just in time for snuggle up and ready season. Now I won't have to be soisrly in steching it out.
💥
My idea of a free press is that Kamala is free to ignore them. Someone should poll journalists to see how many of them ever took a class in American civics, and if so, did they pass it with even a D-?
Agreed. Tom. That's why I disconnected my TV 17 months ago and no longer have the Sacramento Bee delivered to me. I don't need to pay to be lied to. It doesn't surprise me in the least that maga maggots believe the Apprentice was "real" they believe if they saw and heard it on Television it MUST be true.
In the 19th Century America began teaching every child their 3 r's Reading (w)Riting and (a)Rithmetic but then they discovered that some of those children when taught to read and write actually started "thinking" how awful!!! Ever since that mistake they have assiduously been trying to dumb down America. They seem to be succeeding in many States.
Glad to see you are mellowing in your old age.....NOT!! Another well-deserved thrust at the nattering nincopoops of the Fourth Estate. I am appalled at what I just read from Karen Tumulty in WaPo, about what Harris MUST do..... If they were any more entitled, we'd need a US edition of Burke's Peerage and our own House of Lords. Thought we'd had a mild disagreement in the late 18th century about all that. It is utterly infuriating to see the press engaged actively in putting down the team that is fighting to preserve the American political system and its form of government..... Blech!
After reading the extent of the absolute crap that so-called journalists "produced" towards Gore 24 years ago? AND got away with - and denied not too long ago? The same kind of crap being thrown at Kamala now. The GALL to think they are the arbiters of everything!
We don’t need to lay a hand on the Times or the Post or Tiger Beat on the Potomac to discredit any of them or even to facilitate their downfall. They’ve done it for us. Their coverage is at best useless and at worst some kind of both-side smokescreen. The fact that we can’t see a reliable alternative for the legacy press is unfortunate, but that doesn’t mean it ain’t time to stick a fork in these jagovs and move on to something better.
Jagovs…this leads me to believe you’re a Pittsburgher. I spell if jagoff, but either way, that’s what they are. We gave up our TV back in the Bush years. Useless. And yes to the Atlantic!
Which way do I go..
Maybe we can try forward for a change.
Been trying with all my might
Guilty, although relocated a bit. Your spelling is probably better. In my defense I heard it a bunch but never saw it in print until I was really old.
How about asking Mike Johnson & his ilk if he unequivocally believes that Trump won the 2020 election?
He will pray about it. To chump…
Following the axiom that the simplest explanation is the right one, the very rich aren't enthused about the prospect of a Harris presidency. When Jay Gould bragged that he could hire half the working class to kill the other half, he wasn't joking. They don't want to pay taxes and they're damn sure afraid of the unions that Trump will quite probably help them crush. They'll erase the New Deal from the history books if they can. If these pricks should win it will be our duty to make sure they don't enjoy it.
I’m old, but I remember why I liked Ike. I did wonder how smart Germany was so stupid to allow such insanity in the first place. Since my husband watched and understood so much more than I did about WW2, I learned. Never did I dream of where we are today. But I watched the following, as best I can recall:
-RR making a speech at Philadelphia, Miss early on
-GHWB, talking about shining light on the hill while denigrating Willie Horton.
-Gingrich, Delay and that group of vipers employing tactics that were only a smidge less than the TNT the current Repubs play with
-RM and Fox geared up the most ridiculous propaganda machine that I was sure would be seen for what it was. silly me
-GWB and the cretin supporters stole the 2000 election with a little more finesse than chump tried 20 years later.
-GWB cratered our reputation, our economy, and killed untold numbers of innocent people before he tried to turn over the destruction machine to John McCain, who foisted Sarah Palin and the Tea Party obstructionists on Obama, who likely assumed that there was a Republican with ethics still in DC.
-DT reared his putrid head with his egregious lie about Obama, just practice I guess for the lies he told Christians who had already been greased up by Karl Rove in 2004 so that W could continue his reign of stupid terror
-Mitt continued to be a poor excuse for ethics in government.
-MMc continued his burn it down siege against bipartisanship for Power of the Cretins.
-DT was skewered, then adored by the GOP that he destroyed, rapidly and with malice. His tenure set the stage for the drama that we have been forced to endure as the audience has been hoodwinked by bullschittery that has been building since WW2 and long before.
-The pandemic, ignored by the coward of the century, was finally put in the rear view mirror, after repubs did all the could to kill all they could.
-Our MSM has failed to inform, period.
-Putin has written, cast, and directed the drama which is geared to accomplish the same goals as the Nazi evil of a century ago.
-Joe and Kamala have pulled off a miracle of effective governing to undo the chump damage and restore our lives, our fortunes, and our future.
-the Evil of our country and our times has the money and the gall to support an enemy equal to the one that America defeated when faced with destruction and demise.
-it is up to us to do it again. David and Goliath have different faces, and the stage is set with different characters, but it is a story as old as humanity.
From pithy to profuse, JDH. With perfection as always.
Thank you, growing old with intact memory (so far) is a blessing and a curse if a problematic trajectory is noted.
This child of 1944 agrees.
I’d like to think that people learn important lessons as they age. Some just get old
Boy howdy is that ever true!
I would have disputed that at one time. No more
The interesting thing is that the article is less offensive than the headline, and I am reminded of a New York Times editor more than a century ago. An editorial writer mentioned that the stories on World War I in Europe tended to be even-handed, but the headlines favored England. The editor replied, yes, let me control the headlines and I do not care who controls the editorial page. Now add the internet to the mix. The Times's social media accounts are even worse.
How much of it is Nepo Boy and how much of it is Times staff wanting to get as many clicks as possible, I don't know. But I saw a survey saying 91% of Times readers identify as Democratic or leaning that way. They figure we need them and they can get away with it. And believe me, The Times has quite a history of arrogance.
I agree, every republican should be asked about the election as their first question of each interview. It's a go/no-go gauge.
If they say Biden won fair and square, the interview continues. If the answer is no, the test pattern should immediately appear as we hear the host say: ok interview over.
Thanks for reading that drivel so I don't have to.
NYT Delenda Est
Spot on Bob, turn off the lights and the cameras, and tell them that there won’t be any more questions in the future. If just some of our MSM had the courage to do that we might have been saved a lot of heartache over the last 8 years. They have allowed this bullshit to continue for far too long.
Agreed. What should become of them in a post-Trump era?
“ Trump went Full Hitler with a claim that migrants commit crimes because they have “bad genes.” “How about allowing people to come through an open border, 13,000 of which were murderers, many of them murdered far more than one person and they’re now happily living in the United States?”
Bad genes? Perhaps the most deviant set of genes is in chumps DNA! Murderers!! Indeed NO ONE elseis Responsible for more than 1,000,000 covid related death like the maliciously incompetent chump!
Nobody has told the MSM pundits that they're becoming increasingly irrelevant. At least not in a way MSM can understand or believe. As GB Shaw once wrote, a man is unlikely to understand something if his salary depends on him not understanding it.
“to (insert most any name) and the rest of the white boys who are so well beyond their sell-by dates in the DC Press Corpse: boo fucking hoo.
Kamala isn’t talking to you because she doesn’t fucking need you, that’s why.”
Hahahahahahahahaha. They are more and more obsessed with their own crumbling self images including BigWindbag at the Times. How it must grind their journalist gears that Kamala sat down with Alex Cooper, Stephen Colbert, and Howard Stern in one week for “interviews”. And that Stern reached 10 mil viewers. And that Kamala was addressed by these “hosts” with respect and warmth as is her due.
I love it. We have spankin’ fresh new media. Including my fave TC. As is possible in a democracy.
The old Press, most of them, will have their heads in the sand up to and past the election. When quicksand will encompass their asses.
Always in appreciation, TC!
Salud!
🗽💜
A little perspective.
In 2024 a female of mixed
races is running for president
of the USA.
In 2016 a white female was
running for president of the
USA.
In between you had, in 2020,
2 white males running for
president of the USA. NYT
crickets.
In the first 2 above, the NYT
did/does everything they
could/can to subtleytorpedo
the female candidates. They
were the primary drivers of
every other MSM DC news
pile on.
It took 1/6/21 for the NYT to
show a glimmer of angst at
what took place that
infamous day.
I don't subscribe to them or
WaPo any longer. I like the
Guardian US. AP is a little iffy.
Reuters is still pretty good.
The Atlantic is very good.
Politico is up there with NYT.
Then there's Substack 😁
Mitt as SecState? WT ever living F? Move to the center? This is asinine. Martin wants Trump in the Oval. It’s so obvious. A milk toast, don’t change anything Harris is a defeated Harris. She needs to stay progressive so the common folk know they have a chance for improvement in their lot.
after Kamala's "60 Minutes" interview was completely trashed by the other side because it was obviously edited (and TFF could free associate about how many edits there must have been for every word, the dumb prick), I watched the Howard Stern interview from Sirius/XM on YouTube. over an hour of actual STUFF. granted, HS was a very admiring audience, but if someone talks for an hour, you can get a better sense of where they're at than twenty minutes of gotcha questions on CBS.
fuck these guys.
AMEN!