LOVE POWER. I’M TALKING ABOUT LOVE POWER. THE POWER OF A SWEET FLOWER IS GONNA RULE THE EARTH. AND THERE’LL BE A GREAT REBIRTH: Marianne Williamson Wants To Win the Presidency With the Power of Love and Miracles.
(Headline inspired by legendary Broadway performer Lorenzo St. Dubois.)
IT SHOULD ALSO INCLUDE A RECOGNITION THAT REASONABLE SUN EXPOSURE IS GOOD FOR YOU: Shielding Kids From the Sun Isn’t Just About Sunscreen: Experts say other steps should include seeking shade, avoiding the most intense hours of sun exposure and wearing hats and clothing to protect the skin.
You want to avoid burns, but sun exposure is part of a healthy lifestyle.
SIR DARROCH WAS A LEAKER: And now the rest of the story is told on why Sir Kim Darroch is leaving as Britain’s Ambassador to the U.S. According to the Washington Examiner’s Tom Rogan, Sir Darroch leaked U.S. intelligence like a sieve. Betcha there’s more to come, too.
YOU’RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER BLOG: Democratic Presidential Clown Car Update for July 15, 2019. “Biden still leads, Steyer is In, Warren, Sanders and Harris are all bunched up for second, Castro wants nothing to do with your germ-bearing meatbag spawn, and Williamson channels Neon Genesis Evangelion and raises Gravel’s campaign from the dead.”
AT AMAZON, Happy Prime Day!
COULD I HAVE SOME NEWS WITH MY EMOTIONS, PLEASE?
Walter Cronkite unnerved a nation 56 years ago, by taking off his glasses.
The video has been seen by countless millions over the decades: Cronkite announcing on live television in 1963 the death of President Kennedy. He stops for a moment, removes his glasses, composes himself and moves on. That gesture rattled Americans because they expected journalists to convey a calm sense of authority, a reassuring stoicism in the face of Cold War standoffs, civil unrest and even the assassination of a president.
Things have changed. Emotion now blankets the media landscape like an infant’s crib at bedtime. Google “Shepard Smith emotional,” and up come nearly 3 million results, many of them focused on the Fox anchor’s recent visceral response to immigrant suffering. A search of “Rachel Maddow crying” delivers more than 1 million offerings, many for the MSNBC host’s reaction to border detentions and the Mueller report. “Brooke Baldwin tears” uncovers nearly 2 million entries for the CNN reporter’s reaction to a variety of news events.
They are not alone. Contemporary culture trusts feelings over facts, rewards heated emotion — tears or anger — and rejects medium cool. The effect on journalism is unmistakable. And a lot of the blame can be placed on those all-too-common twin devils: television and the internet.
From the earliest days of television, journalists understood the power of an image to overwhelm objectivity. That’s why Cronkite and others worked hard to present the news without emotional cues: no raised eyebrows, head-shaking, or wide-eyed incredulity. They presented the news simply, expecting this would counteract that gut-level response all humans have to striking images.
Walter Cronkite’s avuncular tone and courtly demeanor may have been much more reserved than Shep, Maddow and Brooke “Margret Dumont” Baldwin, but the idea that Cronkite presented the news straight, with no chaser, is a false one, as his (very) left-leaning biographer admitted several years ago. While claiming “And that’s the way it is” each night, “Uncle Walter” was the original Democratic Party operative with a byline.
OH: U.S. proposes barring big tech companies from offering financial services, digital currencies. “In a sign of widening scrutiny after Facebook Inc’s (FB.O) proposed Libra digital coin aroused widespread objection, the bill proposes a fine of $1 million per day for violation of such rules.”
Whatever you think of Facebook, Libra, or this legislation, $1 million a day probably isn’t much of a deterrent to a company which enjoyed revenues of nearly $56 billion last year. In fact, shares jumped last week when the FTC announced a fine on the company of “only” $5 billion.
OF COURSE THEY DO: 2020 Dems Support Amazon Workers’ Prime Day Strike.
HMM: Cutting calories leads to significant health benefits, study shows. Well, any kind of weight loss is good for you if you’re overweight, and this is low hanging fruit.
YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE SPELLCHECK: Millennial Writer Cries for Mother at Work When Editor Corrects Her Spelling.
‘BECOMING A WHITE NATIONALIST TO OWN TRUMP?’ WaPo columnist and Gulag author Anne Applebaum fights Trump’s alleged xenophobia by being a xenophobe.
APPARENTLY, IT’S 2017 AGAIN: Sarah Hoyt: Trump Points Out The Obvious. Everybody Apparently Loses Their Damned Minds. “People who are here and want to talk about how terrible America is? LEAVE. Vamoose. Go. We’re not a socialist state that restricts your ability to leave. That’s the whole point.”
WORST. RACIST. EVER. Trump DOJ summit focuses on rise in anti-Semitic attacks, racial hatred.
GET WOKE GO BROKE: Toxic Masculinity Comedy ‘Stuber’ Dies at Box Office.
BECAUSE THEY’RE IDIOTS. THE SENATORS, THAT IS. Senators Want To Know Why WNBA Players Make Less Money Than NBA Stars.
KAROL MARKOWICZ: ‘Believe all women’ makes the ‘Pence rule’ just common sense.
THEY’RE SAYING IT’S ALIENS. BECAUSE IT’S ALIENS. More than 1 million people to raid Area 51 in Nevada in quest to see aliens.
The clearly tongue-in-cheek Facebook event page is titled “Storm Area 51. They Can’t Stop All of Us” and states “We can run faster than other bullets.”
It’s inviting users from around the world to join a “Naruto run” into the area. That’s a Japanese Manga-inspired running style featuring arms outstretched backwards and heads forward.
“We will all meet up at the Area 51 Alien Center tourist attraction and coordinate our entry,” according to the event organizer.
But some social media users expressed concerns.
“Folks, bad news,” Facebook user Jen Petrilli, posted on the event’s discussion page. “This event is planned for September 20th. While I love this planning time, this gives them a lot of time to move the aliens out of Area 51. If we want to get our extraterrestrial pals into safe and loving arms, this needs to ASAP. Love, A friend to the aliens.”
Just be sure to go in during daylight hours — they’ll be expecting you at night.
AT AMAZON, Happy Prime Day!
AT AMAZON, Prime Day Deals in Home & Kitchen.
HAMMERTIME? Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley Demand FTC Investigate Big Tech Firms That Can ‘Sway Elections.’ “Never before in this country have so few people controlled so much speech.”
JUST THINK OF IT AS EVOLUTION IN ACTION: A Cades Cove visitor confronted a momma bear and her cubs, so she charged.
FLIGHT RISK: Feds say fake passport found in Epstein’s safe.
Federal prosecutors say a search of Jeffrey Epstein’s home safe turned up a bogus passport that listed a Saudi Arabia residence along with “piles of cash” and “dozens of diamonds.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex Rossmiller revealed at a bail hearing Monday that the passport, issued in the 1980s, has a photo of Epstein but a different name. They also cited a mysterious lack of financial records.
So I guess the question is: Where’s the unexpired fake passport?
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