PCIntern
PCIntern's JournalFrom the first day of the Biden Administration...
The media has been discussing the downfall of the United States Congress by threatening and promising that Republicans would take over and effectively destroy the executive branch as led by President Biden . I recall distinctly on inauguration day listening to this crap, and thinking to myself that they really do want this to happen, they want an autocracy and oligarchy Because…, Well because they are just plain narrow and stupid.
I have known a lot of these people over the years in my practice who write for newspapers, magazines, and blogs, some of whom are nationally known and it is amazing to me how ignorant and narcissistic so many of these people are. Many of them have what we would call good politics, but their breadth of knowledge is horrifyingly small given the nature of what they write and the import of their words. When I was a kid I tangentially was associated with the B team of significant literati in New York, and these people were like Newton, Einstein, and Feynman compared with this recent crop. The right wingers are stupid and malicious and don’t give a shit if people live or die, they really don’t.
I am just sick and tired of the whole bunch of them and those who defend them. They’reso busy calling it the “American experiment” but they’ve been fudging the data for so long that it looks like that experiment is doomed to failure.
Watching President Obama speaking in Michigan
What a gifted pro he is… He just connects even better than Bill Clinton did and I did not think that was possible in a politician in my lifetime. He has humor, intellect, intensity, and off the charts charisma. What a remarkable individual he is and how lucky we were to have him as president for eight wonderful years.
A short lesson in biased media:
As many of you know, I am a diehard Philly Sports fan, but especially the Phillies. However, I am extremely objective when it comes to team and individual performance and quite frankly I spent most of my childhood and adult lifetime watching and listening to my teams lose, sometimes with ignominy.
To continue, on many many occasions I have had the opportunity to watch my teams when covered by the national media, and I am fairly used to the Philadelphia team being the underdog, quite often legitimately. There is no question that the Eagles were underdogs to the Patriots in Super Bowl 2017 and I was well aware that the coverage would be slanted somewhat in the Patriots’ direction. I will say for the most part in pro football and hockey, and much of the time in basketball the national media gives the Philly teams a fair shake. Unfortunately for the Phillies, that is almost never the case. In fact, for the first time ever in postseason play, I would state that the Fox program hosts which include three All-Star players, are really even-handed and appropriately complimentary to both the Astros and the Phillies which they should be. Now I will be the first to admit that the Phillies have exceeded expectations in remarkable style and I am possibly the last person to expect them to have gotten this far during the regular season, but good for them for overcoming a whole host of problems and issues to attain this level.
However, the game announcers which include John Smoltz who at one time pitched for the Atlanta Braves, which are the Phillies’rivals in the Eastern Division of the NL were so overwhelmingly prejudiced towards the Astros that the game was actually difficult to watch. The lesson which I’m trying to get across here however occurred after the Phillies sealed the final out in the game. I texted a good friend of mine that The announcers were so upset that I wondered how much they had bet on the game going the Astros way. This is not uncommon for Phillies baseball for a variety of reasons which I don’t really need to get into at this stage but my point is that media bias for expectations which for whatever reason they perceive to be overriding is present. You see it in sports, you see it in politics, and you see it in certain human interest stories. The last time I heard commentators this upset with the result of a major sporting event was when Roger Staubach was providing color commentary during the Eagles Cowboys NFC championship game in 1980 and the Eagles beat the Cowboys. He was literally crying in the booth. And I mean literally. Pat Summerall had to have the technician cut Staubach’s mike.
What upsets me about seeing it in sports is that it is actually unreasonable to the nth degree. In a playoff which is best-of-five or best-of-seven games then by definition the best team wins and whether that be by skill, luck, or hopefully unbiased officiating, we accept it and say to ourselves “better luck next year” when we lose. I was particularly upset by the two play-by-play hosts tonight because their adulation of the Houston team, it’s management, and its fans was extreme. Now this is the team that cheated its way through the World Series in 2017, and was punished, but not severely enough, for doing so. But of course since this is all about public relations, absolutely no mention of this is made during the pre-game, the game, or the post game shows. Believe me if the Phillies had been found guilty of cheating, it would be story number one prior to every question of every player being asked. I can hear it now: even though your team was found guilty of cheating last year, is your team hongry enough, coach? (The spelling of the word “hungry” in that fashion is the tip of the hat Edwin Newman, who older people will remember quite well as a newscaster who wrote books about the usage and abusage of the English language).
Quite frankly, this is why I have stopped listening to political programs for the most part during this run up to the election. I find the commentators’ biases worse than usual, and for that reason and many others, I fear for our existence as a country, or at least a so-called democratic country. In this case I believe the news division has taken a page from the sports division of the networks.
Meanwhile: GO PHILLIES!
Mr Pelosi was attacked with a hammer..
Oh…so MAYBE it wasn’t a random follow the old guy home attack.
It takes a lot to make me angry but I heard earlier on MSNBC that it was entirely possible that this was just “random”. First of all why speculate and why would anyone posit that this was random anymore than if a rifle round whizzed past the ear of the President you would postulate that it was random. Best to report FACTS…remember them?…and allow the story to emerge.
If it were a RW ideologue attacked, Antifa would be named immediately as a “suspect”. Liberal Media my patootie.
On this Saturday evening, I have made a decision:
This country can and only will be saved by the Deus ex machina. For a fact we know that there are 74 million people and by inference their minor children who believe in the likes of Trump sufficiently to vote for him as President.
This has nothing to do with religion but we need an “Act of God”. Relying upon politics and advertising is not sufficient. Not anymore.
Continuous shit-eating RW MAGA ads during Phila/SD playoff game
with very occasional anti-Oz ad.
No anti-Mastriano but their internal polling may show a lock for Shapiro. If there is such a thing.
I liken the legal campaign against Trump
to be akin to an inside-the-park home run attempt.
Usually in that circumstance the ball is hit by the batter deep and caroms off an anomaly in the wall (or an angled wall as is placed in the Phillies’ Citizens Bank Park) away from the fielder(s) in such a manner that the race is on between the base runner and the fielder who needs to apprehend the ball, wind up and throw it to a cutoff person, who then relays it to the catcher who needs to apply the tag at home plate.
Here, the various law enforcement agencies are investigating but the clock is running and the question is, are they going to tag this guy out or is he going to slide home safely because the fielders handled the ball too gingerly?
So I spend virtually all my time in front of the tv screaming at it, either if it’s tuned to MSNBC or ESPN/FS1/TBS/TNT. I’m losing it and shall require tranquilizers and therapy when this is all, meaning the elections and the baseball season, over with.
Here's the answer to my question here yesterday:
I had asked rhetorically Wtf was up with these horrifying ads during the playoff between Atlanta and my Phillies
https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/citizens-for-sanity-tv-ads-republicans-20221016.html
There has not been a single Democratic Ad during
The Phillies/Braves playoff game on FS1. (That’s FoxSports 1 for the non-sports inclined)
It’s been a continuous and steady stream of horrific Rethug ads.
Profile Information
Gender: MaleHometown: Philly
Home country: USA!USA!USA!
Current location: Jersey Shore
Member since: Sun Feb 22, 2004, 09:01 AM
Number of posts: 25,647