A journalist from the Washington Post was trying to get a fucking piece of paper needed for his wedding and what did he get instead? He was tortured, murdered and chopped into pieces.
The Saudi government did not lie when they said he left the Turkish Embassy moments after arriving. He did leave moments later.
But he left in several suitcases – an arm here, a leg there – totally dismembered and without the wedding paper he was hoping to get.
The pieces of his body are now in Saudi Arabia and President Trump’s threat of “severe punishment” is a complete joke.
Much like the Brett Kavanaugh “investigation,” this Saudi murder “investigation” will not be carried out. The statement is already written that says “no conclusive proof” and “business will go on as usual.”
This video is absolutely the reason Donald Trump used every dirty trick (including conspiring with a foreign government) to win the 2016 Election.
Those three minutes from the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner is the real reason Donald Trump leveraged his relationship with Russia to bring down his opponent, is destroying Democracy as we know it and is trying to undo EVERYTHING Barack Obama accomplished as President.
That is the face of someone who will do anything to get back at another person. This man, with the temperament of a five year old, is ruining our country because of a grudge.
I didn’t blog most of the past year because I was writing a book that I got actual money for (just so you know, blogs don’t really pay) and because I just didn’t have an angle. Not sure I do now but I have to get back at it. It’s a discipline and I need to retrain those muscles.
So… I’m back.
But I’m back in a time when the American media is stuck. Absolutely stuck in the mud with no mule or Ford F-150 to pull us out.
To paraphrase the great film “All The President’s Men” – We haven’t got it.
Just not enough to bring President Trump down.
Don’t get me wrong – of course there is overwhelming evidence to bring down President Trump. Just not enough that sixty percent of Americas will get behind.
We are living in a country that elected a President ONLY because he said he would keep Mexicans out. REPEAT – ONLY BECAUSE HE WOULD KEEP MEXICANS OUT.
It wasn’t about jobs. It was about tax cuts. It wasn’t about NATO or the war on terror.
It was because he said he would build a wall to keep people out of America.
Even the Pope knows this is the only reason he is President. Look at that face.
Many of these same Americans that voted for him will lose their health insurance, will not get any tax break, will not get jobs… they will just get the Mexicans out. And that STILL seems to be okay with them.
We are living in a country that tolerated their ancestors when they came in the country – but have no tolerance for anything else.
But the journalists still need to be smarter.
We all want to have THE SCOOP – THE SMOKING GUN that finally brings him down – but we have to be careful.
Our challenge is – we have to be completely honest. There is no wiggle room for speculation. No wiggle room for unnamed sources.
The Trump White House is using every vague reference as leverage.
But it won’t work forever.
We must only be honest and, based on the absolute truthful facts, this President will be brought to his knees and he will resign.
Not impeached because there are no real “give me liberty or give me death” Americans on the Republican side – but he will be forced to resign because… there will be no other choice.
But right now, in a world where a candidate for congress can assault a reporter and still win, when most in the media are so horrified by this President’s lack of ability or respect for the job and only wants to get one of these overwhelmingly impeachable charges to stick… we haven’t got it.
It went on and on like that in the debate and has gone on and on like that throughout his campaign.
And he gets more and more popular.
How is that even possible?
This clip from “Lenny” starring Dustin Hoffman (directed by Bob Fosse – and one of the great movies of the 1970s) perfectly encapsulates Trump’s strategy of denying no matter the proof and his followers acceptance of the denial as fact – because they WANT to believe him:
I haven’t been blogging regularly for a while as I’ve working on a book and upcoming podcast about the history of Manka Bros. Studios.
I hope starting in the next couple of weeks I can balance both projects and get back to writing about the business of media.
I think Tech reporters really only care about CES because it is in Las Vegas.
If the show were held in a place like Fresno or Akron does anyone really believe reporters would trek from all over the world to see LG’s new roll-up screen?
Of course not.
Here’s the way it plays out every year in Vegas:
Nearly every major online publication (and print for that matter) send at least one reporter (and some send teams) to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) – and no one, except those reporters, actually cares what comes out of the show.
These writers start off strong with elaborate write-ups before they get to Las Vegas of “What To Expect From CES This Year!” or “The 10 Must-Sees @CES!”
– then they go to Vegas
– they do a decent write up of Day 1 and feign interest in a couple of redundant panels that reveal little
– then they party hard the first night because they have been so focused on the build up of CES that they just want to unwind
– and then they write a lackluster Day 2 report (because they are hungover)
– party some more
– and then sort of disappear until it’s time to drag themselves home.
Because it’s not about “new technology” (the gadgets are really just variations on themes from the past 10 years), it’s about “Vegas” and being able to get drunk on the company dime.
The same goes for the legions of companies that attempt to break new products and show off their brilliant innovations.
It’s a snow job – everyone is reprinting the same press release and then heading to dinners and cocktail parties to talk about the press release.
99.99% of the world’s population really don’t care to read about a $150,000 8K television, or a self-driving car or wearable tech – they might buy it once it hits the market if the products are good – but to read about it from hundreds of tech reporters and bloggers? Not so much.