Last night Rachel Maddow treated us to a memorable 25 minutes master class in journalism, ethics and civic values. Starting out with a history lesson on several fascist wannabes (I once wrote a paper in university on Father Coughlin. He was the first to purposefully use electronic media - radio at the time - to spread his venom) whose campaigns never got traction as they lacked the support of one of the big parties she then explained how trump made a difference. He was able to usurp the GOP. And he did so with the help of the Quisling he installed and later dumped.
Well done. The future of Ronna Romney McDaniel at NBC should be over already. As many probably didn't watch it for understandable reasons here is a link I found (unfortunately only the second half of her piece):
It was wonderful. I hope the people who perpetrated this hire learned something.
It isn’t very reassuring however that it will be news to them. The only way we should hear Ronna’s “voice is” with instant fact check.
People who hired her should be fired unless they reverse that and soon — apologize to NBC staff, and the past leaders (dead or alive) their viewers, and the country.
“People who hired her”… My step mum just called me and said that “they” think it was a coup. Step mom says people who work for NBC hired McDaniels on the sly??? I don’t know about that.
While poking around to find out what sort of coup, if any, mum was referring to I found this from ‘Stop the presses’, a weekly newsletter about how right-wing extremism has exploited the weaknesses in American journalism, and what we can do about it.
Loved Rachel's speech, and especially her tone. She was obviously as upset as everyone else on the network who spoke out, but the ending was so beautiful. To the network she said they must admit they made a mistake. That takes courage. It's not enough that she will not be on our shows. She must not be on the payroll. (This is a paraphrase of what she said.) We can always count on her to say the absolute right thing!!!
Thank you, Stefan, for this link. Here is the MSNBC link for the entire program with the historical background - fascinating. Let me know if you have problems with the link and I'll try it again.
Can get it on podcast version, sound only though. But that's all you need.
Should get an Emmy, a Pulitzer, and a Nobel Peace Prize! A masterstroke! And it toppled the fakir along with other voices of protest.
I think Chris Hayes must have spoken out, and Alex Wagner did when she came back tonight. Lawrence came in pretty sick so as to not miss his chance to lodge his protest.
But these proto-fascists will try it again. Maybe after they push a few prominent hosts out... Throw some fear into them.
Actually, it's not blocked although it tries to suggest you must sign in. Just ignore what pops up, sit through one ad and Rachel begins. Just got into it successfully but didn't watch beyond the intro because I saw her live last night.
Robert, I am going to keep on feeling positive that Biden-Harris will win come November. The House is falling apart as the cards are rapidly crashing down. We just need a couple more R’s to say “adios” and Hakeem becomes speaker. Brings music to my ears. In the meantime, this morning or afternoon, we will get the grim news from SCOTUS that the Justice 6 will vote against women, once again, in not allowing mifepristone to be legally made available to those who need it. As a mother of two adult daughters and a strong advocate for women’s rights, don’t be surprised at the surge at the floodgates. I am hoping that governors in blue states will simply ignore this decree and carry on as if nothing has happened. Just my two cents.
Ronna McDaniel deserves every bit of anger aimed at her and at the execs within the NBC universe. She was right in the middle of things, phone calls, allowed Trump to pilfer the RNC coffers and told lies upon lies about the newscasters which put them in harm’s way. Ronna is as despicable as her former master and for NBC to spit in the faces of the very people who bring us the news on their stations, is abhorrent. Don’t know if you watched Lawrence tonight but he said if he had an opportunity to have her on, which he won’t, he would ask her why she changed her name for Trump from Ronna Romney McDaniel to just Ronna McDaniel. I thought that was great!
If it’s chaos that ‘they’ are counting on to destroy our Democracy then they are doing a fine job of it, mucking things for themselves (mifepristone)! Those of us committed to Democracy must stay out of the muck and keep moving above it, in front of it, and around it !
By ‘they’ I mean: Federalists, GOP, Justice 6, trump and his minions.
One of the groups with which I write Postcards is Activate America (www.activateamerica.vote). They also have a program called "Amplify" which collects info on the successes of the Democrats and the Biden Administration - https://www.activateamerica.vote/amplify
It comes directly to your email if you sign up for it or you can go to the webpasge and search the database by topic. It provides lots of "ammunition" for talking to people about why they should go out and vote for Democrats. Now is the time to persuade the people you know about the importance of voting Blue up and down the ballot and get them to help you spread the word!
For people who want to leverage Social Media to spread the word, I also like DemCast - https://demcastusa.com/.
As Simon Rosenberg of Hopium Chronicles likes to say - we all need to be information warriors to combat the right-wing media bubble.
Thank you Cheryl! Thanks for elucidating that it may not be enough that we ‘tell a friend’, rather, we ‘show a friend’ (how to foster people on talking to others about voting blue).
OMG!!! YES!! Enough with the bad actors. It is long past time for the media to get it together and talk straight to their listeners that Trump and MAGA are the greatest threat to our country since King George III.
As you are I am sure aware, there are two levels of the crime of Falsifying Business Records in NY, one a misdemeanor (where the intent is simply to defraud) and the 2d a felony (where the intent is to cover up a crime). He's charged with the 2d. But I got interested in what would happen if Bragg couldn't prove the cover up but could prove the intent to defraud; what KIND of Misdemeanor?? Turns out it is a Class A. The sentence for an A misdemeanor in New York can include UP TO ONE YEAR IN JAIL, a fine of up to $1,000, probation for two or three years, and/or a conditional discharge which can include the requirement to abide by certain conditions such as an Order of Protection or not being re-arrested.
So he could end up in the clinker even if the much debated "what crime did he cover up" turns out to be a problem.
On the bond reduction in the James case: some say it must because the panel thinks the court will reduce the judgment. But on what grounds? Wasn't the amount determined by a trier of fact? What will the appeals court USE to reduce it? I can see them buying the "nobody was hurt" (though I'd respect them even less) but that would reduce the judgment to zero. How will they just get to a lesser amount?
just a question of googling productively. Once I asked myself the question, this one had a pretty easy to find answer, at least on the type of misdemeanor. I don't know enough about appellate law and norms in NY to answer the second paragraph.
Moral--when you see something that puzzles you, ask Google a question. And keep being puzzled.
The McDaniel decision is not "inexplicable." CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN, the bunch of the "legacy media" have lost over a third of the audience they had as of 2020. The intergalactic widgetmakers who own them, who haven't got the collective corporate brains to swat flies as evidenced by all the other dumbass media decisions they have made in the past two years, have convinced themselves that "streaming is the future" and that these news companies are a collection of albatrosses around the widgetmaker's necks. The widgetmakers are demanding that these companies get "profitable", i.e., get their ratings back to where they were, so the widgetmakers can unload them on the first hayshakers they run across who think the companies still have value.
Remember that when Paddy Chayefsky was interviewed about "Network" 48 years ago, he was asked if he was "predicting the future," to which he replied, "No, I'm talking about today." And everything in that movie is still true. If they thought they could bring back 100 viewers, they would make an exact copy of "the Howard Beale Show."
They don't give a rat's ass about truth or lies, they can say either one, just tell them what you want to hear. The only song they listen to is "Money Money".
Good call about Network as a very prescient statement of present (1976) and future.
Although I can't recall all of the Ned Beatty speech the essence was that Beale (if Beale St could talk) had "f****d with the universal order of things" by sparking the sleeping public into action. By the end of the oratory Beale was stupefied, convinced he had "seen the face of God". Not much later, Beale was assassinated live on air.
These world movers will try again. This was a test move. It was not "an error in judgment". It was intentional. They wanted to bring someone like Ronna Romney into play to see how it changes the demographics, how it changes the numbers, how it draws more sponsors. They wanted to move into the far Right to be maybe in position for a Trump crowning. Sorry but I'm pretty cynical about it.
I think within a day or two sponsors would have started pulling out - - and it's no credit to sponsors that they didn't react with more speed. Msnbc staff and the howl of citizen voices took care of it.
NBC’s hiring of Ronna McDaniel is not inexplicable. It’s all about the Benjamins. I’ll stop watching any NBC program including MSNBC so long as McDaniel is employed. I suggest we all do the same.
Hi, Cheryl. Thanks for your comment. I spent about 15 minutes researching the phrase "all about the Benjamins" to see if it has antisemitic overtones and I could find no source that said it did. If you can help me out, I would appreciate it. If it is antisemitic, I will take down George S.'s comment.
So far as I can tell, "All about the Benjamins" refers to Benjamin Franklin's picture on the $100 bill, and therefore is a phrase used to say that people are motivated by money. The phrase was popularized by a rap song by Puff Daddy. I could find no criticism saying that the song was antisemitic.
It is true that Ilhan Omar accused Jewish members of Congress as being "all about the Benjamins." In that context, Omar was universally criticized for using an antisemitic trope--that Jewish leaders only care about money. But the phrase "all about the Benjamin's" wasn't viewed as antisemitic--it was the accusation that Jewish leaders in Congress were motivated only by greed.
The above facts are described in H.R. 241, a House resolution condemning Omar's comments. See https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-resolution/241/text As noted in the resolution, "all about the Benjamins" is a reference to a song. Omar combined that phrase with criticism of AIPAC, which is what was viewed as antisemitic.
That's what my research shows, but I recognize that pinning down the meaning of words and phrases can be challenging. I want to keep the comments section free from abusive, racist, sexist, and antisemitic language, but I also don't want to unnecessarily ban someone who did not use antisemitic language.
Any assistance you (or others) can give me will be greatly appreciated. I am trying to get this right.
Robert, you evidently want to be an “originalist” with respect to “the Benjamins”. However, thanks to the way Ilhan Omar used the term, “Benjamins” quickly transformed, in much of the public view (especially among Jews), to be an antisemitic swipe at Jews’ supposed preoccupation with money.
It is anti-semitic as used by Omar. It totally ignores how much non-Jews, including Omar, use money to get elected. It's as though "they" meaning Omar are somehow above taking money or only use it for moral purposes. It is similar to "drain the swamp." It has become a catch all phrase for Republicans. Here in Montana the Republican Senatorial candidate trying to unseat Tester (D) uses it all of the time. However, his business, highly successful, actually is funded by tax payer dollars.
A boycott of MSNBC is a reasonable reaction to the McDaniel hiring, but that helps FOX News and all the other Trump media. Watch and warn, I advise. Dog them constantly. Call them stupid and fight back.
If Reid, Maddow, O'Donnell, and others had quit in protest, would we be in a better spot? If we all turn off, then the strategy that Lucian Truscott sees in this action could be multiplied: all the wealthy autocrats have to do is place "spies" in position of importance in all the media. Then they will not only know what MSNBC is doing but they will be able to influence every aspect of what gets presented to normalize tyranny and oppression. We've been there before, folks. For more than 100 years after slavery was finished, most of the press in American reported Jim Crow as normal and clearly free journalism long offered a view of the world in which women were portrayed as less than men in every way. With all respect, we need more people watching Rachel Maddow and Joy Reid, not fewer.
Thanks to you, George. There is always so much temptation to act on the temptation to what I call, "pull the pin on the grenade," to just say, we'll all go together, heck with it -- a metaphor from too many mediocre war movies in my youth, probably. I spent a lot of my time in my work life, just asking folks who wanted to quit a job, task, committee, or project, or wanted to fire someone else or threaten some explosion, to put the pin back in the grenade and let's see what can be done. Now, lest you think, I am some beneficent Gandhi of management, before I wrote my comment this morning after learning of Trump's success on the stock market and in getting his bond reduced and the mealy mouthed answers from NBC management, I probably pulled the pin on several metaphorical grenades myself, before I eased down and replaced the pin and tried to get back to our good work together. Fight On, indeed.
Now, that is the truth. I have been quite taken by recent columns by Maureen Dowd. How does a person write to her directly. She even brought James Carville to her column last Sunday appearing desperate to find a Dem who agrees with her worry about Biden’s age. She and Ezra Klein have been real disappointing in their recent “Biden’s too old” nonsense while, in my opinion, seriously failing to deeply examine and speak to Trump’s malfeasance and malevolent destructive ways and plans along with those of the MAGA crowd.
I ask, are they expecting to wake up the day after the November election with a headline prepared “Biden’s age loses the election to a criminal and divisive Trump?” Seriously!! The pundits really need to stop or get out of the way!!
Yes; you are right. I was thinking "cut the award to nearly a third" of the original amount. While I should be accurate in every word, I included the actual amounts, so no one should have been confused.
This disgusts me! The psychopath said at some point that he had the money. I remember decades ago when my brother in law who owns a small auto body business came to me for money because his business was not doing well and he was behind in paying the IRS. He was trying to work it out with them and they called it due one day. He was literally panicked. I helped him with 20k and his business recovered and has been doing well ever since. Everyone should pay their share and be held accountable but it's so sad the beating that the working and middle class takes by government while they let this lunatic take advantage of the system with no explanation.
You understood Roberts intent because you got the ‘contextual cues’ within the previous statement. That means you are a n excellent listener! Trump gained zero traction from the phony judges, but only further alerted Americans to our two-tiered justice system. He is in the thrall of increasing mental, and likely physical decline. Wretched soul.
Rachel was right our country needs us to be strong now. That means for all of us to keep doing what we are doing everyday. Trump’s show and rhetoric has become boring and ineffective and most people are not paying attention and it’s only going to get worse. Notice the Biden Administration is pushing back harder and calling Trump out. The question that should be asked everyday is “ If Trump innocent as he claims why isn’t he rushing into court to prove his innocence?” Innocent defendants don’t try and delay their day in court.
“But then I spoke to legal expert and fellow Nerd Avenger Jen Taub. Her perspective helped me understand that the real problem wasn’t that the New York Court of Appeals reduced Donald’s bond, though we can still be angry — it’s that the media once again bent over backwards to make us think that Donald had won. That is not what happened today, and by the time you get to the end of this piece, you’ll have some confidence that justice may actually be coming.”
Rachel Maddow has been one of my favorite commentators for almost a decade now. Glad to see Robert quoted her and also agree that it's "good advice for all of us: “Our country needs us to be strong right now.”"
I am writing this email to report a mistake as suggested on your website. The mistake is in hiring an election denying and dishonest person to be a contributing journalist at NBC. Ronna McDaniel cannot be trusted as she spread election denial lies and was involved in a pressure campaign to get Michigan officials to not certify the vote. This is a breach of trust for those of us who have previously trusted MSNBC and NBC as a media source. To quote you, Carrie Budoff Brown, "it couldn't be a more important time to have a voice like Ronna's on the team..." Wrong. It couldn't be a more important time to have honest voices in the press. What a huge disappointment. I will not be viewing any of your programs as long as this hire stands.
Here’s my contribution to the email blizzard you set in motion yesterday re NBC and Ronna the beast: “Don’t put her on the air. Do you think she supports a free press? Do you think NBC will exist if Trump is elected? You are giving a platform to someone who supported a traitor. STOP THIS CRAP! ”
So appreciate your call for emails to those tone deaf executives. Let’s hope this form of in your face democracy works! Her slimy slithering lying “walking back” is so appalling….
There is a bit of rot in upper management at MSNBC. Remember a few years back he wanted to dump Lawrence? That was a nuclear reaction they had to pay attention to. Obviously MSNBC needs a lesson in democracy and paying attention the the voices of their solid followers in the country.
Almost all of the hosts on MSNBC came out strong against the hiring of Ronna yesterday. From what they said, the execs at MSNBC refused to give her any platform on that network. It is the parent company, NBC, whose execs made the hiring decision. Another reader posted here that the hire was a "coup" by those who did the dirty deed - apparently they did it in secret without approval. Heads should roll at NBC. But MSNBC is hanging tough and standing up for truth and democracy.
NBC is a long, long way from the Huntley and Brinkley days. That was an era when television networks abided by the FCC's fairness doctrine, where networks' news programming was kept separate from the entertainment and profit-making programming. That all changed starting in the 1980s, after the fairness doctrine was abolished during the Reagan Admin. Ever since network (and local tv and radio station) news is infotainment.
Last night Rachel Maddow treated us to a memorable 25 minutes master class in journalism, ethics and civic values. Starting out with a history lesson on several fascist wannabes (I once wrote a paper in university on Father Coughlin. He was the first to purposefully use electronic media - radio at the time - to spread his venom) whose campaigns never got traction as they lacked the support of one of the big parties she then explained how trump made a difference. He was able to usurp the GOP. And he did so with the help of the Quisling he installed and later dumped.
Well done. The future of Ronna Romney McDaniel at NBC should be over already. As many probably didn't watch it for understandable reasons here is a link I found (unfortunately only the second half of her piece):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqassXP6HAU
It was wonderful. I hope the people who perpetrated this hire learned something.
It isn’t very reassuring however that it will be news to them. The only way we should hear Ronna’s “voice is” with instant fact check.
People who hired her should be fired unless they reverse that and soon — apologize to NBC staff, and the past leaders (dead or alive) their viewers, and the country.
I AGREE w everything you state!
“People who hired her”… My step mum just called me and said that “they” think it was a coup. Step mom says people who work for NBC hired McDaniels on the sly??? I don’t know about that.
While poking around to find out what sort of coup, if any, mum was referring to I found this from ‘Stop the presses’, a weekly newsletter about how right-wing extremism has exploited the weaknesses in American journalism, and what we can do about it.
https://www.stopthepresses.news/p/nbc-stands-for-now-boosting-the-coup
Loved Rachel's speech, and especially her tone. She was obviously as upset as everyone else on the network who spoke out, but the ending was so beautiful. To the network she said they must admit they made a mistake. That takes courage. It's not enough that she will not be on our shows. She must not be on the payroll. (This is a paraphrase of what she said.) We can always count on her to say the absolute right thing!!!
Thank you, Stefan, for this link. Here is the MSNBC link for the entire program with the historical background - fascinating. Let me know if you have problems with the link and I'll try it again.
https://www.nbc.com/the-rachel-maddow-show/video/rachel-maddow-32524/9000375631
I think RM is amazing. How she can spin the tale!
Can get it on podcast version, sound only though. But that's all you need.
Should get an Emmy, a Pulitzer, and a Nobel Peace Prize! A masterstroke! And it toppled the fakir along with other voices of protest.
I think Chris Hayes must have spoken out, and Alex Wagner did when she came back tonight. Lawrence came in pretty sick so as to not miss his chance to lodge his protest.
But these proto-fascists will try it again. Maybe after they push a few prominent hosts out... Throw some fear into them.
Looks like it might be blocked. Sorry. Yours is the good one. Thanks again, Stefan!
Actually, it's not blocked although it tries to suggest you must sign in. Just ignore what pops up, sit through one ad and Rachel begins. Just got into it successfully but didn't watch beyond the intro because I saw her live last night.
Thanks for sending it anyway, Angela. I saw it live last night.
Robert, I am going to keep on feeling positive that Biden-Harris will win come November. The House is falling apart as the cards are rapidly crashing down. We just need a couple more R’s to say “adios” and Hakeem becomes speaker. Brings music to my ears. In the meantime, this morning or afternoon, we will get the grim news from SCOTUS that the Justice 6 will vote against women, once again, in not allowing mifepristone to be legally made available to those who need it. As a mother of two adult daughters and a strong advocate for women’s rights, don’t be surprised at the surge at the floodgates. I am hoping that governors in blue states will simply ignore this decree and carry on as if nothing has happened. Just my two cents.
Ronna McDaniel deserves every bit of anger aimed at her and at the execs within the NBC universe. She was right in the middle of things, phone calls, allowed Trump to pilfer the RNC coffers and told lies upon lies about the newscasters which put them in harm’s way. Ronna is as despicable as her former master and for NBC to spit in the faces of the very people who bring us the news on their stations, is abhorrent. Don’t know if you watched Lawrence tonight but he said if he had an opportunity to have her on, which he won’t, he would ask her why she changed her name for Trump from Ronna Romney McDaniel to just Ronna McDaniel. I thought that was great!
If it’s chaos that ‘they’ are counting on to destroy our Democracy then they are doing a fine job of it, mucking things for themselves (mifepristone)! Those of us committed to Democracy must stay out of the muck and keep moving above it, in front of it, and around it !
By ‘they’ I mean: Federalists, GOP, Justice 6, trump and his minions.
Lucian Truscott had a good column on the NBC/McDaniel fiasco today:
https://open.substack.com/pub/luciantruscott/p/a-spy-inside-the-nbc-tent?r=1aiy5t&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Love Lucian too.
Marlene, you mean the Injustice 6, don't you?
Oh Mimi, you are absolutely right! How silly of me!
:-)
(It's Mim.)
Aren't you tired of seeing the bad actors in the GOP using the freedoms of our democracy to destroy democracy?
YUP; but we have to use our democracy to preserve our democracy. Vote Blue… vote, vote, vote these people out.
Tell a friend: We have the numbers we just have to get people to vote
One of the groups with which I write Postcards is Activate America (www.activateamerica.vote). They also have a program called "Amplify" which collects info on the successes of the Democrats and the Biden Administration - https://www.activateamerica.vote/amplify
It comes directly to your email if you sign up for it or you can go to the webpasge and search the database by topic. It provides lots of "ammunition" for talking to people about why they should go out and vote for Democrats. Now is the time to persuade the people you know about the importance of voting Blue up and down the ballot and get them to help you spread the word!
For people who want to leverage Social Media to spread the word, I also like DemCast - https://demcastusa.com/.
As Simon Rosenberg of Hopium Chronicles likes to say - we all need to be information warriors to combat the right-wing media bubble.
Thank you Cheryl! Thanks for elucidating that it may not be enough that we ‘tell a friend’, rather, we ‘show a friend’ (how to foster people on talking to others about voting blue).
OMG!!! YES!! Enough with the bad actors. It is long past time for the media to get it together and talk straight to their listeners that Trump and MAGA are the greatest threat to our country since King George III.
As you are I am sure aware, there are two levels of the crime of Falsifying Business Records in NY, one a misdemeanor (where the intent is simply to defraud) and the 2d a felony (where the intent is to cover up a crime). He's charged with the 2d. But I got interested in what would happen if Bragg couldn't prove the cover up but could prove the intent to defraud; what KIND of Misdemeanor?? Turns out it is a Class A. The sentence for an A misdemeanor in New York can include UP TO ONE YEAR IN JAIL, a fine of up to $1,000, probation for two or three years, and/or a conditional discharge which can include the requirement to abide by certain conditions such as an Order of Protection or not being re-arrested.
So he could end up in the clinker even if the much debated "what crime did he cover up" turns out to be a problem.
On the bond reduction in the James case: some say it must because the panel thinks the court will reduce the judgment. But on what grounds? Wasn't the amount determined by a trier of fact? What will the appeals court USE to reduce it? I can see them buying the "nobody was hurt" (though I'd respect them even less) but that would reduce the judgment to zero. How will they just get to a lesser amount?
Very helpful information. Thanks.
Thanks, Susan ! Your knowledge is a comfort on this “Tuesday after Tuesday”.
just a question of googling productively. Once I asked myself the question, this one had a pretty easy to find answer, at least on the type of misdemeanor. I don't know enough about appellate law and norms in NY to answer the second paragraph.
Moral--when you see something that puzzles you, ask Google a question. And keep being puzzled.
To the anchors who spoke out THANK YOU.
The McDaniel decision is not "inexplicable." CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN, the bunch of the "legacy media" have lost over a third of the audience they had as of 2020. The intergalactic widgetmakers who own them, who haven't got the collective corporate brains to swat flies as evidenced by all the other dumbass media decisions they have made in the past two years, have convinced themselves that "streaming is the future" and that these news companies are a collection of albatrosses around the widgetmaker's necks. The widgetmakers are demanding that these companies get "profitable", i.e., get their ratings back to where they were, so the widgetmakers can unload them on the first hayshakers they run across who think the companies still have value.
Remember that when Paddy Chayefsky was interviewed about "Network" 48 years ago, he was asked if he was "predicting the future," to which he replied, "No, I'm talking about today." And everything in that movie is still true. If they thought they could bring back 100 viewers, they would make an exact copy of "the Howard Beale Show."
They don't give a rat's ass about truth or lies, they can say either one, just tell them what you want to hear. The only song they listen to is "Money Money".
Good call about Network as a very prescient statement of present (1976) and future.
Although I can't recall all of the Ned Beatty speech the essence was that Beale (if Beale St could talk) had "f****d with the universal order of things" by sparking the sleeping public into action. By the end of the oratory Beale was stupefied, convinced he had "seen the face of God". Not much later, Beale was assassinated live on air.
These world movers will try again. This was a test move. It was not "an error in judgment". It was intentional. They wanted to bring someone like Ronna Romney into play to see how it changes the demographics, how it changes the numbers, how it draws more sponsors. They wanted to move into the far Right to be maybe in position for a Trump crowning. Sorry but I'm pretty cynical about it.
I think within a day or two sponsors would have started pulling out - - and it's no credit to sponsors that they didn't react with more speed. Msnbc staff and the howl of citizen voices took care of it.
Now THAT is "legitimate political discourse"!!!
NBC’s hiring of Ronna McDaniel is not inexplicable. It’s all about the Benjamins. I’ll stop watching any NBC program including MSNBC so long as McDaniel is employed. I suggest we all do the same.
I wanted to make sure that you were aware that "all about the Benjamins" is considered by many to be an Anti-Semetic trope and offensive.
Hi, Cheryl. Thanks for your comment. I spent about 15 minutes researching the phrase "all about the Benjamins" to see if it has antisemitic overtones and I could find no source that said it did. If you can help me out, I would appreciate it. If it is antisemitic, I will take down George S.'s comment.
So far as I can tell, "All about the Benjamins" refers to Benjamin Franklin's picture on the $100 bill, and therefore is a phrase used to say that people are motivated by money. The phrase was popularized by a rap song by Puff Daddy. I could find no criticism saying that the song was antisemitic.
It is true that Ilhan Omar accused Jewish members of Congress as being "all about the Benjamins." In that context, Omar was universally criticized for using an antisemitic trope--that Jewish leaders only care about money. But the phrase "all about the Benjamin's" wasn't viewed as antisemitic--it was the accusation that Jewish leaders in Congress were motivated only by greed.
The above facts are described in H.R. 241, a House resolution condemning Omar's comments. See https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-resolution/241/text As noted in the resolution, "all about the Benjamins" is a reference to a song. Omar combined that phrase with criticism of AIPAC, which is what was viewed as antisemitic.
That's what my research shows, but I recognize that pinning down the meaning of words and phrases can be challenging. I want to keep the comments section free from abusive, racist, sexist, and antisemitic language, but I also don't want to unnecessarily ban someone who did not use antisemitic language.
Any assistance you (or others) can give me will be greatly appreciated. I am trying to get this right.
Robert, I probably should have said it was regarded as an anti-Semetic trope.
As this article explains, that gives a degree of separation from what we think of as directly anti-Semetic like painting a swastika on someone's door.
https://www.jta.org/2019/02/19/ideas/an-idiots-guide-to-anti-semitic-tropes-2
And just to be clear, I did not mean to suggest that George (or Karen) intended it to be anti-Semetic.
Robert, you evidently want to be an “originalist” with respect to “the Benjamins”. However, thanks to the way Ilhan Omar used the term, “Benjamins” quickly transformed, in much of the public view (especially among Jews), to be an antisemitic swipe at Jews’ supposed preoccupation with money.
“The Benjamins” is now considered antisemitic.
It is anti-semitic as used by Omar. It totally ignores how much non-Jews, including Omar, use money to get elected. It's as though "they" meaning Omar are somehow above taking money or only use it for moral purposes. It is similar to "drain the swamp." It has become a catch all phrase for Republicans. Here in Montana the Republican Senatorial candidate trying to unseat Tester (D) uses it all of the time. However, his business, highly successful, actually is funded by tax payer dollars.
I too thought “… Benjamin’s” was referring to money. I would be deeply ashamed if I contributed in ignorance.
I’ll be keeping an eye out for anyone who can set the matter straight.
A boycott of MSNBC is a reasonable reaction to the McDaniel hiring, but that helps FOX News and all the other Trump media. Watch and warn, I advise. Dog them constantly. Call them stupid and fight back.
If Reid, Maddow, O'Donnell, and others had quit in protest, would we be in a better spot? If we all turn off, then the strategy that Lucian Truscott sees in this action could be multiplied: all the wealthy autocrats have to do is place "spies" in position of importance in all the media. Then they will not only know what MSNBC is doing but they will be able to influence every aspect of what gets presented to normalize tyranny and oppression. We've been there before, folks. For more than 100 years after slavery was finished, most of the press in American reported Jim Crow as normal and clearly free journalism long offered a view of the world in which women were portrayed as less than men in every way. With all respect, we need more people watching Rachel Maddow and Joy Reid, not fewer.
You make a good point. I’m probably wrong about quitting MSNBC. Just an emotional reaction. I’ll keep watching and learning. Thanks
Thanks to you, George. There is always so much temptation to act on the temptation to what I call, "pull the pin on the grenade," to just say, we'll all go together, heck with it -- a metaphor from too many mediocre war movies in my youth, probably. I spent a lot of my time in my work life, just asking folks who wanted to quit a job, task, committee, or project, or wanted to fire someone else or threaten some explosion, to put the pin back in the grenade and let's see what can be done. Now, lest you think, I am some beneficent Gandhi of management, before I wrote my comment this morning after learning of Trump's success on the stock market and in getting his bond reduced and the mealy mouthed answers from NBC management, I probably pulled the pin on several metaphorical grenades myself, before I eased down and replaced the pin and tried to get back to our good work together. Fight On, indeed.
The Benjamin’s??
Yes, the money!
See Robert’s comment above…
Now, that is the truth. I have been quite taken by recent columns by Maureen Dowd. How does a person write to her directly. She even brought James Carville to her column last Sunday appearing desperate to find a Dem who agrees with her worry about Biden’s age. She and Ezra Klein have been real disappointing in their recent “Biden’s too old” nonsense while, in my opinion, seriously failing to deeply examine and speak to Trump’s malfeasance and malevolent destructive ways and plans along with those of the MAGA crowd.
I ask, are they expecting to wake up the day after the November election with a headline prepared “Biden’s age loses the election to a criminal and divisive Trump?” Seriously!! The pundits really need to stop or get out of the way!!
Maureen needs to just stop it!
That is exactly why I want to determine how to get in touch with her as directly as possible.
see my comment to George, above.
Math teacher here!
You write
“That’s right, the appellate division reduced Trump's bond by nearly a third and did not provide a word of explanation. “
The situation in even more extreme!
$175M is about 39% of $454M, so the bond was cut by over 60% and is now less than 40% of what it was. One could fairly describe this as
Cutting the bond BY substantially MORE than half
OR
Cutting the bond TO substantially LESS than half
You got the amount of explanation perfect though: 0.
Yes; you are right. I was thinking "cut the award to nearly a third" of the original amount. While I should be accurate in every word, I included the actual amounts, so no one should have been confused.
This disgusts me! The psychopath said at some point that he had the money. I remember decades ago when my brother in law who owns a small auto body business came to me for money because his business was not doing well and he was behind in paying the IRS. He was trying to work it out with them and they called it due one day. He was literally panicked. I helped him with 20k and his business recovered and has been doing well ever since. Everyone should pay their share and be held accountable but it's so sad the beating that the working and middle class takes by government while they let this lunatic take advantage of the system with no explanation.
I just assumed he meant two-thirds.
You understood Roberts intent because you got the ‘contextual cues’ within the previous statement. That means you are a n excellent listener! Trump gained zero traction from the phony judges, but only further alerted Americans to our two-tiered justice system. He is in the thrall of increasing mental, and likely physical decline. Wretched soul.
They probably did not have his inconsistent statements -- Truth Social-- in the record when they made the decision.
Rachel was right our country needs us to be strong now. That means for all of us to keep doing what we are doing everyday. Trump’s show and rhetoric has become boring and ineffective and most people are not paying attention and it’s only going to get worse. Notice the Biden Administration is pushing back harder and calling Trump out. The question that should be asked everyday is “ If Trump innocent as he claims why isn’t he rushing into court to prove his innocence?” Innocent defendants don’t try and delay their day in court.
Mary Trump⬇️
“But then I spoke to legal expert and fellow Nerd Avenger Jen Taub. Her perspective helped me understand that the real problem wasn’t that the New York Court of Appeals reduced Donald’s bond, though we can still be angry — it’s that the media once again bent over backwards to make us think that Donald had won. That is not what happened today, and by the time you get to the end of this piece, you’ll have some confidence that justice may actually be coming.”
https://open.substack.com/pub/marytrump/p/now-judge-shuts-down-donalds-lawyers?r=fqsxl&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Rachel Maddow has been one of my favorite commentators for almost a decade now. Glad to see Robert quoted her and also agree that it's "good advice for all of us: “Our country needs us to be strong right now.”"
Dear NBC Executive,
I am writing this email to report a mistake as suggested on your website. The mistake is in hiring an election denying and dishonest person to be a contributing journalist at NBC. Ronna McDaniel cannot be trusted as she spread election denial lies and was involved in a pressure campaign to get Michigan officials to not certify the vote. This is a breach of trust for those of us who have previously trusted MSNBC and NBC as a media source. To quote you, Carrie Budoff Brown, "it couldn't be a more important time to have a voice like Ronna's on the team..." Wrong. It couldn't be a more important time to have honest voices in the press. What a huge disappointment. I will not be viewing any of your programs as long as this hire stands.
Sincerely,
Margaret G
Lake Placid, NY
Musical hint for the GOP ...
Just because you all are singing the same song in unison doesn't make it a national hit..
Here’s my contribution to the email blizzard you set in motion yesterday re NBC and Ronna the beast: “Don’t put her on the air. Do you think she supports a free press? Do you think NBC will exist if Trump is elected? You are giving a platform to someone who supported a traitor. STOP THIS CRAP! ”
So appreciate your call for emails to those tone deaf executives. Let’s hope this form of in your face democracy works! Her slimy slithering lying “walking back” is so appalling….
There is a bit of rot in upper management at MSNBC. Remember a few years back he wanted to dump Lawrence? That was a nuclear reaction they had to pay attention to. Obviously MSNBC needs a lesson in democracy and paying attention the the voices of their solid followers in the country.
Almost all of the hosts on MSNBC came out strong against the hiring of Ronna yesterday. From what they said, the execs at MSNBC refused to give her any platform on that network. It is the parent company, NBC, whose execs made the hiring decision. Another reader posted here that the hire was a "coup" by those who did the dirty deed - apparently they did it in secret without approval. Heads should roll at NBC. But MSNBC is hanging tough and standing up for truth and democracy.
NBC is a long, long way from the Huntley and Brinkley days. That was an era when television networks abided by the FCC's fairness doctrine, where networks' news programming was kept separate from the entertainment and profit-making programming. That all changed starting in the 1980s, after the fairness doctrine was abolished during the Reagan Admin. Ever since network (and local tv and radio station) news is infotainment.