Category Archives: media news

media news

On same track as the Cruz Missile? Who knew?

Hell has frozen over, which is the only explanation I can find to explain how Sen. Ted Cruz and I are on the same page regarding the First Amendment.

Trifling with the very first civil liberty written into the U.S. Constitution is a “dangerous” exercise, Cruz said this week. He was speaking of the efforts to silence people who are critical of Donald Trump. People such as late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel.

Allow me this loud and full-throated cheer for Cruz, a dedicated Trumpkin to be sure, but also someone who understands what the First Amendment means, what it says and how it must be honored. Cruz served as Texas solicitor general before being elected to the Senate in 2012. He holds a law degree from Harvard University. I’ve never doubted his smarts. I just disagree with his policy views and detest the self-serving nature in which he carries himself.

On this matter, Cruz is right. He lamented the Trump administration’s thin skin regarding something Kimmel said that got ABC to suspend him “indefinitely.” Kimmel didn’t even criticize the Trump administration, which always seems to stand front and center in anything involving Trump’s criticism of the media and fellow politicians. Kimmel made some un-funny crack about provocateur Charlie Kirk’s killer possibly being a MAGA moron. That crossed some blurry line, ABC said.

Kimmel’s indefinite suspension lasted about three days. He’s back on the air tonight. I’ll be watching. I might even stand and applaud in my North Texas living room when he opens his show.

I just want to welcome the Cruz Missile into my world of protecting the nation’s governing document … even the part that gives us the freedom to criticize our government.

media news

Kimmel is back to stick it deeper

As a rule I don’t plan my day around what’s appearing on TV … but Tuesday night I am making an exception.

I am going to be sure to watch Jimmy Kimmel’s return to his 10:35 pm (Central Time) slot on ABC’s “Late Night” show. This is a big … deal, man!

Why? Because the network that suspended Kimmel indefinitely from his talk show made an egregious error in judgment. Its decision to fire Kimmel flew directly into the teeth of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the amendment that guarantees free speech.

Kimmel had made a crack on the air that Charlie Kirk’s murder the other day well could have been a MAGA-inspired event and not a deed done by a lunatic who disagreed with the right-wing influencer’s point of view. ABC determined Kimmel was out of bounds.

Wait a second! Kimmel didn’t offer an original thought. Almost at the moment Kirk was mortally wounded, some lefties sought to argue that the MAGA crowd was looking for way to tear our attention away from those Jeffrey Epstein files that allegedly contain Donald Trump’s name and suggest that the president and the convicted sex trafficker and pedophile were friends.

Look, ABC overreacted. Kimmel did not need to be punished in this manner. I am glad Kimmel is coming back.

To be clear, on the rare occasion that I stay up late enough to watch one of the after-hours comedians, i prefer Stephen Colbert on CBS-TV. He’s funnier — and more biting — than Kimmel. But that’s just me.

On Tuesday night, I will dial in to watch Jimmy Kimmel march triumpantly on stage and listen to what he has to say about what the network did to shame him. Without a shred of doubt, I will not be the only American who does so.

media news

Why Epstein matters

I have sought to come to grips with why the media continue to report on Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged relationship with Donald J. Trump. I have figured out why this story matters.

It matters because it could tell us about the relationships that the president of the United States kept not many years before he won election to the White House.

Epstein, of course, is dead, having hanged himself in a jail cell in New York City. His former girlfriend/accomplice is serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex traffricking of underage girls.

The story revolves around the “Epstein files” and what they contain pertaning to Trump’s friendship with the hideous sex trafficker and child molester.

Do I think Trump took part in these hideous activities? No, I do not. Whether he did or didn’t, though, is not the point of finding out what’s in those files. What the public ought to know is this: Did the man who would run for POTUS hang around the seediest man alive and was he actually friends with an individual who he might have known to be the animal we know him to be?

Therein lies the media interest in this matter. It also cuts to the heart of why Democrats and some right-wing MAGA Republicans want this information released to the public. Trump calls it all a “hoax,” meaning he believes all those known victims of Epstein are liars. How does this individual look in the mirror after denigrating victims of sex crimes?

Don’t answer that. I know. He does it because he has zero conscience.

The conscience-free president of the United States finds himself in a tightening circle of evidence that he knew Epstein far more intimately than he’s letting on.

Do you remember when Sen. Barack Obama got pilloried because his preacher once cursed the United States over its slavery policy? Obama, who was running for president in 2008, issued a public statement rebuking the preacher — a longtime friend of his — and then quit attending the man’s church.

I can find no sign of such contrition coming from Trump. He blames the victims for fomenting a “Democrat hoax.” Meanwhile, the questions keep mounting and the public is beginning to ask: Did we really elect to the presidency an individual who would cozy up to scum such as this?

That’s why this story matters.

media news

Not wishing death

My comment in this brief blog post will be directed at a fellow who I must presume believes he is clairvoyant.

A Facebook friend — a member of my family — posted a ditty about Donald Trump not being seen for three days. I responded, “One can only hope.” This other guy, who I do not know, responded with a harsh rejoinder, telling me what I said was shameful and that “I want you to die.”

I couldn’t find the post when I looked for it, but I wanted to tell him that my death is inevitable, “but just not today.” Perhaps he took it down. Whatever.

Do I want Donald Trump to keel over? No. I don’t. My criticism of his policies has been harsh and I will not back away from what I believe are policies that will harm my beloved nation. But I damn sure am never going to wish death on the president of the United States of America. I am acutely aware that statements one posts find their way around the world in a manner of nano-seconds.

Therefore, I am not so stupid than to say such a thing out loud.

As for my private thoughts, that is where they will remain. Locked up and hidden from public view.

media news

Football gives me relief

It’s time for another admission, which is that I am avid TV watcher, or perhaps I should say I am addicted to the TV screen.

Is there a TV Watchers Anonymous chapter nearby?

Whatever. I am happy to report that football season commenced this weekend, enabling me to turn on the boob tube (one of Dad’s expressions for the device) and watch young men play tackle football.

This avenue enables me to continue my boycott of TV news. I am no longer watching TV news/opinion channels, relying instead on the Internet and — drum roll, please — the Sunday edition of the Dallas Morning News. I recently resubscribed to the paper, vowing to the nice lady who sold me the subscription that I would take the time to read it. I told her how hard it was to give up the newspaper, given my nearly 37 years writing for them in Texas and in Oregon.

Football, though, is going to help me get through the weekend for the next several months, until early February when the NCAA crowns its collegiate champion and the NFL crowns the Super Bowl champ.

I cannot begin to predict when my news boycott will end. One factor could be the absence of Donald Trump from the national political scene. I am sickened by his ongoing presence, by the sound of his voice and by the idiocy he continues to spout from that overfed pie hole of his. I’ve got three more years of it. Then he’ll be gone, at least from public office.

In the meantime, the student-athletes and the millionaires who play football professionally are kicking it off. I’ll be watching them and putting politics on the back shelf.

media news

Pictures say everything

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Social media have become, for better or worse, contemporary society’s premier method of exhibiting what’s on people’s minds and in their hearts.

One social media image popped up on my Facebook feed today. They are very expressive. One image shows Donald Trump lecturing Volodymr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office; Trump’s image is stern and the text next to the picture tells you Zelenskyy’s country has been invaded by Russia in an illegal and immoral military action.

The second image shows Trump shaking hands with Vladimir Putin, the thug who runs Russia and the text notes that Putin was given a red-carpet welcome, a rare private meeting with the president of the U.S.A., a ride in a presidential limousine. This is the invader! The bad guy! The alleged war criminal!

What is wrong with this picture? Just about everything that might cross your mind.

Trump is trying to get Putin and Zelenskyy to talk directly to each other. I give Trump credit for that effort, even though it has been haphazard and slap-dash. I have trouble grasping, though, how he can treat the victim of an illegal military actiion with disdain and disrespect while showering the aggressor with all the niceties afforded to a head of state.

Let us remind ourselves of this reality: Vladimir Putin has been accused formally by international legal authorities of committing crimes against humanity by invading Ukraine. Zelenskyy deserves the red carpet. Putin deserves to be arrested, handcuffed and forced to stand trial.

media news

Double down on news boycott?

Time for an acknowledgment, which is that my declaration some months ago that I was commencing a boycott of political news on TV is beginning to lessen … just a bit.

However, even though I keep the TV on to listen to the political news only with one of my ears, I am consdering a doubling down on that earlier declaration. I mean, even though I am paying partial attention to the machinations of D.C., Austin and even the local news, it is tiring to hear the same thing repeatedly.

I am waiting for a grand revelation. A “Eureka!” moment when someone tells me something no one else has reported. I want an intrepid reporter to deliver the scoop for the ages on what no one else on Earth knows about Donald Trump, or any of his sycophants.

Print journalism reached its high-water mark in the 1970s when two Washington Post reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, were given license to ferret out the truth behind the Watergate scandal. They were so successful that the “gate” terminology has become a suffix for any scandal that boils up … you know, Russiagate, Hegseth-womanizergate, whatever.

The media have been sufficiently demonized by Donald Trump and his moronic MAGA minions that even tried-and-true shoe-leather reporting is now deemed suspect, of peddling “fake news.”

It’s not fake. It’s real. But the media seem reluctant to sic the reporter hounds loose to tell us the full truth. Instead, we get a mere regurgitation of what we know already.

I haven’t yet decided to fire up my news boycott. I might do it. I am going to wait a bit longer and hope someone can produce the next scoop for the ages.

crime news, media news

Blog finds new rhythm

High Plains Blogger had hit a slump, I am willing to acknowledge, but that slump might be about to reignite into a new energy.

That’s my hope.

I have found a new rhythm to writing and posting items on this forum. I shall explain.

For years I had prided myself in my prolific writing. I was able to crank out three, four, five entries daily. My friends said they marveled at the frequency of my blog posts. I appreciate the good word, but it wore me out.

I have decided to scale it back to a single entry on most days. Sometimes there will be two. Even less frequently you might see three entries. I also have decided I am going to rely more on issues rather than personalities. You know already that I detest the moron masquerading as president of the United States. Thus, there is little — if any need — to whip that already bloody carcass. Hell, it’s already been bled dry.

You’re likely to read observations about more local matters. The Texas Legislature is back in special session for the next month. Maybe it will stay on the job longer. I am going to watch our legislators carefully.

I also want to devote more time and attention to what I call “slice of life” matters. Maybe this blog post qualifies as a piece defining a slice of retired life. You know?

I recently posted a blog entry that discussed taking a break from blogging. Some supporters objected and told me they want me to stay in the game. I heard you. I’m not going anywhere.

I just want to tone it down a bit. I want to stay sharp enough to comment when the spirit moves me and when policy decisions demand it.

So, there you have it, kids. New rhythm, less pressure, more varied topics.

It’s going to keep me in love with what I do.

media news

Trump swims in irony

Donald J. Trump likely doesn’t know or understand irony, but man, he is swimming in it with virtually every public pronouncement.

He has defunded the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and National Public Radio, he said, because he wants to rid the airwaves of “bias” in its reporting. He would replace it with broadcasters who are favorable to Trumpian policy matters.

If you believe public TV and public radio are “biased” because they report the truth about policy matters, then what are you going to think of what comes from the Trump-sponsored media outlets who will flood our airwaves with propaganda? You want a definition of bias? I have just given you one.

Trump wants to ingrain in our skulls with only those views that satisfy his ego, his vision (such as it is) and his longterm objectives. NPR and public TV are not the incarnation of evil. I have had the pleasure of working with both media and I can assure you as certain as I am sitting here that public TV and radio go out of their way — and each other’s way — to avoid being called “biased” or “unfair.”

Foes of this blog have told me about polling that suggest that most Americans believe that public media are biased. I do not accept those polling results. It is a simple task to skew questions to receive answers you want to fit a certain narrative.

I have said all along that bias rests in the minds and hearts of the consumer. A right-wing MAGA cultist is going to see everything that disputes his or her world view as “biased.” They have swallowed the swill offered by Donald Trump.

The irony of what he seeks to replace public TV and radio is just too rich to let slide.

media news

So … what about WH communications chief?

I am going to call attention briefly to an individual who hasn’t received a whisper of chatter in the boiling controversy over Jeffrey Epstein’s files and whether they should be released for public review.

I refer to the White House communications director. That’s right. Donald Trump hired a guy to serve as communications director for his second term as president. His name is Steven Cheung, a native of Sacramento, Calif. He played football at Cal State-Sacramento,  but didn’t earn a degree there. Hmm. More on that in a moment.

The communications director role is to control the information flow from the White House, to ensure it is consistent with whatever message the president wants to convey. The communications chief must work with the press secretary and all Cabinet staffers and White House staff to deliver a cogent, reliable message from the White House to the public.

The Jeffrey Epstein communications flow has been a cluster fu** of the first order. What in the hell has Steven Cheung been doing? The White House changes its tune about whether to release the information contained in the files pertaining to Epstein, the late child molester/sex trafficker and his relationship with Donald Trump. It vows to be “transparent,” then reneges on its pledge to reveal all the information it has on Epstein.

Attorney General Pam Bondi has told the media she informed Trump in May that his name is in the files. Trump then said he didn’t hear about it until June. Or maybe it was July. Shouldn’t the communications director be able to tell the president keep the story straight?

Cheung is not a seasoned communications professional steeped in political tradition. His earlier stint as commo director for the 2024 Trump campaign was riddled with blowups with the campaign media. He quit the White House during the first Trump term over a snit he had with White House chief of staff John Kelly.

It all seems connected to the revelation that Cheung didn’t complete his college degree at Cal State-Sacramento. He looks for all the world to me to be a throwaway appointment, a sycophant whose fealty to Trump made him preferable to others who well might have more actual experience keeping the lines of communication untangled.

So, as the White House stumbles, fumbles and bumbles its way through this Epstein matter, Americans are entitled to ask: What is the White House communications director doing during the daylight hours … because he has lost control of the narrative?