User-Supported News Commentary Hosted by Craig Crawford
Shut Down National Enquirer
The First Amendment doesn’t protect extortion, bribery and treason.
Author: craigcrawford
Trail Mix Host. Lapsed journalist, author & retired pundit happily promoting nothing but the truth for Social Security checks.
View all posts by craigcrawford
Bezos should drain the Pecker dry and then buy AMI just to turn it into a cartoon magazine.
I happened to catch a few minutes of the acting AG trying to bully the House Judiciary Committee, it did not go well for him. But, he probably did his best after being coached by the WH on how to not answer questions. SFB was off to Bethesda for his annual exam for a brain and heart. Finding nothing he was pronounced fit for the rest of his time in office. Although he wrote that as being in charge as a dictator for life, odds are he won’t finish his first term. He is off his rocker anyway.
according to these *guys in ny times sunday review, “Republicans Got Us Into This Mess, and They Have to Get Us Out of It”
[here are the concluding paragraphs:]
In any event, the Republican gamble that the party can ride out the Trump era without suffering tremendous damage is looking worse every day. As Republican lawmakers have privately told us and others, they know Mr. Trump will not change. The incontestability of his psychological defects and character flaws has finally sunk in. What remains to be done is for Republicans to prevent what many of them privately know is quite likely for their party if Mr. Trump remains their leader: a crash landing.
In that sense, Mr. Trump’s presidency has become to the Republican Party what Vietnam was to President Lyndon Johnson. By 1965, Johnson saw Vietnam for the unwinnable quagmire that it was, but he feared and ultimately bowed to the short-term consequences of withdrawing. “It’s like being in an airplane and I have to choose between crashing the plane or jumping out,” he told his wife. “I do not have a parachute.” We know today that Johnson made the wrong decision.
Increasingly, it is dawning on Republicans that they are making the same mistake. But they do have a parachute, one named Mike Pence. The vice president would continue many of Mr. Trump’s policies, if that’s what they want, but potentially without all the dysfunction, a result that conservatives could live with and that the voters could judge for themselves in 2020.
In a recent column about the sudden possibility that Britain would change its mind about Brexit, the economist Anatole Kaletsky remarked: “In times of political turmoil, events can move from impossible to inevitable without even passing through improbable.” The same is true of Trexit.
Of course, Mr. Trump’s exit is a long shot. In democracies, sick political parties usually need years in the wilderness before they can heal. We have not talked ourselves into being confident, or even particularly optimistic, that the Republican Party will treat its own fever. But if there is one thing that the age of Trump has clarified, it is that “unimaginable” and “impossible” are not at all the same thing.
*[Jonathan Rauch (@jon_rauch) is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and the author of “Political Realism: How Hacks, Machines, Big Money and Back-Room Deals Can Strengthen American Democracy.” Peter Wehner (@Peter Wehner), a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, served in the previous three Republican administrations and is a contributing opinion writer.]
I saw a headline that read “The Enquirer Picked a Fight with the Wrong Billionaire” or something like that. I am very happy about that. I hope Bezos makes it his mission to help put Pecker in jail and kill the Enquirer. To him spending a few million bucks to kill an asswipe publication that decided to go to war with him might just be gratifying enough to make it worth his time and money. I do like the buy it and turn it into a cartoon publication angle.
Craig… If you are suggesting that the US government should shut down the Enquirer, I disagree. It’s fine if Bezos bleeds it dry and they declare bankruptcy. It’s fine if the board of directors shut it down. It’ fine if the government charges Pecker (and anyone else responsible) for wrong doing. But, IMO, our government has no business shutting down a private enterprise.
SNL hopefully is making use of this part of ann’s interview quoted the other day by raw story
During an interview with Yahoo News’ Mike Isikoff, Coulter admitted that Trump was very bad at being president while also suggesting that he might not be all there mentally.
“We put this lunatic in the White House for one reason,” said Coulter of Trump and the border wall.
The right-wing pundit also described Trump as “lazy and incompetent,” but she predicted that he would eventually decide to build his border wall via executive action even if Congress refused to fund it.
It is a new world order, just ask Gawker. The economic elite rule, you fuck with some one more elite than you at your own peril and they don’t get more elite that Bezos these days.
the problem is when elephants fight lots of little folks get trampled. All of this is not good if we want some semblance of a democracy.
Jack
I am in Craig’s camp. And don’t forget that extortion is a federal crime – our good friend David. Between the plea deal his company just fucked up and the criminal exposure for the new threat to Bezos, he’s got to be shitting himself over the upcoming Cohen testimony. Arrogant fuck. I hope the Equirer dies an economic death and is bought by Bezos and Pecker dies in federal prison.
wapo editorial board editorial: The truth about the National Enquirer comes crawling out
[…]
The Enquirer appears to believe all news organizations operate as it does; it took for granted that Mr. Bezos would or could stifle The Post’s reporting. In fact, neither The Post nor the vast majority of U.S. media operate that way. Mr. Bezos has eschewed any role in directing the paper’s coverage from the beginning of his tenure as owner — and the writers and editors in the newsroom would reject any attempt by him to do so.
The Enquirer likes to portray itself as a member of the Fourth Estate, only more nimble and aggressive than most. Mr. Bezos’s action has exposed the truth: that its business lies not in honest journalism but in sleazy tactics and dirty tricks. We may learn more about the origin and motivations of its assault on Mr. Bezos as investigations continue. But what has crawled out so far is telling.
…not knowing anything about Pecker, or AMI, during the 2016 campaign season i would see Enquirer covers at the grocery store featuring HRC and libeling her- all sorts of horrible and outrageous lies about her i can’t even remember, and i figured the publication was just targeting conservative, blue-haired old ladies. Now, with all the publicly-available info, it’s clear that the Enquirer was a not only a propaganda machine for the Trump crime family, but it’s administrative departments were conducting illegal activities on behalf of the TCF.
bink, the enquirer displays at all the checkout lines in all the Walmarts and all the Krogers, Publix, Safeways and such were like millions of mini billboards thruout the nation supporting a presidential candidate and denigrating his opponent. yet FEC rules never touched them. what a loop hole! let’s hope the upcoming election contribution reform bills that are being contemplated in the house will somehow plug that hole.
Southern Command Update: Just got a bunch of trees cleared out from the front yard. House can clearly be seen from the road for the first time in perhaps decades. Curb appeal!
Auction company empties out furniture on Wednesday. Saving just enough so I can camp here next few weeks as we do some painting and repairs before listing.
David and cousin Carolyn here for the past week to help clear out drawers, cabinets, store photos and other personal effects. I can see the finish line in the horizon.
it’s ironic that the blackface va gov northam did admit to – dubbing shoe polish on cheeks for a Michael Jackson moonwalk impersonation – was not only offensive and insensitive but completely unnecessary as you can see by the picture above. mr Jackson looks fairer of skin than the gov.
query: would the gov have been in as much trouble had he just donned the white glove and moonwalked without blacking his face?
pecker/ami/enquirer was already caught and pleaded. The plea agreement stays execution of sentence IF pecker/ami/enquirer can keep from violating a criminal law for 3 years. In fact, pecker/ami/enquirer couldn’t go straight for 3 months.
Bezos’ complaint brought to the Mueller team shall result in a hearing, and pecker/ami/enquirer should begin their sentence immediately thereafter. I presume that the pecker/ami/enquirer attorneys will make motions, but I can’t see the judge agreeing to them. In most cases like this, the appeals are launched while the perp is serving time. As it is a criminal matter, pecker, ami, the corporate board of directors, and publications will probably run out of money & credit in one helluva hurry. If I were Bezos I’d probably sue for $125 B!LL!ON$ damages plus costs – and get it.
Looks like Northam’s going nowhere and Dems and blacks by and large support that. WaPo
“Virginians are deadlocked over whether Gov. Ralph Northam (D) should step down after the emergence of a photo on his 1984 medical school yearbook page depicting people in blackface and Ku Klux Klan robes, with African Americans saying by a wide margin he should remain in office despite the offensive image, according to a Washington Post-Schar School poll.
“The poll, conducted Wednesday through Friday, finds residents split over Northam’s fate, with 47 percent wanting him to step down and 47 percent saying he should stay on. Northam counts higher support among black residents — who say he should remain in office by a margin of 58 percent to 37 percent — than among whites, who are more evenly divided.”
That doesn’t tell the whole story. Take republicans out of the poll and Dems and blacks support him remaining in office.
Thank you, Captain, I am relieved to read that your fruit trees are safe. You see, some folks get maudlin about dogs; a few of us get maudlin about trees.
Good night
happy birthday to the 25th! at 52 years old, lest we forget you exist and are there for us in our time of need – like now.
wiki:
The Twenty-fifth Amendment (Amendment XXV) to the United States Constitution deals with issues related to presidential succession and disability. It clarifies that the Vice President becomes President (as opposed to Acting President) if the president dies, resigns, or is removed from office; and establishes procedures for filling a vacancy in the office of the vice president and for responding to presidential disabilities.The Twenty-fifth Amendment was submitted to the states on July 6, 1965, by the 89th Congress and was adopted on February 10, 1967.
And there was th SNL cold open. WaPo has a good article with clickable link.
(Given my challenges with inserting media I just inserted the link to WaPo. – click and follow if you’re interested).
Oh oh – for a stand in I tuned in Amazon Prime Music classical music string quartet channel. Very calming while reading the Annapolis Capitol Gazette, Baltimore Sun and WashPo, gave up on finishing WashPo until later today.
Life sucks when you get to your boat and it is dark and cold. Checking the power system and finding the DC works, that is good, but the AC is not. Pull the boat side power connector off showed it melted. A new shore power cable for my boat costs from five hundred dollars for a basic to about eight hundred dollars for the fancy one with LED lights. A new connector costs about two hundred dollars. I am going with the new connector and hope the entire cable is not bad. As a temporary patch I bought a cable and adapter connector for three hundred seventy dollars which lets me run the refrigerator and a single heater. Better than nothing while I work on the big cable. The cost of boat ownership grows exponentially with the size. As the sales guy said, “just mix up a nice martini and sit calmly for a while”.
full court press on free press?
careful there, craig, first the enquirer, next fox, ultimately the post and times
slippery slopes sometime lead to unexpected cliffs, chasms and unintended consequences
Bezos should drain the Pecker dry and then buy AMI just to turn it into a cartoon magazine.
I happened to catch a few minutes of the acting AG trying to bully the House Judiciary Committee, it did not go well for him. But, he probably did his best after being coached by the WH on how to not answer questions. SFB was off to Bethesda for his annual exam for a brain and heart. Finding nothing he was pronounced fit for the rest of his time in office. Although he wrote that as being in charge as a dictator for life, odds are he won’t finish his first term. He is off his rocker anyway.
bbronc, yes yes on bezo buying ami and Bobbitt-ing the pecker
maher on bezos, enquirer, etc
bill also did quite a job on the gopers last night with his “new rule: the republicans are the problem”
worth the 6 minutes to watch.
according to these *guys in ny times sunday review, “Republicans Got Us Into This Mess, and They Have to Get Us Out of It”
[here are the concluding paragraphs:]
In any event, the Republican gamble that the party can ride out the Trump era without suffering tremendous damage is looking worse every day. As Republican lawmakers have privately told us and others, they know Mr. Trump will not change. The incontestability of his psychological defects and character flaws has finally sunk in. What remains to be done is for Republicans to prevent what many of them privately know is quite likely for their party if Mr. Trump remains their leader: a crash landing.
In that sense, Mr. Trump’s presidency has become to the Republican Party what Vietnam was to President Lyndon Johnson. By 1965, Johnson saw Vietnam for the unwinnable quagmire that it was, but he feared and ultimately bowed to the short-term consequences of withdrawing. “It’s like being in an airplane and I have to choose between crashing the plane or jumping out,” he told his wife. “I do not have a parachute.” We know today that Johnson made the wrong decision.
Increasingly, it is dawning on Republicans that they are making the same mistake. But they do have a parachute, one named Mike Pence. The vice president would continue many of Mr. Trump’s policies, if that’s what they want, but potentially without all the dysfunction, a result that conservatives could live with and that the voters could judge for themselves in 2020.
In a recent column about the sudden possibility that Britain would change its mind about Brexit, the economist Anatole Kaletsky remarked: “In times of political turmoil, events can move from impossible to inevitable without even passing through improbable.” The same is true of Trexit.
Of course, Mr. Trump’s exit is a long shot. In democracies, sick political parties usually need years in the wilderness before they can heal. We have not talked ourselves into being confident, or even particularly optimistic, that the Republican Party will treat its own fever. But if there is one thing that the age of Trump has clarified, it is that “unimaginable” and “impossible” are not at all the same thing.
*[Jonathan Rauch (@jon_rauch) is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and the author of “Political Realism: How Hacks, Machines, Big Money and Back-Room Deals Can Strengthen American Democracy.” Peter Wehner (@Peter Wehner), a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, served in the previous three Republican administrations and is a contributing opinion writer.]
I saw a headline that read “The Enquirer Picked a Fight with the Wrong Billionaire” or something like that. I am very happy about that. I hope Bezos makes it his mission to help put Pecker in jail and kill the Enquirer. To him spending a few million bucks to kill an asswipe publication that decided to go to war with him might just be gratifying enough to make it worth his time and money. I do like the buy it and turn it into a cartoon publication angle.
Craig… If you are suggesting that the US government should shut down the Enquirer, I disagree. It’s fine if Bezos bleeds it dry and they declare bankruptcy. It’s fine if the board of directors shut it down. It’ fine if the government charges Pecker (and anyone else responsible) for wrong doing. But, IMO, our government has no business shutting down a private enterprise.
I agree with patd… very slippery slope indeed.
SNL hopefully is making use of this part of ann’s interview quoted the other day by raw story
new acronym for the twit, thanks to coulter:
LIL – lazy incompetent lunatic
Not suggesting the government do anything other than let its courts preside over the civil lawsuit that puts the company out of business
Happy 87th birthday to John Williams
https://youtu.be/maog7EOZe7Q
It is a new world order, just ask Gawker. The economic elite rule, you fuck with some one more elite than you at your own peril and they don’t get more elite that Bezos these days.
the problem is when elephants fight lots of little folks get trampled. All of this is not good if we want some semblance of a democracy.
Jack
I am in Craig’s camp. And don’t forget that extortion is a federal crime – our good friend David. Between the plea deal his company just fucked up and the criminal exposure for the new threat to Bezos, he’s got to be shitting himself over the upcoming Cohen testimony. Arrogant fuck. I hope the Equirer dies an economic death and is bought by Bezos and Pecker dies in federal prison.
wapo editorial board editorial: The truth about the National Enquirer comes crawling out
[…]
The Enquirer appears to believe all news organizations operate as it does; it took for granted that Mr. Bezos would or could stifle The Post’s reporting. In fact, neither The Post nor the vast majority of U.S. media operate that way. Mr. Bezos has eschewed any role in directing the paper’s coverage from the beginning of his tenure as owner — and the writers and editors in the newsroom would reject any attempt by him to do so.
The Enquirer likes to portray itself as a member of the Fourth Estate, only more nimble and aggressive than most. Mr. Bezos’s action has exposed the truth: that its business lies not in honest journalism but in sleazy tactics and dirty tricks. We may learn more about the origin and motivations of its assault on Mr. Bezos as investigations continue. But what has crawled out so far is telling.
Waited for 12 years for it to snow in Washington. I left town and Snowpocalypse happened.
A recent transplant observed the goings on and he is absolutely right.
Honest journalism doesn’t catch and kill.
…must concede that the Enquirer is a criminal enterprise, to the core. Don’t know why the Constitution protects that.
So Trump tawdry, tacky, and entitled
…not knowing anything about Pecker, or AMI, during the 2016 campaign season i would see Enquirer covers at the grocery store featuring HRC and libeling her- all sorts of horrible and outrageous lies about her i can’t even remember, and i figured the publication was just targeting conservative, blue-haired old ladies. Now, with all the publicly-available info, it’s clear that the Enquirer was a not only a propaganda machine for the Trump crime family, but it’s administrative departments were conducting illegal activities on behalf of the TCF.
I’m such a rube.
kgc, yes and add to those words ms coulter’s description of him: LIL
(lazy incompetent lunatic)
Not suggesting the government do anything other than let its courts preside over the civil lawsuit that puts the company out of business
Craig… then we agree.
Bink… I remember seeing an Enquirer cover that said Hillary was sick and had only 3 months to live.
bink, the enquirer displays at all the checkout lines in all the Walmarts and all the Krogers, Publix, Safeways and such were like millions of mini billboards thruout the nation supporting a presidential candidate and denigrating his opponent. yet FEC rules never touched them. what a loop hole! let’s hope the upcoming election contribution reform bills that are being contemplated in the house will somehow plug that hole.
Southern Command Update: Just got a bunch of trees cleared out from the front yard. House can clearly be seen from the road for the first time in perhaps decades. Curb appeal!
Auction company empties out furniture on Wednesday. Saving just enough so I can camp here next few weeks as we do some painting and repairs before listing.
David and cousin Carolyn here for the past week to help clear out drawers, cabinets, store photos and other personal effects. I can see the finish line in the horizon.
it’s ironic that the blackface va gov northam did admit to – dubbing shoe polish on cheeks for a Michael Jackson moonwalk impersonation – was not only offensive and insensitive but completely unnecessary as you can see by the picture above. mr Jackson looks fairer of skin than the gov.
query: would the gov have been in as much trouble had he just donned the white glove and moonwalked without blacking his face?
pecker/ami/enquirer was already caught and pleaded. The plea agreement stays execution of sentence IF pecker/ami/enquirer can keep from violating a criminal law for 3 years. In fact, pecker/ami/enquirer couldn’t go straight for 3 months.
Bezos’ complaint brought to the Mueller team shall result in a hearing, and pecker/ami/enquirer should begin their sentence immediately thereafter. I presume that the pecker/ami/enquirer attorneys will make motions, but I can’t see the judge agreeing to them. In most cases like this, the appeals are launched while the perp is serving time. As it is a criminal matter, pecker, ami, the corporate board of directors, and publications will probably run out of money & credit in one helluva hurry. If I were Bezos I’d probably sue for $125 B!LL!ON$ damages plus costs – and get it.
Mr C, did you cut down an orange tree ? Are those oranges on by the sidewalk ?
Looks like Northam’s going nowhere and Dems and blacks by and large support that.
WaPo
“Virginians are deadlocked over whether Gov. Ralph Northam (D) should step down after the emergence of a photo on his 1984 medical school yearbook page depicting people in blackface and Ku Klux Klan robes, with African Americans saying by a wide margin he should remain in office despite the offensive image, according to a Washington Post-Schar School poll.
“The poll, conducted Wednesday through Friday, finds residents split over Northam’s fate, with 47 percent wanting him to step down and 47 percent saying he should stay on. Northam counts higher support among black residents — who say he should remain in office by a margin of 58 percent to 37 percent — than among whites, who are more evenly divided.”
That doesn’t tell the whole story. Take republicans out of the poll and Dems and blacks support him remaining in office.
No xrep, would never do that. Fruit trees are in the backyard safe and sound.
Thank you, Captain, I am relieved to read that your fruit trees are safe. You see, some folks get maudlin about dogs; a few of us get maudlin about trees.
Good night
happy birthday to the 25th! at 52 years old, lest we forget you exist and are there for us in our time of need – like now.
wiki:
The Twenty-fifth Amendment (Amendment XXV) to the United States Constitution deals with issues related to presidential succession and disability. It clarifies that the Vice President becomes President (as opposed to Acting President) if the president dies, resigns, or is removed from office; and establishes procedures for filling a vacancy in the office of the vice president and for responding to presidential disabilities.The Twenty-fifth Amendment was submitted to the states on July 6, 1965, by the 89th Congress and was adopted on February 10, 1967.
And there was th SNL cold open.
WaPo has a good article with clickable link.
(Given my challenges with inserting media I just inserted the link to WaPo. – click and follow if you’re interested).
Craig,
Is all well with Jace? Missing our Sunday Serindipity
Jamie,
All is well I sent it in. Must be a glitch.
jace
Oh oh – for a stand in I tuned in Amazon Prime Music classical music string quartet channel. Very calming while reading the Annapolis Capitol Gazette, Baltimore Sun and WashPo, gave up on finishing WashPo until later today.
Life sucks when you get to your boat and it is dark and cold. Checking the power system and finding the DC works, that is good, but the AC is not. Pull the boat side power connector off showed it melted. A new shore power cable for my boat costs from five hundred dollars for a basic to about eight hundred dollars for the fancy one with LED lights. A new connector costs about two hundred dollars. I am going with the new connector and hope the entire cable is not bad. As a temporary patch I bought a cable and adapter connector for three hundred seventy dollars which lets me run the refrigerator and a single heater. Better than nothing while I work on the big cable. The cost of boat ownership grows exponentially with the size. As the sales guy said, “just mix up a nice martini and sit calmly for a while”.
Hey, buddy- if not me, then who? Who??
All’s well that ends well.
Wish me luck in my new career selling retail boat parts. I’m gonna be rich!