Monday, November 01, 2021

When Joe Met Pope . . .

 

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL AID TABLE

U.S. PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN WAS OVERJOYED TO MEET POPE FRANCIS.  


THIS DESPITE BEING A CHEAPWAD WHO GIFTED THE POPE WITH A COIN AND A USED GIFT.


BUT WHEN JOE BIDEN FINALLY MEETS A WORLD LEADER SIGNIFICANTLY OLDER THAN HE IS, IT'S A BIG DEAL.


"I'M THE YOUNGSTER IN THE ROOM!" JOE HOLLERED TO ANY WHO WOULD LISTEN.  "I'M ONLY 78 YEARS OLD!  HE'S 84!!!! WHEN HE GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL, I WASN'T EVEN IN HIGH SCHOOL!"


MEANWHILE, SNOOPS SPENT THEIR TIME TRYING TO SNIFF OUT THE TRUTH IN A CLAIM THAT JOE BIDEN POOPED HIMSELF WHILE MEETING THE POPE.


FROM THE TCI WIRE:

Heaven help us, the world deserves better.


You can't follow what passes for commentary without thinking "The world deserves better."  I'm reminded of this with the garbage FOREIGN POLICY has published -- is that redundant?  FP just publishes garbage and has been since around the time of Susan Glasser's brief tenure at the head of the magazine.  It's garbage.  


So they want to weigh in on Iraq and they can't find anyone obviously.  So they go with . . . Anchal Vohra.  Scratching your head?  A lot of us are.  Those of us who know her work certainly are.  But, reality, most people are scratching their heads over "Who?" They'd be right to.


But Anchal's problem for those of us who know her work is she doesn't cover Iraq.  She's a paid journalist.  In three years, she has filed two reports on Iraq -- don't count her b.s. "Syria and Iraq" that is never about Iraq, whether it's her or anyone else, they write about Syria and toss in a tidbit about Iraq.  Anchal does the same with her "Lebanaon and Iraq" coverage.  She's in Beirut and she largely covers Israel. 


She's not an expert on Iraq and it shows.  Over and over.  


And I get it, most people have pulled their staff from Iraq.  You need someone to write a column, what are you going to do? 


Well, I don't know, maybe get an Iraqi journalist in Iraq to write it?  How about that?


It beats bringing on Jane Arraf -- which MSNBC did recently and Ava and I were kind and avoided weighing in on that nonsense.  Jane has no opinion worth sharing.


She's at THE NEW YORK TIMES now.  But you may know her from THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, NPR, ALJAZEERA or, most infamously CNN.


She's been in Iraq forever.  Including under CNN. 


If you're thinking, wait, wait, I don't know that name -- you're right.


Because she doesn't break news.


Never.


Ever.


She learned that at CNN.  


As Eason Jordan revealed in April of 2003 ("The News We Kept To Ourselves," NEW YORK TIMES), CNN didn't report from Iraq.  They covered what the Iraqi government (run by Saddam Hussein) wanted covered.  They avoided anything embarrassing (such as reality) because it might get them kicked out of the country.


That's why you don't know Jane Arraf.  She's 'covered' Iraq since the 90s.  And she never saw anything.  


Nothing.


Abu Ghraib?  Nope.  Innocent civilians being killed?  No.


I should be fair.  She did briefly see the deaths of civilians.  Briefly.  When she was new on Twitter.  But those deaths never made it into her print or radio coverage.  Even when she was an eye witness.


Because Jane was trained under "The News We Kept To Ourselves."  


Someone who is now on her fourth decade covering Iraq and she's never had a scoop, never had a memorable piece of journalism.  


That is, by the way, how she keeps getting hired.  They hire her, all these outlets, knowing that she'll churn out boring copy that never informs so it never alienates.  She takes up space and let's them check off 'covered' on their list.

Back to Anchal.  At FOREIGN POLICY, she pens the non-thought piece (a musing? fan fiction?) entitled "Muqtada al-Sadr is the United States' best hope in Iraq."


Iraq is a land of orphans and widows.  The war continues and will hit the 19th anniversary mark next March.  The media age in Iraq is 21-years-old.    By way of contrast, in the US, the median age is 38.1-years-old.  Why the stark difference?  Because the war killed over a million people.  Because it turned the country into a land of orphans and widows.


And yet Anchal's writing about the Iraq election from the stand point of . . . the US?


Never accuse most journalists of having a sense of purpose -- the vast majority don't even provide context today.  


RECOMMENDED: "

"Iraq snapshot"

"Closing IDP camps in Iraq, digging into the past 2700 years ago and some realities about that recent election"

"Jimmy Dore on problems with policy, Barry Grey on torture"

"Fakes"

"Jimmy Dore, Bruce Springsteen, THE GOLDBERGS"

"Jimmy Dore and who assaulted Huma Abedin"

"Jimmy Dore, Sam Carliner"

"Stovetop BBQ Ribs in the Kitchen"

"Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup in the Kitchen"

"Medicare For All"

"Tomato and Black Bean Chicken in the Kitchen"

"Hot and Sour Soup in the Kitchen"

"J.F.K. (and LBJ's mistress)"

"That disappointing Chomsky"

"A music video"

"THE CONVO COUCH"

"Gain-of-function research?"

"McAuliffe and his unsavory attorney"

"Bette Davis"

"Chase Rice"

"Turley"

"Quit wasting our money"

"John Woo"

"Science grab bag"

"One thing"

"Joe Manchin is one of many screwing with our health"

"John L. Williams' AMERICA'S MISTRESS: EARTHA KITT, HER LIFE AND TIMES."

"DUNE still sucks (and now sucks at the box office)"

"I don't enjoy THE VIEW"

"10 things to catch on NETFLIX"

"Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Brendan Fraser, The Posies"

"FAMILY GUY, DUNE"

"Subaru"

"No-bama, Michelle, No-bama"

"Julian Assange"

"Pumpkin Day and La Brea"

"More people weigh in on how Dune sucks"

"abba"

"another episode of impeachment"

"that awful joe machin, that sexy gay gaston"

"2 videos to catch on youtube"

"barbra streisand doesn't like arab people"

"THE PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE BIBLE as written by Laurence Myers"

"Chase Rice"

"Easy on Me or Let's Go Brandon?"

"Todd Haines and The Velvet Underground"

"R.E.M."

"Perv Prince's response?"

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"The 'Peyton Place' Murder"


"TV: Lose and lose again"



"All together now: F**k you, Joe Biden!"

"THIS JUST IN! BIDEN GREETED LOUDLY IF NOT WARMLY!"



 

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