For a couple of years, 1962-63, the BBC produced an unfiltered recap of compelling news reportage, That Was the Week That Was, (TW3), hosted by David Frost. It was copied by NBC from ’64-65, also featuring the irascible Mr. Frost. It was a bold attempt at cutting edge commentary on the craziness of Viet Nam era politics, the Civil Rights movement and various other stories of misbehaving public figures and institutions. It was very popular on both sides of the pond but ultimately shut down, in both cases, due to pressure from those in power who objected to having such a bright light shown on their antics. Those shows, in retrospect, were almost benign compared to the glut of information spewing from the myriad of sources of today’s “news” flow with one very major exception. The veracity of the journalism for TW3was seldom questioned. Parsing the truthiness of anything reported today is a mine field of real and mis-information and anyone with the time and energy to seek verification is stymied by the spotty reliability of source material. So, most of us have self-manufactured a personal bullshit meter through which we filter all outside data. This, of course, is extremely biased, unreliable and dangerous on many levels. Just looking back on the this week that was:
Somewhere between 38-42% of the US electorate, and the majority of Republican candidates running in the midterm, believe that Donald Trump won the 2020 Presidential election, (in fact, he lost by the most votes, EVER)
Most currently serving Republicans do not think the attack on the Capital, January 6, 2021, was an insurrectionist act instigated and fomented by a delusional LOSER refusing to cede power to his democratically elected successor, (it was)
FOX “News”, where nothing, not even the weather is true, is the most watched information source in the country, (holy, fucking crap!)
As the judge was reading the jury’s award of $1B to Sandy Hook families, the sub-human Alex Jones, whose heinous defamation led to the historic verdict, was on-air mocking the proceedings and promoting his cockamamie products, (I take issue with squashing bugs, but I would have no problem stomping out the likes of that worthless piece of shit)
A lying juror, (or two), in Florida, who swore that personal beliefs would not affect a decision to vote for the death penalty of the hate-filled scumbag who mowed down 14 children and 3 adults at Parkland High, has forced the state to pay for the preservation of his worthless life, (and to expose the surviving family members to rants, by the likes of Alex Jones, calling for his freedom)
The Congressional January 6th Committee concluded its public hearings with irrefutable proof of Donald Trump’s and other colluding Republican’s traitorous activity that culminated in the storming of the Capital by angry, misinformed, armed and dangerous MAGA and QANON acolytes. (No Republican has commented…except for Donald, blah, blah, blah)
Raphael Warnock debated Herschel Walker…Herschel Walker debated Herschel Walker, (OMFG)
Ron Johnson, (huh?)
Memet Oz, (fuck you, Oprah!)
I’m exhausted and didn’t even get to Putin threatening nuclear war…