JATQ News Roundup 3.4.23
Brian announces the winners of this years "Bullshit Awards!" You won't believe who got slapped...
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Introducing the first-ever, sort-of-annual Bulls**t Awards: Not just for Republicans!
Of course your favorite ex-president gets a special prize. But there are so many other contenders. Stay tuned!
I woke up to see snow in the mountains north of the San Fernando Valley. I am told it is a rare occurrence.
I don't know. I was told Donald Trump was a rare occurrence too, and now we've got him and Ron DeSantis. They seem to be part of a metastatic cancer. In his last news conference at the White House, Joe Biden said — with a wee bit of a smile on his face — that he looked forward to watching Trump and DeSantis have at each other.
Me? I've never liked mud wrestling, but some have the taste for it and others like to watch it.
Speaking of "watching," those who watch Fox News were reminded again last week that most of its "news" is nothing but fiction. Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity discussed trying to get Fox White House reporter Jacqui Heinrich fired because she fact-checked Donald Trump. In other words, she did her job. Carlson and Hannity did not. Yet so far, management at Fox has apparently done nothing to reprimand either man for undermining the foundations of our democracy by promoting lies that led to an insurrection…
An open letter to the President and Members of Congress . . .
Dear President Biden and Members of Congress:
I apologize if what follows appears pretentious or self-serving. It is not my intent.
I am merely going to state some salient facts to let you know I have accumulated, during the last 50 years, a variety of experiences in the field of journalism – and thus hopefully establish my bonafides to cogently discuss the problems in journalism today.
My career has given me the experience that only a small number of the total population ever gets first hand – and even fewer understand. Hopefully, I understand.
I am also a registered voter who has voted in every local, state and federal election since 1979. I’ve voted in PTA meetings, meetings of the library club and proudly cast the deciding ballot in the impromptu “Dr. Frank-n-Furter” look-alike contest in a dive bar on the campus of the University of Missouri in 1980. I wasn’t old enough to drink, but I was old enough to vote so I was there . . . and of course I drank. It was a college town. It was 1980. It was The Shack. Ask a Mizzou alum. As an alternative you can “Google” the history of Beetle Bailey.
Mizzou was a party college - don’t take my word for it - I think Playboy gave us a shout out on its pages when I was at MIZZOU. For two years in a row on April Fools day, a local weed dealer hid hundreds of one-ounce bags of pot in and around the campus, chalked the sidewalks advertising “Bag Day” and then proceeded to sit back and watch thousands of college-aged kids run around the campus on a weed-inspired Easter Egg hunt.
But I digress.
Since those college days, ending in 1983, I’ve been a working reporter. I have covered every presidential campaign since 1984. However, I began my journalism sojourn at a much earlier age. In 1973 I became a paperboy. I was proud to deliver The Jefferson Reporter, a weekly newspaper that later hired me to work in the production room laying out pages part-time. Being a paperboy gave you a certain amount of freedom I’ve always enjoyed. Just getting out on an early morning walk when no one else was around – that put a smile on my face…
Ep 165: Gabriel Shipton, Julian Assange's brother - talks "Ithaka", press freedom and much more
Julian Assange is controversial. Is he a hacker terrorist, a journalist, a seditionist guilty of espionage, or someone who was trying to do the right thing? Join us on this edition of Just Ask The Question as we speak with documentary film producer Gabriel Shipton about his new documentary "Ithaka." On this episode of JATQ.
Joe Biden shows the world what political courage looks like. Will it make any difference?
A U.S. president traveled to a war zone his own forces didn't control. Maybe that wasn't wise, but it was dramatic
As the man said in "The Hunt for Red October," the last 24 hours have seen some extraordinary activity.
President Biden surprised the world with a visit to Kyiv. He then gave a dramatic speech in Poland, focusing on the threat posed by Vladimir Putin and Russia. After that, in speaking with NATO allies, he singled out what he viewed as the greatest threat to world peace. "Appetites of the autocrat cannot be appeased," Biden told the thousands of people gathered at Warsaw's Royal Castle. "They must be opposed. Autocrats only understand one word: No, no, no. No, you will not take my country."
Putin responded by pulling out of the New START nuclear treaty with the U.S. — the last arms control treaty between the two nuclear superpowers — once again indirectly threatening the world with nuclear conflagration while sidling closer to China in a weird lovefest that Fox News reports will lead to Xi Jinping meeting Putin in Moscow. Of course everyone knows just how accurate Fox News reporting can be (more on that in a bit)…
We went nuts over a balloon! Thank you for saving us, Rihanna
It ought to be a "teachable moment": This country is deeply unhinged. Now back to fake history and George Santos
Scientists cannot explain human consciousness or how we got it.
That explains politics.
Some believe they understand it.
That explains religion.
Who the hell knows how we achieve consciousness?
That explains the rest of us.
We struggle to figure it all out, often with inadequate information and limited time to verify it. Some say the resulting cultural ennui from this predicament has given rise to the popularity of zombie movies, lack of sense of humor, bland pop music and politicians who lack bladder control. But enough about George Santos.
Dystopia seems to be our creative narrative for the future.
We can't imagine a viable heaven, but we can sure imagine a livable hell. Ask anyone who has survived a mass shooting, a war, cancer, wildfires and a day covering Congress…
EP:164 - FOX sinks, Trump creeps while Congress resembles the Great Chicago Fire - Where's the cow?
This week on "Just Ask the Question; FOX News sinks to lower depths, Trump creeps closer to being a unique statistic, while Congress resembles the Greek Chicago Fire - where's the cow? This and more on "Just Ask the Question."
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