Just Ask The Question Newsletter 5.4.23
Discover more from Just Ask The Question Newsletter
Just Ask The Question Newsletter 5.4.23
The Donald vs Biden round two. Fox and the existential crises facing Big Media. Plus, the future of journalism, art and A.I.
Welcome back to the Just Ask the Question newsletter where we share insights on the White House and politics in general through podcast interviews, original articles and commentary.
And because everyone deserves a break now and then from all that is D.C., we will also share the lighter side of the news with exclusive interviews from leading pop culture figures. sign up here
EP 179: Jerry Saltz - banning books, NFTs, and the problems in today's politics
"Envy is a knife you hold to your own throat," says art critic Jerry Saltz.
Jerry joins us on "Just ask the Question" to talk about banning books, NFTs, and the problems in today's politics.
Donald Trump woke up a numb country — and Joe Biden faces a higher bar now
Biden's desire to be the anti-Trump in everything is potentially harming the nation the most
There is an argument to be made that this country never got over the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
The optimism and idealism seen in our culture in the early '60s died when Kennedy did. Nothing illustrates that more than in Kennedy's national challenge to be the first country to reach the moon. We did this in his name with pride, and 60 years after his death millions of people are convinced it was stagedand shot on a sound stage in Hollywood. Mind you, with a strong enough telescope you can see the landers we left on the moon, but that is lost on a culture today whose national hubris of Kennedy's Camelot has disintegrated into a turgid stench of misogyny, racism, sexism and fear.
Things are looking a little better since Donald Trump got drummed out of town ahead of the prosecutors who've already indicted him and those who appear poised to do so in the near future.
Joe Biden, while not returning the country to Camelot, has at least taken us out of the gutter where jaded morons like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Kevin McCarthy and Lauren Boebert pimp themselves out to the NRA and anybody else who can feather their foul nests with wads of sweaty cash.
EP 177: Just Ask The Question - Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn joins us!
More than two full years after the January 6 Insurrection Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn joins us on JATQ to talk about PTSD, why he continues to stand up against the Proud Boys and other insurrectionists - and what he'd most like to say to Donald Trump.
Joe Biden vs. a dead skunk: Our president may be old, but the opposition is literally rotting
No one really wants a Biden-Trump rematch in 2024 — and it still might not happen. But what's the alternative?
I remember as a child walking to the neighborhood bus stop to go to elementary school and watching a large skunk trying to race across the street, only to be run over by a car.
The look on that skunk's face, panicked but determined, convinced me it was unaware that it was dead even as it thrashed about, spewing entrails and blood across the road. The stench was unbearable.
That is today's Republican Party.
The GOP is dead. It died before Donald Trump climbed atop its fetid carcass and staked his claim as the last Great White Hope. All that is left of the Grand Old Party that used to include progressives and liberals is a pack of racists, misogynists, science deniers and God-fearing evangelicals who pray for a past that never existed and who fear that the rest of the world is out for retribution against them. There is nothing more fascinating, or horrifying, than watching the paroxysm of violence and fear expelled in the death throes of a dying animal — or a dying political party.
Here's the real lesson of the Fox News trial: It's time to break up Big Media
Of course Dominion was out for a payday — we can't expect capitalism to bring down Fox News and save democracy
When greed is the only thing that motivates you, disaster usually awaits.
Just ask Fox News.
Rupert Murdoch and the executives at that network found that out the hard way when they decided to broadcast lies about Dominion voting machines. It cost them to the tune of $787 million this week, after Dominion's defamation suit was settled out of court at the 11th hour.
The American people found that out too when the executives at Dominion Voting Systems decided to settle for the hefty payout rather than take Fox to trial and air all the network's dirty laundry in public.
Believe me, there's still a healthy amount of train-spotting going on at Fox. From Murdoch through Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and many others, evidence showed that Fox executives and anchors knew they were broadcasting lies and repeatedly insulted the network's audience. Fox on Tuesday acknowledged the court's rulings "finding certain claims about Dominion to be false." But the network won't have to admit on-air that it spread election lies, a Dominion representative told CNN.
EP 175: Guns. Ammo. Abortion. Joe Walsh joins us to discuss common ground
Guns. Ammo. Abortion. Former presidential candidate and Tea-Party Congressman Joe Walsh rejoins us at JATQ to talk about finding common ground in the air of divisiveness on abortion and gun control. Never one to mince words, it's an exciting discussion.
We need your help! Just Ask The Question is looking to expand in the new year and we need the support of our listeners to continue bringing you the guests and analysis necessary to make sense of the world today. If you can, join us on Patreon where you’ll get exclusive access to content before anyone else.
For more video content and tips from Brian follow our Youtube channel.
