New York Times

Pentagon Papers 50th Anniversary: Turning Point On Executive Authority In Presidency

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It has been a half century since the exposure by the New York Times of the Pentagon Papers, that revealed the secrets of how America became engaged in the never ending Vietnam War.

It infuriated President Richard Nixon, and led to circumstances that brought about the Watergate Scandal, and the move to impeach Nixon, leading to his resignation on August 9, 1974.

But now, revelations show Donald Trump had engaged in even worse violations of the law than Nixon did, and this makes it clear how alarming it is that Trump is still trying to promote a coup, as on January 6 at the US Capitol, so that he can return to power.

And it is ever more alarming that most Republicans are willing to bend to Trump’s will, and that the Republican Party of 2021 is far more corrupt and dangerous than it was in 1971!

Joe Biden Perceived By Many Observers As Potentially Transformational, As Was FDR And LBJ

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It may be hype, but many political observers, impressed with President Joe Biden’s fast start in his first 50 days, are speculating that the 46th President could be a transformational President, in the mold of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson.

One such viewpoint is expressed by NY Times Columnist David Brooks, who is a conservative, but sees elements in Joe Biden to unite the nation, as has occurred with the just signed COVID 19 $1.9 Trillion legislation today, which is seen as a law that will have a great effect on taking many people, including children, out of poverty, along with essential aid to small businesses, state and local governments, and the rapid availability, now said to be on May 1, of COVID 19 vaccine for all adults.

Joe Biden has surprised many in his ability to draw Republican registered voters to be totally supportive of assistance this legislation provides, even as Republicans in Congress refused to support the legislation, but are already claiming credit for some of the programs and aid being distributed rapidly, starting this weekend.

There certainly is great optimism, on this anniversary of the declaration of the COVID 19 Pandemic a year ago today, after the horrible loss of 525,000 Americans, the greatest loss in one year in American history!

Discussion Of Martial Law In White House Alarming, With One Month To Go Until Inauguration

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Today, one month before the inauguration, 31 days until Joe Biden and Kamala Harris begin the new administration, there is alarming news that corrupt, renegade lawyers around Donald Trump had a stormy meeting with Donald Trump, promoting the declaration of martial law, suspension of the Constitution under the ill advised Insurrection Act of 1807, and the redo of the election in states that were “swing’ states lost by Trump in November.

The New York Times reports that Patrick Cipollone, one of the President’s White House lawyers, and Mark Meadows, the White House Chief of Staff, argued vigorously against such action, while a renegade lawyer, Sidney Powell, was promoting such alarming ideas, along with wanting to be a special counsel to investigate the election returns, after the Electoral College has already made the election results official on December 14.

The possibility of a coup still exists, but it seems clear that were Trump to move in that direction, that the military and the bureaucracy would not cooperate.

At this point, with a crazed President out of control, and promoting anti democratic actions, at least in his diseased head, that immediate action to force his resignation, and for Vice President Mike Pence to finish out the term, is essential.

And those who argued for such action, including Powell and retired General Mike Flynn, who was convicted and then pardoned, should be incarcerated as traitors and seditionists.

And it is good to see Cipillone, who represented Trump in the impeachment trial and has been the White House Counsel, and Mark Meadows, former Congressman and Tea Party favorite, are putting patriotism and the rule of law ahead of Trump’s maniacal behavior!

The News Media And Public Opinion Polls On Trial On Election Day: Are They Reliable?

Ronald 6 Comments

Today, Election Day 2020, it is clear that the news media, particularly the establishment media–the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC–need to be demonstrated to be reliable and accurate in their coverage of the 2020 election campaign.

Or will they have “egg in their faces” again, as in 2016, when there was total shock at the result of the election, the victory of Donald Trump?

And the same goes even more with the multitude of public opinion polls, which misjudged what was about to happen, and also the prognosticators, many well known, and some like this author and blogger, NOT well known, who all believed Hillary Clinton would win the Presidency!

A one time blunder, or error, can be explained, as it was in 1948 when no one thought Harry Truman would defeat Thomas E. Dewey!

A second time, when all evidence is that Joe Biden will likely win a landslide victory over Donald Trump, would be fatal in many ways, making Americans unwilling to believe the major news media and public opinion polls in the future!

Hopefully, the right wing news media, notorious for lies and deception, most notably Fox News Channel, the New York Post, and the Wall Street Journal, all Rupert Murdoch owned and operated, will be repudiated beyond any redemption! The same applies to right wing talk show radio hosts, including Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Mark Levin, and a host of other extremists who exploit the American people on a regular basis!

Hopefully, we will know sometime tomorrow, Wednesday, November 4!

Another Opportunity To Salute The New York Times, Today 169 Years Old, A True National Treasure To Freedom Of The Press!

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This author and blogger has hailed the New York Times numerous times over its courage and principle in always seeking the truth, and has celebrated its birthday many times, and it is time to do so again, on its 169th Anniversary!

The New York Times is a true national treasure to freedom of the press, the best guardian against dictatorship and authoritarianism.

The paper has won 130 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other newspaper, and has saved America with its investigations and revelations on government and its leaders since the middle of the 19th century, along with the best, most thorough discussion of foreign affairs, as well as culture and finance.

It was responsible for exposing Watergate, along with its “sister” competitor, the Washington Post, which has won 69 Pulitzer Prizes, the second most of any newspaper, and founded on December 6, 1877, so almost 143 years old.

The fact that both newspapers are seen as the enemy of Donald Trump and crooked Republicans in 2020 is a badge of honor.

The New York Times–“All the News That’s Fit to Print”–will survive Donald Trump, and will report on all authoritarian regimes around the globe, as it has done through the years.

It is not a perfect newspaper, and neither is the Washington Post, and they have both admitted shortcomings over the years.

But to be well informed and understand public affairs, one MUST read the New York Times and Washington Post, or give up a claim to being knowledgeable on all kinds of public issues!

Presidential Debates Are Worthless, Unless Donald Trump Agrees To Two Conditions: Taxes Revealed, And Fact Checker For Trump Lies!

Ronald 11 Comments

There is no point to Joe Biden agreeing to debate with Donald Trump, unless Trump agrees to reveal his tax records, as Joe Biden has done, AND it is also agreed that there will be a fact checking team approved by both candidates to be hired by the non partisan Commission on Presidential Debates.

That team would report with ten minutes left in the debate any misleading statements, phony numbers, or outright lies uttered by either candidate.

Trump lies as he breathes, as Thomas Friedman of the New York Times said last month, and Biden should not allow that to go unanswered by a fact checking team at the debate.

Since Biden is comfortably ahead in all polls, he gains nothing by debates, and by refusing to debate, will infuriate Trump, who will go even more looney.

Trump knows he is losing, and Joe Biden should just continue to make public statements before small audiences with proper distancing. Biden is being helped by various Republican groups who are dedicated to Trump’s defeat as the only way to revive the party of Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Joe Biden has been right since January on the CoronaVirus Pandemic, and should make the effort to win as many states as possible, but the debates make no sense at this point, unless Trump agrees to the two conditions mentioned above, which will not occur!

The Death Of Truth: Facts Are Facts, Despite Right Wing Attacks

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America is in a sad time, when we have extremist Right Wing Talk Radio, Right Wing websites, and Fox News Channel creating fiction as truth.

If left up to them, we would have the death of truth, but facts are facts, despite the right wing constant barrage of propaganda, worthy of a dictatorship, not a democracy.

Errors are made by the major news media, but most of the time, what they report is factual and accurate.

When someone says do not trust the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal, CBS, NBC, ABC, MSNBC, and CNN, along with lesser sources of mostly accurate news, the response must be to act vehemently in the face of those who wish to manipulate and lie and distort and divide America, and undermine its Constitution and Bill of Rights.

If not for the Washington Post and New York Times in particular, back in the era of Richard Nixon, Watergate would never have resulted in his resignation.

So hopefully, the readers of this blog are intelligent and educated enough to dismiss the right wing media, as pure propaganda and lies, and not to be trusted or believed.

New York Times: 168th Anniversary Worthy Of Celebration

Ronald 28 Comments

Today, September 18, is the 168th anniversary of the New York Times, the best newspaper in America, and maybe in the world at large.

Founded in 1851, it became famous as the newspaper with the slogan: “All the News That’s Fit to Print”.

The newspaper has had its ups and downs, and has made mistakes, and been controversial, as they are presently for their revelation about Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh and sexual harassment, based on a lack of clear cut reporting on a new book on the Justice.

But despite that, there is still a recognition in the journalism profession that the New York Times has been in the forefront of so much important news in detail, and revelations that might not have occurred otherwise.

Despite its lack of perfection, the New York Times is still more to be trusted and revered than any politician, who does not like the willingness of the New York Times to be attacked for mostly telling the truth.

So Donald Trump attacks the news media, and particularly the New York Times and Washington Post, the two best newspapers who have held his administration to the fire in an appropriate manner to preserve our Constitution and Bill of Rights.

No President, no Senator, no Congressman, no public personality in any endeavor can rest, knowing that the New York Times will do what it must do to preserve freedom and democracy for the long run.

So when one might occasionally be angry or irritated by some article in the New York Times, remember they are not here to be popular, but to be our guardian, and so one should always be glad that the New York Times does well, because to imagine the paper’s demise would be a sign of the downfall of the American Republic,

And every scholar, including this one, is indebted to the New York Times, for having been of great assistance in the publication of books and articles. My two books could not have been published without using the New York Times Index, and being amazed at the unbelievable depth of reporting provided in the pages of the New York Times for so long a time frame.

The New York Times has survived many demagogues in the world, and will survive Donald Trump, for certain!

CNN’s 39th Anniversary: Changing The Face Of Journalism

Ronald 19 Comments

Today is the 39th Anniversary of Cable News Network, the first cable news channel, started by Ted Turner in 1980.

It is now hard to recall that before CNN, and later MSNBC in 1996, and the infamous Fox News Channel, also in 1996, the face of electronic journalism was only CBS, NBC, and ABC.

This author and blogger grew up as a devoted fan of CBS and Walter Cronkite and the other great journalists of that channel, with sometimes focusing to a lesser extent on NBC and ABC.

One also recalls how Richard Nixon complained about the “constant barrage” of TV news nationally 22 minutes out of the 30 minute nightly newscast, which was actually only 11 minutes out of 15 before 1963.

Now, we are overwhelmed by so much electronic news on cable channels and the internet, but at the end CNN still stands out as a quality news organization.

CNN has made mistakes and blunders, but it has also educated us mightily in the past 39 years, and has been strengthened by a tyrant named Donald Trump who claims that channel and MSNBC, along with the three major networks are “fake news”. The constant attacks as well on the NY Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times, the three best print papers in America, have only made educated people realize how significant all these and other news sources as well, are in keeping us free and informed.

It is the role of journalism to speak the truth, expose scandal, and insure our freedom and democracy, and they are working hard to overcome the greatest threat to America since World War II, far greater by comparison to that presented by Richard Nixon a half century ago.

No one is trying to give Richard Nixon a pass as a major threat historically, but the present “clear and present danger” of Donald Trump is an alarm bell warning us of the danger of infiltration by a foreign power which has always wished us ill since 1917, and now reconstituted in a different manner but no less dangerous than the old Soviet Union.

So to undermine our foreign policy and our loyalty to our allies in NATO, and in East Asia is a danger to the national security of America and to the world community at large, and CNN, MSNBC and others and the print media are working full time to keep Americans alert and informed.

So Happy 39th Birthday, CNN, and many more!

The Survival And Independence Of News Media Under Threat In Age Of Donald Trump

Ronald 1 Comment

America is in a crisis, with the attack on the news media by Donald Trump.

Unfortunately one third to 45 percent of the American people believe that the news media are promoting “fake news’.

They would rather believe Donald Trump, or Fox News Channel, or Talk Radio, and many of these people see the rest of the media to be the enemy, rather than their role of exposing evil.

Without a thriving media, corruption and scandal would run totally rampant.

America is blessed with journalists who often are threatened by mob mentality at Trump rallies.

These journalists are committed to pursuit of the truth, and many news media sources are failing to make a profit, and are closing up, causing the mass loss of brilliant young journalists.

The fact that the media industry is a business which needs to make a profit does not take away from their sacrifices in trying to learn the truth.

Richard Nixon and the Watergate Scandal would never have been exposed if not for two young cub reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post from 1972 through 1974.

Today, in the time of danger that Donald Trump represents, it is the Washington Post again, along with the New York Times, which is promoting the survival of constitutional government.