Tag: Media

Hey, He’s (or She’s) Got My Name!

 

Playing off Susan Quinn’s post on nicknames, have you ever gotten excited to see your name used in movies or other media? Maybe a character from a book? Now, this probably doesn’t happen to those with common names, like John Smith or Jim Jones, but for those of us with somewhat more uncommon names, it can be exciting.

I only know of about three appearances of my last name in any sort of big media. There was some sort of historical movie, it may have been made-for-television, made in the 1970s, where a distant cousin was one of the characters. I could swear it was Robert Vaughn who played the part, but can’t find it in his IMDB credits. (Maybe that was a different universe?) The second was that there was a narcoleptic  veterinarian in one episode of Mr. Ed where the character name was “Dr. Weatherford.”

Join Jim and Greg as they devote today’s podcast to discussing the horrific mass shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, on Monday. The attack left three precious children dead, along with three adults who lost their lives trying to protect the kids. First, they honor the brave police officers who responded quickly to the crisis, immediately entered the school in an urgent search for the killer, and eliminated the threat within a few minutes without endangering anyone else. They also groan at news that the killer had detailed plans to attack three different locations and also texted a friend that she was going to die yesterday and that her death would be on the news. Finally, they fume as the media criticize police for referring to the killer as a woman (which is correct) instead of as a transgender man.

Please note: There is audio from the police bodycams of the moments when the killer was neutralized. That audio starts at the 2:24 mark. If you prefer not to hear it, you can skip to the 2:48 mark, when our conversation resumes.

Join Jim and Greg as they give credit to the New York Times for admitting that mask mandates accomplished nothing, either for individuals or larger communities. It did lead to lot of angry confrontations, and apparently our government officials have learned nothing. They also discuss the growing media attention to the toxic train accident in Ohio and how government response to a crisis is often proportional to the amount of media coverage a story gets. Finally, they hammer the Defense Department and the Air Force for releasing the confidential military files of Republican lawmakers and candidates to opposition research firms working with Democrats.

Join Jim and Greg as they serve up a bad martini and a couple of crazy ones. First, they sigh as the mainstream press does damage control for the Democrats. Axios contends that Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg is just the victim of unfortunate circumstances and Republicans are the real problem for pouncing on his problems. Meanwhile, CNN chalks up the Biden classified document problem to the unease of Trump coming to the White House. They also get a kick out of Georgia Democrat Hank Johnson, who once worried that America’s military presence on Guam might cause the island to tip over, openly suggesting that the classified documents were planted in Biden’s office and garage. Finally, Jim fires back at the Club for Growth for launching an attack as against possible Indiana GOP Senate hopeful Mitch Daniels that greatly distorts his record as Indiana governor and president of Purdue University.

It’s media day in our year-end Three Martini Lunch awards and Jim and Greg have plenty to say about how things were covered – if they were covered at all.  Specifically, they look at the stories the mainstream media covered far too much, the ones they conveniently ignored because they didn’t fit their narrative, and they highlight what they saw as the best stories of 2022.

Join Jim and Greg as they offer the second installment of their highly coveted year-end awards. Today they remark on the people connected to politics that they’re most sorry to see pass away in 2022. They also share their choices for rising political stars and the political figures who appear to be fading into oblivion – rarely to be heard from again.

Up this week from Dennis Kneale: Why are the media still ignoring #TheTwitterFiles? And… Silicon Valley sage Vikek Wadhwa accuses The New York Times and The Washington Post of telling lies in Kashmir, and best-selling author Natalie Pace on her life as a nomadic journalist..

Plus this: you think your Christmas dinner might get awkward? Hold Dennis’ beer: Our host must decide whether to sit down to supper with a person who recently was thinking of killing him—and this person owns six guns.

There’s nothing quite like a radical change in lifestyle, location, and vocation to bring out the podcaster in Ricochet’s Dave Carter.  After a year and a half’s hiatus, Dave is now safely and happily ensconced in Florida, on “The World’s Most Beautiful Beaches.”  As it turns out, the thing he most wanted to accomplish after getting settled in was setting up his in-home studio and firing up the microphone to talk with us.  And we’re glad he did!  Rob Long joins the fun, talking with Dave about the contrasts between New York City and Florida and pausing to counsel Dave on his unique sense of ebullient pessimism over the country’s trajectory. The conversation changes pace with Rob advising Dave on his new line of work in radio sales before the two discuss tentative plans regarding an upcoming Ricochet Meetup in New Orleans. The conversation concludes on a fun note, but not before Dave makes a shameless plug for his new internet radio station called The Tiger, Bayou Blues & Rock (which includes some notable and notably funny Christmas music for the holidays).

Finally, Ricochet’s Jenna Stocker calls in and Dave doesn’t miss the opportunity to solicit a comparison between the balmy weather in Florida and the single digit temps in Minneapolis where Jenna resides with her husband and delightful one year-old son.  The two discuss Jenna’s remarkable writings on her substack page, as well as The Federalist, Newsweek and elsewhere. Then Jenna turns the tables on our host and interviews Dave to find out exactly how his move to Florida went and what life is like now that he’s settled in (Hint: Dave’s attitude on the Christmas holidays has radically changed). You’ll want to listen in to learn more about this one.

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It must have been very dangerous panel to attend, all the egos may have pushed all the air out of the room: Jeff Zucker, unsurprisingly blames current polarization of FOX.  Phil Griffin goes further, and blames Rush Limbaugh who developed the play book on talk radio was then taken up by FOX News. Preview Open

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Three crazy martinis today as Rob Long fills in for Jim Geraghty. After Rob explains why he loves holidays in New York City, he and Greg discuss Pay Pal’s insane plan to secretly fine customer’s $2500 for social media posts it deems “disinformation” or “hate,” which nowadays means any statement the left doesn’t like. Rob shreds Pay Pal’s absurd statement in response to the controversy and explains how this may lead to action in Congress. They also highlight the rampant crime in New York City, and Rob shares how this era is different than the crime waves the city endured decades ago. They also point how how New York Mayor Eric Adams is too busy giving a lucrative job to a friend’s wife to match the one is own girlfriend got from that friend. Finally, they marvel at just how bad of a candidate Arizona Democrat Katie Hobbs is, butchering a simple question about Latinos during her campaign for governor.

Join Jim and Greg as they welcome evidence that Americans are very focused on the border crisis and crime after widespread coverage of GOP governors sending migrants from our overwhelmed border to self-proclaimed sanctuary cities. They also call out the immense media hypocrisy as the national outlets largely ignore a man fatally running over a teenager in North Dakota because he was allegedly part of an “extremist” group. And they rip Stacey Abrams for insisting that there is no fetal heartbeat after six weeks of pregnancy and that ultrasounds are tools used by men for control women’s bodies.

Join Jim and Greg as they discuss a recent New York Times poll showing 70 percent of Americans opposed to elementary school students being instructed about sexual orientation and gender identity. The country is clear on this and Republicans would be insane not to highlight the chasm between the parties. They also enjoy a new poll in Texas showing Gov. Greg Abbott nine points ahead of Beto O’Rourke in the governor’s race and it gives Jim a chance to tell the media that their dream of the Democrats winning statewide in Texas will likely have to wait…again. And they dissect President Biden’s “60 Minutes” interview, in which he’s frustrated that people aren’t happy that inflation has plateaued somewhat in recent months and completely bungles his Taiwan policy again.

 

Martin Gurri joins Brian Anderson to discuss the loosening elite grip on power, the fractured media landscape, and information flows in a world of democratic contestation.

Find the transcript of this conversation and more at City Journal.

It’s all good martinis today! Join Jim and Greg as they welcome news that the Oregon governor’s race is a toss-up thanks to a former Democrat running as an independent. They also celebrate news that the strong hiring numbers we’ve seen in the wake of the pandemic are overwhelmingly powered by Republican-led states. And they discuss why it was long past time for Brian Stelter to be shown the door at CNN after constantly turning a program designed to objectively evaluate the media into a cheerleading session for the left.

Join Jim and Greg as they wade into the rare territory of giving credit to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for planning to visit Taiwan in the face of Chinese threats against her. Sadly, President Biden has once again displayed his default position of weakness on this issue as well. They also rip Paul Krugman for trying to claim that the economy is actually really strong and that people think their own financial situation is fine but the media keeps convincing everyone things are bad. And they dissect the six-game suspension for Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson after two dozen women accused him of sexual harassment or worse but no criminal charges were filed.

 

Join Jim and Greg as they hammer the Biden economic team for insisting two straight quarters of negative economic growth is not necessarily a recession. They also verbally pummel former Vice President Al Gore for comparing anyone not on board with his big government climate agenda to the police who refused to confront the shooter in Uvalde, Texas. And they get a kick out of NBC News once again wondering if this is the year that Democrats win in Texas with yet another glowing profile of Beto O’Rourke and his uphill campaign for governor.

 

Join Jim and Greg as they discuss two-thirds of Democrats now wanting a Plan B in 2024 as President Biden’s approval numbers keep getting worse. They also discuss the massive upheaval in Sri Lanka and how the economic chaos there may well be repeated in other nations. And they shake their heads as the mainstream media treats Shinzo Abe gets more critical coverage in the media than evil figures like Baghdadi or Soleimani.

 

Rob Long is in for Jim. Join Rob & Greg as they cheer a Republican victory in a very unlikely place. They are also excited to see the skyrocketing number of African-Americans purchasing firearms. They then go on to criticize the Biden administration for punishing border patrol agents for a “whipping” allegation that never actually happened.

Scot Bertram of Hillsdale College and the “Political Beats” podcast is in for Jim. Scot and Greg break down a new poll showing Americans solidly opposed to biological males competing in women’s sports. They also chronicle the decision of Gannett and other newspaper publishers to scale back on opinion pages. And they hammer most of the media for ignoring violence against crisis pregnancy centers while CNN covers it disingenuously.