Category: Media Criticism

  • Thoughts on: Honestly with Bari Weiss 2025 01-09 Podcast on England’s Rape Gangs

    Mick

    https://www.thefp.com/p/the-uk-grooming-gangs-and-the-cowardice-05e Bari Weiss moderates a discussion between Julie Bindel and Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Bindel is a journalist and advocate that relates an account of the events that is largely in line with what I recall of the coverage at the time. Hirsi Ali is, as I understand, more broadly an anti-Islamicist and critic of immigration… Read more

  • Thoughts on: Our Willful Disinformation Ecosystem

    Mick

    Frank Bruni’s recent column (which I thought was the past Sunday, but is dated December 19) is dead on. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/19/opinion/donald-trump-promises.html Donald Trump and Republicans simply will not, and cannot, be ‘held to account.’ These are people who believe verifiably false information. Trump will claim victory no matter what the actual conditions or consequences of his… Read more

  • Thoughts on: WSJ 2024 12-26 Covid Lab Leak Article

    Mick

    https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/fbi-covid-19-pandemic-lab-leak-theory-dfbd8a51?reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink I read this reporting with great interest this morning, but on first read it does not contain any new information beyond naming a source within the FBI that believes in the Wuhan Institute of Virology lab leak theory of Covid-19 origins. It also, I feel, conflates a ‘lab leak’ with the more pernicious idea… Read more

  • Thoughts on: Meet the Press 2024 12-22 “Finding Common Ground” Special

    Mick

    https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/december-22-sens-raphael-warnock-and-james-lankford-227692613726 I think special episodes are a mistake. A lot happened this week, including last-minute passage of a continuing resolution for federal funding, ABC News capitulating to Trump’s libel lawsuit, continuing war in the Middle East, and a school shooting here in Madison (off the top of my head). Meet the Press should consider its… Read more

  • Thoughts on: WSJ Editorial Regarding Drones and Lost Trust 2024 12-16

    Mick

    https://www.wsj.com/opinion/drones-and-the-cost-of-lost-trust-ufos-government-swarm-new-jersey-3bc5e936?reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink “Drones and the Cost of Lost Trust” published Dec. 15, 2024 at 5:15 pm ET. The summary of this Wall Street Journal opinion from the Editorial Board reads: “Conspiracy theories fly and public anger builds when Americans don’t believe their government.” Somewhat predictably, WSJ says this distrust blooms from the compost generated by the… Read more

  • Thoughts on: The Dispatch Podcast 2024 12-13

    Mick

    Somebody DIED. How DARE we discuss anything about this. Meghan McArdle seems to believe that Americans are totally fine with our healthcare system because she found some poll results. I always find it rich that a group of Never Trump conservatives think they have such keen insight into how The Left has lost the American… Read more