August 31, 2021--Fox Weather

Some years ago I read that on local TV weather reporters and sportscasters earned more than anchors. Simple--more viewers tuned in for sports and weather updates and those who provided them had higher salaries.

So it should come as no surprise to learn that as viewers tune out cable news, Rupert Murdoch is preparing to launch Fox Weather to take on the Weather Channel where, as climate is more and more in the news, viewers have been flocking.

At the three cable news channels (CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News) average viewership for the first half of 2021 declined 38 percent from the previous year. The Weather Channel by contrast was up 7 percent.

It didn't take Murdoch long to notice and figure out how to make money from the weather.

Later this year, he is planning to debut Fox Weather, a 24-hour streaming channel that is projected to do for forecasting what Fox has done for (or to) politics, financial news, and sports. 

To stay competitive, the Weather Channel announced the creation of its own streaming service, Weather Channel Plus, that the company claims could reach 30 million subscribers by 2026.

Weather around the clock needs something to cover and attract viewers even if they have to exaggerate what is going on or, out-and-out, make it up. Thus most of what they present will continue to be bad news about impending storms--especially hurricanes and tornados. All telegenic.

Local and national weather news also depend on receiving video from amateur storm chasers. Viewers who roam the countryside with iPhones in hand. Another way to keep people glued to the screen. 

And with weather satellites it's possible to begin to cover potential hurricanes many days in advance as we saw and are seeing as Ida makes its way across the Gulf and up through the states that border the Atlantic Ocean.

Of course this coverage makes it possible for those in storms' paths to prepare, but the exaggerating and trolling for viewers and subscribers also makes things worse as panic also follows the worst potential storm tracks.

August 30, 2021--Fact Checking Biden

I have a close friend, Maureen, who is so disgusted with what is happening that she refuses to mention the name of the country where America has been fighting for the past 20 years.

But since she and I are interested in talking about this because it is so much in the news and consequential, we have come up with a few ways to do so.

We refer to it as "that country," or, "the place where girls are kept from going to school," or "you know, they defeated the Russians in the 1980s."

The compounding issue that has us talking in worrisome private code is the political impact of what is happening in that country.

As a result of American incompetence in rescuing locals who have worked with us and for us, poll numbers show Biden's favorables plummeting. The Hill, for example, is concluding that it is looking more and more probable that Republicans will take control of the House next year and also the Senate. This is conspiring to make it  increasingly likely that Biden will be a one-term president. 

Over the weekend, the Hill reported that the "tides are turning against Biden."

And it doesn't help our disposition to notice that the New York Times has started to "fact-check" Biden. Finding him to be not always truthful.

Remember the last fellow they fact-checked?

The thought of the total return of the GOP has gotten Maureen and me sputtering when talking in political parables.

No wonder we can't bear to mention the name of that God-forsaken country. 

In the meantime I continue to dose-down on the news. I have fully stopped watching the cable. Or any news for that matter except the weather up here in Maine. 

But at least the Yankees are doing well.

August 20, 2021--Failure to Be Intelligent

To President Joseph P. Biden:

As of 12:00PM, August 20, 2021, I submit my resignation as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

General Mark Miller

To President Joseph P. Biden

As of 12:00PM, August 20, 2021, I submit my resignation as Secretary of Defense.

General Lloyd Austin

To President Joseph P. Biden

As of 12PM, August 20, 2021, I submit my resignation as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency

William Burns 

August 15, 2021--Alexander the Great

Twenty years ago, if we wanted to know the likely outcome of going to war with the Taliban in Afghanistan, rather than listening to the likes of Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, we should have asked the Russians how to proceed after they had recently lost their war there.

Better (Rona's thought) we should have spoken with Alexander the Great, who, in 330 BC had also been defeated in what is now Afghanistan and needed to retreat.

The Great one would have said--Don't get involved there. It is a bottomless pit, a quagmire, and the local warriors will simply wait you out. As soon as you flag they will move in and quickly take over everything.

Sound familiar? 

It should be as we see the Taliban moving quickly to resume control of the country. It has taken the just weeks. As I write the Taliban are pressing in on the capital, Kabul. When they complete that maneuver, in a matter of just days, the Taliban will control the entire country. 

Executions are already underway, girls are already being forbidden to go to school. 

The U.S. is left with nothing but humiliation, including pleading with the Taliban to "spare" our embassy in the capital.

After spending nearly $2.0 trillion on military operations, with 2,312 American combat deaths and 21,000 wounded, we are left with beseeching the Taliban, our enemy, to protect us.

Alexander would have had something to say about that too--big powers lose when they ask their enemies to help them save face, when the asking itself is a form of capitulation and defeat.

This should be understood as a part of a pattern that we have seen since our defeat in Vietnam.

Will we ever learn?

August 12, 2021--Cuomo-Soprano

Thus far Andrew Cuomo's defense has been more cultural than judicial.

In effect, here's what he's been spinning--

"They changed the line on me. The line that separates what's acceptable and what's not" when it comes to working in today's offices.

"What do they expect of me. I'm a 63-year-old Italian man (note, not 'Italian-American') who grew up with different values than they have today. Back in my day we touched, we did a little stroking, a little flirting, and even a little kissing and rubbing up against each other. It was all considered to be OK. Innocent. Nobody had a problem with any of this. It was just fun. The girls--I mean women--had as good a time as the fellas.

"And then it was like I woke up from a three-decade-long sleep and the rules had changed on me. We even stopped having office Christmas parties where the secretaries and bosses were free to do a little fooling around.

"So what would you expect me to do? I'm not a sex harassor but a victim of gender and ethnicity. I know we're supposed to keep our hands to ourself and cut out the racy jokes. 

"But Italians talk with their hands. That's the worst thing I did. But it's my nature.

"I get it. I learned. I have three daughters and they're helping to straighten me out. We've been sitting on the couch together, I tell them what I did and they tell me if I did anything wrong.

"I'm learning a lot from them. They're good girls."

There's one problem--everything Cuomo said is wrong. Even if he's been awake for only a few months he knows this and should not be enabled to get away with it.

For starters, he has to stop watching The Sopranos.

August 10, 2021--The Fire This Time

The Fire This Time is a gloss on the Fire Next Time, which comes from a pre-Civil War Negro spiritual that became popular again during the Civil Rights movement. The line is “God gave Noah the rainbow sign, no more water. The fire next time.” The line's a warning about the consequences of living unholy lives.

Which, in regard to the  climate, is how we've been living.

I have been thinking about this as wild fires ravage much of our West Coast.

The Dixie Fire, estimated to be the second largest in California's recorded history, only 30 percent contained, is said to be nearly 490,000 acres in size.

"As large as two New York Cities," someone on CNN said yesterday morning. As a New Yorker this captured my attention.

If we fail to heed these warnings . . . we know the consequences. 

Even casual readers know I am not apocalyptic. But with Heat Domes, explosive city-size fires, and 105 degree weather now routine in Portland, Oregon and Seattle, I'm no longer so sure. I would be hard put to disagree with anyone who has come to this end-of-world conclusion.

Minimally, there are metaphoric meanings. 

I am tempted to stop here. Settle for thoughts about levels of meaning, but we have moved rapidly beyond this. We need to do more. We need to get to work.