Category: Media

WooHoo!!!! Verizon Has CurrentTV on Their Non Premium Channels

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Channel 192 in Baltimore County.

Olbermann will be moving there sometime in the spring:

Keith Olbermann, the former MSNBC anchor, will host a prime time program for Current TV, the low-rated cable channel co-founded by Al Gore. The one-hour program will begin sometime in the spring.

Mr. Olbermann will also become the chief news officer for Current, the company said in a news release Tuesday.

“We are delighted to provide Keith with the independent platform and freedom that Current can, and does uniquely offer,” Mr. Gore said in a statement.

It appears that Olbermann will be getting an equity state in the network, which is probably most of his remuneration, it currently only draws about 60,000 viewers nationwide, and would therefore be very hard pressed to pay him a salary commensurate with his media profile.

He will also become “Chief News Officer,” whatever that means.

I kind of hope that it’s not what is normally called a “News Director,” as my sense is that this would not be a good use of his skills. A news director at a cable network is someone who has to manage ……… People like Keith.

Keith is any number of things, but a calming influence he is not.

Big Surprise, the New Black Panther “Voter Intimidation” Was a Manufactured News Event

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Listen to GOP Lawyers Manipulating the Video at the Time

What a surprise. One of the things that had the right wing echo chamber, and George W. Bush’s corrupted Civil Rights Commission, the allegation that the New Black Panthers were somehow a part of of a Democratic voter intimidation scheme (in the blackest part of Philadelphia?).

Well it’s all a fraud, and it has been literally since day 1:

In the extended version of the footage, posted by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights this month, a police officer tells Morse to back off. That’s when the commotion begins.

The video shows someone off-screen to Morse’s left, telling the officer “I got him, I got him.” A man who appears to be Chris Hill, a Republican poll watcher who was accused of intimidating voters at the polls by another woman at the location, says “Put it down. You’ve got enough.”

Then Bartle Bull chimes in. “Don’t you threaten him with your hands. You’re threatening him. Don’t you use your hands!”

………

The video shows that the white Republican poll watchers who showed up to the majority African-American precinct knew exactly what kind of media sensation they had on their hands.

“We’re on the same team,” says another Republican poll watcher off screen.

“You’re f%$#ing up the story. Don’t f%$# up the story,” one unidentified poll watcher tells Morse.

“You guys are lawyers, I’m a videographer,” Morse says.

Morse told TPM in an e-mail that he doesn’t think it was Hill who was intimidating him, but says someone was.

“A couple of guys wearing SUITS were were actually intimidating ME at this point,” Morse told TPM in an e-mail. “It was certainly not Mr. Hill who told me to put the camera down. It was one or two GOP lawyers, whose names I never got and I never saw again.”

“I remember a crowd of maybe 10 lawyers (or seemingly lawyers, suits I should say, since Bull isn’t a lawyer) standing around — in the original (more famous) video — one lawyer makes it into one of the shots, but im pretty sure it was another guy — not the bald guy in the shot — who was being a dick to me,” Morse told TPM in an e-mail. “At least one person was being a dick, and I was quite angry at this point when they were telling me to shut the camera — hence the expletive (which i make no apologies for using!).”

(%$# mine)

They didn’t just edit the tape, they manipulated the taping on site at time.

The ‘Phant lawyers were attempting to edit the event in real time. 

It makes reality difficult to determine, but I always fall back on what work when the USSR was at its zenith: If they accuse you of some sort of skulduggery, it is safe to assume that this is what they are doing themselves.

Domestic Terrorism in Spokane

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I’m not sure why the press isn’t covering this, but someone planted a relatively sophisticated road-side bomb along the route of the Spokane Martin Luther King Day parade:

A backpack found along the route of the Martin Luther King Jr. march in Spokane contained a bomb “capable of inflicting multiple casualties,” the FBI said Tuesday, describing the case as “domestic terrorism.”

The FBI said the Swiss Army-brand backpack was found about 9:25 a.m. PST on Monday on a bench at the northeast corner of North Washington Street and West Main Avenue in downtown Spokane.

In an interview on msnbc cable’s “The Rachel Maddow Show,” Spokesman-Review reporter Thomas Clouse said confidential sources told him that the device was equipped with a remote control detonator and contained shrapnel.

There are two things that are very concerning here:

  • The FBI is being very loquacious about this, and I don’t mean, “FBI is offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of people responsible for placing the device.” Considering how legendary the FBI is about keeping its cards close to its chest, this implies that they are very spooked by this.
  • Spokane is smack dab in the middle of any number of any number of white supremacist encampments, and has already seen Aryan Nation inspired bombings and robberies.

I think that the FBI has some intel indicating that more than one person has some sort of ongoing plans for a series of actions.

What is odd here is that Maddow seems to be the only national media figure who is paying any attention.

1:40:24 Well Spent

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First, an admission: While I saw the first 3 Star Wars movies, that is episode 4, 5, and 6, I only saw Revenge of the Sith among the prequels.

I was visiting my ‘Rents in 2007, and as a family thing, we all watched episode 3, and my reaction was a big Meh.

I actually found it a bit more disappointing than Return of the Jedi, which was surprising, since I’ve seen about 15 minutes of The Phantom Menace in dribs and drabs, the dialogue drives me to change the channel after about 45 seconds.

In any case it gives me the opportunity to review the review of the movie on Red Letter Media, and “Harvey Plinkett” is a genius.

There is some profoundly disturbing humor in the review (3 parts, at link), but this is a cogent and truly intelligent review of The Revenge of the Sith as cinema, and arguably packs more in it’s a bit more than an hour and a half than your average college level film course.

This is someone who loves cinema, and can use Citizen Kane (Which he admits is unfair) as well as the first three Star Wars Movies (I call that fair) to show just how poorly done and pedestrian  SW III is.

It is entertaining, even though it is over half as long as the movie being critiques (100 min vs 140 min).

It’s delivered in a sort of Ben Steinesque creepy monotone, but that contributes to the enjoyment.

David Zurawik is the Dumbest Muthahf%$#er on the Face of the Earth

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And considering the fact that he is the Baltimore Sun‘s TV critic, which means that he had to beat out other TV critics, this is a big hurdle to jump.

You see Zurawik was commenting on the fact that former CBS reporter, and former CNN anchor John Roberts, a generally well respected journalist, was moving from CNN to Fox, largely because Fox was willing to base him in the same town as his fiancee.

When all is said and done, I can agree that this was generally a net plus for Fox in terms of journalism, considering the fact that “Biff the Wonderdog” would be an improvement over the likes of Britt Hume, but then he unleashes this corker:

The channel doesn’t need more ratings magnets — it has all of them any cable channel needs right now. What Fox needs to do is continue to add journalistic strength and depth as it did in October with Juan Williams.

Yes, he said that the man who vehemently defended Clarence Thomas against accusations of sexual harassment while not revealing that he himself was accused of sexual harassment is a paragon of Journalist Strength and depth.

This is a guy who had an interview with George W. Bush, and said, on camera, that he prayed for him.

If this is what David Zurawik calls journalist strength and depth, I am Edward F%$#ing Murrow

Theatrical Run Review

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Well, it’s Christmas, and we are Jewish, so that means Chinese food and a movie.

We got the (Kosher) Chinese food yesterday, in addition to the stir fry that I made (with hearts of palm instead of bamboo shoots), and we went to see a movie in the theater.

We was the latest Jack Black vehicle, Gulliver’s Travels.

Jack Black … Lemuel Gulliver
Jason Segel … Horatio
Emily Blunt … Princess Mary
Amanda Peet … Darcy Silverman
Billy Connolly … King Theodore
Chris O’Dowd … General Edward
T.J. Miller … Dan
James Corden … Jinks
Catherine Tate … Queen Isabelle

It’s pretty much a piece of fluff, with Jack Black playing Jack Black, but Jack Black is amusing.

The plot bears a reasonable relationship first two parts of the book, though it lacks the social and political satire that John Swift put in, but considering that the original was written in 1726, this is unsurprising.

While a Jack Black vehicle, the best performance is actually by Chris O’Dowd, who is the heavy in the film.

Additionally, Amanda Peet gives a good performance, and is just plain hawt in this, though without showing any skin.

A special shout out to the send up of giant robots.

It’s interesting to see the effect of CGI here, because one of the old school, and rather convincing, techniques used in such films, forced perspective, would have helped to make it more realistic.

It was a fun movie, but I would have preferred to see it on pay per view for about ⅕ the price.

Click on the pictures for full size.

What a Whiny Bitch!!

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Blah, blah, blah!

Barack Obama once again, railing against the Democratic Party, and throwing in a couple of Republican memes in the process.

He slams FDR once again, and lies about he gets the facts wrong about the origins of Social Security and Medicare.

Seriously, he sounds like a Republican, and given his penchant of consistently attempting to find the most retrograde policies consistent with being a Democrat, I’ve come to conclusion, that he’s as much of a member of the Democratic Party as Vladimir Putin.

About Damn Time

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The FBI has raided at least 3 hedge funds on suspicion of insider trading:

The FBI has begun what is expected to be a far-reaching probe into insider trading with raids on hedge funds linked to some of Wall Street’s most high-profile and wealthiest players.

The sweep – which began with armed agents raiding the Connecticut offices of Level Global Investors and Diamondback Capital Management, both multibillion dollar hedge funds set up by former managers at Steve Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors – is already affecting stocks: a collective $15bn was wiped off the valuations of Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase.

According to reports published in the Wall Street Journal, investigators from several law enforcement and regulatory agencies are looking into multiple insider-trading rings that reaped millions in illegal profits. An FBI spokesman confirmed last night that the agency was executing “court-ordered search warrants”, but declined to elaborate.

One focus is whether proprietary information is being passed from companies to hedge funds by network of independent analysts and consultants.

Well, this is refreshing: It appears that someone is beginning to look at “business as usual” on Wall Street, and they have noticed that it’s corrupt.

I also have to note that the coverage on the Marketplace radio program was repulsive.

They had an apologist fow wall street on, and he wrung his hands about how fuzzy the lines were, and how no one was really hurt.

This is bovine scatology. Just because they are robbing millions of.investors a few bucks at a time does not diminish the crime.

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It’s the Fracking Juxtaposition of a Contrail and Forced Perspective

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Once Again, Jon Stewart Does News Better than the News Networks

You know, the earth is round, and if a jet is passing directly over you as it comes over the horizon, its contrail looks vertical.

Of course, we know what this was. It was a slow speed chase involving a white Ford Bronco.

As Jon Stewart notes, quoting the helicopter pilot who filmed it, this “rocket plume” continued for about 10 f%$#ing minutes, which would put the missile (assuming a 1 G acceleration) would put the missile about 1800 km (100 mi) down range.

<Facepalm>

Rotten to the Core

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Happy Veterans Day

Not only is the US military is pressuring our own soldiers to get them to sign documents admitting to a pre-existing “Personality Disorder” when they are injured in combat, so that they are not eligible for disability, now we have testimony that they tortured at least one soldier for the requisite signature.

This is a rather profoundly unsettling 9 minutes and 37 seconds.

What Bill Maher Said

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True Dat

there are way too many people who think that reasoned discourse is about equating the two sides.

It’s not. Reasoned discourse is about the truth, and as Bill Maher notes, “Keith Olbermann is right when he says he’s not the equivalent of Glenn Beck. One reports facts the other one is very close to playing with his poop.”

That is the problem with the Stewart/Colbert March for Sanity/Fear.

At the core of this discussion, there are people who are just lying or delusional, and they should not be considered equivalent to those who are merely partisan.

As the noted tippler Daniel Patrick Moynihan once noted, “People are entitled to their own opinions, not to their own facts.”

And Stewart and Colbert did not make that distinction at the rally, though, ironically enough, Stewart does so regularly on his show.

Olbermann Is Back on the Air Tomorrow

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And there was much rejoicing:

STATEMENT REGARDING KEITH OLBERMANN – SUNDAY, NOV. 7

From Phil Griffin, President of MSNBC:

After several days of deliberation and discussion, I have determined that suspending Keith through and including Monday night’s program is an appropriate punishment for his violation of our policy. We look forward to having him back on the air Tuesday night.

I imagine that Keith’s ratings will be through the roof for the next few days.

Well, This is Shaping Up to Be a Crappy Day

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First, I have to put my cat to sleep, and now Keith Olbermann has been suspended by MSNBC for making campaign contributions:

Keith Olbermann, the pre-eminent liberal voice on American television, was suspended Friday after his employer, MSNBC, discovered that he made campaign contributions to three Democrats last month.

The indefinite suspension was a stark display of the clash between objective journalism and opinion journalism on television.

Many prominent liberals and conservatives immediately called on MSNBC to reinstate Mr. Olbermann, who is usually outspoken but who had no comment on his suspension Friday.

The contributions came to light in an article by Politico Friday morning. Mr. Olbermann acknowledged in a statement that last month he donated $2,400 to the campaigns of Representatives Raul Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona and Attorney General Jack Conway of Kentucky, who lost his Senate race to Rand Paul.

I think that this is a stupid standard to hold straight journalists to, much less someone who is clearly an talking-head opinion type.

In the article, there is a suggestion that this is an attempt to make brand differentiation with Fox, where, for example, Hannity gave to Michelle “I used to be the nuttiest person in Congress, but the elections moved the bar” Bachmann, but I don’t live in media executives heads, nor would I ever want to.

It does appear that Keith will be back at some point in the not to distant future, though.

H/t DC at the by invitation only Stellar Parthenon BBS.