Friends, you may not have noticed it, but today might have been the day when the right -- and Trump -- won the culture wars. I say that because today Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, directed the Washington Post, which he owns, to prioritize the defense of individual liberty and capitalism on its editorial page. The opinion editor at the WaPo promptly resigned in protest, and you can bet that plenty of other lefty "journalists" will be following in his footsteps. The reorientation of the Post and its newfound love for traditional American values and beliefs is a stunning turnaround for a paper that has been at the forefront of the legacy media's warm embrace of Trump Derangement Syndrome. More broadly, the commitment of Amazon's vast resources, including its increasingly influential streaming services, to the cause of liberty is simply monumental in importance. Bezos has flirted with Trumpery before, but I would say that now he is very close to burning his bridges with the Left, and that's exactly what we want to see. Just like Elon, he may become a pillar of the new right-wing "establishment" (dare we dream so big?), and that is an exciting prospect.
Relatedly, Rachel Maddow had an on-air meltdown the other day and essentially accused her own (left-wing) network of racism. Of course, as the New York Post points out, she'll continue cashing those big checks from MSNBC, but the fact that the Left is increasingly turning on itself is a delight to behold! Make no mistake: the legacy media is in full-on crisis mode!
Finally, Trump and Zelensky will soon sign a deal that will guarantee the United States a share of the profits from the exploitation of Ukraine's mineral wealth. Of course, there won't be any wealth to share unless and until we can get this crazy war wrapped up. Apparently, old Vlad is piping up and offering us a share of his country's "treasures" as well. How thoughtful! Frankly, the sooner this irrational conflict ends, and the sooner we all get back to being friends and making money, the better.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: Were Bezos to have directed so the Opinion Editor of a scrupulously fair minded objective (eg. Marxism proven very, very bad in power)paper he could have been challenged on traditional journalistic standards . But in directing a pro America stance he has simply balanced out the long standing viciously antiamerican bias of WaPo. Good for him and good riddance to those who cannot abide opposition to their incipient totalitarian devotions and their cuckooing of American institutions to their detestable purposes.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: Looks like our "art of the deal" expert President has worked another good one. Not only will we get some return on our heretofore wasted remittances to Ukraine ( in an always hopeless cause - RussiaWILL NOT TOLERATE Ukraine in Nato)but we may have established thus a beginning of a credible non Nato security plan for beleagured Ukraine. Why maybe even the Rus want in on it! Who cares as long as it brings peace? That's realpolitik and this hard world yet requires mastery of it. Our great President appears to have it!
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: I'd love to confront Maddow on her presumptuously reflexive accusation of "racism". I doubt she could creditably define the term. But let's say she said "its the idea that an entire race is to be dismissed on any objective standard". Uhh, gee, two individuals discredited is an adequate objective sample supporting such an always perceived pejorative accusation? Yeah right!
ReplyDeleteThe spectacularly climactic scene in Cecil B. DeMIlle's early 1950s biblical epic film Samson and Delilah shows Samson displacing the pillars of the Philistine temple and its crushing consequent collapse. It s a good metaphor for what DJT is doing now and as unlikely as Samson's feat might have seemed prior to its execution, so also has this all unexpected very possible demolition of the pillars of the antiamerican far left by Maga and DJT. Its an astonishing and redeeming time in America!
Bezos is almost as transactional as Trump, so this move is is just sucking up to the new administration. He will pivot in 2028 when the Dems are back in power. Unfortunately, the Post will be down more readers by then -- if Bezos doesn't sell the paper by then. Even worse, the Post will have lost whatever reputation they have left as a paper of record.
ReplyDeleteBTW, Rachel Maddow did not have a "meltdown," which implies she lost it on air. She criticized the decision to let Joy Reid go -- and did so calmly and factually. I disagree with Maddow. Reid's ratings had been on a long decline, and some of her comments were over the top as they applied to race -- making her toxic to advertisers. But, she didn't have a "meltdown."
Rod
Right! I thought Bezos' homage to America was quite brave, under the circumstances. Basically, he's saying "love it or leave it" to his own employees. I hope they take Option B.
ReplyDeleteJack, I would love to hear Maddow's definition of "racism" too! It's leftist dogma, after all, that only white people can be racists in the first place, which is, last time I checked, rather a racist thing to suggest. Long story short: to a leftist, it's racist not to be racist. To be racist, on the other hand, may absolve you of any charge of racism. Duh!
Rod, thank you for the correction re: Maddow. If she was in complete control of her emotions during her, uhh, monologue, then what, pray tell, do you think she intended to accomplish by accusing her employers of racism? Do you think she believes that nonsense, or is she just wielding the cudgel of "Racism!" because it tends to achieve the desired result?
Bezos may be going with the flow, to some extent, yes, but that would suggest that Amazon's past performative wokeness was also a feint. The difference, I would suggest to you, is that, once a public figure cuts ties with the Left, or even offends the Left, there simply is no going back. The Left will henceforth abuse Bezos so severely that he won't even think of changing his spots again and returning to the leftist fold. Just like you've driven Trump, and Musk, and RFK, and Gabbard, PERMANENTLY into the MAGA-verse, I suspect you'll never get Zuckerberg or Bezos back on side either.
Nick, you seemed to have missed the part where I wrote that I did not agree with Maddow. Reid was let go because her ratings were going down and her controversial statements were not playing well with advertisers. Maddow's criticism appeared designed to communicate supporting a friend (Maddow and Reid are close) and having the backs of the production staff about to lose their jobs. It may have also been a shot across the bow of Rebecca Kutler, the president of MSNBC, not to touch Maddow's program.
DeleteRod
Dr. Waddy from Jack: Your comments on Bezos: well taken, well reasoned. Along with yet again confirming what vicious bigots they are, far leftist SHUNNING (in its comprehensive sense) as practiced upon anyone even hinting at apostasy ( I suggest Joe Manchin on the list too) let alone actually deviating , is neoSoviet baloney and like that anathema, is self defeating (ask Solzhenitsyn about that; he chronicled the hundreds of thousands of Russians and Ukrainians who desperately sided with the Germans because of Soviet inhumanity to its citizens). They have alienated some really good people and may have filled them with a firm resolve to actively oppose the incipient totalitarianism of their erstwhile "democrat" compatriots. Now Maga benefits from their thus motivated skills. Chief among them, as you note, is their Presidential bete noire himself and has he ever done a number on them! Lets hope the antiamericans continue to be this foolish!
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: I commend to you an article in Feb. 23 RealClearPolitics: "Trump's AntiDEI Executive Orders".
ReplyDeleteIn it he says that DEI and Affirmative Action, both proscribed by DJT now, were a "misinterpretation" (my quotes) of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to attribute to it the purpose of equality of outcome rather than that of opportunity, the latter of which was rightly assumed to be productive of eventual equality of results among peoples truly held equal in capability. In doing so they ignored the clause in that act which specifically ruled out discrimination based on race in those settings encompassed then by the bill.
Continued expansive interpretation manifested laws in which deference to certain protected classes was mandated.
He maintains that the antidote to this injustice, which may just be possible in this brave new era since Jan. 20, must encompass reform in law public policy AND education.
Education may be an area not yet especially and directly addressed by Pres. Trump(?) I would like to see an all out assault, with cutoff of Federal funding the direct result of continued far left degradation of education at all levels . The first campaign should be directed at any "university" or college receiving any Federal aid. It must require that all present a comprehensive plan to purge their campuses of any manifestation of far left prejudice ( but not of far left participation in truly democratic, principled, intellectually sound dialogue) And it must promise immediate cutoff for those schools which seek to delay compliance. ENOUGH IS TOO MUCH! Campus far leftists have had an almost incalculably malign effect on our civilization (as was yet again confirmed by the inhuman antisemitic intentions and convictions forcefully advanced by far left punks at "elite" universities while Biden stood wistfully by. . . )
"Universities" which shrink from controlling obnoxiously presumptuous "student" totalitarians should have denied Federal funding staring them in the face! Since when was it right that taxpayers should succor them?!
Dr. Waddy from Jack: More grotesque National Endowment for the Arts humbug at hand:
ReplyDeleteA throng of incensed "artistes" are as motivated as to beseech the administration for relief from the oppression of being enjoined to comply with the administration's anti DEI and gender extremity orders should they seek the support of Federal tax payers in their vital tasks. "Oh the humanity. . . .!" Or the lack thereof! Perhaps if they truly seek to incorporate these doctrines into their "art" they may consider relieving taxpayers , some of whom are as hopelessly uncultured as to disagree with their heartfelt views , of the burden of paying for it, yes?
But then , the NEA has itself set the tone and disingenuously so: being a Federal agency they have nominally acquiesed to the President's orders in the following revision of their organization: applicants should not "operate any programs promoting 'diversity, equity and inclusion' that (note) violate any applicable Federal discrimination laws ".
A nice segue, that ,on the part of an NEA administration no doubt loath to comply but understandably fearful for its sinecures. "After all, this guy really means what he says", they no doubt lament. In effect, NEA bids the passionate protestors, who cannot stand the thought of gaining support by merit or suffering emotionally unenduring rejection by demerit, to go to LAW about it! ". . . violate any applicable Federal antidiscrimination law " why this is a handy little qualifier; "go for it, find any pretense you can to stop this insolent incursion on our privilege. " But gee, there is no reference to it I can find in the President's EO. I guess he insolently presumed that his EO was sufficient until such time as codification is worked. But then, that is much beyond the ken of reflexive totalitarians.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: A plague on the term "racist". Though in any conceivable application the term is still a pejorative, it has, through presumptuous leftist overuse and misuse become bereft of the creditable definition which must inform a term the accusation of which can be both discouraging and personally damaging. What does it mean:one who excoriates an entire race; one who displays racial animosity in any criticism leveled at a minority member; one who though manifesting obvious good will, nonetheless displays patronizing "microaggressions" against a minority or a minority member; one who simply angers a member of a minority or a patronizing soul purporting to stand for a minority from without OR, is it a term which conveniently condemns upon accusation and is therefore useful in ending challenging dialogue ? And all that is only a sample of the incidentally motivated misuse to which the term racist has been subjected.
ReplyDeleteMy view: its best not to use the term at all except in discussions of the perceived objectivity or lack thereof, of the worn out term itself. And as an accusation, the unqualified use of the term is irresponsible. I think.
Rod, any way you slice it, tensions are high at MSNBC, and I approve!
ReplyDeleteJack, as you know, the Left has a long history of alienating its own supporters (think of the neocons!)...and wishing them good riddance, despite the fact that it's awfully hard to steer any ship without a crew. Now, to our credit, we disparage the Mitches and Mitts of our party/movement, but we don't actually expel them or dare them to join the opposition. Okay, Liz Cheney may be an exception, but there we lost nothing of value (like a vote in the Senate). God willing, we will never become as blinkered, arrogant, and intolerant as the lefties.
Jack, I am not against defunding leftist higher ed (maybe the "leftist" part is redundant?), but we must think out carefully how it would work. Federal money flows to universities via research grants -- which we probably wouldn't want to dispense with -- as well as student loans -- which again the public is very fond of, so it would be hard to obliterate. Which funding did you have in mind?
Jack, the truth, with respect to "racism", is that the term has been so abused and overutilized that it no longer stings, or not much, except perhaps among the leftists themselves, who regularly use it on one another, and sometimes with devastating if poorly calibrated results. On the right and in the center, my sense is that accusations of racism are mostly met with eye rolling these days, and understandably so.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: The neocons: in the original definition of that term: liberals who were driven to conservative activism by extreme leftist overreach - I was one of them in the '80s. You are so very right; when we realized how totalitarian they were, we bailed out. David Horowitz , the so unheralded, pioneer: his many many books are essential to the traditional neocon cause.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack.: You made so many good points above:Yes, let the Administration Federally defund some traditionally exalted but now far leftist captured "university". It will be redeeming to watch it crawl back, mewing for vital financial nutrition. That should have a salubrious effect on others who have spinelessly surrendered to totalitarian control, thinking that the far left is the assured victor in this culture civil war. Poor dears !
ReplyDeleteAnd on "racism" you are right on point.