High Stakes

So we have another military crisis, or so it seems. Our illegitimate president has ordered the assassination of a foreign military leader. In Iraq, the country we have invaded twice, both times illegitimately. It goes on and on.

Our news media are clamoring about this, jibber-jabbering about every possible nuance and angle, climbing over each other like mad children in Lord of the Flies. The same goes for politicians, depending on their partisan posturing. One “Democrat” called the assassination another example of all tactics and no strategy. Mmm. Damning criticism. “Republicans” are calling it a courageous act of protecting the American people.

This is what they all do, time and again, over and over. Something happens, and professional news performers person-splain for the unwashed masses, saying just about anything that comes to mind by way of explanation. The important thing is to have air time, getting on TV, or in the case of public radio, over the sound media. Even happenstance is an isolated incident, though with some loose connection to easy to ingest current factors.

The reason news events are treated as discrete, discontinuous phenomena is due to the fragmented Western, reductionist way of looking at life. Nothing has a context, that’s why it is “news.” Context doesn’t fit into sound bites.

I can give some context. Donald J. Trump is a deranged criminal sociopath, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 12 months of the year, every year. Every act he performs is the act of a criminal sociopath, and therefore with criminal intent. If he authorizes an assassination of a foreign leader, then it is the authorization of a deranged criminal sociopath. He is under indictment by the U.S. House of Representatives for felonious criminal conduct - extorting another foreign leader to undermine a potential adversary in this year’s presidential election. He also committed crimes of obstruction of justice and, effectively, treason. He has personally profited from his presidency. He is a total crook. He should never have been president. The proper place for him is prison, for the rest of his misspent life.

You won’t hear this from our mainstream news media. They all know that Trump is a deranged criminal sociopath, but can’t and won’t say it on the air. It doesn’t fit with their broadcast parameters, and it doesn’t fit into their career constraints. Trump is a danger to the country, but the country is afflicted with narcissism, so too bad America.

Watch any news show. Listen to NPR. You can see and hear the narcissism. If it isn’t plainly obvious, wait for the interludes, when the shows, the networks, and the individuals engage in shameless self-promotion and self-congratulations. Watch and listen to how they interact with each other – chummy, mutually reinforcing, insider clubby. Listen closely. They don’t know anything. Anything. It’s all posturing.

Here’s a good way of testing out this know-nothingness. Watch your local TV news, and see if you get the sense that the reporters and anchors don’t know anything about anything. I call it airhead news. The giveaway is that somewhere in each story they reveal that they are just ignoramuses, mouthing words. Then, transpose this experience to national news figures. Ask yourself if they are any different. Do these national news figures know anything? They might be better performers, but they just parrot conventional wisdom, or just parrot platitudinous nothingness to get through the segment at hand.

Another perfect example is how the news media are reporting the wildfires in Australia. It’s “news.” Something to hype. The worst wildfires in 20 years. Pardon me, but I don’t remember Australia having wildfires 20 years ago, and especially wildfires remotely close to what is happening now.

Not to worry. It’s the news. We have to report it excitedly, rapidly and with some kind of superlative. It couldn’t be the worst wildfires in 10 years, because it would be too obvious they are just making it up for reasons of hype.

So on and on it goes. The news about Trump’s impeachment is reduced to the “Republicans” versus the “Democrats.” No mention that the “Republican” party is a criminal organization, and that the “Democrats” are limited by their own corrupt foundation. Because of the money influence in politics, corruption is intrinsic. It is largely a charade, no matter the critical needs of people and the planet. Careers are at stake. Stock portfolios are at stake. Profits are at stake. Privileges are at stake. Believers are at stake. Chumps are at stake. Without chumps the system fails.
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Curiously, one news outlet, NBC's Meet the Press, did some real journalism last Sunday. They explored lies and the assault on truth by politicians and their media helpers. It was pretty good for the most part, until they reverted to their panel of pundits. It was likely pretty embarrassing, after such a quality analysis of the problem of deception in high places. It is worth watching, just to see the posturing and ineptitude.
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Here's a song. Here's another. Jefferson Airplane. The Rolling Stones. Jimi Hendrix. Talking Heads.

Here's a perfect example of media nothingness. See for yourself if you learn anything meaningful.

Bandy Lee, professor of psychiatry at Yale, is urging House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to put Trump on a 72 hour mental health hold. Good luck with that. He should be on a permanent hold, either in a mental health facility or a Federal prison. Guantanamo would be fitting.

Could it be that Trump is mentally ill, and the nation doesn't care? Maybe.

For more on Trump's illegitimacy, click here.

UN official Agnès Callamard, says the killing of Qasem Soleimani is most likely an unlawful violation of international human rights law. Of course, when a nation's president is above the law, that includes international law. As far as Trump is concerned, he is the law, and he doesn't need any stinking badges.

For more on the haplessness of our news media, read this.

Update, January 24: Trump's fitness to stand trial questioned.