Archive for the Radio Category

[Don’t] Support Public Media? (June 10, 2019)

Posted in Boycott Series, Journalism, NPR, Press/Media, Radio on June 10, 2019 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “Not really a boycott, rather a commitment to make a more specific allocation of resources.”

J          “No one cares.”

K          “I could not agree more.”

. . .

K          “Remember our conversation a year ago when I raised the question.  Now I have my answer.  I am supporting programs not stations.  I only contribute to stations in America that broadcast enlightened programs but am not contributing to my local station.  And then I listen to podcasts rather than the local station on my own time.  I will send money to ‘Alternative Radio’ and ‘Counterspin’ and ‘Democracy Now’ and ‘51 percent’.  That is the benchmark of commitment.”

J          “And the one you canonized as Saint Terry Gross.”

. . .

J          “No one cares.”

K          “I could not agree more.”

. . .

[The Raytheon Company and United Technologies Corporation are merging to create United Ray Guns Corporation.]

[See the e-commentary at “National People’s Radio?; National Public Radio?; National Petroleum Radio?; National Propaganda Radio? (June 11, 2018)”.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

No one cares.  I could not agree more.

Attempting to Care . . . Loading Please Wait

National People’s Radio?; National Public Radio?; National Petroleum Radio?; National Propaganda Radio? (June 11, 2018)

Posted in Boycott Series, Journalism, Neoconservatives, Newspapers, NPR, Press/Media, Radio, Technology, Television on June 11, 2018 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “As long as they broadcast Saint Terry Gross, I will support them.”

J          “Too often they are really just a house organ for the neo-liberals in domestic policy and the neo-conservatives in foreign policy.  National Propaganda Radio, I once broadcast.”

K          “Their message is fundamentally ‘analog journalism’ rather than ‘digital journalism’ even if the transmissions are in a digital format.”  

. . .

K          “They are caught in a sticky dilemma.  They cannot get too far ahead of the listeners or they could lose listeners.  But if they get too far behind the listeners, who will lead the listeners.”

J          “I asked an NPR fund raiser in a red state if they change their advertising strategy after they receive a donation from one listener in an effort to attract the other two listeners in the state.  Tough sell.”  

. . .

J          “Do they broadcast ‘Alternative Radio’ or ‘Counterspin’ or ‘Democracy Now’ or ‘51 percent’ on the play list?  That is the benchmark of commitment.”

K          “One option is to support programs not stations.  Contribute to stations in America that broadcast enlightened programs not necessarily to one’s local station.  And then listen to podcasts rather than the local station on your own time.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at “The Medium Mandates The Message.  Analog v. Digital: Monopolization & Monetization. Oh, And Happy World Press Freedom Day! (May 7, 2018)”.)

Bumper stickers of the week:

The ‘narrative’ is the story

The medium mandates the message

Are “Prices” A Language? Are Antitrust Laws Grounded In The First Amendment? How Do We Forestall The “Frightful Five” And Other Monopolies? Oh, And Happy Halloween! (October 30, 2017)

Posted in Amazon, Apple, Constitution, Economics, Facebook, First Amendment, Google, Internet, Language, Microsoft, Monopoly, Price, Radio, Technology on October 30, 2017 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “Prices for goods and services are a language spoken with numbers (7) not letters (L).”

J          “I love language.  French is the language of love and the language of diplomacy.  Accounting is the language of business.  So Prices are the language of a free market economy?”

K          “Yes.  Russian is one of the languages of literature.”

J          “So is French.”

K          “And English.”

. . .

K          “Monopolies distort Prices which distorts speech.  By distorting Prices, the public is making inaccurate and incomplete decisions and paying more for goods and services while the corporations are not internalizing externalities.”

J          “Price may just be the real Esperanto.”

. . .   

J          “The current monopolies are in part the consequence of acts of commission and even more often acts of omission by the government.”

K          “The problem with my analysis is that the First Amendment is a restriction on government activity not a requirement for government action.”

J          “So the Constitution is unavailing.  We are stuck with Congress, the executive agencies and the courts to protect us.”

K          “They do not speak our language.”

. . .

[See the interview by Terry Gross with the tech columnist Farhad Manjoo with “The New York Times” who cautions that the “Frightful Five” (Amazon, Google/Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft and Facebook) are more powerful than the governments on the “Fresh Air” radio program titled “How 5 Tech Giants Have Become More Like Governments Than Companies” on October 26, 2017.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Spanish is the language a man uses to talk to his God;

French is the language a man uses to talk to his wife;

Italian is the language a man uses to talk to his mistress;

German is the language a man uses to talk to his mule.

And English is the language a man uses to fly a plane or to surf the web or to engage in international discourse.  You create it, you talk it.

And Price is the language a man and a woman use to value and exchange resources.

The E-pocalypse:  My Fellow Americans, Our Long National Nightmare Is Beginning (November 14, 2016)

Posted in Blue States / Red States, Clinton, Democrats, FBI, Journalism, Newspapers, Pogo Plight, Presidency, Press/Media, Radio, Republicans, Trumpi, Voting, War and Wall Street Party on November 14, 2016 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “The national political stage is now showcasing a burlesque reality show with America’s Silvio Berlusconi at center stage.  Donaldo Trumpi.”

J          “If you want to be the laughingstock of the world, you need a fool to make ‘em laugh.”

K          “And to fool them.  Washington has devolved into Rome, so the populace might as well coronate Nero to oversee the cesspool.”         

J          “Circuses and bread . . . and Trump.  P.T. Barnum would be amused.  He only took the peoples’ money and yet gave them a spectacle in return.  The people soon will see that Trump will take their dreams and give them nothing.”

. . .

K          “Post Trumpatic Stress Disorder (PTpSD) is haunting three cohorts this week.  The reflective Bernie supporters who voted for Trump or others in protest are stupefied.  The disconnected voters who did not want Trump in the White House but could not vote for Clinton and were confident she would win are horrified.  And those who simply cannot accept Trump in the White House are terrified.”

J          “We need to adopt a provision from consumer protection statutes to allow voters to reconsider their decisions within seventy-two hours.” 

. . .

K          “I thought the ‘e-pocalypse’ would be an economic apocalypse not an election apocalypse.”

J          “Don’t panic.  That is coming.”

. . .

K          “Trump is the only candidate who Clinton could beat.  Clinton is the only candidate who Trump could beat.  The rules were written so that the voters could not vote for both of them to lose at the same time.  Someone was forced to win.”

J          “In a nation with millions and millions and millions of potential candidates, the number ‘n’ candidate and the number ‘n – 1’ candidate were engaged.  Long before the election, however, the Democrats elected to lose with Clinton rather than to win with Sanders.”

. . .

K          “For the last few months, I could see something bubbling in the background and hovering on the horizon.  The media were trapped in a bubble.  The Clinton campaign was trapped in a bubble.  Neither had an air vent to the real world.  The double bubble was leading to trouble for Clinton.”

J          “An old boy once told me that you should never breathe your own fumes.”

. . .

J          “The decision by the FBI director James Comey to revive the inquiry into Clinton’s use of a private e-mail server was a factor that caused her to lose.  He should be indicted.”

K          “The system is so corrupt that the FBI director can do anything and is above the law.  Only the poor and downtrodden get indicted in America.”

J          “The successful efforts by Republicans in some of the battleground states to purge their voting roles had an impact that needs to be analyzed with care.”

. . .

K          “Madeline Albright’s threat that women who do not vote for Clinton will find a place in Hell did not play well.  Too many citizens are already living a hellish existence.  Telling someone that you have no choice except to capitulate to a candidate rubbed many the wrong way.  Voting the opposite way is the only way to proclaim one’s freedom and independence.”

J          “And worth.  The simple truth is that many uneducated white males were threatened by and unwilling to vote for an educated white female.  I told others to disregard her smug, privileged, arrogant and sanctimonious attitude and vote for someone who is at least somewhat stable.”

K          “Romney’s disdain and dismissal of the ‘47 percent’ in 2012 before a private gathering of old White boys played a decisive role in his defeat.  Why Clinton decided gratuitously to take a page from his play book, disparage the ‘deplorables’ in public and leave voters wondering whether they were worthy of voting for her is stupefying.”

J          “And stupid.  There is no other word for it.  She spent time in Arizona and Georgia seeking to win by a landslide but was unaware of how the tectonic plates had shifted under her.  She never even went to Wisconsin to touch base with the folks.  All she had to do was listen to one legitimate grievance and show some empathy.  Every newspaper in the Badger State would have covered the trip.  Some attention to Michigan and Pennsylvania and perhaps Ohio suggesting a positive message rather than carping about Trump would have served her well.”

K          “If she had truly labored on a salmon slime line in Alaska and learned some life lessons rather than just logging a novel resume entry, she would be POTUS-elect.” 

. . .

J          “Some projected that if Clinton were elected, Whites would flock to and flood gun stores.  With Trump’s election, the flood gates are now open to inflict violence on Blacks and Browns who now need to flock to gun stores.  The threat to them is much more real today.”

K          “The National Rifle Association did more than any other institution to put Trump in the House for Whites.”

J          “And the grand irony in this year of absurd consequences is that the NRA followed the practice of so many voters by voting against its interest.  If Clinton had been elected, gun sales would have exploded.  Gun sales and gun stocks now may go down.”

. . .

J          “His antics earned him a billion dollars’ worth of free media coverage particularly when he was outrageous and offensive and himself.  There is a take home message there for future candidates.”

K          “The candidate who spent more money has won every modern Presidential election.  Except this election.  That fluke likely will never happen again.” 

J          “The new ‘antisocial media’ allowed streams of vile and unfounded invective to pass for political insight and surpassed the effectiveness of Anger Mongering (AM) radio.  Elections may soon be fact-free and issue-barren.”

. . .

J          “Compare the list of endorsements for President published by the top hundred newspapers since the 2000 Presidential election.  They were divided about equally between the two candidates.  Never has a major party Presidential candidate received one and only one endorsement and that from a regional paper.”

K          “The media bubble again.  He also received the nod from the Klan rag.  Not receiving one endorsement from a major newspaper was the most compelling and convincing endorsement for many.”

J          “The hate and fear newspapers present a daily gauntlet of hate and fear to everyone going through the checkout lines at grocery stores.  Repetitive subconscious subliminal messages conveyed on the small bill boards that box in the consumer, even if the rag is not read or even picked up, increased the population’s susceptibility to the messages of hate and fear.  Toss in the trip hammer of hate and fear spewing from the Faux Network at home.  Trump only had to whistle.”

. . .

K          “Trump should read the discussion in “‘Mericanize:  Monetize, Mechanize And Militarize (December 30, 2013)” over at e-commentary.org.  The landscape has not changed since then.  Factories are all automated.  Factories, wherever located, do not employ and will never employ many workers.”

J          “He does not care about ideas.”

. . .

K          “By November 5, the Republican Party was pronounced dead on a few websites and then resurrected three days later.  During the early morning hours of November 9, the Democratic Party was put on life support and left in a coma.”

. . .

K          “The undigested anger is still festering.  None of the underlying problems will be addressed.  The anger will find another outlet.”

. . .

J          “Now what?”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at “Boycott Red America (January 3, 2005)” and “‘Mericanize:  Monetize, Mechanize And Militarize (December 30, 2013)”.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

The election apocalypse (hereinafter “E-pocalypse”):  Coming to a Republic near you

Did America just repudiate its sanity, decency, humanity and integrity?

Fake quotes will still ruin the Internet.  Benjamin Franklin

The future is certain and the end is already here.

You can’t always get what you want, but if you try, sometimes, you get what you do not need.

Marital Musings (December 22, 2014)

Posted in Civil Rights/Civil Liberties, Constitution, Courts, Economics, Gold Standard, Kleptocracy, Movie Reference, Radio, Russia, Silver Standard, Society, Sports, Supreme Court on December 28, 2014 by e-commentary.org

. . .

H1        “So she said we had to set aside some time for a conversation.  I knew it would get bad.”

H2        “You don’t get to say anything.”

H1        “Except when spoken to.  So she said she had to confess that she was thinking about someone else while we were in medias res.  And she said that she was now happy to have gotten if off her chest.  I said that was fine.  She could be thinking about Mr. Magoo if it will get us through the night.  From my perspective, if I can handle the kitchen remodel, junior can get braces.  But it ended up not being fine.  I should have been upset.  She was upset that I was not upset.  I was beginning to get sort of upset that she was upset that I was not upset.”

H2        “Nothing about Gina Lollobrigida.”

H1        “She would have exercised the proviso ‘til death do us part’ and parted with me.”

. . .

H2        “She asked if I noticed that she had put on weight.  I had not noticed, so I told her that I had not noticed.  I am thinking that I get 100 points for candor and honesty and being a great guy and for being a little oblivious.  Maybe an MVP award and a hall pass.”

H1        “And she was upset that you were not upset.  And it was Katie bar the door with Katie showing you the door.”

H2        “I didn’t get a pass.  I told her that once she made the cut and was on the team, things like that did not really matter.”

H1        “And she parsed every phrase.”

H2        “‘Made the cut’ and ‘on the team’ are two separate concepts.  Saying that it is like two wrestlers who make weight and then each go off and have bacon cheeseburgers did not assuage her anxiety.”

. . .

H1        “We conversed with a counselor who opined about psychological affairs versus physical affairs and provided few insights to address our financial affairs.”

H2        “Do you think he was safe?”

H1        “She is sure that we only talk about sex.”

H2        “Safe by a mile.  Replay is clear.”

. . .

[See the latest sophistry from the Supreme Court that vitiates the Fourth Amendment.  http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/13-604_ec8f.pdf.  An illegal stop is an illegal stop and not a legal stop.]

[See the commentary at “Henrietta And Henry O, Two Young Lovers: The Contemporary Gift Of The Magi (December 27, 2010).”]

Bumper stickers of the week:

“Honey, would you rather I were making love to him using your name, or making love to you using his name?”  Annie Savoy, Bull Durham (1988)

Russian Exceptionalism > or = or < American Nationalism

The COMEX is instituting trading collars for the sale of gold and silver.  And the answer to Will Shortz’ “Sunday Puzzle” seeking the correct anagram for “Comex” is . . . “Fraud.”