| Members of the press despaired Thursday at President Donald Trump's announcement that he would pull the United States out of the Paris Agreement, a major accord aimed at curbing climate change.
Politicos and media pundits wasted no time weighing in with over-the-top hyperbole worthy of a street corner end times preacher. "[T]his is the day that the United States resigned as the leader of the free world," said noted plagiarist and CNN host Fareed Zakaria. Serial fabricator and MSNBC host Brian Williams described the announcement as "dark," adding that the more you looked at the president's address, the more it was like "four or five dark speeches." The New York Times' Nicholas Kristof, who is currently headlining a private jet tour of the world, mourned, "If somebody drives drunk, we arrest him. If he drives national policy recklessly, threatening our planet, we just call him ‘Mr.President.'" "Paris is going to be America's Brexit," said Politico editor-in-chief Blake Hounshell. Never one to miss an opportunity to cheap shot Republicans, the New Yorker's Ryan Lizza lamented the fact that Ivanka Trump and U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry supported staying in the Paris accord. The obvious implication here is that the young Trump and former Texas governor are very stupid, and that it's sad that it has come to this:
More interesting than the commentary handwringing, however, is that several hard-news reporters weighed in Thursday with likeminded opinions, dropping all pretense of detachment and objectivity. "Pope Francis, Ivanka, Tillerson, U.S. CEOs, Merkel, Macron and science could not convince Trump to stay in Paris climate accord," the Washington Post's Philip Rucker opined in a ham-fisted note. Axios' energy reporter, Amy Harder, suggested ahead of the announcement that climate change was responsible for her iPhone overheating. "Flood the swamp flood the swamp flood the swamp flood the swamp flood the swamp flood the swamp flood the swamp flood the swamp flood the sw -- ," said the Post's Brian Fung. The Huffington Post's front page went with the none-too-subtle headline: "TRUMP TO PLANET: DROP DEAD." HuffPo congressional reporter Jennifer Bendery also quipped, "America First, Planet Second – Trump's message, in sum #ParisAgreement." Her colleague, Michael Calderone, quipped, "Trump could've issued a statement – or take over the airwaves with rambling justification of reckless decision to leave climate accord." Many in the press also latched onto the talking point that the U.S. would join smaller, less wealthy nations in not backing the accord:
There has been little daylight between the responses from reporters and commentators. The reactions have varied, of course, but they've mostly skewed towards being extremely unhappy about the president's announcement. It's okay for people in the press to have opinions. Everyone has opinions! In fact, it'd be better if journalists publicly aired their opinions more often. Let everyone know exactly where you stand! The annoying thing is when the same people who preen and puff themselves up about being supposedly detached fact-loving firefighters who rush into hell to report the news are also the same ones who devolve into snarling bags of commentary rage whenever something doesn't go their way. Just be upfront with your positions! Drop the pretense of objectivity and save everyone the time. It's all we're asking. |
Poster Comment:
#1: Tooconservative To: All (#0)
President Trump's Manfully Orange Face to Melt Snowflakes With the Power of a Carbon-Dioxide Powered Sun
—AceThe power of this announcement, Chris Knight told me, "is like lazing a stick of solid-state carbon dioxide."
Commander-in-Chief Trump, of steely thews and intoxicating musk, will announce the withdrawal of the US from Obama's Paris Accords. Meanwhile, "True Conservatives" who long opposed it are now backtracking and suggesting maybe we should stay in. Lesser men than Trump are essentially stupid herbivore herd animals, who fear being separated from the herd, and their weak nature and need of protection compels them to always huddle close to the #SafeSpace of approved progressive consensus opinion. Oh, they can occasionally baa and low soft voices of tentative dissent when it's a purely theoretical matter, but when it comes for the herd to actually move, they are compelled by instinct and low testosterone level to rejoin the warm nestle of the Group.
Below, Leader of the Free World and Skilled Lover Donald J. Trump's tweet with an embedded video. I think this will work for people.
As we wait, Sheppard Smith is, get this, fluttering about like a little girl who just found out she's not getting a pony. Ever.
➡️https://t.co/9VOb99W42r pic.twitter.com/sjb5VHLHYH— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 1, 2017
Tooconservative posted on 2017-06-01 20:44:15 Reply Private Reply
#2: GarySpFC To: Tooconservative (#1)
GarySpFC posted on 2017-06-01 22:55:54 Reply Private Reply
#3: Tooconservative To: GarySpFC (#2)
The science is meaningless to them.
What they want is international control of everything. In particular, they want to tie America down. And they hate any kind of nationalism unless it's China or Cuba or some Third World hellhole.
It's Gulliver's Travels all over again and we're Gulliver. And the EU are the Lilliputians.
This is why 0bama was so popular with the European elites. They crave being able to drag anyone (but especially Americans) before international tribunals or the International Criminal Court (that we refused to ratify) to force a strong America to obey its weakling EU allies. It makes the EU leaders feel important, like they matter. Which they don't. 0bama agreed with them and that is why they liked him so much.
Tooconservative posted on 2017-06-02 10:15:34 Reply Private Reply
#4: misterwhite To: Tooconservative (#0)
And we're pushing back. Check this out. Judy Woodruff gets her ass handed to her by Republican Senator Mike Lee starting at 4:00 minutes.
A little background. She had just finished interviewing Gov. Jerry Brown and asked him nothing but softball questions. Then she moved to Mike Lee:
misterwhite posted on 2017-06-02 10:29:28 Reply Private Reply
#5: Tooconservative To: misterwhite (#4)
Her entire tone is so condescending throughout.
Tooconservative posted on 2017-06-02 10:39:37 Reply Private Reply
#6: misterwhite To: Tooconservative (#5)
She was fawning over Jerry Brown. It made the transition over to Mike Lee even more pronounced.
Her defense was pathetic. He thwacked her a good one and she knew it.
misterwhite posted on 2017-06-02 10:43:56 Reply Private Reply
#7: River To: Tooconservative (#0)
River posted on 2017-06-07 16:19:03 Reply Private Reply
#8: Tooconservative To: River (#7)
Tooconservative posted on 2017-06-08 12:43:39 Reply Private Reply
#9: Anthem To: Tooconservative (#8)
No, they know. It's a matter of priorities for them. Their first is to get that evil aggressive weed -- human beings (other than themselves) -- under total control.
I'm in a conversation with an old liberal friend (his father was a scientist who pointed out that offshore oil platforms were good for fisheries) who gives barely a nod to plant growth and raves emotionally about ocean acidification and global warming all due to CO2. He points to a source, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (funded by government agencies and the Rockefeller Foundation) that is using the scare term "acidification" to describe their data collection showing a drop in ocean pH from 8.2 to 8.1.
I am still recovering from that facepalm moment.
Anthem posted on 2017-06-08 13:05:44 Reply Private Reply
#10: Tooconservative To: Anthem (#9)
Well, they are probably trying to draw on memories of the old acid rain scares (which did impact certain areas like Germany's Black Forest some years back).
As for the pH:
So without any more info, this sounds like ignorance of basic chemistry to me.
Tooconservative posted on 2017-06-08 13:13:28 Reply Private Reply
#11: Anthem To: Tooconservative (#10)
When I see "may" or "projected" in a purported science exposition my BS meter redlines.
Anthem posted on 2017-06-08 13:45:10 Reply Private Reply