What happens when journalists from the left decide they can criticize the left?

It really seems to hurt the feelings of mainstream journalists when people they thought they knew stop following the herd

Are they just jealous? Or is there more?

April Harding:

Matt Taibbi was asked "why doesn't he pay much attention to the sins (or threats) from "the right"?"

He gave a great answer:

Why I don't spend a lot of time on the Republicans:

1) There is a enormous army of MSM reporters already going after them from every angle, with most major news organizations little more than proxies for the DNC, to the point where stations hire Biden spokespeople as anchors;

Humorous timing for this observation, don't you think?

2) The Republicans have very little institutional power nationally. It's not their point of view prevailing in schools, on campuses, in newsrooms (where over 90% of working reporters vote blue), and especially in the intelligence and military apparatus, which has openly aligned itself with Democrats. Even if Donald Trump were a "threat to Democracy" he lacks the institutional pull to do much damage, which can't be said of Democrats;

Clarity.

3) The Democrats' ambitions are significantly more dangerous than those of the Republicans. From digital surveillance to censorship to making Intel and enforcement agencies central players in domestic governance -- all plans being executed globally as well as in our one country -- they are thinking on a much bigger and more dangerous scale than Republicans. I lived in third world countries and the endless criminal indictments of people like Trump and ongoing lawfare efforts to prevent even third party challenges are classic authoritarian symptoms. The Republicans aren't near this kind of capability;

He covers a lot of issues here. How is it that so many people do not seem to see problems with any of them, given that army of reporters out there?

4) Last and most important, the Democrats are being organized around a more potent but also much dumber, more cultlike ideology. People like Yuval Harari and his Transhumanist "divinity" concept scare me a lot more than the Rs, and I was once undercover in an apocalyptic church in Texas. Ask your average Russian or Cuban what overempowered pseudo-intellectuals are capable of.

I have a pretty good record of picking dangerous phenomena ahead of time. I feel confident on this one, and that's before we get to the demographic/class shifts in the parties.

I can't find anything in the text above that seems mushy-headed.

Thoughts? There are some interesting comments in the thread at the link above.

Contrast: A Blast from the Past

Here's where I find mushy-headed thinking:

This person works for the planet's 2nd-richest man and went to Swiss boarding school, yet constantly talks as if she's a low-paid hourly worker just getting by as a cook for a homeless shelter. She also has more corrections appended to her articles than most people have socks. pic.twitter.com/8p3lTl8YvP

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) December 14, 2022

Heh.

More on Taylor Lorenz:

This is a perfect reading of her nonsense.

Something happened to Bill Maher, too

Taibbi and Weiss aren't the only ones:

Bill Maher Drops Stunning Monologue on the COVID “Experts” Who Got It Wrong

“A lot of the dissenting opinions that were suppressed and ridiculed at the time have proven to be CORRECT.”

This includes, but is not limited to:

• COVID came from a lab
• Ivermectin worked
• Masks… pic.twitter.com/4w1oxeHQCO

— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) March 30, 2024

Can you think of other people in media who have started criticizing the left unexpectedly?

He's not in media, but here, the President of Guyana pushes back against the media narrative:

I’m gonna watch this 436,000 times https://t.co/2AVOTRrlZS

— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) March 30, 2024

Easter Weekend

Quotes

Respect was invented to cover the empty place where love should be.

Leo Tolstoy

Music

Hallelujah Chorus in case you need a little wake-up tomorrow.

Here's the entire Handel's Messiah with lyrics (Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra) in case you want to sing along at home.

The Story Behind Handel's Messiah:

Handel deliberately kept the dramatic content of his Messiah understated - it was in church after all. He created a piece based on three concepts: the story of the nativity and its prophecy; that of the crucifixion and redemption of mankind; and a commentary on the Christian soul and its victory over death. In each of these three parts, the chorus is absolutely at the heart of the work, complemented by four vocal soloists and an orchestra.

Those forces deliver some of Handel's most heart-stopping music - gobsmackingly dramatic and effective, profoundly touching and spiritual. He used all his old tricks and learned some new (pretty good) ones too.

Handel composed Messiah in just 24 days without getting much sleep and or eating much food. While writing the 'Hallelujah' chorus Handel's servant discovered him with tears in his eyes, and he exclaimed, "I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the great God Himself seated on His throne, with His company of Angels."

Russian Easter Festival Overture

Hope you have something nice planned for this weekend.

This is the Thread before the Gardening Thread.

Last week's thread, March 23, So you thought you understood Ireland?

Comments are closed so you won't ban yourself by trying to comment on a week-old thread. But don't try it anyway.

posted by K.T. at 11:11 AM

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