Thursday, May 18, 2017

I think Dan Rather speaks for all of us. Update: Roger Ailes has died.

Courtesy of Rather's Facebook page:  

I end each of my days with a silent prayer for my country. It has been a ritual for some time, but as of late I feel an anxiety gripping my heart and a sadness permeating my soul that seems unlike anything I have felt before. 

I hope against hope as I slip off to sleep that our rapid descent into governmental chaos has hit a nadir - only to awaken to a new set of incoherent tweets or explosive headlines from top-notch reporters. And with that, we are falling once again. As I fall, we fall, even further, I pray again that our Constitutional government, the great gift of our Founding Fathers, will provide a safety net to catch us before everything we hold dear is no more. I believe that is the case, but the slowly rising level of uncertainty is not to be ignored. 

I see recklessness where we need leadership... and I am deeply saddened. 

I see politicians putting power and politics over principle... and I am incredulous. 

I see lies treated as truths... and I am disgusted. 

I see justice denied and likely obstructed.... and I am fearful. 

I see norms flaunted... and I am angry. 

I see global challenges going unaddressed... and I am worried. 

I see the press under attack... and I am furious. 

I see this, and more, so much more... and I am exhausted. 

I find myself returning in my mind to dark days from the past, trying to remember how we as a nation felt, when Pearl Harbor was attacked, when Kennedy was shot, when Watergate took down a President, when terrorists rained terror from the skies. We somehow overcame. And I do believe that we shall overcome, someday. Perhaps, hopefully, someday soon. 

But in the end, prayer will not be enough. Action, sustained action, will be required.

I could not have said it better. 

Update: Yes Roger Ailes, founder of Fox News, and the man who almost single- handedly destroyed journalism in this country has died. 

I find it somewhat ironic that he died on the same day that I scheduled this Dan Rather post to publish, since Ailes was instrumental in helping to destroy Rather's career.

I imagine it is somewhat satisfying for Rather to have lived long enough to see Bill O'Reilly fired, Roger Ailes pass from this earth, and the president that Fox News helped to elect facing possible impeachment.

22 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:26 AM

    Dan has been at it for years. He knew the election was rigged in florida years ago. But he was silenced by alt righties. Bush had to be president according to the military machine. So much money lost without independent contractors fleecing and frauding usa taxpayers (chaney blackwater etc) Good old Oil to drill, Mines to drill and pollute the water. Oh those so called patriots, the constitutional bullshitters and con artist.

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    1. Anonymous7:25 AM

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_(2015_film)

      " It depicts the events that led to Mapes and Rather uncovering that a sitting U.S. president may have been AWOL from the National Guard for more than a year during the Vietnam War."
      ""What many of us need is a spine transplant", Rather added. "Whether it's City Hall, the State House, or the White House, part of our job is to speak truth to power."

      http://kenburns.com/films/vietnam/

      tiny little dick FUCKing cheney> master WAR-lock.

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  2. Anonymous6:33 AM

    Fahrenheit 11/9 movie by Michael Moore will be GREAT. Once again the truth and facts will be documented, let us pay attention and act this time on it. IMPEACH THE ENTIRE TRUMP SCAM out of our history. We the people will never forget who caused it and are responsible for it.

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  3. Anonymous6:36 AM

    "My mother taught me to only speak nice of the dead. He's dead. How nice."
    > Bette Davis <

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    1. Anonymous7:01 AM

      Well that just cracked me up! I love laughter in the morning, or anytime.

      I always got a kick out of Bette Davis. Thank her for the excellent crack (she had many) and thank you for bringing it.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous7:43 AM

      That's the perfect obituary for Roger Ailes. And it would be for a few other right wingers I can think of and for a few leading GOP politicians. They've all abandoned what morals and scruples and ideals they may have had long ago in pursuit of power and money.
      Beaglemom

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    3. 6:36!
      Morning coffee hit screen thank you.

      "Let's hope he is not sent back to earth because the devil choked on his soul."
      -Unknown-

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  4. Good post Gryphen. I agree with you on the irony here. I've always respected and trusted Dan Rather. I grew up with his presence in the news media. Such a wise man. As far as Roger Ailes, he left this world worse off for being here. Sad to say about a man that just died but his manipulation and evil acts will take a long time to put behind us. I'm hoping with al my heart that recent events in Washington mark the beginning of the end to our nightmare in the WH. I pray Ryan, Pence, McConnell and a few other snakes are forced out without any pensions or compensation. Sick of the corruption and arrogance. McConnell has been the most destructive force in American democracy that I've ever seen.

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  5. Anonymous6:49 AM

    Seen on Twitter:

    "To whom it may concern:

    Please take Rupert Murdoch."

    I hope Roger Ailes is burning in hell as I type...

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    1. Amen to that.
      May that rotten POS flail in hell.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous7:25 AM

    Guess little donnie will have to cancel his state visits so he can attend the funeral of one of the people that helped get him elected with his lies and conspiracy theories.

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  7. Anonymous7:34 AM

    In all the darkness, there is light -- Ailes burning in hell.
    And Rather is still here.

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  8. I wonder how long it will take before I see "He was murdered by the Clintons", on by brothers FB posts.

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  9. Anonymous7:36 AM

    News says he had a fall at his Florida home. Hemophilia? Hmmm.

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    1. Anonymous9:14 AM

      @7:36“>Roger was standing on the top bunk. His father opened his arms wide and smiled. ‘Jump, Roger, jump,’. Roger leapt off the bed into the air toward his arms. But Robert took a step back. His son fell flat onto the floor. As he looked up, [Ailes Sr.] leaned down and picked him up. ‘Don’t ever trust anybody,’” This bizarre form of sadism was coupled with more traditional varieties --“If they ignored him, he pulled out his belt, whipping them not until they began to cry, although they did wail, but until they fell silent” —and a mother who was alternately controlling and cold. “Roger remembered her hugging him only ‘once in a while,’Now>
      " he would sometimes sit through meetings all the while his shoes were filling with blood because of a cut."“The difference between pros and amateurs is that amateurs play hurt,” ok.. WTF?

      http://heavy.com/news/2017/05/roger-ailes-health-issues-hemophilia-diagnosis-death/

      https://newrepublic.com/article/116190/roger-ailes-biography-gabe-sherman-overstates-his-power

      "genius.> his successful career as a Republican operative working for Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. "Ailes is a remarkably intuitive and innovative television executive who took an upstart conservative-in less than a decade—into an agenda-setting behemoth."
      " Ailes helped Nixon prepare for live questioning, and obsessed over things like camera placement."
      "another Nixon aide,“Price argued that Nixon could win if the campaign made the audience FEEL differently about their candidate.”
      "The Nixon television experiment convinced [Ailes] that you could get away with iT,”
      "a woman who applied for a job with Ailes claimed that he agreed to pay her more if she would sleep with him “whenever” he desired. a second woman who made a similar claim, a man with bottomless appetites (he once ordered three entire pages of a room service menu), a hair-trigger temper, and little self control. After Ailes’s client Al D’Amato criticized one of Ailes’s staffers, Ailes turned to the New York Senator and asked him if he could fly. When D’Amato wondered why he had asked that, Ailes responded, “Because we’re forty-two stories up, and you’re going to go out that window if you say one more word.” In a different person, this would have seemed like standing up for one’s employee. With Ailes, who never showed the smallest concern for his employees (unless they were making him money), it was about his EGO."
      "called in to run CNBC in the 1990s." his bosses overlook numerous examples of bad behavior—but his success led to Rupert Murdoch’s decision to hire him him to run Fox news."Fox News began as, essentially, the anti-Clinton network, and Sherman shows us in great detail how it was in response to the mainstream media’s coverage of the Clinton scandals that Fox was able to find a niche for itself. (Sherman does make clear that the mainstream media actually went after Clinton quite relentlessly.During a 2002 lunch with Bill Clinton and others, Ailes started discussing 9/11. As one participant recalled, “[Ailes] was talking about rebuilding the towers and he said, ‘We should fill the last ten floors with Muslims so they never do it again.’” (Sherman does not report Bill Clinton objecting furiously, or storming out of the room, after this comment.) Various homophobic remarks from Sean Hannity are also noted, and Sherman goes on to say, with tongue firmly in cheek,“Strangely, given his avowed disapproval, Hannity expressed a prurient interest in…explicit descriptions of enemas, GOLDEN $HOWER$, and bestiality.”
      Ailes’s opinions on Gopees—"nasty Gingrich, dumb PALIN, not-ready-for-poltical-primetime Huckabee
      " concern over the Obama administration, which he views as wanting to institute some variety of FASCISM, and his view that climate change is part of an international conspiracy>Ailes is deranged as well as cynical and cruel."

      https://newrepublic.com/article/116190/roger-ailes-biography-gabe-sherman-overstates-his-power

      1/12/14

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  10. Anonymous7:43 AM

    "Ding Dong, the Wicked Witch is dead". Just too bad he doesn't have to watch the demise of the 'thing' he created.

    Is that wrong?

    So many more that need to go...

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  11. Anonymous7:57 AM

    Roger Allies has died, good riddance to bad garbage. It’s not like FOX isn’t going to continue with the lies.

    Will little donnie request that flags fly at half-staff or a national day of mourning?

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    1. Anonymous2:29 PM

      One wag said the FOX bimbos would be wearing their skirts at half-mast...

      Delete
  12. Anonymous8:07 AM

    http://www.politicususa.com/2017/05/18/trump-witness-tampering.html

    " If Flynn wanted immunity, that suggests he had something to trade. Something on someone bigger than him. Why did Trump send that message to Flynn after firing him? What is Flynn’s reason for denying the subpoena? These are just some of the questions circling this latest NEWS."

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  13. FAKE NEWS!!!!Just a distraction from the real story....Trump and Mueller....

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  14. Anonymous8:17 AM

    It would be great to see Dan questioning “tricky trump”
    =============================================

    During Richard Nixon's presidency, critics accused Rather of biased coverage against him. At a Houston news conference in March 1974, Nixon fielded a question from Rather, still CBS's White House correspondent, who said, "Thank you, Mr. President. Dan Rather, of CBS News."

    The room filled with jeers and applause, prompting Nixon to joke, "Are you running for something?" Rather replied, "No, sir, Mr. President. Are you?"[28] In his question, Rather accused Nixon of not cooperating with the grand jury investigation and the House Judiciary Committee in relation to the Watergate scandal.[28]


    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Rather

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  15. I like Dan Rather's comments last eve on MSNBC.

    "Trump has gone from the hunter to the hunted."
    Forever.

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