Steve Prestegard.com: The Presteblog

The nattering nabobs

April 6, 2020

Richard Nixon’s attack dog, Spiro Agnew, described the late 1960s news media as ”nattering nabobs of negatives.”

Five decades later, former presidential press secretary Ari Fleischer:

If President Trump is a wartime president, does that make Washington reporters wartime correspondents?

Even before coronavirus, I often wondered if today’s press corps had covered the allied landing at D-Day in June 1944, if their stories would have led with the disastrous American landing on Omaha Beach, the paratroopers who dropped miles away from their targets and the submersible tanks that sunk to the bottom of the English Channel before ever touching land.
Indeed, if each of these genuine military setbacks had been the lead story, the American people might have lost the will to fight the rest of the war.

Which brings me to today’s press corps.

Since Vietnam and Watergate, the Washington press corps has earned its chops by taking on those in power, relentlessly questioning what they are told, particularly when they’re told it by a Republican President, and doing their best to expose mistakes, misstatements and problems. When something goes wrong, the press shines a light on it.

“It’s not news when an airplane lands” goes the old journalistic saw. “It’s only news when a plane crashes.”

This helps explains NBC reporter Peter Alexander’s now infamous clash with President Trump over the efficacy of a drug meant to treat malaria for which the president expressed hope that it might (not will, but might) be able to treat the coronavirus as well.

Reporters, who routinely publish worst-case estimates about the impact of coronavirus, took a firm stand against the president’s hopeful point of view, led by Alexander, who took particular umbrage.

“Is it possible — it possible that your impulse to put a positive spin on things may be giving Americans a false sense of hope, and misrepresenting the preparedness right now?” Alexander asked.

After the president again, even-handedly, said the drug might work and it might not, Alexander’s pessimism peaked.

“Nearly 200 dead. What do you say to Americans who are scared, though? I guess, nearly 200 dead; 14,000 who are sick; millions, as you witness, who are scared right now. What do you say to Americans who are watching you right now who are scared?”

To which the president in his usual subtle style replied, “You’re a terrible reporter.”

On March 25, the Gallup organization released a poll that was good for the President and bad for the press.

60% of the American people approve of the way President Trump is handling his response to this crisis and only 38% disapprove. But only 44% approve of the way the news media is handling its response, with 55% disapproving.

As the president’s approval goes up, several prominent columnists and talking heads have called for the televised briefings to come down. Don’t show the briefings live, cried MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, along with the Washington Post’s Margaret Sullivan and Karen Tumulty. In WW II, the government censored reporters. Now, these reporters want to censor the government.

NBC’s Chuck Todd sunk to a new low when he asked Joe Biden on “Meet the Press” if Biden thought there was “blood on the president’s hands considering the slow response.” He caught himself mid-sentence and added, “or is that too harsh a criticism?”

In all times, reporters have a vital role to play in keeping our country free. The First Amendment gives reporters the right to ask whatever they want, however they want.

Too many journalists are fighting the last war, and they’re only hurting themselves. Many reporters do ask tough, non-accusatory questions about how to fix problems, fight the illness and get America back on its feet.

But if this becomes a fight between a president who realistically represents hope and reporters who reject it, that’s a fight the press can’t win.

The media’s job is to cover all sides of a story. They are not.

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Presty the DJ for April 6

April 6, 2020

Music

Today in 1956, Elvis Presley signed a seven-year contract with Paramount Studios.

The movies won no Academy Awards, but sold a lot of tickets and a lot of records.

The number one album today in 1968 was the soundtrack to “The Graduate”:

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Presty the DJ for April 5

April 5, 2020

Music

The number one album today in 1980 was Genesis’ “Duke”:

Today in 1985, more than 5,000 radio stations played this at 3:50 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time, which is 9:50 a.m. Central time (but Standard or Daylight?):

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A tale of two areas

April 4, 2020

Uncategorized

Michael Smith:

There sure seems to be an undercurrent of worry that the more sparsely populated areas of this country might advance economically while the more densely populated cities languish as a result of the physical reality of disease transmission.Cities have a transmission modality that simply cannot be overcome absent a vaccine for this virus. The reality is that the only reason any “curve flattening” is happening today is that the virus is being deprived of fresh victims, that solution provides little more than a temporary respite and a false sense of security – because the underlying condition promoting spread – the population density – has not changed.

National policy is being driven by a fear that originated in our major population centers.

I get it. Nobody wants to spread this disease – but the fact is that New York state’s 2900 deaths would have to increase by 27 times to equal the 79,000 annual deaths due to heart disease and cancer the CDC reported for the state in 2017 (the latest I could find at the CDC website).

At 7900 deaths nationwide so far, this pandemic doesn’t crack the top 50 for mortality classifications in the nation.

I understand the pandemic deaths are concentrated in a short period of time and when things happen over a short period, they have more impact – but I still question the need for Kansas or Utah to be driven by situations in New York.

The real pandemic is not the SARS-CoV-2 virus, it’s fear.

Wisconsin is a perfect example of what Smith is talking about. As of Friday out of Wisconsin’s 1,916 cases, 955 are in Milwaukee County and 244 are in Dane County. Some counties have not had a single case, and other counties’ measure in the single digits. Yet state government is stupidly treating every part of Wisconsin the same, mandating, for instance, statewide school closings when school administrators could have told you that was a really bad idea.

If politicians weren’t being profiles in cowardice maybe after this ends they could figure out that the state should not treat, for instance, Milwaukee and Marathon the same. And perhaps small towns could market themselves as superior places to live over crime-plagued and now disease-riddled urban areas.

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Presty the DJ for April 4

April 4, 2020

Music

Today in 1960, RCA Victor Records announced it would release all singles in both mono and stereo.

Today in 1964, the Beatles had 14 of the Billboard Top 100 singles, including the top five:

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When you’ve lost your own party

April 3, 2020

Wisconsin politics

Politico Thursday:

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ refusal to push for a delay of his state’s Tuesday primary has infuriated fellow Democrats in the state, who are now openly accusing him of failing to prevent an impending train wreck.

As the nation hurtles toward 5,000 coronavirus deaths and governors across the country take extreme steps to keep people at home, Wisconsin is forging ahead with the election despite having its own stay-at-home order. The likely outcome is that Wisconsinites will wake up on election day being told to stay put at the same time they’re greenlighted to head to crowded polling sites.

Other Democrats in the state say the conflicting signals will disenfranchise voters. Already, the sanctity of the vote has been called into question by snafus with early voting: In Milwaukee, some voting sites were closed for a period of the designated voting before being reopened.

“There’s this enormous conflict between what we need to do in a democracy in the midst of a pandemic. You can’t have a stay-at-home order but then tell millions of people to go stand in line and congregate near one another across the state,” said Racine Mayor Cory Mason. “Having an election in the middle of a stay-at-home order makes no sense. It did not have to be this way.”

The intraparty conflict in Wisconsin is a bad look in a state that’s central to the party’s hopes of beating President Donald Trump in November. It also doesn’t bode well for a unified message in the run-up to the Democratic convention in Milwaukee, an event that was just pushed back a month to August.

While Democrats across Wisconsin have called for postponing the election, pointing to health concerns and the inability to staff polling sites, Evers has cited his limited authority to impose a delay against Republican resistance in the Legislature.

Evers has advocated that residents vote by mail and called on lawmakers to ease up on election day requirements to allow more flexibility on when ballots could be turned in and counted.

On Thursday, a federal judge provided some relief. While refusing to move the primary, U.S. District Judge William Conley extended the deadline by one day to request absentee ballots and is allowing voters six additional days after Election Day to return them. Conley in a Wednesday ruling said his hands were tied to postpone the election and called out both Evers and the legislature for not taking the action themselves.

Oops — this needs rewriting:

While refusing to move the primary, U.S. District Judge William Conley extended the deadline by one day to request absentee ballots and is allowing voters six additional days after Election Day to return them in order to promote voter fraud by Democrats.

There. Fixed it. Now back to our original piece:

And in interviews with POLITICO, more than a dozen Democratic officials in the state expressed frustration that Evers didn’t act sooner. They argue that he hasn’t tapped the full range of his powers, such as calling for a special legislative session or announcing an election delay and forcing someone to stop him. That’s essentially what Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine did last month, even in the face of an adverse court ruling.

Mason, a Democrat who served in the Wisconsin state Legislature for 11 years, described local officials as “exasperated” over trying to carry out an election amid the pandemic. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett had urged people not to go the polls on election day to vote for him — but instead to do so by mail ahead of time.

Polling places across the state are down at least 7,000 poll workers already. Only a fraction of polling sites are expected to be open in Milwaukee, an area that serves large African American and minority populations.

But Evers’ office said the governor is unlikely to change course.

“Our democracy is essential, it must go on. Keeping people safe is the governor’s top priority but we want people to participate in this election. We want as many people as possible to vote from home,” Evers spokeswoman Melissa Baldauff told POLITICO. “We hope the Legislature would work with the governor to extend the time for [ballots] to be counted and to be received.”

She dismissed the possibility of the governor attempting to halt the election like DeWine did. “It’s not going to happen,” Baldauff said. “He doesn’t want to do it and he also doesn’t have the authority to do it.”

The governor’s office has argued that there’s no certain future date when the health crisis would relent. Officials also said that a delay would put at risk hundreds of nonpartisan positions on the ballot — including the mayor of Milwaukee — that under statute would be vacant if the election does not take place on Tuesday. That scenario, the governor’s office said, would create even more chaos amid a public health emergency. But critics say it is a gray area that Evers could have exploited through the Legislature or the courts to find a bridge solution until the health crisis abates. …

While Evers has advocated that residents vote by mail, complaints are streaming in from people across the state that they haven’t received absentee ballots in the mail. Evers’ decision to bring in the National Guard to assist with election day is introducing its own concerns, from questions about how to expedite training to fears that a military presence will turn off hordes of potential voters.

The cowards got their wish this afternoon. Evers signed his 109,667th executive order calling the Legislature into session Saturday at 4 p.m. to help the Democrats commit voter fraud. Republicans apparently more often vote the day of the election, whereas Democrats are more likely to vote absentee. So delaying the election allows Democrats to prevent day-of-election voters from voting.

(I usually vote absentee because I’m busy on election day, and I want to make sure my vote counts even if someone attempts to kill me to prevent my vote from counting. If politics is everything, then you will do anything to win.)

This blog has exclusively obtained the Republicans’ agenda Saturday:
4 p.m.: Call to order.

4:00:10: Adjourn.

There is no legal way to move the election until you get over the statutory fact that every county board seat and one-fourth to one-third of every city council, village board, town board and school board automatically becomes vacant after the election. Too bad Politico didn’t bother to research state law before writing this piece. (As is increasingly the case, the mainstream media is now merely stenographers and not reporters.)

The only conclusion one can make is that Democrats want the election postponed so they can gin up enough fraudulent votes to make sure that Jill Karofsky, not Daniel Kelly, gets elected to the state Supreme Court. There is no other explanation.

There is one thing Politico reports correctly:

“It’s been a cataclysmic failure,” said one Wisconsin-based Democratic strategist who supported Evers’ 2018 campaign. “It has been disappointment after disappointment. I do not believe that he’s shown leadership or good judgment during this crisis.”

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Presty the DJ for April 3

April 3, 2020

Music

Today in 1956, Elvis Presley appeared on ABC-TV’s “Milton Berle Show” live from the flight deck of the U.S.S. Hancock, moored off San Diego.

An estimated one of every four Americans watched, probably making it ABC’s most watched show in its history to then, and probably for several years after that.

(more…)

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How to avoid a fiscal pandemic

April 2, 2020

Wisconsin politics

David Fladeboe:

Wisconsin, like the rest of the nation, is facing an unprecedented crisis as we battle COVID-19. With large swaths of the economy shut down or reduced to fight the pandemic, governments at all levels are working to address the fallout. Now that Congress has passed a series of bills to address the emergency, Wisconsin lawmakers are considering next steps.

Gov. Tony Evers released proposed legislation at the end of March and asked legislators to act quickly. While the Badger Institute has already pointed out positive policy prescriptions in his executive orders and proposed legislation, Wisconsin lawmakers need to ensure that the cure isn’t worse than the disease.

Below are a series of guiding principles that should act as a framework for the coming Extraordinary Session of the Legislature.

First, lawmakers should hesitate to take any actions that grow the size and scope of government permanently. Ongoing appropriations, permanent full-time equivalent positions and new layers of red tape should be avoided at all costs.

While the structures of government can help fight a crisis, policymakers need to avoid new layers of bureaucracy that can be just as damaging to public and economic wellbeing. Numerous states and the federal government have been relaxing requirements, regulations and licensing complications to help combat the coronavirus, and these efforts should be continued. Too often the tool created to help serves only to tie our hands in the future.

Next, elected officials need to be careful not to create a long-lasting, one-size-fits-all solution for future health emergencies. Recent policy statements from Wisconsin lawmakers indicate a desire to extend changes made to fight COVID-19 to future crises. But each challenge brings its own unanticipated difficulties, requiring unique approaches and tools.

Future policymakers, communities, businesses and residents will need the flexibility to respond to emergency situations without encountering rigid, imposed “solutions” that could make problems worse. Be wary of policies that automatically trigger the next time an emergency is declared.

Finally, don’t plunge the state into a sea of debt that might make matters worse over the long term. Responsible policies contributed to a state budget surplus that has helped soften the blow of this economic crisis. We need to maintain sound economic thinking and fiscal prudence while supporting those who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. New spending must be weighed against the reality that tax revenues are going to be down sharply in 2020 and possibly beyond.

The Badger Institute estimates that Wisconsin could face a $100 million deficit in the transportation budget alone due to a decrease in gas tax collections. Reductions in sales and income tax revenues could be even more severe. Wisconsin’s economy will recover, but before we know the true cost and recovery curve, legislators need to be cautious about signing a check they can’t cash. The empty promises of a bankrupt government won’t help anyone.

If lawmakers keep in mind the long-term consequences of their actions, they can help Wisconsin navigate this storm. Significant policy reforms will be needed, but they can’t come at the expense of our future. A lot of damage already has been done to try to stop the spread of COVID-19; now is our opportunity to stem the tide and prepare ourselves for a vibrant and lasting recovery.

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A small voice of sanity in Madison

April 2, 2020

media, US politics

Vicki McKenna, whose on-air presence in Madison and Milwaukee must infuriate their liberals:

How is everyone doing in this time of The Great Pandemic?

I am not taking this coercion well at all. And it’s just beginning.

Now despite what you may think, I am NOT “low risk” for coronavirus complications or death. I am considered moderate risk to ‘at risk’ depending on the “expert” opining. So even though I am a natural skeptic (and cynic) about the press, when I read the stories, occasionally it scares the hell out of me. I am not cavalier about this disease.

But I still want my freedom. I want it more than I ever have. I confess, it never dawned on me how physical my desire for freedom really was — until I started seeing taken away, little by little, piece by piece.

I also never had to fathom the real meaning of “the economy is life” until I saw our government rip it apart business by business, job by job and family by family.

Destroying our economy destroys our nation because it destroys our people’s ability to be free. No amount of “for your own good” proselytizing changes that reality. Freedom isn’t transactional.

How much more can we take before America doesn’t look much like America any longer? I don’t know. We’re a resilient bunch, but every nation has a breaking point. Taking away the choice to live free, even if it’s little by little surely doesn’t make us stronger.

Right now, we’re all slaves to fear. For how long?

Our families must be able to choose to be together. Our citizens must be able to choose to continue their civil and social lives.

I want to choose for myself whether to risk shaking someone’s hand, or seeing my family and friends. I want to choose for myself take the risk of going to church and taking Holy Communion. If I choose poorly, that’s on me. If you choose to reject my handshake, that’s OK, too.

The longer this goes on with no end in sight, the harder it is to see a future unblemished by the soft tyranny we’ve invited into our lives. And it’s only been a month. Imagine 6 months. 12 months.

I want to see kids running around in the neighborhoods again and shrieking in glee so loud the sound pierces through my windows. I want to see groups of friends smiling and laughing as they walk into the local pub on a Friday night after work. I want my best friend’s elderly mom not to be lonely anymore. I want to see my family. I want to go to church.

One thing I can say about this awful mess is that it focused my mind on the things I used to take for granted about this amazing experiment in ordered LIBERTY.

I am not a child in need of protection from the idiocracy we call government. I am grown woman with more than 5 decades of life behind me. I know how to wash my hands and sanitize my environment.

I want to be free to choose–and I trust others to choose as well. Some choose poorly, some choose well. But it’s the freedom to choose in the first place that makes us America. The Great American Experiment CAN fail. It just depends on whether we are willing to let it fail.

Let’s not let “for your own good” become our new motto.