Warner Crocker

The Groans Come Out for Ronna and NBC

NBC brought out the groaners, the howlers, and the passersby by announcing the hiring of former RNC Chairperson Ronna McDaniel (nee Romney) as a political commentator. Judging by the volume I’d say that got just what they bargained for: more attention.

I can’t say I’m really surprised. NBC has populated it’s talent pool with a number of former GOP stars from the past, including at least one other former RNC Chairperson, Michael Steele, who hosts his own show on weekends. Given that most of those folks have established reasonably anti-Trump street cred, it will be more than interesting to see how this plays out. My suspcision is we’re not looking at yet another Come-to-Jesus conversion. I expect NBC wants to turn more segments into a Crossfire-like spitting match. But even that seems too simple, so who knows.

If NBC had any balls and integrity as a news organization it could have created a different story with this hiring. Maybe even practice some journalism instead of entertainment. Knowing full well the shit storm it would kick up, they could have announced it and then produced a segment with Ronna and one of their more respected show hosts, wherein Ronna is questioned hard about her past activities and statements covering for the forces that want to upend elections and the constitution. It’s all well chronicled and on tape in the NBC vaults. Set her up with a 2 or 3 block segment with Nicolle Wallace and let it play out.

But, as I said, that would take some balls. The decision to roll the announcement of Ronna’s hiring out the way it did speaks louder than the actual hiring itself.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.

Apple and the DOJ: You Can Do Anything You Want As Long As You Don’t Get Caught

You can do anything you want in the land of the free and the home of the brave. As long as you don’t get caught. Or as long as you have enough cash in the bank to hire the right legal beagles. That’s the American way. Always has been. The bigger you are the more you can toss around your weight. That works more times than it doesn’t. In the case of the United States vs. Apple, Inc, not so much. Thus far.

The Department of Justice swooped in on Apple charging that the iPhone is the crown jewel of an illegal monopoly. You can read the lawsuit here. I’m not going to get in to all of the legal issues. Not really my game. As to that lawsuit I’ll take the liberty of saying the following:

I don’t understand the equation that led to the monopoly designation. It seems odd given similar such cases in history. The fact that different percentages for different types of valuations is being tossed around in all of the first reactions I think bears that out.
I’m in deep in the Apple ecosystem. I use the hardware and software. I enjoy the tech (when it is working as designed), and I hope they’ll continue to make the high quality products and software they do. Having used hardware and software from other makers, I find Apple’s superior and better for my needs. When and if that changes so will I.
For the most part I buy Apple’s pitch about security and privacy. There are times I think the marketing around security and privacy leans too much towards myth-making, but in my experience the myth seems to have some foundation.
I’ve listened to the complaints from developers and other users through the years and find most of those I understand justified. Apple may have indeed created problems by creating and running the App Store the way it has. I personally don’t feel victimized by that, but I understand the issues presented by those that see it differently.

Bigger picture I will say the following. Apple, like some other familiar tech giants of note (Microsoft, Google, and Amazon), largely brought this on itself with a too big for its bank account britches attitude.

Arrogance and swagger isn’t just a feature of big tech companies. It’s a bug that infects any company or anyone who gets too greedy for their own good. I’ve seen it happen too many times.

History is full of these stories and many American myths are built on that foundation. You work hard, you make your pile, and you do it your way. The world beats a path to your door and you think you own the path and the world. You made your own rules along the way and bent some existing ones to your will. Perhaps broke a few.

That mythical song of good old American capitalism has been sung so often everyone knows the tune and the lyrics. When it comes to Apple’s stanza, you add in a chorus about Apple’s rise from an almost near-death experience and it becomes a siren song with a powerful resonance.

In my view, limited as it may be, Apple could have easily made some adjustments along the way and possibly avoided this current mess. But the powers that be obviously thought different. They also thought they could swagger their way through and beyond this. That may well prove out in the years to come. And it will take years.

Meanwhile, here’s some good early inning commentary on this story so far. I’m sure there will be much more ahead.

John Gruber on Daring Fireball

Jason Snell on Six Colors

M.G. Siegler on Spyglass.org

Stephen Robles on Beard.fm

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.

The Lehman Trilogy Diaries: A Powerful Bond Memorialized

Powerful bonds and fast friendships get formed all the time when you’re working in the theatre. There’s an intimacy in the work that sometimes transcends and envelops the work that needs to be experienced to really understand. It doesn’t happen all the time or on every show. Sometimes it’s just a job. But when it does you treasure it, because you know it’s rare.

Our recent production of The Lehman Trilogy was one on the rare ones. And so was the bond that formed.

This past weekend, the three marvelous actors, Michael Gravois, Kevar Maffitt and John Maness, along with his wife Ashley, journeyed north from Memphis to visit me in Chicago. It was a complete and total surprise, aided in no small part by my lovely wife, Thomasin. I mean they got me. Surprise successful. Emotional in every sense of the word. But then, they’ve been surprising me ever since rehearsals began. It was a magical weekend reunion of a magical moment in all of our lives.

Of the many weekend highlights was Michael bestowing a beautiful gift to each of us. Michael is not just an incredibily talented actor, but also a gifted mosaic artist. I’m still finding it difficult to put into words the my experience during this show, so I’m going to excerpt and quote from Michael for the rest of this story:

They may stand independently, but they belong together.

…the week after the Lehman Trilogy closed, I was feeling very melancholy. I began the process as ONE person. One singular person. But over the course of our rehearsals, especially during the week of the snowstorm, a time when the city shut down, four singular individuals decided to brave the elements in order to tame this beast of a show, and I no longer felt like one singular person. I felt like ONE in the plural sense. It was as if we were meant to be together. During the run of the show I felt like a cog in the machine and like the machine itself, both at the same time. We breathed together. We moved together. We thought together. And make no mistake, there WERE FOUR people on that stage. At no time was Warner not with us, even though he was miles away, even though the audience couldn’t see him. For the rest of our lives, no matter where we are on this planet, we may exist as four singular individuals, but at one time we were meant to be together. So I was thinking about this concept of singular and plural oneness, when I remembered this mosaic that I made over twenty years ago. It’s been sitting in my garage all these years, waiting to be framed. I made it with the intention of selling it as ONE mosaic. It was four mosaics, but it was meant to be together.

…we’ll know that at one time, it was intended to be part of ONE group. And this will always be true. As long as these mosaics exist, even after we die, people will look at them as singular mosaics. But somewhere on this planet, three other mosaics will be out there, forever connected to it.

It’s a beautiful gift, a beautiful memory, and a beautiful bond.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.

Sunday Morning Reading

It’s a Sunday morning of a somewhat lost, yet restorative weekend. Simultaneous with spring daffodils starting to bloom, the cast from my recent gig, The Lehman Trilogy, made a suprise trip from Memphis to Chicago to visit for the weekend. Made we think and feel deeply. Made me laugh. It was glorious. Bonds don’t get any deeper. I needed that. That said, and still recovering, here’s some Sunday Morning Reading to share.

First up David Todd McCarty is searching for the answers on why we do the things we do in Frittering Away What’s Left of Eternity. Terrific piece with no frittering. Resonated with me when it was published earlier this week. After this weekend it resonates with stronger vibrations.

Radley Balko delves into The War On the Woke in an excellent piece The War on the Woke Trumps the Truth for Heterodox Thinkers.

Sarah Jones takes a look at The Exvangelicals Searching for Political Change. I think she coined “Exvangelical.” Regardless of the label credit, its meaning sticks.

Jim Sciutto sees current global tensions as a 1939 Moment in his new book The Return of The Great Powers. Russia, China and the Next World War. I’m looking forward to reading it. You should too. In the meantime, David Smith talks about Sciutto’s book in ‘A 1939 Moment’: Jim Sciutto On Russia, China and the Threat of War.

Once a teacher always a teacher. I grew up in a family of teachers. NatahsMH in The Blind Leading the Blind recounts her experiences of teaching young ones what it’s like to experience being disabled for only an hour. I’m not talking comedy, but here’s the punch line: “And you experienced being disabled for one hour. Imagine a lifetime. Now go design the world a better, smarter place.”

It’s been 10 years? On the anniversary David Pierce wonders Who Killed Google Reader? I remember that death. The internet remains, but there’s a hole left by it.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.

Supreme Betrayal Is a Must Read

At times it feels like we’re uncontrollably tumbling downhill in our attempts to stave off the end of our American Experiment. At every pause in the tumble or reach for an anchor to stop our descent, it seems like more and more ground gives way threatening to bury us all if we ever reach a bottom.

If we somehow survive what’s ahead of us and historians are able to do what historians have historically done, this article, Supreme Betrayal, by J. Michael Lutting and Laurence Tribe, will be an excellent chronicle of what just happened when the Supreme Court of the United States helped the often shaky, but always resilent foundation of our democracy slip its moorings like many of the other fabled institutions we used to rely on.

I strongly encourage you read the entire piece but this excerpt is both damning and telling:

What ought to have been, as a matter of the Constitution’s design and purpose, the climax of the struggle for the survival of America’s democracy and the rule of law instead turned out to be its nadir, delivered by a Court unwilling to perform its duty to interpret the Constitution as written.

It’s much too late in the game for this to have any impact in the current election. That decision has been rendered. Let’s hope it’s not to late for the historians who will need to understand what this moment means long after most of us are gone to consider this in their chronicles. If they’re allowed to.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.

Tampering With Words

This cracks me up. The NFL is investigating whether or not there was tampering between its teams and potential free agents. Of course this tampering comes outside of the officially condoned “Legal Tampering Window” the NFL allows prior to free agents being able to sign with other teams.

The Oxford dictionary defines “tampering” this way:

1. Interfere with (something) in order to cause damage or make unauthorized alterations.

2. Exert a secret or corrupt influence upon (someone).

Sounds bad. I’m not sure prefacing it with the word “legal” softens it as much as some lawyers thought it would.

My reaction isn’t about the monkeyshines that happens when players and teams are trying to one up each other. That would be akin to being shocked if there was gambling going on in a casino or in NFL locker rooms. All’s fair in love and war and apparently in billion dollar businesses that can tamper with language in ways that only a lawyer can love.

Just who do they think they’re fooling?

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.

Things We Know

Magicians have a hard job. Everyone is looking for the trick. Politicians have it easy. No one looks for the trick. Everyone already knows it. They’re not marks. They’re part of the act.

Donald Trump is a degenerate criminal, a rapist, an insurrectionist, a scumbag, a loser, a lousy liar, and more beyond redemption than most of the evil people in recorded history. And he’s the Republican nominee for President of the United States. If you’re voting for him I feel sorry for your grandkids’ future.

Judge Aileen Cannon is on the take.

Apple is screwing the pooch when it comes to PR and policy of late. Unusual.

Even if Putin died tomorrow he wins. We’ve already given him the win. Regardless of how the war in Ukraine or the 2024 US presidential election turn out, he’s overseen the decline of the West he and his predeccesors always wanted. So much damage from falling out of a first floor window.

The Main Stream Media will blame its continued demise on everyone and everything except themsleves.

Boeing has become synonymous with the Ford Pinto.

The vast majority of Internet issues (spam, bots, etc…) could be eliminated if the companies that control communication technoloy and social media apps would forego profit from that behavior. And that’s never going to happen.

photo via sergio1972 on Shutterstock

Vote Like Your Life Depends On It

Did the early voting thing today. As all the attention in the big race turns towards the fall, I encourage everyone in primary states still ahead to get out and vote. Down ballot races are just as, if not more, important. We live in a reasonably safe Blue state, so as far as the presidential primary it doesn’t mean much. Down ballot races on the other hand need just as much attention as the marquee races.

Besides, you might as well stay in practice. Otherwise it might be the last year that voting matters.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.

Sunday Morning Reading

Some Sunday Morning Reading as the time shifts and some are racing against the clock to turn back the hands of time in our political and social lives. Yes, some politics but also some history and some tech today.

Laughter may be the best medicine, but not when it can be used against us. Fintain O’Toole in the New York Review of Books takes a look at how cruel humor can be used as a weapon. Laugh Riot is an excellent if not troubling (also long) read.

(Side note: some folks get upset at links I offer here that are behind paywalls or require registration. I get it. Two thoughts: Writers deserve to get paid. Also, there are only a gazillion ways around circumventing these kinds of things on the Internet. Use your smarts.)

Taylor Lorenz offers up The Word ‘Viral’ Has Lost Its Meaning. I think she’s correct.

The use of Artificial Intelligence continues to baffle. Charles Bethea takes a look at The Terrifying A.I. Scam That Uses Your Loved One’s Voice.

Speaking of baffling tech, Steven Aquino takes a look at How Smart Home Technology Made My Home More Accessible. Why do I say baffling? Steven’s post isn’t, but in the potential gold mine and boon for those with accessibility issues that is Smart Home Tech, no one has gotten this right yet. When it works it’s great. When it doesn’t it’s a mess.

Apparently back in 2022 the US was quite nervous that Putin would launch a nuke towards Ukraine. Check out Jim Sciutto’s piece Exclusive: US Prepared ‘Rigoursly’ for potential Russian Nuclear Strike in Ukraine in 2022. It’s a good read, although I’m not sure why it’s an exclusive as I recall most of us being worried about this.

Josh Kovensky in Talking Points Memo takes us Inside A Secret Society of Prominent Right-Wing Christian Men Prepping for a ‘National Divorce.’

Sascha Pare tells us that Scientists Just Discovered A Massive Reservoir Of Helium Beneath Minnesota. Sounds like the Iron Range might be getting a new nickname.

And returning back to time, David Todd McCarty is searching for answers. I think we all are. Well worth your time to read Frittering Away What’s Left of Eternity.

Things We Know: All Things Rot

Some things we suspect. Some things we know. Some things are just rotten.

The Republican Party doesn’t exist anymore. It hasn’t for awhile, but we’ve been pretending/hoping. The media should just start calling it for what it is. Dead and rotting. Quit dancing around and call them the Orange Party. If you’re a registered Republican, you own this rot and this death. If you’re proud of that I don’t know what to say. And if you’re in the media, I hope there’s a heaven to help your soul.

The Supreme Court is only supreme in its craven cowardice.

Donald Trump won’t need to “terminate the constitution” when he’s elected. The Supreme Court essentially did that with its recent ruling.

“Money talks and bullshit walks” used to be a truism. Both money and bullshit seem to be doing most of the talking these days.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.