news – Page 4 – Life on the Wicked Stage: Act 3

There’s a Corner and Trump Has Backed Us Into It. Again.

The farce continues

The headline of this post came to me first. Sometimes that happens. Then I had a memory flashback suggesting that I had used that headline before. I have. That was in early August of 2023. That’s why I added the “Again.”

The first time was right after the orange menace was indicted for the third time. As excited as some were for the legal victory in that moment, I felt then that we were still in great peril. That feeling proved accurate. It chills me to read what I wrote then:

There’s no back to find our way to, regardless of the legal outcomes. Frankly there’s no back to find our way to even if somehow this monster suddenly disappeared from the planet. The damage has been done. And I don’t think we collectively have what it takes to bridge the gaping wounds, much less comprehend them. Our political systems are incapable of stopping the slaughter of children with guns. Our spiritual institutions keep remaking foundational tenets into something unreconcilable with their founding. And we’re going to fix this?

The wounds are fresh. The pain is real. There’s a monster in our midst and it’s going to take extraordinary measures to defeat it. Nothing will be the same if we do. Nothing should be the same as we try. And if there’s any healing to come it’s not going to happen without amputations that alter the way we navigate the world.

We keep repeating this cycle. We’re still in that same corner as we sit watching, hoping, perhaps praying for some legal or moral victory to change any of the actions the Trump administration is tossing about. I know there are many, like me in that previous post, who wish he would somehow disappear from the planet. But neither legal victories nor acts of God are going to change the course of destruction we’re on and have been. The damage has been done and more keeps happening daily. Some bizarre force is keeping us in trapped in a corner. It’s also keeping Trump there too. He seems to enjoy it. Most, not all, of the rest of us do not.

Let’s take this Abrego Garcia deportation case. The Trumpsters have already tossed aside (for the moment) a Supreme Court ruling against them, redefining it as one in their favor, turning no into yes, day into night, and reality into fantasy. By doing so these fluffed up maniacs have dug a hole so deep that they can’t climb out without damaging their own machismo, dragging all of us deep into it as well.

It’s a serious moment that requires serious people to actually act seriously. A rare combination that’s tough to find these days. Whether it’s this issue, an unexplainable tariff/trade war, threatening law firms and universities, or whatever this administration is tossing into the bottomless blender of bluster, behind the scenes they are still ardently working towards success in an issue that might just render moot all of the moments of new horrors they unveil daily.

The subtext beneath all of this is a plot line that threatens to make any and all of these horrid actions seem like distractions. I’ve said all along that this administration is acting as if they don’t care about the outcome of future elections. They would not be acting this way if they were. Yet that’s the frame we seem incapable of breaking when discussing each of new eruption.

If we’ve learned anything (there’s no proof we have) it is that this dictator and his henchmen mean what they say and it’s no mistake that they keep hinting of a third term, or president for life scenario. Yes, there will most likely be elections. There are elections in Russia, Hungary, and pick your favorite autocracy. This will be the battle that decides all, and we need to face each new challenge within that context.

There’s a straight line that can be drawn between the moment this Abrego Garcia case finally winds its way back to the Supreme Court for a decision and the fate of future elections. The chess moves are simple to see.

If the Supreme Court defers in any way that subjugates the due process clause of the 5th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, then all bets are off. Game over. If the Supreme Court, or rather the conservative members of that court, put the administration in check by ruling against it, the next move is either surrender or tossing the pieces from the board, scrambling it all and declaring the game invalid.

I’m frankly not sure which outcome is worse. The Supreme Court abdicating ends all but the waiting game for the next shoe to drop, continuing the charade of hoping for some moment of truth that will set us all free. Upsetting the game board acknowledges where we actually are, but are afraid to admit. Both sides are cowering in that corner, afraid to face that moment of truth.

Dark times.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Sunday Morning Reading

More than the bare minimum

It’s another Sunday. At a bare minimum it’s time for a little Sunday Morning Reading. There’s more politics than I’d like to shake any sticks at dominating my reading these days, so apologies if that turns you off. I just don’t think we can turn off or tune out to what’s happening. Like it or not (I don’t) we’re living through an epochal moment in world history demonstrating how little we regard human history. I emphasize “living through” because while we’re bearing witness, it is happening to us and whatever it evolves or devolves into will affect all who come after.

I happen to be one who believes that Trump is the ugly face of the chaos descending around us, propped up by bigger, deeper and darker forces using him as the fool too many fools easily fall for. Jonathan Mahler has an excellent piece that delves a bit into this called How The G.O.P. Fell In Love With Putin’s Russia. Excellent context that should not be ignored.

We’re living in a world daily facing formalist delusions. Benjamin Wittes uses the Abrego Garcia case as one example of that in The Situation: Formalist Delusions Confront Lawless Realities.

Speaking of formalist delusions, who knew some tech bros could declare you dead and wipe you off the books, or at least the books that matter when it comes to navigating life in today’s world. Hannah Natanson, Lisa Rein, and Meryl Kornfield take a look at how the Trump Administration Overrode Social Security Staff To List Immigrants As Dead.

Joan Westenberg calls us America, The Isolated. I can’t argue with her points. Though I will refer you back to Jonathan Mahler’s piece above for wider aperture. The deeper context is that the lens we’ve viewed the world, contained and restrained by borders, has never been the view for the forces now moving so rapidly.

In the growing category of erasing history, John Ismay takes a look at Who’s In and Who’s Out At The Naval Academy’s Library?

Mathew Ingram has penned two terrific posts that address what will certainly become a part of our digital lives as we move forward. Be Careful What You Post On Social Media. They Are Listening is the first post. He’s expanded that with Part 2 as the pace of social media monitoring is sure to be picking up.

Perhaps all of this feels too big or too overwhelming to contemplate in the helter-skelter of our daily lives. But it is beginning to have impacts, big and small. Take a look at Scott McNulty’s very funny run-in with a construction worker at his CVS. While CVS – Construction Versus Scott is about his adventures at his local pharmacy under renovation, there’s a comedy nugget in there that demonstrates how those paying attention are actually paying attention.

My initial reaction to any illness in our children is immediate quarantine and a call to the WHO (I deleted the CDC’s number from my address book because suddenly they just kept telling me to get more vitamin A).

To close out this week, take a look at My Open Letter to Gen Z from NatashaMH. At “a bare minimum,” it’s worth a read to remind us that what we remember and hang on to from “back in the day” is now in a daily collision with what comes tomorrow. Easier to avoid the damage from those collisions perhaps if you acknowledge the maps are constantly changing.

Image from Mega Stolberg on Unsplash.

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.

Lord, What Fools These Mortals Be

US Government Idiot Watch

Make no mistake, the folks Donald Trump has chosen for his cabinet are mortal. They are also fools.

According to Jeffery Goldberg, Editor-in-Chief of The Atlantic, they were communicating via the messaging app Signal, about recent military plans to strike Houthi rebels in Yemen. Bad enough in and of itself, but they also included journalist Goldberg in on the plans.

According to Goldberg:

The world found out shortly before 2 p.m. eastern time on March 15 that the United States was bombing Houthi targets across Yemen.

I, however, knew two hours before the first bombs exploded that the attack might be coming. The reason I knew this is that Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, had texted me the war plan at 11:44 a.m. The plan included precise information about weapons packages, targets, and timing.

This is going to require some explaining. […]

And explain he does in this article which includes images from some of the messages between Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President J.D. Vance, Stephen Miller, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and more. Don’t worry. Goldberg does a better job of protecting sensitive data than the culprits do.

Obviously everyone but those in the cult of knee-benders and compliant media knows already that these guys are incompetent fools. Perhaps now the media will start calling this ship of fools out for what it actually is.

I don’t wonder at their incompetence or reckless behavior. I just wonder why they aren’t using government secure channels to do their dirty work. Has Elon Musk locked them out of that too?

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Sunday Morning Reading

We’re all circling. We’re not listening. We should be reading.

Everything changes. Everything remains the same. Damnit. With that said, here is this week’s Sunday Morning Reading with links to articles worth sharing and perhaps pondering over. There’s a bit of satire, a golden toilet heist, and the evolving nature of a piece from draft to final polish. And, yes, there is politics. Everything changes. Everything remains the same. Damnit.

Let’s kick off with Tina He and The Last Human Choice. That link is to the final version of the story. I also strongly encourage you to check out the draft version she shared here.

Alex Reisner takes on The Unbelievable Scale of AI’s Pirated-Books Problem. The technical scale may indeed boggle, the human greed behind it is a story told too often.

The Apple Intelligence/Siri sucks discussion continues and will certainly do so for quite awhile. Andrew Williams in Wired says To Truly Fix Siri, Apple May Have To Backtrack on One Key Thing–Privacy. I hate to say it, but I think he’s right and wish he weren’t.

Good satire can often be hard to distinguish from the real thing. Eli Grober walks that line well in Sergey Brin: We Need You Working 60 Hours A Week So We Can Replace You As Soon As Possible.

John Passantino takes a look at the unraveling of Threads in Hanging by a Thread.

Clearing the throat and clogging up the arteries with a bit of political writing here’s James Thorton Harris with Imagine Deportation: When Nixon Tried To Pull A Trump On John Lennon. Everything changes, everything remains the same. Damnit.

In the category of “be careful what you wish for,” Phoebe Petrovic in ProPublica gives us How A Push To Amend The Constitution Could Help Trump Expand Presidential Power. We’ve already let quite a few demons out of Pandora’s Box, I’m not so sure we want to crack it open any wider.

Speaking of demons, Elizabeth Lopatto tells us How Trump And Musk Built Their Own Reality. Excellent piece.

John Pavlovitz says we all make mistakes in America Chose The Monster.

Mark Jacob always has a great look at the media, especially in this moment, In this one he examines When The Media Take MAGA Liars At Their Word. I mentioned to Mark that what infuriates me is not just the media taking him at his word–ignorance and stupidity know no bounds–but that they know better and report it out as if they don’t.

And to flush away politics Clodagh Stenson, Jonathan Eden and William McLennan tell the tale of The Inside Story of Blenheim’s Gold Toilet Heist.

Bringing my words at the top full circle, NatashaMH once again delves deep into the personal past through a contemporary moment (her reaction to the streaming hit Adolescence) in A Requiem For My Dreams. I’ll close with a quote from her piece about the series that applies to everything, everywhere all at once:

People say the series is about a new world that’s happening. Fuck that, ignoramuses. It’s about a world that has always been out there behind closed doors when ears weren’t listening

(Image from Ashni on Unsplash)

You Can Delete Photos. You Can’t Delete Human History.

Tough Guys Can’t Handle The Truth

Stupid. That would be one way to describe it. Impotent would be another way. Either way, it shows just how scared the racist white boys running the Pentagon are of catching hell from the orange makeup wearing racist in the White House.

The Pentagon, under the cover of building back a warrior ethos, is taking the president’s edict to purge anything that smacks of DEI and is now removing thousands of images and social media posts that reflect any suspected moment in American military history that might offend the delicate sensibilities of these cowardly racists. Looks like they can’t handle the truth.

Yes, it’s just another in a long list of horrible things happening. Yes, it’s just another attempt in the history of humans to erase their own history. Yes, it’s bullshit.

It’s intriguing that this latest move didn’t really catch the news until it was discovered that one of the photos to be deleted was of the “Enola Gay,” the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb. Because you know, it has the word “gay” in the title. I’m guessing whatever AI is being used flagged that one. But remember this is the gang that wanted to remove training videos of the Tuskegee Airmen and Women’s Air Force, before they lost whatever they think their courage was.

Perhaps you remember that this is the same crowd who says you can’t rename forts named after traitors or remove Confederate monuments because that erases history. If duplicitous irony was a rake they’d hit themselves in the face with the business end not the handle.

You can delete photos. You can remove social media posts. You can’t erase history. Sadly, you also can’t erase or remove ignorance, stupidity, and cruelty.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Think Bigger On Protests

Collective Action Is Needed On A Larger Scale

There is a reasonably well organized effort for a large economic boycott on February 28. The idea is not to buy anything on that day and hopefully make enough noise to create an impact.

ECONOMIC BLACKOUT DAY FEB 28 2025 2 1024x1024.

I doubt it will have much effect. We have to face facts. There are far too many folks who are currently far too delighted with how things are going or far too delusional enough to think a day long protest will create enough impact to do anything but create noise. Noise is good. Signal is better. To be clear, I’m not against protests. In fact I think there should be more of them. Pushback does help. Collective action helps more. In fact, I’d love to see a broad country wide general strike. Folks are angry, and in my humble opinion that anger unfortunately needs to heat up and boil over before anything has any prospect of prompting change. I don’t like to say that. I don’t like to think it. But it’s no longer a choice between the high road or low road. We’ve all been dragged into the gutter and like it or not we need to start fighting to get out of this stink. So keep up the protests. I’m glad to see that there are more planned for other dates.

Economic blackout dates v0 mo3nuvmg1xke1.

Keep organizing and showing up for in person protests. Especially at the district offices of cowardly congress critters who are taking orders from the top to stop doing town halls. But keep the pressure on both the MAGAts and the Dems. The former for their abject surrender and sucking up, the latter for pretending the old ways might still work. Joke’s on them all because they seem to be the only ones, besides the media, that think Congress actually matters any more than the Duma matters in Russia. Think Bigger I like to believe there are ways of thinking and acting bigger. This all might be pie-in-the-sky thinking, but it’s my brain and I like pie. So here are some thoughts. Hit harder at companies like Amazon, Meta, Apple, Walmart, Target, newspapers, media, etc… One way to do that is to organize a day when everyone cancels their subscriptions, memberships, monthly plans, etc… But don’t plan to do it just for a day. Cancel them all on one day and plan to leave them canceled for a full month or longer. Angry about the changes at NBC and MSNBC? Cancel your cable or streaming service. If you haven’t already, cancel your subscriptions to The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, or whatever state media publication that’s certainly not going to be giving you real news in the future. Given the choice don’t cancel online. Take the time to make a phone call and do the deed. All of those calls are recorded. State your unhappiness clearly and why you’re canceling. Whatever AI service that summarizes those calls is sure to pick up on the negativity. Cancel your home Internet. Use your phone. AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile can’t be any deeper in the pockets of the government than they have been for quite some time over a number of administrations, so there’s not much room for coercion or surrender left there. Cancel your streaming services. Log off and don’t participate in corporate social media. Again, all on the same day of action. Think you’ll be bored? Spend a month reading books. If you still have one, dust off that old Blu-Ray or DVD player and cue up any discs you have remaining. If you don’t have the discs check some out from the local library. Pissed off at Google, Apple, Microsoft and other big tech companies? Take a trip to your local Best Buy or other gadget store and buy a relatively inexpensive external drive. Download all of what you have stored in the cloud and cancel your monthly cloud storage plans. All on the same day. There are more alternatives for your computing needs than those offered by the popular makers. I won’t go into that here as there are plenty of resources online to find them. Here’s a link to one. Also, you want these companies to think there’s a reasonable chance for you to return someday. That’s the threat. Why a month? Some of these companies that have bent the knee to the Trump administration rely on something called MAU, or monthly active users. The metric tracks the number of unique users who engage with an app or service within a 30-day window. If enough folks dropped out or off for a month, it might move the noise needle closer to signal. Often an action in and of itself is enough to make an impact. More often than not, it is the threat of that action happening again that matters more and motivates change. Some other thoughts: Put off big ticket purchases for a month. Buy only what is essential. Write letters or postcards instead of texting and emailing. Don’t file your taxes online. Send them the old fashioned way via the mail. Wait until the last day to file. The bump in postage will be a boon to the postal service. Yes, your return will come later. That would probably be unfair to the folks still remaining at the IRS, but turning noise into signal is what counts. Surviving a Month Plan ahead of time with friends and family and schedule visits to local restaurants, museums, libraries, theatres, art galleries, and shopping. It shouldn’t be that hard to fill up a month with activities that could help with withdrawal pains. It would certainly be a boon to local economies and probably be more than healthy for those who do so. Spring is coming, head outdoors when it warms up. Purchase as many groceries and medications as you can in advance (those COVID scrounging muscles shouldn’t take much to reactivate.) Yes, some of this would be harsh and actually be hard on some people. I get that. We sadly have become too conveniently connected in too many areas of our lives. There are folks who need a digital connection for medical services as an example. The reality is that the dangerous fools running things at the moment assume we are so wed to our current connected lifestyles that we would never willingly divorce ourselves from that convenience. Challenge and push back on that assumption and it may create enough signal to have some effect. Currently we’re allowing the bad guys to be on the offensive and change the rules to their liking. My thinking it’s time to show up and demonstrate that there’s a capability to at least make enough noise for longer than just a day here or there. The CEOs that are capitulating in ways most find distasteful and disgraceful are scared shitless. Who knew such untold wealth would breed such cowardice. They are afraid of pressure from the top. They need to feel pressure from the bottom on their bottom line as well. These are only the beginnings of harsher and harder times to come and those who can make important sacrifices should do so before they are forced upon us. Preferably in some sort of collective action. Maybe the time to allow enough planning for this to be effective is whenever Jeff Bezos and Amazon plan their summer Prime Day special event. Typically that’s in July. I would imagine that if enough Prime customers canceled at some point prior to that event it would have some impact. Especially if there were planned in person protests in the streets at the same time. As I said, this is all probably just some pie-in-the-sky thinking on my part. Even so, with a little planning we could certainly survive for a month or so. The bad guys are thinking big. We need to think bigger. Besides, regardless of the impact, companies you disconnect from will come begging for you to return. If and when you do, they’ll welcome you with open arms. In some cases you might actually get a deal. You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Can We Just Get This Over With?

Fluffing the king is the new national pastime.

We’ve been heading here for far too long to continue denying we’ve arrived. It’s time we acknowledged it and adjust our reactions accordingly. Because face it, reactions are all we have left, given the collective lack of action that should have been. Today, on social media, Donald Trump essentially ended the charade and declared himself king.

The political party that has been tying itself into knots supporting him and the political party that should be opposing him have both covered themselves in cowardice. The media that cherishes its hallowed 4th estate has found new and very poor ways to tell us we shouldn’t believe our eyes and ears. Men with power and money willingly submit like suckling pigs hoping they won’t get led to slaughter. Let’s not forget the deluded cult members and greedy bastards who think this guy is doing things that will help them. Woe be unto them. Woe be unto us all. I’m not saying we should accept this. We shouldn’t. We should fight it with every ounce of strength we have. But let’s for goodness sake acknowledge what we’re fighting and quit the pretense. The man sees himself as a king and those who know better are way to content to play the game. Those that don’t, but cowardly won’t call bullshit loud and often enough, are essentially giving him the runway for all of the planes to continue to crashing among us. To be honest, I think he’s somewhat oblivious in the world this decaying orange turd thinks he’s living in. He’s already on the throne and supported, willingly or no, by those who have any modicum of power in this country as they keep fluffing him while they wait for him to rape the next porn star that crosses his path. If it all one day comes crashing down he’ll be as surprised as anybody that he takes down with him. Hans Christian Anderson could never have imagined his story quite like this. Perhaps we do need a child to lead us, because the adults in the room can’t seem to find their way out from under their own shadows. You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Reading List For The Moment We’re In

Good reporting and good info are getting harder to find in these dark times.

These are difficult, stressful, head spinning times. What’s happening politically is not only wrong and dangerous, it is made more so because it is increasingly difficult to know where to turn to find good information. Now that the “Main Stream Media,” previously derided by those now in power, has capitulated and chosen a different main stream to drown in, I imagine that challenge will only continue.

It’s challenging to keep up with the pace of events and some ask why bother trying given that those we’ve relied on in the past have either turned coats or can’t keep up themselves. My answer is simple. I’d like to know more about the disease is causing me pain. As is my habit, I follow a lot of sources. I’ve compiled and will continue to compile a list of those I find the most valuable. Some on this list cover news, some provide important context, and all are worth my while in my opinion. So, I’m sharing them here. I’ll add to this list as I discover other sources worth recommending, so you might want to check back every now and then. Mostly on a political front, Josh Marshall’s Talking Point Memo has always been an excellent source. It’s even more so now. Mark Jacob covers not only the politics but those that cover the politics in Stop The Presses. ProPublica has been a go to source for me for a while and it should be for you as well. Their investigations provide important context, but it is not a breaking news source. Rolling Stone’s political coverage is solid reporting and solid context within this overwhelming pace of events. The Tennessee Holler certainly covers the things going on in Tennessee as it competes to be ranked below Mississippi in most category measurements for success, but also is providing some excellent coverage and commentary on the larger U.S. picture. Given that tech is now incestuously intertwined with our politics and governance, I highly recommend for recent, and I hope ongoing, coverage Wired, TechDirt and 404Media. Reporters from those publications are doing excellent work and it’s a good way to filter through some of the nonsense. Feel free to leave a comment if you have a good source you’d like me to include. Feel free to refrain from offering sources such as The Washington Post, The New York Times, and others crossing the River Styx. You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Perhaps Tim Cook’s Severance Trailer Explains More Than Anyone Wants To Believe

You Can’t Sever This Away

A few months ago the Severance trailer featuring Tim Cook might have been received as an average, yet cute, piece of fluff marketing. Today it feels almost like a possible explanation for how some things have changed.

The entire premise behind Severance, being able to separate your work life from your real life, is indeed a fun bit of sci-fi story telling that I increasingly imagine the storytellers are going to have a hard time wrapping up into a successful conclusion.

Tim Cook’s recent decision to donate to the Trump inauguration certainly feels like he’s severed a part of himself from the carefully crafted persona he’s built for himself, and the reputation he built for Apple. Even, unlike some of his other tech company CEO compatriots, he made the donation out of his personal account, the understandable transactional decision has bruised Apple more than I think we might realize in this chaotic moment.

I say “understandable” because we’re in that world now. These transactional business/government relationships are no different than paying protection money to the guy who runs the neighborhood in order to keep the fruit stand open. It’s tough to bend the knee if both are broken.

Perhaps severing one’s self might make real life decisions with real life consequences easier to swallow or hide from. Or make work life more palatable. But that’s where the science fiction part of the story trails off. This is real life, and these are real people making these choices in the bright light of day. I’d say the markets will eventually give us a hint of an answer, but that’s not real life anymore either.

Time will tell how much of a blight Tim Cook infected Apple’s carefully cultivated orchard with. While many are disappointed and upset and rail about it online and in podcasts, the real question, and perhaps the cover Cook calculated upon, is that with every other tech CEO bending the knee, where else do Apple customers have to turn? And don’t say Linux. It still needs chips and hardware to run the software on.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Add ‘Good Night and Good Luck’ To Your Streaming Cue

Worth a watch or a re-watch.

Last night after a rough, though totally not surprising day, I posted the following on social media:

Certainly it was how I felt and was indeed an homage to Mr. Murrow and what he stood for. I didn’t go immediately to bed after posting that “good night” message. Instead I re-watched the excellent film containing Murrow’s famous sign-off, “Good Night and Good Luck.”

As we all go through what we’re going to continue to go through (and who really knows what that is), I’d recommend watching or re-watching the film again. It’s on most streaming services so it’s easy to find.

There are and will be pressures all the way around and certainly a dramatization of any kind compresses events to create that drama. Given that we may never hear about any of the recent conflicts that I can only hope happened inside corporate media headquarters before they folded up their tents to march willingly in step with the new administration, the story of taking on McCarthy, while also relevant to our current moment, is really just the stage for the one behind the scenes that impacts what we see or don’t see on our screens of so many sizes.

This isn’t some moment of nostalgia for a time gone by. It is a recognition that where we are now is a place we’ve been before. This time around those that control the media and messaging have, for the moment, much more control than they did in Murrow’s day. Make no mistake, they had some control then, but now it’s more pervasive and the Murrow’s, Friendly’s and Paley’s are fewer in number.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.