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Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

Mike and John, everyone has an agenda or a bias....including judges.  I would just point you to the FBI, CIA, NSA, IRS over the past decade.  Many of us can see for ourselves that finding the truth has become elusive over the past decade via traditional sources that were once a trusted means of information.  Money and power, not ethics and morality. drive everything. The more America becomes untethered from its founding principles, the closer it comes to self-destructing.  Too much power has already been ceded to a few powerful entities. 

https://www.businessinsider.com/these-6-corporations-control-90-of-the-media-in-america-2012-6?op=1 

David Mitchell

Aplogees for the miny spellung arrors I made in dose lass tree posts. I wuz writin' fast and tryed to go back and currect sum of it.

I hope you got the gist of what I was trying to say. 

But I would like to call your attention to one of the last people I cited - one of Captain Dwight's sculpture subjects - Ohio's first black legislator. Gosh, it would have seemed worth while to have taught us a word or two about this little known American (and Ohio) "giant" when we were kids. As you can see from the narrative, he was quite an accomplished man! 

Here is a brief summary from Wikipedia.

George Washington Williams
Born	October 16, 1849 Bedford Springs, Pennsylvania, United States
Died	August 1, 1891 (aged 41) Blackpool, United Kingdom
Nationality	American
Occupation	Soldier, Minister, Historian, Lawyer, Journalist
Personal
Religion	Baptist

George Washington Williams (October 16, 1849 – August 2, 1891) was a soldier in the American Civil War and in Mexico before becoming a Baptist minister, politician, lawyer, journalist, and writer on African-American history.

He served in the Ohio House of Representatives.^[1] In the late 1880s, Williams turned his interest to Europe and Africa. After having been impressed by meeting King Leopold II of Belgium, he traveled in 1890 to the Congo Free State (then owned by the king) to see its development. Shocked by the widespread brutal abuses and slavery imposed on the Congolese, he wrote an open letter to Leopold in 1890 about the suffering of the region's native inhabitants at the hands of the king's agents. This letter was a catalyst for an international outcry against the regime running the Congo, which had caused millions of deaths.^[2]

John Jackson

MM, the major media have always been concentrated – I would argue that it’s hard to imagine that Americans today get more of their political information from the six sources you cite than Americans got from three sources in 1983 - ABC, CBS and NBC.

I’ll admit that it’s hard to argue that media concentration is a good thing, but even more important are journalistic standards.  Maybe I’m naive but it’s hard for me accept that the major networks (who have Walter Cronkite and John Chancellor in their DNA) have “in the last decade” turned their backs on responsible reporting.  And, for reasons I can’t fathom, even the news pages of Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal (the sole serious newspaper in your list of concentrated media – New York Post is a joke) continue to adhere to  the kind of journalistic standards employed by other major papers (I may not like the WSJ opinion pages, but opinion pages, after all, are allowed to express opinions).

David Mitchell

Meanwhile, can I ask Mark if he is near any of this year's new wave of forrest fires?

Mark Schweickart

Dave -- so far so good. Nothing to speak of in this area. Thanks for asking. 

Michael McLeod

Well this subject of media conglomeration is in my roundhouse. It's nothing new. It  goes back decades.  Through the years it has always alarmed journalists as chains got bigger and bigger and the danger of a chosen few forcing journalists to write about thing in lockstep was the subject of many an after-hours conversation among me and my peers.

But what I see now as both a practitioner and a consumer of news is this: though local news sources are not what they once were, nationally and internationally that there are so many choices out there for the individual that a wise consumer of news is better off than ever, and can either choose to fortify their own leanings and stay in a "silo," as it's called, or expand their horizons and ferret out multiple points of view.

Here's a source that ranks publications and news sites according to whether they are conservative or liberal:

https://guides.lib.umich.edu/c.php?g=637508&p=4462444

The other thing I was thinking is this: the ancient philosophers who made a study of rationality had their own way of measuring argumentation - how a listener can judge whether what they are hearing is solid info or bullhocky. And one of the very simple and basic core precepts was whether the speaker was making an appeal to emotion or an appeal to reason - the former having its place, but easily misused by manipulators, and the latter, therefore, being the more likely path to the truth. 

Without naming any specific individuals like TRUMP or news sources like FOX because I would never do that, I can tell you that it's pretty easy to tell one approach from the other and see through it accordingly. The hard part is monitoring our own inherent confirmation bias, which MM1 alludes to. 

David Mitchell

So the massive slaughter of our Afghan allies begins, at the hands of the same Taliban that Trump actually negotiated with - (kind of a joke, since the Taliban would never adhere to their own "promises"). I assume the deaths will accelerate at a staggering pace, and the survivors will live in hell, especialy the women.

Isn't it interesting that some groups of (Afghan) women are arming themselves and training in the use of their weapons to take on the Taliban? Groups of armed male soldiers are surrenduring and/or running away, while women are training to fight. The Taliban are very afraid to be killed by women, as it brings huge shame on them. God help the ladies, we sure won't.

In a recent interview of three American soldiers, a lady Army Major, a male Army Spec 5, and a male Army Colonel - all of whom had served multiple tours in Afghanistan - they all three asked the same question, "What was our strategy?" There never seemed to be an end game concept. Sounds like Vietnam to me. Politicians sending brave soldiers to make a fight, and then backing away when they realized how costly it is - making it even more "costly" in the end.

Ironically, now we see two new situations right in our back yard that would, under some administrations, call for the US to send in troops.  

In one case, Haiti, (who are begging us) to give some semblance of order and public safety as the situation descends into chaos, and the other, Cuba, where we might see the only time in 60 years where we would certainy be welcomed by the local population. But the latter would of course be considered an armed invasion - something eveyone on the planet would blame us for - except I assume the Cubans themselves. God help them also. I don't think Joe's "pledge" to "Stand with the people of Cuba" will accomplish much. 

And the silence from our Politicians (especially on the Left) is deafening! 

P.s. Viva Cuba Libre !!!

John Jackson

Mike,  confirmation bias is real – no one disputes that – we all tend to seek out sources that agree with our view of the world.  On the other hand,  I don’t think you intended this, but some would read your post as saying “there’s a spectrum of reporting so just go right ahead and pick whatever flavor of the truth you like”.  That’s the view that Fox News pushes – all truth is relative -  one view is as defensible as another so be happy and stick with the one you like.

What you don’t address is that some sources have much higher standards for verifying what they report (verifying facts and obtaining multiple confirming sources rather than reporting unsubstantiated rumors or crazy internet posts, such as the ones that fueled the 2020 election fraud allegations) and as a result have much better records for getting their stories right.  And I would argue that the mainstream media have been caught with their pants down in this regard on precious few occasions.    

With this, I'll sign off for a while as I suspect I'm getting tedious.

James Hamilton, M. D.

John, 

Your posts bring out the poet in me! 

You like drinking Rusty Nails,

I enjoy driving on dusty trails.

You hate Fox News,

I agree with most of their views.

You suspect you are becoming tedious, 

But we conservatives think you may be delirious.

And using words like "tedious" is a crime,

Like "orange" they are hard to rhyme!

Jim

John Jackson

Jim, I’m struggling to come up with a pithy response but the best I can offer is this taunt from our growing-up years:

“You’re a poet, but you don’t know it…”  

Michael McLeod

Well, tedious John, if you look at the discussion in context I was just countering the notion that because news is more monolithic that ever in terms of its ownership it is directed with monolithic perspectives from top to bottom. 

If anybody knows the difference between writing that is responsible and fact-oriented as opposed to playing on fear and predjudice and preconceptions, you're reading his words at the moment. And I actually though I made a wave at that part of the issue with that pompous reference to the ancients and that ultimate most old-fashioned of strategies: logic.

But I'm glad you brought it up. In my mind there is a parallel between the scientific method and the precepts of fair-minded and reasonably objective journalism I learned at Ohio State and saw in practice throughout my career.  

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

A friend shared this remarkable story with me today:

 In May of 1861, 9 year old John Lincoln “Johnny” Clem ran away from his home in Newark, Ohio, to join the Union Army, but found the Army was not interested in signing on a 9 year old boy when the commander of the 3rd Ohio Regiment told him he “wasn’t enlisting infants,” and turned him down. Clem tried the 22nd Michigan Regiment next, and its commander told him the same. Determined, Clem tagged after the regiment, acted out the role of a drummer boy, and was allowed to remain. Though still not regularly enrolled, he performed camp duties and received a soldier’s pay of $13 a month, a sum collected and donated by the regiment’s officers.

The next April, at Shiloh, Clem’s drum was smashed by an artillery round and he became a minor news item as “Johnny Shiloh, The Smallest Drummer”. A year later, at the Battle Of Chickamauga, he rode an artillery caisson to the front and wielded a musket trimmed to his size. In one of the Union retreats a Confederate officer ran after the cannon Clem rode with, and yelled, “Surrender you damned little Yankee!” Johnny shot him dead. This pluck won for Clem national attention and the name “Drummer Boy of Chickamauga.”

Clem stayed with the Army through the war, served as a courier, and was wounded twice. Between Shiloh and Chickamauga he was regularly enrolled in the service, began receiving his own pay, and was soon-after promoted to the rank of Sergeant. He was only 12 years old. After the Civil War he tried to enter West Point but was turned down because of his slim education. A personal appeal to President Ulysses S. Grant, his commanding general at Shiloh, won him a 2nd Lieutenant’s appointment in the Regular Army on 18 December 1871, and in 1903 he attained the rank of Colonel and served as Assistant Quartermaster General. He retired from the Army as a Major General in 1916, having served an astounding 55 years.

General Clem died in San Antonio, Texas on 13 May 1937, exactly 3 months shy of his 86th birthday, and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Lawrence Foster

I posted these on my FB page so some of you have already seen them.  Last Tuesday while driving back from Mt. Gilead to Cincinnati I saw these clouds around 5:30 in the evening near mile marker 60.   They were moving NE and we were travelling SW so we only got some rain for only 15 minutes or so.  No strong winds.     

John Jackson

I know I promised to shut up for a while but I need help - should I be concerned that the salmon I bought at the grocery store today contains fish?

James Hamilton, M. D.

John, 

Only because Subway was recently accused that their tuna salad did not! And there are a few who are allergic to fish who would sue your grocery if they had an anaphylactic reaction and we're not informed that salmon are actually fish. 🐟

Larry,

Looks like thunder clouds to me which can also bring hail and tornadoes.

Jim

Janie Albright (Blank)

JJ: Makes you wonder what category these people think salmon falls under?

Larry: I hope you were the passenger while photographing. Yes, Jim, I'd have been thinking tornado, especially along that stretch of 71. 

Joseph D. McCarthy

MM-1 (aka Mary Margaret), that was a wonderful article about a young Mr. Clem.  Now it makes me wonder if he was the Great-Grandfather of one named Fred?

Joe

David Mitchell

Just wondering if Tim or Joe are near any of this latest wave of fires?

Joseph D. McCarthy

Thanks a lot Dave.  Just like you never tell an artist to "Knock-em-Dead" or "Give It Your All."  You say "Break a Leg."  Now were JINKED.  The fires are (or had been) hours North of me or half a day South and South-East of me.  Now I'm going to have to cancel my trip to Columbus so that I can stay home and protect my home from the ravaging fire (will name it the Dave fire).  And Dave, you don't have to worry about me (yet), it's my wife who has been looking forward to getting back to Ohio.

Happy Days Dave; err look out for the tornado.

Joe

Michael McLeod

Yikes

MAGARAS, Russia — The call for help lit up villagers’ phones at 7:42 on a muggy and painfully smoky evening on Siberia’s fast-warming permafrost expanse.

“We urgently ask all men to come to the town hall at 8,” read the WhatsApp message from the mayor’s office. “The fire has reached the highway.”

A farmer hopped on a tractor towing a big blue bag of water and trundled into a foreboding haze. The ever-thickening smoke cut off sunlight, and the wind whipped ash into his unprotected face. Flames along the highway glowed orange and hot, licking up the swaying roadside trees.

“We need a bigger tractor!” the driver soon yelled, aborting his mission and rushing back to town as fast as his rumbling machine could take him.

For the third year in a row, residents of northeastern Siberia are reeling from the worst wildfires they can remember, and many are left feeling helpless, angry and alone.

They endure the coldest winters outside Antarctica with little complaint. But in recent years, summer temperatures in the Russian Arctic have gone as high as 100 degrees, feeding enormous blazes that thaw what was once permanently frozen ground.

Last year, wildfires scorched more than 60,000 square miles of forest and tundra, an area the size of Florida. That is more than four times the area that burned in the United States during its devastating 2020 fire season. This year, more than 30,000 square miles have already burned in Russia, according to government statistics, with the region only two weeks into its peak fire season.

Scientists say that the huge fires have been made possible by the extraordinary summer heat in recent years in northern Siberia, which has been warming faster than just about any other part of the world. And the impact may be felt far from Siberia. The fires may potentially accelerate climate change by releasing enormous quantities of greenhouse gases and destroying Russia’s vast boreal forests, which absorb carbon out of the atmosphere.

Michael McLeod

• And double yikes. Both stories in the same news cycle. Not a coincidence. A reality.

Some of Europe’s richest countries lay in disarray this weekend, as raging rivers burst through their banks in Germany and Belgium, submerging towns, slamming parked cars against trees and leaving Europeans shellshocked at the intensity of the destruction.

Only days before in the Northwestern United States, a region famed for its cool, foggy weather, hundreds had died of heat. In Canada, wildfire had burned a village off the map. Moscow reeled from record temperatures. And this weekend the northern Rocky Mountains were bracing for yet another heat wave, as wildfires spread across 12 states in the American West.

The extreme weather disasters across Europe and North America have driven home two essential facts of science and history: The world as a whole is neither prepared to slow down climate change, nor live with it. The week’s events have now ravaged some of the world’s wealthiest nations, whose affluence has been enabled by more than a century of burning coal, oil and gas — activities that pumped the greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that are warming the world.

“I say this as a German: The idea that you could possibly die from weather is completely alien,” said Friederike Otto, a physicist at Oxford University who studies the links between extreme weather and climate change. “There’s not even a realization that adaptation is something we have to do right now. We have to save peoples lives.”

Michael McLeod

https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/02/12/the-missing-piece-meets-the-big-o-shel-silverstein/?mc_cid=e244f014c9&mc_eid=44293eac15

As an English major I'm a sucker for a good metaphor. This is a great one. Don't know how I ever missed it until now. Thank you Shel Silverstein.

David Barbour

David Mitchell

OFFICIAL MEMO:

From the Department of Absolutely Nothing To Do With Anything

I just happen to love this video.

Michael McLeod

I like this back and forth between a couple of writers I respect because it touches on a hugely important theme -- one that we've mentioned here recently -- about the challenge of tolerance, and disagreeing respectfully.

The subject is Biden's recent quote that Facebook was "killing people" by not curbing users who posit crazy theories about the covid vaccines. 

Gail: I can understand the president’s frustration. There are people using sites like Facebook to spread terrible lies. A lot of the digital leaders are trying to deal with it, but maybe not hard enough. You’re much smarter about this stuff than me — what do you think?

Bret: What Biden said was pretty unfortunate. First off, an American president should always err on the side of defending the principle of free speech. I seem to remember a certain former president accusing the news media of being the enemy of the people, which was foul. Now Biden has essentially leveled the same charge against social media. Second, I think Facebook has already been much too active in censoring content, for instance by banning mention of the lab-leak theory of Covid in February of this year until it was forced to lift the ban when the theory became more widely accepted.

Gail: You’re coming on strong. Continue.

Bret: Coming to terms with the importance of free speech means coming to terms with the reality that free speech will sometimes be used for purposes we abhor. We protect bad speech because we understand that the alternative, in the form of censorship, is worse. We protect it because we have the humility to recognize that what seems bad to many of us in the present may seem right to many others in the future. We protect it because, as Jefferson put it, “error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.” Bad speech, like flies or mice, is part of the broader ecology of truth: To discover what’s right you have to know what’s wrong, and to know what’s wrong you have to allow it.

If Biden had just said, “If you can get the vaccine, and decide not to, then you’ve made your choice: Don’t ask for sympathy or money when you get sick,” he would have made his point much more effectively.

Gail: You know, everybody is always telling me that they like our conversations because we can fight without getting mad. But fights don’t really work unless there’s some movement. I officially decree that you’ve made today’s winning point.