Tom “The Mustache of Understanding” Friedman on the Middle East.
Category: Media
Last night
Had a fascinating talk with Steve Volk about his new book “Fringeology: How I Tried to Explain Away The Unexplainable — And Couldn’t.” You can listen here, and learn how his look at how we react to the idea of the paranormal also tells us a lot about the political brain.
Tonight
My guest on Virtually Speaking Susie tonight is Philadelphia Magazine investigative journalist Steve Volk, who will be talking about his new book “Fringeology.” This will be a fascinating show and I’m really looking forward to it. Here’s what I wrote about Steve’s book on Amazon:
It’s not just that Steve Volk brings a thoughtful and intelligent eye to the puzzle of the paranormal, a topic too often subject to knee-jerk ridicule. It’s that the book evolves into a wonderful and fascinating look at the way humans perceive and integrate information through their own filters, with useful implications for our everyday interactions — and our national political conversation. This tangent was completely unexpected, but thoroughly enjoyed.
You can listen here and, as always, can dial 646-200-3440 with questions or comments.
Why oh why
Virtually Speaking tonight
Sunday, June 26 | 9 pm eastern | 6 pm pacific | Virtually Speaking Sundays | digby and Cliff Schecter “Our Media Not Theirs” | digby and Cliff discuss developments of the week, highlighting issues neglected or misrepresented on the Sunday morning broadcasts of traditional media. Authentic, informative and passionate. | Listen live and later on BTR
Virtually speaking
Thursday, June 23 | 9 pm eastern | 6 pm pacific | Virtually Speaking w/ Jay Ackroyd | Dan Ellsberg and Glenn Greenwald – together for up to 2 hrs – talk about WikiLeaks and the growth of the American Security State. | Listen live and later on BTR.
This ought to be a good one.
Last night’s show
Dave gets very, very excited when he’s talking about politics, and it makes for a fun show. Listen here!
Tonight
Tuesday, June 21 | 9 pm eastern | 6 pm pacific |Virtually Speaking Susie | Susie Madrak chats with Dave Johnson from the Campaign for America’s Future. Dave blogs at Seeing the Forest. Listen live and later on BTR.
Dave is a good friend and always fun to talk to. He’s also scary smart under that grin, and has lots of useful things to say about progressive politics. As always, call in to 646-200-3440 with your questions and comments.
Maddow explains it all for you
Rachel Maddow went on a tear Thursday, condemning Democrats for forcing Anthony Weiner to resign and warning them that they have damaged themselves “probably for a generation” because of their actions.
Maddow has repeatedly decried what she views as a double standard: Weiner was forced out because of his sexts and pictures, but Republicans like David Vitter and John Ensign managed to stay in office even though they broke the law.
“Democrats have not only refused to hold Republicans accountable for the double standard, but they have joined with Republicans in piling on with the demands that Anthony Weiner had to resign even as David Vitter stays in the Senate,” Maddow said. She then went on a long monologue, listing all the Republicans and Democrats who were not forced out of office even after admitting to more serious ethical violations than Weiner.
“Anthony Weiner, who was not accused of corruption, who does not appear to have done anything illegal, who does not even appear to have had sex with any of the women with any of the people with whom he had scandalous talk and picture-taking, for him a line was drawn,” Maddow concluded, her voice bristling with anger. She then turned her focus on the media, saying that the story was actually “the media covering the media ending a man’s career.”
Maddow ended by addressing Democrats. She issued a dire warning.
“Congratulations, Democrats,” she said. “In an era of unhinged, ideological, big money conservative media that is wholly and admittedly divorced from the precepts of journalism, in hounding Anthony Weiner into resigning … you have just fed and unleashed this beast onto yourselves, probably for a generation.”
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FYI
If you want to watch Keith Olbermann and don’t get CurrentTV, you can watch it here.