* I’ll admit to binge-watching video of the Fox News Sunday Chris Wallace interview with White House mouthpiece Sarah Huckabee Sanders. The one where Wallace wouldn’t let her get away with talking points that were not remotely fact-based as she stated that “nearly 4,000 known or suspected terrorists have come into our country illegally, and we know that our most vulnerable point of entry is at our southern border.” Turns out that those illegals were captured at airports. His dad would have been proud.
* Because the media have been demonized by the prevaricator-in-chief as the “enemy of the people,” it typically fails to acknowledge where it has truly fallen down on the media-coverage job. As in the over-the-top, disproportionate attention paid to candidate Donald Trump because he brought high ratings. As in ceding too much narrative control to the commander-in-Cheeto.
Dan Rather had an interesting take. “The shadow of what we did last time looms over this next time,” he recently noted. “When you cover this as spectacle, what’s lost is context, perspective and depth. And when you cover this as spectacle, he is the star.”
* Remember the subjunctive mood? If I WERE a copy editor, I’d familiarize myself with it.
* Another “You can’t make this update.” Thanks to what’s being called the “Bird Box challenge,” derived from the hit movie “Bird Box,” society now has another viral video stunt to confront. This one records people doing various tasks–including driving–while blindfolded. Imagine making “driving while texting” look almost sane and safe. Almost.