* For most of us, it seems like there’s always been a “60 Minutes.” From the late 1960s through right now. Correspondents and producers have changed, but it’s still a Sunday night anchor—even though its time slot gets encroached upon by CBS network sports. For fans, as well as news junkies, there is now another “60 Minutes” forum: “Ticking Clock: Behind the Scenes at ‘60 Minutes’” by its long-time, Emmy Award-winning producer Ira Rosen. The involved, sometimes prickly process and the prima donna personalities make for a good read. I’ll pass on the spoiler alerts, but I will say that Rosen speaks highest of Leslie Stahl and Bill Whitaker and, probably to no one’s surprise, reveals how arrogant, abusive and dismissive Mike Wallace could be. One piece of “60 Minutes” trivia: When Mike Wallace signed on in 1968, his other career option was an offer to be President Richard Nixon’s chief-of-staff.
* Until we’ve walked in a targeted minority’s shoes—or those of police officers confronted with nano-second decision-making, we can’t know everything about context in controversial shootings. But it’s rare to hear that said by a prominent network news host. But CNN’s Don Lemon broke that rhetorical mold.
“We cannot judge all police shootings; we cannot put them all in the same realm,” said Lemon, who’s African-American. “They make split-second decisions. Sometimes they are tragic, sometimes they are warranted, sometimes they are not. … That’s why I’m not a police officer, because I couldn’t face that kind of pressure. … That’s why I sit here on TV and analyze it and talk to people about it.”
* “Out of Many, One.” That’s the title of the recently published collection of paintings by former President George W. Bush. His goal, said Bush, was to share portraits of immigrants and their stories—in an effort to humanize the debate on immigration and reform. Post-Trump, “W” has never looked better.
* “I think I’ve learned how to avoid both the ratification of simplistic heroes and villains and to muddy the water with the shades of gray. It’s the only way in which actual life takes place.”–Documentary film-maker Ken Burns.