Network

 

Fox News

   I just realized that I have not posted in ten days. To resume blogging I will pick a current event, which is a clear violation of my stated protocol -- which indicates that I will focus only on older, even ancient, unpopular matters rather than current topics of passing, but popular interest. The event is chosen, however,  because I think it will be an easy and quick way to provide you with some content, but judging from that last sentence, perhaps not. 

   Although Fox News is not typically available over Canadian television, most Canadians will have heard of the network and of the announcers, Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity. Recently it was discovered that they may not have believed some of the news they were preaching. They privately expressed doubts about the "stolen election", although they have not done so publicly,  and then shouted over the airwaves, "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore." You may recognize that shout from the movie Network, which was about news broadcasting and ratings, which is also what the current event is all about. 

   The private views were discovered because Dominion Voting Systems is suing Fox News for defamation and, in doing so, gained access to Fox emails which contained statements which indicated some Fox executives and announcers had doubts about the reliability of Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell and thought it unlikely that Dominion had been able to rig all of those electronic votes (Dominion, by the way was established in Toronto by John Poulos.) 

   I gather that the doubts about the "stolen election" are not widely expressed over the Fox airwaves, out of fear that fans of Trump will migrate to news sources that are further right (apparently there are some, like Newsmax and OANN.) As even one Fox executive notes: “It’s remarkable how weak ratings make good journalists do bad things.”

   At first, I thought all of this was "good news", in that perhaps a few more people in the U.S. might view the current administration as a legitimate one. But, this "good news" probably won't be seen by the Fox viewers who are the ones who need convincing. I would ask some of my American relatives, but such political things are better not discussed. 

   It is also very likely that more Americans will be watching the trial of Alex Murdaugh, rather than the Dominion case involving Rupert Murdoch, who owns Fox and much else. Murdoch indicated that he thought the "stolen election rhetoric" should be stopped and that Fox needed to keep Giuliani off TV, but that has not happened. 

   Plus, this headline today relating to our Michigan neighbour, indicates we are likely in for a lot more "bad news": "Far Right Election Denier Beats Trump's Pick For Michigan GOP." You should also know that this election denier believes in demons:

Kristina Karamo, who refused to concede her run for secretary of state, beat Donald Trump’s choice for state chair in a chaotic convention.

In a Thursday speech to a right-wing “patriot” group in nearby Charlotte,[MI] Karamo argued that Christianity belonged at the core of American politics, called evolution “one of the biggest frauds ever perpetuated on society,” and asserted the existence of demons.

“When we start talking about the spiritual reality of the demonic forces, it’s like, ‘Oh, my God, this is crazy, we can’t go there,’” Karamo said. “No. It’s like, did you read the Bible? Didn’t Jesus perform exorcisms? … Scriptures are clear. And so if we’re not operating as though the spirit realities of the world exist, we’re going to fail every time.”

Sources:

  "Dominion Voting Case Exposed Post-Election Fear at Fox News, David Bauder, AP, Feb. 18, 2023 (the source for the quote from the Fox executive.) 

   "Far Right Election Denier Beats Trump's Pick For Michigan GOP," Isaac Arnsdorf, Washington Post, Feb. 18, 2023.

Angela Madsen (R.I.P.)

      This post is interesting and should be inspirational. It is not about me. Even though we are living during the time of the Great Flu, many of us probably do too much whining (or whinging or even whingeing) about problems or issues that result in inconveniences that are often very minor ones. My toe hurts, for example, and it is raining, but this is not about me.

   It is about Angela Madsen and she was the one who is interesting and can inspire us to be a little tougher. I write ‘was’ because I only learned about her in her recent obituary. She died at the age of 60, alone in the Pacific where she had been rowing for about 60 days. Her legs didn't work. She had no breasts.

   The obituary begins this way and only gets worse:

Angela Madsen was a healthy young Marine who was playing basketball when she suffered a serious back injury in 1981. When she had back surgery a dozen years later, at 33, she woke up paralyzed from the waist down. She lost her job, her partner cleaned out her bank account and left her, and for a time she lived on the streets, sleeping in her wheelchair in front of Disneyland.

In case you can’t get behind the firewall I will itemize some of the other difficulties she faced and provide additional sources. She got pregnant while still a junior in high school. Apart from the injury and the botched surgery and the paraplegia, she broke a leg and some ribs in a car accident. She fell from her wheelchair onto the tracks of the San Francisco, subway, injuring her brain, but “even cancer and a double mastectomy did not slow her down.”

  None of those things slowed her down. Apart from the Pacific she also rowed across the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans and around the United Kingdom. She also won gold medals as a Paralympian in rowing and other medals in events such as throwing a javelin and putting a shot. In short, she is worth reading about and we should all complain less and do more.

Sources:

   The obituary: "Angela Madsen, Paralympian Rower, Dies on Solo Pacific Voyage at 60, Katharine Q. Seelye, New York Times, June 30, 2020.

   See also: "Paralympian Angela Madsen Found Dead While Trying to Row From California to Hawaii, " Allen Kim, CNN, June 26, and  “Paralympic Rowing Star Dies During Solo Crossing of Pacific, "Tom Lutz, The Guardian, June 24, 2020.

   Apparently Madsen went overboard in an attempt to fix a problem as a typhoon approached. She was found attached to her boat. Details are provided at the website The Row of Life and on Explorersweb.com - "What Happened to Angela Madsen?".

  This was not her first problem at sea. In one account a huge container ship almost resulted in her drowning during a rescue attempt. There are several YouTube accounts about her. She is typically poised and well-spoken. See, for example, the interview with Jennifer Longdon - "Angela Madsen: Rowing Against the Wind."

The Bonus

   Another tough woman without legs is also in the news these days. Senator Tammy Duckworth (Illinois) lost hers during the Iraq War as a pilot of a Black Hawk helicopter. She also was not slowed down and became a U.S. Senator and mother - the first to give birth while serving in the Senate. 

   She was attacked by Tucker Carlson on Fox News, apparently for hating America. I gather her husband doesn't know that since he is also an Iraq War veteran.

See: "Tammy Duckworth Confronts Nativist Smears From Tucker Carlson," Reid J. Epstein," New York Times, July 8, 2020.

  For more about Senator Duckworth see the Wikipedia entry and her Senate biography.