Can't agree with you more on this, Mark. I cringe every time I hear one of these childish labels repeated. I despise most advertising and marketing (I know, necessary evils but still... ) so for them to come up with cute names for actions that are reprehensible and cruel is just another of the thousand reasons to hate this movement.
As a fellow Chicagoan, I'm with you all the way on "Midway Blitz." My parents (and some grandparents) went to UC, and the Midway is a cherished piece of my childhood. It actually hurts to see it degraded like this. I figured the other nicknames were equally contemptuous without knowing what they referred to.
It's too bad that many journalists are so sloppy now that they pick up on the derisive (and divisive) phrases of a human cesspool instead of calling him out.
Fortunately for me, I live in a small town that hasn’t (yet) attracted the regime’s worst ideas. I know I’ve been following the news on Substack and BlueSky, the most reliable news sources in today’s market, and the cutsie nicknames have been used occasionally, but more often it has been a location and activity. If this regime continues the way it’s been going, there will no longer be any favorable ratings from the citizenry. If people aren’t paying 600% more for health insurance, their SNAP benefits have been cut. Prices are rising much faster than raises, and everyone has been promised lower prices on day one.
Mark, this is a long response to your piece and others you have written with which I so agree. I hope you will forgive this outburst in your notes section but the abdication of the press was the one thing I had not seen beforehand.
One of the first pieces of euphemism—by the Times editor—that I heard screaming a warning of irrevocable damage with the paper right then trading in top of the line 'news speak" providing a manual on the art of Euphemism— was on Trump’s "audacious," redirection of America and his "bold" [edicts] as though it were ring around the Maypole in Pleasantville, America and not May Day, May Day in pre-fascist America —or are we still saying authoritarian, dictator, unified executive with moral credits for the deregulation of swastikas in government documents re-introduced with jurisprudence as acceptable imagery expressive of a legitimate "opinion" neutered of consequence and plastered onto the round face of America's moral compass where one is kind and respectful to "both sides"—redefining what a "side" is and who "one" is. And with "push back" —a neutered bi-meaning idiomatic expression for all seasons— a decision thankfully was reconsidered even by "conservatives" another word without seasoning on which your egg will stick where Don's Teflon will slide you in and out of court with no consequence. Not to mention what the NYT in particular did to our chances of having Harris and what they attempted to do with Mamdani- the grand announcement of already announced non-endorsement followed by their new policy of endorsing by virtue of non-endorsing and suggesting one not vote for one certain non-endorsed politician but vote for other non-endorsed politicians at large thus editing the no endorsements at all policy. Like two double negatives they put two sets of Emperor's clothes on their invisible endorsement protocols and created a positive set of state press uniforms. And Biden trip-toe-ing through the Rose Garden that we once had on the grounds of our house—no one asked who had left a sandbag on a stair going up to and down from a podium where a speech to the nation is made on camera by a President of any age unobstructed by unseen piles of wrapped earth. People who— mid-info swirl on Project 2025—were laughing at Biden literally gave blank stares when it came to Project 2025. And who can forget that the Washington Post literally commanded Zelensky in bold print ringing out their grandiosity to the universe—issuing a vulgar moronic and entirely dishonorable order that Zelensky RESIGN for having annoyed Trump after which, in fact and inconceivable as it seems to have been to the WaPo command—first to be last in this matter—the White House scene and the hugely failed attempt to humiliate President Zelenksy was seen, heard and decried around the globe and universally in the Pantheon. There is no way to unsee that bold headline or un-know the depths of depravity that mainstream press had sunk to in that moment minus two pillars of four. Not by any means has all mainstream press evaporated professional and human resource to hit this watermark. And investigative reporting has not taken the toll. When it comes to opinions my spell check keeps spelling Onion. Well, all right then. It is better to have laughed and lost than not to have laughed at all.
In a previous life I learned how to “frame” an issue. Read Don’t Think of an Elephant for the theory details. Democrats should rename the Big Beautiful Bill as the Big Billionaire Bailout. Alligator Alcatraz is really Alligator Auschwitz as those in Auschwitz lacked due process protections whereas those in Alcatraz had jury trials. Yes the Press is part of the problem but it falls to the Democrats to reframe the Republican talking points with more emotion and less academic rigor.
Can't agree with you more on this, Mark. I cringe every time I hear one of these childish labels repeated. I despise most advertising and marketing (I know, necessary evils but still... ) so for them to come up with cute names for actions that are reprehensible and cruel is just another of the thousand reasons to hate this movement.
As a fellow Chicagoan, I'm with you all the way on "Midway Blitz." My parents (and some grandparents) went to UC, and the Midway is a cherished piece of my childhood. It actually hurts to see it degraded like this. I figured the other nicknames were equally contemptuous without knowing what they referred to.
It's too bad that many journalists are so sloppy now that they pick up on the derisive (and divisive) phrases of a human cesspool instead of calling him out.
Don't forget Putin's "Special Military Operation", instead of " Going to war and invading and taking over all Ukraine Territory"
They should add the truth when they report like: make America healthy again if you think polio is healthy.
Fortunately for me, I live in a small town that hasn’t (yet) attracted the regime’s worst ideas. I know I’ve been following the news on Substack and BlueSky, the most reliable news sources in today’s market, and the cutsie nicknames have been used occasionally, but more often it has been a location and activity. If this regime continues the way it’s been going, there will no longer be any favorable ratings from the citizenry. If people aren’t paying 600% more for health insurance, their SNAP benefits have been cut. Prices are rising much faster than raises, and everyone has been promised lower prices on day one.
Mark, this is a long response to your piece and others you have written with which I so agree. I hope you will forgive this outburst in your notes section but the abdication of the press was the one thing I had not seen beforehand.
One of the first pieces of euphemism—by the Times editor—that I heard screaming a warning of irrevocable damage with the paper right then trading in top of the line 'news speak" providing a manual on the art of Euphemism— was on Trump’s "audacious," redirection of America and his "bold" [edicts] as though it were ring around the Maypole in Pleasantville, America and not May Day, May Day in pre-fascist America —or are we still saying authoritarian, dictator, unified executive with moral credits for the deregulation of swastikas in government documents re-introduced with jurisprudence as acceptable imagery expressive of a legitimate "opinion" neutered of consequence and plastered onto the round face of America's moral compass where one is kind and respectful to "both sides"—redefining what a "side" is and who "one" is. And with "push back" —a neutered bi-meaning idiomatic expression for all seasons— a decision thankfully was reconsidered even by "conservatives" another word without seasoning on which your egg will stick where Don's Teflon will slide you in and out of court with no consequence. Not to mention what the NYT in particular did to our chances of having Harris and what they attempted to do with Mamdani- the grand announcement of already announced non-endorsement followed by their new policy of endorsing by virtue of non-endorsing and suggesting one not vote for one certain non-endorsed politician but vote for other non-endorsed politicians at large thus editing the no endorsements at all policy. Like two double negatives they put two sets of Emperor's clothes on their invisible endorsement protocols and created a positive set of state press uniforms. And Biden trip-toe-ing through the Rose Garden that we once had on the grounds of our house—no one asked who had left a sandbag on a stair going up to and down from a podium where a speech to the nation is made on camera by a President of any age unobstructed by unseen piles of wrapped earth. People who— mid-info swirl on Project 2025—were laughing at Biden literally gave blank stares when it came to Project 2025. And who can forget that the Washington Post literally commanded Zelensky in bold print ringing out their grandiosity to the universe—issuing a vulgar moronic and entirely dishonorable order that Zelensky RESIGN for having annoyed Trump after which, in fact and inconceivable as it seems to have been to the WaPo command—first to be last in this matter—the White House scene and the hugely failed attempt to humiliate President Zelenksy was seen, heard and decried around the globe and universally in the Pantheon. There is no way to unsee that bold headline or un-know the depths of depravity that mainstream press had sunk to in that moment minus two pillars of four. Not by any means has all mainstream press evaporated professional and human resource to hit this watermark. And investigative reporting has not taken the toll. When it comes to opinions my spell check keeps spelling Onion. Well, all right then. It is better to have laughed and lost than not to have laughed at all.
In a previous life I learned how to “frame” an issue. Read Don’t Think of an Elephant for the theory details. Democrats should rename the Big Beautiful Bill as the Big Billionaire Bailout. Alligator Alcatraz is really Alligator Auschwitz as those in Auschwitz lacked due process protections whereas those in Alcatraz had jury trials. Yes the Press is part of the problem but it falls to the Democrats to reframe the Republican talking points with more emotion and less academic rigor.
Absolutely on target,Mark. If only the corporate media would give a s*** about anything other than protecting their interests.
Make them utilities then. When billionaires own the media, they’re gonna make sure it says what they want and benefit from
shrug*