Now For the News
WTF is going on here?
Kerfuffle of the week: Joe Rogan is a B-level stand-up comedian whose career has been on the periphery of the entertainment business, including stints as the host of the TV stunt show “Fear Factor” and as a color commentator for UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) bouts. His greatest success has come as a podcaster. His pod, The Joe Rogan Experience, is one of the most popular in the world, so much so that streaming service Spotify reportedly paid him $100 million for the exclusive rights to carry it.
On his podcast, Rogan comes across as somewhat liberal on social issues and libertarian on the role of government. He does manifest a broad curiosity and his shows are multi-hour, one-on-one conversations with guests from a wide variety of fields. In the past, I’ve listened- or watched on YouTube- episodes with Elon Musk, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, writer Bari Weiss, comedienne Nikki Glaser, and even Bernie Sanders. He became embroiled in the Covid controversy by having vaccine skeptic Robert Malone as a guest and by his own statement, "If you're a healthy person, and you're exercising all the time, and you're young, and you're eating well … I don't think you need to worry about this [Covid]." He also defended the use of Ivermectin (a drug used for deworming horses) as a treatment. The reaction from the medical and scientific communities was an open letter criticizing Rogan for spreading misinformation about Covid and vaccines, especially after an episode in which Malone was a guest. This became a cause celebre when aging rock star Neil Young protested against what he termed Rogan’s spread of misinformation by threatening to withdraw his music from Spotify if Rogan’s podcast was not removed. In quick succession, Spotify dropped Young and a series of musicians including Joni Mitchell and Peter Frampton joined Young in leaving the platform.
As with much else in our fair nation, this disagreement is resulting in a line being drawn between Rogan supporters on one side and the fans of the various musicians on the other. There is much talk of free speech, misinformation, and cancel culture. There is a generational schism at play as well, with Gen-Xers apparently on Team Rogan and Boomers going for the oldies.
Rudy Unmasked! The man who was called “America’s Mayor” after the 9/11 attacks, the man who played the part of consiglieri to organized crime capo Donald Trump, and the attorney whose record in court the last two years rivals that of the NFL’s New York Jets, has been found out. It was revealed that he is a contestant this season on the Fox TV show The Masked Singer when he was unmasked during the taping of the season’s first episode. Fox made no comment on the report but you have to wonder if it may have helped the network if Rudy had shown up on Hannity or The Ingraham Angle in a mask.
In this age of digital media, the troglodytes not only want to ban books but to burn them, too. Perhaps, in light of the severe winter weather in some parts of the country, it makes sense: If the power goes out and your home has no heat, you can burn your book collection. In a trend that began last Fall, right-wing activists have begun agitating for banning certain “objectional” books from public school libraries. Some have gone so far as to advocate burning the offensive tomes. Isn’t this a recurring behavior of fascist movements, burning books? It seems very retrograde, given that the written word is very accessible online these days. Don’t any of these rabble-rousers own a Kindle? If anything, they are sparking increased interest in and sales of the proscribed texts. Maus, a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust, is now No.1 on Amazon’s best-seller list after being banned by a Tennessee school district. One of the complaints is that the depicted characters are nude. Of course, the characters are mice… While I’ve heard the term “clothes horse” applied to men who take pride in their dress, I don’t think “clothes mouse” is a thing.
It’s the economy stupid. Really. If you haven’t heard the news- and it’s likely you haven’t- the economy is booming. The government’s Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that real GDP grew 5.7% in 2021, the largest increase since 1984. December’s unemployment rate was 3.9%, the lowest since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. That the Biden Administration and Congressional Democrats haven’t made this a core message in an election year is a head-scratcher.
The problem is increasing prices in a number of sectors are raising the specter of runaway inflation and that seems to have spooked the Democrats. This is historically inaccurate: We ended 2021 with a year-over-year increase in the Consumer Price Index of 7.0 percent. While this is the greatest increase since 1981 (8.9 percent), it does not approach other periods of inflation (12.3 percent in 1974, 12.5 in 1980). The Federal Reserve and a number of other forecasters are projecting a downward trend later this year. The reasons for the upward trend in prices will resolve themselves: supply-chain issues will be resolved, for example, making more products available, and relieving the demand in relation to supply.
Big Brother wants to watch… your kid’s classroom. Several state legislators around the country are proposing laws that would place video surveillance technology in public school classrooms. While some, as in Florida, are claiming it would be for security purposes in the event of an act such as a shooting, others are actually proposing live-streaming classes so parents can monitor what is being taught to their children. The purpose, of course, is to permit parents to object to certain subject matter, such as evolution or the history of racism in this country.
It almost makes one nostalgic for the days of helicopter parenting.
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