News8 seeking to destroy its audience share?

 Well, well well. Here we go again.

    WGAL-TV, which likes to advertise itself as News8, has broken in again with a Pa. Health Dept. update news conference, knocking out its regularly scheduled broadcast of "Days of Our Lives."

    Before breaking in to the soap opera, one should ask "is the news conference presenting anything that will immediately affect our quality of life...such as a tornado or impending attack?" Obviously the answer is "no." 

    Does it really qualify to break out over a program that has an ongoing storyline and isn't repeated? The answer is "no."

    To rub salt into the viewer's wounds, the feed being broadcast by WGAL-TV had its audio and video out of sync ... so much so it was downright annoying.

    WGAL-TV officers do make some decisions on new conferences ... at times. It has on several occasions cut off news conferences being held by President Donald J. Trump, and moving it to its side channel 8.2.

    Obviously, News8 personnel feel Pa. health department officials are much more important than President Trump.

    This news conference contained nothing other than some good sound clips to include in its regular news programs, where stories are repeated at least four times throughout a 24-hour period.

    We could get the information that Pa. Dept of Health feels is so important through the repeated clips on the news programs, which News8 will do even though they carried this trivial news conference.

    It is obvious News8 is trying to play on the fears of coronavirus among the population ... maybe trying to promote the fears.

    Let me note that no other local television broadcast station carried the news conference as an immediate breaking news event, which I feel was the right decision.

    It sure doesn't know how to weigh the importance of stories and events properly to present news as news and breaking news as immediate life-threatening events.

    They should do the right thing. If they feel that this event needed immediate airing, put it on the side channel like they do some other news events and run a crawler message on the main channel. They should quit trying to destroy their audience share for ongoing programming to their sponsors' dismay.

Teach your child respect

 

"It's not the police who need to be retrained, it's the public. We have grown into a mouthy, mobile phone wielding, vulgar, uncivil society with no personal responsibility and the attitude of 'it's the other person's fault, you owe me'. A society where children grow up with no boundaries or knowledge or concern for civil society and personal responsibility.

    When an officer says "Put your hands up," then put your hands up! Don't reach for something in your pocket, your lap, your seat. There's plenty of reason for a police officer to feel threatened, there have been multiple assaults and ambushes on police officers lately. Comply with requests from the officer, have your day in court. Don't mouth off, or fight, or refuse to comply... that escalates the situation.

     Police officers are our sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters. They're black, white, brown, all colors, all ethnicities, all faiths, male and female, they are us. They see the worst side of humanity... the raped children, the bloody mangled bodies of traffic victims, the bruised and battered victims of domestic violence, homicide victims, body parts... day after day.

    They work holidays while we have festive meals with our families. They miss school events with their kids, birthdays, anniversaries, all those special occasions that we take for granted. They work in all types of weather, under dangerous conditions, for relatively low pay.

    They have extensive training, but they are human. When there are numerous attacks on them, they become hyper vigilant for a reason, they have become targets. When a police officer encounters any person... any person, whether at a traffic stop, a street confrontation, an arrest, whatever... that situation has the potential to become life threatening. You, Mr & Mrs/Miss Civilian, also have the responsibility of keeping the situation from getting out of control.

    Many law enforcement officers are Veterans. They've been in service to this nation most of their lives, whether on the battlefield or protecting us here at home. They are the only thing that stands between us and anarchy in the streets.

    If you want to protect your child, teach them respect."

--- Sheriff David Clarke

Seeing without the spinning

Thank God for CSpan!

Because of CSpan, I get to see the conventions WITHOUT any spin, pro or con, so I can see and listen to what the sponsors want to present to me, and then I can make up my own mind what to believe or disbelieve, or fact-check.

I get so sick of watching "reports" of activities, especially political activities, that are presented to me through the eyes and "brains" of so-called reporters, which include their own spin, one way or the other, to persuade me to think in a certain direction.

It's even worse when the convention is happening right before your eyes and the so-called "reporters" cut in and make comments, as if to say "You didn't really see or hear what just happened, let me tell you what it really means."

I am not stupid.

I can evaluate and reason with whatever is actually happening. I don't want to hear the distorted facts coming from someone else who wants to slant the view one way or the other.

Unfortunately, today, the "news media" no longer reports the news straight and factually. The way you hear the "reports" made by such people as Lester Holt, Peter Alexander, Kristen Welker, Savannah Guthrie and others on the staffs of all the media media outlets is really propaganda.

If you really want to take a stand, do your own thinking.

Do not let these media demagogues make your mind up for you.

Biden's off to a good start

 On August 20, 2020, former Vice President Joe Biden accepted the Democratic Party's nomination for President of the United States.

Biden's acceptance speech was delivered extremely well, and covered a myriad of issues as well as some digs at the current president.

The problem is that many of the things Biden covered in his speech and said he'd promote are the opposite of what he stood for years before.

Biden has been in national politics for several decades, and held office as high as vice president. During that time, he could have promoted, fought for and had enacted many of the laws that would have taken care of some of the issues now pressing.

Why hadn't he?

It's only been slightly less than four years ago, and I remember well how our country was slowly sliding backward.

There was only a very slow economic recovery under way during Vice President Biden's and President Obama's 8-year reign. There was a decline in confidence in police departments because of comments and actions taken by Obama's Attorney General, Eric Holder.

Things were not good and they weren't looking good for the future.

For years China has been stealing not only our high-tech knowledge, but our jobs as well. Factories upon factories were closed, and the trade agreements didn't allow for the United States to tax imports so they were  competitive with our own products of equal identity.

So, although Biden's vision for our future is really good, will he actually reverse course on his core beliefs of previous years, or is it a smokescreen to get votes.

Unfortunately, I think it's the latter. Biden and his party has slid so far to the left that things are out of balance with his vision.

What in the World?

You may wonder why I haven't posted any comments until now about the George Floyd incident and the resulting protests and demonstrations.
    To be blunt, I was at a loss for words.
    I wondered how the hell did we get to this point?
    It's become a media event as a racist act.
    But it's more than that. It isn't about a white man's knee of a black man's neck slowly killing him.
    It's not about a police officer's knee of a man's neck slowly killing him.
    It's about how the hell a moral human being can put a knee on another human's neck and slowly kill him.
    In my honest opinion,  I believe in an eye for an eye, and the police officer that did that, if found guilty of murder, should die by being strangled for 8 minutes and 45 seconds.
    An eye for an eye.
    As for the other three officers that were standing by  watching and in one case assisting in the murder, how could they have been there and not stop it? Had none of them had any moral fiber in their bodies?
    It is so unbelievable.
    It IS believable that the protests erupted.
    Then is became unbelievable again that criminals took advantage by mingling with true protestors and caused fires, injuries, and destruction like what happened.
    Has this world gone mad?
    Now it is more unbelievable that so-called intelligent people want to eliminate police departments.
    So who are you gonna call when you get attacked, or robbed, or shot? GhostBusters?
    It's beginning to look like the insane have taken over the asylum.
    Let's hope intelligence finally surfaces to the top, and true efforts are made to truly have equal rights for everyone, and that proper procedures are developed to prevent mistreatment of anyone by a member of law enforcement to bring that officer to justice and remove him/her from serving on behalf of the citizenry.
    No matter how you look at it... humanity, racism,  outright hatred, or just plain lack of morals ... NO ONE deserves to die unless he/she was trying to kill someone else.  NO ONE deserves to be mistreated by another for whatever reason. EVERYONE deserves to be brought to justice for violating someone else. Period.