Alternative New Media for the Gulf South
Everyone has an opinion, even the Op-Ed folks at WaPo but I’ve never been much on media fawning, especially over politicians. It appears the folks over at the Intercept aren’t much on fawning over politicians either.
US media has every right (duty) to highlight Trump's lies & extremism – but not to become Hillary's personality cult https://t.co/8H6Vv7bfqn
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 3, 2016
This is one of those circumstances where it is again good to have a variety of viewpoints on a news item because one could watch the Tee Vee news here on the Coast1 and come away thinking the Singing River Retirees have been made 100% whole but unfortunately this is wishful thinking. Shearing the flock has to be done in stages and now the stage shifts from the Federal Courthouse in Gulfport back to Chancery Court in Jackson County where the actual haircuts will occur.
The certainty in that statement lies in the dollars and cents currently in the plan’s trust account and the fact that the early payment schedule provided for in the settlement does not provide much immediate help to improve the overall financial condition of the trust. The only immediate benefit is non-monetary benefit in the finality and closure provided by the settlement itself.
From a larger standpoint and viewed through the lens of time the Singing River Pension Debacle is just the latest in a long line ‘incidents’ where the ordinary people in the community get sheared for the benefit of portions of the Jackson County political oligarchy. Slabbed has documented several of these incidents including one of the most recent on these pages. The financial results of these ‘incidents’ are on display for everyone around Jackson County to see at locales such as 435 East Beach in Ocean Springs. For the folks in Jackson County, the regularity of these ‘incidents’ paid for by the public, or in this instance by both the public and the Singing River Retirees, represent the worse kind of tax imaginable because it is a hidden tax paid to the benefit of the few.
In the case of the Singing River Health System, the most galling aspect of this whole saga for the retirees is that a large portion of the very people that brought the County and the SRHS retirees this pension disaster remain firmly attached to the Health System, ostensibly skipping away as if nothing happened. For the new SRHS trustees, I frankly can’t fathom on what basis they have to actually trust the advice they are being given to support their decision making. You gotta think based on what has occurred that in the next disaster they’ll be tossed aside as easily as their predecessors. Continue reading “Fanfare for the common man: The only people getting 100% on the dollar in the Singing River Pension Debacle are the Lawyers”
I can’t quite get to that “I hate Trump” spot where all sane folks are supposed to be. After all, I’m an Obama guy and have been from day one, so hating Trump should be a piece of cake, right?
It isn’t, trust me. Especially if hating Trump means I have to like Hillary, and, even worse, be on the same side as Rachel “The Queen Of Correct” Maddow and the Uber NeoCons who recognize it’s just going to be a matter of time before Trump says, “Hey, by the way, what are we getting for that $250 Billion (inflation adjusted) we’ve given Israel over the years … Let’s start giving that money to the Hispanics instead … our Hispanics … I love the Hispanics.”
So, let’s apply the wisdom of Kevin Phillips, the Nixon strategist who observed, “The secret to politics is knowing who hates who.” Applying Phillips’ Rule analysis, I find the people who really hate Trump more annoying than Trump himself. At least, so far. For our purposes, we’ll talk about annoying or disliking … not hate.
It’s not a woman thing … I promise. I could be for Amy Klobuchar in a Minnesota minute. She’s strong, good looking, and way above average. I could also be for Elizabeth Warren, who makes the liberal case about as well as anyone.
For me, Hillary grates. She never gives you the complete picture. She’s too clever by half. There’s always an “oh by the way” as the full story dribbles out. Continue Reading…….
I spent some time catching up on all things Mississippi across the media spectrum yesterday and what I found was rich. Let’s start with some hypocrisy:
Non-profit journalism ~ Wyatt Emmerich
Emmerich’s piece reveals to his readers the new not for profit kid on the Mississippi Media scene, Mississippi Today as he pans the nonprofit news model:
For decades, traditional media outlets have struggled to resist editorial pressure from advertisers. This pressure will be far more intense from direct contributors.
It is at that point that I started giggling because Emmerich revealed the basic weakness in both journalistic business models. That said there is no denying Patsy Brumfield and others did a fantastic job covering state government in detail over the past legislative session, a very worthy journalistic beat which lends itself well to what is called “enterprise reporting”.
It is that bit of sunshine shown by Mississippi Today that I think has given the far right wing media heartburn because there is a new kid on the block that does not necessarily drink the Mississippi GOP Koolaid and when this past legislative session was stripped naked with the specter of GOP legislators being told how to vote via text message it was not a pretty sight. Add to that the fact Mississippi Today is a new competitor to the for-profit outlets so there is going to be a natural tension between some of the market participants. It is rich. Continue reading “What we have here is an old fashioned media brawl, let’s jump in”