Staging Brian Williams triumphant return

In 6 months less a little,  Nice will be staging the triumphant return of the lying broadcaster Brian Williams. Watch for it. It is as predictable as the moon. It is not a liberal thing. There are plenty of untarnished (as of yet) liberal talking heads to take his place. It's about ratings. And a return will get ratings. Whether they stick is another thing. But there will be a return,  with a little bit of buzz preceding it. Just watch for it.

Brian Williams' 6 months suspension from NBC is silly

So 6 months is the shelf life for a reporter's punishment for lying to the public.  That's how long NBC is suspending Brian Williams for doing just that.  They say he deserves a second chance.  That's pretty magnanimous for someone who did the ONE THING you're not supposed to do in their job. He lied.

Okay, I get giving him a second chance. That's arguably the noble thing to do.  And NBC can make the case for it.  But letting return to the same prestigious post?  Is that fair to all the journalists at NBC who are honest?  After all, if this were at Meryll Lynch or Lehman Brothers, there would be howls of outrage over letting the wolves back into the chicken coop.  So why is liberal NBC exempt from the same standard?  It's especially galling when they are titularly responsible for informing the public what's going on and instead they're lying.

Make him earn his way back. I bet he couldn't do it if he had to do so.  Not because he wouldn't have learned his lesson, but because his brand would be too tarnished with a longer wait until his return.  That's the real calculus at NBC. 

NBC, not your source for truth in new reporting. 

Catching up, some pop culture observations

I am so far behind on posting I believe I've slipped back a decade.  There's so much to talk about and I've had very little time to try to keep up.  So let me try to hit the highlights quickly.

The Patriots won the Superbowl. I'm happy about that and not just because I'm not a fan of the Seahawks.  There's something deliciously ironic about a team named Patriots winning in the same season as the GOP taking the Senate and building their lead in the House and state houses as well.  Or put another way, the Democrats were defeated by Patriots the same way the Seahawks were defeated by Patriots.

The Grammy Awards happened yesterday.  Sam Smith won 3 awards (I think) because his musical talent but the other underlying factor was his return to more fundamental musicality and traditional musical style.  Musical conservatism.  

And of course related to the Grammys, there was Kanye West ranting about Beck needing to give his Grammy to Beyonce. Just like he did with Taylor Swift a couple of years ago.  (1) Does Kanye West have a crush on Beyonce? Seriously, does he? (2) He said something along the lines of people not appreciating different types of musicality.  Does he not see the irony of disrespecting Beck's music by making asinine statements like that? (3) This is the guy who claimed on TV, during a fundraiser for Katrina victims, that president Bush was racist. Does anyone take him seriously at all anymore besides Kanye himself?

Brian Williams made up crap about being under fire in Iraq.  Excusable?  Maybe if he was talking in a bar with some friends.  But to lie as a journalist is even worse than twisting the news to fit your own political narrative.  It's making up news to fit your own narrative. Inexcusable, but it will be excused nonetheless.  He's kept NBC's Nightly News at the top of the ratings. As we all know now, truth is not secondary to ratings.  For liberal networks and ratings hungry executive, truth doesn't even make the list.  Maybe we could get Kanye West to deliver the 'news' from now on.