Television news media falls for yet another Trump reality TV show (Updated)

I watched the CBS Evening News (and the local CBS news) Saturday night, and saw Walter Cronkite’s old haunt uncritically report President Trump’s tweets on his supposed deal to suspend his plan to impose tariffs on Mexican goods, and Trump then praising his deal with Mexico that promises a crackdown on illegal immigration. Apparently, Mexico has also … Read more

Robert F. Kennedy 50th anniversary of his assassination

1968 was one of the most godawful, horrible, miserable years in U.S. history. It changed who we are as Americans, and “fueled a general sense that the nation had gone mad; that the normal rules and constants of politics could no longer be counted on.” How Robert Kennedy’s Assassination Changed American Politics.

The Tet Offensive at the end of January stunned both the U.S. and South Vietnamese armies, causing them to temporarily lose control of several cities and the U.S. embassy in Saigon.  It had a profound effect on the U.S. government and shocked the U.S. public, which had been led to believe by its political and military leaders that the North Vietnamese were being defeated and incapable of launching such an ambitious military operation.

A month later, Walter Cronkite reported on his recent trip to Vietnam to view the aftermath of the Tet Offensive in his television special Who, What, When, Where, Why? He chastised American leaders for their optimism, and advised negotiation “… not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could.” American support for the war declined.

In February, Richard M. Nixon (R-CA) declared his candidacy for the presidency. In March, Sen. Eugene McCarthy (D-MN) and his “children’s crusade” nearly defeated President Lyndon Johnson in the New Hampshire Democratic primary. Days later, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D-NY) declared his candidacy for president. By the end of March, President Johnson delivered his Address to the Nation Announcing Steps To Limit the War in Vietnam and Reporting His Decision Not To Seek Reelection. His Vice President, Hubert H. Humphrey, would run in his stead.

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PBS Documentary: The Great War

“Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” ― Sir Winston Churchill “Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.” ― Edmund Burke “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” ― George Santayana This warning has been oft repeated by many others in variations. For … Read more

Mr. Spock voyages to the final frontier

“I have been, and always shall be, your friend.” — Spock, Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan

Spock

Spock: Do not grieve, Admiral. It is logical. The needs of the many, outweigh…

Kirk: The needs of the few.

Spock: Or the one.

A sad day for Trekkers. Leonard Nimoy, Spock of ‘Star Trek,’ Dies at 83:

Leonard Nimoy, the sonorous, gaunt-faced actor who won a worshipful global following as Mr. Spock, the resolutely logical human-alien first officer of the Starship Enterprise in the television and movie juggernaut “Star Trek,” died on Friday morning at his home in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles. He was 83.

His wife, Susan Bay Nimoy, confirmed his death, saying the cause was end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Mr. Nimoy announced that he had the disease last year, attributing it to years of smoking, a habit he had given up three decades earlier. He had been hospitalized earlier in the week.

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