everwas

a blog by Ian Kennedy

Tag: politics

  • There’s More That Unites Us

    CBS Sunday Morning rolled out Ted Koppel last weekend to explore how the United States became so polarized as a nation and if there were things that could mend the divide.

    Twenty-one years ago, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, may have been the last time that the United States was openly – even defiantly – united, in pain and patriotism. Since then, we have drifted apart, gone to our separate corners, hunkered down in our respective silos.

    Sunday Morning: A Nation Divided?

    There were several segments to the show, each exploring a different aspect of the main theme.

    This first segment looked into a political movement that is suggesting 63% of Eastern Oregon to be merged with Idaho which is closer political and cultural affinity

    Next, Jon Grinspan, a historian who studied how intense partisanship in the 19th century was driven by people feeling isolated and unstable fed into an aggressive and violent political discourse. Sounds familiar doesn’t it?

    We then jump into the present and sit in on a conversation across generational and class divides in Pennsylvania.

    Later we learn about the group Braver Angels, founded by a marriage counselor, who applied his skills to bring people on opposite ends of the political spectrum together, united on their concern (and love) for democracy in America. Braver Angels signature, in-person, Red/Blue workshops bring people together from initial skepticism to a profound and empathetic understanding of each other.

    Finally there’s an interview with the director Norman Lear who produced several controversial TV shows in the Seventies such as All in the Family, The Jeffersons and Maude. The interview asks the 100-year old Lear if he were to explore these issues today, how would he do it,

    If I were to do it today, I would have a 13-year old daughter who represents everything I care about and is a pain in the ass talking about it. And, in her brilliance, would recognize a lot about the foolishness of the human condition and problems they’re parents are living with that even they are not facing.

    Norman Lear on laughing at what ails America

    I had an animated discussion with someone visiting NYC  from Los Angeles on the subway the other day. In the 10 minutes until he got off, we were able to come together and, as cliché as it sounds, find common ground. We lamented how everything was so politicized and agreed that politicians and social media drive us apart (see Enragement Metrics) so they can better engage and target us.

    We talked about how American car culture and modern city planning have isolated people from each other. The only reason we were even having a conversation was because we were sitting across from each other on the New York subway, the great equalizer.

    Before he got off, we shook hands and celebrated our chance connection. Conversations like this give me hope. There’s more that unites us than divides us and time is running out for us to recognize this and address the larger challenges to our existence.

  • Jonathan Pie

    Jonathan Pie

    Put your coffee down before you watch the video.

    Jonathan Pie is a fictional broadcast reporter created and performed by British comedian Tom Walker. The New York Times invited Jonathan for an in-character interview to explain why the British are fed up with Boris Johnson. But when Mr. Pie turned his sights on the “entitled arseholes” that make up the British government, what spilled out was a wonderful string of expletives that matched some of Captain Haddock’s best.

    Cannibals. Self-serving parasites. Tapeworms in tiaras, swimming through the intestines of the state sucking all the goodness out of it for their own repugnant gratification.

    Quite an image, eh?

    The video was embedded the Op-Ed section of the New York Times (h/t @robertodevido) into which the paper felt it necessary to add the following disclaimer,

    The video contains strong language and adult humor you wouldn’t normally see in The Times, but after being taken for fools, the British public is through being polite.

    ‘The First Thing You Need to Know About Boris Johnson Is He’s a Liar’

    There’s loads more from Jonathan Pie over on his YouTube page.

  • Impeachment #2

    As we dive back into Impeachment Trial #2, let us all review where we left off last time. During Adam Schiff’s closing arguments he levels this charge at his GOP colleagues.

    History will not be kind to Donald Trump. If you find that the House has proved its case, and still vote to acquit, your name will be tied to his with a cord of steel and for all of history. But if you find the courage to stand up to him, to speak the awful truth to his rank falsehood, your place will be among the Davids who took on Goliath—if only you will say, ‘Enough.’

    Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., closing arguments – February 3, 2020

    I can’t believe we’re here again. Let’s hope that our representatives rise to their moment in history this time.

  • NEJM Fires Trump

    NEJM Fires Trump

    The venerable and respected New England Journal of Medicine broke with tradition and published a political editorial lambasting the current administration’s response to Covid-19. While they did not call out Trump & Pence by name, they basically called them a threat to the health and society of all Americans and encouraged their readers to vote them out of office.

    It starts,

    Covid-19 has created a crisis throughout the world. This crisis has produced a test of leadership. With no good options to combat a novel pathogen, countries were forced to make hard choices about how to respond. Here in the United States, our leaders have failed that test. They have taken a crisis and turned it into a tragedy.

    The magnitude of this failure is astonishing. 

    After a couple of data points showing how poorly the US squandered its opportunity to respond and how corrosive the administration was to basic science they continue,

    An outbreak that has disproportionately affected communities of color has exacerbated the tensions associated with inequality. Many of our children are missing school at critical times in their social and intellectual development. The hard work of health care professionals, who have put their lives on the line, has not been used wisely. 

    Then finally, the zinger.

    Anyone else who recklessly squandered lives and money in this way would be suffering legal consequences. Our leaders have largely claimed immunity for their actions. But this election gives us the power to render judgment. Reasonable people will certainly disagree about the many political positions taken by candidates. But truth is neither liberal nor conservative. When it comes to the response to the largest public health crisis of our time, our current political leaders have demonstrated that they are dangerously incompetent. We should not abet them and enable the deaths of thousands more Americans by allowing them to keep their jobs.

    Read the full editorial, Dying in a Leadership Vacuum, and vote.

  • Scared Kitty

    Turn up the volume and find out what scares the kitty so much.

  • Trump 404

    Swap out HRC for your latest opponent.

    The 404 page on donaldjtrump.com is a re-work of his one from the last election but instead of trolling Clinton, it’s trolling Biden.

    Minor tweaks.

    Meanwhile, on joebiden.com, the 404 page is the same error page used during the primaries.

    To see the full gallery from all the primary candidates, you can view them here.

  • Goodbye Super Tuesday

    Big day yesterday with Bloomberg dropping out this morning, all eyes looking to see what Warren will do and everyone wondering why Tulsi Gabbard is still hanging in there.

    More details at The Race.

  • Factiva

    In 1999 I was at the founding of Factiva, a joint venture between Dow Jones and Reuters, two of the leading news organizations at the time. This global JV brought together the news archival databases of both companies and made them available “on the web” which was a big deal back then.

    Factiva Launch Video

    With the right information, our possibilities are endless.

    The Factiva product had a super-complicated search UI which allowed you to create complex search statements that could find articles that mentioned Ford and Aardvark in the first paragraph within 5 words of each other but only in articles written by Phillip Roth (no, I do not think such an article exists btw). This database had over 9,000 newspapers, magazines and news wires. Every single article going back decades, fully indexed and fielded for detailed spelunking. The web was only a minor side tab, we crawled something like 300 sites.

    With the right information, we can seize opportunities we never realized we had.

    Factiva was a huge business, 26 offices around the world, hundreds of millions in revenue each year. We sold our product to the top global companies around the world. We consulted with them on their information needs and delivered the news and information they needed to run their business. We thought we were hot shit.

    If information is going to be our most valuable asset, facts will be its currency.

    Playing back the marketing launch video at the top of the post, its funny how innocent it all sounds. All you need are facts to make the world a better place. With facts, all will be right.

    Every fact can invigorate and improve the way we think.

    Today our elected leaders will decide if testimony and documents from key individuals with first hand knowledge of the Ukraine/Biden/Zelensky affair are necessary to pass judgement on Trump’s impeachment. I really hope our Senators answer a higher calling and #TakeOneWeek to remove any doubt but I’ve become too cynical to see that happening. Facts are not needed in the “pick your truth” world we live in today.

    Just imagine what we can do with hundreds and thousands of facts at our fingertips.

    So back the Factiva promo video. 1999 was a time when information was scarce. You usually had to work with a corporate “information professional” to use specialized databases to locate and find what you needed. Information was mediated, curated by editors and fact-checked by many layers of the media ecosystem.

    Today it’s the opposite – we have such easy and direct access to information that it’s time, focus and attention that are scarce. Because our attention is limited and we are bombarded with shiny things on the internet to look at (and of course, share), news organizations need to hoot, scream and holler to get and, more importantly, hold our attention.

    I was hoping that our leaders would rise to their test during this impeachment trial but I fear this will not be the case, they will vote in their own self-interest, circling the wagons to protect themselves. It will be up to us, the public citizens, to seek out facts and the truth and hold our leaders accountable.

  • #TakeOneWeek

    As we get closer to tomorrow’s vote on additional witnesses, Adam Schiff pleaded to the Republican Senator’s conscience to set aside one week to prepare depositions.

    I think we can. I think we should. I think we must.

    Senator Mazie Hirono from Hawaii was not so subtle.