Democracy Dies in Darkness

Or so says the Washington Post.  The news outlet made this their motto in 2017 as they ramped up their anti-Trump coverage of the Presidency.  It was not new to them, or even new to Bob Woodward who’s been using it for some time.  Bob supposedly read it in a Judge’s decision on a 1^st Amendment case and liked the way it sounded.  The interesting thing with the news media, in this case the Washington Post, is how selectively they shine their investigative lights and how little of the darkness they are actually willing to illuminate.

If they were actually concerned with the lighting up the darkness of government operations they would be editorializing for the transparency of the Congress as it decides whether or not the President has committed “high crimes and misdemeanors” worthy of removal from office.  Or they would work to substantiate the information provided by leakers to remove any political agenda either they or the leaker might have.  Rather, they are content sit back and report selectively in what can only be called an agenda-based approach.  There is usually some brief report on what the DNC wants to be pushed out to the public, with very little critical analysis.  Any challenge to the reporting is drowned out by opinion pieces on the latest political abuses by the White House, or the GOP.

Other events, some often central to the workings of government receive nary a word in the paper.  The fact the Congress cannot seem to meet even its most basic of responsibilities is passed by as a non-issue.  The responsibility I speak of is the approval of a fiscal year budget prior to the end of the current fiscal year.  As the sole authority to spend federal funds and incur debt this should be JOB ONE for the Congress, but it never is.  Where is the Washington Post on highlighting that failure?  Perhaps because it happens almost every year it is no longer considered newsworthy unless someone decides to shut down the government by not passing a continuing resolution.

In related news:

This past week I learned a new word – thruple.  Apparently, a thruple is a relationship between three people.  Among the political and media social elites thruples are an okay thing, even if there is no equality among the participants.  This comes at the same time as the #metoo movement and grievance groups are railing about how white males are suppressing the advancement of minorities through their mere whiteness.  Apparently, questioning either the morality or the ethical failure of a white female engaging in a relationship with a staffer she employs is beyond question.

Finally, I saw a meme this past week that said something like “We used to believe ignorance was a result of a lack of information.  The internet has proven that not to be true.”  How true and how sad that actually is.