Helen & Harry's cranky weblog of news and opinion.
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"News that's not known, or not known enough." Helen & Harry's cranky weblog of news and opinion. |
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Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2011 ♦ Most folks who want to get past the mainstream media's corporate-controlled gatekeepers know how to do it, with a few clicks of the mouse. That's how you landed here, or at any of the hundreds of blogs better than ours. But what's needed now is something no blog can provide — a way to get past the gatekeepers, and reach the 90% of America who don't read blogs, don't follow politics with a passion. A lot of people, most people, just want to know what's going on, but they don't want to spend hours finding out. They just want to watch or read the news. That isn't really an unreasonable expectation. There are 200,000,000 ordinary schmoes in America who watch a newscast or read a newspaper once in a while, and think they're reasonably well-informed. And in your dad or grand-dad's time maybe that was enough. But this ain't your grand-dad's American media. The newscasts and newspapers will continue to present "fair and balanced" reports fairly balancing lies against facts, and illuminating nothing with weeks of headlines covering nothingness as news — as we saw in the "debt ceiling" debate, or so many other non-issues and fake issues. I still believe most Americans are decent people, and they'll make the right decisions on political matters, if they're given the facts. But that's the ultimate "if" — Americans are never given the facts. The more mainstream "news" you watch, the less you're connected with facts. The only solution is to establish a real news service that's widely and easily available, something like CNN but with a willingness to actually cover the news. Until that happens, we'll never be able to solve the myriad other problems America and the world face. So long as we're stuck with the hollow, corrupt, lying media we have, we're just plain screwed. If you'd like to address this problem and you have a few million bucks to invest, drop me a note. ♦ I've never seen Bill Maher's cable show — it costs money I don't have and requires a cable subscription I don't even want. But the snippets of Maher that I've heard or read usually make good sense, like this one. ♦ There's no end to the schmuckiness of the Presidential empty suit, and I just grow too weary to blog about it. Two and a half years into giving the Republicans everything they want, White House spokesthing Dan Pfieffer says Barack is about to grow a pair, but I'll believe it when I see 'em. ♦ Everyone should reinvent themselves once in a while, like my friend Bill. ♦ The Washington Post is lying. ♦ The Wall Street Journal is lying. ♦ The San Jose Mercury News, almost certainly by way of Associated Press, is lying. ♦ Question: Does PBS ever present comedy or drama — anything fictional — that isn't from England? I like some of the stuff they import from the Beeb, but criminy, maybe once, we could get a comedy or drama set in the USofA? More news and daily updates at 
Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2011 Georgia deputies are charged with beating a handcuffed man California police chief says photographers can be detained for taking pictures "with no apparent aesthetic value" Police in Texas are allowed to destroy evidence Fired North Carolina police officer charged in robbery Florida cop is charged with aggravated domestic assault with a deadly weapon Oklahoma police officer charged with taking nearly $1,700 at traffic stops New Mexico cop, charged in road rage incident, is ordered to surrender all of his weapons Arizona school cop is charged with sexual abuse of teenaged girl Kentucky sheriff accused of fondling two former female employees and threatening them at gunpoint and then trying to hide evidence Texas cop charged with sexual assault on 12-year-old relative Baltimore Police Commissioner says 50 officers implicated in a kickback scandal with a towing company and another cop charged with running a large-scale heroin operation are just a few bad apples North Carolina sheriff's captain charged with prostitution Fired South Carolina jailer is charged with a sex crime involving a 7-year-old girl Maryland deputy charged with assault Massachusetts corrections officer arraigned on assault & battery, vandalism counts Louisiana police officer charged with possessing child porn Wisconsin cop is fired thirteen months after 90mph fatal red light-running wreck Former Missouri police officer charged in murders, rapes Ohio deputy arrested on drug charges Texas deputy, wife convicted in extortion case Kansas cop charged with hunting without a license Kentucky jailer charged with soliciting cash or sexual favors to get an inmate illegally out of jail Mississippi school cop pleads guilty to exploitation of a child
Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2011 Mystery links are offered with no implied endorsement of whatever's at the other end. You may be shocked or disgusted, but we don't care. Links in red are not safe for work, and links in pink include audio and/or video. Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2011 ♦ The recall elections are today in Wisconsin, and we the people could use some good news. If Dems take back the Senate, it'll help stall the archer-than-arch right-wing agenda of our state's loony Governor, Scott Walker, whose own recall will come calling early next year. I'm cautiously optimistic, as there hasn't been the flood of lying millionaire-funded ads I'd expected (there are plenty of those lying ads, of course, but they haven't been as omnipresent as you might expect). Nobody should be surprised if the anti-Democracy activists of the Republican Party find a way to steal another election, of course — that's what they do, and they're good at it — but my fingers are crossed. If you're in Wisconsin, in a district with a recall election, please vote. Generally, when elections are honest and the electorate comes out, our side wins. ♦ A Kansas law intended to "punish" Planned Parenthood for advocating for abortion rights has been blocked by a federal judge. ♦ Fox has ordered a 13-episode sequel to Carl Sagan's iconic Cosmos docu-series, with Seth MacFarlane and Sagan's widow Ann Druyan producing, and Neil deGrasse Tyson hosting. Sounds terrific, but it's commercial television, so expect to be disappointed. ♦ Check the ground turkey in your freezer. We had turkey that was plotting to kill us. ♦ More avoidance of the obvious question about US Rep Gabrielle Giffords (D-Arizona). ♦ Obama's terrorism strategy calls for Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks to be monitored by the government. ♦ Texans love Governor Rick Perry because "it takes balls to execute an innocent man." ♦ To absolutely no-one's surprise, there may have been an organized smear campaign against the maid who alleged rape by former International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn. ♦ President Obama is perpetually puzzled, and I'm puzzled too, puzzled that there's still a "D" after his name. Really, the only aspect of the overhyped debt ceiling showdown that intrigued me was, wondering just how much Obama would give away. Turned out to be even more than I'd expected. ♦ Lefti said it well: "In a familiar pattern, 'NATO' (most likely the U.S.) has now bombed Libyan state television, just as they did in Yugoslavia, Iraq and Afghanistan (not state TV in the latter case but rather Al Jazeera TV), with the same specious claim of military justification, that TV was being used to "'intimidate the Libyan people and incite acts of violence against them'." ♦ "Don't Ask Don't Tell," the grotesquely un-American rule that punished gays for gayness, hasn't ended, despite all the headlines claiming that it has. DADT has sixty days left in its weary, unjust life, after two years of hemming and hawing by Barack Obama, who could have wiped away this abomination with an executive order on his first day in office. As with every other issue, though, Obama has no interest in doing the right thing, just the politically expedient thing. ♦ Here's an interesting account of the Buffalo Courier-Express, where the staff refused to acquiesce to being purchased by Rupert Murdoch and systematically skinned alive. To its lasting credit, the paper shut down instead. ♦ This is what passes for justice in America. Makes me want to scream, and you and I both know that the only thing that's really unusual in this story is that the story has been reported. More news and daily updates at
Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2011 Massachusetts cop gets 6+ years for child sexual assault Louisiana cop arrested for domestic violence California cop gets probation for pepper spraying handcuffed suspect "We can do this the easy way and you can take us to your house to look around, or we can detain you for six hours while we get a warrant and go to your house and shoot your dog" Chilling video captures man's cries for help as he is Tased and beaten to death by police Guards and supervisors at Florida juvenile lockup never sought emergency care for a teenager who died after screaming in pain and vomiting for hours Police shooting triggers London riot Kentucky jailer is jailed for allegedly taking cash and sex to let prisoners out of jail Pennsylvania deputy sheriff arrested for assaulting romantic rival Georgia jailer arrested in sex sting California deputy charged with having sex with a minor is jailed after posting threats on Facebook 5 New Orleans cops guilty in post-Katrina Danziger Bridge shootings, cover-up Former Minnesota cop gets 90 days in jail for strangulation assault of girlfriend California prison guard is arrested for pharmacy armed robbery Alabama police officer is arrested on burglary, theft charges Iowa police officer is arrested for allegedly threatening to arrest a woman if she didn’t go to his apartment and sexually assaulting her there Another Florida police officer is arrested and charged with official misconduct Virginia police officer arrested on theft charges Wife files order of protection against Michigan cop accused of domestic violence Texas cop gets 6+ years for his role in cocaine caravan Michigan cop is arrested for domestic assault
Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2011 ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ Mystery links are offered with no implied endorsement of whatever's at the other end. You may be shocked or disgusted, but we don't care. Links in red are not safe for work, and links in pink include audio and/or video.
For in-depth news updates, we recommend Media Matters, ThinkProgress, and Washington Monthly. A tip o' the hat to A.K. for CSS help, Daniel D., the letter Z, The Agitator, Bad Attitudes, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog, JR Mooneyham, Newshoggers, Pharyngula, Photography is Not a Crime, Progressive Review, and Right Wing Watch. Our website is prepared on a refurbished PC bought cheap and occasionally repaired by the good guys at Madison's Computer Store West. Typed and edited using Google Docs. Chairs from Goodwill, chips from Hy-Vee. Site hosted at the censor-free and reliably on-line pair.com, with an emeritus hat-tip to our first web-home at pitas.com, a dang fine place for new bloggers to start. With no thanks at all to a few faux progressive sites that probably do more harm than good, including the ethically empty Huffington Post and the ceaselessly snarky Wonkette; with a full-frontal fart in the face to Francis Boyle, makethemaccountable.com, RadicalViews.org, free-lance reporter Sherwood Ross, TomDispatch.com, and anyone else who's added us to their email list without even asking (the answer would've been no); and with an enthusiastically flipped finger to the closeted Republican mouthpiece Politico. The blog's homepage is unknownnews.org, and we welcome your comments at unknownnews@inbox.com. Our Twitter trail is twitter.com/unknownnews.
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