A Comment About Politics…
When I started this newsletter, I promised there would be no talk of politics.
Nobody cares.
Actually, a great many people care about politics, but they likely don’t care about MY view on politics. And they likely don’t care about the minute-by-minute minutia of daily political nonsense. (More on this later.) Hence the promise.
Today’s missive will NOT break that promise. I promise.
But first, some housekeeping:
1.) Since my last post, Elizabeth Holmes finally exhausted all of her legal gambits to stay out of prison while appealing her verdict and sentence. She is now in a federal pokey in Texas, where she will have plenty of time (one supposes) to hone her legal appeal strategy.
Or, perhaps not.
I was curious as to what her life might be like in that minimum security prison, so I looked up the prisoner orientation handbook for Byron Prison on the Federal Bureau of Prison’s web site. According to the manual, her days will be filled with activities, including work and keeping her cell clean and eating and sleeping and exercise and arts and crafts and who knows what else.
Reading it was both fascinating and depressing. I actually feel bad for her. She was clearly guilty of fraud and deserved some kind of punishment, but 11 years seems excessive. I don’t know what the “correct” amount of time is, but in my own, unencumbered-by-any-facts-or-knowledge brain, it is somewhere between two and four years. Federal sentencing guidelines, which are very specific and based on a points system, say otherwise. So unless she is successful at some level with some kind of appeal, she will likely spend the next decade or so earning about $1.15/hour making license plates.
2.) Since my last post, my prediction that Chris Licht would be fired as CEO of CNN proved correct. I had given him until Labor Day, but when I made my prediction, I didn’t know that he had agreed to allow a reporter from The Atlantic to shadow him and write down a lot of pretty dumb shit that Licht said out loud, but that probably should have been whispered into his bed pillow. The ensuing 15,000 word article, which dropped on Friday, June 2, was clearly the last straw and he got canned by his boss, David Zaslav.
As previously stated here, Chris is very smart and a great broadcast show runner/producer. He has the resume and the record that bears that out. But running a show and running an entire company are two very different skill sets, as Chris has now learned. He was also handed a shit sandwich in the form of CNN and the demise of linear TV and was told to make it taste great. Someone might be able to do it, but not Chris. He took that shit sandwich and somehow made it taste even worse. But, he’ll land on his feet and no doubt create something that does work in our fast-changing media landscape.
By the way: I do not think for one second that just because I am two-for-two on predictions (our local Amazon store never opening and Chris Licht getting sacked) that I am any kind of brilliant soothsayer. In both cases, I had a 50-50 shot of being correct. So, in essence, I am EXACTLY as smart as flipping a quarter or falling off a log.
3.) Now to politics (not really): The Republican field of presidential candidates is getting larger by the week. Without in any way offering an opinion on the candidates or their political views, allow me to ask this (which can be said about any candidate in any party):
What is it about the modern “I’m running for president” announcement process that has gotten so insanely irksome and drawn out?
I’ll tell you what: Once upon a time - before the days of 24/7 cable news blather, and social media sewage, and Internet community cesspools, and invisible podcasts with nine listeners, and fourth-tier talk radio backwaters, and snarky newsletters written by former fourth-tier talk radio hosts - candidates announced they were running for president… once. They timed that announcement to make the evening news and then the morning edition of the next day’s newspapers.
Simple, dimple.
Now, the process goes something like this:
1.) Announce intention to form exploratory committee
2.) Announce actual formation of exploratory committee
3.) Announce filing of exploratory committee paperwork
4.) Announce intention to run
5.) Announce intention to file to run
6.) Announce actual filing
7.) Announce intention to announce
8.) Announce date of announcement online
9.) Release announcement video online
10.) Announce date of official live announcement event
11.) Hold live announcement event
At some point, you’re probably thinking “Didn’t this jamoke announce (s)he was running like three years ago?”
And you would be correct.
It’s no wonder that the media obsesses over every time a candidate farts in the wind while the rest of us are just trying to mow the lawn and order a pizza. There is a disconnect in the country between the chattering class – Democrat and Republican – and the vast remainder of the electorate who would rather that they (the candidates and the media) just STFU until Labor Day of an election year. If wishes were horses…
A final note on the timing and frequency of this newsletter: We are heading into the summer months so… absolutely nothing will change. I’ll post whenever I feel like it. Could be 3x/day or could be “See you in September.” Either way, enjoy your summer and try not to let Canadian smoke ruin it. (…effing Canada…)