MIDNIGHT IN AMERICA:...It's Getting Late. Do You Know Where Your Rights Are Going?...Deeper And Deeper Into The Abyss...Supreme Court Hands Us A Dictator...Our President Is Now Immune, More Than Ever, From Prosecution...Strongman Donald Trump Is Again "Proud To Be An American"...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas |...There's no other way to look at it, not if you keep up with daily events. The president's speech hours after the latest Supreme Court ruling says much. Angry Republican Donald J. Trump's campaign for president has boiled over into detestation.

He wants to be a dictator. President Joe Biden calls it dangerous for the citizenry.

It's the result of yesterday's surprise ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in which the issue of absolute presidential immunity sought by Trump was roundly endorsed by the nation's High Court. That came in a 6-3 decision, with all Republican-appointed justices going along with the idea, but it came. The three justices appointed by Democrats dissented strongly.

Trump roundly lauded the decision, which beyond asserting his position that a president cannot do the job without full immunity, well, also continued his ceaseless effort to delay a trial in Washington, D.C. to do with Trump's involvement in the January 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol Building - a needed trial now so far down the road as to go beyond the November General Election.

Trump keeps winning, yes.

What's America to do? I mean, people in the city and lunch-bucket towns. What recourse do they have, if they believe in government checks & balances, as most American students are taught in school. What can anyone do?

Nothing. Except vote. That's it. Congress is not going to challenge the Supreme Court. The president can oppose or decry it, but he's not going after the partisan justices. President Biden apparently could after this ruling, but he won't. It's not his style.

Pro-Trump Americans, meanwhile, are giddy as all get-out. For them, the living room has become the bedroom. MAGA disciples were all across the Internet minutes after the ruling, insisting that all the legal problems faced by Trump are now suspect (since a president, they noted, can do anything he wants).

These are largely old White Americans in graying hair and goatees, their women with the forearms of a plumber. Noisy, mouthy Americans - the sort of individuals we used to assign to uncultured Nicaragua and Panama.

But it's a new day and anything can happen.

The election cannot come soon enough. Until then, the country is held hostage by the ridiculous words of convicted felon Donald J. Trump and actions from his band of racist bigots.

Is it a Dark Day in America, as some pundits are saying?

No, not really.

This is nothing more than rootless excitement, brought into the living room by the news of the day. We're surviving in a time of unsurpassed bleakness where the landscape of failures has opened up to reveal our dismal glamour.

We're still the United States of America, the world's however-roiled best country. You could go along with those who say we need to return to the calmer days of yesteryear. But that's just a dream still carried by our aging, dying population.

Geriatric absurdity is temporary. This too shall pass...

-30-

MEDIA IS THE MESSAGE:...Playing Its Role, Or Mudding The Waters?...One Debate And Country Falls Apart...How Major Outlets Had It...Plus, Supreme Court Ruling Favors Trump...See Our Comments...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...There is a well-known analogy most reporters would know well, often laugh at and perhaps even say it's the damned truth - picture a row of blackbirds on a powerline flying in one by one and then, when startled by something, they all fly off one by one to go check it out.

You're seeing a bit of it now in our busy national press corps on this presidential debate story that lingers here days after the event. Never mind the war in Ukraine, the other one in Gaza or a weekend shooting with racial overtones in Nebraska.

The Big Story must be chased down.

That is what newsroom honchos are telling their top political reporters these days. It is a story with better legs than the actress Juliet Prowse, said to have once had the most gorgeous legs in Hollywood.

We reel at some of the high-energy punditry making the rounds, but we also know that we live in a time when everyone has a bullhorn at the ready. You don't have time for all the freaking, highfalutin podcasts out there. Same for a zillion blogs out to have their say.

There is, however, evidence of what we mean. A review of recent post-debate headlines reveals a somewhat known belief that the news media plays its own game, often believing influence is key in their business, at times right and at others wrong, at times well-meaning and at others simply offering the partisan company line. 

Headlines of some major news organizations following the debate:

The New York Times: Biden Struggles as Trump Blusters in Contentious Debate

The Washington Post: Biden struggles, Trump deflects questions

The Wall Street Journal: Biden Crashed in First Clash With Trump

Politico: "Biden is toast"

Axios: Biden blunders dominate combative debate with Trump

NBC News: Biden sends Democrats into a panic; Trump unleashes bad information

CBS News: Presidential debate highlights from Trump and Biden’s first showdown of 2024

CNN: Biden’s poor showing and Trump’s repeated deflection

MSNBC: Biden stumbles; Trump caveats election results question

USA Today: Biden supporters alarmed after president’s debate struggles

-0-

Your particular take on events is just as good as theirs. That's where we are in communications. The country has more than enough news and even more news angles. Each of the outlets listed above has its own niche in the industry - whether playing to the left, the right or the middle.

White noise is what it also used to be called.

Should we worry about it? No, not really. There are plenty of outlets simply off the grid, as they say. They gladly push hellbent lies to aid their cause, candidate or boss. That, we say, is well and good, 'cause it can be balanced by visiting other sites and reading a different story of the same news.

Once, Americans had three main news sources in ABC, CBS and NBC - the initial major networks. But that was 50-60 years ago. Cable TV followed it, and then came the world-changing Internet. Said to be in the rise is the availability of news on your cellphone.

Who knows exactly how much influence these news organizations have singularly and collectively.

All I can know is my own time. Yes, I make the rounds to stay informed.

Perhaps that's what we all should do. There are good reasons to criticize the concept of a free press. It's a jungle out there. Crazy rumors and crazier lies abound. But they do offer glimpses of current life, available all day and all night by way of your keyboard fingertips or television, a literal avalanche of good and bad news, accompanying photography included in the informational package.

This back and forth regarding last Thursday's presidential debate is hot, but it, too, will fade. Just keep watching those winging blackbirds on the powerlines...

-30-