Squat and Squabble

I’ve been trying to pinpoint the reason why journalism is in a state of rapid decline. I’m not saying that people aren’t tuning in, because that’s obviously not the case. However, it seems that subscribers invest their time into the same monotonous crap every day. It’s kind of difficult to understand how the internet provides us an endless source of information, yet we can’t shift topics for more than 24 hours.

Think about it. Your local morning news show might actually be the only network discussing a multitude of issues. They’ll discuss weather, crime, heartwarming stories from your neighborhood and sometimes global news. Now think about the major political broadcast networks and publishers. Not only can they not transition away from the same conversation for more than a minute a day, but each one reports on the same issue as if the story it’s somehow unique to them. Now, does this stray away from any news source in the past? Not entirely. But it seems that journalists love to beat a dead horse now more than ever.

Let’s talk about one of the most popular subjects in the world, President Donald Trump. Trump could be eating a bagel at a Kosher Deli in New York, and CNN would somehow make it controversial. Maybe he smears his cream cheese in a weird way or maybe his request for bacon comes off as Anti-Semitic, who knows? The Left will find something wrong with it nonetheless. At the same time, Trump could light that same deli on fire and Fox news would somehow justify his actions. Either way, you will hear both networks talk about that same story for the next 48 hours as if nothing else happened in the world. The networks won’t just report a story and move on, they’ll host dialogues where “experts” offer their opinions on the topic on several other shows throughout the day. These experts are often the most bias and over opinionated media personalities each network can find. (Enter douchebag professor from X University)

So, here we stand constantly reusing the same material, discussing the same issues and recycling the same content each day as if something is going to ever change. Don’t think that this issue only pertains to the world of politics. You will find this same problem everything ranging from Sports Broadcast to Daytime Television. We’re all stuck in the cogs of the same machine and it’s our own fault. If people ever want to break the loop, they need to stop buying into the monotony that networks sell…

Or, we can keep beating a dead horse and watch whatever stupid cat video pops up on our newsfeed. Whatever gets you through the day.

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Pops says:

Prime time news is like elevator music – dull, repetitive, white noise in the background while you are waiting for something else.  The real reason that the MSM goes over the same news in an endless loop is because there just isn’t enough interesting stuff to talk about 24/7.

But stupid cat videos?  Nah!  I’ll take those Russian dashcam clips anytime.

If you haven’t been following what’s happening at Baylor University, you should probably start. The school has been marred in scandal over the last few years due to player misconduct, but term “misconduct” lacks the gravity of what’s actually happening in Waco. Before the start of last season, Baylor fired former head football coach, Art Briles, amidst allegations that members of the coaching staff neglected to report violations committed by players on the team. While most of these allegations pertained to sexual assault, others included aggravated assault, driving under the influence and animal cruelty. Needless to say, none of these allegations are anything to scoff at, but the NCAA still neglected to take action against Baylor after players were convicted for their alleged crimes. Kenneth Starr stepped down from his position as President and Briles was gone, yet a majority of the coaching staff still stayed on board. In terms of suspensions, the NCAA left it to the university to decide what happened to their players and the world kept on spinning. 

Just one year later Baylor is dealing with a similar issue, involving the potential gang rape and shaming of a former women’s volleyball player. A civil suit has been filed, but it seems that the NCAA will do nothing yet again. It’s not that it doesn’t have the authority to act on such issues. It’s that the organization has zero moral backbone. The NCAA will come after you and your family if you buy a student athlete a $15 dinner at Chili’s, but will turn the other cheek if another commits an act of rape. Some might say that the NCAA has taken action against similar issues in the past. Sure, it was forced to punish Penn State upon discovering that one of their coaches was molesting children for several decades, but that was simply due to public outcry. When it comes to issues related to state and federal law, the NCAA usually neglects to take action unless it feels the need to save face.

Some believe that the NCAA needs to provide oversight for collegiate sports, because their regulations serve as a series of rules/guidelines that all schools must adhere to. Well, I’ll be the first to tell you that is an absolute crock of sh*t. Why? Because unlike Federal and State laws that adhere to some level of objectivity, NCAA regulations are completely arbitrary. Schools will often receive lesser punishments if their athletic programs produce more revenue for the NCAA. Don’t believe me? Let’s talk about something as simple as academic fraud. The University of North Carolina is one of the most valuable teams in college basketball. An investigation began back in 2011 when rumors of academic dishonesty emerged, but reached its pinnacle in 2014 when it was discovered that the University was offering fraudulent classes for their student athletes. Interestingly enough, the NCAA’s hands remained tied throughout the process. UNC took internal action, didn’t lose a single scholarship and didn’t receive a postseason ban. The situation at Southern Methodist University was quite different on the other hand. When it was discovered that a school administrator helped Keith Frazier become eligible to play at SMU, the NCAA took immediate action. Larry Brown (SMU’s former head basketball coach) was dealt a 20 game suspension, the team received a postseason ban and had 9 scholarships taken away for the next 3 years. No one is saying that either one of these schools did the right thing, but there’s a glaring disparity between the punishments received by both teams.

The situation at Baylor is no different. The school has a strong athletic program and is part of a major conference. As a result, it produces more revenue for the NCAA. The NCAA practices their oversight whenever it deems necessary and it’s once again ignoring an issue that actually requires it. The organization itself lacks structure and fails to uphold the integrity of collegiate athletics. It won’t raise an eyebrow when your daughter is raped, but it’ll step in when a player receives condolence donations after his entire family dies in a fire (See the case of Emmanuel Omogbo). If the NCAA is being given the power to uphold the moral integrity of collegiate sports, why has the organization continuously proven that morality has nothing to do with their decision making process? Oh yes, because money supersedes integrity at all times.

Once again, the NCAA has proven that it’s a broken and useless mechanism.

A ransomware attack that began in Europe last Friday is lingering — and hitting new targets in Japan and China. The WannaCry software has locked thousands of computers in more than 150 countries. Users are confronted with a screen demanding a $300 payment to restore their files.

The cyberattack has hit more than 300,000 computers, White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert said at Monday’s midday White House briefing.   Some cyber professionals are speculating that the North Koreans may be behind the attack due to similarities in the software code to prior attacks that were traced back to that country.

What if the next attack is not simply one that asks for money? What if the next attack is biological, and is simply not a virus that infects your computer, but infects your body?

Imagine if a contagious disease were purposefully released in five or six major airports around the world, at the same time. Within days, it would be spread throughout the civilized world.

What happened last week should be a wake-up call to everyone. Just as no networked computer is 100% secure, no social human being is safe from a weaponized disease. As John Donne said, “No man is an island, entire of itself, every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main ..”

I’ll call a bio weapon designed for use on a mass scale “Bloodware.”

You heard the term here first.  Let’s hope we never to have to hear that word again.