ANDY KESSLER: The Lost Era of Reliability: We can no longer count on politicians, media or even the latest technology.

Photoshopping the then-missing princess of Wales. The press twisting Donald Trump’s “bloodbath” comment out of context. AT&T Wireless down for hours. And (gasp!) Instagram offline. Is anything reliable anymore?
Reliability is a lost art. Our electricity used to be so steady that plugged-in wall clocks rarely needed adjusting. That’s funny now because power outages are so commonplace. Heck, we now schedule rolling blackouts in California—forced failure.

Back then, the electric grid and phone system were designed for “five 9s” or 99.999% reliability—five minutes of unscheduled downtime a year. Last month, AT&T. ’s cellular network went down for around 11 hours. No TikTok? The horror. AT&T provided $5 credits to customers. Thanks for nothing. Today’s reality is that we’re preconditioned to accept failure.

When did things change? My guess is after the July 13-14, 1977, New York City blackout, which happened during a heat wave. The result was fires, looting and fear that the “Son of Sam” serial killer would kill again. After that, we became thankful for outages lasting only an hour.

Thanks, New York. But you don’t have to put up with it.

WHAT HE SAID:  Baltimore.

HAVE THEY EVEN LOOKED AT THE ALTERNATIVE:  “How could a Christian vote for Trump?”

Listen, this is an existential fight. And your choice is not death or ice-cream. Reality is never death or ice-cream. Christians should know better than anyone else that we’re all sinners and imperfect.

THIS COMPLETELY BOLSTERS THE IMPRESSION THE CASE IS LEGIT!  Judge in Trump’s Hush Money Case Slaps Him With Gag Order.

Not!  Nothing convinces me so much that these idiots are in fact lizard people are their apparently ignorance of how humans think. Unfortunately having seen this in every communist regime, I know it’s just how Marxism rots the brain. Friends don’t let friends believe Marx. Marxism, not even once.

WHETHER OR NOT TO LEAVE THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS (ECHR) SHOULDN’T BE IN QUESTION:  A referendum’s not the answer to the Strasbourg question.

For one the entire Rights of Man project started with a Soviet attempt to Tu Quoque the free West. So what exactly could one expect?

OPEN THREAD: Because I love you and want you to be happy.

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg Holds Emergency Press Conference To Announce He Is Taking 3 More Months Maternity Leave.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In the morning after a tragic cargo ship accident and bridge collapse in Baltimore, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called an emergency press conference to announce he is taking three more months of maternity leave.

“It has come to my attention that the twin babies I purchased at the baby store require more undivided attention,” said Buttigieg. “I will be taking some much-needed time off to care for my children, and that is in no way related to the tragic bridge collapse that apparently happened somewhere. Right now, I need to be a mother to my children. Please respect my family’s privacy during this time.”

It’s satire (for now), but back in what passes for reality in 2024, after the bridge collapse, AP is taking up one of Buttigieg’s pet causes — all those pesky racist roads: AP Gives Us a Biography of ‘Controversial Figure’ Francis Scott Key.

 

YOU WILL NEVER FIND A MORE WRETCHED HIVE OF SCUM AND VILLAINY: There are no good guys at NBC.

[Ronna] McDaniel’s hiring simply could not stand with the elite of MSNBC like Chuck Todd, Joe Scarborough and Nicolle Wallace (all former political operatives) as they issued on-air apologies over NBC management to hire someone so closely attuned to a political party they don’t belong to.

Jen Psaki would like a word. While she was sitting White House press secretary, she signed a lucrative on-air contributor deal with MSNBC, NBC News and NBC’s Peacock streaming service. It was unprecedented — a sitting White House press secretary taking questions from her contractual colleagues was a clear violation of ethical conduct between a supposedly independent press and the White House they are meant to be covering.

There was no hand-wringing. There was no public uproar. There were no on-air apologies or brow beatings. Jen Psaki was welcomed at NBC with open arms — and zero hint of hypocrisy.

Likewise, MSNBC played a major part in rehabbing the reputation of controversial race-baiter Al Sharpton, even rewarding him with own show to host. Once again, not a peep.

By Monday, the zone had been flooded with commentary from others at the cool kids’ media table. Self-appointed media finger-wagger Margaret Sullivan caterwauled over at the Guardian, writing, “Can NBC News recover from its damaging decision to hire Ronna McDaniel?” She went on to say that. “Hiring McDaniel — a powerful election denialist who joined then president Donald Trump in pressuring voting officials not to certify the 2020 election — was like putting a standing chyron on the NBC Nightly News: ‘Lying is rewarded here.’”

If election denial is the new on-air standard at NBC, then a lot of people should be fearing for their jobs, including Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes, Joy Reid and others.

Indeed:

Both sides’ lawyers stand to make a killing, however: “McDaniel is seeking legal representation as her termination is imminent, adds the report.”

UPDATE: Great moments in gaslighting:

Because if there’s one thing that NBC News has long been known for, it’s their “deep commitment to presenting our audiences with a widely diverse set of viewpoints.” But then, to paraphrase President Reagan, sometimes the left hand doesn’t always know what the far left hand is up to.