Sips from the Firehose
A blog that seeks to filter the internet into a refreshing, easily-gulped beverage


Dec 07

Cold Comfort for the (former) Ink-Stained Wretches of the 4th Estate

Posted: under Uncategorized.
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Josh Marshall feels bad about all the cuts in newspapers.  Which is a dangerous thing to express in public, as angry curmudgeons tend to descend in swarms, likely blaming Marshall for their plight … while surreptitiously banging in copies of their resume & writing samples…

In a sense we’re part of this question, since we’re on the other
side of the divide. But in journalism as in life, no one is an island.
And while I’m confident ‘journalism’ will survive this in the medium
run, there’s no getting around the catastrophic dimensions of what’s
happening for a whole generation of journalists. There’s a lot I don’t
know about newspaper financing. But the year over year revenue declines
across the whole industry just seem unsustainable.

No kidding. We used to joke that if the circulation numbers kept up, in 20 years time, there would be only one reader of the LA Times, “but he’ll have a really great newspaper that’s fine-tuned to his interests.”  We’re not laughing anymore about that one.

I hadn’t heard that the Scripps chain is thinking about killing the Rocky Mountain News “as soon as practical.”

Cincinnati-based Scripps said in a news release that if no acceptable
offers emerge by mid-January, it will “examine its other options.” It
gave no details.

An internal Denver Post memo, authored by
publisher Dean Singleton, read in part, “an announced sale is usually
the first step leading to a failing newspaper’s closure.”

(snip)

Boehne says the problem is not getting people to read the paper, it’s that the advertising dollars that aren’t there anymore.

“In
the last couple of years it’s gotten tougher. Classified ads have moved
from our pages onto our Web site. We still have the classifieds, but
it’s not as profitable on the Internet as it is in print,” he said.

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Dec 04

Obama-Haters Won’t Give Up, File Suits Over Birth Certificate

Posted: under Conspiracy Theories, Denial of Reality, Politics & New Media.
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I hesitate to even blog this, but apparently some people have their hands over their ears & are screaming like an F-18 engine on takeoff, desperate to avoid the news or any other hint of reality penetrating their Anti-Reality Extra-Stoopid Force Field…

Lawsuits filed in Hawaii to force disclosure of Obama birth records

The new challenge is an outgrowth of a legal suit filed in Mississippi,
which questioned whether Obama is a “natural born citizen” of the U.S.

Plaintiffs in that suit subpoenaed a copy of the birth certificate Nov.
26 from the Hawai’i Health Department. The plaintiffs include
conservative political activist and failed presidential candidate Alan
Keyes, who lost to Obama in the 2004 U.S. Senate race in Illinois.

Oh good grief.

This is like a rube taken in by P.T. Barnum’s “Fiji Mermaid”   filing suit because they had subcontracted with one of Barnum’s gin-soaked roustabouts to have the mermaid do deep cenote diving in search of the Inca Gold of the Seven Cities of Cibola, and the dingdang critter never showed up for the steamship ride.

UPDATE:  Aaagh! It doesn’t stop!

It looks like the Barack Obama citizenship issue will not die until he is inaugurated. It probably will not end even then.

Now the U.S. Supreme Court will discuss the matter in private because one justice decided it was worthy. Before
fingering the member of our highest court, I will give a little
background information on the case. If you do not think too hard about
it, you can probably guess which Supreme Court Justice is responsible.

PEOPLE.  THIS WAS A HOAX.  A NOT-TRUE THING.

SCAM ARTISTS ARE TAKING YOU FOR A RIDE. STOP FALLING FOR THIS.

…oh, what’s the use…

 

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