The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Shepard Smith, Live From Tokyo

“. . . blackouts across this nation . . . epic earthquake . . . monster tsunami . . . nightmare scene from Hell . . . . a quickly growing humanitarian crisis . . . an economy teetering on the brink of collapse . . .” Fuck you, Shep. Fuck you and fuck your […]

‘Remain Calm! All Is Well!’

The famous cinematic words of Chip Diller kept replaying in my mind Sunday night after I got an e-mail from a friend telling me that we’d all breathe a sigh of relief when, on Monday or Tuesday, we were told that the Japanese had the whole problem under control. It wasn’t clear whether my friend […]

Finally: Japanese Official Admits ‘Possible Partial Meltdown’ at Nuclear Power Plant

It only took about 24 hours after the explosion at Fukushima Daiichi — an entire day of denial — but at long last we may be starting to get some (carefully qualified) truth here: Japan’s top government spokesman says a partial meltdown is likely under way at second reactor affected by Friday’s massive earthquake. Chief Cabinet […]

Predictably, Japan Disaster to Be Scene of Next ‘Battle of the Network News Stars’

So predictable, you can set your watch by it: A catastrophe or crisis makes headlines, and TV news operations compete to see who can get their celebrity on-air talent to the scene first: Cooper, Amanpour among TV journalists to Japan U.S. broadcast and cable networks, some of which were short-staffed Friday morning in Japan, are […]

Japan Disaster Gets Worse: Meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant UPDATE: Meltdown or Not? Also: Cooling Failure Reported at 2nd Plant UPDATE: Now 3rd Reactor in Trouble?

BUMPED FOR UPDATE 5 p.m. ET: Just when I was thinking about eating lunch and taking a nap, I decided to check Drudge and saw this: The link is to a Reuters story: A quake-hit Japanese nuclear plant reeling from an explosion at one of its reactors has also lost its emergency cooling system at […]

A Tsunami of Posturing

Few things are more predictable in modern discourse than the instinctive opportunism of those who, as soon as tragic news makes headlines, seek to turn it to some narrow political advantage. The as-yet-unnumbered innocent Japanese who have lost their lives can speak on behalf of no agenda, and the distraught survivors of the devastation want nothing […]

‘Looking Presidential’

On a Friday, when the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan is monopolizing news coverage, the White House calls a press conference for the Healer-in-Chief. For those who appreciate raw cynicism, this is a thing of beauty. UPDATE: Darleen Click: [J]ust heard the One say we shouldn’t believe what we are seeing or reading … […]

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