Nov 26, 2023·edited Nov 26, 2023Liked by Greg Olear
I watched that pick 6 against the Commanders. Didn't know about the Jets. That's newsworthy: two record-setting pick 6s back-to-back. Not a Dallas fan, but still, that was a thing of beauty. You gotta give credit where credit is due. I am a Dolly fan however, and thought her half-time performance in the Dallas/Washington game was full-on theater of the absurd. She was wearing a Dallas cheerleading body suit with a booty and boobs. So weird.
The Queen songs are on her new album, Rockstar. I wonder if she's hit the status level where no one around her wants to tell her no. But from my vantage point, that body suit made her booty look like it was wrapped in a Depends, so someone should have said, "Honey. No."
As for not having any idea about the Jets snafu (I mean, hello, The Jets -- says it all), I can tell you why I had no clue: I have completely cut out all the media. I watch football games on Roku, and I read you for my news. I might occasionally hear about something through one of my astrology channels, but I have utterly, completely, fully given up on the media. For how long? Not sure. But I am not missing it. I do, however, pay attention to the so-called "shrunken" media that tells me about what's happening in my local community where I can vote for things that affect it, and I can actually make a difference if I care to.
Nov 26, 2023·edited Nov 26, 2023Liked by Greg Olear
Thank you, Greg. Belated Happy Birthday to ya! We'll be watching the Burrow-less Bengals today. My youngest grandson is "data driven" football fan and thinks the Bengals still have a chance to win today so we shall see!
Your grandson is not wrong. Close game, and Browning looked okay, all things considered. Such a bummer about Burrow, though. Playoffs are more fun with him involved.
Thank you for this article. You are a superb journalist, author, investigator. Grateful you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and birthday. Thank you for reminding us yourself and through the author you featured about goodness and grace even during very dark times.
Even I couldn't fully explain why I was thinking of him and reading that yesterday, but it will make a little more sense come Tuesday. The book has a LOT of really great passages.
Amen to asking us to consider Thanksgiving as a nice American non-religious blessing in our year. Perhaps the Lincoln roots will shame a few of the haters into silence. Over the years I’ve made non-turkey choices occasionally, and that was fine. There was the year I went to a Mexican beach town by myself and feasted on a whole red snapper with random people I met at the bar. There was the year my kids and I watched 5 Coen brothers movies in the garage and ate who knows what. Whatever, let’s have a break and be thankful once a year. With gratitude to you, Greg!
Right? I can't think of anything better than taking a moment to think about the things we are thankful for. It recalibrates us, and possibly unearths joy where we didn't think it existed. And: football! The Mexico trip sounds amazing!
Anything that isn't rancorous...pure silence with great thoughts and memories a great hot Toddy 🥃 perhaps a frenzy of cat turkey treats.. anyway to experience that moment of joy to the 🌍
A fine piece, Greg. I take comfort in what looks like your discovery of Walter Lippmann-with today's column a happy rediscovery for me. I am old enough to remember coming of age reading him and carrying on with my life under his lasting influence. It comforts me that you have become alert to him a little bit more than does today's neglect of the past discomfort me, or that so many of us (leaders included!) rely on digitally driven media and ignore good old fashioned print to stay informed. or to be deceived that we are informed. What Lipmann demonstrates with his command of eloquent prose is how the written word remains the best way of transmitting both good sense and wisdom. We cannot rush through his words, the way we are rushed with broadcasting while being sidelined with graphics. We must match our pace with his careful reasoning. What he started saying over a century ago still applies. Good for you for reviving him here.
Thanks, Paul. You're right about the prose, and how it can't be rushed through...or CAN be rushed through, but only if we decide. I have never cared for TV news, or YouTube videos, or TikTok because of that. I don't like having that sort of inflexible demand on my attention.
When I thought of Lippmann yesterday, I couldn't remember the name of the book, and for a minute, I got him confused with Walter Winchell. Which, obviously, two very different Walters! It was especially interesting to read because he has so many WWI examples, and I just finished the Tuchman book, so I knew who and what he was talking about, which a month ago, I'd have been like, "Joffre? Who's Joffre?"
Wow Greg, what a well-written Substack today and Walter Lippmann’s words were an inspired addition to what you wrote. I shall be re-reading this many times just to keep my sanity, if nothing else but also just to read darn good writing.
So glad you had a great turkey day. You did what my late husband would have been doing; watching all the football games, only he would have been moaning over the Panthers. Hoping the rest of your weekend, what’s left of it, goes as well.
Excellent column today, Greg, despite the football references which always go over my head like a jet at 32,000 feet! I am thankful for YOU and your writings and thoughts through the years. I have about given up on the mainstream media these days and get most of my news from WaPo headlines and Substack subscriptions. I seldom actually read WaPo stories and am thinking seriously about dropping that subscription. I find out more FACTS reading you and others like Joyce Vance, Heather Cox Richardson, and Jeff Tiedrich. The disadvantage we have now over Lippman's time is that the news was not a revenue-generating function then. It brought NEWS to the public, doing, what I believe, were the intentions and spirit of their mention in the First Amendment. Now, it's all about, "breaking news as we come on the air..." when it never really is. Alternative facts have grown tiresome, and that seems to be most of the traffic these days. "Sad!" indeed.
Everyone have a GREAT week! The podcast and the Five-8 are coming back at the end of it!
Heh. My education in football has ended with being aware of the shape of the ball. And being aware that if the person using the word is Brit, the shape is different.
Thanks, Steve. I am thankful for you and your always excellent comments here.
There are so many interesting, prescient passages in the Lippmann. Here's one: "A free press, if you judge by the attitude of the readers, means newspapers that are virtually given away." Well now. Some things never change!
Amazing post; thank you. Lippman has stared straight into our current danger:
"For when there is panic in the air, with one crisis tripping over the heels of another, actual dangers mixed with imaginary scares, there is no chance at all for the constructive use of reason, and any order soon seems preferable to any disorder."
One thing to be grateful for is that exactly 100 years after he wrote this, the Red Wave did NOT happen. Reason rose up--and it can do it again.
Thanks, Susan. You're right that reason did occasionally make a cameo. It was very interesting to read the Lippmann with the example of the pandemic. He would have hated how Trump attacked all the experts.
After the acceptance of expert bashing in a Deadly pandemic,in which friends died, and my partner,I felt enormous pressure to escape,which I did 🦠 another close friend has died from recurrent Covid 2 weeks ago.Its important to remember THE LONG TERM effects of this man and this horrible Cabal.These are suffering deaths for victims and friends of them.And our MassMedia skips right over the tragedy.
Here's a lovely hot Toddy 🥃 to you,for sorting it all out for your flock here🥰☮️🌍 we learned a lot from Covid.
I am so sorry about your friend, Katie. Covid is so very hard to shake for some. My neighbor got all of the shots but neglected to get Shingrix. Saw his wife yesterday and she told me he has a horrible bout of shingles. He’s all broken out and in pain.
So sorry 😔 to hear of the suffering..I'm just not sure how we beat this thing..and heard the is a new pneumonia in Chia..all I can think of is mask😷and Wash hands frequently 💙☮️🌌
Me too! I have had every single Covid shot, flu, and RSV shots like a guinea pig. Here I sit now, in bed, nursing either a cold or a virus. Will take Covid test, reluctantly.
Hope it is a mild case. I sat by husbands bed when he had it (no symptoms) and never tested positive. Still haven’t but I wonder when it will jump on me. Please take care, kick it’s arse soon.
A million Americans died on his watch, and Kushner's. Some percentage would have regardless, but by some estimates 400k died because of his negligence. I think the number is so large we are collectively afraid to go there.
Thank you 🙏..It still lurking..I remember when you had the mild case..It still is debilitating.It was such a major assault he beat upon America on Jan6th while we were down🤢
Another Sunday masterpiece Greg, aside from the wasted hours of football, your Thanksgiving thoughts are excellent! My explanation of the holiday for my inquisitive granddaughter, avoided the fustian and fantasy of holiday, any attempts at explaining colonialism, or Plymouth Rock was discarded, nary a football game watched. One of my favorite holidays was celebrated with family, food and friends.
Having read Lippmann years ago, some of which appeared psychobabble, this piece is perfect for today’s epoch, thanks!!
Lippmann’s analogy of the ship captain dealing with a mutinous crew seems to suggest that journalism is, ideally, the voice of reason as a less-than-reasonable populace reacts to the political squalls a democracy entails. As I ponder your applying of Lippmann’s argument to the recent era, I wonder: Where is the voice of reason, when the government is led by a raving maniac and the for-profit news outlets report every lie and nonsensical emission from his orange mouth? Who is the wise, experienced captain? Walter Cronkite has left the building!
Biden is the captain, I think, in the political sphere. In media, there are still people who, even though they drive me nuts, I look to as SOME voice of authority. But yes, Cronkite is gone gone gone, alas...
I watched that pick 6 against the Commanders. Didn't know about the Jets. That's newsworthy: two record-setting pick 6s back-to-back. Not a Dallas fan, but still, that was a thing of beauty. You gotta give credit where credit is due. I am a Dolly fan however, and thought her half-time performance in the Dallas/Washington game was full-on theater of the absurd. She was wearing a Dallas cheerleading body suit with a booty and boobs. So weird.
Also, happy belated birthday!
Thanks, Whitney! The Jets play was a thing of beauty in reverse. It will be played on highlight reels until the end of time. Just amazing.
I thought Dolly looked great! She did appear to be holding onto the stage thing for dear life, and I'm not sure why she sang the Queen songs.
The Queen songs are on her new album, Rockstar. I wonder if she's hit the status level where no one around her wants to tell her no. But from my vantage point, that body suit made her booty look like it was wrapped in a Depends, so someone should have said, "Honey. No."
As for not having any idea about the Jets snafu (I mean, hello, The Jets -- says it all), I can tell you why I had no clue: I have completely cut out all the media. I watch football games on Roku, and I read you for my news. I might occasionally hear about something through one of my astrology channels, but I have utterly, completely, fully given up on the media. For how long? Not sure. But I am not missing it. I do, however, pay attention to the so-called "shrunken" media that tells me about what's happening in my local community where I can vote for things that affect it, and I can actually make a difference if I care to.
I hope all your birthday wishes come true!
Ah, okay, that makes sense.
Thank you!
Thank you, Greg. Belated Happy Birthday to ya! We'll be watching the Burrow-less Bengals today. My youngest grandson is "data driven" football fan and thinks the Bengals still have a chance to win today so we shall see!
Your grandson is not wrong. Close game, and Browning looked okay, all things considered. Such a bummer about Burrow, though. Playoffs are more fun with him involved.
Thank you for this article. You are a superb journalist, author, investigator. Grateful you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and birthday. Thank you for reminding us yourself and through the author you featured about goodness and grace even during very dark times.
Thanks, Helen. I am thankful for you!
Glad to hear you had a lovely time. I'm grateful for you, Greg, and for this wonderful community.
Thanks, Paulina. I'm grateful you're a part of the community!
Me2💙🙋☮️🌍
I consider Prevail to be a "foothold for reason" and am grateful for what you're doing Greg. Please continue.
Thanks, Craig. I'm very happy to hear that!
Who and what we choose to believe says a lot about who we are.
The ghost of Lippmann is speaking to us at the most appropriate time.
I'm thankful that you find exactly the right people to conjure!
Even I couldn't fully explain why I was thinking of him and reading that yesterday, but it will make a little more sense come Tuesday. The book has a LOT of really great passages.
A quote I remember from somewhere, “You can tell a lot about people when they don’t get what they want.” Never been more true, it seems.
Amen to asking us to consider Thanksgiving as a nice American non-religious blessing in our year. Perhaps the Lincoln roots will shame a few of the haters into silence. Over the years I’ve made non-turkey choices occasionally, and that was fine. There was the year I went to a Mexican beach town by myself and feasted on a whole red snapper with random people I met at the bar. There was the year my kids and I watched 5 Coen brothers movies in the garage and ate who knows what. Whatever, let’s have a break and be thankful once a year. With gratitude to you, Greg!
Right? I can't think of anything better than taking a moment to think about the things we are thankful for. It recalibrates us, and possibly unearths joy where we didn't think it existed. And: football! The Mexico trip sounds amazing!
Anything that isn't rancorous...pure silence with great thoughts and memories a great hot Toddy 🥃 perhaps a frenzy of cat turkey treats.. anyway to experience that moment of joy to the 🌍
🙌 Thank you Teacher. Billserle.com
Thanks, Bill!
A fine piece, Greg. I take comfort in what looks like your discovery of Walter Lippmann-with today's column a happy rediscovery for me. I am old enough to remember coming of age reading him and carrying on with my life under his lasting influence. It comforts me that you have become alert to him a little bit more than does today's neglect of the past discomfort me, or that so many of us (leaders included!) rely on digitally driven media and ignore good old fashioned print to stay informed. or to be deceived that we are informed. What Lipmann demonstrates with his command of eloquent prose is how the written word remains the best way of transmitting both good sense and wisdom. We cannot rush through his words, the way we are rushed with broadcasting while being sidelined with graphics. We must match our pace with his careful reasoning. What he started saying over a century ago still applies. Good for you for reviving him here.
Thanks, Paul. You're right about the prose, and how it can't be rushed through...or CAN be rushed through, but only if we decide. I have never cared for TV news, or YouTube videos, or TikTok because of that. I don't like having that sort of inflexible demand on my attention.
When I thought of Lippmann yesterday, I couldn't remember the name of the book, and for a minute, I got him confused with Walter Winchell. Which, obviously, two very different Walters! It was especially interesting to read because he has so many WWI examples, and I just finished the Tuchman book, so I knew who and what he was talking about, which a month ago, I'd have been like, "Joffre? Who's Joffre?"
Well said..it's not contemplative 🤪
Just what I needed today! I think it’s the best you’ve ever written!
Thanks so much, Martha! That makes me very happy! : )
Wow Greg, what a well-written Substack today and Walter Lippmann’s words were an inspired addition to what you wrote. I shall be re-reading this many times just to keep my sanity, if nothing else but also just to read darn good writing.
As an aside, I would also recommend Heather Cox Richardson’s Substack as well. As I usually read the comment section, I’m including a link to an outside article about our news: https://www.cjr.org/analysis/election-politics-front-pages.php
It makes for an interesting read.
So glad you had a great turkey day. You did what my late husband would have been doing; watching all the football games, only he would have been moaning over the Panthers. Hoping the rest of your weekend, what’s left of it, goes as well.
Thanks so much! There are a LOT of great passages in the Lippmann, and it's free on Project Gutenberg, and short enough to read at the laptop.
Love HCR. Have been reading her for four plus years now! Thanks for the link.
Alas, the Panthers. And no first-round pick this year. Hopefully they get better next season!
Hope springs eternal for sports fans 🙄.
Thank you🌍☮️
Excellent column today, Greg, despite the football references which always go over my head like a jet at 32,000 feet! I am thankful for YOU and your writings and thoughts through the years. I have about given up on the mainstream media these days and get most of my news from WaPo headlines and Substack subscriptions. I seldom actually read WaPo stories and am thinking seriously about dropping that subscription. I find out more FACTS reading you and others like Joyce Vance, Heather Cox Richardson, and Jeff Tiedrich. The disadvantage we have now over Lippman's time is that the news was not a revenue-generating function then. It brought NEWS to the public, doing, what I believe, were the intentions and spirit of their mention in the First Amendment. Now, it's all about, "breaking news as we come on the air..." when it never really is. Alternative facts have grown tiresome, and that seems to be most of the traffic these days. "Sad!" indeed.
Everyone have a GREAT week! The podcast and the Five-8 are coming back at the end of it!
Heh. My education in football has ended with being aware of the shape of the ball. And being aware that if the person using the word is Brit, the shape is different.
You'll have to trust me, then, that the play the Jets bugled was cosmically funny.
Thanks, Steve. I am thankful for you and your always excellent comments here.
There are so many interesting, prescient passages in the Lippmann. Here's one: "A free press, if you judge by the attitude of the readers, means newspapers that are virtually given away." Well now. Some things never change!
Have a great week!
Amazing post; thank you. Lippman has stared straight into our current danger:
"For when there is panic in the air, with one crisis tripping over the heels of another, actual dangers mixed with imaginary scares, there is no chance at all for the constructive use of reason, and any order soon seems preferable to any disorder."
One thing to be grateful for is that exactly 100 years after he wrote this, the Red Wave did NOT happen. Reason rose up--and it can do it again.
Thanks, Susan. You're right that reason did occasionally make a cameo. It was very interesting to read the Lippmann with the example of the pandemic. He would have hated how Trump attacked all the experts.
After the acceptance of expert bashing in a Deadly pandemic,in which friends died, and my partner,I felt enormous pressure to escape,which I did 🦠 another close friend has died from recurrent Covid 2 weeks ago.Its important to remember THE LONG TERM effects of this man and this horrible Cabal.These are suffering deaths for victims and friends of them.And our MassMedia skips right over the tragedy.
Here's a lovely hot Toddy 🥃 to you,for sorting it all out for your flock here🥰☮️🌍 we learned a lot from Covid.
I am so sorry about your friend, Katie. Covid is so very hard to shake for some. My neighbor got all of the shots but neglected to get Shingrix. Saw his wife yesterday and she told me he has a horrible bout of shingles. He’s all broken out and in pain.
So sorry 😔 to hear of the suffering..I'm just not sure how we beat this thing..and heard the is a new pneumonia in Chia..all I can think of is mask😷and Wash hands frequently 💙☮️🌌
Got Shingrex as soon as it became available. Knew several who had shingles and knew I didn’t want it.
Me too! I have had every single Covid shot, flu, and RSV shots like a guinea pig. Here I sit now, in bed, nursing either a cold or a virus. Will take Covid test, reluctantly.
Hope it is a mild case. I sat by husbands bed when he had it (no symptoms) and never tested positive. Still haven’t but I wonder when it will jump on me. Please take care, kick it’s arse soon.
I'm sorry for your loss, Katie.
A million Americans died on his watch, and Kushner's. Some percentage would have regardless, but by some estimates 400k died because of his negligence. I think the number is so large we are collectively afraid to go there.
Thank you 🙏..It still lurking..I remember when you had the mild case..It still is debilitating.It was such a major assault he beat upon America on Jan6th while we were down🤢
Another Sunday masterpiece Greg, aside from the wasted hours of football, your Thanksgiving thoughts are excellent! My explanation of the holiday for my inquisitive granddaughter, avoided the fustian and fantasy of holiday, any attempts at explaining colonialism, or Plymouth Rock was discarded, nary a football game watched. One of my favorite holidays was celebrated with family, food and friends.
Having read Lippmann years ago, some of which appeared psychobabble, this piece is perfect for today’s epoch, thanks!!
Thanks, Patrick!
Football means sitting on the couch, dozing, zoning in and out. It is how I relax. I have to make myself relax.
Watching football, or most anything on the tube would likely cause my eyes to close tightly. Although I am a hoops junkie!
Lippmann’s analogy of the ship captain dealing with a mutinous crew seems to suggest that journalism is, ideally, the voice of reason as a less-than-reasonable populace reacts to the political squalls a democracy entails. As I ponder your applying of Lippmann’s argument to the recent era, I wonder: Where is the voice of reason, when the government is led by a raving maniac and the for-profit news outlets report every lie and nonsensical emission from his orange mouth? Who is the wise, experienced captain? Walter Cronkite has left the building!
Biden is the captain, I think, in the political sphere. In media, there are still people who, even though they drive me nuts, I look to as SOME voice of authority. But yes, Cronkite is gone gone gone, alas...
Love it
Thanks Richard!