Just One Thing: Tucker Carlson Out at Fox News
I'm not sure just what he's describing with that hand gesture. How close he was to keeping his job? Something I really can't say on a family show webpage?
Anyway, we STILL don't know why Tucker Carlson was fired or quit from Fox News yesterday. Rumors abound. Dominion lawsuit (I doubt it), Abby Grossberg lawsuit (more likely), something he was going to do on his show yesterday (maybe, but less likely than the Grossberg stuff).
I'll speculate on the future: I think he'll be back, but not for a little while because it's a big decision ahead of him. I think he won't be back on cable TV. I think he's liberated from that. I think it's more likely that either he'll partner with an existing conservative online media outlet (though that's a daunting prospect for the potential employer who might not want to take on an employee who's more famous than the brand currently is) or start his own media conglomerate. Tucker's long-form interviews such as he does for the Fox subscription product, Fox Nation, are quite good and I could imagine him doing something that's sort of in between his Fox News show and what Joe Rogan does. If he does more stuff online he can appeal to FAR more people under the age of 50. The average age of a Fox viewer (as reported a few weeks ago) is 69 years old. I'm happy to have any listener, of course, and Tucker is happy to have any viewer, but everybody in media wants to find a way to appeal to the desired-by-advertisers 25-54-year-old demographic.
I think folks who say they're "done with Fox" because of firing Tucker should not be hasty. That might end up being the right thing for those viewers, but it's possible that their view might be changed by Fox's eventual choice for replacement and/or by learning more (if we do) about why he left Fox. Remember that a lot of people wrote off Fox after Bill O'Reilly was fired, but the network thrived with his replacement, one Tucker Carlson. Not impossible for that sort of dynamic to play out again though I have to say Tucker is a very different sort of guy and a very different sort of host than most others. Absolutely NOT mainstream conservative or mainstream GOP and that difference is refreshing even though I personally stopped watching Tucker shortly about 18 months ago. Still, he's way more interesting than Hannity or Ingraham, both of whom put me to sleep.
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One More Thing: Biden Kicks Off Re-Election Campaign
I have to say I really thought he wouldn't run for re-election. I think he is for two reasons: 1) he doesn't think Kamala Harris can beat Trump and 2) his wife wants him to run again.
Here's his video announcing the re-election campaign. The first stuff in an ad (or almost anything else) is always the most important. Biden starts with pictures of the January 6 riot and pictures of pro-choice/pro-abortion protesters. He shows pictures of Marjorie Taylor Greene, Donald Trump, and Ron DeSantis, and talks repeatedly of "MAGA extremists". He goes back to the abortion issue (which I would too if I were running for office as a Democrat) but also to Social Security (which must be reformed to survive), to the myths of "banning books" and voter suppression.
Biden's first spoken word is "freedom", which he seems to mean primarily as a synonym for abortion though later also implies gay marriage which seems like a settled issue at this point. He also repeats his mantra that "we're in a battle for the soul of America." (Yes, a battle America is losing due both to Biden and to Trump.)
He then pivots to the positive message that he knows and believes in America, while also mixing in that America isn't a place for hate, implying of course that his opponents think it is. It's kinda funny to see a very brief clip of him jogging (such as from a waiting area to a podium, not on the street for exercise) as if to prove to us that he's not a contemporary of Methusaleh.
None of Biden's video fools me into thinking he's anything but an incompetent leftist leading an incompetent leftist government that is in charge because Republicans had so many incompetent far-right nominees and the anchor of Donald Trump over the past couple of elections.
America deserves better than the choices but it's unclear that Americans do.
https://www.axios.com/2023/04/25/joe-biden-2024-presidential-election-campaign
Today's Guests
Jim Davidson survived the deadliest day ever on Mount Everest when an earthquake killed 18 people on the mountain and thousands in nearby parts of Nepal. Today is the 8th anniversary of that disaster which Jim had the good fortune to survive. Oh, after he almost died in the mountain, he went back.
The man who survived Mount Everest’s deadliest day. Then went back | Sport | The Guardian
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Amity Shlaes is a historian and author of one of my particular favorite histories called "The Forgotten Man." If you read it you'll never again go along with Democrat mythology that FDR was a great president, at least not for any reason other than if you like the way he handled World War II. Today we're going to discuss a later book of hers, one which I should have read years ago but which is still well worth your time, about one of the few great American presidents of the past century: Calvin Coolidge. Amity is also chair of the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation.
Amity Shlaes (coolidgefoundation.org)
Amazon.com: Coolidge: 9780061967597: Shlaes, Amity: Books
For the econ nerds out there, here's Amity's speech upon winning the Hayek Prize: hayek_lecture_2009.pdf (manhattan-institute.org)
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Other Stuff
It's not so much schadenfreude because I don't dislike these folks. It's more of "what did you expect when you rely on an unreliable energy source?"
Headwaters Center power outage delays Earth Day events | SkyHiNews.com
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With real estate prices going crazy and bad traffic and Democrats adding taxes and reducing freedom at every turn (with the exception of Jared Polis being in support of a small voter-passed reduction in the state income tax rate), this isn't surprising at all: Denver among top 10 places people are leaving in 2023 | FOX31 Denver (kdvr.com)
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As the article properly says, this is, at best, a "murky case": Carroll v. Trump: The rape case that started at a Resistance party | Washington Examiner
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Less murky but still not a slam dunk: Federal judge weighs further intervention in abortion law | Courts | coloradopolitics.com
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I realize Denver is a rather left-wing city so this is good for Johnston but I find Herod's political views so repugnant that I'd be inclined to find her endorsement to be a negative in my perception of its recipient: Leslie Herod endorses Mike Johnston for Denver mayor | News | coloradopolitics.com
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I think all the energy companies should refuse to supply any products into the jurisdictions that are suing them. Let's see how Rhode Island and Boulder and Baltimore do without Chevron, ExxonMobil, etc.
Supreme Court Allows State-Law Climate Suits Against Oil Companies (msn.com)
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The French have known this for a long time: Your dog can join you for outdoor dining, FDA says (axios.com)
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I wish I could say I were surprised but I'm not. This is disgusting: Pelosi's final payoff: Park Service sent $200 million to former speaker's San Francisco district - Washington Times
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"Pro-choice" Democrats don't want pregnant women to have the choice to reverse a decision to end a pregnancy by taking a high dose of progesterone to counteract a first dose of the "abortion pill". The issue now goes to court where liberals are lying about the risk to those who might violate this rather murky law (see a trend today?): Federal judge weighs further intervention in abortion law | Courts | coloradopolitics.com
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Andy is right: You don't need to reach criminality to reach disqualification: Biden's corruption is enough to disqualify him from office now (nypost.com)
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The end of an era in the Denver area: https://kdvr.com/news/local/bandimere-speedway-closing-at-end-of-drag-racing-season
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Good riddance, even if you get bonus points for disliking the ridiculous Xavier Becerra: https://nypost.com/2023/04/24/susan-rice-leaving-as-bidens-top-domestic-policy-adviser
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As they say in the article, perhaps the findings are obvious: Being Horny Increases Likelihood People (Particularly Men) Will Sleep With Robots | IFLScience
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Offered without further comment: This Australian Bartender Found an ATM Glitch and Blew $1.6 Million - (binsider.bond)
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Flaunt it if you've got it, regardless of your age: I’m 56 and diabetic — I’m in the running to be a Sports Illustrated model (nypost.com)
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Today's Videos
Clip from Tucker's last huge interview on Fox: Elon Musk
I wonder if this was near my Amsterdam apartment
OMG
Orwellian econ-speak: "Pre-pay taxes". And liberals who won't answer direct questions.
The price is right