Tag: Kamala Harris

Journalism Goes Hollywood

It’s the mainstay of the entertainment industry.

Take bits of creative fabrication, put them all together in celluloid form, and pass the whole thing off as reality.

Voila! A big-screen, little-screen, and/or digital-screen production is born.

Once upon a time entertainment fare didn’t infiltrate journalistic territory. Instead it was happily confined to its own terrain.

And there was a kind of unwritten truth-in-advertising code within the journalism profession as well, secured by an internal bond of trust in news media venues across the culture.

Those days are long gone. The dividing line between entertainment and news media has almost been completely obliterated, and nowhere is it more obvious than within the realm of politics.

So what happens when news journalism goes Hollywood?

Well, in the past professional journalists pretty much had a singular goal, which was actually outlined in the first draft of the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics, dated 1926: “Seek truth and report it.”

It appears as though way too many journalists have chosen to ditch their reporter notepads and are now itching to get into the Hollywood production game.

Let’s take a look at how Hollywood has done things for decades.

Filmmakers select a story to tell. It can be an original idea, an extension of a previous artistic work, or myriad of other fanciful combinations.

Screenwriters create a script, which oftentimes undergoes multiple revisions in order to increase dramatic effect or enhance entertainment value.

Production designers and art directors create visuals and construct sets.

Locations are scouted and choice venues are selected.

Filming begins, with repeated scene shoots taking place so that the finest performances can be selected from the mix.

An extensive editing process occurs in which scenes are examined, and segments of footage can be re-arranged and/or cut out completely if so desired.

The movie is then assembled and delivered in its completed state.

And of course there is a whole industry built on marketing the final product.

If we apply the above-outlined entertainment template to the news business, it begins to become clear as to what has occurred within a once-noble profession.

Journalism has gone Hollywood.

Some may immediately say, “So what’s the problem?”

The answer is simple. The Fourth Estate is now on life support. However, The Fourth Estate has, and always will be an essential component in keeping a free society free. So if The Fourth Estate truly dies, so does our liberty.

Traditionally, journalists have had an ethical obligation to inform the public, taking particular care to report truthfully and accurately. They have also had an ethical obligation to clarify mistakes that are made and/or issue retractions.

The public hasn’t seen a whole lot of this of late. Instead the opposite has been occurring. Here’s a glaring example.

Vice president and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris recently sat down for an interview with CBS. After a less than sterling outing, it was discovered that the network had used some filmmaking techniques to give the vice president’s performance an extreme Hollywood makeover.

Interviewer Bill Whitaker had asked some rudimentary questions, but the responses given were woefully insufficient. That’s when the network went to work on editing and rearranging her remarks, ultimately making her appear to say something that she didn’t and to be someone that she isn’t.

As a promotion for the segment, the network had released raw footage of her answer to a question about Israel and leader Benjamin Netanyahu. It was embarrassingly bad.

But when CBS later aired the same Q&A, viewers were presented with a new and improved version of her response.

The network had evidently gone to great lengths to produce an edited, i.e., quasi-fictional response, one that had been digitally cut from an earlier part of the interview and re-inserted in the “preferred” place.

Also present in the edited version was some dubbed-in narration, which served to cover up some of her less than perfect responses.

Those who actually still care about the future of journalism, including The New York Post editorial board, have demanded that CBS release the full transcript of the interview. And according to The Post, former CBS staffers are demanding an independent investigation into the matter.

CBS is not alone in jumping into the Hollywood editing game. Action News on 6 ABC (located in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania) aired two different answers from the vice president regarding her economic policies, and then went on to publish the edited version on its website.

Times sure have changed. So-called news outlets are routinely copying the fanciful storytelling and elaborate production of liberal Hollywood. And fiction and fabrication are now unapologetically presented as fact and truth.

Yes, time is running out.

But rest assured, there are still a lot of us out here who will never stop hoping for a Hollywood happy ending and a return to truth.

The Real Archetype and the Fake One

From our earliest beginnings to our senior years, stories have a way of capturing our attention, touching our hearts, and lingering in our minds long after the tale has ended.

We simply never outgrow our “tell me a story” yearning.

Embedded within so many stories from history, literature, and mythology is an enduring figure, the hero.

Renowned psychiatrist and founder of analytic psychology Carl Jung placed the hero figure under the umbrella of the archetype of the collective unconscious.

Archetypes surface from the collective unconscious and enter our conscious minds as mythological characters.

Images of the larger than life personas take root within our thoughts, experiences, and memories.

Hero figures that are bona fide archetypes actually have the potential to influence our perceptions. Examples include real life military and sports heroes and fictional comic book superheroes.

Recently, former President Donald Trump was catapulted to hero status, when after being shot during an attempted assassination, he stood tall, pumped his fist in the air, and uttered the unparalleled words “Fight, fight, fight!”

In an instant, he became the archetype.

Everyone could see how compelling a moment it was, including the former president’s political opponents.

Democrats and the complicit media were well aware that something needed to be done to slow the momentum, reverse the narrative, and ultimately prohibit the continuance of his hero archetype status.

Initially, the response of the former president’s opponents was scattered and unfocused. Big Tech attempted to censor the iconic photo of his blood-streaked face, and social media influencers tried to change the narrative of the assassination attempt.

Nothing seemed to be working.

That’s when President Joe Biden was encouraged to hand over the governing reins to Vice President Kamala Harris, which he did quite swiftly and without using the correct protocols or going through the proper channels.

Still, there was another extremely important task that had to be accomplished. The vice president’s highly damaged image had to be remade. And more importantly, she had to have the appearance of having risen to the level of archetype herself, one that could stand toe to toe with the authentic hero status of Donald J. Trump.

Handlers went to work on giving the Biden administration’s social media accounts an extreme make-over. The Biden TikTok account’s name was changed to Kamala HQ, memes began to be posted by GenX influencers, and there was a focus shift to online discourse and pop culture.

Handlers also made sure that the vice president avoided holding any formal press conferences or making appearances in venues at which challenging questions might be asked.

A campaign rally was held, which used Megan Thee Stallion’s performance to draw a significantly larger audience than the vice president had previously been attracting.

Her far-left positions on key issues, such as the banning of fracking, confiscation of guns, outlawing of private health insurance, decriminalization of border crossings, defunding of police, abolishing ICE, and promoting the Green New Deal were scrubbed from the internet, and more palatable positions were substituted in.

Her ranking as the “most liberal” member of the Senate by GovTrack in 2019 was stripped from the web.

The news was adorned with fluff pieces about her collection of cookbooks, family life, etc., and somehow her grating laugh was recast as “joyful” and “charismatic.”

But they still weren’t finished crafting the fake archetype of their preferred presidential pick.

Despite the existence of extensive video footage and news reporting to the contrary, there was a flat-out denial that the vice president had been tasked with the job of securing the border, insisting that she had never been assigned to that position.

All this having been said, the Democrats and their allies in the media have two huge problems: The hero archetype in any story has to be believable, and real hero status has to be earned.

Bottom line is you just can’t fake being a real hero.

The Re-reversal of Roe v. Wade

While millions of people were, and still are, trying to process the events of the past several weeks, here’s what has been happening on the abortion front.

Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the highly flawed Roe v. Wade decision, there has been an ongoing attempt by the Democrats to reverse the reversal.

It has taken a number of different forms.

– Vice President Kamala Harris has been off on a state-to-state tour in which she has made a series of speeches, held meetings with pro-abortion leaders, and denigrated the U.S. Supreme Court for its reversal of Roe v. Wade.

– Democrats, including the president, have pushed to negate the Supreme Court’s ruling by “codifying” Roe.

To this end, the president signed an executive order, which, under the auspices of “federal non-discrimination laws,” directs Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra to utilize “all appropriate actions” in carrying out abortions.

The order additionally directs HHS to consider actions that enable women to travel across state lines to obtain abortions. This order from the executive branch came after Democrats were unable to implement the same policies via the legislative process.

– Numerous Democrat leaders have publicly scorned the Supreme Court, referring to the overturning of Roe, as well as the High Court itself, as illegitimate; this while simultaneously proposing that the federal government offer abortions at national parks and military facilities and on Native American territory.

Additionally, major companies that are allies of the Democrats have committed to dole out travel dollars so that their employees, when necessary, can secure their abortions out-of-state.

– Meanwhile Congress was hard at work on a ridiculously titled piece of legislation known as the “Inflation Reduction Act,” which was recently approved and awaits the president’s signature. It is another massive spending bill to the tune of $740 billion.

Hidden in the pages of this tax and spending spree is a provision that thwarts the will of the majority of Americans and is also a possible violation of law.

The bill provides $64 billion in funding for tax credits related to Obamacare plans that cover abortions. It further extends the tax credits through the year 2025, continuing subsidies for health insurance plans on Obamacare exchanges that fund abortion on demand.

This provision of the Inflation Reduction Act is in direct violation of the Hyde Amendment, a law that specifically bars the use of federal funds to pay for abortions, exceptions being pregnancies arising from incest or rape or those deemed necessary to save the life of the woman.

Interestingly, polls consistently indicate that a solid majority of the public opposes taxpayer funding of abortions. In January 2022, a Marist University poll found 54 percent of Americans oppose using tax money to fund abortions and 73 percent oppose using taxpayer dollars to fund abortions in countries outside of the U.S.

Andrew Guernsey, executive director of the Senate Pro-Life Caucus, said that the provision expanding Obamacare exchange plans that cover abortions is a “blatant” violation of the Hyde Amendment.

“Many of the estimated 10 million people affected by expanded subsidies, including an estimated 3 million Americans who would drop out of, or be ineligible for, Obamacare exchange plans but for these expanded subsidies, have been driven into taxpayer-funded plans that cover elective abortion,” Guernsey said.

The HHS has proposed a rule change that would combine payment and accounting requirements related to abortion together with general health care costs.

A group of concerned Republican senators recently addressed a letter to Secretary Becerra, voicing opposition to the proposed change.

One thing is crystal clear. The battle to save the lives of our babies and grandbabies is far from over.

Democratic Presidential Candidates Compete for Hollywood Cash

26-pete-buttigieg-joe-biden.w700.h467-696x464

When it comes to campaign financing of Democrat presidential hopefuls, Hollywood’s ATM is open for business.

One after another, Dem candidates have been heading west to make their withdrawals. While there, they typically try to grab a bit of stardust wherever it can be found.

Former veep Joe Biden, mayor of South Bend, Indiana Pete Buttigieg, senator from California Kamala Harris, and senator from New Jersey Cory Booker have either already held Left Coast fundraisers or are in the process of scheduling them.

Harris has shaken the Tinseltown money tree a couple of times so far. She will be returning to the Golden State on May 19 for a campaign event in LA’s Hancock Park, hosted by Gotham Group’s Ellen Goldsmith-Vein.

In the first quarter of the year, Harris was able to garner a greater amount of cash from individuals and entities in the entertainment biz than her fellow contenders. But that was before Biden entered the race. She now plans to hold a number of events in late May, including one co-hosted by media investor and producer Peter Chernin.

Booker has plans for a two-day LA tour starting on May 29, complete with several events hosted by prominent entertainment industry figures.

Hollywood has always been a tried-and-true money source for Democrat Party politicians. The Party and its candidates are well aware that when then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton sought cash for her campaign during the previous election cycle, contributors such as Haim Saban, Steven Spielberg, and Jeffrey Katzenberg donated mega-bucks to Priorities USA Action, a pro-Clinton super-PAC that was allowed to collect unlimited contributions.

Entertainment sources contributed $22 million to Hillary, and to the super-PACs aligned with her, through mid-October 2016, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. By comparison, the same group of Hollywood donors gave less than $290,000 to then-candidate Donald Trump.

Biden and Buttigieg were the most recent candidates to seek financing from entertainment industry sources for their respective campaigns.

Back in 2007 Biden had a difficult time, though, competing with the then-presumed frontrunner Hillary and new face in town at the time Barack Obama. Currently, however, Biden’s chief advantage is the name recognition he has acquired, having been around in politics for the past fifty years.

As writer-director Adam McKay recently tweeted, “Free slogan for Joe Biden’s campaign: ‘You’ve heard my name before.’”

During his first Tinseltown trip of the 2020 campaign cycle, Biden’s notoriety paid off in a big way. Hollywood gave him a massive take in the form of a fundraiser at the home of ex-HBO executive and former ambassador to Spain James Costos along with his partner and ex-White House interior designer Michael Smith. The event brought in more than $700,000. The host committee included Katzenberg, Chernin, actor Rob Reiner, and CBS Films President Terry Press.

The former veep appears to be staying away from specific issues and is instead focusing on a liberal pie-in-the-sky cliché that he will somehow bring unity to the nation should he be elected.

“I promise you if we elect a Democrat this time — I predict to you whether it’s me or someone else, but I guarantee you if it’s me — what’s gonna happen is, we’re going to see this country come together like it hasn’t in a long time,” Biden said.

While on the Left Coast, he attended a lunchtime campaign meeting as well as a late afternoon public event with Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.

Although Buttigieg is not as well known as Biden, Hollywood, the home of professional story tellers, is enamored with the saga of Mayor Pete’s unlikely contender status. Biden’s entourage may be concerned that Buttigieg could run the table like Obama did in 2007.

Even the most imaginative screenwriters have been intrigued with the idea of a military veteran who describes himself as a Christian, is openly gay, a Rhodes scholar, and mayor of a small city in Indiana, who has unexpectedly become a top-tier candidate, according to the polls in early primary states.

The Hollywood elites have already opened their establishments and homes to hold events to introduce Buttigieg to the entertainment community and to additionally raise campaign dollars. Buttigieg has notched television appearances on the shows of Ellen DeGeneres and Bill Maher.

At the same time Biden was in town, the South Bend mayor chalked up a slew of Hollywood events, including a breakfast organized by producer Jordan Horowitz, a public event with Garcetti at SEIU Local 99 to support a ballot measure to raise the parcel tax, a gathering with Gina Gershon, Christopher Guest, and Laurie David, a lunch in Brentwood, an event at The Abbey in West Hollywood, and a cash-seeking get-together at Gwyneth Paltrow’s home, where he answered questions from more than 100 attendees, including actors Bradley Whitford, Amy Landecker, and Martin Sheen, former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, director Rob Reiner, Costos, and Smith.

Buttigieg is planning a momentum-seeking return trip to the Left Coast in June to raise money and connect with Hollywood power players, including a fundraiser at the home of producer Ryan Murphy and husband David Miller.

Expect the mayor to leave with piles of cold campaign cash with a lot more to follow.