CSotD: Errors and Commissions
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Parodies of official seals are a standard tool in the cartoonist’s magic box, but they can be hit-or-miss. Boris nails this one largely because the purpose of the FCC is so at odds with its current execution, so the irony of its malfeasance is striking and mockery of it is darkly humorous.
Today’s headline is a real estate reference to “Errors and Omissions,” a type of insurance against problems in the required disclosure of potential problems with a property, such as a sagging basement wall which may not be an immediate crisis but suggests a failing foundation.
However, what’s going on now is “Errors and Commissions” because it seem unlikely that the problems surfacing were not intentional. An error of omission can be forgivable, so long as it is remedied upon discovery, but an error of commission is far more serious because it suggests purposeful fraud.
What we have here is a failure to communicate, but when you’re in the communication business, you’re expected to have a level of expertise in which errors are not accidental.
The growing discomfort with Kash Patel heading the FBI may have more to do with incompetence and lack of experience than with purposeful deception on his part, but it certainly raises questions about how he was chosen for the position and then confirmed by the Senate.
He has some relevant experience, but it’s hard to argue that he had enough background to justify putting him in such a lofty position. Looking at the president’s cabinet, however, it seems obvious that loyalty and friendship are valued above expertise, and both Patel and his deputy, talk show host Dan Bongino seem overmatched in their current jobs.
Two Bulls picks up on a specific personality issue that raises questions about Patel’s appropriateness for the position. I was never a crime reporter per se, but as a reporter and editor at small papers, I was called upon to report on drug busts, fraud arrests, a bank robbery, a murder and a fatal encounter between authorities and a fugitive.
The police involved are not typically loose-lipped, and unlikely to tip their hand until they have everything lined up and nailed down.
This sometimes led to humor when reporters asked questions the cops obviously weren’t going to answer, but it also led to more serious clashes when police and press differed on what the public had a right to know.
What it didn’t lead to was the sort of Keystone Kops situation in which Patel announced, and then had to un-announce arrests that seemed, in retrospect, more like the questioning of a person of interest or possibly just a potential witness.
One thing you should absolutely positively never ever do is make a reporter curious, because that’s when they stop just writing down your quotes and reach, instead, for their flashlight and shovel. When you lose their trust and confidence, they start end-running you and you’ve lost control of the investigation.
I would suggest that, between the confusion Two Bulls mocks and the jaw-dropping dog-and-pony-show of Patel’s recent appearance before Congress, the words “trust” and “Kash Patel” don’t belong in the same sentence, and, in a more competence-based government, he’d have decided by now to spend more time with his family, with a shoeprint on the back of his trousers.
But, of course, we’re currently living a world of loyalty, not a world of competence, a world of appearances rather than a world of accomplishments.
As the Smothers Brothers sang well before Kristi Noem joined the government, “If you get an outfit, you can be a cowboy, too.”
While to reference a current observation on our politics, they may be clowns, but they’re clowns with flamethrowers.
Several cartoons have shown a king disposing of a jester, but it should be remembered that the court jester was traditionally somewhat untouchable, and, as in King Lear, served as something of a check upon the king, permitted to tease him and keep him from becoming too full of his own majesty.
That doesn’t make Bagley’s cartoon less accurate. Rather, it emphasizes how Trump has defied that tradition and demands flattery even of the fools who should be reminding him of his own mortality and imperfections, which we assume his courtiers will not
Juxtaposition of the Day
There’s something of a time-lapse connection between this pair: Opportunities may be opening up for new voices, but they’d better be careful, because the notion of a comedian who conforms seems like an oxymoron: Venables prompts the set-up and Bennett delivers the spike, and the message is that a comedian who doesn’t provide laughs gets fired, while a comedian who does also gets fired.
Byrnes suggests that the values modeled in government-approved media will begin to show up in our daily life, as we adapt to a country where you can advocate murder without losing your job but dare not suggest that a government policy seems insensitive.
Telnaes is likely safe, since people without humor, insight or creativity will likely miss her sarcasm, while the rest of us get a laugh.
John-John, BTW, was not really saluting his dead father but had been taught to salute the flag, and there was one covering the casket.
Unconscious reflexive patriotism is a perfect encapsulation of the moment.
Meanwhile, the “Greatest Generation” style of thoughtful patriotism that involved personal sacrifice is gone. Heel spurs are in, trench foot is out and fighting fascism is not just unpatriotic but criminal.
And Kal had better watch his step, because Jimmy Kimmel lost his job for suggesting that the administration was putting too much energy into blaming leftwing extremists while ignoring those on the right.
Truth may be a positive defense to accusations of slander, but facts won’t get you off the hook for making powerful people angry, and, if you lose a broadcasting job, you may be out of luck.
The FCC had rules limiting the number of stations a company could own, which included dominating a local market with more than one influential TV channel. But that was then. This is now.
In a plutocracy, oligarchs control information and being fired in one town may mean being persona non grata everywhere.
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