Daily Archives: June 7, 2020

Bush administration, Colin Powell, credibility, Donald Trump, ethics, Iraq War, leadership, personal responsibility, political credibility, the importance of history, United Nations

Can we slow down the “way to go Colin Powell” talk for a minute

1 Comment

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Enter Colin Powell.

Social media has erupted with likes, retweets and accolades for Colin Powell who today said (dramatic pause) Donald Trump is a horrible president.

Oh, and Powell, a Republican if you hadn’t already figured that out, also said he’ll vote for Joe Biden in the fall.

With those statements, many people on the left seem to have erased from their memory banks the enmity they held for Powell for his disgusting presentation before the United Nations in 2003 that set up the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Powell made clear that day there was “evidence” Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and Saddam Hussein was stonewalling international efforts to identify them.

Suddenly, Powell is being lauded, praised and honored, and all because he criticized Trump. Criticizing Trump, unless the person doing it shares his last name, is not a bold statement in 2020, folks.

For those of you reading this not old enough to remember 2003, let me summarize: There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. You know all about the war in Iraq, I hope.

Later, almost a decade later mind you, and after billions of dollars had been spent and thousands of people had died in that war, Powell said he had made a huge mistake that would live with him forever.

In reality, he lied.

A huge mistake is divorcing your spouse though you still love the person. A lie is telling your spouse there is no one else when in fact there is.

Powell, in effect, told the U.N. that Saddam was cheating on its members and he had the evidence to prove it. And the U.S. would broker the divorce.

A lot of good that did.

As I write this, I vividly remember standing in Washington in January 2009 and watching Barack Obama being sworn in as president. To my right, maybe 10 feet away, was a man and a woman. He held her tightly, their sobs audible to me as Obama spoke to the nation. I wouldn’t dare interrupt that couple’s moment, but I was convinced their tears were for a son or daughter who fought and died in that war.

If I knew who they were, I’d have called them today to ask what they think of Powell’s comments about Trump.

I believe you know what I think.

newspaper, Newspaper industry, Newspaper readership, newspapers, Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh media market, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette publisher completes newspaper’s descent into hell

Leave a comment

The decline of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette appears complete.

Getting rid of a popular cartoonist who criticized Donald Trump, posting editorials equating racism with “reason” and refusing to raise union salaries for more than a decade had the paper on an out-of-control race to hell.

To John Robinson Block, the paper’s publisher, I say: You’ve now arrived at your destination.

The Washington Post exposes what’s been discussed here in Pittsburgh over the past week.

With the country gripped by an anti-racism uprising, what’s been unfolding inside the Pittsburgh newspaper has underscored one of the fundamental challenges American media faces with its coverage: a lack of diverse voices, including of black journalists, in newsrooms. It has also laid bare the challenges of trying to change that.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editors did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.

There’s no reason to support the paper any longer. Let’s hope Block does the honorable thing and sells the paper. To this point, he remains committed to slowly killing it, much like a deranged cop would keep a knee on the back of a suspect’s neck.