Category Archives: Journalism

The Opportunity Costs* Associated With Consumption Of Toxic Commentary

Economy, Intelligence, Journalism, Liberty, Media

QUESTION: “Why are insightful commentators and thinker whose observations have predictive power generally barred from the national discourse, while the usual foolish, false prophets are called back for encores?”

ANSWER: “The opportunity costs associated with consumption of toxic punditry are low or non-existent. Having their worldview affirmed, even affirmed in a parallel universe, is worth a lot to news consumers, who are keener to avoid the pains of cognitive dissonance than to get the real deal.”

I plagiarized myself above. “PUNDITS, HEAL THYSELVES!” (2004) is still correct after all these years.

However, the shift is coming. The cost of following the bimbos and their TV beaus and anchor, left and right, is rising. Advice: Look at their legs, don’t listen to their words.

***
Opportunity cost (a concept your kids teacher likely doesn’t know): “The benefit that is sacrificed by choosing one course of action rather than the next best alternative.”

The Week’s Tweets (11/30-12/5)

IlanaMercer.com, Islam, Journalism, Media, Terrorism

The REAL STORY Behind Abdelhamid Abaaoud Liquor Swilling

Europe, Government, Jihad, Journalism, Terrorism

More moronity from the lovely Megyn Kelly. On the eponymous Kelly File, today, Kelly kibitzed about the the Paris Attacks mastermind, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, swilling whiskey in Paris’ Saint-Denis district, in contravention of Islamic law.

To those who still remember what investigative journalism is—all journalists should investigate nonstop—the real story is the criminal negligence of the French people’s so-called protectors. Abaaoud was thus relaxing and celebrating A DAY AFTER the successful attacks. Thanks to the worse-than-shoddy, pricey police work, Abaaoud had also managed to return undisturbed to the scene of the crime and survey his handiwork, SHORTLY AFTER THE ATTACK, milling about with the idiot French gendarmes.

Where were the roadblocks? Where was the simple police work, namely stop and question loiterers, after such a disaster?

Kelly is managing to transform her show to the Barbara Walters model she so admires.

The Week’s Tweets In Review (11/23)

Barely A Blog, Ilana Mercer, IlanaMercer.com, Journalism, Media, The Zeitgeist

As a Twitter account holder writes on his Twitter handle or masthead, “I tweet, because I’m too lazy to blog.” And as my valued readers know, for a decade, now—since May 2005, to be precise—I’ve endeavored to provide them with a daily, detailed analysis, on Barely A Blog, of the events. Coupled with writing a weekly, well-read column, first launched in Canada (1998), and continued to this day in the US on WND—this commitment cuts into book writing. Like most women, I refuse to give up cooking, outdoor running, parrot, house and husband husbandry—which would not matter much were it not for the readers’ preference. You, too, have a lot on your proverbial plate. And you prefer a shift to shorter quips. As un-intuitive as tweeting is—it can be real cyber-ejaculate—I will try to increase the use of this format. At week’s end, however, a blog post, “The Week’s Tweets In Review (+ date),” will collate a selection of choice tweets.

Here goes, from latest to last: