In an editorial fit for The Onion or the Babylon Bee, Los Angeles Times’ letters editor Paul Thornton wrote a column this week entitled “If you want to leave, fine. But don’t insult California on the way out.” The column acknowledges an exodus from the state, but sees the problem as former Californians sharing their experiences about what drove them from the Golden State. It is like Captain William Bligh asking the mutinous crew of the Bounty for a reference as they head for the lifeboats.
Thornton wrote that “more than 800,000 Californians moved away in 2022, and many thousands more left last year. Often, the departees, cash in hand from the sale of their $1-million bungalows, feel the need to express disdain for their home state, and even some anger too.”
He then begs them to keep mum about their reasons for leaving the state, which commonly range from rising crime to high taxes to runaway spending. Instead, he portrays those leaving as intolerant bigots for criticizing the “California ways”:
“And which ways would those be? Perhaps it’s our embrace of LGBTQ+ Californians. Or it’s our liberal politics, with the state Republican Party shrunk to irrelevance after its vicious attempt in 1994 to marginalize immigrants with Proposition 187.”
The reference to Proposition 187 was interesting since it passed with roughly 60 percent of the vote in the blue state to deny social services to illegal migrants. It was blocked by the courts, not the voters, including many democrats. Recently, California added free healthcare to other benefits for undocumented migrants.
The week that Thornton wrote his plea for people to keep quiet about conditions in California, the staff of the LA Times conducted a strike to oppose massive layoffs due to declining readership and profits of the newspaper. Like other newspapers such as the Washington Post (which lost $100 million last year), the editors and reporters appear willing to consider any option other than returning to objective reporting.
We previously discussed the release of the results of interviews with over 75 media leaders by former executive editor for The Washington Post Leonard Downie Jr. and former CBS News President Andrew Heyward. They concluded that objectivity is now considered reactionary and even harmful. Emilio Garcia-Ruiz, editor-in-chief at the San Francisco Chronicle said it plainly: “Objectivity has got to go.”
Downie recounted how news leaders today
“believe that pursuing objectivity can lead to false balance or misleading “bothsidesism” in covering stories about race, the treatment of women, LGBTQ+ rights, income inequality, climate change and many other subjects. And, in today’s diversifying newsrooms, they feel it negates many of their own identities, life experiences and cultural contexts, keeping them from pursuing truth in their work.”
Now, objectivity is virtually synonymous with prejudice. Kathleen Carroll, former executive editor at the Associated Press declared “It’s objective by whose standard? … That standard seems to be White, educated, and fairly wealthy.”
The L.A. Times has long been known for such advocacy journalism. As readership and revenue declined, it has gone through various owners and restructurings. However, it is still effectively writing off half of the population with its advocacy reporting. That is why it is so telling that an editor’s solution to the state’s problems are the same: simply do not report the problems. It will have the same success as framing the news in the newspaper.
Thornton, however, pledges that they will stay the course — just as his paper has done:
“We have 39 million people, Hollywood and Shohei Ohtani. This state is a haven for reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights, but income disparity and the housing crunch are critical problems we have to fix for progressive ideals to match the reality on the ground.”
One fix again being discussed is a wealth tax, which will likely expedite the exodus of those trash talking former residents. They are also planning to tap their emergency reserves as legislators continue massive spending plans.
There is a pathetic element to the column’s plea. High earners are leaving the state as many undocumented migrants continue to arrive. Thornton admits that “the departees, cash in hand from the sale of their $1-million bungalows, feel the need to express disdain for their home state, and even some anger too.” He is hoping that these “departees” simply say that they loved the state that they just left at considerable cost and inconvenience. Alternatively, they could just say “I can’t talk about it” to, as Thornton suggests, “extend some goodwill to those of us who remain?”
I happen to love California. I would go there to spend summers with my grandparents in Cherry Valley. I also used to write regularly for the LA Times. I am also an avid hiker who loves the wonderful parks in the state. I have been crushed by watching the decline of both the state and the paper. The way to send “goodwill” to those who remain is to tell the truth about the state and the disastrous course that it is on.
We should not have to wait for LA Times or the state to collapse to discuss these problems. Both are a huge part of our nation and our history. So here is an idea for the LA Times. Instead of asking “departees” to stay silent, why not start to listen to them?
Democrats Self Destruction on FULL Display
LATimes confirms 115 journalists laid off, or about 23 percent; newsroom will be at approx 385.
NOTE: Taken in combination with last year’s layoffs, the Los Angeles Times has laid off about one third of its newsroom in less than a year.
LA Times laid off 115 employees. There are no “journalists” working for the LA Times.
LA Times fires 115 journalists in ‘HR Zoom webinar’
“He then begs them to keep mum about their reasons for leaving the state . . .” (JT)
In other words: We wish to evade reality. Those who name the facts, dash our wishes. Shame on them.
And in other news:
We wish to portray the Afghanistan pull out as a success. Shame on you for pointing out otherwise.
We desire to pretend that the economy is fine. Condemn those who thwart our desire.
Crime? What crime? Smear those who state the obvious: Crime is rampant.
Biden is fit and vigorous. How dare you cite countless examples of him mumbling and bumbling.
We wish to call censorship protecting the helpless from “disinformation.” How dare you 1A extremists call it what it is.
I don’t think the Left likes the child in “The Emperor’s New Clothes.”
“. . . income disparity [is a] critical problem . . .”
Then the Left should be happy that the wealthy are leaving. Now there’s less “disparity,” and more equal poverty.
O T
Now that Trump has virtually won the nomination, our attention turns to the VP Nominee. In the hope that DJT reads this blog, I nominate Tulsi Gabbard. Here are salient points: 1) like Reagan, she is a former Democrat, who can thus appeal to waivering Democrats (“come on in, the water is fine”); 2) like Reagan, she seems to be someone who is “comfortable in her own skin”, affable and self-assured; 3) unlike Trump and almost everyone else in Washington, she has a real war record, voluntarily serving in a place of danger out of love of her country; 4) despite her own sacrifice, she is opposed to military adventures; 5) she cannot plausably be “accused” of being a White Supremacist or Christian Nationalist, since she is neither “white” nor Christian; 6) her speaking style is reasonable, temperate and persausive, creating confidence in her judgment; and 7) she is young. providing a refreshing contrast to Trump and hope that she can serve two terms after Trump. (I would add something about her looks, but that might overshadow the foregoing.) The real and sad truth is that TG is far better qualified to be President than either Messrs Biden or Trump.
Edwardmahl,
Well said and I agree.
As I have mentioned in the past, I donated to TG campaign twice and was going to a third time, but she dropped out.
She outlasted so called top tier candidate Harris!
TG said weeks before the Russian – Ukraine War that all Biden had to do was say that Ukraine would not become a NATO member and that would have stopped it. I think she was right. I think NATO should go the way of SEATO.
Someone should be nice and let Fani Willis know that Vietnam doesn’t have an extradition treaty with us.
Texas should send illegal migrants to California in order to replete the numbers of out-migrating Californian.
Replenish (?)
I live in California and my home insurance just jumped from $1700 to $5500/yr. THIS is an example of why people are leaving. NOT politics and NOT social issues! The pendulum ALWAYS swings. But cost of living going up and quality of life going down has many like myself considering a move.
But the cost going up and life quality going down are in significant part due to politics
I am not sure the pendulum really does swing. Look at Detroit, Portland and San Francisco. Sometimes the pendulum just thinks on the bottom.
OT, but interesting,
Republicans recover over 100 files deleted by Jan. 6 committee days before GOP took majority
“It’s obvious that Pelosi’s Select Committee went to great lengths to prevent Americans from seeing certain documents produced in their investigation,” Loudermilk said.
https://justthenews.com/government/congress/republicans-recover-over-100-files-deleted-jan-6-committee-days-gop-took?utm_source=referral&utm_medium=offthepress&utm_campaign=home
*allegedly deleted
How many were duplicates of files that were turned over?
Just like democrats to make up self serving facts not in evidence
Just like Republicans to make up self serving facts not in evidence.
FIFY.
YEah they were duplicates???? Then why are they encrypted and Democrats won’t help them be decoded? Such a moron.
Why do you assume that the other files weren’t encrypted?
And who says that the members of the Committee won’t provide the keys to decrypt them?
The Bigger They Are, The Harder They Fall
Paul Thornton will probably be out of a Job soon.
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐬 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐩𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 ‘𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐨𝐬’ 𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐭 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐬
The Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong-owned newspaper, which houses the largest newsroom in the western U.S., has been thrown into a state of mayhem as severe layoffs loom and senior editorial leaders abruptly call it quits.
“I cannot overstate the level of chaos,” one staffer, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, candidly told me on Monday.
By: Oliver Darcy, CNN ~ January 23, 2024
https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/23/media/los-angeles-times-layoffs-strike/index.html
Ragtimes
Welcome back,
KotterDarrenProfessor Turley Writes:
“Often, the departees, cash in hand from the sale of their $1-million bungalows”.
………………………………..
QUESTION:
How can one get a million for their bungalow if everyone is leaving California?
ANSWER:
Plenty of people still want to live here.
Plenty of people have no other options. Pulling up stakes is not as easy as it sounds..
Pulling up stakes is easier than ever with teleconferencing and work-from-home trends. No one has to stay here if they really hate it.
Knowing the Democrats, they will buy the houses with your grandchildren’s money to house illegals.
“Professor Turley Writes:”
He wrote no such thing.
(But, then, you already knew that. And are, yet again, deceiving people.)
I’ve lived in California for decades. It’s so depressing to see what so called “progressives” have done to this state. They want to turn it into a Brazil with some virulent anti-white bigotry thrown in. If it weren’t for family I’d leave in a minute. Newsom is a narcissistic imbecile that really represents the ethos of the ruling elites.
The following story is true.
It is NOT discriminatory or negative toward any particular race, ethnicity, religion, or culture.
It DID give my father a case of heartburn and a henceforth predilection for avoiding the mailman.
One summer, we girls went with our mother to stay with Grandmother in Los Angeles (my maternal grandmother). Dad and my brother headed south on a fishing vacation. Their vacation was shorter than ours. My sister sent a postcard to my father back home, telling him how much fun we were having. This is what my sister wrote (spelling and all), on an OPEN-FOR GOD-AND-EVERYONE-TO-SEE postcard:
“We ate some veteble soup then we went to Griffin [sic, Griffith] Park. It got very dark and we looked down from the montian [mountain] on the city and it looked like a bowl full of jews.”
So, let’s forgive Trump for saying Nikki instead of Nancy, and forgive Biden for saying “God save the Queen,” and forgive Nikki for
her Civil War recollection, and all of us out there who suffer brain freeze now and then.
(My mother saved the postcard and gave it to my sister when she became an adult.)
Can we forgive Trump for lying and/or just plain being stupid about promising an “iron dome” for the US, which would be logistically impossible? To wit–
“Israel’s Iron Dome’s is designed to intercept projectiles fired from no more than 43 miles away, according to a 2023 Congressional Research Service report. Each battery is designed to defend a maximum area of about 60 square miles, a little less than the size of Washington, D.C.
That’s perfect for Israel, a small country, which is worried about missiles being fired from the nearby Gaza Strip or West Bank.
But for the U.S. homeland, Iron Dome would solve a problem America doesn’t have, because it isn’t generally concerned about Mexico or Canada lobbing missiles at border towns.
The U.S. military has its own short-range missile defense systems like Iron Dome, and it has even purchased several Iron Dome batteries to test them, but they’re used for what it calls “point defense” — defending specific locations like overseas U.S. military bases and naval ships.
The continental U.S. is 450 times bigger than Israel, and it is threatened by intercontinental ballistic missiles fired from places like Russia or China, not short-range ones from neighbors. Those are a completely different kind of threat that the Iron Dome isn’t designed for.
“Those missiles go over the North Pole and then into space before re-entering the atmosphere on the way to their target,” Erath said. “While Hamas rockets might be traveling several hundred miles an hour, intercontinental ballistic missiles re-enter from space at thousands of miles an hour.”
At those speeds and trajectories, reliably hitting them is vastly more challenging.
“We have invested billions in missile defense systems, and we have certain capabilities against very limited missile threats against the U.S. homeland,” Erath said. “If there were an accidental launch or a rogue actor got a handle of one or two, yeah, we can protect against that. But if you’re talking about a mass attack from a country on the scale of Russia or China, the math just doesn’t work out.”
Of course, you disciples believe every lie that comes out of his orange mouth, like “Mexico will pay to build the wall” or “Quite frankly, we won this election”; or how about “There are very fine people on both sides”;”my father was born in Germany”; “I’ve sent people to Hawaii to investigate Obama and you won’t believe what they’re finding”. The “iron dome” is just another lie–another hook for the disciples–more bluff and bluser–more phony “tough man” BS–that alt-right media won’t even question. It is further proof of his cluelessness and lack of qualification to be POTUS.
At least Trump was not dumb enough to believe in the Trump-Putin collusion hoax. All you trolls did.
Edwardmahl,
It is amazing to what degree these TDS zealots will hold on to, when it has been proven a biased ARM took words out of context, spread misinformation/disinformation or outright lied.
Wait a minute, Natasha is now an expert on missile technology?
And after all these years, suddenly Dennis is a expert lawyer? Yet Lin and other actual lawyers have epic take downs of him . . .
Read what the experts say about the feasibility of an “iron dome” for the US. Trump, as usual, is just making things up that he thinks make him sound powerful. When you examine what he has to say, it’s obvious that he’s just a dumbaxx liar. What about you disciples that believe his lies? What’s your excuse? Name-calling for people who point out his claims are lies?
Why don’t you go a whole day without saying or writing the word “lies” or “liar”? I think you will find that your mind is becalmed somewhat
Why would anyone deny that Trump’s lies are lies?
Well, I saw and heard your hero side with Putin over Dan Coats, his own head of US Intelligence at Helsinki, and I saw and heard him lobby to try to get Russia back into the G-7 after it was kicked out by the other countries. And, I have read the REPUBLICAN Senate Committee report that confirmed that Russia helped Trump by spreading lies about Hillary Clinton on social media. These are all facts–how does that make me a troll?
Gigi – same trite, tired rubbish. Whenever you or one of the other DNC trolls say that Russia helped Trump spread lies about Hillary Clinton, I have asked to state the specifics of that “spreading”: what media; what dates; what content? I”ll repeat the request to you now. Please don’t deflect by directing me to “Senate reports” or the opinions of Liz Cheney, et al.
Your sister was a child still learning to spell. None of those adults are children.
The difference being Trump has made a few gaffees, Haley one or two and Biden has a long history of them, becoming more and more prone since he took office.
Ever question why Biden has had the fewest press conferences of any modern president? Why he only takes questions from ARM friendly, pre-approved press questions? Why he needs cheat sheets of reporters to call on, with those reporters pictures and what questions they would ask on the cheat sheet?
Reagan held fewer press conferences than Biden, and I doubt you held it against Reagan. I don’t know what ARM stands for (none of https://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/ARM seems relevant), nor is Biden any different from Trump in using a “cheat sheet” with notes. Ever question why Trump would refuse to answer questions and call reporters names for asking questions he didn’t like?
I have no idea about the press conference numbers.
But you lie, so I’ll just ignore the bit of irrelevant fodder.
LOL that you reply while claiming that you’re ignoring it.
Are you aiming to sound stupid, or does it come naturally?
(referring to the night lights coming up from the city…)
Lin,
I was tracking you, no worries! 🙂
Gigi just needs to get laid. Then she’ll calm down a bit and stop being so jealous of President Trump.
Lin: haha, reminds me if a sign on the back of a van where church people were giving out refreshments: Juice for Jesus.
Then there was a restaurant menu item that lasted a short while before it was removed due to customer complaints: Jews for Cheeses
I’ve been trying to decode the message. At first I thought the last word was “juice”, but it makes more sense if she meant “jujubes”.
Try “jewels.”
yup, and very funny.
Thornton sounds like someone who threw what was supposed to be the party of the year, turned out to be a disaster and is now asking departing guest’s not to comment on social media how bad it was.
California is a failed state. Just like nearly everything else Democrats touch, they ruined it.
And they want to do the same to the rest of America too.
Dont let them.
It’s a classic!
“Shut up,” he explained.
Trump’s request for the DC Circuit Court of Appeals for reconsideration en banc of his gag order has been *denied*. Will he now appeal to SCOTUS? If so, will they grant cert? Personally, I doubt it.
American Regress
Flipping the image – nice…
It was inspired. A little too much sideboob for Oklahoma though. That seems like where they’re headed.
Great picture.
OT
Biden commits treason.
The Supreme Court commits treason.
Biden and the Supreme Court are “adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.”
Biden and the Supreme Court have willfully failed in their Article 4 duty to protect each State against invasion.
Biden and the Supreme Court have proceeded to give illegal alien invaders aid and comfort through the Veterans Administration.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Article 3, Section 3
Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Article 4, Section 4
The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature can-not be convened) against domestic Violence.
It is like Captain William Bligh asking the mutinous crew of the Bounty for a reference as they head for the lifeboats.
One of the professor’s best lines ever.
I thought so, too. This guy Thornton’s attitude toward self-censorship is what scares the heck out of so many who see CA and most other blue states heading in the direction of Venezuela.
News organizations would serve their bottom line and consumers better by ensuring there was a distinct line between the OpED departments and the news departments. There can be both objectivity (on the new side) and left leaning opinions (on the OpED side) under the same roof if the organizations exercised some self-discipline.