Grumpy Editor

WOULD TODAY’S MEDIA KEEP D-DAY PLANS A SECRET?

 

 

D-Day landing, 1944

 

 

With the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landing in France being observed on June 6, press action — or more precisely inaction at that time — on activity leading up to the event that led to liberation of Europe would never happen today, declares Grumpy Editor.

 

Those representing print and radio at that time were patriotically mum on the most heavily guarded secret on the planet:  Invasion of Normandy across the English Channel.  It was the major turning point in the war.

 

Nowadays most members of the media can't keep a secret, or even a rumor, without firing it off.

 

On that noteworthy day in 1944 surprise was crucial, especially with Germany’s 55 divisions in France.

 

Six parachute regiments, with more than 13,000 troops, flew from nine British airfields in more than 800 aircraft, part of a massive flight of more than 11,000 planes.

 

More than 300 aircraft dropped 13,000 bombs over coastal Normandy in advance of the invasion when more than 160,000 troops stormed the beaches.

 

The main Allied invasion force of almost 7,000 naval vessels carried troops, weapons and heavy equipment, including tanks.  The armada included 1,200 warships that transported the troops and nearly 30,000 vehicles.

 

Ships of various sizes dotted the 100 miles across the channel, stretching as far as the eye could see.

 

True journalists at that time kept the secret that resulted in a surprise landing in Normandy.

 

Most of today’s media, with many members holding political science rather than journalism degrees, simply wouldn’t abide by a top-secret label on a major event.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 

NAVY UNIFORM PATCH UNDER REVIEW.  The federal government was reviewing Defense Department policy regulations on dress code after some service members wore a uniform patch with the words “Make Aircrew Great Again” along with a likeness of Donald Trump during the president’s visit to the USS Wasp in Japan.

WETTEST 12 MONTHS SETS RECORD.  The National Weather Service said there's never been a wetter 12 month period in the past 124 years. The continental U.S. averaged six inches of precipitation above average during the period.

 

PATRIOTIC PARADE GETS SLIM COVERAGE.  Outside of the nation’s capital, there wasn’t much coverage of the thousands of spectators who lined Constitution Avenue to pay tribute to the past and present U.S. military in the National Memorial Day Parade.  Parade participants wore uniforms dating back to the Revolutionary War.  Along with floats, vehicles carried the parade's grand marshals — World War II veterans — as well as Medal of Honor recipients and celebrities.

 

MAN SHOOTS PROWLERS, GETS ARRESTED.  A 64-year-old man was arrested for possession of an illegal handgun after he fatally shot a pair of prowlers burglarizing his home in Deerfield, N.Y.  He told the district attorney the weapon he used in self-defense was his late father’s.   He was charged with felony possession of an illegal handgun.

SINGLE PURCHASE BOOSTS STORE SALES.  Costco performed a price check after noting a nearly $400,000 purchase at one of its stores during its most recent quarter. The lofty price tag was linked to one item — a diamond ring.

 

CANINE RULES TOWN.  Maximus Mighty-Dog Mueller II (Max for short), has been Idyllwild, Calif.’s mayor since 2014. The non-incorporated community in the San Jacinto mountains has has been electing canines for its highest office since 2012.  

 

BANK ROBBER NABBED IN CASINO.  A suspect in at least four armed bank robberies in Massachusetts and Rhode Island was captured as he gambled at the Plainridge Park Casino in Plainville, Mass.

 

CHINESE COUNTERFEIT GOODS CITED.  Military Times reported military and government agencies plus others purchased more than $20 million worth of Chinese-made counterfeit goods designed to look like domestically produced gear from a company that defrauded the government and helped to orchestrate the counterfeiting process between January, 2013 and October, 2018. 

 

51ST STATE LOOMING?  A House committee will hold a hearing July 24 on a bill that proposes Washington , D.C. be recognized as the nation’s 51st state.  The bill calls for two senators and one representative for D.C.

Dark disrespect cloud drifts over United States

Disrespect and anti-American are the words coming into play in the past week linked to two shameful events --- both with limited media coverage, noted Grumpy Editor.  

A Gold Star family from California, on their way by plane to meet the remains of their Army son, Sgt. John Perry, killed by a suicide bomber inside Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, were greeted by boos from some first-class passengers when the American Airlines pilot of their delayed jet allowed a "special military family" to deplane first so they could make a connection in Phoenix.

The father, Stewart Perry, a retired Marine, said, “It was really disgusting on the passengers’ part.” 

Sgt. Perry, who will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery, was among four American's killed and 14 injured on Nov. 12.

Meanwhile, following a performance of the Broadway show "Hamilton," and with the cast lined up on stage for a curtain call at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, cast member Brandon Victor Dixon took to the microphone to address Vice President-elect Mike Pence, who was departing, with the message:  “We, sir, we are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights."

President-elect Donald Trump later demanded an apology to Pence from Dixon and the show's producers.

Meanwhile, the theater's PR person is probably having fits while bracing for a drop-off in ticket sales for the show.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

Post-election media notes. The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and CNN continued to take post-election jabs at Trump and his actions.  Example from a N.Y. Times lead: "With Donald Trump set to become the 45th president of the United States, the spirit of openness that has permeated everything from our increasingly global economy to how we travel may be poised to change.”…A majority (59 percent) of U.S. adults reject the idea of adding interpretation in news stories, saying media should present the facts alone, found a Pew Research Center survey..."One of the biggest disappointments of this election season has to be the final unraveling of the mainstream media," declared Mario Diaz, writing at CNSNews.com. "I hesitate to say it, but for practical purposes, the mainstream media are dead." He added, "They're dead because they cannot be trusted.” Díaz serves as Concerned Women for America's (CWA) legal counsel and leads CWA's Legal Studies Department…A Texas television reporter is out of a job after she criticized President Obama and praised President-elect Trump on her personal Facebook page --- claiming the country went “downhill” under the outgoing commander-in-chief.

Fort Motor Co. decided to reverse course on a plan to relocate Lincoln sport-utility production from Kentucky to a factory south of the U.S. border...And the slow legal action continues: Trial for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, accused of walking off his post in Afghanistan in 2009, is now slated for May 15, 2017...Projectiles fired from the Navy's biggest and most advanced destroyer cost too much.  So the USS Zumwalt is likely to be firing blanks...California quake chatter pops up again: Scientists discovered two fault lines link north of San Francisco, creating a risk for those living in the Bay Area…Three Trump Place apartment buildings along New York’s Hudson River were being renamed solely with their street addresses --- 140, 160 and 180 Riverside Blvd. --- after a group of residents started a petition before the election to take the name down. While built by the Trump organization, new owners took over in 2005…Fashion designer Sophie Theallet, who dressed first lady Michelle Obama, said she refuses to dress incoming first lady Melania Trump because of the “rhetoric of racism, sexism, and xenophobia unleashed by her husband’s presidential campaign,” reported the Huffington Post.

 

Look for major changes at Bloomberg Businessweek. The action will include layoffs, desk shuffling and new top leadership.

IRS lacks Olympic spirit, slaps high tax on U.S. winners

Many publications, in their heavy coverage of the 2012 Olympics in London, are missing how the Internal Revenue Service is “licking its chops” --- cheering especially for more U.S. gold medal winners --- so it can collect hefty taxes, notes Grumpy Editor. 

Under U.S. tax law, winning athletes must add the value of their Olympic medals and honorariums to taxable income. 

The IRS slaps a 35 percent tax rate on winners. 

That’s pretty rough on some athletes who are teenagers and still going to school. 

The U.S. Olympic Committee awards athletes $25,000 for gold medals, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze.

Americans for Tax Reform Foundation calculates a gold medal winner will pay the IRS up to $8,986, while silver medal winners face a tax up to $5,385 and bronze medal winners are nicked with a tax up to $3,502. 

Noting this, some Washington lawmakers are coming to the rescue to exempt U.S. medal winners from paying taxes on their Olympic achievements. 

Sen. Marco Rubio, (R., Fla.) last Wednesday introduced such a plan in the Senate, calling for a tax code overhaul “to aggressively fix ridiculous tax laws like this tax on Olympians’ medals and prize money.” 

In the House, cosponsoring a bill seeking to exempt U.S. medal winners from paying taxes, are Reps. Mary Bono Mack (R., Calif.) and G.K. Butterfield (D., N.C.).

"Only the U.S. tax code can turn the 'thrill of victory' into the agony of victory,” they declare in a statement. 

 

Lincoln’s birthday gets less attention as years go by

Few readers of Sunday newspapers were aware that yesterday marked Abraham Lincoln’s birthday ---  a sad reflection on modern editors who usually relish anniversaries as easy ways to fill up columns around ads throughout the year, notes Grumpy Editor. 

Just last week, much editorial space was filled with two lengthy Associated Press stories on English novelist Charles Dickens birthday --- three years after Lincoln’s in 1809. 

Marking Lincoln’s birthday, once widely celebrated on Feb. 12, is now combined with all other presidents on next Monday’s Presidents’ Day.

However, Illinois, in observance of the 16^th president's birthday, closes  government offices, courthouses and libraries today (since Lincoln’s birthday falls on Sunday this year).  Even there, though, honoring the occasion is limited.  A banquet, organized by the Abraham Lincoln Association, was held last night at the President Lincoln Hotel in Springfield.

In New York, the state designated Lincoln's birthday as a floating holiday in 2012 for state employees in certain bargaining units. 

Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., yesterday celebrated Lincoln’s birthday and the opening of the Center for Education and Leadership with a day of free programming and activities that started with the National Park Service commemorating the occasion with wreath-laying in front of the theater.

One of the noteworthy tributes to Lincoln came yesterday in a Christian Science Monitor story by Peter Grier, who reminded: 

“Abraham Lincoln may be the greatest of all U.S. presidents. He ended slavery, won the Civil War, and ensured that the United States would remain united in the modern world. His face is printed on the five-dollar bill and stamped on the penny. The Lincoln Memorial is one of the nation’s iconic sites. 

“But Lincoln’s Birthday on Feb. 12 is not a national holiday, and it never has been.”

In one of the few mentions on television, Sarah Palin, former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential nominee, interviewed by Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday, greeted the host with “Happy Abraham Lincoln birthday.”  He responded by noting her birthday was the day prior (in 1964, at Sandpoint, Idaho).

 

Casa Monica Hotel fires staffer for wearing U.S. flag pin

The luxury Spanish-style, 138-room Casa Monica Hotel, St. Augustine, Fla., triggers a major public relations problem by firing a 26-year-old front desk supervisor --- for wearing a small America flag pin, notes Grumpy Editor. 

What makes things embarrassing to county officials and angers others is that about 20,000 residents of St. Johns County, where the hotel is located, are military veterans.

Population of the county, with one of the highest incomes in the U.S., stands at about 190,000. 

Television station WJXT in nearby Jacksonville says a Friday email from the hotel mentions “the homegrown historic hotel” property “reflects its pride in America and great patriotism by flying the Stars and Stripes high over the hotel. The American flag greets every guest and employee with its symbolism of our belief in this great country. 

"However, our employee handbook clearly states, 'No other buttons, badges, pins or insignias of any kind are permitted to be worn.' No matter an individual's national preference, political views or religious affiliation, it is a standard regulation which ensures equality for all Grand Performers (employees)."

So when 26-year-old Sean May on Thursday shows up wearing an American flag pin, he’s told to remove it.  Refusing to do so, he is sent home --- and fired the next day.

That irritates county commissioner Mark Miner, an Army National Guard member since 2002 and two-time veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

He declares the actions by the hotel and its owner (Kessler Enterprise, Inc., operator of nine other boutique and luxury hotels in Florida, Colorado, New Mexico, North Carolina and Georgia) “do not represent the patriotism shared by St. Johns County residents and businesses.” 

Miner also cites the “inability to discern between the flag of our nation and other pins and buttons that their policies forbid is of great concern to me.” 

The commissioner adds, “I hope Kessler Enterprise will act quickly to correct the disrespect they have shown the flag of our great nation and end the embarrassment they have brought upon St. Johns County."