2014: Letting It Go

English: Singer/actress Idina Menzel outside the Today Show studios following an appearance and performance promoting the release of her debut Warner Bros album "I Stand." (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The U.S. and Cuba are reestablishing diplomatic relations after more than 50 years.  Is it an admission that Communism will survive the Castro brothers?  The biggest stumbling block to any lifting of the embargo contains the words "requires Congressional approval", and that's not going to be easy.

The Sony Pictures hacking scandal, which resulted in the movie "The Interview" being pulled from release, only proves that making a comedy about killing the real-life leader of a real country wasn't such a bright idea after all.  Or, for that matter, letting the world know what Hollywood studio executives really are thinking behind closed doors.

After the Senate released its report on the CIA allegedly using torture to get answers out of terror suspects, only to find they'd say anything to make it stop, are we really all that different from the terrorists, brutal regimes and Dick Cheney?

The Islamic State has used beheadings and recruitment videos to get its message across.  So how come it took until they had swallowed up half of Iraq before anyone noticed?

It's been a rollercoaster ride for Vladimir Putin's Russia.  First it was the triumphant and controversial Winter Olympics in Sochi.  Then it was taking a piece of Ukraine, and threatening to invade at least half the country.  Now it's an economic crisis brought on by cheap oil and international sanctions.  You sure you want to bring back the Cold War?

We haven't heard about the Ebola epidemic since the election.  That doesn't mean it's over, though.

Michael Brown and Eric Garner became symbols of protest against power-hungry police and the system that enables them.  What will it take to get law enforcement to realize that skin color is not always indicative of criminal behavior?  And how long will it be before the slogans "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" and "I Can't Breathe" are trademarked by Nike?

With Congress about to be run by Republicans for the next two years, should we expect more or less from them?

It sucks to be Malaysian Airlines right now.  Or, for that matter, CNN.

A simple request for all those soldiers returning home from whatever war America is fighting this week:  Would it be possible to keep those contrived homecomings to yourselves, and to not take credit for preserving freedom and democracy where there isn't any to keep?

Target, Home Depot and others whose consumer accounts were hacked into learned hard lessons in how not to react to a crisis without alienating your customers.

TV shows like "Naked and Afraid" and "Dating Naked" would be a lot more interesting if they were on HBO or Showtime.

Those who "cut the cord" in order to save money on their cable and satellite bills should remember two things:  (A) Broadcast TV really is the vast wasteland Newton Minow once talked about, and (B) many of those same cable giants you complain about also happens to control your broadband service.  They're also the ones who want to own the Internet.

We say goodbye to:  Joan Rivers, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Maya Angelou, Jan Hooks, Harold Ramis, Lauren Bacall, Shirley Temple Black, Mickey Rooney, Richard C. Hottelet, Mike Nichols, Polly Bergen, Don Pardo, James Garner, Casey Kasem, Ann B. Davis, Russell Johnson, Gerry Goffin, Marion Berry, Jane Byrne, Joan Mondale, Ben Bradlee, Garrick Utley and Robin Williams.

We got through this without once mentioning the name of a certain tune from a popular Disney animated feature, which made Idina Menzel the Celine Dion of the 2010s.  Oh, we already did?  It's in the title?  And we're using Menzel's picture?  Damn.  See you in 2015.

Five More Years for Tom Barnard

92 KQRS Morning Show (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As an indication that the more things change, the more they stay the same in local radio, the Minneapolis Star Tribune recently reported that Tom Barnard is staying as morning host at KQRS (92.5 FM) for another five years.

That would, by the end of the new contract whose terms weren't disclosed, mark 34 years for Barnard and KQ as the top-rated morning show in the Twin Cities, even though its ratings aren't in the stratosphere like they used to be.

It would also mean another five years of Barnard spouting off about politics, race relations and the news of the day with his personal sounding board of Terri Traen, Bob Sansevere and others.  Those, along with the sometimes juvenile atmosphere that surrounds the 'KQ Morning Show", have gotten him and his station in trouble before.

Recently, Barnard has been delving into the podcasting business, in which he puts out a daily two-hour show recorded from his home with material not suitable for radio.  The Star Tribune says he plans to expand the podcasts to three hours a day.

But there are indications that listeners are tiring of Barnard and KQ, which has had the same classic rock format since he began working there.  Three different owners in the past decade--Disney/ABC, Citadel, and now Cumulus Media--have determined that the station isn't broken, so why fix it?  It's great that there's a place on the dial for "More Than a Feeling" and Led Zeppelin.  But it wouldn't hurt to have something fresh once in awhile.

Barnard, who is now 63, doesn't seem to be contemplating retirement.  He told the Star Tribune that he got bored during the Thanksgiving holiday, saying "It's really hard to annoy people if they can't hear you".  He shouldn't have that problem for the next few years, whether it's podcast or broadcast.

Elsewhere in local radio . . .

• KQ's former sister station KDIZ (1440 AM) is being sold along with other Disney-owned stations that make up the Radio Disney network, which will continue digitally.  Some of these stations have already been sold to religious and ethnic broadcasters, who seem to be the only ones interested in low-watt AM signals that Radio Disney's intended audience--kids and their parents--have long since abandoned for the smartphone.  So don't be surprised if KDIZ starts quoting the Bible or speaks a different language than Ariana Grande in the near future.
• Hubbard Radio, the owners of KSTP (1500 AM, 94.5 FM) and KTMY (107.1 FM), has plunked down $8 million to buy 16 radio stations from Omni Broadcasting in northern Minnesota.  These include some familiar call letters if you've ever traveled or lived there:  KWAD and KKWS in Wadena, WJJY and KLIZ in Brainerd, KIKV in Alexandria, KBUN and KBHP in Bemidji.  Some of these new stations are affiliated with ABC News Radio, which ties in nicely with the coverage area of ABC's Twin Cities station KSTP (Channel 5) and its satellite in Alexandria.

No Indictment, No Peace

It's been over three months since Michael Brown, an 18-year old African American resident of Ferguson, Missouri, was shot and killed by a white police officer named Darren Wilson.  Brown was unarmed.  He also happened to be a suspect in a convenience store robbery, according to police.  Since then, things have been rather tense in the St. Louis suburb as police, demonstrators and the rest of America waited for the other shoe to drop.

Monday was the day it did drop.  A grand jury, after months of investigation and inquiry, had decided not to indict Wilson.  A jury that reportedly included nine whites and three African Americans.  Not that it was unexpected, mind you.  It's just that they and most other juries still believe officers wearing blue uniforms can do no wrong, despite possible evidence to the contrary.  Not unlike looking the other way when Our Heroes in khakis commit war crimes in the name of Freedom and Democracy.

Despite pleas from Brown's parents, President Barack Obama and the governor of Missouri to remain calm, it was obvious to all that once the decision was announced, Ferguson would erupt.  And erupt it did.  Bottles, rocks and tear gas have been flung.  Cars and businesses were torched.  Stores were looted.  Scores of people arrested.  Just like every other case of civil insurrection since at least the 1960s, except this one was played out live on TV.

It's understandable to see why African Americans in Ferguson and elsewhere feel the way they do about the grand jury verdict.  They have felt that they've been given a raw deal by white-dominated law enforcement, government and society in general for keeping them poverty-stricken, drug-addicted, and forced to live in areas where violence thrives.  It's been that way for centuries.

So the answer lies in burning and looting your own neighborhood, setting back progress for years if not decades?   That's probably because most protesters don't have access to the superior firepower law enforcement possesses, so they have to have something to retaliate against.  But they end up hurting themselves.

The Civil Rights Movement may be a chapter in the history textbook you've already forgotten, but it does serve up a valuable reminder:  Working for change is a lot more effective than tossing bricks.  Being in a position of authority doesn't mean you have to act like a jerk.  Respect is a two-way street.  Bromides aside, the days ahead in Ferguson, Missouri should tell us a lot about how race relations in America have and haven't changed.  And also why the legacy of Michael Brown and others who ended up just like him isn't to shoot first and ask questions later.

Did KSTP See The Sign, Or Miss The Point?

Entrance to the KSTP studios on University Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

KSTP (ABC 5) has been a pioneering Twin Cities news station since going on the air in 1948.  There were even times when they had the top-rated newscast in the market.  This is not one of those times.

Recently "5 Eyewitness News" (as KSTP likes to call themselves) aired a report in which they showed a picture of Minneapolis mayor Betsy Hodges posing with an African American canvasser named Navell Gordon during a "get out the vote" drive, in which they gestured at each other in a manner that some might take to mean they were using gang signals.

KSTP did not identify Gordon in the report, but they did mention that he had a criminal past.  According to the Star Tribune, the man was charged with drug and firearm possession, but said he was trying to straighten out his life.

The KSTP report indicated that certain law enforcement officials--namely a police union president that the Strib said was having a running beef with the mayor--believed that the finger pointing gesture Hodges and Gordon used were also being used by a north Minneapolis gang.

Mayor Hodges bears some of the responsibility for this controversy.  No matter how innocent they say the gestures were, posing with a man with a criminal record looks bad on TV  In the future, she might want to rethink how she's portrayed in photo-ops.

This incident has been all over social media, mainly taking KSTP to task for bad reporting, racial stereotyping, and willingness to believe cops with a grudge.  The station's current reputation as a Fox News wannabe (they're an ABC affiliate) stems from owner Stanley Hubbard's reported contributions to conservative political candidates and organizations, which sometimes influences news coverage.  Hodges, by the way, is a Democrat.

If KSTP and other media outlets can prove that Hodges has gang connections, then she should resign as mayor.  If they can't, then they should issue a retraction and an on-the-air apology.  (Which begs the question:  Why are the other Twin Cities TV stations silent on this issue?  This isn't just KSTP's problem.)

As it is, KSTP is standing by its reporting.  If the finger gestures are as innocent as everyone seems to believe, then the whole story is something about nothing.  And everything that's wrong with 21st century journalism.

UPDATE (11/18):  KSTP continues to take heat for its report on the finger-pointing, even as they continue to defend it.  A local health insurance provider named U Care has dropped its advertising from the station.  Hubbard got into it with some protesters during a speaking engagement at Augsburg College in Minneapolis, refusing to back down and apologize as his station is being ridiculed from coast to coast.

In all the finger-pointing about the finger pointing, one thing gets lost.  What's going to happen the next time there's a gang-related shooting somewhere in Minneapolis, and either a police officer or an innocent bystander gets killed?  Are they gonna blame this on the mayor, too? Or KSTP?  If that happens, then the comedians can leave the room.

Congress Turns Red (And So Do The Voters)

English: Official photo cropped of United States Senator and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Republicans will soon control Congress by winning a majority in the previously Democratic Senate and maintaining theirs in the House of Representatives, the result of midterm elections that reflected the anger of voters who have seen what years of gridlock have done to the country.  Or maybe it's a reaction to all those political ads that people loathe, but TV stations love because they're getting a financial windfall from it.

In truth, the GOP has been running the show in Washington for the past few years by yelling the loudest and getting little done while Democrats--even when they had a majority--cowered.  Not to mention undermining a President who they believed should never have taken office to begin with.  And you wonder why voters were angry.

President Barack Obama has not helped himself with low job approval ratings, slow reactions to crises involving Ebola and ISIS/ISIL, and the general sense that things really aren't getting better despite the improving economy.

Both the President and GOP Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky (who most assume will be the next Senate majority leader) have stated that they heard the voters and have pledged to "work across the aisle", so to speak, to get needed legislation passed.  That's what you'd expect them to say the day after an election.  On key issues such as immigration and health care, however, the two sides are so far apart that compromise is not even considered.  And if the President doesn't like the legislation he's been given, he can always use a veto or an executive order as the last word.

So prepare yourselves for more of the same finger-pointing between the parties while very little gets done.  The 2016 campaign begins in three . . . two . . .one . . .

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Meanwhile, back in Minnesota, this state has become an oasis of blue for the Democrats in a sea of red.  Governor Mark Dayton and Senator Al Franken won new terms without having to resort to recounts, handily defeating their GOP opponents.  Also going back to Washington are Rick Nolan, Collin Peterson, Betty McCollum and Keith Ellison.

The Republicans had something to crow about, too, to go along with their national victory.  Congressional incumbents John Kline and Erik Paulsen were re-elected, and Tom Emmer is replacing Michele Bachmann as the Sixth District representative.

The big story, really, is that the GOP has taken control of the Minnesota House.  The Democrats retain control of the Senate only because they weren't up for election this year.  With a divided Legislature, Governor Dayton will have a much tougher time getting his agenda passed in his second term.  It also increases the possibility of another state government shutdown caused by budgetary gridlock, something both sides say they'll try to avoid.  Again, just like with Congress, we'll believe it when we see it.

Uncivil Behaviour in Canada

English: Parliament Hill, viewed from east, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We can't say Canadians have had an easy time of it then it comes to protecting themselves from suspected terrorists since 9/11/2001.  Like the United States, the Land of the Maple Leaf has its share of people who want to do harm to its fellow citizens in the name of a twisted version of their religion, or in behalf of a Middle East terrorist organization, or both.

What happened in the national capitol of Ottawa Wednesday has given Canadians a sense of what Americans have been going through for years.  You could call it their 9/11, but it was more like Columbine or Sandy Hook than the collapse of the World Trade Center.

A man police identified as Michael Zehaf-Bibeau shot a soldier who was standing guard at the Canadian war memorial, then proceeded to enter the Parliament building while it was in session.  It was there that Zehaf-Bibeau was gunned down by Keith Vickers, the Sergeant-at-arms of the House of Commons (a ceremonial position), who had previously served 29 years with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.  Police have ruled out any other suspects.

Canada, if you choose to believe the stereotype, is considered a mild-mannered country.  Its citizens tend to shake their heads every time some crazy American shoots up a school, a movie theater, or a military base.  Then they wonder why nothing is ever done about it, because guns are better-regulated there than in the States.

The Canadian government has joined the United States' new war on ISIL/ISIS, which has so far proved that airstrikes have only made them stronger.  Or that the Islamic state is getting pretty good at recruiting volunteers to convince them to commit jihad against their own countries.

If nothing else, the shootings at Parliament Hill have become a wakeup call to Canadians.  Like Americans, they will slowly become used to living in a security state with the freedoms they used to take for granted replaced by checkpoints everywhere they go, and suspicions about every one they meet.  The border between the two countries will become a little more fortified. 

As Prime Minister Stephen Harper so brilliantly put it while he channeled his inner Winston Churchill, he told his nation that Canadians will not be intimidated.

Canada, welcome to the real world.

Outbreak of Fear

English: Ebola virus virion. Created by CDC microbiologist Cynthia Goldsmith, this colorized transmission electron micrograph (TEM) revealed some of the ultrastructural morphology displayed by an Ebola virus virion. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Every few years, there have been worldwide epidemics of diseases that governments and modern medical science have been slow to get a handle on before it's too late.  AIDS.  SARS.  H1N1.  You get the picture.

Now it's Ebola, a disease that was discovered a few years ago and has no cure.  To date, nearly 4500 deaths have been reported in west Africa (where it all began), Spain and the United States out of nearly 8000 cases.  By the end of 2014, according to the World Health Organization, there could be as many as 10,000 new cases per week.  Repeat--per week.

The Obama administration and the Centers for Disease Control (Centers?) have been telling us that the chances of an Ebola epidemic in this country are almost nonexistent, that it is very difficult to contract.   

So how was it possible for a Liberian named Thomas Eric Duncan to die in a Dallas hospital of Ebola, infecting two nurses and possibly more?  Or having several other Americans flown from Africa to be treated here, and are currently recovering?  Simple.  It's that modern-day carrier called the airplane, carrying infected patients from one place to another without anyone knowing it.

President Obama has reacted to the crisis by sending thousands of American soldiers to west Africa to help fight the disease, and has so far designated five airports along the Eastern Seaboard to check flights from that area for infected passengers and possibly quarantining them.  Which is all well and good, unless those soldiers bring home the Ebola and charges of racial profiling becomes a problem every time a TSA screener sticks a thermometer down someone's mouth.

Besides, what's to stop somebody from ISIL/ISIS, al Qaeda or another terrorist from deliberately coming into the country and spreading the virus?  There's no defense against that.

Despite all the reassurances from the government and the CDC, are we really ready to take on Ebola or any other kind of killer disease?  Some nursing organizations don't think so.  They have complained that their members have not received adequate training and equipment from their hospitals to protect themselves.  Other medical officials are concerned by the slowness of the U.S. government's response to the epidemic.

So about all any of us can do is to hope that the authorities are right about controlling the spread of Ebola, and that we shouldn't lay too much of the blame on those who chose to emigrate here from Africa.  Because then we'd be creating a whole new epidemic of something that's all too common in America.  It's called fear.