- Salty Ginger Talk Newsletter
- Posts
- Salty Ginger Talk Newsletter
Reporter hammers Biden administration, media for covering up mental decline
Our take: For 4 years, Americans watched Joe Biden become less and less active, cogent, and capable of doing the job he was hired to do. And for 4 years, they listened to those closest to Biden, as well as the legacy media tell them they were ageist and unqualified for questioning Biden’s bona fides.
Now that Biden has left office, the facade has crumbled and those responsible for perpetrating this fraud on America try to explain it away and point the blame to others. One reporter who actually regularly questioned Biden’s status is not having it.
Star Axios reporter Alex Thompson tore into the Biden administration — and fellow journalists — after receiving the Aldo Beckman Award for Overall Excellence Saturday for his coverage of Biden’s age and acuity at a time when other media outlets were turning a blind eye.
“President Biden’s decline and its coverup by the people around him is a reminder that every White House, regardless of party, is capable of deception,” Thompson said.
“But being truth tellers also means telling the truth about ourselves. We, myself included, missed a lot of this story. And some people trust us less because of it. We bear some responsibility for faith in the media being at such lows.”
Thompson was a rare, deeply sourced reporter who frequently wrote about the lengths the Biden White House went through to accommodate the elderly president, 82, before the disastrous presidential debate last June forced the media to finally own up to the problem.
This included pieces about top White House aides around Biden privately believing that the then-president was slipping and how they tried to keep his decline under wraps.
“I say this because acknowledging errors builds trust, and being defensive about them further erodes it,” Thompson reflected. “We should have done better.”
“I believe our mission is vital in a world where people are struggling to figure out what’s true, and people with power are not telling the truth,” he added. “I also believe that this association has been, is, and will continue to be critical to that mission.”
Kudos to Thompson for both trying to surface the truth in real time, and correctly calling out those in his profession that willingly turned a blind eye or flat out lied and now want us to forget they did it.
COURTESY: NEW YORK POST
Supreme Court to hear case of couple whose home was raided by accident by FBI
Our take: For several reasons, many of them valid and necessary, it is hard to sue someone who works for the government for actions they take in their official capacity. This goes doubly for law enforcement agents, who regularly put themselves in harms way to protect others. Exactly where that protection ends and accountability for egregious or intentional bad acts is murky indeed.
One couple who was the victim of an honest but terrifying mistake has been trying to sue the FBI for years after they accidentally raided the wrong house, breaking in during the early morning hours and holding the occupants, including a 7 year old, at gun point.
Before dawn on Oct. 18, 2017, FBI agents broke down the front door of Trina Martin's Atlanta home, stormed into her bedroom and pointed guns at her and her then-boyfriend as her 7-year-old son screamed for his mom from another room.
Martin, blocked from comforting her son, cowered in disbelief for what she said felt like an eternity. But within minutes, the ordeal was over. The agents realized they had the wrong house.
On Tuesday, an attorney for Martin will go before the U.S. Supreme Court to ask the justices to reinstate her 2019 lawsuit against the U.S. government accusing the agents of assault and battery, false arrest and other violations.
A federal judge in Atlanta dismissed the suit in 2022 and the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision last year. The Supreme Court agreed in January to take up the matter.
Yikes! Can you imagine having this happen to you, only to be told - “Sorry, we know we broke down your door and terrorized your family by accident, but there’s nothing you can do about it.”
It will be interesting to see how the Supreme Court rules on this case. We are huge supporters of law enforcement, and are not looking to make their lives harder. That said, it sure seems like a mistake of this magnitude requires some type of consideration for the victims of the errors.
COURTESY: MSN
NFL coach’s son pranks NFL hopeful waiting for call
Our take: The NFL draft has become an international event. Round 1 creates drama for months. On the actual draft night, young men who have been talking with teams for months eagerly await for their phones to ring with the good news they are going to officially become an NFL player.
Another thing that happens every year is that a player who has been talking with teams and thinks they will be picked early in the draft falls down the draft board. This is an agonizing turn of events, which first came to light when it happened to future Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers.
This year it happened to Shedeur Sanders of Colorado. Before the draft, it was thought he could potentially be the second overall pick. He actually slipped all the way to the fifth round.
That opened up the opportunity for Jax Ulbrich, the 21 year old son of Atlanta defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich to prank call Sanders, pretending to be New Orleans Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis, telling Sanders he was about to be picked.
In a video circulating on social media, the prank caller was heard impersonating Loomis and tricking Sanders into believing he was about to be drafted.
“It’s been a long wait, man,” he said. “We’re going to take you with our next pick, man, but you’re going to have to wait a little bit longer, man. Sorry about that.”
In addition to Sanders, new Indianapolis Colts tight end Tyler Warren said on Sunday that he also received a prank call during the draft.
Questions about the origins of the Sanders call arose immediately given that the phone used by Sanders was one whose number had been given out only to a handful of NFL executives. Initial speculation on social media wrongfully accused the daughter of New York Giants GM Joe Schoen, who was not involved in the matter.
Not cool Jax. A 21 year old should know better than to do something this public and mean spirited. Although the Falcons have decided the elder Ulbrich knew nothing about this stunt and will not be punished, here’s hoping the younger Ulbrich has something terrible but not permanent or fatal happen to him. Something like a bad case of diarrhea for a week or a painful root canal without novocaine.
COURTESY: MSN
Tip of the day
Sometimes we need to re-evaluate our most personal connections and relationships. This is critical. Don’t be afraid to make a change for your own well-being.
Quote of the day
"Freedom is the only worthy goal in life. It is won by disregarding things that lie beyond our control." - Epictetus