The Navy hospital ships promised by President Trump to deploy to New York and Los Angeles arrived on-station as ordered a few days ago. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, presumed for some obscure-to-me reason to be associated with the provision of news to the public, and most recently famed through peddling Russian conspiracy theories regarding Trump’s election for the past three years, had ridiculed the President’s proposed schedule as “nonsense. ” She, or whatever pronoun she goes by, had loudly and publicly claimed that it would be “weeks” before the hospital ships arrived. Instead, the hospital ships arrived more or less to schedule. A lesser news-person would have the decency to be embarrassed over how transparent a prediction-flop this was. Not this Maddow person, it appears. This is not a good thing, and not for the reason first assumed. PBS’ Yamiche “Rolie-Polie-Olie” Alcindor baldly admitted, and in nicer words, that the name of the game for the national establishment news media is “Get Trump!” and anything goes, fair or foul (mostly foul) will serve that end. Well, really – those of us who have been paying attention, especially for the last decade and a half (or longer) have known very well that the name of the game as far as the establishment national news media is concerned, is to enthusiastically smear Republicans and their conservative supporters (no matter how mild or harmless) the pretext, and to excuse Democrats and their supporters, no matter how vile the offense and actions. Nothing new here, move along. SSDD, as we used to say in my active duty days. (Same sh*t, Different Day.)

The sad and ultimately disappointing thing is that, with all of the resources that the national news media might bring to bear on the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic as it affects the United States, they are missing the boat – as catastrophically as Whats-her-Pronoun Maddow has missed the hospital ships. There was a story there … and the establishment Media missed it, missed it by a country mile, so eager were they to Get Trump. The story would be how the two ships were readied to sail in record time – the Comfort was halfway through a refit, at Naval Station Norfolk … and yet, it repairs were finished by heroic effort, provisioned, re-equipped and sailed with a full compliment of required crew … in days. Wouldn’t that be an epic tale? Down and gritty with the workers, the personnel who no doubt stayed up around the clock, fitting out the ship to lift anchor and go? Where are their stories, Whats-yer-Pronoun Maddow, and your other View harpies? Isn’t that an epic of interest to the National News Media?

I would guess not. This instance and others serve as a marker, as the national establishment news media goes down by the head, rather like the Titanic, credibility-wise in the eyes of a large portion of the news-consuming public. There are so many other great and fantastic stories, popping up here and there, like mushrooms after a good rain: how innovative restaurants are trying to stay open by being small grocery outlets and providing prepped-meal packages and curb-side service to customers. How big grocery and commercial outlets are offering special shopping hours and delivery service to vulnerable elderly, and like the massive HEB chain, offering raises to their current employees in light of how they have worked like heroes to keep the shelves stocked. How individuals and small concerns are self-organizing to sew and provide face masks to hospitals and clinics. How established manufacturers are turning their assembly-lines to producing hospital masks, gowns, and ventilators – in spite of their usual product-line being something else entirely. There are so many great stories, percolating up here and there, about how local communities are coping … But the national Establishment News Media is focused solely on how anything which comes to their attention in this regard can be used as a slam against President Trump.

Discuss as you wish, and have the heart. What encouraging local media stories have you heard?