The Corsair Media Newsletter
What happened to Lara Logan? Fort a time, as Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent at CBS, she had the world at her feet. And now? She is a full-on believer in QAnonsense. Lara Logan today spouts anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that are too far out for even the executives at Newsmax, where she was just fired. But it has to be noted that Logan was sexual attacked in an horrific manner in Egypt years ago. And while it is pure speculation by an observer, one cannot help but think that this has something to do with the highly inflammatory, way out there beliefs that she now promotes.
Also, it should be noted that a year ago she was “let go” by Fox for calling Dr. Anthony Fauci a Nazi.
Where does one go after CBS and Fox and Newsmax? And why isn’t she getting the help she really needs.
Eric Alterman has the a good take on She Said. He approaches it as a journo and not a film critic:
She Said tells the story of how the two women did the reporting that led to their bombshell October 5, 2017, 3,300-word article. The two protagonists display none of the “swashbuckling cool” of Woodward and Bernstein. Rather, they are always polite, show a lot of empathy, and sometimes cry. Twohey does her work while fighting postpartum depression; Kantor, while juggling young kids. That their editor is a woman, as are most of the people they seek to convince to speak on the record, is appropriate, not only because the story is itself female-centric, but also because women have increasingly become dominant in the trade, no doubt in part because men are abandoning what is more and more a profession that demands a vow of virtual poverty.
The best thing about this movie is that it demonstrates just how damn difficult, time-consuming, and expensive responsible investigative reporting is; together with how little profit there is for the news organizations that undertake it … Since these stories originally ran, Weinstein was convicted in 2020 of two charges of committing a criminal sexual act in the first degree and third-degree rape. Not only is he serving a 23-year prison sentence, he is also standing trial for more in Los Angeles, and another trial is to take place later in London. Many corporate practices have changed, most especially in the entertainment world, thanks to the avalanche of women who eventually came forward to tell their stories.
Actor Ke Huy Quan, who is best known for playing the unforgettable “Short Round” in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, tells the story of meeting Harrison Ford to Kyle Buchanan at Variety:
“We were at the D23 event and I was told Harrison was gonna be there,” Quan said. “We’re in this green room with so many actors, producers, and directors, and the person who was assigned to assist me said, ‘Harrison Ford is right outside the green room. Would you want to go say hi?’
“I’m thinking, ‘Of course! I haven’t seen him in 38 years,'” Quan continued. “So I walk out and I see him about 15 feet away talking to Phoebe Waller-Bridge, they’re there to promote ‘Indy 5.’ And as I walk close, my heart is pounding. I’m thinking, ‘Is he gonna recognize me? The last time he saw me, I was a little kid.'”
What happens next will make any “Indiana Jones” fan choke up.
With midterm elections less than three weeks away, Biden is upping his media appearances. “MSNBC is airing an interview Friday evening that Jonathan Capehart conducted with Biden,” Oliver Darcy notes in Reliable Sources. “NowThis is streaming a forum with Biden across its social channels, including TikTok, on Sunday. And, in the last week, Biden spoke to Jake Tapper and Jill Biden even appeared on Newsmax.” It is better for the President, unfortunately, to do media appearances because his approvals in critical states are not good.
Biden approval vs. Senate performance
(image via UVA’s Center for Politics)
Nevada, especially, is a state of difficult prospects for the Democrats. But, fear not, Barack Obama and Bernie Sanders are coming in to campaign for Catherine Cortez Masto’s Senate campaign. No Biden, though.
If you read one article about corruption in Nigeria, this one is it. “Before their shift begins, minibus drivers in Lagos, Nigeria do one of the following: pray, make token sacrifices to their deities, or take a stiff drink of ògógóró (a local gin),” writes Michelle Nicholasen. “That’s because the business they’re in—the informal transportation network that’s characteristic of many African cities—is notoriously dangerous.” Daniel Agbiboa, a PhD student in international development at Oxford, goes undercover as a bus driver in Lagos to try to understand the roots of corruption in his home country. The article, from the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard is fascinating:
A checkpoint can arise at any time along the route, Agbiboa says, where police or touts will approach a driver and use coded phrases, like, “It’s very hot; I am very thirsty,” to demand money ostensibly for water. A savvy driver will do his best to talk down the amount of the bribe, or delay payment. If a driver shows too much resistance, an officer might pull out a gun, seize the key, or vandalize the minibus. Sometimes recalcitrant drivers are even killed.
“Fear is a form of governance in this space,” says Agbiboa.
On a typical twelve-hour-plus shift, driving back and forth on the route between Oshodi to Ikotun-Egbe (in the local government of Alimosho), Agbiboa would encounter around 100 check points, where he would be forced to pay various amounts from the fares he collected. Along the routes, drivers would often pause in the road to share information with each other, so they could make spontaneous detours around checkpoints whenever possible. Passengers never knew exactly where they would get dropped off.
It’s an amazing article about the nature of corruption in the global south. The title of Daniel’s book is They Eat Our Sweat.
Peter Thiel’s every act in this world is suffused with prickishness. When he is not destroying an influential blog, disrupting democracy and, in an act of sheer Bond villain-esque dastardy, buying a damned Maltese passport.
But even for a thirsty evil such as he, this is a bit much:
Stay gold, douchebag!
“That’s all to say, it’s fitting and slightly funny — but mostly sad and strange — that what’s left of (Elizabeth) Wurtzel’s life is now laid out for anyone to examine on AuctionNinja.com.” (Gawker)
Ghislaine Maxwell is trying to rehabilitate her media image. Yeah, good luck with that, Jizzy. (Christina Oxenberg)
Murdochologist Joe Pompeo explores the Game of Thrones succession possibility in which Lachlan Murdoch gets outvoted by the other three adult children of The Rupert. (VF)
Thousands of users reported problems accessing Spotify minutes after Taylor Swift’s latest album Midnights dropped. (Bloomberg)