And Look Both Ways Before Crossing the Street

In these troubled times, KCBS has been broadcasting the following uplifting media meme: "We're not afraid to look backward to move forward."

(Warning: Don't apply this advice when you're out jogging.)

SWAT the People

There are too far many TV shows that glorify police violence, intelligence investigator interrogations, and soldiers fighting people-of-color/"terrorists" in far-off countries. (At the core of these testosterone-fueled fantasies you can find a common message that is shared with TV shows featuring doctors, hospitals, and firefighters. The message: viewers must live in constant fear of sudden death—from some random attack or disease—and your only security lies in submitting to and trusting "the authorities.")

Given the current state of alarm over police violence, it's no surprise that Paramount Television recently canceled “Cops,” a wildly popular reality show that aired for 33 seasons. Civil rights groups had repeatedly faulted the show for it's negative portrayal of African-Americans and other people-of-color.

So, with Paramount's prized Blue Tribute de-cop-itated, what does that leave on TV? A quick survey of our local networks reveals the two broadcasters with the most violent content.

The most violent displays of fist-fights and gunfire can be found on channel 5/KPIX, which airs: Survivor, SEAL Team, SWAT, NCIS: LA, NCIS New Orleans, NCIS, FBI, FBI Most Wanted, Hawaii 50, and Blue Bloods. (Six, a violent legacy series based on the Pentagon's Seal Team 6, debuted on the History channel in 2016.) 

The runner-up appears to be Channel 11/NBC with: Sheriffs, Law & Order, Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, and WWE Smackdown. 

Switch the Channel 

The universe of streaming video is also rife with cop strife. The activist group, Color of Change (CoC), recently declared: "It’s time for Netflix to remove all cop shows from the streaming platform." 

In January, CoC called out Netflix for promoting “Border Security: America's Front Line,” a reality show "that glorifies border patrol agents." 

CoC has posted a petition calling on Netflix to "take a strong stand against police violence" by removing "all cop shows from its platform." 

CoC pointed to Live PD, Cops, and Law & Order: SVU, as shows that "heroize police" at the same time real-life police are "out in the streets of cities and towns across America right now, tear-gassing Black people and beating protestors until they bleed." 

Pushy Cops and Bleeding Victims 

The flood of videos showing demonstrators falling to the ground after being suddenly shoved by police officers suggests that our urban "peacekeepers" are being trained to deliver unexpected blows intended to knock people off their feet. 

Among the victims who were violently "sucker-shoved" by cops are Dounya Zayer, a 20-year-old woman who suffered a concussion after being decked by a Brooklyn Blueshirt and 75-year-old Martin Gugino who was shoved off his feet and left lying unconscious and bleeding in the street—ignored by the officers who attacked him. Gugino is a long-time peace activist and (ironically) a member of Witness Against Torture. He is currently hospitalized. Get-well cards can be sent to him at: Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital, Room 2206, 1540 Maple Road, Buffalo, NY 14221. 

Muhamad Ali: "Why Is Everything White?" 

In 1971, boxing legend Muhammad Ali explained on the BBC how he used to ask his mother about white representation in American culture. 

Another quandary that might be pondered: Why was George Floyd's body taken to the cemetery in a white hearse pulled by two white horses? Also, why do church choirs, pastors, and the Pope favor white gowns? 

In Case You Missed It 

On June 7, in newspapers across the country, the Sunday Comics featured a hidden salute to hospital workers forced to deal with the deadly COVID-19 pandemic. Readers of the Chronicle might have missed this salute entirely had it not been for cartoonist Mark ("Lio") Tatulli, who included a note from the National Cartoonists Society in his strip. It read: "Dear Comic Strip Character. In honor of our first responders, health workers, medical researchers, grocery workers, essential drivers and deliverers, teachers, restaurant workers, and businesses that have stayed open . . . we ask that you ADD THE ENCLOSED SYMBOLS to your comic strip as a small way of saying THANK YOU and acknowledging their tireless work and dedication to all of us." 

The symbols included: a facemask, a shopping cart, a microscope, a fork, a steering wheel, an apple and a mail carrier. A search of the Chron's comics section revealed six other strips that joined in the salute: Baby Blues, Curtis, Family Circus, Foxtrot, Luann, and Rhymes With Orange (very subtle!). 

(Blondie missed a chance to score when Dagwood Bumstead failed to dash out the front door and collide with his postman.) 

Ron Reagan: "Not Afraid of Burning in Hell" 

I did a double-take when I heard the ad on the radio. "I'm Ron Reagan. A lifelong atheist, not afraid of burning in hell." 

Was this really "Skipper," the son of the Gipper, the 40^th president of the USA? The kid who dropped out of Yale to become a ballet dancer—with the Joffrey Ballet, no less? 

It's true. In 2014, the younger Reagan recorded a 30-second radio spot for the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a 32,000-member group that lobbies for the separation of church and state. Ron Reagan's ad was basically banned from the airwaves for most of the past six years but it sprang to prominence when it was briefly broadcast during the 2020 presidential debates. 

In April, Capital Journal columnist George Skelton interviewed Reagan to learn how the son of "The Great Communicator" became "The Great Excommunicator." Here's some of what Ron Jr. had to say: 

“I was 10 years old or so when I concluded that the [Bible] story told to children had little more validity than stories about Santa Claus, another white guy who knows what you’re thinking and can punish you. 

“If he’s sufficiently displeased with what you’re doing, he will send you to a dark corner for eternity while your family goes to a nice place. It doesn’t take a budding Einstein to realize there are some problems with this.” 

Ron Junior was particularly troubled to hear the tale of God ordering Abraham to murder his son. 

“What kind of thing is that for a little kid to hear? God wants Abraham to prove his faith by slaughtering his son Isaac like a spring lamb? Are you kidding? Kill your child? Abraham went along with this. The proper reply would have been, ‘Go to hell.’" 

“I know the angel intervened, so it didn’t really happen," Reagan conceded, "but think of the psychological damage” inflicted on Issac. 

According to Reagan, when the FFRF's 30-second ad was being taped, it kept running short by three seconds. So Reagan ad-libbed the closing line about "burning in hell." It turned out to be a masterstroke that has granted the spot a shot at immortality. 

Trump Sides with the Heroes of the Confederacy 

Recently, the Marines Corp officially called for the removal of all Confederate symbols and flags from its facilities, and the Navy has ordered Confederate flags to be stripped from its battleships and submarines (who knew Confederate flags were being displayed in subs?!). Now VoteVets is calling on the Army, Air Force and Coast Guard to follow suit. 

You thought statues of Confederate generals were an abomination? How about the fact that ten US military bases were named in honor of Confederate generals? VoteVets is petitioning the Pentagon to rename the following bases: Camp Beauregard, Fort Benning, Fort Bragg, Fort Gordon, Fort A. P. Hill, Fort Hood, Fort Lee, Fort Pickett, Fort Polk, and Fort Rucker. 

In response, Donald "Cadet Bone Spurs" Trump has stepped up to tweet that he will never allow the Pentagon to strip the names of these hallowed pro-slavery renegades from America's military outposts. 

Trump's Bible-op Blunder 

It was a blame game worthy of a Superbowl of Shame: I'm referring, of course, to the frenzy of finger-pointing over who was responsible for Donald Trump's deplorable posturing with a borrowed bible on the steps of the St. John's Episcopal Church. Trump's vanity parade required an armed assault on peaceful demonstrators exercising their First Amendment rights near Lafayette Square. After the pepper spray and smoke grenades cleared, White House officials rushed to inform the media that it was Attorney General Bill Barr who gave the attack order and that "Mr. Trump had no knowledge of the security arrangements for his walk." 

Barr quickly denied that he gave any orders to tear-gas American citizens to expedite the president’s walk to St. John’s. Barr called the charge a “canard.” As the New York Times reported (with a delightful dose of snark): "Barr would not say whether it was a good idea for Mr. Trump to have a photograph taken in front of the church holding up a Bible brought by his daughter in her $1,540 MaxMara bag with a group of all white officials in the middle of protests about systemic racism." 

Defense Secretary Mike Esper also changed his story from "I did know that following the president's remarks on Monday evening that many of us were going to join President Trump and review the damage in Lafayette Park and at St John's Episcopal Church" to "I didn't know where I was going." 

And, on June 11, the country’s top military official, Gen. Mark A. Milley, apologized for donning combat camouflage to join Trump’s vanity stroll across the battlefield of Lafayette Square. 

Bunkergate: Lights Out at the White House 

More chinks have opened in Trump's "iron-clad" refutation that he only disappeared into the White House bunker for a brief "inspection" tour during the day on May 29. Trump denied a New York Times report that the Secret Service had hustled him off to the Presidential Emergency Operations Center "for nearly an hour" while protests and fires flared nearby. 

As the New York Times subsequently reported: Attorney General William Barr's account "stood in direct contrast to the version that the president offered last week when he suggested he had merely been looking the place over." 

During the evening of May 31, while an extended exchange of fireworks and teargas raged nearby, the White House went black. As the New York Times reported: "The White House went dark, turning off almost all of its external lights, as protesters set fires nearby." A frantic sign of alarm? Nope, administration officials responded. They claimed that all the building's lights—external and internal—were "regularly" turned off at 11PM. 

Meanwhile, what was happening inside the White House? Earlier in the day, Trump had been busy tweeting and, thanks to the Trump Twitter Archive, we can quickly review each and every one of his unhinged presidential tweets. 

At 7:20 PM, on May 31, Trump thumbed the following: "The Lamestream Media is doing everything within their power to foment hatred and anarchy. As long as everybody understands what they are doing, that they are FAKE NEWS and truly bad people with a sick agenda, we can easily work through them to GREATNESS!" 

And then a strange thing happened. Trump's tweet-feed inexplicably went dark for 12 hours. 

His next message did not appear until 7:20 the next morning. It read: “I don’t see any indication that there were any white supremest [SIC] groups mixing in. This is an ANTIFA Organization. It seems that the first time we saw it in a major way was Occupy Wall Street. It’s the same mindset.” @kilmeade @foxandfriends TRUE! 

Trump, an apparent insomniac, is notorious for launching tweet-strikes during late-night and pre-dawn hours. 

Why was he silent during the hours that the White House lights went dark? Did the Secret Service usher him into the buried bunker once again or was the Commander-on-Chief trapped inside an unlit White House where he found it impossible to tweet by candlelight? 

(An unexpected anomaly: According to FactCheck.org (a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania), while there were many photos of the darkened White House, the most widely circulated photo of the unlit edifice turned out to be an image taken in 2014.) 

Chris Hayes and Sarah Cooper 'Perform' Trump

100 Years of Radio? Make that 111 Years! 

Last month, CBS News Radio and the National Press Club partnered to produce “Celebrating a Century of Sound,” a 10-part series marking the role radio has played in the lives of Americans for the past 100 years. The series was anchored by CBS News correspondent Sam Litzinger. In addition to 10 one-minute chapters, the package included a mini-documentary chronicling the history of radio "from crystal sets to digital platforms, and from soap operas and symphonies to rock-n-roll, all-news, talk and sports radio." 

In a press release, CBS News Radio Vice President and General Manager Craig Swagler boasted that “our CBS stations have also been there from the start, inventing many of the formats we know and love, while also creating our successful path forward into the 21st century.” 

Michael Freedman (President of the National Press Club and former General Manager of CBS Radio Network) has rhapsodized that radio is nothing less than “an art form, painting pictures for the mind’s eye. It is a world of information and entertainment, a lifelong companion and a trusted friend. It is part of the fabric of America and, indeed, represents the sound of our lives.” 

But when a reporter with KCBS radio in San Francisco interviewed Friedman, she challenged him for falsely attributing the country's first radio broadcasts to KDKA in Pittsburgh and WWJ in Detroit — which both began broadcasting in 1920. 

No sir, she insisted: broadcast radio was born right here in the Bay Area, in San Jose. And 'way back in 1909. 

As the Bay Area Radio Museum explains: 

"A great milestone in the history of broadcasting occurred in San Jose on January 1, 1909. That date marked the opening of an obscure engineering and wireless school. Its proprietor, Dr. Charles David Herrold, would be recognized by many, decades after his death, to have been the 'father of broadcasting.' 

"He would discuss news items and read clippings from the newspaper, or play records from his phonograph. This got to be a more and more important part of the school’s operations, and regular programs were heard from the station as early as 1910." 

Dr. Herrold's pioneering station first went on-air using the call letters KQW. The station began regularly scheduled broadcasts in 1912. It became KCBS in 1945 when it was purchased by CBS. To listen to “The Story Of KQW” click here. 

Chuck It to Him 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer recently sent out a campaign fundraising letter that contained a surprise enclosure—an April 2 letter from Donald Trump written on White House stationary. 

The two-page letter (reproduced in full in Schumer's mailing) reveals that Trump (perhaps with the help of aides) may actually be able to compose a letter longer than the combined text of three Tweets. It also confirms that Trump's demeaning demeanor can survive on the printed pages as well as in the twittered Tweet. 

Some outtakes: 

"Thank you for your Democratic public relations letter and incorrect sound bites, which are wrong in every way…." [A letter containing "sound bites"?] 

"If you spent less time on your ridiculous impeachment hoax, which went haplessly on forever and ended up going nowhere (except increasing my poll numbers) … the New York would not have been so completely unprepared for the 'invisible enemy.'" [Here Trump appears to blame Schumer for failing to be prepared for the COVID-19 pandemic!] 

And finally: "I've known you for many years, but I never knew how bad a Senator you are for the state of New York, until I became President." 

Savor this thought: Picture the moment when Trump discovered that Schumer is using this White House diss-note as part of the Democrat's fund-raising pitch!