We Need Professional Journalists AND The First Amendment

The smarter the journalists are, the better off society is.  For to a degree, people read the press to inform themselves – and the better the teacher, the better the student body.
—    Warren Buffett
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On This Day In:
2020	Neither Alone, Nor Lonely
	Giving
2019	That’s Why It’s Called Faith
2018	So We Agree, #45 Is Dumb – Too
2017	The Morality Of Spying
2016	He Doesn’t Remind Me Of Me
	The First Rule
2015	Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow
	The Man Without Fear
2014	I Blame Robocop
2013	Future Trustees
2012	Praise Not The Day…
2011	Educated Living

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Morally Treasonable

Free speech, exercised both individually and through a free press, is a necessity in any country where the people are themselves free.  Our Government is the servant of the people, whereas in Germany it is the master of the people.  This is because the American people are free and the German people are not free.
The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants.  He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the nation as a whole.  Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly as necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right.  Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile.  To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.  Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else.  But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else.
—    Republican President Theodore (“Teddy”) Roosevelt
[This is the third time I’ve posted a “version” (longer or shorter, NOT edited / modified) of this quote by President Roosevelt.  It strikes me as ironic that last time the post was titled “Unpatriotic And Servile“, but here I am again, complaining about Republicans.  One of the other two was ONLY about “Tea-Party”ers.  I guess it’s true that history repeats itself.  Particularly when the “Party” doesn’t learn – or even acknowledge – its lesson the first time around.  And, yes, the emphasis is mine and does not appear in the original.   —  KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2019	Lost Again Or Still?
2018	Why #LazyDonald Starts Work At 11AM
2017	At Least Most Of The Time
2016	But Doctor, I Never Learned How To Read
2015	Punch The Keys, For God’s Sake!
2014	Ouch!
2013	Revelations
2012	Movies And Juicing
	Brady Gets #4 (Prediction)
	Happy To Get Up
2011	What About Good Blogs?
2010	Slowly, Slowly…

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Prediction: Morning Is Coming After A Long Night Of #LyingDonald

The Lord will drench you with His showers, but he will dry you with His sun.
—    Czech Proverb
Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases.  Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman.
—    Louis D. Brandeis
Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
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On This Day In:
2017	While Congress Slept
2016	And A Fellow Who Insists On Telling Us He’s Smart?
2015	Curves Ahead
2014	Sitting?
2013	Misperceptions
2012	Essential Experience
2011	Lest We Forget Those Still In Harm’s Way
	Sound Familiar?

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A Message To The White House Press Corps

Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.
—    Albert Einstein
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On This Day In:
2017	Eeny Meeny Miny Moe
	Binge, Binge, Binge
2016	Feeling Warm Yet?
	Four Documentaries
2015	Just Like All The Others
2014	In My Own Vanity
2013	Filled With Words
2012	Lectio Auget Existentiae Meae
2011	Lied Lately?
2010	Born To Work At Faux News
	Lost Again (Uh, Make That Still)
	Qui Genus Humanum Ingenio Superavit
	They’re Back… (Part 1)

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Or Attacks On A Free Press

It’s not just the books under fire now that worry me.  It is the books that will never be written.  The books that will never be read.
––    Judy Blume
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On This Day In:
2017	Still Looking For The Key
2016	Not So Much Anymore, Boss
2015	Green Binge
2014	Overdone
2013	The Courage To Remake The World
2012	Minor Gifts
2011	I Love It When A Plan Comes Together…
2010	Eloquence
	Cleaning the Chalk Board

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