By DR. LARRY MOSES
No one asked me but… Our major national news outlets have become the National Inquirer. The news agencies are now relying on sources that a decade ago they would not have accepted as legitimate for the development of the news.
As one watches national news, or reads major newspapers, one is getting reports based on unsupported “confidential” or “anonymous” sources. It has been an unwritten rule amongst journalist if they could not validate information they received from more than one source, they would not print it as fact. Today anonymous reports are being printed and broadcast as established fact by our once most trusted news sources.
The latest such incident is the “fact” that President Trump passed classified information to two Russian diplomats in a meeting attended only by the Russians, the President, The Secretary of State, and the head of the National Security Agency.
The original reports stated that classified information was passed on to the Russians by the President. This “fact” made newspaper headlines across the nation and was a lead story for televised newscasts. The major news media, citing the same anonymous source, later walked the story back stating classified information was not shared. However, the talks may have compromised some agents in the field thus causing discomfort among one of our major allies in the fight against ISIS. All of this information, they said, came from a mysterious unidentified anonymous source.
There were only five people in the room who could have heard that conversation. It is safe to say the President did not leak this information. That leaves the two Russians who had nothing to gain by reporting that classified information had been passed to them. After all, if they had passed that on, they would have lost any chance for future information.
Later these same news medias ruled out the Russians by stating the information came from a White House source. That leaves the Secretary of State or the head of the National Security Agency. Both of these men announced, in a joint and then individual press conferences, they were not the source of the information. They stated while there was talk of how the Russians and the U.S. could join forces in the fight against terrorism, there was no sharing of classified information.
This leaves just one logical conclusion. The story was made up. This is another attempt to reidize (new word) President Trump. To be reidized is to be falsely accused of an alleged act based on a non-existent anonymous source.
A responsible news reporter would refuse to report a story that could not be substantiated by more than one source; especially a source that refuses to be identified and does not give proof of the accusation. We no longer have news reporters; we have gossip columnists parading as news reporters.
This irresponsible reporting has caused people to turn to their computers and phones for the news. While the mainstream media decries this as a dangerous situation because anyone can post anything as fact, I would remind them they are doing the same thing. One must now wonder where to turn for the real news.
No one asked me but… I had a terrible baseball-softball week. At the first of the week, my grandson was playing in a college tournament to qualify for a trip to the NAIA College World Series. He was finishing up his college career at Texas Wesleyan University.
My grandson and his team had a very successful season. They were ranked as the 12th best team in NAIA. They opened the tournament with a 4-3 loss to Carey-Williams University. They went into the bottom 9th inning of the game with a 3-0 lead. Things looked good and then the wheels came off as they gave up four runs with two outs. This dropped them into the losers bracket of the double loss tournament.
They fought their way back to a game that would put them in the championship game. They were playing the same team that had beat them by one run before. This time they went into the 9th with a one run lead. They were one out away from winning when they gave up a two run home run to end their season.
At the end of the week things did not get better. The Moapa Valley High School baseball team won the division and finished second in the division tournament thus qualifying for the state tournament. The girls pulled off a major upset in the division softball tournament by coming out of the losers bracket and beating the division winner, Pahrump, twice. They qualified for state as the number one seed in the south.
Both teams were eliminated at the state tournament. While this added to the sting I suffered from the losses earlier in the week, it does not detract from the fact that both teams had a very successful season. I can see this as a great place to build for the future.
All one can say is “wait till next year.” Growing up as a Chicago Cub fan, next year was always the hope.
It has been 41 years since Moapa Valley has won a state baseball championship. While that is a long time for a community that is used to state championships in other sports, it is a lot less than 108 years the “cubby” fans suffered between World Series victories.
It is my understanding that Coach McCann was on that prior championship team.
I enjoyed watching the parents of players on both teams who attended MVHS while I was the principal. It was fun reminiscing about games played years ago.
Coach McCann’s family was at the games. His younger brother came all the way from Oklahoma to support his brother and the Moapa Valley baseball team. I remember the younger McCann as the quarter-back on the Moapa Valley High School football team.
Former coach Gary Batchelor and his wife, who was the school’s office manager for years, was there to support both teams. Gary was the coach of the only state championship baseball team in the school’s history. We are all aware of his successful career as the MVHS basketball teams and the many state championships they won under his direction.
There were a number of other retired teachers in the crowd. The “continuity of community” displayed is one of the greatest features of Moapa Valley.
Thought of the week…Never let the pressure exceed the pleasure.
– Joe Madden
Manager, Chicago Cubs
