Seemingly absorbing some growing advice from industry pros, Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) is announcing a major reorganization where it will be making streaming its “primary focus” for entertainment.
Shares are up 3.1% after hours.
The company will rearrange its media and entertainment divisions into a single organization responsible for content distribution, ad sales, and Disney Plus.
[…]
“Under the new structure, Disney’s world-class creative engines will focus on developing and producing original content for the Company’s streaming services, as well as for legacy platforms, while distribution and commercialization activities will be centralized into a single, global Media and Entertainment Distribution organization,” the company says.
Category: Culture
Eldercare Advocates Look for Compromise
Watching these stories over the past few months have been some of the most heart-wrenching moments. Isolating the elderly from their families in the waning days of their lives is cruel and accelerates their decline. We don’t want to throw the doors open, but there is a way to allow families to be with their parents and grandparents while mitigating the risk.
Now, a grassroots movement of families is demanding compromise on nursing home lockdowns, arguing that social isolation for nursing home residents is nearly as deadly as the virus that sent their facilities into lockdown. The calls come amid uneasiness from eldercare advocates and as rapid Covid-19 tests are only beginning to reach nursing homes.
“Many of these facilities’ families haven’t been in there in months, and they can see their family members dwindling away, and they’re losing days they can never get back,” said Dave Bruns, a spokesperson for the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) of Florida. Nevertheless, they face a “lose-lose” proposition.
“Just the isolation caused by the shutdown order is literally killing people,” he said. “If you don’t reopen them, that’s definitely going to kill some people, and if you do open them it’s definitely going to kill some people.”
Window visits and Facetime, caregivers argue, are insufficient and can be actively distressing to some patients. Further, they argue lockdowns have allowed asymptomatic staff members with Covid-19 into nursing homes, but allowed “no room for error” for family members.
Pay TV Revenue is Steadily Declining
As this happens and ad spending continues to spread out into the web, the downstream economic effects will be significant.
A new forecast suggests U.S. pay TV revenue will drop to $56B in 2025, and global pay TV revenue is headed for a 15-year low by then.
Digital TV Research says that U.S. figure will have declined from a peak of $105B in 2015.
And the global number will drop to $152B in 2025 – below even 2010’s $175B. That’s despite the fact that pay TV subscribers will have risen by 345M in that 15-year span.
And the revenue drop despite rising subscribers is due to the declines coming in mature, high-priced markets. The U.S. projected figure of $56B is still far higher than anywhere else.
Fight the Virus, Not the People
Thousands of scientists and health experts have joined a global movement warning of “grave concerns” about Covid-19 lockdown policies.
Nearly 6,000 experts, including dozens from the UK, say the approach is having a devastating impact on physical and mental health as well as society.
They are calling for protection to be focused on the vulnerable, while healthy people get on with their lives.
[…]
But the movement – known as the Great Barrington Declaration – mirrors some of the warnings in a letter signed by a group of GPs in the UK.
Sixty-six GPs, including TV doctors Dr Phil Hammond and Dr Rosemary Leonard and a number of medics who have held senior roles at the British Medical Association, have written to the health secretary, saying there is insufficient emphasis on “non-Covid harms” in the decision-making.
Protester Killed by BLM Counterprotester
A person reported to be a supporter of the Patriot Muster militia has been shot and killed at a protest in Denver, allegedly by a counterprotester with the BLM-Antifa rally.
The militia supporter maced a counterprotester, who then pulled out his handgun and shot dead the militia supporter, the Denver Post reported.
Rival rallies had been called for Saturday afternoon by the two opposing groups.
In case you were wondering, yes, they are communists and fascists. And yes, they do intentionally put hearts and soup drive BS on their propaganda to fool the stupid. These are violent radicals intent on overthrowing our representative Republic.
More People Overdosing on Opioids
Nothing to see here. Carry on. Go back to panicking over the Rona.
Stairway to Heaven Lawsuit Ends
Whew.
The final possible legal challenge to Led Zeppelin’s ownership of Stairway To Heaven has been defeated.
The band were sued for copyright in 2014 over claims they had stolen the song’s opening riff from Taurus, by a US band called Spirit.
Led Zeppelin won the case in 2016, but it was revived on appeal in 2018.
A court of appeals upheld the original verdict earlier this year. Now, the US Supreme Court has declined to hear the case, definitively ending it.
Civilization is Fragile
Indeed. From Dennis Prager:
Nevertheless, it is valid to ask it about Jews because, if any group should be wary of dismantling a society, especially a decent one, it is the Jews. The moment civilization begins to disintegrate, the Jews are the first victims–never the only, but always the first.
That’s why Jews have so often been likened to the proverbial canary in the mine. Miners take canaries down with them because when there are noxious fumes, canaries die, and when the miners see the dead canaries, they know there are toxic fumes they must fight, or they, too, will die.
That’s why decent non-Jews who don’t fight anti-Semitism are fools. They don’t understand that anti-Semitism represents a mortal threat to them. Tens of millions of non-Jews were killed because decent non-Jews ignored Hitler early on, dismissing him and Nazism as a Jewish problem.
It is often asked how the most culturally advanced country in Europe, perhaps in the world, could produce Nazism and the Holocaust. Or, as it is often put, “How did the country that gave us Bach, Beethoven, Heine, and Schiller give us Auschwitz?”
One answer is that advanced culture and advanced morality are not the same. The Nazis loved classical music.
The other, more important, answer is that civilization is fragile.
Teacher Fired for Insubordination
(CNN)A Texas teacher was fired for continuing to wear a Black Lives Matter face mask after school officials asked her to stop.
Lillian White, an art teacher at Great Hearts Western Hills, a public charter school in San Antonio, began wearing a face mask that read “Black Lives Matter” and “Silence is Violence” after the charter school reopened in the summer for in-person workdays amid the coronavirus pandemic. At the time, students were not on campus.
White said she wore the mask to demonstrate her support for Black students and faculty, but also to advocate for an anti-racism action plan and a more diverse curriculum.
Great Hearts Texas Superintendent Daniel Scoggin said in a statement to CNN that school policy forbids faculty from displaying messages on their face masks.
“Great Hearts enacted, in this unprecedented pandemic environment, a policy that face coverings have no external messages,” Scoggin said.
The art teacher, who has worked in education for more than 10 years, continued to wear the mask despite receiving multiple requests from school officials to stop.
“I immediately knew it was time for me to make a decision, and I didn’t think twice about it. This is a human rights issue and I did it for my students who experience racial injustice in school. I refused to back down,” White said.
“If you’re scared about what parents are going to say because a teacher is supporting equal rights, you need to reevaluate the kind of people you’re catering to. By staying silent, Great Hearts is only supporting racist parents.”
Three comments…
1) Notice how it wasn’t the message on the mask. It was the fact that there was a message at all. The school’s policy is clear. It is designed to prevent teachers from abusing their position of power to advocate personal opinions and to ensure that the school is a welcoming place for families of all backgrounds and perspectives. This teacher refused to adhere to the policy. The administration worked with her for weeks to get her to adhere to the policy. She left them no choice.
2) Notice the false paradigm. If you don’t support HER political and social views and support HER advocacy of such, then you are a racist. The administration is racist for wanting to keep all messages off of masks. And the parents who might not want to see such messaging on their kids’ teacher’s mask are racists. The teacher has an incredibly selfish and closed mind. It’s a good thing she isn’t teaching kids anymore.
3) Is anyone else amused that her name is Lillian White… Lily White? No? C’mon, man…
Support for BLM Riots Falls
When protests turn into rioting and wanton criminal violence, it’s going to turn a few people off. Americans have a very long history of protests – even boisterous protests. We love them. What we don’t love is people burning down our towns, accosting us in our cars and restaurants, and shooting cops.
Support for Black Lives Matter protests is falling across the country after months of unrest that has seen people killed, shops burned, and frequent clashes between activists and police.
A new poll shows that just 39 per cent of Americans now approve of the protests, down from 54 per cent in June, while 44 per cent of now disapprove of them.
University of Michigan political scientist Christian Davenport put the change down to ‘compassion fatigue’, as outrage over videos such as the one of George Floyd has faded, with people now wanting a return to their everyday lives.
The shift also appears to have been driven by perceptions of violence, with almost a third of Americans saying the protest are now ‘mostly or always violent’, up from 22 per cent three months ago.
Meanwhile the number of people who said the protests were ‘always peaceful’ fell from 27 per cent to 23 per cent, and the number who said they were ‘sometimes violent’ also fell, from 51 per cent to 47 per cent now.
Rioters in Louisville Shoot Police
I was in downtown Louisville a couple of years ago. It’s a nice city. And now it is being torn apart, police are being shot, and buildings are being torched. These aren’t protests. This isn’t justice. This is insurrection.
Charges Announced in Breonna Taylor Killing
Make no mistake… Louisville was going to burn irrespective of what the charges were or were not. On the merits, the charges appear to be appropriate.
One of three Louisville police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor was indicted by Kentucky grand jury on Wednesday, following a six-month investigation into the case that sparked mass protests nationwide.
Jefferson County Circuit Judge Annie O’Connell read the grand jury’s decision in open court on Wednesday afternoon, charging fired detective Brett Hankison with three counts of wanton endangerment in connection to the police raid on the night of March 13.
Sgt Jonathan Mattingly, Detective Myles Cosgrove, who were also present at the time of Taylor’s death, were not charged.
We Must Ignore the “Constitution” because PEOPLE ARE DYING
I was amused and disgusted by this letter to the editor in the Washington County Daily News criticizing my most recent column about the illegal mask mandate:
2. You right-wing constitutional proponents think that you are so righteous defending the Constitution against Evers’ “illegal” orders, but PEOPLE ARE DYING!!!
You, Trump, Sen. Scott Fitzgerald and Rep. Robin Vos, although you might have the “Constitution” on your side legally, are criminally negligent because you have no effective program to stop the pandemic.
So… people are dying so we should just ignore the Constitution and the law? That’s a very disturbing argument that quickly leads to totalitarianism. People like this really live in America.
The Times’ Racial Brush
Heh.
The Times claimed that only 112 of the 431 House of Representatives members are people of color. It lists Rep. Rashida Tlaib as a person of color, while listing Rep. Justin Amash as white.
Tlaib’s parents and Amash’s father came from Arab towns and neighborhoods in Israel. Amash’s mother came from Syria. They both have traditional Arab names.
How is Tlaib a person of color while Amash is white?
The Amash and Tlaib clans both have a sizable presence in Israel. They’re both Arabs, but, aside from Tlaib being a militant leftist while Amash is an ex-GOP Never Trumper, the only obvious difference is that Amash’s family was Christian while Tlaib’s family is Muslim.
The New York Times’ message is that Muslims are “people of color” and Christians aren’t. It doesn’t matter if their families might have lived some 20 minutes away from each other.
Arab Christians are white while Arab Muslims are a minority group.
BlackRock Requires Full Disclosure of Relationships
The world’s largest money manager has introduced a new policy forcing its 16,000 employees to disclose ‘personal relationships’ with all the company’s clients, in what is being described as the toughest policy yet on office romances.
BlackRock, the New York-based firm which manages $7.4 trillion in assets, introduced the new rules last week.
They are in addition to existing policies which forced the disclosure of relationships with other staff members.
Given that BlackRock, on behalf of the funds it runs, is one of the five largest shareholders in nearly every corporation in the S&P 500, the impact of the new policy is expected to be significant.
[…]‘It takes the assessment of what is or is not a conflict out of the employees’ hands and puts it into the hands of HR and lawyers — which makes it eminently enforceable,’ the executive said.
That’s comforting…
Riots in Lancaster
Here we go again. It is quite clear that the circumstances of each shooting is irrelevant to the protesters. The shooting is the catalyst to vent hate.
Police shot dead a 27-year-old man – who was awaiting trial for stabbing and seriously injuring four people – after he charged at an officer brandishing a huge knife over his head.
Officers in Lancaster, Pennsylvania were called to a home at 4.15pm yesterday by Ricardo Munoz’s sister who said he had become aggressive toward their mother and was trying to break into her house.
Body camera footage release by the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office shows the 27-year-old emerging from the inside of the house as soon as an officer arrived 10 minutes later.
Munoz could be seen charging at the officer while brandishing a knife above his head ‘in clear view’ and ‘in a threatening manner’ before the officer fired at him. He died at the scene.
Yesterday’s shooting sparked protests in the city, with people marching from the scene of the shooting to the Lancaster Police Department while chanting ‘this is what democracy looks like’.
WGAL-TV reported that protesters also smashed in windows of police cars.
Munoz was awaiting criminal trial on four counts of aggravated assault before he was shot dead yesterday. He also had previous charges of stalking, harassment and criminal trespassing.
Expect this to get worse as the roving violent mob travels in to Lancaster like they did in Kenosha.
Markels and Obamas Remain Silent on “Cuties”
Silence is violence, so I’m told.
Viewers have hit out at Netflix employees Meghan Markle, Harry and the Obamas as the two couples stay ‘silent’ on controversial French film Cuties.
Thousands of people have already launched a call to boycott the streaming giant on Thursday over ‘Mignonnes’ – known as ‘Cuties’ in English – angry that its young stars were portrayed in a sexualized way.
The film is directed by French-Senegalese director Maimouna Doucoure, and started streaming September 9. More than 200,000 tweets with the hashtag ‘#CancelNetflix’ became the top trending topic one day later.
[…]
Neither couple has spoken about the controversial movie as of Sunday. And that has sparked criticism online.
Twitter user @AngelaLMorabito said: ‘The Obamas and Prince Harry & Meghan have contracts with Netflix. If they really want to use their influence for good, they’ll tell Netflix to drop “Cuties.”’
@DTCahill added: ‘Silence from @Netflix employees Michelle, Barack, Megan [sic] and Harry on Cuties.’
Farming Has the Highest Favorability Rating of Any Industry
WASHINGTON, D.C. — For the first time in Gallup’s 20 years of tracking Americans’ views of various business and industry sectors, farming and agriculture is the clear leader. The former top-ranking industries — restaurants and computers — remain in the top four, with the grocery industry rounding out the group. Meanwhile, the pharmaceutical industry’s image has improved modestly since last year, and it has yielded the “worst rated” distinction back to the federal government.
Look at the big swing in the Sports industry.
The sports industry now has a negative image, on balance, among Americans as a whole, with 30% viewing it positively and 40% negatively, for a -10 net-positive score. This contrasts with the +20 net positive image it enjoyed in 2019, when 45% viewed it positively and 25% negatively.
[…]
While it’s not clear how much the various challenges and controversies swirling around the industry are each responsible for its slide in popularity, it is notable that sports has lost more support from Republicans and independents than from Democrats. In fact, Democrats’ view of the sports industry has not changed significantly in the past year, while Republicans’ has slipped from a +11 net-positive score in 2019 to a net -35 today, and independents’ from +26 to -10.
This is particularly troublesome for a non-essential industry that relies on people liking it. For example, if people don’t like the farming industry, what do they care? People will still buy food. But if people don’t like sports, they don’t have to spend a dollar on them.
Remembering 9/11
Major Bambi
This is my favorite story of the day.
Donnie Dunagan is a hard-nosed Marine, a highly decorated veteran of the Vietnam War who served for a quarter-century before retiring as a major. First drafted in the ’50s and subsequently promoted 13 times in 21 years — a Corps record at the time, he recalls — Dunagan found the Marines a perfect fit. That is, so long as he could keep a secret.
A dark reminder of the past Dunagan left behind still lurked unspoken: He was Bambi.
As a kid, Dunagan did a brief stint as a child actor, and he was tapped by Walt Disney to be the voice of the lead in the 1942 Bambi, the now-classic animated film about a young deer learning about life in the forest. And not one of his fellow Marines knew.
“No chance!” Dunagan, now 80, tells his wife, Dana, on a recent visit with StoryCorps in San Angelo, Texas. “I never said a word to anybody about Bambi, even to you. When we first met I never said a word about it. Most of the image in people’s minds of Bambi was a little frail deer, not doing very well, sliding around on the ice on his belly.”
Now, imagine the man who was once Bambi as a commander in a Marine Corps boot camp, responsible for hundreds of recruits. Dunagan didn’t want his recruits drawing any connections, mocking him or calling him “Maj. Bambi.” So, he kept his mouth shut.