Is There Really No Master Plan?

I always jokingly answer conspiracy theories of the Trilateral Commission or DaVinci Code or alien autopsy ilk by saying: "I wish it worked that well." While, from the distant outside one can spin up deep state organization ideas based on an elaborate arrangement of certain facts aided by fantasies, once you go inside and see how it works, you realize that they -- be it government or business or media -- are like the rest of us, just making it up as they go along.

Well, I guess I too have succumbed in a small way to belief in some hidden, greater knowledge and power. In my case, it was Warren Buffet's continuing purchase of small market newspapers. Why, I wondered, would he do it? This, after all, is the Wizard of Omaha, the man who made billions on his savvy business sense. While everyone else was beginning to arrange the funeral for newspapers, why would he invest so heavily in them? Surely he knows something we don't.

Now, Bloomburg has a piece suggesting ... well, that they wish it worked so well. They seem to think he's just emotionally attached to the idea of a local paper. No ambitious scheme, like Jeff Bezos seems to have for The Washington Post, no deep understanding of something the rest of us don't see, just fond memories of being a paperboy.

Now I'll just have to go back to awaiting a miraculous salvation ...

Addendum

Apparently I'm not the only one who has thought of this:

"In the words of the Joker in 'The Dark Knight,' 'Nobody panics when things go according to plan, even if the plan is horrifying.' But what if there is no plan? What if everybody is just bad at everything? What if the adults who run the most important institutions in the country were the children who picked their noses and put the boogers under the desks in school?"

As I Was Saying ...

Some time ago, I posted a comment on CNN having a hissy over the Trump administration making the daily briefing not for camera. They cried that it was a closing off of access for the public, and in a bit of theatrics hired a courtroom artist to come in and draw the briefing. Been there, done that.

Well, the dramatics on both sides have only escalated (though the briefing seems to be open for broadcast again), with now the spat playing out for our collective ... entertainment?

But my point here is Todd Purdum, who was apparently covering the White House right around the time I was, has finally articulated well the concerns I have been forming over the more recent efforts by the press, and CNN's Jim Acosta particularly, in confronting the administration.

Photo by Wilfredo Lee

But as a secondary note, let me add: Where were you guys?

Press aides in the Clinton administration regularly flat out lied to us, and often over ridiculously minor things. It was part of the back and forth, and we took it in stride without making it a challenge to democracy. I'm sure those who covered George W Bush have similar stories, and it takes little effort (even while avoiding alt-right conspiracy sites) to find questionable Obama actions and statements. Yet it lacked the melodrama we see today.

Is the Trump administration a leap beyond? Perhaps. Should journalists rigorously challenge authority and demand their questions be heard? Absolutely. But where were you guys all those years before someone so obvious showed up?