Opinion
By Jeff Childers
01-20-2024
Good morning, C&Cers, and welcome to the Weekend Edition! Weβre a little late in delivery today because there was just way too much to discuss and I somehow fit it all in. In todayβs roundup: media hits peak irony with celebrity sports journalist sudden death; just when you thought it couldnβt get any uglier, the Fulton County DA scandal gets more sickening and gruesome than we couldβve imagined; the public responds; an explainer of the WEFβs substantial woes and the apparent pivot toward Trump; Moms for Liberty dramatically squashes book banning argument; and Tuckerβs latest, most optimistic interview yet.
ππ¬ WORLD NEWS AND COMMENTARY π¬π
π This week the sports world processed several high-profile, sudden and unexpected deaths. Not just deaths, mind you. Sudden deaths, deaths of atypically healthy people, deaths of people at atypically healthy ages. Such as the sudden and unexpected death of a healthy, celebrated Daily Mail sports journalist β a death with one particularly ironic feature.
The Daily Mail ran the story about its own reporter headlined, βGoodbye Mr. Wimbledon: Tennis correspondent Mike Dickson dies aged 59.β
A 33-year veteran sports reporter at the peak of his career, Mike was covering the Australian Open in Melbourne and then apparently died quicker than a greased weasel. He chucked a wobbly and was gone faster than a fiddlerβs elbow, like a rat up a drainpipe.
Mike was a superb sports writer with an acerbic sense of humor. He specialized in tennis reporting. A father and husband, he was by all accounts well-loved, often described as selfless, kind, generous, and a βbrilliant bloke.β
I would never ever want to quibble about something like that, but I tried and couldnβt verify any specific examples of Mikeβs selflessness, kindness, or charity. But it could be out there. Or he may have been quietly charitable.
More to the point, I couldnβt find any specifics about Mikeβs death either. The details of what sounds like a spectacular public disaster are disappearing, like ghosts shrouded in foggy journalistic secrecy. All we got was a tweet from Mikeβs grief-stricken wife announcing he βcollapsed and diedβ at the Open.
Sounds like another instantly-fatal heart attack.
But this story takes a twist since back two years ago, during 2022βs Australian Open, Mike, the Brilliant Bloke, shoved aside his normal charitable and kind impulses and declared war on Novak Djokovic over the jabs:
Dickson was relentless. He argued often and publicly that Djokovic was wrong. Mike probably created a worldwide wave of anti-Djokovic dislike, to the point crowds booed the un-vaccinated champion and chanted things like βget vaccinatedβ at him from the stands during tournaments. It looked like Dickson found a personal journalistic calling to compel the Serbian champion to comply. And Dickie was all-in.
Rarely β in this life β do things turn about so completely as between Mike Dickson and Novak Djokovic. Novak did not βruin his chancesβ of becoming the GOAT by refusing to take the vaccine. Instead Novak weathered the storm and became the GOAT in spite of (or because?) of his unjabbed status.
And Dickson took the vaccine and now he suddenly and unexpectedly hopped the twig. And most ironically β Dickson keeled over at the 2024 Australian Open. Almost exactly two years after declaring a public war on Novak Djokovicβs private medical decisions over the same event.
Donβt misunderstand. I wish no ill will against anyone, and only the very best for Dicksonβs memory and his family in this tragic time. Dickson, more victim than villain, bought the lie and probably paid the ultimate price. He was understandably tempted by the devil in his nature to use his position, his journalistic duties, and his consummate skills with what he mistakenly believed were good intentions.
But now, ironically, the calls to protect Dicksonβs medical privacy are deafening. Corporate media has jettisoned the default journalistic standard of disclosure β journalismβs raison dβΓͺtre β a rationale used with devastating effect against Djokovic β who cares about Novakβs privacy β in favor of a fussy aversion to reporting any facts that might make the jabs look bad in the new name of privacy.
π₯ The Fani Willis scandal is expanding faster than the DAβs dress size. At least right now, the adulterous District Attorneyβs story is swelling to eclipse the underlying Trump Racketeering case that DA Willis initially designed. Yesterday one of the Fulton County Commissioners sparked a potential state constitutional crisis by demanding DA Willis hand over documents related to her βselectionβ of inexperienced love puppy Nathan Wade as a Trump special prosecutor, and related to her approval of paying over a million dollars of Fulton County taxpayer dollars to Wade.
The Daily Caller ran this exclusive headline yesterday:
A showdown between DA Willis and the County looms large. Ironically, evoking distant echoes of Trumpβs executive privilege argument, Willisβs allies now claim she is above the law. βFulton Countyβs Code of Ordinances does not apply to the DA. The DA is a constitutional state officer,β explained a spokesperson for the Prosecuting Attorneys Council of Georgia.
But what really blew things apart yesterday was the sudden and unexpected appearance on the national stage of Nathan Wadeβs wife, which hauled the largely-overlooked ethical issues into public view. Remember: Wade filed for divorce one day after signing his lucrative contract to work under Fani Willis.
Nathan and Joycelyn were married for 28 years, had kids, and the court had ordered Nathan to pay his wife $1,400 a month in alimony.
You arenβt wrong if youβre thinking $1,400 a month sounds kind of stingy given how well Nathan was doing financially. It turns out Nathan didnβt disclose the multi-million-dollar Fani Willis contract in his divorce. He played poor. Whoops! Itβs not a good look for a righteous Trump prosecutor to have lied in his divorce filings. Even worse, it seems Nathan used Joycelynβs debit card and spent the little bit of money he was paying her in alimony. All of that is a scoundrelβs play, and of course it is illegal under divorce law.
Joycelyn has every right under Georgia law to sue Nathan for more alimony and for back alimony. But thatβs not all. Not even close.
All the money Nathan spent on his lover, Fani Willis, which should have gone to his family, is now in play. In other words, the details of Nathan and Faniβs relationship and all the money they shared and trips and gifts and so forth are legally relevant, and Joycelynβs lawyer wasted no time subpoenaing Fani Willis for a deposition. Fani Willis wants to be deposed about these topics about as much as she wants to fly to the moon in a rocket designed by John Fetterman.
Yesterday, DA Willis petitioned the court to be excused from her deposition, causing a media explosion. The public filings over the deposition disclosed never-before-seen documents, like bank records showing Nathan lavishing gifts on the plump, entitled District Attorney. Here are a few of yesterdayβs headlines. From ABC:
NBC:
Washington Examiner:
As if that werenβt bad enough, Fani Willis done lied in church. On Sunday, Willis stood proudly on the podium right alongside the holy altar and soberly misinformed a rapt Atlanta congregation that she paid all her prosecutors the very same amount, including her lover, Nathan Wade. But that Fat Lie was immediately debunked, raising new questions about the ultimate destination for Faniβs immortal soul and why the lightning didnβt just blast her off the stage right there.
Atlantaβs 11-Alive News rushed to set the record straight:
The βothersβ referenced in the headline are lawyers who are actually experts in racketeering, unlike Mr. Wade, who has no prior experience with complicated racketeering cases. DA Willis paid her lover more, both in total and by the hour, than the legal experts who were doing the real work.
If those two other lawyers β John Floyd and Anna Cross β have any self-respect, they will immediately withdraw from the case. Weβll see.
Aside from the headlines, Fani Willis does not seem to be getting any sympathy from the regular folks who just arenβt having it with the horrible lack of ethics. Enjoy this priceless rant:
CLIP: Real Housewives of Fulton County (1:41).
Joycelynβs lawyer did exactly the right thing by subpoenaing Fani Willis. There is no way Willis will ever sit for that deposition. Donβt even start to get your hopes up. It will never happen. Either sheβll convince the court to protect her, or if that fails, well, Joycelyn is about to get a very favorable settlement in the divorce that will resolve the case before any more depositions need to be taken from anybody.
Dear Joycelynβs Attorney: hold out for millions in a lump-sum settlement. They will pay it. Somebody will loan dear Nathan the money.
Now, back to the case. What a train wreck it is for the democrats! What an unholy mess! It is an unmitigated disaster, the sinking of the Titanic multiplied by that plane crash where the soccer players ate each other. Willis and Wade are Dumb and Dumber; or maybe even dumber than Dumb and Dumber. Theyβre a pair of greedy, grasping, and manifestly unqualified scam artists.
And yet they are also the team trying to imprison the President of the most powerful country in the History of the World.
Make it make sense.
It has become obvious this is a devastating blow to the Trump prosecutions. Until about five minutes ago, democrats were lauding Faniβs case as their best chance for jailing Trump. The Fulton County team was beyond confident. E.g., from the Guardian, last month:
A month later, itβs obvious whatβs actually happening: Trump isnβt being jailed and DA Willis is getting flushed. Soon they must admit the case against Trump is irrevocably tainted. Nobody will want to have anything to do with this Fulton County case, which now looks nothing like a righteous prosecution intended to show that nobodyβs above the law. Instead it looks like a boring local scandal, a pretty pedestrian way for corrupt local bureaucrats to steal some money from the public till.
Thereβs no saving Faniβs case. It is fast taking on water and heaving amidships, or something to that effect.
No one has ever dared before to prosecute a popular former President, never mind one who is also a popular presidential candidate. Like stout Cortez and his men, who surmounting a peak in Darien starβd at the Pacific Ocean and lookβd at each other with a wild surmise, I think we might be discovering one really good reason why local DAβs donβt prosecute presidents.
π₯ On the heels of yesterdayβs surprising news about a pro-Trump contingent invading the World Economic Forum, appeared even more tales of Trump support from the most unlikely spots. Such as woke financial tyrannosaur Blackstoneβs CEO, who soberly informed thunderstruck WEF attenders that the world will not survive four more years of Bidenomics:
In response to many comments yesterday, I researched what might explain this sudden strain of conservatism in the heart of woke darkness in Davos. It seems the WEF and its members face some intractable structural problems related β of course β to money. This yearβs βeconomic forumβ could be fairly described as being in complete disarray. The WEF is going broke.
First, the group faces a major P.R. problem. The World Economic Forumβs long, easy run of behind-the-scenes invisibility is over. Public scrutiny and widespread criticism have badly damaged the brand. Corporate mediaβs ability to run interference and to cover for the WEF is waning.
But those arenβt even the forumβs biggest problems, not by a long shot.
For fourteen long years between the real estate crisis in 2008 until mid-pandemic in February 2022, the Federal Reserve held interest rates to zero or near zero. Which means the mega-banks, including big foreign banks located in and near Davos, Switzerland, got no-interest fed loans, turn those loans around to then loan the money to businesses and people at above-zero interest rates, creating instant profits with no risk.
But those days are over. And the hangover is just starting.
Itβs beginning to look like all the woke βinvestmentsβ in diversity, equity, inclusion, climate, windmills, solar panels, electric fleets, green technologies, and all the other woke stuff might have been a bad idea. Itβs beginning to look like maybe the banks shouldβve invested all those easy profits in gold and uranium businesses instead of climate startups.
We are in the early stages where both the DEI industry and the climate scam are collapsing, and the rats are starting to stream off the SS Woke Incorporated:
Absent easy credit to support unprofitable political projects, it is starting to look a lot like the WEF may be backed into a corner and β of course β those dummies never had a βplan B.β Now, it looks like many are scrambling to get on the Trump express before itβs too late:
π₯ Courageous Moms for Liberty founder Tiffany Justice might have just ended the argument over removing sexualized books from schools. And she did it in the most unlikely possible place. How courageous is Tiffany? Yesterday, in a political environment where saying one thing slightly wrong can end your career, Tiffany bravely ventured deep into hostile territory on MSNBC with Joy Reid to answer questions about so-called βbook banning:β
CLIP: MSNBCβs Joy Reid asks Tiffany Justice why she loves banning books so much (0:55).
When Reid began to loudly press her to justify what Reid called modern-day βbook banning,β Tiffany interrupted the liberal anchorlady and explained that nobody is banning books:
βNo oneβs banning books. Write the book, print the book, publish the book, put the book in the public library, sell the book. Weβre talking about a public school library. Children donβt have unfettered access to the internet at school β¦ Why is no one out there protesting to free the internet in schools?β
What an excellent question. How is limiting kidsβ access to adult material in school books any different from limiting their access to adult material on the Internet? That question is what I call a mind worm β once youβve thunk it, it never completely goes away β and in a sane world it should end the debate.
Maybe it will.
Kudos to Mrs. Justice for taking the big chances to help Americaβs kids by enduring the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, not to mention fake, woke news networks and their annoying, racism-goggle-wearing anchor ladies.
(Full disclosure: I sit on Moms For Libertyβs advisory board.)
π₯ Finally, if you have an hour sometime this weekend, your spirits will be elevated and your heart encouraged by Tucker Carlsonβs most recent interview, this time with celebrity personal improvement mega-coach Anthony Robbins. The two self-made men discussed the fractious state of the world, describing it as a normal part of lifeβs cycle of destruction and rebirth, and focusing on the indisputable fact there are always opportunities for joy and profit in every cycle, no matter how hard.
CLIP: Tucker interviews Tony Robbins (56:54).
It was captivating when, around the 8:00 mark, Robbins began discussing his own pandemic experience and how obstacles that looked insurmountable β little things like having all his seminar venues shut down, no matter what they tried or where they tried it β instead wound up multiplying and improving his business and making him stronger. Robbins compared that story to how Tucker, who was abruptly fired from Fox during the January 6th video releases, was enjoying a developing career that was possibly headed to greater things than he could have ever accomplished at Fox.
Back in my twenties, I was a full-on Tony Robbins fan, and I went to half a dozen of his personal development seminars. Since I was saved, I donβt put nearly as much stock in any personal growth strategies, having been completely fulfilled by prayer, theology, and my personal relationship with Christ. But, for you secular types, Anthony Robbins is the gold standard. And even for Christians, with discernment, Tony Robbinsβ unquenchable optimism can be a spiritual balm from Gilead.
Enjoy!
Have a superlative Saturday! Iβll see you back here tomorrow for more Coffee & Covid.
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Β© 2022, Jeff Childers, all rights reserved
The views expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Citizens Journal Florida