NBC: Brian Williams Suspended For Six Months
[guest post by Dana]
Breaking: NBC suspends 'Nightly News' anchor Brian Williams for six months without pay http://t.co/tYCeELTJqc
— Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) February 11, 2015
Who knows if he’ll return. But looking at the upside, this might be a golden opportunity to seriously get working on that longed-for second career of fiction writing. In six months he could produce the greatest American novel of all time.
-Dana
ADDED: From the comments, DRJ offers what she believes will be Williams’ “first sentence of what will undoubtedly be his Bulwer-Lytton award-winning novel”:
He strolled languidly into the room, knowing – as always – that he would be the smartest and most interesting person there.
nk followed with a novel noir opening line:
She had eyes, two of them, and legs that went all the way to the floor. Also two. I knew when she walked into my office that she was in trouble. She said, “Mr. Williams, I’m in trouble”. I said, “Thank goodness, I’d hate to think a beautiful dame like you would let herself get a potbelly. Who’s the daddy?”
So, it’s your turn now: What do you think will be the opening sentence of Brian Williams’ great American novel that he will be writing on his um, leave of absence?? Share in the comments section.
Hello.
Dana (8e74ce) — 2/10/2015 @ 5:10 pmHe’ll be slow-jammin’ teh ATM for a while…
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/10/2015 @ 5:16 pmHeh. Well done, Dana. Here’s my suggestion for the first sentence of what will undoubtedly be his Bulwer-Lytton award-winning novel:
DRJ (e80d46) — 2/10/2015 @ 5:18 pmSuspended? I can’t think of anything more NBC could have done.
When he comes back I’ll have nothing but confidence in the guy.
Steve57 (13bd8e) — 2/10/2015 @ 5:37 pmNah, it’ll be a novel noir:
She had eyes, two of them, and legs that went all the way to the floor. Also two. I knew when she walked into my office that she was in trouble. She said, “Mr. Williams, I’m in trouble”. I said, “Thank goodness, I’d hate to think a beautiful dame like you would let herself get a potbelly. Who’s the daddy?”
nk (dbc370) — 2/10/2015 @ 5:41 pmAnd all because of a half-dozen tall tales backfilled a couple of dozen times.
Imagine a world where Truth actually mattered:
http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user3303/imageroot/2015/02/20150209_NYFedSpend1.jpg
You are about to see tens of billions of dollars lost on the BS of an improving economy without an election in sight.
DNF (259036) — 2/10/2015 @ 5:44 pmNah, it’s termination. He’ll quietly resign in a couple months, minimal blowback
Angelo (d89d7b) — 2/10/2015 @ 5:44 pmAnn Curry should have warned them:
http://dailycaller.com/2015/02/10/drudge-savannah-guthrie-tops-list-to-replace-brian-williams/
narciso (ee1f88) — 2/10/2015 @ 5:50 pmNBC still has time to build a sitcom around him for fall
happyfeet (831175) — 2/10/2015 @ 5:51 pmwell you could switch with Matthew Perry and they wouldn’t know the difference,
narciso (ee1f88) — 2/10/2015 @ 6:03 pmBrian Williams will continue writing about his “experiences”…
“The mortar round had landed just inches away from me and Brownie. Thank God I had the laptop hanging in my rucksack on my back, as it was hit by a dozen pieces of shrapnel. It was now useless, but I had experience looking uselessness in the face and staring it down. Brownie hadn’t fared nearly as well… I found him face down with half his head and the right side of his ass blown away. Brownie had always shunned the word processor and laptop, preferring to write his war stories out in long hand. He paid for that eccentricity with his life, poor devil. We’ll miss ya, Brownie!… I said a silent prayer and I pledged to dedicate the rest of my vaunted career to his memory.”
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/10/2015 @ 6:16 pmAdded to post:What do you think will be the opening sentence of Brian Williams’ great American novel that he will be writing on his um, leave of absence??
See post. Add your Brian Williams novel’s opening line here.
Dana (8e74ce) — 2/10/2015 @ 6:18 pm‘it was the best of times, it was the worst of times’
narciso (ee1f88) — 2/10/2015 @ 6:20 pm“It was a dark and stormy night…”
Gazzer (964803) — 2/10/2015 @ 6:20 pmLike all good fairy tales it should start,
Gazzer (964803) — 2/10/2015 @ 6:21 pm“Once upon a time…”
‘Call me Ishmael’
narciso (ee1f88) — 2/10/2015 @ 6:22 pmoh please… everyone knows all war stories start out:
This is no 5hit: There I was…”
redc1c4 (cf3b04) — 2/10/2015 @ 6:54 pm“Crusty shamus Harry Kunz wasn’t sure if it was the pint of cheap bourbon he’d just drained or the way the cashmere sweater clung so perfectly to the luscious curves of the drop-dead gorgeous broad who had just slunk into his sleazy little office, but he was as sure of this one thing as sure can be … he had the goddamned hottest sister-in-law on the planet.”
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/10/2015 @ 6:56 pmShe said, “It is a potbelly, you idiot. Put your glasses on. I’m Candy Crowley.”
Her name struck a chord. A G-sharp augmented seventh.
“Your name strikes a chord, Miss Crowley”.
“It should, but what you heard was me brushing up against your piano. Why do you have a piano in your office, anyway?
“Piano is my business, lady. Just like my door says.”
“Oh”, she sighed, “so P.I. stands for …”
“Yeah, doll”, I finished for her. “Piano instruction.”
nk (dbc370) — 2/10/2015 @ 6:59 pmLast night I dreamt I was Ted Baxter.
mg (31009b) — 2/10/2015 @ 7:07 pmPer the twitters, Williams was lobbying to be the host of the Tonight Show.
Dana (8e74ce) — 2/10/2015 @ 7:11 pmThis ain’t no shit . . .
jakee308 (f0aa61) — 2/10/2015 @ 7:15 pmnk followed with a novel noir opening line:
LOL. In the world of Brian Williams, nothing can be too insipid. Or, for that matter, too “progressive.”
The reason?
Only people like him and those of his ilk judging one another will be, in effect, patted on the back (woo, 6-months leave!? Gosh, that’s so harsh, NBC!!) for being out-and-out, shameless liars.
By contrast, if Williams had instead said something politically incorrect — such as “yikes, that Bruce Jenner sure looks crummy as a female!” or “the rate of black-on-black crime is despicable!” — he’d have been fired on the spot.
Mark (c160ec) — 2/10/2015 @ 7:21 pmnk, you need a publisher. that was great.
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 2/10/2015 @ 7:23 pmPatterico reminded me. He tried his hand at music; I tried my hand at writing fiction when I was in college. Then I went to law school.
nk (dbc370) — 2/10/2015 @ 7:28 pmErr, wait, that didn’t come out right.
nk (dbc370) — 2/10/2015 @ 7:29 pmwell consider someone who they were less merciful with Lara Logan
http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/television/article/Brian-William-taking-himself-of-air-temporarily-6068547.php
narciso (ee1f88) — 2/10/2015 @ 7:30 pmExcellent, nk. You have a talent for this.
DRJ (e80d46) — 2/10/2015 @ 7:32 pmThank you. The daughter and I were playing with paraprosdokians, tonight. Or maybe it’s antanaclasis. Puns and non-sequitors.
Stuff like: Time flies like an arrow, but fruit flies like a banana. Never let a fool kiss you, and never let a kiss fool you. She liked that second one.
nk (dbc370) — 2/10/2015 @ 7:44 pmand Jon Stewart leaving his show in about 6 months. Coincidence?
seeRpea (181740) — 2/10/2015 @ 8:01 pmWas that you, daley? It’s all coming back.
That was right after we got off the river patrol boat and ran into that tiger. In Cambodia.
Steve57 (13bd8e) — 2/10/2015 @ 8:12 pm“Saigon, sh*t. I’m still only in Saigon. Every time I think I’m going to
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 2/10/2015 @ 8:15 pmwake up back in the jungle. It was worse. I’d wake up and there’d be nothing…
I’ve been here a week now. Waiting for a story, getting
softer. Every minute I stay in this room I get weaker. And every minute
Charlie squats in the bush he gets stronger.
Each time I look around the walls move in a little tighter.”
Steve57 – No, that’s Brian’s story.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 2/10/2015 @ 8:15 pmSorry. I misremembered my way into the wrong hallucination.
Steve57 (13bd8e) — 2/10/2015 @ 8:23 pma strange case of dejavu:
http://www.tvguide.com/shows/duckman-198800/episode-7-season-2/in-the-nam-of-the-father/
the character has seen so many war movies he pretended he was actually there,
narciso (ee1f88) — 2/10/2015 @ 8:36 pm…searching for a better view, Williams got down on his knees in the ankle deep water, and it appeared that it was halfway up his thighs. No matter, he was now able to peer, my God, straight down the tube of that RPG launcher-! Trying to dive out of the way, a man’s body floating by the unflooded city nearly got in his way, but he managed to avoid the deadly projectile.
The gangs planning to terrorize the occupants of the nearby 5-star hotel did not fare so well. Their helo crashed hard, nearly crushing a nearby litter of puppies. If not for Williams bravely pulling them out of the in just the nick of time, all may have been lost.
neocon_1 (105347) — 2/10/2015 @ 9:06 pm“Dad, I know we’ve always talked about my going to Med School after I finished Yale, Allison said tentatively while tucking her long shapely legs primly under her derriere and cozying up to him on the leather chesterfield sofa. “But I’ve been thinking I’d like to try acting instead. I have a few contacts who’ve told me I’ve shown some talent and think I could probably find steady work in New York. Med school seems like such a long hard backbreaking haul, you know?”
Brian gazed fondly at the beautiful young woman who, it seemed, had been his little girl just yesterday. “Give acting a shot, Allison, if you think that’s what you’re called to do as your life’s work. Fame has both its drawbacks and rewards as I’m sure you know. But if one works with theater professionals and if one carefully curates the parts that one accepts, then a career in legitimate theater can be a very noble and fulfilling profession. Whatever you do, honey, however your creative juices flow, I’ll be just as proud of you as if you had developed a cure for cancer.”
elissa (713035) — 2/10/2015 @ 9:09 pmOnce upon a midnight dreary
Angelo (d89d7b) — 2/10/2015 @ 9:11 pmQuick edit, Elissa:
Brian gazed fondly at the beautiful young woman who, it seemed, had been his little girl just yesterday. “Give acting a shot, Allison, if you think that’s what you’re called to do as your life’s work. Fame has both its drawbacks and rewards as I’m sure you know. But if one works with theater professionals and if one carefully curates the parts that one accepts, then a career in legitimate theater can be a very noble and fulfilling profession. Whatever you do, honey, however your creative juices flow, I’ll be just as proud of you as if you had developed a cure for cancer – well, you know, if I hadn’t already done so.
Dana (8e74ce) — 2/10/2015 @ 9:14 pmlol.
elissa (713035) — 2/10/2015 @ 9:15 pmHeh!
nk (dbc370) — 2/10/2015 @ 9:24 pmRoughly Brian grabbed her heaving shoulder, forcing her down on the billiard table and the balls ran everywhere. She knew not to speak. Brian wasn’t the same after the hell of room service in Dubai, where he fought in the Afghan wars. Brian looked down at her. If he shut his eyes, he could still see her costar’s tongue in her badonkadonk. Oh, how he regretted the time he spent away serving his country. Things could have been so different. She was so young, and glowing with newfound health as she recovered from the chlamydia. He should have been there to guide her.
“You don’t understand” he told her. He turned and gazed off into the distance, weary from a thousand kills on world of warcraft. Would he ever get the blood off his hands?
None of them would ever understand.
Steve57 (13bd8e) — 2/10/2015 @ 9:30 pmIt was a dark and stormy night as the noontime sun blinded the pilot.
Ed from SFV (3400a5) — 2/10/2015 @ 9:35 pmBIG SCOOP: Here’s the opening sentence of Brian Williams’s autobiography, “I Never Know When to Quit”, coming to a bookstore near you on April 1:
It’s the teeth that you remember. Sure there’s the black smoke that makes you cough like a piece of your lung is coming loose, and there’s the deadly searing gasses flowing over the ceiling, hot enough to make the nails in the sheet rock melt and swell outward like festering boils on a diseased hog, hot enough for sure to make your face melt like wax and your brains boil and explode your skull like a microwaved egg if you’re fool enough to stand up in the wrong place. But those things, mere agony and deadly peril, fade into the background of a life of hard work and tough breaks and being shot at by thugs in a flooded city or shot down by soldiers in a dry desert. No, what I remember is the small shivering body, and those sharp little puppy teeth, latching onto my thumb like a desperate plea not to leave it to the smoke and the flames, bringing tears to my eyes from the pain. But I didn’t shake it loose. No, what could I do but answer it’s poor desperate plea?
Cugel (be9acb) — 2/10/2015 @ 9:37 pmThe glare was overpowering. Like the reflection off of Lena Dunham’s pale butt.
He shut his eyes. “Just make it stop,” he said to no one. “Just make it go away.”
“The sentiments of a great many of us who have cancelled our cable,” said the stranger.
Steve57 (13bd8e) — 2/10/2015 @ 9:38 pmPlagerist – What did you expect?
papertiger (c2d6da) — 2/10/2015 @ 9:52 pmWith Brian Williams gone and Jon Stewart bowing out, where are lefties going their talking points?
Ag80 (eb6ffa) — 2/10/2015 @ 9:54 pmBrian couldn’t forget the little transvestite hooker he found in Kandahar. Nobody in his Ohio farm village had done those things to him. Brian thought he’d just move on once he got back to his unit in Paktika. But he couldn’t. Wherever he looked, he saw that face. When he slept, he dreamt of those hands. He was even grateful for the sores because, they too, were a momento of 7 days of bliss.
“Curse you, Kandahar!” he screamed into the night, tears streaming down his face. “Curse you, and curse the day I heard of you.”
Steve57 (13bd8e) — 2/10/2015 @ 9:59 pm“I tried my hand at writing fiction when I was in college. Then I went to law school.”
Some people went to the White House.
attending New York University and graduating in 2002 with an MFA in creative writing.[5]
Mike K (90dfdc) — 2/10/2015 @ 10:17 pmMy second creative writing professor was this man: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robie_Macauley#Playboy_Magazine
nk (dbc370) — 2/10/2015 @ 10:24 pmChapter 1.
Don’t Cry for me, Argentina.
I have to confess I got a little bit mixed up there. It happens to people.
Sammy Finkelman (e806a6) — 2/10/2015 @ 10:42 pmActually, if it’s a Brian Williams book it will probably begin with something autobiographical. Such as:
“Scarlett Johansson rolled away from Brian so he couldn’t see the tears. Just now, just now, it was clear to her. She meant nothing to Brian. No more than all the other movie stars, Playboy bunnies, and Miss Universes he had slept with. Her breasts heaved as she silently wept. Brian looked at her, naked in the moonlight, and felt nothing. “I should go,” he said.
“No, please, no, don’t go! Let me just be with you,” she begged Brian.
Brian looked down at her as he zipped up his flight suit. “It’s better this way. The sooner I leave, the sooner you’ll get over me. Just as Catherine Zeta Jones.”
Scarlett Johansson put Brian in the flying scissor locks of love. “You’re mine,” she said.
As gently as possible Brian whacked her with his giant phallus, enlarged by decades of warrior training. She let go and fell back on the bed, wounded yet aroused by what Brian had just done to her. “Will you call me,” she asked as he tightened his gun belt.
Brian didn’t answer as he pensively took the Stinger missile from it’s usual place by the nightstand, and slung it across his broad shoulders. He was cold, as befits a natural born killer. But he had left enough broken hearts strewn across Hollywood. He had to choose his next words carefully, or Scarlett would end up like Marilyn.
“There aren’t any phones where I’m going,” he said as he picked up the keys to the Humvee for the short drive to his Strike Eagle. “No cell service.”
It was already 6 am. His men would have his plane armed and fueled. Good. He was an unfeeling bastard but he hated messes.
She wailed, an animal cry. He looked at her as she sobbed, pounding her fists into the pillow.
“You knew who I was when you got involved with me. You know what I am.”
The cameraman was where Brian had left him. As loyal as any dog. “Is everything OK, boss,” he said, “are you ready for your next battle?”
“I was born ready,” Brian told the cameraman.
They strode down the hallway to the elevator. They could still hear Scarlett weeping in her apartment.
Steve57 (13bd8e) — 2/10/2015 @ 10:59 pmActually Brian Williams may not be writing a book.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MntbN1DdEP0
I hear that during his hiatus he’ll be working on an hour-long documentary about how Shakira wrote that song about him. Also he has to work on his speech for when the Army boys give him his honorary Green Beret.
He already has his trident from the SEALs and his wings from AFSOC. But there was nothing honorary about those. He earned them.
Steve57 (13bd8e) — 2/10/2015 @ 11:13 pm“He was one hundred and eighty days suspended and not yet dead. He fought for exoneration with the passion of a cornered rat. He was embarrased and contrite, but occasionally his fractured mind emerged from the myriad versions of the crash into something resembling sanity. Then he lifted his mute face to Eternity and muttered: ‘Goodnight, Chet. Goodnight David'”
(apologies to Alfred Bester)
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/10/2015 @ 11:26 pmSteve, you mean it wasn’t that Carly Simon song?
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/10/2015 @ 11:27 pmI hear that Jon Stewart may be retiring the clown nose.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/10/2015 @ 11:28 pmStevie Nicks and Linda Ronstadt were writing songs about Brian Williams back in the ’70s.
Carly Simon would have, if Brian Williams wasn’t already too busy to bring her to ecstasy.
Steve57 (13bd8e) — 2/10/2015 @ 11:44 pmWhen Beyonce sings “Put a Ring on it” she’s thinking of Brian Williams. Just ask him.
Steve57 (13bd8e) — 2/10/2015 @ 11:45 pmAs he stumbled down the stairs from the 23rd floor, still hung over from yesterday’s JournoList reunion, he found himself staring into the RPGs of the vampire gangs that had infested the city since the tidal wave called Katrina had caused the reactors to explode. Or so he had reported. He had thought himself safe holed up in the reporter’s hotel, but here they were, plain as day on the 13th floor. He was just starting to realize that it WAS day, and the whole vampire thing was making no sense when the vampire on the left said “Brian, why aren’t you taking the lift?”
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/10/2015 @ 11:47 pmApparently the Brian Williams saga has reached Taiwan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-536bszXZ7M
Epic.
Steve57 (88230f) — 2/11/2015 @ 12:12 amHe can start doing documentaries on ethics in journalism!
truther (e7e7db) — 2/11/2015 @ 12:51 amThat was satifying. Kamsahamnida Mr Steve. For the win.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 2/11/2015 @ 12:56 am“My name is Williams. And I’m a dick.” — From “Brian Williams, Private Dick — Adventure No. 43: The RPG Through My Tail-Section”
RNB (6a1e7d) — 2/11/2015 @ 3:59 amGreat. Kayla Mueller another Saint Rachel Corrie.
Tragicomic.
DNF (259036) — 2/11/2015 @ 5:25 amBrian doesn’t really have a reason to get out of bed this morning
because he’s a loser and an embarrassment to himself and his employers
happyfeet (a037ad) — 2/11/2015 @ 6:11 amLittle freckled seven year old Brian Williams, in an event that would presage his later journalism career, proudly told his first grade teacher Miss Munsen that he had hand forged his own sword to go along with his “real” 18th century pirate outfit for the class talent show. She did not believe him.
Located this week in a modest retirement community Miss Munsen shook her head sadly as she confided to an investigator from NBC, “I was afraid he wasn’t going to listen to me about telling tall tales. I’ll bet now he wishes he had listened.”
elissa (1486dc) — 2/11/2015 @ 7:13 amIt occurs to me that ABC has a lot to gain in ratings from Brian Williams’ sabbatical, and also that the report ABC was investigating Williams might have prompted NBC to send him off on that sabbatical. The last thing NBC would want is a week (or two) of ABC nightly news segments on Brian Williams’ lies. His leave of absence puts that to bed, for now.
DRJ (e80d46) — 2/11/2015 @ 7:24 amAs the sun rose in the west, it was clear as dawn, the brave journalist that dodged bullets and mortars to get the story, was a target of the Koch brothers.
Dejectedhead (4bfcf6) — 2/11/2015 @ 7:26 amNBC needs a roving correspondent at Johnson Atoll. Put Williams there for a while. If he behaves, then promote him to French Frigate Shoals. If he behaves there, then move him to Diego Garcia.
LTMG (94c4c3) — 2/11/2015 @ 7:35 am“Great. Kayla Mueller another Saint Rachel Corrie.”
DNF – There’s a difference in my mind. St. Pancake got killed actively helping the bad guys by standing in front of an Israeli bulldozer trying to level Palestinian structures where terrorist attacks emanated. Mueller was captured while trying to help Syrian refugees.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 2/11/2015 @ 7:44 amAnyway, here’s something from the best book parody ever:
“Aye,” said Legolam, “the river is under a spell, for it is named after the fair elf-maid Nesselrode who had the hots for Menthol, God of After-Dinner Drinks. But the evil Oxydol, Goddess of Quick Tricks and Small Slams, appeared to her in the shape of a five-iron and told her that Menthol was two-timing with the Princess Phisohex, daughter of King Sano. At this Nesselrode became wroth and swore a great oath to kick Phisohex in the gut and get her mother, Cinerama, Goddess of Short-Term Loans, to turn Menthol into an erector set. But Menthol got wind of the plot and came to Nesselrode in the guise of a refrigerator, turned her into a river, and went west to sell encyclopedias. Even now, in the spring, the river softly cries, ‘Menthol, Menthol, you are one wazoo. One day I’m the elf next door and then poof I’m a river. You stink.’ And the wind answers, ‘Phooey.'”
“A sad story,” said Frito. “Is it true?”
“No,” said Legolam.
— The Harvard Lampoon’s “Bored of the Rings”
nk (dbc370) — 2/11/2015 @ 8:53 am68. DRJ (e80d46) — 2/11/2015 @ 7:24 am
Except aBC denied it. It was a false leak by omebody trying to push him out quickly.
Because maybe somebody else at NBC was complicit.
Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 2/11/2015 @ 9:15 amI hear Williams is going to write a book on Joseph McCarthy, entitled “Tail Gunner Joe.”
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/11/2015 @ 9:22 am#72, Is that the one where Goodgulf Greyteeth fights the Ballhog?
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/11/2015 @ 9:25 amIn Israel there’s an effor to say that an entire newspaper is nothing but a political contribution to Benjamin netanyahu – and it should stop publication for teh duration of the election.
(the excuse being, it is not profitable, and/or it is free, and is notoriously pro-Netanyahu and is owned by Sheldon Adelson)
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-Elections/Israel-Hayom-should-come-out-of-Likud-expense-budget-Labor-says-390360
It only happens to be the newspaper with the greatest circulation in the country.
See also:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/08/opinion/rosner-how-to-silence-the-israeli-right.html?_r=0
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-Elections/Netanyahu-blasts-newspaper-publisher-for-orchestrating-campaign-of-slander-390458
http://www.momentmag.com/adelson-effect/
Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 2/11/2015 @ 9:29 amDo you suppose that in quiet moments of reflection in the privacy of his own home Brian wonders why he doesn’t have a job at NBC but Al Sharpton still does?
elissa (1486dc) — 2/11/2015 @ 9:29 amYup. With Arrowroot son of Arrowshirt and Eorache daughter of Eorlobe, using an ancient weapon called the Browning semi-automatic.
nk (dbc370) — 2/11/2015 @ 9:29 amWrong thread.
Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 2/11/2015 @ 9:30 amI’m late to the party, but here’s my submission.
Journalism is one of the most misunderstood vocations, Brock Anderson thought to himself as he effortlessly slid into the back seat of the limo that was to take him from Rockefeller Center to dinner at Lutece. Newly returned from a harrowing misadventure as an embed in Afghanistan, he marveled that a mere 22 hours earlier he had been eating C rations with a future Medal of Honor winner while tonight he was to set dine with the Vice President of the United States. Little did he know that the adventure awaiting him that evening would make Afghanistan seem like a spring day in Central Park.
JVW (880175) — 2/11/2015 @ 10:28 am#brockslivesmatter
happyfeet (a037ad) — 2/11/2015 @ 12:00 pm71. This time the dozer operator knew to expect Left Coasters.
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2015/02/ny-times-reporter-heartbroken-isis-treated-pro-palestinian-activist-kayla-mueller-like-other-kuffars/
DNF (37e112) — 2/11/2015 @ 1:44 pmHow long did the nbc brass know and what did they do to hide it?
mg (31009b) — 2/11/2015 @ 3:42 pmmg (31009b) — 2/11/2015 @ 3:42 pm
Which NBC brass?
There’s something peculiar about the leaks.
From the statements it seems clear that two people were for the suspension, and the big boss was reluctant. The statement attempts to explain why they were so hard on Brian WIlliams.
But there was a leak to the Daily News that some persons wanted more.
It possible that somebody encouraged him, and yet there could be some e-mail from him on record telling him to stop, which he has plans to use as an alibi if necessary. That would have been sent because he wanted Brian Williams to tell more or less safe lies, and Brian Wlliams’ lies weren’t all so safe.
I suspect there is somebody here, or a few people, very very dishonest.
Not the whole of NBC – not anybody that works there who had any connection to the Nightly News or was affected by it.
Sammy Finkelman (e806a6) — 2/11/2015 @ 5:15 pmAlright, thereis no humor in this much irony.
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2015/02/report-us-hostage-kayla-mueller-was-given-to-isis-commander/
DNF (3642e1) — 2/12/2015 @ 5:05 am“I gamely ignored the bitter cold as I stood hunched beside General Washington, the Delaware slipping past silently. The Pennsylvania shoreline was swallowed up by the icy darkness as I mentally planned our first minutes on the Jersey shore. General Washington was a great leader but he knew as well as any that the success of our operation depended solely on my agile mind and fearless heart.”
Mark Johnson (ecd980) — 2/12/2015 @ 6:45 amThe New York Times has a front page story on how NBC handled the Brian Williams crisis.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/12/business/media/frantic-efforts-at-nbc-to-curb-rising-damage-caused-by-brian-williams.html
It’s open for comments, and you can comment if you see this soon enough.
It’s about the 4th most prominent story in the paper. On its home web page (which also has links to many more stories than the printed front page) right now, at 10:28am, it’s way down in the middle column – story number 5, but to see it, you have to scroll the first (feature) story off he top of the page – it’s number 4 in Breaking News. Number 1 Breaking News is a new story there that couldn’t have been in the printed paper about the democrats picking Philadelphia for its 2016 convention (Brooklyn, New York had too many problems, evidently) Both parties are holding there conventions earlier like they used to for non-incumbents. They were doing it on or near Labor Day because if a candidate accepted public financing, they couldn’t use private contributions any more after the convention when they became the official nominee, but nobody expects to use the presidential campaign fund any more.
Back to Brian Williams.
The New York Times was not able to, and did not, talk to Brian Williams or people close to him. They talked to various people at NBC, and people who used to work at NBC who were still friends with people at NBC, all of whom spoke strictly on the condition of anonymity. (the interview Patterico posted the other day was not new – it was from the first day, but Stars and Stripes didn’t release the complete transcript till this week)
I will give the most important points, adding a few facts I picked up elsewhere.
The start was when Stars and Stripes ran its story on February 4, and Brian Williams wrote a
Facebook apology. Some people at NBC – not his superiors, whom he hadn’t contacted – began to worry, The apology was not good. A group of people was assigned to draft a statement for Brian Williams, but the problem was it had to jibe with his Facebook apology, and so they couldn’t say he lied, but only they he confused two different helicopters. I think they did get him to change the word “us” that was in there somewhere. About an hour before the broadcast Brian Williams informed his superiors.
After that, there were multiple meetings every day, and several different apologies to the staff by Brian Williams.
Brian Williams did not decide on his own to take himself off the air. That decision was reached at a meeting on Brian Williams’ apartment on Saturday, February 7. But Brian asserted very strongly that he deliver that message and the executives agreed to aloow him to do that as a courtesy.
The executives continued to discuss Brian Williams, and on Monday they decided to suspend him but also decided to sleep on it one day.
By this time, they realized, or were informed by Richard Esposito, that he had lied recently on the news program. It wasn’t merely at the Rangers game that he mentioned that his helicopter had been hit. He said that in introducing that story about the pilot who had “rescued” him on the air, on Friday, January 30, 2015.
And I think that also means, that they concluded that his apology was a lie, too, or Brian Williams was not trying to pretend it was not.
In its last paragraph, the New York Times notes that on Wednesday (yesterday) NBC had changed the name of its broadcast to “NBC Nightly News” and it was no longer called “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams”
Sammy Finkelman (e806a6) — 2/12/2015 @ 8:05 amAlso – Tom Brokaw was involved. Stephen B. Burke, chief executive of NBCUniversal, who was making all the decisions, consulted him. The 9:30 and 4:30 meetings that were held each day was chaired by him.
I think the word “us” was removed from Brian Williams’s second statement – the one about taking himself off the air.
Sammy Finkelman (e806a6) — 2/12/2015 @ 8:11 am