Suicidal, leftist newspapers die by their own hand

McClatchy news conglomerate files bankruptcy to shed costs of print and speed shift to digital

We’ve all heard of the term, “death by a thousand cuts,” which describes a series of miscalculations culminating in a slow and painful demise. The newspaper industry is stunningly illustrative of that idiom. Bonded to delivering a leftist perspective and delivering daily insults to readers, many have not only fallen victim to the digital age, but also to their own venomous spews aimed at President Trump.

The “Letter from Leadership,” signed by Chief Executive Officer Craig Forman informing that McClatchy newspaper publishing company has filed for bankruptcy begins with these ominous words:

On February 13, 2020, we announced that we are commencing a restructuring under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code to provide McClatchy with immediate protection while we pursue approval of our proposed restructuring plan and work to definitively address the Company’s funded debt, strengthen our balance sheet, and address our pension obligations moving forward.”

While this is obviously a sad milestone after 163 years of family control, McClatchy remains a strong operating company and committed to essential local news and information,” said Kevin McClatchy, chairman of the company that has carried his family name since the days of the California Gold Rush. “While we tried hard to avoid this step, there’s no question that the scale of our 75-year-old pension plan – with 10 pensioners for every single active employee – is a reflection of another economic era.” Read more here.

This dismal admission is accompanied by a YouTube video, titled, “McClatchy Transformation,” in case its employees and debtors have difficulty grasping the words. A notice accompanying the video notes “comments are turned off.”

A separate Bloomberg Report foretells the coming death of newspapers. Charles Munger, a newspaper company executive as well as a Berkshire Hathaway Inc. vice chairman, said U.S. newspapers have no future.

“Technological change is destroying the daily newspapers in America,” Munger said Wednesday in Los Angeles at the annual meeting of Daily Journal Corp., the publishing company where the billionaire businessman is chairman. “The revenue goes away and the expenses remain and they’re all dying.”

Berkshire, the conglomerate controlled by Warren Buffett, announced last month that it would sell off its newspaper holdings.

Seeing Red AZ has frequently written about the death spiral in which the Hillary-endorsing, open borders promoting Arizona Republic newspaper has placed itself. Most recently the local Gannett publication made the news as an albatross with this Phoenix Business Journal headline, “Analysis: Arizona Republic’s circulation decline among steepest for Gannett papers.” A success-based business model takes root in not routinely lobbing insult-laden spit wads at paying customers. This strategic concept is foreign to the failing newspaper that was originally known as the Arizona Republican, when it was founded in 1890. Today’s edition buries two pro-Trump articles on Page 6 of the USA Today insert. ($60M+ raised for Trump in January) and (Poll: 6 in 10 doing better, credit Trump).

Gannett has its own headaches as detailed in this Forbes Business report, Reasons Why Gannett Stock Has Yet To Find A Bottom.”

Dems impeachment double standard exposed

As the impeachment sham brandished by the Democrats against President Donald J. Trump nears its conclusion, it’s worth taking a short memory jog back through time to hear what the Democrats had to say during the Bill Clinton impeachment.  Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives on December 19, 1998 on grounds of perjury to a grand jury, suborning perjury and obstruction of justice as he lied about his ongoing romantic relationship with 22-year old White House intern Monica Lewinsky. President Clinton was 49 when it began.

 

President Donald Trump’s White House counsel Pat Cipollone showed this video of New York Democrats House manager Rep. Jerrold Nadler and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, among others, warning that if Clinton were impeached and removed from office, impeachment would become a political tool to remove a president with whom the opposing party disagrees. “You were right!” Cipollone declared at the end of the video montage.

Mollie Hemingway, a senior editor at The Federalist and Senior Journalism Fellow at Hillsdale College lists the “Top 8 Reasons Trump Already Won Impeachment.”

Chandler Unified School Dist. defends radical educrat

Public school district emblematic of why charter schools are top rated

This report is so outrageous, it made national news with Breitbart News carrying the details, “Arizona High School Teacher Accused of Associating Conservative Values with ‘Fascism’“

Radical left-wing indoctrination is alive and well in our taxpayer funded public schools.

A history teacher at Casteel High School in Queen Creek, Arizona, has been accused by students and parents of equating conservative values with fascism during a recent history class.

The unnamed female teacher emerges unscathed by the deceit and unconscionable historical revisionism she perpetrated by comparing Hitler to the modern-day Republican party.

The high school, which graduated its first class in 2019, allows this dishonest indoctrination to be propagandized to its students. Principal Jayson Phillips shows himself to be a weak administrator, giving a pass to the educrat.

U.S. News and World Report published its yearly list of top schools across the nation. Once again Arizona Charter Schools topped the list earning the Top Ten slots.

Arizona #REDSforEd public school teachers abandoned over 840,000 students statewide for nearly two weeks while following socialist Noah Karvelis, a 24-year-old unaccredited hip hop music teacher, as they went on strike in violation of their contractual agreements, demanding a 20% pay hike for their part-time jobs. They are now supporting a “tax the rich” socialist ballot scheme to receive ever more money for spewing radical indoctrination.

An important reminder: This is where the supposedly underpaid teachers choose to put their union dues money.* Be sure to scroll down to the ‘Party Split’ graph. 

Then take a moment to tune in to their longstanding agenda (brief video) clearly articulated as far back as 2009, that unequivocally spells out the views of the National Education Association regarding the children they are charged with educating. The words are spoken by Bob Chanin, the NEA legal counsel in a brief excerpt from his revealing retirement speech.

*Center for Responsive Politics

Ridiculous language distortions gain traction

…Begin with replacing the misused word “progressive” with the far more accurate,”repressive.”

Just weeks ago, we learned that Merriam-Webster declared ‘they’ its “2019 word of the year,” in a nod to gender neutrality and those who now consider themselves non-binary. Gender neutral, non-binary and transgender, words with which we had previously never had even a nodding acquaintance, have gained prominence in our celebrity-driven world. The compliant media follow like lapdogs and before long misused words dominate our language and are being described in detail and taught to our kids in school.

The dictionary company’s revelation preempted the American Psychological Association recognizing “they” as a singular third-person pronoun in its latest scholarly writing style guide. No kidding!

Language corruption and distorted meanings abound. Language, like sexuality, has lost its significance and has now veered off into the land of fluidity, where nothing means anything and venerable, known definitions have been co-opted.

Which brings us to the misuse of the word “progressive” when describing radical leftists. Progressive is a word that is embraced by those who rejected the word liberal in favor of sounding forward-thinking and cutting-edge.  What compounds the egregious trickery is that conservatives, likely in a foolish quest to sound contemporary, routinely use it. The correct usage appears in the first paragraph of this article, titled “Beware of phony conservatives.”

The dying Arizona Republic newspaper’s Sunday edition exemplifies the devaluation of definitions. In a three column report by wordsmith Daniel Gonzalez titled, “What we know about the latest caravan,” he used the words caravan and migrants interchangeably nearly four dozen times as he described Central Americans attempting passage through Mexico intending to invade the United States. He sought out a similarly agendized east coast Latina associate professor, who claims the timing is coordinated “to draw attention away from Trump’s impeachment trial and bolster support among his base during a presidential election year.”

This bonding to a flawed agenda that alienates educated readers signals the death knell for the failing newspaper. 

A much better description for leftists is “regressive,” which is exactly what they are. According to Merriam-Webster, regressive is in the bottom 40% in lookup popularity.  Let’s give it a rightful boost.

Dying AZ Republic: Charging more for less

The gravely dwindling number of subscribers to the Arizona Republic newspaper recently received a Machiavellian missive from Jason Guthrie, whose title following his undecipherable signature identified him as, ‘Senior Director Customer Service and Membership.’  No doubt it was an oversight that caused Jason to omit the most significant part of his job description: ‘Comedian.’

His letter begins:

“We know how much you appreciate receiving your subscription to the Arizona Republic and the enjoyable reading experience it provides you every day.”

Jason calls the unrelentingly biased anti-Trump coverage in the increasing leftist, Hillary-endorsing newspaper, and the continual advocacy for illegal alien invaders, “objective journalism.”

 He continues in a comedic vein:

“We are committed to providing you the daily printed reading experience you have enjoyed over the years, but we need your support. As of 2/1/2020, the rate for your subscription will be $35.67 per month (plus applicable taxes.) We promise to remain committed to serving your needs and keeping you informed every day with news you can trust.”

In the wake of massive cutbacks and layoffs, subpar ASU Cronkite school student interns working for a byline, sans offices and editors have replaced what were once known as journalists, who reported objectively. The Republic reliably regurgitates previous articles and consistently endorses Democrats. In 2018, it named Kyrsten Sinema “Arizonan of the Year.” Phil Boas, the anything-for-a-buck editorial page editor coordinated the relentless attacks resulting in the removal of his own father-in-law, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, from office after winning reelection to an unprecedented six four-year terms. Since Arpaio is running again, expect the hatchet job to begin anew.

The Sunday edition contained a section with a single report on wildfires, written by the part-time child welfare reporter who now works for a PR firm. It took up seven of eight pages, interspersed by hearing aid and erectile dysfunction ads aimed at its senior citizen demographic. Sports pages routinely outnumber news. Recirculated columns by a columnist who died in 2018 still appear. The no-news “paper” — which has shrunken in size and content — became an early cheerleader for homosexuality under the direction of Randy Lovely, beginning its steep decline in 2008. The AZ Republic became a homeless vagrant in 2019, just prior to being sold in a Gannett deal.

If you have been a loyal subscriber you receive continual rate hikes and a swift kick in the derrière. New subscribers get reduced rate deals that include daily delivery and digital content.

Facebook Republic reviewers are a dissatisfied lot, protesting ongoing price hikes, radically left partisan content, continuing auto-pay deductions after cancellations and lack of response to complaints.

In our post, The Suicidal Arizona Republic committed to its own demise, we offered a suggestion to staying afloat: “Commit to unbiased reporting and stop insulting subscribers. Once they’re gone, they’ll never return.”

Don’t hold your breath waiting for such a commitment.

#REDSforEd: Educrats push socialist political agenda

Teachers outpacing Dem politicians as the latest tools to turn red states blue

Arizonans were exposed to the unseemly underbelly of the unionized striking teachers’ walkout which left approximately 840,000 students abandoned for nearly two weeks just prior to the end of the 2018 school year. SRAZ extensively covered the union thugs abominable actions and 20% wage hike demands  — which they then decided wasn’t high enough for their part-time jobs.

In unison, the striking teachers donned red t-shirts emblazoned with #RedforEd and marched on the state capitol. Here at Seeing Red AZ, we dubbed their slogan #REDSforEd, in acknowledgment of the fact that, lemming-like, they were willingly led by a then-24-year-old Noah Karvelis, an eager Socialist Labor Party pawn and 2016 AZ Bernie Sanders campaign coordinator who had only a “provisional” teaching certificate having failed to complete the required history and government courses for certification. Still the teachers followed him as obediently as rats following the Piped Piper of Hamelin.

His mantra,“Teaching is political and silence is complicity,” is enough to send chills down the backs of any responsible parents. Arizona students are doing even worse on tests than their previously low scores. More than half who took the 2019 AzMERIT tests failed — for the FIFTH year in a row! This is the educrats’ highly touted program that measures what should be proficiency in student ability to comprehend basic math and reading skills. To conceal the unfathomable failure rate, they simply changed the test name to AzM2.

Sunday’s edition of Breitbart News, features an outstanding report by Michael Patrick Leahy titled, “#RedforEd Founder Promoting ‘Teacher Agency’ in Politics to Academia.” Be aware there is a major concerted effort within the education establishment to flip red or purple states into the leftist blue column. If you have children or grandchildren attending public schools, be sure to read it. Knowledge is power.

Teachers unions, (check out the “party split” graphic) funded to the tune of $millions by dues paying teachers are notoriously left-wing, almost exclusively supporting liberal candidates and causes.*

*Center for Responsive Politics

AZ Republic’s selective and skewed news reporting

The rapidly deteriorating, leftist skewed local newspaper remains committed to its own demise. Its slim edition pages are rife with regurgitated reports. Reliable fall backs include the 1976 car bombing of investigative reporter Don Bolles. Yes. It was shockingly gruesome, shaking placid Arizonans to their core — nearly a half century ago.

In the 1990’s Arizonans elected women to the top state offices: Gov. Jane Dee Hull, Secretary of State Betsey Bayless, Attorney General Janet Napolitano, Treasurer Carol Springer and Superintendent of Public Instruction Lisa Graham Keegan. Although there were RINOs and a radical leftist in the mix, they gained national attention making public appearances as Arizona’s “Fab Five.” Decades later, that remains a reliable front page rehash.

The Daily Regurgitation, devoted a week’s worth of front pages written by an, “Oh no, my hair is turning gray,” columnist detailing the tortuous saga of a child who was finally removed from her mother’s custody and adopted by a family who could nurture and provide for her. The druggie mother, who lived on the streets between bunking with a succession of men, spurned help and never showed for mandatory court appearances regarding her daughter. She was described as lacking money, but had painted fingernails and smoked cigarettes, while her young daughter went hungry. 

Nowhere on the anti-Trump Arizona Republic’s pages did you read this report or anything remotely resembling these facts. Expecting to be informed by the anorexic daily is a fool’s errand and a costly one, at that.

Whistleblower: Obama Administration Sent Letters to Soleimani

The Sunday January 12, 2020 edition’s full front page and two jump pages is devoted to a skewed report of old news by Daniel Gonzalez, titled, “Sign of the times” (showing then Gov. Jan Brewer signing SB 1070 into law) subtitled, “10 years after SB 1070, what has happened to the undocumented population in Arizona?” Omitted is the fact that illegal aliens who invade our country have no legal right to be here. They are neither undocumented nor migrants. Read Number 3 in our still popular 2008 post “Lingo”… a primer in reading Republicese.“

The actual title of Senate Bill 1070 is “Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act.”