May 2025 - Page 6 of 7 - Ramblin' with Roger

FOTUS and the WHCA dinner

“not the enemy of the people”

I watched the White House Correspondents’ Association awards on C-SPAN. It took place on April 26, and I viewed it two days later. It occurred to me that FOTUS should have attended the WHCA dinner this year because he will likely never be so kindly treated in the next three years.

Here are some of the award winners:

OVERALL EXCELLENCE: Alex Thompson, Axios. “Thompson’s aggressive reporting on Biden, especially leading up to and after the Trump-Biden debate, revealed that the president’s cognitive decline was impacting his ability to do his job, information the White House tried to conceal.” Thompson said in his brief speech that he and his colleagues initially missed the story.

EXCELLENCE UNDER DEADLINE PRESSURE, print: Aamer Madhani and Zeke Miller, The Associated Press. “Madhani and Miller caught the White House press office trying to alter the official account of history — the White House transcript of Biden’s use of the word ‘garbage’ to describe supporters of Donald Trump. On deadline, Madhani and Miller captured the conflict between federal workers who document the president’s words for posterity and political appointees trying to protect their boss.”

EXCELLENCE UNDER DEADLINE PRESSURE, broadcast: Rachel Scott, ABC News. “Scott’s reporting in the chaotic aftermath of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump was unflappable and authoritative. When the Secret Service tried to clear the area, Scott stood her ground and provided confirmed verifiable facts as well as eye-witness accounts of the shooting amid the mayhem after the shooting.”

JRB, Jr.

EXCELLENCE BY VISUAL JOURNALISTS: Doug Mills, The New York Times. “A somber President Joe Biden — then wrestling with historic challenges, from international crises to domestic calls for him to end his re-election campaign — is centered in the image yet surrounded and visually almost overwhelmed by the physical infrastructure and historic weight of the White House.”

Examples of the reportage are included.

I’m sure FOTUS would have wallowed in the Biden administration being seen in a less-than-favorable light. The awards were announced at the beginning of April.

UNLESS FOTUS’ handlers were afraid he would make an unhinged fool of himself at the dinner, as he did in recent interviews. The one with ABC News’ Terry Moran – see the Daily Show segment – shows his ignorance about the Monroe Doctrine and the Declaration of Independence.

FOTUS told NBC News’ Kristen Welker ‘I don’t know’ when asked if he must uphold the Constitution. Naturally, Red State defends him: “Of course, the president’s answer was more nuanced than they imply, and he explicitly said he would adhere to rulings by the Supreme Court.” Nuance? But the specific question is simple because he swore to uphold said Constitution. TWICE.

In April 2026, they’ll be evaluating coverage of the 2025 White House. Instead of FOTUS, they showed clips of Presidents from Reagan to Biden. But not 45, who eschewed the event thrice, and the fourth year was COVID.

Not the enemy

White House Correspondent Association President Eugene Daniels spoke about the press, saying, “We journalists are a lot of things. We are competitive and pushy, we are impatient, and sometimes we think we know everything. But we’re also human. We miss our families and significant life moments in service to this job. We care deeply about accuracy and take seriously the heavy responsibility of being stewards of the public’s trust.

“What we are not is the opposition, what we are not is the enemy of the people, and what we are not is the enemy of the state.”

If you have a strong desire to watch the event, go here. Or you can spend $20.26 and view NOT The White House Correspondents’ Dinner, recorded the same day and available until June 30.

Where does the blog go?

repost

Where does the blog go? Some say, “I really like that piece” or “I don’t enjoy that post.” I’ve never thought my blog could be fairly represented in a given blog post or even a handful, but rather the body of work.

Somebody tells me that they like the music or hate the quiz; that’s fine, I shrug. I have zero capacity for writing to the audience, except when they Ask Roger Anything. I write what I need to write.

In Februarys in the recent past, I haven’t spent much time writing about Black History Month. But, oddly enough, even though I didn’t announce as such, I probably wrote more about the topic in 2025. It was, maybe subconsciously, a reaction to the reactionary anti-DEI nonsense.

In fact, I would just as soon never write about race or politics at all, a strange thing, I suppose, for a political science major. Unfortunately, politics define the allocation of precious resources. When the political leadership is… let’s say problematic… not saying something suggests my agreement with the status quo.

Process

I’d be in real trouble if I had to look at a blank screen without knowing what I was going for. This is why I tend to lean into events: my birthday, family birthdays, anniversaries, and major holidays. That’s about 20 posts each year.

I also tend to want to do a musical piece once a week. In 2025, I will write at least one post a month for the years ending in five in the 20th century. The R&B and country charts also started in the 1940s, and the adult contemporary chart in the ’60s. So that’s a total of 28 posts. Let’s add at least 4 Christmas music posts. I throw in a few Ask Roger Anything, plus linkage, and that’s another 28 posts. All I have to do is figure out what the other 285 will be: easy peasy, right?

I’m trying to figure out how to continue the blog. Certain posts I can write quicker than others, and I can free-associate on quizzes. The music pieces need links, and opinion pieces require links to verifiable sources.

One thing that occurred to me is that I will need to write shorter pieces and maybe even use some graphics, as The Post. This violates my self-imposed rule of at least 300 words, but I need more time to work on The Project.

I might want to make a few more deliberate attempts at having a repost of a couple of items each month or so. It’s not that I’ve never done a repost before. I reposted information about being in JEOPARDY and the derivation of the word lunaversary.

I always tackle Emmett Till quinquennially. The interesting thing about Emmett, whose death was 70 years ago this year, is that there’s always new information about the event or a greater understanding of how it played out.

I repeat myself when under stress.

There are a few pieces I want to, at least one in May, because when I first started blogging on the Blogger/blogspot platform, I didn’t know how to do pictures or graphics. Yeah, there was this software – I think it was called Picasa – and I followed the instructions, but could not get the images to work regularly. So a lot of my early posts don’t have graphics at all. I was also unaware of things such as SEO. I need page breaks and descriptors. The truth is that I don’t care much about that stuff, but it’s probably good blog hygiene, whatever that means.

Writing about the daughter has gotten a bit harder because I’m trying to figure out the line between telling an interesting story and her privacy. I desire not to embarrass her too much, but I have to bug her a little because it’s the joy of parenting. I had a lot of pictures of her early on, but I haven’t used a contemporary image of her for more than a decade.

The Prayer That God Hears

Against the conspiracy of cruelty

Clergy pray in the US Capitol rotunda as part of Moral Mondays. From left: Steve Swayne, Min. Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, Bishop William J. Barber II, Rev. Dr. Alvin O’Neal Jackson, and Rev. Dr. Hanna Broome.

Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove writes about The Prayer That God Hears: Below is the prayer Bishop Barber, Steve Swayne, Alvin O’Neal Jackson, Hanna Broome, and I were praying in the Capitol rotunda on Monday, April 28, when we were arrested. We invite you to share this prayer with others and join us wherever you are at noon this Monday.

Prayer for the US Congress

God, we are gathered beneath this dome of political power to pray that Your mercy, which sustains us all, will prevail to save us from an immoral budget that would destroy millions of lives.

Against the conspiracy of cruelty, we plead the power of Your mercy.

We have read the text of the prophet Isaiah, which says, “Woe unto those who legislate evil and rob the poor of their right, making women and children their prey.” We have also read the budget resolution of this Congress, which calls for $1.5 trillion in cuts to life-saving and life-sustaining programs in order to give a tax break to billionaires. To keep faith with our moral commitments, we must stand together and cry out to You:

Against the conspiracy of cruelty, we plead the power of Your mercy.

We have made promises to You and to our communities; among them is a promise to tell the truth, even when it is difficult. We have taught our communities that a lie destroys the fabric of trust which knits us all together. When we hear the Speaker of this House parrot a regime he aims to please by calling this ugly and immoral budget “one big, beautiful bill,” we recall the prophet Isaiah’s woe against those who call what is good, evil, and what is evil, good. And we pray for the leadership of this body.

Against the conspiracy of cruelty, we plead the power of Your mercy.

All of our religious traditions affirm care for the sick and the dying, but this budget proposes an $880 billion cut to Medicaid, which could result in 36 million Americans losing access to healthcare. As people who bury the dead in our communities, we refuse to go along with policy murder and say, “God called them home.” We cry out now and ask You to spare the lives of those this budget would kill.

Against the conspiracy of cruelty, we plead the power of Your mercy.

In the Christian tradition, You have said that nations will be judged by how we treat You in the hungry among us. But the proposed budget of this Congress threatens to take SNAP benefits away from tens of millions of our most vulnerable neighbors.

Against the conspiracy of cruelty, we plead the power of Your mercy.

We are here, O God, because we have heard the cries of your people who are already hard pressed and unable to meet their basic needs. We have also heard the confessions of people who suffer from the alienation that greed plants in the human soul. Deliver us, Lord, from the deceptive lie that says our nation will be better off if those who have little get less and those who have too much get more.

Against the conspiracy of cruelty, we plead the power of Your mercy.

God, we have too often confused ill-gotten gain with your blessings. We have praised success that came at a cost to the vulnerable and worshipped wealth built by taking from poor and working people. We have come to confess the ways we have been too quiet for too long while far too many suffered, and we repent of the ways we’ve allowed the language of symbols of our faiths to prop up abuses of power.

Against the conspiracy of cruelty, we plead the power of Your mercy.

In the mystery of Your might, interrupt us in this moment to re-order our priorities. More than half a century ago, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called for a radical revolution of values in our common life that would turn our attention toward Your concern for the least of these, the poor and downtrodden, the forgotten and rejected of our society. But we did not listen to Your prophet, God. We killed him. And we allowed people to use Your name and Your sacred gifts to us as justification for a religious nationalism that has pitted us against one another.

Against the conspiracy of cruelty, we plead the power of Your mercy.

Unite us, O God, in a movement focused on Your love, truth, and justice. Grant us wisdom to touch the pain of each and every American, and courage to embrace the bold policies that could genuinely address the inequalities in our society. Order our steps, O Lord. Order our steps with Your love, Your truth, and Your justice.

Against the conspiracy of cruelty, we plead the power of Your mercy.

We are here, crying out to you, O God, because we have heard the cries of Your people. We are also here because we know that You have heard their cries and called us to stand with the downtrodden, defend the oppressed, and care for the widow, the stranger, and the orphan. We have stood with Your people and we have seen the salvation that you can bring when the stones that the builder rejected become the chief cornerstones of Reconstruction.

Against the conspiracy of cruelty, we plead the power of Your mercy.

We come, God, as prisoners of hope, bound by the belief that You can make a way out of no way. As long as the details are still being worked out in committees, You can soften the hearts of representatives who refuse to hear from their constituents. As long as the final vote has not been cast, you can spare us from wholesale devastation by legislation. As long as the Constitution still exists, You can move us, the people, to work to establish justice and promote the general welfare. As long as you are on the throne, O God, You can super-rule over those who hold earthly authority.

Against the conspiracy of cruelty, we plead the power of Your mercy.

We pray this not only for the sake of those who will suffer most, but also for those who wrongfully believe that this immoral budget will benefit them. Teach us again, O God, how we are “from many, one” and that we cannot become the more perfect union You’ve called us to be unless we lift from the bottom so everyone can rise.

Amen.

Sunday Stealing — Time Travel

COVID phone calls

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. “Here, we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. “Here’s Time Travel.

“I can’t trace back where these were stolen from. So sue me.”

What were you doing …

1. Twenty years ago? This is shockingly easy because I just wrote about starting my blog two decades ago. I was still figuring out what the heck I was going to discuss. At my job at the NY SBDC, we will start a blog later in the month. I think I was working at 41 State St. That 7th-floor suite was the best office I’ve ever worked in. I loved that I had a door, yet I also had a window to look out onto the main space.

2. Ten years ago? I was involved in the ABC Wednesday meme, possibly running it, or being Mrs. Nesbitt’s lieutenant. The SBDC was in Corporate (frickin’) Woods, which I hated. I was getting allergy shots regularly. My daughter was opting out of the core curriculum test; her choice.

2020

3. Five years ago? This was the early days of COVID. My church, specifically my wife, the membership chair at the time, worked on this project where members would call other people from the church, letting them know we were thinking about them. I took the premise and started calling different people, some of whom I used to see and others I hadn’t talked to in several years. It was an exciting experience. “Roger called me out of the blue!” I started watching a few things online; it’s not my favorite way to see movies, but that was what was available. I applied to work on the 2020 census, which I would do in July through September.

4. One year ago? Nothing unusual. Find speakers for the Friends and Foundation of the Albany Public Library talks on Tuesdays, and sing in the choir.

5. Yesterday? I went to Earthworld for Free Comic Book Day. The choir sang at the very emotional funeral of Christy Harris D’Ambrosio, then went to the gathering afterwards. I watched the replay of the Kentucky Derby.

Bonus! What will you do tomorrow? I’m going to find out whether I strained my left Achilles tendon or tore it.

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2025 Inductees

Wrecking Crew

The 2025 inductees to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame were announced recently. The ones I voted for on the fan ballots are marked *

The selections: Bad Company* (Bad Company)

Chubby Checker (Let’s Twist Again)

Joe Cocker* (You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away); I wrote about him here. Billy Joel and Paul McCartney Supported the Late British Singer, who was Inducted into the Rock Hall.

Cyndi Lauper* (She Bop); I wrote about her here

Outkast (B.O.B.) (Bombs Over Baghdad)

Soundgarden (Rusty Cage)

The White Stripes* (The Denial Twist)

I’m mildly disappointed that Joy Division/New Order* didn’t make it. The Black Crowes* will probably get there eventually. I was a bit surprised that Phish’s substantial popular vote did not net them induction.

Frankly, I started voting for Maná* because they were doing SO poorly in the fan vote. A day before the polls closed, this was the count:

Phish 325,407
Bad Company 276,938
Billy Idol 256,998
Cyndi Lauper 233,808
Joe Cocker 230,393
Soundgarden 229,987
Chubby Checker 200,395
The Black Crowes 163,292
Mariah Carey 136,663
Joy Division + New Order 118,261
The White Stripes 109,218
Outkast 106,659
Oasis 98,257
Maná 34,184

In addition

Selected in the musical influence category were Salt-N-Pepa (Expression) and Warren Zevon (The Envoy); I’ve been touting Zevon for YEARS. “Among his high-profile supporters was Billy Joel, who wrote a letter to the hall’s nominating committee urging them to consider Zevon, who became eligible for induction in 1994 but had never made the ballot” until 2023.

In the musical excellence category were: Producer/arranger/songwriter/musician Thom Bell (I’ll Be Around by the Spinners) – I wrote about him here.

A “hero of the piano,” Nicky Hopkins (Jeff Beck’s Beck’s Bolero);

Pioneering bassist Carol Kaye (The Beat Goes On by Sonny and Cher), “who shaped the sound of modern music .” It’s about time another member of the Wrecking Crew got in.I wrote about her here.

The Ahmet Ertegun Award went to Lenny Waronker, who “is celebrated for his artist-first philosophy and transformative leadership. As head of A&R and later president at Warner Bros., he championed creative freedom for artists, forging an environment where musicians could innovate free from the confines of commercial pressure.” Later, he cofounded DreamWorks Records.

I’m still waiting for Estelle Axton to be inducted.