SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT

GETTING TRULY WOKE – FROM FOX:  Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced Wednesday that she plans to add 170 police officers to the city’s force amid rising violence and several high profile shootings in the city.  "Right now, I have directed MPD to use any overtime necessary to meet our public safety demands," the Democratic mayor wrote in a statement. The statement noted that Bowser plans to hire 170 additional Metropolitan Police Department officers by 2022.  "But we know that is not a complete solution or the right long-term solution. We also know we need all of our officers to be fresh, rested, and in the best position to make good decisions – and that requires having a full force to meet all of our community’s needs."  Bowser added, "The department is in a good position to make additional hires and move swiftly to close the gap between attrition and hiring, and that’s what this plan is going to help us do."  Bowser is a vocal supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement, which has pushed for defunding the police in favor of community policing and funding social justice organizations.  The defunders are learning their lessons, aren't they?  Defund the police and look what happens.  But the leftist hardliners have learned nothing, and don't intend to change that.  For them, the ideology beats reality every time. 

THE POOR DEARS – FROM FOX:   NBC’s primetime coverage of the Tokyo Olympics continued to spiral downward on Monday, averaging 14.7 million viewers for a 49 percent drop compared to the equivalent night from the 2016 Rio de Janeiro games.  Monday’s telecast also shed 53 percent of viewers from coverage of the first weeknight primetime during the 2012 London Olympics and declines were even larger among the advertiser-coveted demographic of adults aged 18-49.  Variety senior TV editor Brian Steinberg wrote that the drop has spurred "advertiser anxiety" which hasn’t been eased by the news that legendary American gymnast Simone Biles withdrew from team competition and fan favorite Naomi Osaka was eliminated from tennis medal competition.  Steinberg quoted a media buying executive who said the early viewership "clearly are not what NBC, our agency or our clients were looking for" from costly investment.  "This executive said early viewership trends were ‘disappointing,’" Steinberg wrote.  The opening ceremony, delayed a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, drew 16.7 million viewers for NBC on Friday, the smallest audience for the network broadcast since the 1988 Seoul Games. NBC presumably hoped its multi-billion dollar investment would pick up as the games proceeded, but primetime coverage on Saturday and Sunday also was disappointing.  NBC averaged 12.6 million viewers on Saturday night, a 39 percent drop compared to the first Saturday of the 2016 Olympics and a 56 percent drop compared to the 2012 London games. Maybe more sports talk and less politics would help.  Maybe commercials that don't lecture us about who we are would also help.  Sports as a category in life is losing favor because it's losing its fun. 

July 28, 2021