Combs Spouts Off

While you’re at Radio Blogger reading or listening to the Mark Steyn interview from which I quoted earlier, you might want to check out a couple of other fascinating segments from this past week.

First, there’s Hugh’s interview with Robert Ferrigno, author of Prayers for the Assassin, a novel set in 2040 in the Islamic States of America. Sounds like a great read. I’m not familiar with Ferrigno, although this is his 9th novel. The previous 8 sound interesting, too — Elmore Leonardish, gritty, character-driven crime novels.

Check out the website for the new book, including Ferrigno’s blog and the very elaborate, well-done "news from 2036," RepublicWorldNews.com, featuring such stories as this:

HITE, Utah (RWN) – A Fedayeen assault force working its way along the Colorado River was ambushed by Mormon forces late Sunday night, in the worst attack of the war to restore the so-called nation of Deseret to the Islamic States.
…
The purpose of the attack was "to show that Mormon forces can protect Deseret at any time and place we wish to," said Col. John D. Young, the Nauvoo Legion’s press officer.
The Fedayeen assault element was inserted via vertical lift into the Green River basin near Gunnison Butte three weeks ago, Sharif said, to conduct "operations assessing the willingness of area residents to come to the one true calling."

Young disputed that claim in his communications, saying that the group, which the Legion had tracked since it was inserted, had been poisoning the cattle of local ranchers with a weaponized strain of BSE, more commonly known as mad-cow disease.

The Islamic States and the so-called nation of Deseret – formed by the state of Utah and a portion of southern Colorado – have been in a state of undeclared war since February 2016, when the heavily Mormon areas announced their secession from the Islamic States.

It has been a brutal guerilla war, out of much of the public’s eye, fought in lonely places through the Eastern Great Basin. Both sides have accused the others of atrocities and both sides have, at one time or another, claimed partial victory.

There’s also international news, sports, entertainment, fashion, health ("High-tech chador created for women prone to hot flashes"), ads for Jihad Cola ("for the warrior within") and Pilgrimage cereal ("Every crunchy bite contains pistachios from Arabia!") — it’s pretty cool.

Back at Radio Blogger, there’s another interview that’s quite entertaining in a very different way. Hugh Hewitt talked with Helen Thomas — until she hung up on him. If possible, you ought to listen to the audio, not just read it. It’s a hoot. I especially liked this part, during which Thomas has just the most incredulous tone:

HT: Who are you?

HH: I…

HT: Who am I talking to?

HH: Hugh Hewitt.

HT: Am I talking to a journalist?

HH: Yes. Yes, for a long time. I’m just curious about what’s gone wrong…

HT: Tell me about your career. What have you really done?

HH: Well, it’s not nearly as impressive as you.

HT: Where did…yes, it’s…it’s very important to me. Where did you work?

HH: PBS for ten years.

HT: PBS?

HH: Yes.

HT: Well, that’s a good credential.

HH: There you have it. See? I’m…

HT: But then you decided to switch over?

HH: To switch over to what?

HT: God knows what you are.

PBS is a good credential, but then he "switched over" — I love it.

Thomas got pretty feisty and defensive when Hewitt asked about her political leanings:

HH: Do you think that what makes you a journalist is the fact that you won’t tell people who you voted for?

HT: Did I say that? I told you that I was a straight, factual reporter for more than fifty years.

HH: And now you’re an opinion columnist.

HT: That’s right.

HH: And so now you can tell us who you voted for.

HT: And I don’t think it’s your business who I voted for.

HH: All right.

HT: And I don’t think you have the right to ask anybody that question.

HH: Why not? It’s a free press, isn’t it?

HT: Well, it’s not a fair question. It’s…

HH: You want to censor my questions?

HT: It’s a secret ballot.

HH: Of course. You don’t have to answer, but why should you censor my questions?

HT: Because you are looking for trouble, that’s why. You’re not asking legitimate questions. That has nothing to do with the current situation. That’s why.

…

HT: Why don’t you just act like a journalist and quit all this stuff, you know?

HH: Well, that would be to…you want me to join the guild.

HT: Why don’t you stick to the news and the facts?

HH: You want me to join the guild and just go along…

HT: Did I say that?

HH: Well, yes. You want me to ask the questions you’re comfortable being asked.

HT: Look, look. I’m a liberal. And I’m a columnist. And I wrote straight news, I told you, for fifty years. Get that in your head.

"Join the guild" is the perfect characterization — mainstream journalists think and act exactly like members of a medieval guild.

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