Welcome to your Wednesday open thread. Things are happening somewhere and we want to hear about them. Share your thoughts below.
Fox News – not intended to be factual.
The newest episode of Bloomberg TV’s Game Changers, slated for 9 p.m. ET Tuesday, profiles News Corp. Chairman Murdoch, whose media empire includes Fox News, and interviews several former News Corp. employees. Promotional material for the program quotes Chernin as saying of Fox News:
“There’s news on Fox News, which I happen to believe is very neutral and moderate and presented fairly. And then there’s the talk and opinion shows which no one ever pretends are news and factual. And Bill O’Reilly or Sean Hannity are clearly people on the right side of the spectrum but they are always presented as such.”
I don’t know, do they run a disclaimer? Both O’Reilly and Hannity take themselves pretty darn seriously. Chernin is wrong about the news portion as moderate and fair, but at least he recognizes he has a fiction-based primetime line-up.
An anonymous tipster sent us this story of one of Mike Castle’s legacy – $1B in unused $1 coins sitting in vaults at the U.S. Mint.
In 2005, Congress decided that a new series of dollar coins should be minted to engage the public. These coins would bear the likeness of every former president, starting with George Washington. There would be a new one every quarter. So, far, the Mint has produced coins through the 18th president, Ulysses S. Grant.
Members of Congress reasoned that a coin series that changed frequently and had educational appeal would make dollar coins more popular. The idea came from the successful program that put each of the 50 states on the backs of quarters.
But as the new presidential dollar coins rolled out, the greenback lost none of its dominance in Americans’ hearts and wallets.
If the mandate to make presidential coins wasn’t enough to generate a growing heap of unwanted coins, a political deal ensured that even more unwanted coins would be produced.
It was easier for the bill’s sponsor, then-Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE), to move the presidential coin bill forward if it didn’t displace other dollar coins honoring Sacagawea, the teenage Native American guide to Lewis and Clark.
The deal: The mint would be required to make a quota of Sacagawea coins. Currently, the law says 20 percent of dollar coins made must have Sacagawea on them.
I don’t know – it doesn’t sound like a bad idea. I used $1 and $2 coins frequently in Canada with no problem. The problem in the U.S. is that we still make the paper money – why would you switch? It’s a bizarre story, but it seems like something that would be easy to fix, if Washington Republicans were interested in fixing anything.