Autumn J. 🦋

Grew up in ND; IT career in San Francisco; retired; 5 yrs in ATX. 33 yrs on @TheWell. Boglehead. @ouzel on bsky.

[Dylan Byers @DylanByers]

New statement from Scott Pelley:

There has never been anything in America like 60 Minutes.

The Sunday tradition is the most successful program of any kind in history. For more than a decade, its innovative growth on every major online platform has extended its reach to countless millions around the world. This spring, at the end of our 58thseason, 60 Minutes grew rapidly with an unheard-of 9% jump in viewers on CBS.

“60” has been the number-one program in America for decades because our beloved audience finds integrity, quality, and humanity in our stories. When stewardship of the program passed to my colleagues and me, our responsibility was to expand energetically into a new age of media technology while preserving the values our audience expects. Now, the new owner of our network is casting this legend aside, apparently to curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration.

The waste is heartbreaking.

Last month, 60 Minutes lost its DNA when our entire senior leadership and two of our best on-air correspondents were cruelly fired without cause. Good people were silenced because they stood up for our audience. They stood for fairness against the forces of political bias; they stood for professionalism against chaos.

For my part, new management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story. I’ve been told to include assertions that are unverified. To date, in every case, I have managed to ignore these instructions or refuse them. Recently, politicians have been invited to choose correspondents for interviews on the broadcast. Giving politicians control over 60 Minutes interviews is not how this is done. Finally, incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management have wreaked havoc. In a case involving one of my stories, the entire program came within 19 minutes of not getting on the air at all.

At 60 Minutes, we have fought harder than anyone knows to save the program that became an American icon. We owed that to our millions of viewers. I am deeply moved by the thousands of wishes we have received to “keep up the good fight.” Most of the men and women of CBS News are still in that fight. But now the collapse of values at the top has become untenable. The leadership of 60 Minutes is no longer recognizable. The principles I hold dear are gone, and so I must leave as well.

I depart after 37 years at CBS with one emotion—a heart brimming with gratitude for the men and women of CBS News who encouraged and enriched my work, very often at the risk of their own lives. I pray for a day when those people and their ideals are honored again—a day when sanity, competence, and courage return.

Scott Pelley

[Autumn J. 🦋 @ouzel]

@petitegal62 @SilkeOgLiva When I wake every morning around 4am, I open a news app on my phone, hoping...

[James Talarico @jamestalarico]

Ken Paxton is throwing everything he has at us.

He’s called me a radical leftist. He’s called me a fake Christian. He’s even called me a vegan!

I’m an 8th generation Texan — I've been eating BBQ since before Ken Paxton’s first indictment.

[Autumn J. 🦋 @ouzel]

@theasscat I'm having trouble believing anyone in public life would be arrogant and stupid enough to do those things post the MeToo movement. If this means a Republican becomes governor of California... 🤬

[Autumn J. 🦋 @ouzel]

@katienotopoulos I got the same email and I feel the same way. I've tried two or three of the touch screen kindles over the years and I hate them.

[Brendan Keefe - Atlanta News First @BrendanKeefe]

TSA is largely funded by a tax on every ticket. It adds $5.60 to every one-way ticket & $11.20 to roundtrips. Everyone in line right now is already paying the TSA fee, even for free reward travel. The government has previously diverted that money to the Treasury. Pay the agents.

[Autumn J. 🦋 @ouzel]

@mattyglesias Bull! She's always been like this.

[Autumn J. 🦋 @ouzel]

@BeschlossDC This is why my mother refused to join the DAR. She never forgave them.

[Autumn J. 🦋 @ouzel]

@DisabledDoctor After trying several different types and brands, I settled on Powecoms years ago and am still using them.

[WeRateDogs @dog_rates]

we need to talk about that Ring Super Bowl ad

[Autumn J. 🦋 @ouzel]

@BeschlossDC It made me feel happy and hopeful.

[Autumn J. 🦋 @ouzel]

@randal_olson I look at Wirecutter too, but more often than not the comments below the article are more useful than Wirecutter's recommendations.

[Autumn J. 🦋 @ouzel]

@JenniferJJacobs Please use the correct name: The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. "The Kennedy Center."

[Autumn J. 🦋 @ouzel]

@BitchestheCat Happy Sport Pepper Tuesday! 😻

[Autumn J. 🦋 @ouzel]

@theasscat Me too. I can't believe it!

[Autumn J. 🦋 @ouzel]

@theasscat That was my first thought!

[Autumn J. 🦋 @ouzel]

@AmyMcGrathKY No.

[Autumn J. 🦋 @ouzel]

@AdelitaForAZ I'm so glad you were finally sworn in.

[Autumn J. 🦋 @ouzel]

@theasscat Oh no. I'm so sorry.

[Autumn J. 🦋 @ouzel]

@covie_93 She's happy about the demolition because it means she won't have to pretend to decorate for Christmas. Remember those blood red trees her staff put up one year?