{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"The Paul Truesdell Podcast","title":"The Wall Street Journal's Dirty Little Secret","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":614,"description":" The Wall Street Journal's Dirty Little SecretLet me be perfectly clear about something. I rarely read comment sections. Life is too short, and my time is too valuable.But this morning, I made an exception.The Wall Street Journal ran a piece about President Trump. He likes a particular brand of dress shoes. He buys them out of his own pocket and gives them to people. As gifts. Because he's generous and he found something he likes. I personally favor Stacy Adams — good fit, fine construction — and I own most of the brands mentioned in the article. So I read it. It was a pleasant, harmless little piece showing the human side of a man the media has spent nearly a decade trying to dehumanize.Now here is where it gets interesting.You need to understand something about how the Wall Street Journal manages its comment sections — because there is a pattern, and it is not subtle once you see it. Not every article at the Journal allows comments. Many do not. But the ones that *do* allow comments? Pay attention. The articles that tend to attract comment sections are the ones that *mock* President Trump, *criticize* President Trump, or otherwise provide red meat for the Trump Derangement Syndrome crowd. And that crowd shows up. Every time. Reliably. Like clockwork. Low-brow, mean-spirited, factually hollow commentary that adds absolutely nothing to what was once one of the most respected financial publications in the world.Here is what I have done in the past. I have called those people out. Not with insults. Not with profanity. With facts. With plain spoken, professional observations about the quality of their commentary and their contribution — or rather, their spectacular *lack* of contribution — to serious public discourse.And I have been throttled for it.My comments don't appear anymore. Not because they are derogatory. Not because they are mean. Because they are *factual*, *direct*, and *insufficiently hostile to the President of the United States*. That, apparently, is...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/115-XsjkdwCpJ99xv-8oZ76t6jr8ScWEC5MYSKzL0ig/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS82MTUx/OWRiNTc0NTk0Y2Nk/M2VjYTliMGVhN2Zm/YTZkZi5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}