The Buzz Nov 16 2024: An exodus from Twitter. MSNBC ratings crater.…

The Buzz Nov 16 2024: An exodus from Twitter. MSNBC ratings crater. Trump’s picks.

Welcome to Saturday morning and welcome to The Buzz.

The year was 2009 and I was sitting in a television anchor booth outside Buckingham Palace. I was doing the live commentary on the wedding of “Will and Kate”, and I was enjoying the broadcast (in other words, having a bit of fun) in a way regular daily news often doesn’t allow you.

At one point, when I’d handed off to one of our street-level journalists, the floor director turned to me and said, “Hey Peter, you’re trending on Twitter!” At that time, I barely knew what Twitter was, let alone what it meant to be trending on Twitter. Apparently, some of my comments were seen as funny and, as a result, were making the rounds. Anyway, the bottom line was I joined Twitter that day and for years, with careful usage, I found it informative and entertaining. It’s been hard to find it that way for the past few years, so I’ve considerably toned down my time on Twitter.

Apparently, I’m not alone - especially since Elon Musk bought the social media giant and even more since Musk helped guide Donald Trump back to the White House using Twitter almost hourly through the final weeks of the campaign to push the Trump agenda. The statistics show people are bailing out of Twitter at a significant rate. I haven’t yet, but I’m testing out Threads again and I’ve been checking out Bluesky as well.

According to NBC News, the exodus from Twitter is setting new records.

Here’s what they have to say:

X sees largest user exodus since Elon Musk takeover Read >

Speaking of cratering attitudes, have you noticed the anxious looks on news personalities at CNN and MSNBC lately?

Probably not, because if you are like a lot of other people who were watching before November 5, you’re not watching anymore. As a result, there’s already talk of slashed salaries, fewer jobs, and changed programming. Not so at Fox, where their hosts are smiling, some are even sliding into Trump’s new cabinet:

MSNBC Ratings Crater As Viewers Tune Out Trump Victory Coverage Read >

So, what’s the word on how Ottawa is getting ready for the new Trump administration as it reshapes Washington?

They’ve certainly hit the ground running. In 2016 it took Trump weeks and in some cases months to figure out who to put in his cabinet. Not this time as he’s been slotting some choices, including some surprising ones, into their roles within days of the vote count. One person who sees danger ahead is the Globe’s Andrew Coyne, and as always, he doesn’t mince words:

🔒Canada is far from ready for the chaos coming our way Read >

We dealt with some of this on Good Talk this week with Chantal Hebert and Bruce Anderson. It’s the usual spirited conversation that makes Good Talk the number one Canadian political podcast on the Apple podcast charts. You can find the YouTube version by following the link at nationalnewswatch.com

A moment ago, I called some of Trump’s choices for his cabinet “surprising.”

That’s an understatement as Alexander Panetta writes in yet another of his smart and sharp pieces for CBC

Trump drops a cabinet-level clusterbomb with Gaetz, Gabbard as latest picks Read >

If you’re looking for the hard numbers on what happened on US election night, this CNN piece seems to cover it all.

Election 2024: Presidential results Read >

Trust the Telegraph in the UK to find the sex angle to these post-US election days (and nights).

It’s the retribution angle, but not the one Trump had in mind when he threatened “retribution” during the campaign. Gregor Stuart Hunter dug into the facts and figures for this in the Telegraph just the other day:

Why feminists in the US are shunning marriage, sex and children after Trump’s win Read >

Are you looking for something new to worry about? Something less consequential, more fun than fearful?

How about this: Who should replace Daniel Craig as the next James Bond? Now, there’s a first-world problem for you. Mind you, I was having lunch last year with one of the heirs to the Bond author Ian Flemming legacy (yes, that was a name drop if you weren’t sure) and I asked him. “No decision yet” was his immediate answer, but he didn’t think they would go in the direction of a female Bond as some of the rumours at the time were suggesting.

That brings me to this week’s Guardian, which keeps the replacement chatter going

James Bond: next actor will be in his 30s and ‘whiteness is not a given’ Read >

Do you remember when office computers and laptops became the thing?

It didn’t take long for some health specialists to say it would be better for us to be standing at our desks rather than sitting. And that started a “thing” in the way we approached desks and also in the kind of equipment and furniture we used at our desks.

So, guess what? That’s right. Standing is now considered bad:

Standing desks may be bad for your health, new research finds Read >

How about lying down?

That’s The Buzz for this week. We’ll be back in seven days.

The Buzz is a weekly publication from National Newswatch that shares insights and commentary on the week’s developments in politics, news and current affairs.