The Crackpot Conspiracy Theory That Got Fox News To Support A Democrat

Posted by on April 2, 2015 at 1:44 pm. 1 Comments :

Predicting the political biases of Fox News has never required a crystal ball or a gifted clairvoyant. Their devoted support of Republicans has earned them recognition as the PR division of the GOP. So what would have to occur to persuade Fox News to speak approvingly of a Democrat?

The events surrounding the indictment of New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez for corruption provide a rare look into the prerequisites for Fox News to stray from their Republican partiality. The specific factors that would drive Fox to defy their nature and support a Democrat become glaringly obvious in the light of the Menendez affair.

Fox News Menendez

First and foremost, the opportunity to disparage President Obama is a temptation too great for Fox News to resist. Therefore, by spinning this indictment as an assault on a senator who has been critical of the President, Fox can accuse Obama of engaging in a distasteful display of political retaliation. This argument goes that the White House applied pressure to the Department of Justice to file the charges in order to punish Menendez for opposing the President on his policies regarding Cuba and Iran.

The only thing wrong with this conspiracy theory is – everything. The investigation of Menendez began years ago, long before the Cuban and Iranian issues were ever on the table. Obama would have had to know in advance that Menendez was going to defy him on these issues in the future, which even Obama’s harshest opponents would not suggest he could do. What’s more, there was no indication that Menendez would ever be a thorn in Obama’s agenda given that he has always been a loyal Democrat who voted with his party and the President 97% of the time. That places him as the thirteenth most reliable Democrat, above party stalwarts like Barbara Boxer and Harry Reid.

The notion that Obama would sabotage the career of such a loyal ally is especially absurd considering that, should he be convicted and forced to resign from the Senate where Democrats are already in the minority, New Jersey’s Republican governor, Chris Christie, would be in a position to name his replacement. So this theory requires the assumption that Obama would trade a solidly Democratic senator who voted for most of his legacy initiatives (ObamaCare, the Dream Act, disapproval of KeystoneXL, repeal of DOMA, etc.) for a Christie-appointed Republican. The only people who would buy that are still looking for the film studio in New Mexico where the moon landing was faked – and Fox News viewers.

It is not coincidental that Fox has chosen this controversial senator to hitch their wagon to. Republicans are notoriously forgiving of politicians accused of corruption. They regarded the charges against, and conviction of, former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell to be politically motivated as well. They supported the candidacy of New York congressman Michael Grimm while he was facing 22 felony counts (He was convicted after winning reelection). And three of the GOP’s current batch of governors considering 2016 presidential campaigns (Chris Christie, Scott Walker, and Rick Perry) have active investigations against them in progress. From their perspective, Menendez is just their kind of guy.

Note that this affinity for scandal-plagued pols is only valid if the scandal is related to financial malfeasance. When Menendez was accused of sexual misconduct by Tucker Carlson’s Daily Caller (among other right-wing rags), Fox News and their Republican allies were quick to condemn him. However, they failed to apologize after learning that the charges stemmed from “witnesses” who were paid to lie. Some accounts charged that the payments came from people connected to the Daily Caller. In addition to the media sources who jumped on this faux scandal, the Republican National Committee also took it up with a rather offensive anti-Menendez campaign.

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Finally, it goes without saying that if the DOJ had not indicted Menendez, Fox News would be throwing a tantrum over what they would call a travesty of justice engineered by a lawless White House trying to protect one of their own. So, as usual, Fox has constructed a lose-lose scenario for the President. But anyone approaching this with a sliver of functioning grey matter would see the ludicrous assumptions that would have to be made in order to believe the Fox spin. Luckily for Fox News, their audience would flunk the “sliver of functioning grey matter” test.

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On Fox News Opponents Of Indiana’s Pro-Discrimination Law Are ‘Jihadis Who Will Crush You’

Posted by on April 1, 2015 at 6:13 pm. 4 Comments :

There has been a lot of rancorous debate in the past few days over the so-called “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” recently signed into law by Indiana governor Mike Pence. Critics of the law have argued that it essentially legalizes discrimination against the LGBT community. That argument is affirmed by the fact that lobbyists who are openly hostile to marriage equality and other gay rights were among those present at the signing of the bill.

Supporters of the bill insist that there is no intent to discriminate against anyone, however, they are unable explain the purpose of the bill as anything other than a legal defense for discriminating. The twisted justifications they deploy have become more absurd as the controversy continues. And yesterday on Fox News, Tucker Carlson went farther than any of his fellow bigots by deeming the law’s opponents to be “nauseating” and adding that…

“We’ve always made exceptions for religious minorities. Quakers can become conscientious objectors. So you have a country where religious minorities get to choose which wars they fight in, but not whether to serve cupcakes at a wedding that would violate their religious principles? That’s insane.”

Analogizing this to conscientious objectors stretches the bounds of reason. When someone declines to participate in war due to prohibition by his religion he is not imposing his beliefs on anyone or denying anyone the equal protection of the law. He is merely seeking an accommodation for himself. The businesses that want to deny service to people because they don’t approve of them are inherently discriminatory and their behavior directly impacts the targets of their prejudice. But Carlson wasn’t through being insulting and ignorant. He continued to make this appalling declaration:

“These are absolutists, these are jihadis, people who want to make you obey, that don’t brook any opposition to their world view at all. They will crush you.”

Fox News

So now if you are advocating for your civil rights you are, in Carlson’s view, in the same league as terrorists who murder their foes. While that assertion is unforgivably offensive, it is also
painfully illogical. Carlson has evoked a role reversal in the debate in that those seeking equality are not the ones demanding ideological obedience. It is the law’s supporters who are forcing their beliefs on anyone who does not conform to their principles. Providing a service that is available to the public does not require one to accept the principles of the customer. However, by denying that service you are putting the customer in a second-class status. It was not that long ago that bigots used the same religious arguments to deny service to African-Americans, Jews, Latinos, etc.

Gov. Pence was widely ridiculed, even by conservatives, for his inability to answer a simple question as to whether his bill would make discrimination possible. And subsequent to that outing, he now says that the whole affair is a media smear job, even as he seeks to have the law “clarified” by new language that has yet to be disclosed. But the debate on Fox News has already descended to depths that have not been seen since the days when a Southern governor blocked the doors of a public school to black students.

In those days there were also lynchings and bombings of churches in the name of religion. But today it is the civil rights activists who are being maligned as terrorists for merely standing up for their rights. And it isn’t just some whacked-out fringe assembly of bigots making these assertions. It’s the most-watched cable news network in the country. Thank you Fox News, for revealing the true nature of yourselves, your audience and the bigotry you all embrace.

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Ready For Bibi: Republican Leaders Trying To Draft Netanyahu For President In 2016

Posted by on April 1, 2015 at 11:25 am. 6 Comments :

The presidential electoral season is rapidly heating up with candidates for both sides jockeying for position. Most of the activity is on the Republican side as the Democrats have not yet fielded a candidate that is seriously challenging Hillary Clinton.

The list of Republican hopefuls is long and comical, including such farces as Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, and Ben Carson. Those considered “establishment” contenders like Jeb Bush and Lindsey Graham have been rejected outright by the Tea Party base. Consequently, there is a sucking vacuum of emptiness in the GOP that threatens to sink their 2016 aspirations before they even get started.

Given the lack of any candidates that can unite the party and generate the energy and passion necessary to win next November, the GOP is casting a wider net in search of a more palatable offering. The consensus among insiders in the party is that Israels’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu best fits the bill to fire up a demoralized GOP that has lost two straight elections to a black guy.

Netanyahu GOP

That makes the recent travels of Republican leaders to Israel a more significant news story than previously disclosed. Mitch McConnell, the GOP chieftain in the Senate was there last week and huddled with Netanyahu, taking his side against President Obama regarding the sensitive negotiations over Iran’s nuclear arms capabilities. Next up is John Boehner, the GOP Speaker of the House, who is also scheduled to fluff Netanyahu during a trip to the holy land. These trips, it turns out, were not solely excursions to attempt to embarrass Obama on an international stage. Sources in the GOP have revealed that they were arranged to recruit Netanyahu as the next Republican nominee for president of the United States.

While there would be some obstacles to a Netanyahu candidacy, there are also some distinct advantages from the Republican perspective. Netanyahu is a war hawk who gives American conservatives goose bumps when he talks about escalating hostilities in the already volatile region. He has demonstrated a total inability to manage his nation’s economy, which should also excite Republicans who have made that their trademark in the United States. And best of all, he hates President Obama with a passion that comes very close to that of the Tea Party right in America.

The question of his citizenship is expected to be buried in a campaign that emphasizes his strong personal character that has the divine power to overcome trivialities like constitutional law. Republicans are planning to flood the media with arguments of equivalency to Obama’s Kenyan nativity and even to Ted Cruz’s birth in Canada to a Cuban lieutenant of Fidel Castro.

The religious right has long been one of the most powerful and loyal constituencies in the GOP. Their influence in this can also be felt as they regard a Netanyahu presidency as a prelude to the End Times that they so fervently await. They see his ascendancy as a path to war in the Middle East and eventually to the Apocalypse.

Fox News is also on board as the network of Christian soldiers who believe that a return to the Crusades would benefit both their political goals and their ratings. With a roster heavily weighted by devout Catholics, they are the closest thing in media to a Vatican PR office. The Fox faithful include: Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, Megyn Kelly, Bret Baier, Bill Hemmer, Brian Kilmeade, Andrew Napolitano, Jeanine Pirro, Laura Ingraham, Dennis Kucinich, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, and Father Morris. Rupert Murdoch, the CEO of Fox News parent News Corp was himself inducted into the “Knights of the Order of Saint Gregory the Great” by Pope John Paul II. And if that isn’t enough, the current Senior Communications Adviser in the Vatican’s Secretariat of State, Greg Burke, was previously the Fox News correspondent covering the Vatican, a position he held for ten years.

No timetable has been set as to when Netanyahu would announce his candidacy. However, there doesn’t seem to be any hurry as their is only one announced candidate to date (Ted Cruz) and no one is taking him seriously. The first debate (on Fox News, of course) isn’t scheduled until August. That gives Netanyahu time to settle his affairs in Israel and make several trips to Iowa and New Hampshire. Historically, campaign announcements have not been made on or around April 1st for the obvious reason: That it is simply too early in the cycle.

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White Supremacists And Fox News Join To Suppress Academic Freedom

Posted by on March 31, 2015 at 11:01 am. 5 Comments :

The cable “news” network that is number one with racists has become a partner with some of the most vile white supremacist organizations in a campaign to intimidate and malign a college professor in Arizona. Fox News was the first national media outlet to condemn a course at Arizona State University called “U.S. Race Theory & the Problem of Whiteness,” and their hostility has inspired a crusade of bigotry.

Fox News

The course itself is a non-controversial exploration of race and the privileges of the majority. It is not, as Fox News characterizes it, an attack on white Americans. Part of the purpose of college is to get an expanded perspective of the world and to challenge preconceptions. However, Fox attacked this class based on nothing more than its name. They did no investigation into the actual curriculum. Having been alerted to the issue by an extremist right-wing organization, Fox’s Elisabeth Hasselbeck led the outcry by stating on Fox & Friends that the class was “unfair and wrong.” She provided no support for her criticisms.

Subsequent to the “reporting” on Fox, the professor involved became the target of an organized campaign of hate. USA Today reports that…

“According to university records recently obtained by The Arizona Republic, assistant professor Lee Bebout has received dozens of hostile and hate-filled e-mails about the class, and Tempe police say the instructor suffered harassment when fliers were distributed on campus and in Bebout’s neighborhood with ‘Anti-White’ printed over a photo of Bebout, who is white.”

Beginning on the day the segment aired on Fox, Bebout began receiving hate mail and threats that contained overtly violent rhetoric. For instance, one letter said “I look forward to your suicide,” and another wrote “I’d enjoy seeing you swing from a light pole.” The fliers were labeled “National Youth Front,” which describes itself as a “youth organization dedicated to the preservation of all White people.” Further escalating the imminent risk of harm, Bebout’s photo was posted on white supremacist websites along with those of his family, his contact information and other personal details.

Hasselbeck’s segment on Fox & Friends featured an interview with Lauren Clark, an ASU student who did not enroll in the class. Clark is also a representative of a group called Campus Reform, whose mission is to expose liberal “bias and abuse on the nation’s college campuses.” It is a project of the ultra-rightist Leadership Institute (LI). Other alumni of LI include Karl Rove and James O’Keefe. Their funding comes from a narrow cabal of conservatives including the Heritage Foundation and the Koch brothers.

Clark alleged that the course was inappropriate because it “suggests an entire race is the problem.” How she came to that conclusion without taking the class, or ever talking to the professor, can be easily explained by her obvious ideological prejudices. In truth, the class is described by the university in a statement that says that it…

“…uses literature and rhetoric to look at how stories shape people’s understandings and experiences of race. It encourages students to examine how people talk about — or avoid talking about — race in the contemporary United States.”

This is precisely the sort of discourse that enriches the academic experience and benefits students. But Fox News distorted it to turn it into a racial controversy. They did this without the slightest bit of research or factual basis. They supported their false assertions with the help of a representative from an openly biased organization who was equally uninformed as to the facts. And the result was a campaign of threats and intimidation aimed at the Arizona school and the teacher by national white supremacists.

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This was a foreseeable series of events thanks to Fox News and their openly bigoted agenda. It was something that could easily have been avoided with a little research. But Fox never conducted an investigation, never sought to get a response from the school or Prof. Bebout, and never disclosed the biases of their Koch brothers-funded guest. In short, they did none of things that an actual journalistic enterprise would do. Is anyone surprised?


Born A Crime: Trevor Noah To Succeed Jon Stewart As Host Of The Daily Show

Posted by on March 30, 2015 at 1:11 pm. 1 Comments :

In an announcement confirming recent speculation, South African comedian Trevor Noah has been named as the successor to Jon Stewart. After sixteen years of entertaining and thought provoking comedy, Stewart will be stepping down later this year, leaving a gaping hole in the world of political satire just as the 2016 presidential cycle is warming up.

Trevor Noah

The selection of Noah came as a surprise to many who regard him as an untested novice who cannot possibly fill Stewart’s shoes. That assessment comes from ignorance because a little research reveals that Noah is an accomplished performer who sells out shows around the world and has even hosted his own late night program in South Africa. He is also a smart observer of culture and politics who speaks several languages.

Some critics are pointing out that Noah has only appeared on the Daily Show three times. However, that is not a prerequisite for becoming host. Jon Stewart had never appeared on the Daily Show prior to his selection as host. Yet he leap-frogged a correspondent already working there named Stephen Colbert.

Noah’s personal journey holds promise for a unique perspective on American politics and media. He jokes that he was “born a crime,” which is actually no joke. His mother was a black South African and his father a white man from Switzerland. Under the racist Apartheid regime it was literally against the law for them get married and have children. Nevertheless, Noah transcended the harsh realities of his youth in Soweto to become a successful entertainer. No doubt America’s mush-brained birthers will note the parallels with Kenyan-born Barack Obama’s mixed-race heritage.

The future of the Daily Show is still in doubt. There have been rumors circulating that Comedy Central wants to take the program in a less political direction. That would be huge mistake from a business perspective because they would be abandoning a large and loyal audience that Stewart spent sixteen years building. But worse, it would be huge loss for the state of satire on television. There are few other places where it is available in such quantity and quality.

The selection of Noah suggests that the network may intend to maintain the current theme of the show. And Noah has praised the current production staff, which hopefully signals an intention to retain the writers and producers that have contributed so much to the show’s success.

After the departure of Colbert, Comedy Central made an inspired choice to give the timeslot to Larry Wilmore. Unfortunately, they delivered a program that doesn’t have the energy and edginess of its predecessor. Replacing an expertly scripted and rehearsed comedy program with one that is mostly a panel of talking heads could not possibly live up to the iconic stature of the Colbert Report. [More on that here]

Reaction to Noah’s selection has been mostly positive, citing his youth and international outlook as assets that could expand the audience and make it relevant to a new generation. Ironically, those are the same qualities that some critics are citing as drawbacks. In a hilarious critique by the cretins at Breitbart News, editor-in-chief Joel Pollack complains that Noah will be limited by “his specialty in racial and ethnic humor,” and that the new show “probably won’t last more than six months on the air.” But the Breitbrats have been trash-talking the Daily Show for years. So it comes as no surprise that Pollak would compose this bit of dumbfuckery:

“The reason Stewart is funny–even, at times to conservatives–is that he has a deep understanding of American politics, and especially American media, even if his ideological blinders prevent him from understanding every issue. That is not something a crack team of writers can produce on demand for any host, much less one from overseas, even for a fast learner like Noah.”

As usual Pollak’s brain is AWOL. Never mind his first-ever admissions that Stewart is funny and “has a deep understanding of American politics,” Pollak’s own ideological blinders have prevented him from recalling that John Oliver, another overseas alien invader, adroitly filled-in for Stewart for three months in 2013, and went on to achieve his own success at HBO.

You do not need to be born in America to understand American politics and media. Pollak, of all people, should know this as someone who was born in South Africa. Now he runs an American political media website and has the nerve to presume that another South African is unable to grasp the same subjects.

If Noah brings half the wit and charm that Oliver did, the next generation Daily Show has a good chance of matching and surpassing the program’s historic appeal. And as the video below shows, Noah has a pretty good handle on the wit and charm stuff.

News Corpse Presents: The ALL NEW 2nd volume of
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.


Gays vs. Nazis: In The Battle Of Offensive Comparisons Fox News Gasses The Competition

Posted by on March 29, 2015 at 8:50 pm. 6 Comments :

The ever-increasing hostility that has become the hallmark of cable news programming was ramped up this week by the undisputed heavyweight champion of rancorous hyperbole, Fox News.

The debate over Indiana’s new “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” set the scene for a bruising battle that ultimately escalated to a point that most partisans would regard as out of bounds. The legislation allows businesses to openly engage in bigotry against gays or any other party not afforded protected status under the law. Under federal law those parties include race, color, religion, creed, ethnicity, ancestry, national origin, sexual orientation, marital status, military or veteran status, age and disability (See clarification in comments below). The reasons these groups are included is that they have been victims of systemic discrimination, which the law endeavors to remedy.

However, the state of Indiana’s list of groups protected from discrimination is not as comprehensive and notably does not include sexual orientation. Consequently, it opens the door to legal prejudice. A battle royale on this subject took place Friday on Fox’s Real Story with Gretchen Carlson, where right-wing radio talker Mike Gallagher went for the knockout punch by asking “Would we force a Jewish sign maker to make swastikas?”

Fox News

So Fox News is now comparing gays to Nazis. And who would ever object to a business owner wanting to be able to deny service to a such a reprehensible piece of human scum. The Nazi, that is. But the takeaway from the comparison is that a proprietor would be within his rights to have the same view of doing business with a gay patron.

This is wrong on so many levels. Let’s set aside the unfortunate fact that many bigots actually do hate gays and want no part of their business. It’s the legal aspect of this argument that is absurd. Gays are protected from discrimination in federal law, and businesses have obligations when they are licensed to provide services to the public. This debate should have been settled decades ago when it was decided that bigots could not refuse to let customers in a restaurant sit at their counters.

Nazis, on the other hand, have no such protection under the law and thus, no Jewish (or any other) establishment would be required to provide services to them. So the comparison is not only offensive, it is legally without merit. It is only raised by weasels who cannot form coherent arguments to support their advocacy of prejudice. Alan Colmes made a valiant effort to rebut Gallagher’s pro-hate tirade, but Fox makes the rules on their network so Carlson gets to tamp down reason with lies about there being other similar laws already on the record. (They are not similar and not nearly as broad).

This is just another example of how low conservatives will sink to protect what they regard as their right to be bigots. They shamelessly exploit emotionally unsettling scenarios that have no actual relevance to the subject. This not only taints the debate at hand, it insults and trivializes those who were victimized by the Nazis and are still being targeted by their modern day descendants. And leave it to Fox News to bring it all to us in heap of vitriolic acrimony while leaving out any relevant context.

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In The Church Of Fox News A Telephone Pole Is A Sign From God

Posted by on March 28, 2015 at 10:00 am. 3 Comments :

For the faithful, God is not just omnipresent, his visage is manifest in all things no matter how trivial. It is that devotion to holy encounters that has resulted in believers finding the Almighty in everything from toast to tacos.

The knowledge that the Lord is present everywhere and in everything must be comforting to those who require the assurance that their heavenly master is always watching over them. However, there ought to be limits to the imagination of these disciples. Not every vague profile of a man with a beard, visible when squinting at an old brick, is a manifestation of Jesus. Likewise, not every perpendicular arrangement of french fries or the twisted wreckage of a demolished building represents the cross of the crucifixion.

That is, unless you are a five year old child, a glassy-eyed devotee, or a Fox News host.

Fox News

The picture above was featured on Friday morning’s broadcast of Fox & Friends. It was taken by a teenager in Moore, Oklahoma, who spotted the miracle following a devastating tornado. The Curvy Couch Potatoes at Fox then posted it to their Facebook page and reported that it went viral. They viewed it as a sign of hope following a catastrophic natural disaster that proved that, in spite of the tragedy, “God is with us.”

For some reason, when people of faith find insignificant trivialities like this they manage to assign some positive spiritual meaning to it. Something as common and trifling as a telephone pole becomes an unmistakable symbol of God’s benevolence and protection. You have to wonder why they never seem to associate the negative occurrence (e.g. a tornado) with the Lord’s work, even though there were hundreds of cross-like telephone poles throughout the city that was just flattened, presumably with God’s knowledge. Apparently, in their view, God had nothing to do with the tornado. but he hoisted a broken telephone pole up so that his children could see he was keeping them safe. At least the ones that didn’t get killed or had their homes destroyed.

The only reasonable message that can be derived from this photo is that local communications are going to be interrupted for some period of time. Maybe it’s God telling you to use your cell phone or the Internet to let your loved ones know you’re OK.

Or worse, maybe it’s a message from Satan. Maybe the Devil is taunting the victims of the tornado by showing them that their Savior is powerless to help them. How else would you interpret a broken cross dangling in the air with no foundation? And maybe Satan is using his minions at Fox to spread this fearsome message. Did you ever notice the numerical significance of “FOX?”

F = 6
O = 15 = 6
X = 24 = 6

That’s right. FOX = 666. The self-described “most powerful name in news” is literally branded with the mark of the beast. Is that where they derive their power? If you’re looking for spiritual messages, you better consider the source. In truth, people determined to find hidden meanings (I’m looking at you, Glenn Beck) can find pretty much anything they want with a little imagination. Following 9/11, Christian zealots were certain they found a cross in the rubble of the World Trade Center. Never mind that every structural component of the tower’s architecture was in the form of a cross. It would have been a miracle if there weren’t any cross-shaped pieces of debris. Yet with literally millions of embedded crosses, the towers still came down snuffing out some 3,000 lives.

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But don’t try to convince these cultists that the signs they see all around them are anything but signs of hope. After all, if they can see Jesus in the ass of a dog, they are not about to have their faith shaken by the likes of you and your “reason.” Especially when they have Fox “News” devoting its airtime to stories that pay tribute to preposterous figments of the imagination.

Fox has indeed completed the transformation to full fledged televangelism. In addition to nonsense like the telephone pole miracle, they openly advocate on behalf of Christians, whom they believe are an oppressed majority. They characterize blatantly bigoted legislation, like that just passed in Indiana, as religious liberty. They promote prayer in school and the use of the Bible as the basis for law, in violation of the constitutional separation of church and state. And they engage in the annual idiocy of their imaginary War on Christmas.

The editorial policy at Fox is stridently pro-Christian to the detriment of any other faith or the absence of it. They have a roster of openly pious Christian activists like Todd Starnes and Kelly Wright. So don’t be too surprised when Pat Robertson signs on to host his own primetime hour of worship, or Jesus & Friends premiers on Sunday morning with Fox’s resident pastor (and GOP presidential hopeful) Mike Huckabee.


Jon Stewart Warns That Watching Fox News Will Indelibly Burn Your Soul

Posted by on March 27, 2015 at 4:57 am. 7 Comments :

The least humble network in cable news is whining (again) about not getting credit for something that they think they got right. It’s a rather embarrassing display of pretentious Narcissism that plays perfectly into the hands of the Daily Show’s Jon Stewart.

Jon Stewart Fox News

Sparking the smackdown was Fox’s Megyn Kelly, who insisted that she, Sean Hannity, and others at Fox had correctly refused to accept the rallying cry of protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, “Hands up. Don’t Shoot.” Her immodest appeal for applause came after a Department of Justice report finding that there was not sufficient evidence to charge Officer Darren Wilson with violating the civil rights of Michael Brown, the unarmed teenager Wilson fatally shot.

This set Stewart off on a hilarious rant (video below) about how Fox is constantly exalting themselves. He conceded Kelly’s argument that she was unjustly denied the acclaim she deserves for the three times in ten years that she was allegedly right. He further points out that, like a solar eclipse, “You can’t look directly at Fox. It will indelibly burn your soul.”

However, most of Stewart’s wit was aimed at how taken Fox News is with itself. There is an hysterical montage of Foxies congratulating themselves and even thanking God that they exist. Stewart observes that this magnitude of self love is aptly analogous to Fox’s relative immaturity.

“I get it now. You’re network launched in 1996. You’re 18 years old. And just like every other 18 year old, you have a massive ego and spend 24 hours a day jerking yourself off.”

While Stewart was typically brilliant comedically, he was overly generous in acquiescing to Kelly’s demand to be praised for the accuracy of her journalism. In fact, the DOJ report also found that the Ferguson police department had engaged in a “pattern and practice” of racism for many years. It was that conduct that produced the sort of suffering and grievances that the citizens of Ferguson were protesting. It went far beyond the sloganeering that Fox was so anxious to focus on. And Fox virtually ignored the part of the DOJ report that exposed the systemic racism in Ferguson.

So Kelly was not right and deserved no recognition for anything but her repeated misrepresentations. Nevertheless, Stewart once again created an entertaining and enlightening segment that sadly reminds us that he will not be doing it for much longer. So enjoy it now, while you can.

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Glenn Beck ‘Made A Little List’ For Bill O’Reilly Explaining Why He Left The Republican Party

Posted by on March 26, 2015 at 12:45 pm. 1 Comments :

Last week Glenn Beck made an announcement that generated an overly prodigious amount of media attention. He said that he was done with the Republican Party, elaborating that…

“I have made my decision. I am out. I am not a Republican. I will not give a dime to the Republican party. I am out. I highly recommend run from the Republican party. They are not good.”

And that Republicans…

“…have the spine of a worm, the ethics of whores, and the integrity of pirates.”

Glenn Beck

Since then, Beck has gone to war with Karl Rove and other GOP apologists. But he also praised some notable GOP worms, whores, and pirates. He virtually endorsed Ted Cruz for president, while maintaining that his mind is still open to Rand Paul and Scott Walker. All three are Republicans. He expressed surprise that his public resignation from the party created such a stir since he has said the same thing for years. That’s true, but if so then why did he say it again in the present tense and with such a flair as if it was a new revelation? It wouldn’t have been for the media attention, would it?

This week Beck visited his old pal Bill O’Reilly to explain his departure from the Worm Party. O’Reilly was convinced that Republicans were doing what they had to do in order to win elections (i.e. whores). But Beck wouldn’t have any of that. He had prepared a list of the grievances he holds for the Grand Old Pirates. Here is that list:

  • They surrendered on the abortion bill.
  • Surrendered on executive orders on illegal immigration.
  • Common Core.
  • They helped push through 3.5 trillion dollars of deficits this last year.
  • They won’t fight ObamaCare.
  • They voted to confirm Cass Sunstein.
  • They thwarted the bill on the NSA data collection.
  • They’re still not doing anything on Benghazi.
  • They haven’t done anything on the targeting of conservatives by the IRS.
  • They haven’t done anything on the V.A.
  • They also threw an election against Chris McDaniel to Thad Cochran. They actually went to the Democrats and played the race card.

That list is a steaming heap of wingnut dementia. Let’s explore its contents.

Beck doesn’t say what abortion bill was surrendered, but I defy anyone to identify an anti-abortion bill that Republicans didn’t support 100%. The only recent issue is a bill on sex trafficking into which Republicans slipped some anti-abortion language without telling Democrats. So Democrats have held up the bill, but Republicans are still standing firm. So contrary to Beck’s assertion, there is no surrender.

On immigration and executive orders Beck seems to think that Speaker Boehner’s unprecedented lawsuit against the administration is tantamount to surrender. Likewise, holding up the confirmation vote for Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch doesn’t convince Beck that the GOP is serious about opposing the President on this.

Beck’s inclusion of Common Core in this list merely reveals his utter ignorance of the issue. Common Core is an initiative launched and implemented by local and state education officials. The federal government has nothing to do with it and there is no law to oppose. It is an entirely voluntary project.

They won’t fight ObamaCare? Apparently more than 50 votes to repeal or cripple the law doesn’t qualify as fighting it.

Cass Sunstein is a favorite foil for Beck. He has called Sunstein “the most dangerous man in the world.” Only Beck can explain what drives that obsession, however, most Republicans in Congress voted not to confirm him for his position as administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (from which he resigned two and a half years ago). Only five Republicans voted for him and had they not, Sunstein would still have had enough votes for confirmation.

Benghazi? Really? They’re still not doing anything on Benghazi? Hundreds of hearings, subpoenas, and a media assault that has made the word a sad cliche to represent delusional overreaction, and Beck still thinks that they have done nothing?

On the IRS and the Veterans Administration – see Benghazi. And google Darrell Issa.

The list item that Beck saved for last concerned an election in Mississippi where a Tea Party candidate that Beck supported was defeated by an incumbent Republican in the primary. Beck is still holding a grudge over his candidate losing, even though McDaniels pretty much threw the election himself by participating in a scandalous invasion of privacy that his campaign executed wherein they sneaked into a nursing home to take pictures of Cochran’s ailing wife.

In short, Beck’s list of reasons for leaving the Republican Party are mostly a result of his clinical dementia. For the most part Republicans have been pursuing everything that Beck would have them pursue. The fact that they are getting nowhere is only due to there being no there there. If Beck had any better method of achieving his goals, or any better evidence of wrongdoing, then why hasn’t he presented it?

News Corpse Presents: The ALL NEW 2nd volume of
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

The only thing Beck has to offer is his hysterical conspiracy theories and his determination to glorify himself. He has all the credibility of a snake oil salesman turned revival show evangelist. And the fact that Fox News continues to give him a platform to spew his psychotic ramblings is just more proof that Fox is a network that has nothing to do with news.


In New Video James O’Keefe Exposes Himself – As A Lying Scumbag

Posted by on March 25, 2015 at 4:43 pm. 7 Comments :

Just last week James O’Keefe was revealed to have plotted an elaborated scheme to incite violence against police officers and blame it on peaceful protesters. His associate in the affair withdrew on moral grounds, so O’Keefe fired him. Now he is subject to a possible wrongful termination lawsuit and the flurry of bad publicity that results from orchestrating a despicable act of provocation that might have gotten someone killed.

Fox News James O'Keefe

On the heels of that embarrassment, O’Keefe has rushed out another of his video atrocities wherein he attempts to defame unsuspecting victims by deceiving them and later editing the video to misrepresent what actually occurred. Perhaps he is hoping to shift attention from the ethical failings currently burying him.

In this episode (video below) O’Keefe sent his flunky to Cornell University to pretend to be a prospective student with questions about campus activities. The premise in this charade is that the flunky supposedly got Joseph Scaffido, an Assistant Dean of Student Activities, to agree that visits by Middle East terrorists and care packages to be sent to ISIS would be acceptable to the school administration. However, as with all of O’Keefe’s deceitful projects, what he delivers is hardly credible evidence of anything untoward.

The first notable contradiction in the video is that O’Keefe repeatedly claims that the flunky was inquiring about starting a “pro-ISIS” club at Cornell, however, at no time did the flunky ever say the word “ISIS.” He would refer only to helping Islamic state freedom fighters. If the Assistant Dean did not pay close attention it would be easy to presume that the phony student was merely interested in helping people who are victims of a tragic civil war.

What’s more, the flunky never said the word “terrorist,” instead referring only to freedom fighters. Since the days of Ronald Reagan that phrase has been interpreted to mean heroic citizens seeking to overthrow a tyrannical dictator. So once again, if that was Scaffido’s understanding, his response would not be the least bit controversial.

The controversy enters with O’Keefe’s narration that inserts the words “ISIS” and “terrorist” in place of what was actually said. Then O’Keefe slanders Scaffido by concluding that he is pro-ISIS and that Cornell welcomes terrorists to its campus. This overt dishonesty occurs from the opening seconds of the video and continues throughout. For example, here are the questions that O’Keefe claims were asked, followed by Scaffido’s answers and then the actual questions in parentheses:

O’Keefe: What if you wanted to start a pro-ISIS club at an American Ivy League university?
Scaffido: There are a lot of our student organizations that do things like that.
[Actual question: I think it would be important to maybe just probably educate, but to maybe send [distressed communities humanitarian] care packages whether it be food, water, electronics.]

O’Keefe: Would the Assistant Dean of Students have a problem with the humanitarian clubs sending care packages to terrorists?
Scaffido: That’s a good question that. And I think programs like that really do have a good place here at Cornell.
[Actual question: Maybe we could bring a freedom fighter to speak. That would be possible? That would be great. Just to hear the situation, what it’s like their lives and why they are fighting. I mean, do we know why they’re fighting?]

The problem that is apparent is that Scaffido’s answers above were not in response to the actual questions asked. And O’Keefe’s own video supplies the proof that he is being deliberately deceptive. If you re-read the actual questions and then the answers you can see just how amoral O’Keefe’s editing tactics are.

Scaffido may at worst be guilty of being somewhat inattentive because he was not expecting an impostor to visit him with intent to commit journalistic fraud. What he conveyed in his responses was a healthy respect for academic freedom and tolerance for diversity. Those are qualities that O’Keefe and his rightist cohorts detest. Already this lame video has been promoted by conservative news outlets like Hot Air, The Daily Caller, and of course, Fox News.

It is highly unlikely that Scaffido was opening the doors of the school to terrorists. O’Keefe surely knows that, but he is more interested in spreading his lies than producing anything that resembles real journalism. The notion that Cornell is recruiting terrorist students and speakers is so utterly idiotic that you have to question the mental status of anyone who would believe it.

The sad consequence of this is that everybody must be on their guard for ridiculous stunts like this lest they be dragged in and smeared by unscrupulous jerkwads like O’Keefe. And the fact that O’Keefe is too stupid to avoid exposing his own deceit doesn’t make his despicable antics any more palatable.

News Corpse Presents: The ALL NEW 2nd volume of
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

UPDATE: Cornell University president David Skorton has responded in a statement condemning O’Keefe’s “smear” job saying in part that…

“Project Veritas, the organization behind this shoddy piece of “journalism” has been repeatedly vilified for dishonest, deceitful activity.”

UPDATE II: O’Keefe put another video attempting to smear a Catholic college in Florida as pro-ISIS. It suffers from the same flaws as the Cornell video. And now O’Keefe has even been smacked down by the conservative Weekly Standard for his smarmy antics.