Media Bias

Trump Towering Inferno? National Enquirer Attacks President’s Attorney Michael Cohen

Posted by on April 29, 2018 at 2:37 pm. 1 Comments :

Everyday there are more indications that Donald Trump’s shoddily constructed shelter from the scandals enshrouding him is collapsing. His closest allies are abandoning him and his administration, or are being cast out by him unceremoniously. Trump ends up being protected by incompetents with the same set of sleazy principles that he embraces.

Donald Trump, National Enquirer

After the raid of the home and offices of Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal attorney, the President set out to distance himself from his long-time friend and lawyer. He told the hosts of Fox and Friends that “Michael is a businessman, he’s got a business. He also practices law.” Continuing he said that prosecutors are “looking at something having to do with his business. I have nothing to do with his business.” And when asked by Steve Doocy what percentage of his legal work is handled by Cohen, Trump said it’s “a tiny, tiny, little fraction.”

That description of their relationship amounts to trump throwing Cohen under a freight train. Cohen’s lawyers had just argued in court that Trump was one of his primary clients, along with Sean Hannity. But Trump is calling him a liar. Hannity also called that a lie. These characters are purposefully fleeing from any suggestion that they are connected to Cohen. And the reasons have to do with what is expected to be uncovered in the items collected in the raid.

Now another prominent friend of Trump is bravely running away. The National Enquirer is a gossipy tabloid whose chairman, David Pecker, is a close friend of the President. It has reliably boosted Trump on its front page, and attacked his political foes. However, the headline on the latest issue is joining in the rapidly escalating disavowals of Cohen. It reads: “Trump Fixer’s Secrets and Lies!” The article says that:

Cohen “is under the spotlight, as scandals swirl around his boss, and some are questioning Cohen’s role, alleging blackmail, threats, hush-money payoffs – and even collusion with Russia. The president is in the hot seat because of his lawyer.”

Indeed he is. And he knows it. There is speculation that Cohen is likely to “flip” on Trump and tell the feds every little dirty detail that he knows. And having been the President’s consigliere for at least a decade, he knows a lot.

For the National Enquirer to publish such a damning story about a Trump ally is an astonishing turn of events. This is, after all, the magazine that paid former Playmate, and Trump mistress, Karen McDougal $150,000 for a story that they never published. That’s a tactic known as “catch and kill” that is used to bury negative news so that no other publisher can report it. Recent headlines from the Enquirer include fawning praise for Trump and brutal attacks on his enemies. For instance:

  • How I’m Cleaning Up Obama’s Mess
  • The Donald Trump Nobody Knows
  • Trump Takes Charge
  • FBI Plot To Impeach Trump
  • Obama’s Secret Plot To Impeach Trump
  • Trump Must Build The Wall
  • Proof Obama Wiretapped Trump
  • Trump Must Be Prez
  • Hillary: Six Months To Live
  • Hillary Framed Trump Family
  • Hillary Caught In Sex Scandal Cover Up
  • Hillary Going To Jail

So now the Enquirer is piling on Michael Cohen. This coincides with Trump’s blatant distancing himself from Cohen and nearly pretending that he hardly knows him. Trump is preparing for Cohen’s rumored intention to turn state’s evidence. He even posted a Twitter rant that implied that if Cohen sings, he will be lying. Trump said that “Most people will flip if the Government lets them out of trouble, even if it means lying or making up stories.”

It appears rather likely that Cohen is going to turn on Trump and his pals at the Enquirer are helping to discredit him before his testimony is revealed. And seeing as how the paper has been such a dedicated Trump-fluffing comrade, it’s inconceivable that the Enquirer would have published a story like this without Trump’s knowledge and approval. Therefore, the ground must be shifting under both Cohen and Trump. And a legal earthquake may be about to shake things up. Stay tuned.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Psycho Trump Goes on Fox and Friends to Prove Conclusively that Fox News is State-Run TV

Posted by on April 26, 2018 at 2:02 pm. 7 Comments :

In the past fifteen months Donald Trump has provided abundant evidence that he is an unqualified fruitcake with crackpot tendencies. His mental health has been plausibly questioned by professionals in the psychiatric field. Much of that evidence came straight from his speeches and the few interviews he has given to friendly media. But on Thursday morning on Fox News he really outdid himself.

Fox and Friends

Trump was actually returning to his roots with a call-in interview on Fox and Friends, Prior to seeking the presidency Trump had a regular spot on the program called “Mondays with Trump.” So with this homecoming he should have been expected to feel comfortable with the “Curvy Couch” potatoes who helped launch his political career. The problem is that he may have felt too comfortable.

This was not so much an interview as a half hour of unbridled lunacy, with Trump lashing out at every perceived enemy that came to mind. He blasted Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, James Comey, the Justice Department, Democrats, the Mueller investigation, and, of course, the “fake” news. If he were a transient on a downtown corner spouting off like this he would have been picked up and taken to the nearest psyche ward. It was an unprecedented and frightening spectacle.

The entire segment is worth watching if you have a strong stomach. In parts he admitted to previous lies, like how long he was Russia. He also contradicted a prior statement about his knowledge of Michael Cohen’s hush money payout to Stormy Daniels. In fact, pretty much played the “Michael who?” card by saying that the man who has been his personal attorney for years did very little legal work for him. It took federal prosecutors just a couple of hours for that statement to become testimony in pending litigation. And Daniels’ attorney, Michael Avenatti, reacted gleefully to the interview by saying that “I think the President should appear on Fox and Friends every morning.”

Perhaps the loopiest part of this unhinged departure from sanity was when Trump went on an extended rant against the media. It was a sight to behold. Equal parts hostility toward legitimate journalists and unswerving devotion to Fox News. This is incontrovertible proof that Trump and Fox have sworn a blood oath of loyalty (video below):

Trump: The people have to understand how dishonest the news is. And in all fairness to Fox, you guys don’t always treat me great. But you treat me fairly. It’s not like Fox is perfect for me. They’re not. They’re tough. But at least it’s fair. When you look at some of the others, you look at CNN, they’ll have a council of seven people, and of the seven people, every one of them is against me. I’m saying where do they even find these people?
Kilmeade: I’m not your doctor Mr. President, but I would recommend you watch less of them.
Trump: I don’t watch them at all.
Doocy: That makes it easy.

Trump thinks that Fox News is tough on him? No wonder he won’t be interviewed by anyone else. He’s frozen with fear of real questions that would require intelligence and thoughtful analysis to answer. That’s why he has not had a solo press conference in over a year. And he hasn’t given an interview to an unfriendly network in nearly as long.

It’s startling that he thinks that CNN’s political panels are all anti-Trumpers. Apparently he missed the sycophantic stylings of Jason Miller, Paris Dennard, Jack Kingston, Kayleigh McEnany, Ken Cuccinelli, Mike Shields, Ben Ferguson, etc. I’m also saying “Where do they even find these people.” And it’s cute that Brian Kilmeade suggests that Trump watch less of CNN and, presumably, more of Fox. But Trump seems to be way ahead of him. However, his assertion that he doesn’t watch CNN at all flies in the face of his own comments.

Trump: I watched last night, I tell you why. I watched leakin’, lyin’, Comey last night, and I hated to do it. You know, one of the reasons people say “You’re still lookin’ good, Mr. President. How do you do it?” Well, one of the things I’ve been able to do, which is something I never thought I had the ability – I would always watch – when I was – frankly now I don’t have time for two reasons: There’s too much, and I don’t have time.

Who is telling Trump that he looks good? That’s just cruel. But it’s interesting that Trump has two reasons that he doesn’t have time to watch CNN, and one of them is that he doesn’t have time.

Trump: But I would watch, whether it’s good or bad, I would always watch. I have an ability – I don’t watch NBC anymore. They’re as bad as CNN. I don’t – and by the way, I made them a fortune with The Apprentice. Think of that one.
Doocy: Your alma mater.
Trump: No, but I made them a fortune. You would think that these guys would treat me great. I made them a fortune, so they treat me horribly. And they treat me falsely.

Trump seems to believe that if the entertainment division of a media corporation earns money from his program, the news division is obligated to report only positive stories. Like everything else in Trump’s life, he thinks he can just buy the kind of coverage he wants. And the Fox News hosts didn’t disagree with him.

Trump: But just one thing, I don’t watch things that I can put it out of my mind. And I never, ever thought that that would be possible. And you know what that does? It keeps you on the ball. It keeps you – you keep your sanity. And it works very well. But last night I did watch a liar, leaker and his performance, by the way, was horrible.

Somewhere in this word salad of Trumpian blathering he thinks he represents a sane man simply observing the media. Or not doing so, as he is now insisting. He even expects people to believe that he can put negative news out of his mind. And if this interview is supposed to be an example of that, he really is out of his mind.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Fox News Chugs Trump Kool-Aid: ‘The Only Way Forward is to Unify Behind His Agenda’

Posted by on April 24, 2018 at 4:30 pm. 2 Comments :

The cable “news” network that has distinguished itself as the most fawning propagandist of the Era of Trump is without contest Fox News. It’s programming and personalities are shamelessly sycophantic, disgorging White House propaganda 24/7. Sean Hannity is even being referred to as Trump’s “shadow” chief-of-staff. That’s when he isn’t being associated with alleged criminal activity and real estate fraud. But perhaps the most the beleaguered host on Fox News currently is Laura Ingraham. After attacking a teenage survivor of the Parkland school shooting, Ingraham has lost most of her advertisers and is hanging on to her job by the sheer stubbornness of the network bosses.

Fox News, Laura Ingraham

In response to the controversy, Ingraham is ramping up her idolatry of Trump. Since she isn’t earning the network any money, she may believe that pouring on some adoration of the President will help fortify her position. So on Monday night Ingraham took a hard right and lashed out at Republicans who she thinks aren’t sufficiently deferential to Trump. While the rest of the Fox roster is already hammering their usual Democratic targets, Ingraham is focusing on corralling the GOP herd into strict obedience to Dear Leader. That mentality leads to segments with soliloquies like this one (video below):

“When will they learn? More than a year into Donald Trump’s first term, you’d think that all the Republicans would understand that the only way forward is to unify behind his agenda. It’s resonating with the American people. It’s bringing international foes to the negotiating table. And it’s having a positive impact on the economy. But some Republicans cannot help but lend aid and comfort to the President’s political enemies.

“So as Trump slowly but surely begins to remake the GOP to be more responsive to working class Americans, the globalist wing of the party is still in total denial. And the old guard resistance to Trump – of course, big shocker – is being amplified by a media machine that’s been trying to take him down ever since he first came down that golden escalator.”

You hear that Republicans? Get in line and stop thinking independently and representing your constituents. Your only duty is to follow the approved doctrine of the Trumpiate Politburo or keep your mouths shut if you can’t pledge unyielding loyalty.

Ingraham’s call for blind fidelity to Trump is the sort of demand that is generally made by entrenched dictators. She is advocating a perverse brand of patriotism that flows through this administration. Just yesterday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders offered her version of this faith-based Trumpism by asserting that total dedication to Trump is synonymous with patriotism. She said that “Democrats have to decide whether they love this country more than they hate this President.” In Sander’s view people can’t simultaneously oppose Trump and love America. In reality, people oppose Trump “because” they love America.

In addition to Ingraham’s command for compliance, she offered some reasons to persuade the supplicants. But each one was more ludicrous than the one before it. Trump’s agenda is absolutely not resonating with the American people. He is the most unpopular president in modern times. His policies are soundly rejected by wide majorities of voters. That’s why most political analysts are predicting a “Blue Wave” at the polls in November. Ingraham’s assertion that Trump is bringing international foes to the negotiating table is a fantasy. His administration has not achieved a single foreign policy goal in over fourteen months. And her praise for the economy is striking on a day that the markets suffered a huge drop, and the Dow presently sits over 2,000 points below it’s high.

These are not the metrics of a successful presidency that everyone should rally around. They are warnings of political catastrophe. A week ago Trump boastfully tweeted his standings in the rabidly biased Rasmussen poll:

Not surprisingly, he hasn’t said anything since. In just the past week his approval rating has declined three points to forty-eight percent, with fifty percent disapproving. And his “strongly disapprove” numbers have been higher than his “strongly approve” numbers throughout his presidency, with the exception of a few days in the first month. And remember, this is according the right-wing pollsters at Rasmussen. Given the reality of Trump’s dreadful and despised tenure, asking people to unify behind him is like asking people to board the Titanic after it hit the iceberg. But that’s Ingraham’s position, and God bless her, she’s sticking to it.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Trump Invites His Boss (Fox News CEO Rupert Murdoch) to State Dinner with Macron

Posted by on April 24, 2018 at 2:01 pm. 2 Comments :

Tuesday evening at the White House, Donald Trump will host his first state dinner. The guest of honor will be French President Emmanuel Macron. The rest of the guest list is apparently a state secret because the White House is refusing to release it in advance. However, the identity of one notable guest has been uncovered, and it shouldn’t surprise anyone.

Donald Trump Rupert Murdoch

Rupert Murdoch, the Chairman and CEO of Fox News’ corporate parent, 21st Century Fox, named himself the top executive of the cable network after Roger Ailes was terminated for serial sexual harassment and abuse. His stewardship of Fox News has devotedly advanced the political aspirations and agenda of Donald Trump. So being the recipient of one these scarce invitations was easily predictable. In fact,, he may have ordered Trump to issue it. After all, Fox News virtually invented Trump’s political persona and provided the media boost he needed to get elected.

Anyone watching Fox for more than a few minutes will notice that their hosts and contributors are fawning disciples of Trump. But even more troubling is that Trump’s policies and public statements are almost entirely derived from what he sees on his favorite Fox programs. From when he first wipes the sleep from eyes in the morning to when he lays his head down at night, Trump is cramming it full of the Fox Doctrine.

Fox and Friends serves as Trump’s daily presidential briefing wherein he learns what topics he is supposed to cover for the day and what positions to take on those topics. And Sean Hannity provides Trump the unhinged fury he needs to attack his political enemies. Hannity is so close to the President that he has been called the “shadow” chief-of-staff. And of course, numerous former Fox News shills are now on the White House payroll.

So while Trump didn’t invite any Democrats to the dinner, and the media was similarly snubbed, Murdoch is attending along with what we can expect to be a who’s who of Trump’s cronies (donors, lobbyists, ass-kissers, etc.). When the list of attendees is eventually released it will interesting to assess it in view of this tweet that Trump posted in March of 2012:

And for a taste of the ideological synchronicity between Trump and Fox News, watch this:

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Fox News in a Coma: ‘Nobody Was Asking Hillary Clinton About the Guy that She’s Married To’

Posted by on April 23, 2018 at 1:40 pm. 2 Comments :

If you thought that Fox News had run out of ways to shock people with examples of acute obliviousness, you might wanna sit down. The network that relentlessly pumps out provably false stories despite having been debunked – sometimes by their own reporters – still manages to find ways to sink ever lower into states of purposeful amnesia. Their corporate mission has always been to accuse other news networks of bias, ignoring the fact that they were created to be a flagrantly partisan mouthpiece of conservatives and the Republican Party.

Hillary Clinton

On Sunday’s “State of the Union” on CNN, Donald Trump’s Senior Shill, Kellyanne Conway, was interviewed by Dana Bash. Part of the discussion included an inquiry about Conway’s husband, George, who had curiously posted a number of tweets that were critical of Donald Trump. Conway feigned offense to this question and replied:

“We’re now going to talk about other people’s spouses and significant others just because they either work at the White House or CNN? Are we going to do that? You just went there. […] There has been a different standard for me than there have been for other people.”

Conway’s complaint is particularly absurd considering that less than a week ago she brought up the political leanings of the spouse and children of former FBI Director James Comey in an attempt to discredit him. However, there is plenty of available evidence that other political spouses have encountered the same line of questioning. The notion that she was subject to a double standard could not be more ridiculous.

Well, perhaps it can get more ludicrous. And leave it to Fox News to find a way to achieve that. On Monday morning, anchor Jon Scott led a panel in a discussion of Conway’s weekend remarks. His defense of Conway was typical of the wingnut cognitive breakdown that Fox News specializes in. He actually said that:

“Nobody was asking Hillary Clinton about the guy that she’s married to. It does seem that sometimes there’s a double standard in that regard.”

Did have a stroke? Was he in a Turkish prison for the last few years? There is something terribly wrong with someone who is supposed to be familiar with politics and current events who could make such a statement. Hardly a day went by when Hillary Clinton was not asked about her husband, Bill. And one of the most prominent inquisitors was Donald Trump. He even brought four women who alleged that Bill Clinton sexually harassed them to a debate in St. Louis.

And it wasn’t just Trump asking about Bill. The media was all over it. Two months before the election Maggie Haberman of the New York Times tweeted an article by Buzzfeed that she said was a “Pretty detailed read on Juanita Broaddrick’s long-ago allegations against Bill Clinton.” That’s the same Maggie Haberman who Trump attacked this weekend as being “a third rate reporter” and “a Crooked H flunkie.”

How Jon Scott could not know that Bill Clinton was a constant topic of both the media and the Trump campaign during the election is unimaginable. Which is probably the best evidence that he does know, he’s just lying. And the sad thing is that Fox News viewers are so delusional and hypnotized by their Tele-Master that they won’t question this glaringly preposterous comment. They’ll just nod obediently and absorb the lies like they always do.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

HUH? Fox News Wonders ‘How Can Professional Commentators Go On the Air and Speculate?’

Posted by on April 22, 2018 at 12:40 pm. NO Comments :

From its inception, Fox News was determined to disguise their political biases. They fashioned a network that they would claim is “fair and balanced,” but would never even attempt to live up to that standard. Last year they finally abandoned that slogan and replaced it with one that was obviously and shamelessly inspired by Donald Trump’s anti-media histrionics: “Real News.”

Fox News, Howard Kurtz

So it isn’t surprising when the chief media correspondent on Fox News, Howard Kurtz, would host a discussion on his show about media bias that flagrantly ignores it own ethical breaches. Sunday’s episode of MediaBuzz delved into the controversy surrounding Fox News host, and official Trump-fluffer, Sean Hannity. This week Hannity was revealed in court to be another client of Trump’s beleaguered attorney, Michael Cohen. He vehemently denied that which, in effect, means that he’s calling Cohen a liar. That’s something that Trump himself seems to be preparing to do.

Kurtz was disturbed by the media reaction to Hannity’s unambiguous ethical lapses (video below). Primarily, he found fault with the coverage of this story by his competitors on cable news. He led off the conversation saying that:

“In the aftermath, and it was such intense media reaction to this, a couple of people went on the air on other cable news channels and kind of just got out there.”

As examples of this alleged “outness,” Kurtz played video of two guests that appeared on MSNBC, but no other cable news channels. They raised questions about the undeniably conflicted relationship between Hannity and Cohen. The guests were Danielle Moodie-Mills, a SiriusXM talk show host, and Jennifer Rubin, a conservative opinion columnist from the Washington Post. Both observed the coincidence that Hannity had secured the services of Cohen, a “fixer” who had facilitated payoffs to the mistresses of his other clients (Trump and RNC official Elliot Broidy).

Since Hannity refused to disclose the nature of his relationship with Cohen, it’s entirely fair for pundits to assemble available data and offer analyses that seek to provide a coherent explanation. But that’s not how Kurtz sees it. He asked his guest, Shelby Holliday of the Wall Street Journal:

“How can professional commentators go on the air and speculate, without a shred of evidence right after this happened, that ‘Oh, there must have been a woman involved or something’ and there is absolutely no evidence to support it?”

Seriously? This is Fox News wondering whether it’s appropriate to speculate about public figures. It’s the network that spent years asserting that Barack Obama was an illegitimate president due his birth in Kenya. It’s the network that tried to blame Hillary Clinton for deliberately causing the deaths of American diplomats in Benghazi. It’s the network that advanced wild conspiracy theories like the child sex slave ring in the basement of a Washington, D.C. pizza parlor. And it’s the network that pushed ludicrous allegations that DNC employee Seth Rich’s murder was a clandestine, “Deep State” political assassination. That last one was Hannity’s baby. And those are just a few of Fox’s innumerable adventures in ridiculous and defamatory speculation.

Holliday responded to Kurtz’s inquiry by agreeing that “Journalistically that’s out of bounds. No reporters or news people should be speculating like that.” Of course, the examples that Kurtz played were opinion commentators, not reporters. And to her credit, Holliday did point that out to Kurtz. But Kurtz shot back that “Fine. You can criticize him all you want, but you can’t make stuff up and speculate.”

Well, thanks for that completely obvious and, for Fox News, hypocritical advice. Being told by Fox not to speculate is like being told by Donald Trump not to lie. And the fact that their specialist in media is so woefully lacking in self-awareness makes anything he has to say about the press unworthy of consideration. It’s asinine comments like these that make laughter the only appropriate response to anything Fox News says.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

SRSLY? On Fox News Loopy Trump-Fluffers ‘Diamond and Silk’ Pass For Legitimate Journalists

Posted by on April 21, 2018 at 10:18 am. 1 Comments :

It’s been a bad year for Fox News. Donald Trump, the presidential figurehead they’ve been propping up for the past year, keeps swirling the legal drain on the way to the sewer of disgrace. Perhaps reflecting that downward spiral, Fox’s primetime ratings nosedived fifteen percent in February year over year. And while their revenue rose by about seventeen percent, that’s a pitiful performance when compared to their competitors: CNN’s rose thirty-two percent, and MSNBC rocketed up sixty-two percent.

Fox News, Diamond and Silk

What’s more, the on-air “talent” at Fox News aint what it used to be. Bill O’Reilly was fired for repeated incidents of sexual harassment and abuse. Megyn Kelly fled perverts like O’Reilly for NBC. So now Fox has to rely on the smug, white nationalism of Tucker Carlson, the elitist bullying of Laura Ingraham, and whatever the hell Sean Hannity is. All three have been digging deeper into the conspiracy theory territory of crackpots like Alex Jones. Fox News has never been a haven for reputable journalists who took their jobs seriously. But their distance from credibility has lately grown to titanic proportions (in more ways than one).

There is no better indicator of that than the rise of two sisters from North Carolina, Lynette Hardaway and Rochelle Richardson, better known to Fox viewers as “Diamond and Silk.” After having made a name for themselves at Trump rallies (and being paid by his campaign to do so), D&S have become familiar faces on Fox News throughout the broadcast day. In recent weeks they have appeared on Fox and Friends, Watters World, the Ingraham Angle, and Cavuto. No Republican politician or pundit has had the blanket bookings that D&S have managed. Never mind that they have no discernible expertise in anything. They are brought on to opine about the economy, North Korea, immigration, healthcare, the legal intricacies of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, and more. This from a network that’s determined to strip away the First Amendment rights of socially active celebrities and athletes, and even student survivors of mass shootings.

Let’s not mince words here. These women are clowns. They appear in tandem to interject “amens” and “that’s rights” to augment whatever the other is saying. Their clothing, makeup, and accessories are straight from the Barnum and Bailey Collection. And their patter is strictly scripted to praise Donald Trump as America’s “Master” of Ceremonies. He even thanked them in one his numerous tweets about them. Some of the past D&S episodes on Fox include:

  • Diamond and Silk: Democrats can’t have everything their way.
  • Diamond and Silk: Jay-Z needs to respect this president.
  • Diamond and Silk: The president’s agenda gets an A+.
  • Diamond and Silk: The hypocrisy on the left is so real.
  • Diamond and Silk: Get behind your president and his agenda.

Recently, Cubic Zirconia and Sackcloth have been emitting high decibel whining on Fox News due to what they contend is a bias against conservatives by social media platforms like Facebook and Google. They are apparently ignorant of the recent changes by tech media to combat actual “fake” news and the efforts by hostile foreign nations to infiltrate and disrupt our media and democracy. D&S think that the audience decline being experienced by every online publisher is specific to them alone. Poor babies.

So these yammering yokels have been making the rounds on Fox News to complain that they are the victims of censorship. Typically, their complaints are front loaded with lies. But it’s just the sort of bullpucky that Fox hosts and viewers devour whole. As a result, their phony travails were even cited during the congressional hearings featuring Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg. Five Republicans (Ted Cruz, Joe Barton, Marsha Blackburn, Steve Scalise, Billy Long) were duped into posing questions about D&S.

But if you think that was bad, wait until you see them testifying in person before Congress. That’s right, in an appearance on Fox and Friends Friday, D&S announced that they would be testifying about their imaginary conservative bias online at a House Judiciary Committee hearing next week. Has America really sunk this low? A couple of embarrassingly ridiculous bumpkins, with no experience in anything but ranting annoyingly, are about to be interviewed by our representatives in Washington.

Diamond and Silk are being accorded a measure of respect by Republicans in Washington they haven’t earned and don’t deserve. But then that’s exactly what Fox News has been doing for months. They’ve gone from tantrum throwing political rage-a-holics like Sean Hannity to these insipid, half-witted nobodies. It’s a clear sign that the direction Fox News is heading is for ever lower respect for intelligence and reality-based journalism. In other words: Same as it always was.

Update: D&S had their day on Capitol Hill and predictably embarrassed themselves and the Republicans who invited them to make a circus of Congress.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Oblivious GOP Guest Tells Fox News that ‘Democrats Must Stop Calling Opponents Criminals’

Posted by on April 20, 2018 at 1:05 pm. 2 Comments :

Hypocrisy is a common symptom of political pundits and politicians on both sides of the aisle. But there are times when the hypocrisy of starkly partisan shills goes completely off the rails. This is often seen on Fox News, the natural habitat of partisan hypocrites.

Fox News, Ari Fleischer

On Friday’s episode of Outnumbered, the featured “One Lucky Guy” (as they call their rotating guests) was former George W. Bush press secretary, Ari Fleischer. They were discussing the just filed lawsuit by the Democratic National Committee charging that the Russians, Wikileaks, and Donald Trump conspired to disrupt the 2016 presidential election. Near the end of the segment Fleischer decides to get all principled with a general denunciation of criminalizing politics:

Ari Fleischer: “Let me elevate all of this. This country has got to stop accusing its opponents of being criminals. I defended Barack Obama when Donald Trump said that he was illegitimate and born in Kenya. I don’t like saying the people you oppose on ideology are illegitimate. And now the Democrats are doing it to Donald Trump. The country has got to stop this.
Marie Harf: That’s just exactly what Donald Trump did. He’s still calling for his opponents to be jailed. So it’s not just Democrats who are doing it. It starts at the top.

First of all, there is no proof that he actually did defend Obama on the birther lies. In fact, in a tweet he declined to seek an apology from Trump for those conspiracy theories, and then tried to blame them on Hillary Clinton, which was a right-wing lie.

Fox News headlined this exchange on their website as “Democrats Must Stop Calling Opponents Criminals.” They linked to the video of the segment (posted below) to support their blatantly biased assertion that it is Democrats who are responsible for these rhetorical offenses. However, as Harf managed to squeeze in at the end of the segment, there is someone else who may bear some of the responsibility:

Just thought that we should set the record straight. And while we’re at it, the allegations against Trump are not the work of partisan Democrats. He is being investigated by a special counsel (Robert Mueller), a Republican who was appointed by a Republican Deputy Attorney General, who was appointed by Trump and works for the Republican Attorney General. And virtually all of the witnesses in the Russian probe are also Republicans. So there’s that.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Fox News Fetishes Over Their False Claim that CNN Fetishes Over Trump’s Fetishes

Posted by on April 18, 2018 at 12:11 pm. NO Comments :

Last year an opposition research document compiled by a respected British intelligence operative surfaced that is still generating news. Known now as the “Steele Dossier,” it contained a wealth of information about Donald Trump that was both substantive and disturbing. And a small bit of it that was rather salacious. So guess which part drove Trump to distraction?

Fox News/Playboy

The findings that Christopher Steele included in his dossier placing Trump in a Moscow hotel with prostitutes have assumed an undue prominence in much of the press. No one should be surprised by that in a society that made Kim Kardashian a pop culture phenomenon. Fox News is no exception, as they frequently hyped up reports of hookers urinating on the bed in Trump’s hotel room as he watched from safe distance. Especially Sean Hannity, who can’t seem to keep his mind off of it (see video below).

Despite their own perverse complicity, Fox News is boldly calling out CNN for reporting on the very same subject. In effect, they are whining that their own salacious reporting isn’t doing as well as the salacious reporting by their competitors. Their media reporter, Brian Flood, is asserting that this “puts CNN coverage in the toilet.” He doesn’t say where it puts Fox’s coverage.

His arguments are strained, to say the least. He leads off by swinging at CNN boss Jeff Zucker, who he says “continues to focus on adult film stars and lurid claims about President Trump’s alleged activities in a Moscow hotel room.” In the same opening paragraph Flood baselessly claims that the “pornographic video probably does not exist.”

Flood disgorges the familiar Fox News talking points that the dossier is unverified (that’s not true) and that it was the basis for warrant to spy on Trump’s campaign (also untrue). Then he goes on to cite the number of times that the “pee tape” was mentioned on CNN over a finite period of time. Those stats came from the ultra-rightist media bashers at the Media Research Center.

The conclusion that Flood draws from his overtly biased sources and analysis is that CNN’s ratings have been severely damaged by their attention to this undeniable newsworthy story. He says that:

“The result of Zucker’s strategy has been a president of the United States who often refers to CNN as ‘fake news’ on a regular basis, while the network regularly loses to MSNBC when it comes to ratings.”

Of course, Trump called CNN, and the rest of the media that is appropriately critical, fake news long before this story broke. It has been a part of his public diatribe dating back to his campaign and his assertions that the media is the “enemy of the American people.” And CNN’s ratings, while trailing MSNBC and Fox, have never been better. So that doesn’t square with Flood’s claim that this story has hurt CNN.

What’s more, Flood completely ignores the fact that MSNBNC does similar reports on Trump’s “pee tape” escapades. And MSNBC is regularly beating Fox News in the ratings war. Especially Rachel Maddow who has taken the lead as the number one cable news program, leaving Sean Hannity without a pot to piss in.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Fox News is Totally Cool with Sean Hannity’s Unethical Shilling for His Lawyer Michael Cohen

Posted by on April 17, 2018 at 2:18 pm. 2 Comments :

On Monday a shocking courtroom drama played out during a hearing for Donald Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen. After previously refusing to disclose the name of one of his clients, he relented and announced that the secret client was Fox News host Sean Hannity. After those in attendance regained their composure, the media lit up with tales of the obvious violations of ethics from everyone involved.

Fox News Sean Hannity

It took Fox News another day to come up with a response to this calamity. But the extra time they devoted to it didn’t seem to help them manufacture a satisfactory excuse. All they could muster was a weak attempt to hold themselves blameless and free pass for Hannity to continue being a complete sleazeball. They said that:

“While FOX News was unaware of Sean Hannity’s informal relationship with Michael Cohen and was surprised by the announcement in court yesterday, we have reviewed the matter and spoken to Sean and he continues to have our full support.”

Let’s break that down. First of all, Fox News is admitting that they have no idea what Hannity is up to. Obviously he never bothered to tell is bosses that he was in violation of common principles of media ethics. That failure to alert the executives in charge was, by itself, a fireable offense. No media enterprise should ever be “surprised” like this.

Secondly, what Fox is so cavalierly looking the other way about is a complex web of immorality and deceit. Cohen told the court that Hannity is his client. Hannity denied that. In effect, he is calling Cohen a liar. Plus, Hannity insists that Cohen isn’t his lawyer, but still says he should have attorney-client privileges. For that privilege to be in effect, there has to be an attorney and a client. Also, Hannity said that he never paid Cohen anything for his advice. Well, except for the time he slipped him ten bucks to invoke the privacy of an attorney-client relationship that he said he didn’t have. But what is he trying to keep private if the only thing he said he ever discussed with Cohen was real estate?

And why did Cohen try so hard to keep Hannity’s name a secret at the hearing? Does it have anything to do with Cohen’s specialty of facilitating hush money payoffs to mistresses of his famous clients? Or could there be some connection between Hannity and Cohen’s other client, Donald Trump, that they need to keep on the down low? Or maybe even some link between Hannity and Russia? Who knows?

Certainly not Fox News. At least they didn’t know before, and if they know now they aren’t saying. They also aren’t doing anything about it despite all of the blatant misbehavior noted above. Never the mind the beating they are taking in the press. For instance, the Washington Post published an article saying that it’s “Time for Fox News to investigate Sean Hannity.” Time Magazine is asking “Can Sean Hannity and Fox News Cover Michael Cohen Fairly?” Even Trump defender Alen Dershowitz called out Hannity on his own show saying “I do want to say that I really think that you should have disclosed your relationship with Cohen when you talked about him on this show.”

Fox News has already lost too many top prime time stars to take a chance with their current ratings king. Bill O’Reilly was fired due to his serial sexual harassment and abuse. Megyn Kelly ditched Fox for NBC in part due to O’Reilly and other Fox perverts. Laura Ingraham is currently suffering a hemorrhage of advertisers after she attacked David Hogg, the high schooler who survived the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida.

Hannity would be getting off scot-free in under any circumstances because Fox is a den of iniquity and doesn’t care if their standard bearers are slimeballs. But he’s also benefiting because Fox is running out of replacement shills. If they were smart they’d give Hannity the heave-ho – not just because he committed unforgivably unethical acts – but because he’s losing to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. That should be the biggest embarrassment to Fox News that you would think they wouldn’t tolerate. They must really be hard up to let that go by.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.