Media Bias

Fox News Excuses Tillerson Mess, White House Chaos By Saying that ‘Disarray is Trumpism’

Posted by on March 13, 2018 at 2:46 pm. 4 Comments :

The Tuesday Morning Massacre at Donald Trump’s White House rocked the political media. In the matter of a few hours Trump had fired the Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Steve Goldstein, the State Dept spokesman whose announcement of Tillerson’s firing contradicted the White House story, and Trump’s personal assistant, John McEntee, whose dismissal was due to an investigation for “serious financial crimes“ (He was then immediately hired by Trump’s 2020 campaign).

trump-departures

However, over on Fox News the presidential pandemonium was given a much more positive spin. It didn’t represent the turmoil that everyone else was seeing. It was merely, as Fox political editor Chris Stirewalt said, “Trump being Trump.” In an interview (video below) with anchor Sandra Smith, Stirewalt dutifully pardoned the President for any malfeasance in office or mismanagement.

Smith: “Does this add to the speculation of disarray inside the West Wing? Or should one just decide that this is the way the President works?”
Stirewalt: “Well, both things could be true. Disarray may be the methodology. If disarray is a methodology, then perhaps that is Trumpism. But let’s also remember if we put this in context of what else is going on, we saw Donald Trump govern in 2017 as a very traditional kind of Republican president. In 2018 we’re seeing Trump being Trump. […] And so I think we are seeing here, maybe not disarray, but instead this real pivot back to core nationalist, populist Trumpism.”

See? It’s just Trump executing his plan perfectly. It’s all unfolding exactly the way he wants it to. Nothing out of order, or out of the ordinary. He is just “pivoting” back to his “core nationalist, populist Trumpism,” whatever the hell that is.

If those remarks weren’t ludicrous enough, Stirewalt also had to assert that last year Trump was “very traditional.” In what dystopian nightmare? 2017 was a year filled with lying, hypocrisy, and a policy agenda that was either preposterous or dangerous or both. It was the year that he tried (and failed) to repeal ObamaCare. He rescinded DACA by executive action. He pushed through a tax bill that enriched corporations and his wealthy pals to the detriment of everyone else.

And his personnel management was a historical disaster. There was a forty-plus percent turnover in top presidential posts. And just to put a fine point on Trump’s deranged perspective, he had this to say regarding his recent staff shake-up: “I’m really at a point where I’m close to having the Cabinet, and other things, that I want.” He’s been in office for more than a year and he’s just now getting to that point? God help us all if he ever actually gets there.

But leave it to Fox News to sugar-coat Trump’s incompetence. And it didn’t take them an hour to develop this public relations propaganda spiel. Just think what they’ll be saying by this evening when Sean Hannity goes on the air. By then Trump will be heralded as the most brilliant national leader of the millennium. And sadly, way too many glassy-eyed Fox News disciples and Trump cultists will believe it.

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

Fox News Lies: Trump’s Border Wall Can Be Paid for By Cutting Welfare – Still Not By Mexico

Posted by on March 12, 2018 at 3:10 pm. 1 Comments :

When Donald Trump spoke at the rally in Pennsylvania for some GOP candidate whose name he barely mentioned, Trump naturally launched into a medley of his campaign’s greatest hits. One of those most clamored for by his audience of fanatics was that old familiar refrain “Build the Wall.” And Trump didn’t disappoint his fans as he once again promised that the wall would be built “100 percent.”

Fox News Trump

The following day Fox News jumped on this critical breaking story with a report on Fox and Friends First. Host Heather Childers interviewed the Trump sycophant head of the so-called National Border Patrol Council, Brandon Judd. In Childers introduction of Judd she summarized what would be the theme of the whole segment:

“A brand new report says the wall could pay for itself by eliminating the need for welfare and other taxpayer funded benefits given to illegal immigrants.”

Wow, really? Actually, no. The report cited by Childers was published by the ultra-conservative assembly of xenophobes known as the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). It concluded that undocumented immigrants in the United States were consuming sixty-four billion dollars in federal benefits from welfare, public education and refundable tax credits. Outside of education, Childers and CIS were simply making most of that up. The immigrants in question are not eligible for welfare of any type, including ObamaCare. And how can they receive refundable tax credits if they aren’t filing tax returns? The truth is that immigrants provide far more financial benefits to the the country than anything they consume.

Through a flurry of leading questions, Judd repeated the findings from the same CIS study. And he went on to say that the wall “will cut down on what the taxpayer burden will be, which will then go straight into funding the wall.” That’s an impressively delusional statement. Let’s try to follow his logic. What Judd is saying that taxpayers would be relieved from having to pay welfare benefits for illegal immigrants (we’ll set aside for the moment that there are no such benefits). But that tax revenues would instead be shifted to paying for Trump’s wall. So contrary to Judd’s comment, there is no reduction in the burden of the taxpayers at all.

Furthermore, Judd is conceding that it’s the taxpayers who are paying for the wall. So the lede in this story where Childers claimed that the wall would pay for itself was a lie. It would be paid for by the aforementioned taxpayers. And in that case, it would not be paid for by Mexico, as promised by the President. Judd called this “a brilliant way to go about it. And that’s the business strategy that President Trump brings to the American people.”

It’s rather ludicrous to characterize this idiocy as “brilliant.” But it’s pretty accurate to say that it’s characteristic of Trump’s business strategy. As a failed businessman who has declared bankruptcy at least six times, Trump can hardly qualify as a business expert. He is a practitioner if “Disaster Capitalism” (hat tip: Naomi Klein), who exploits his failures for his own gain at the expense of everyone he does business with. And as president, that means the American people are the chumps in his greedy game. And Fox News is his PR division that airs garbage like this interview in order to help Trump fleece the nation.

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

Scaramucci Tells Fox News that Rachel Maddow Needs an Anti-Anxiety Suppository

Posted by on March 9, 2018 at 1:49 pm. 2 Comments :

Well, here’s something you don’t see everyday (unless you’re watching Fox News). Donald Trump’s former communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, was a guest on Friday’s episode of Fox and Friends. This is the guy who lost his White House job a mere ten days after he was hired because of a profanity-laden meltdown attacking fellow Trump staffers. He’s a hot-head in the mold of Trump who continues to serve as a loyal surrogate.

Fox News Scaramucci

During his interview by the “Curvy Couch” potatoes (video below), the Mooch leveled another of his patented gross-outs, this time aimed at MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow (who is slaughtering Fox News and Sean Hannity). It was wholly inappropriate personal insult that was devoid of substance. In other words, it was pretty much the same bullshit non-reasoning that all of the cretins on Fox News resort to. About Maddow he said that…

“You can tell she’s got a little bit of that Trump Derangement Syndrome, which I like. I’m hoping that one of these comedians will come up with anti-anxiety medication for liberals. Just take one tablet a day, maybe a suppository, and take it easy. […] The President is doing the right thing for the American people, but he’s also doing the right thing for the world.”

To be clear, Scaramucci is criticizing Maddow as being “deranged” and having an anxiety problem. The same guy who told the New Yorker that Reince Priebus is a “fucking paranoid schizophrenic,” and that Steve Bannon engages in self-fellatio, and that he wants to “fucking kill all the leakers” in the White House. That’s the guy who thinks that Maddow and other liberals should “take it easy?” Yeah, whatever. [Note: Scaramucci later tweeted an apology].

The topic of the segment was Trump’s announcement that he accepted Kim Jong Un’s invitation to meet and discuss a resolution to their juvenile slap-fight on Twitter. The Fox News crew was aghast that Maddow would have anything critical to say about that. They played a clip from her show wherein she wondered…

“Why has no sitting American president ever met with a leader of North Korea? Why has that never happened in all the decades North Korea existed as a nation? Shouldn’t I take this to mean that this might be a particularly risky, or even an unwise move?”

Those are perfectly reasonable questions. What’s more, Trump’s impulsive agreement to meet with Kim demonstrates a dangerous incompetence with regard to what Trump considers his greatest asset: dealmaking. A meeting with the President of the United States is an asset that a smart negotiator would reserve until other concessions were made by the opposing party. Trump gave it up at the very beginning. He got nothing for it, or for the legitimacy it grants to Kim. He could have at least asked that the Americans currently being held in North Korea be released as a prerequisite to a meeting.

Fox News is predictably hailing Trump’s concession to meet Kim as a historic achievement. Never mind that the meeting hasn’t taken place and there are no guarantees that anything productive will result from them. In fact, there’s a fair chance that a summit between The Dotard and Little Rocket Man might make everything worse. They are two unstable, narcissistic individuals with little respect for one another. If their common stubbornness results in a fruitless affair, it might even make military conflict more likely as the prospects for diplomacy fade.

Time will tell if Trump can attend this meeting (if it even comes to pass) without screwing up. In his meetings with Congress he has proved that his word is virtually worthless and neither Democrats nor Republicans can rely on him to follow through. In the meantime, we fan expect philistines like Scaramucci to keep showing up on Fox News slinging insults and ignorance at their dimwitted audience. And maybe the world will survive a little bit longer.

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

Devin Nunes To Fox News: Stephen Colbert is ‘The Danger That We Have in This Country’

Posted by on March 4, 2018 at 1:07 pm. 1 Comments :

The first year of Donald Trump’s presidency has seen innumerable crises develop domestically and throughout the world. There have been several shootings on school campuses. Our elections have been tampered with by Russia, and they’re still doing it. Trump is threatening nuclear war with North Korea. And his proposal to impose tariffs (mostly on our allies) sent the stock market into a tailspin.

Stephen Colbert & Trump Baby

So what does Devin Nunes, the Republican chairman of the House Select Intelligence Committee, consider to be one of the most serious hazards facing America? Well, of course, it’s late night television comedy, and specifically Stephen Colbert. Nunes was interviewed on Fox News by their resident Financial Distortion Anchor, Neil Cavuto (video below). The segment had nothing to do with the economy, but it did get to the bottom of the frightening assault on America by radical satirists. It began withe this probing exchange:

Cavuto: You mention that the media doesn’t present a fair case of [Trump/Russia]. Maybe the indication of that is that you’ve recently become the butt of late night comic jokes. Particularly Stephen Colbert was up on Capitol Hill. I think making you the butt of some jokes. What did you think of that? Did Colbert make any effort to talk to you?”
Nunes: Well, I think that this is the danger that we have in this country. The left controls not only the universities in this country, but they also control Hollywood in this country, and the mainstream media. So conservatives in this country are under attack and I think this is a great example of it.

Exactly. Stephen Colbert absolutely is “the danger” that America faces. And kudos to Cavuto for bringing up this looming peril. Where else but on Fox News could this travesty be exposed? Nunes points out that the reason the nation is undergoing such unprecedented turmoil is that leftists have seized control of the most powerful institutions in the country – universities and Hollywood – and are using them to enslave the minds of decent citizens. However, he doesn’t explain why these scurrilous lefties allowed Republicans to control the Congress, the Supreme Court, and the White House.

Also unexplained is how the special counsel, Robert Mueller, managed to get (so far) nineteen indictments and five guilty pleas connected to his investigation of Trump’s unsavory connections to Russia. But rest assured, somehow it’s the fault of universities, Hollywood, and Colbert. And Nunes isn’t taking it laying down. He doesn’t intend to be the butt of anyone’s joke, no matter how much he deserves it. In fact, he likes it:

Nunes: So I hope they continue to do it. Because on the one hand you’ll see the left and the media running out there saying “OMG, this is the end of the world. The Russians attacked our democracy. And we have evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians.” However, they can’t show it. They have no proof […] they resort to going to their friends in Hollywood to make fun of people and attack people who are trying to get to the truth. I enjoy the attacks. If they want to continue to attack me, that’s fine.”

Well, we certainly wouldn’t want to disappoint him, would we? Although it’s puzzling that he says he enjoys it while simultaneously complaining that it’s an unfair attack and a danger to the country. Is he an unpatriotic masochist?

Nunes’ remarks were rife with allegations as to the identity of the real colluders – naturally, Hillary Clinton and the Democrats. And when Cavuto asked him about allegations that he was “doing the President’s bidding,” he curiously replied “I don’t know.” Then quickly stammering to add “I mean, we don’t get any orders from the White House.” Which makes perfect sense. They are probably coming from Mar-A-Lago, where the President spends most of his time.

Nunes went on to praise his committee’s work and insisted that he “follows the facts where they lead.” So long as they lead to Clinton and the Democrats. He refused to allow his Democratic committee colleagues to call witnesses. And he wouldn’t hold White House witnesses accountable when they refused to answer questions. Nunes falsely claimed that “no one would know … that Fusion GPS was paid by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic Party’ but for his efforts. In fact, it was reported by the (fake?) media long before he ever got around to it.

Once again, Fox News uncovers the atrocities in Washington that are neglected by the “mainstream” media (which, for some reason doesn’t include Fox News). And heroes like Devin Nunes are permitted time to inform the American people about what is really going on in this gawd-awful country. With journalism like this we will hopefully soon be rid of fake reporters like Colbert who are working tirelessly to destroy America.

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

Here is the Fox News segment with Cavuto and Nunes:

And here is video of Colbert’s trip to Washington, D.C.:

Rachel Maddow Guides MSNBC to a Strong February 2018 – Fox News and Hannity are Scared

Posted by on March 2, 2018 at 10:40 am. 3 Comments :

In another embarrassingly weak performance, Fox News has suffered a ratings fall-off in February 2018 that signals more trouble ahead. Fox’s declining fortunes are becoming a regular event. In January the network dropped fourteen percent in primetime. Now February has topped that with an additional fifteen percent decline. Meanwhile, MSNBC gained significantly in both months of this new year.

Fox News Sad

In January Rachel Maddow outperformed Hannity, and all other cable news programs, in the key audience demographic of 25-54 year olds. She came just short of repeating that performance in February with an average of 635,000 viewers per night. Hannity edged her out with 643,000. However, of the twenty days in February, Maddow won a majority (eleven) of them.

Maddow’s practice of covering breaking news and the unfolding scandals of the scandal-ridden Trump administration has proven to be an unqualified success. Her deep dive into research and expert analysis continues to draw devoted viewers. Two years ago no one would have predicted that Fox would be a second place news network. Fox actually moved Hannity into a direct time period competition with Maddow in an attempt to blow her out with his top rated program. That didn’t go exactly according to plan and must be gnawing at Hannity and his Fox bosses.

Consequently, Hannity’s program is sinking into ever more ludicrous conspiracy theory territory. He is challenging Alex Jones as the right-wing’s most unhinged crackpot. On almost every show Hannity ignores actual news of Trump’s daily failures. Instead, he features topics exploring Hillary Clinton’s ancient and baseless controversies, or some version of the alleged “deep state” takeover of America. And of course, Hannity is serving his master in the White House with constant attempts to slander special counsel Robert Mueller and the FBI.

These subjects are also spread across the Fox News schedule. It’s why Fox viewers are so often shown to be more uninformed (or ill informed) than viewers of any other news network. And it is probably contributing to the overall audience decline at Fox as people seek out actual news and information relevant to their lives. But it is consistent with the Fox News commitment to defend Trump at all costs.

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

The Fox News mission has always been to prop up the conservative, Republican agenda. But it’s more immediate objective is to discredit the investigations into Trump’s unsavory connections to Russia (and other financial corruption). And flagrant propagandists like Hannity, Tucker Carlson (who just called Democrats anti-American), and the “Curvy Couch” potatoes of Fox and Friends, are focused intently on smearing America’s law enforcement and intelligence institutions. They are putting their rancid partisanship before the interests of the country. And America’s television viewers are reacting with disgust and seeking out more credible reporting. Which is good news for Maddow and MSNBC.

The Democratic Party is Anti-American: Deconstructing Tucker Carlson’s Noxious Trump-Fluffing

Posted by on March 2, 2018 at 8:38 am. 1 Comments :

There are plenty of repugnant cretins on Fox News who devote themselves to distorting reality and misinforming their dimwitted audience. No one is more of a sycophantic disciple of Donald Trump than Sean Hannity. And Steve Doocy’s portrayal of an imbecile infatuated with the President is spot on. But Tucker Carlson has carved out his own domain as the master of indignant arrogance stewed in hypocrisy and logical dysfunction.

Fox News Tucker Carlson

On Thursday’s program Carlson set out to express a rare disappointment with his hero in the White House. It stemmed from Trump’s boneheaded assertion that guns should be confiscated from certain individuals without due process of law. That’s a position that was quickly denounced by all sides of the gun reform debate, including most fiercely by the NRA. But Carlson’s lecture (video below) was especially convoluted and managed to make Democrats the villains for what Trump said. What follows is an annotated transcript of the highlights.

“The alternatives to what we have now are scary and getting scarier. The Democratic Party is completely irresponsible and increasingly anti-American. They prefer illegal aliens to our middle-class. That’s true and it’s terrifying. Someone needs to defend the country from these people. Trump mostly does that.”

So Trump advocates violating the Constitution, but it’s Democrats who are anti-American? And Carlson’s deranged and insulting assertion that Democrats “prefer illegal aliens to our middle-class” is baseless and purposefully inflammatory. What’s true and terrifying is Carlson’s anti-American suggestion that the country needs to be defended from people he disagrees with.

“At one point the President said ‘The government should take the guns first, go through due process second.’ How honest do you want to be. Imagine if Barack Obama had said that. Just ignore due process and start confiscating guns. Obama would have been denounced as a dictator. We would have denounced him first. Trust me.”

Well, to be fair, Carlson and Fox News did denounce Obama as a dictator with predictable frequency, but never with justification. But his point was that Trump’s proposal for gun confiscation should receive the same criticism. Let’s see how that went.

“It’s important to remember that nobody should be tied to a person, but instead to principles. So with that in mind, do you think it’s worth just reminding the President – as we all need to be reminded sometimes – that there are deeper principles here?

How generous. Carlson won’t denounce Trump’s dictatorial raving, but politely remind him of the principles that he’s certain Trump has anyway. What happened to being the first to denounce dictatorship? That must not apply to your ideological crush with the long, flowing, golden locks (vainly covering his crusty bald spot). However, Carlson’s presumption of Trump’s true inner feelings were proven correct overnight as Trump tweeted that he’d made up with the NRA in an Oval Office tryst:

Here’s the video of Carlson’s Democrat-bashing, love letter to dictator Trump, if you can stomach it.

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

Who Will Trump Choose to Replace Hope Hicks? (Hint: Is He Watching Fox News?)

Posted by on February 28, 2018 at 4:32 pm. 4 Comments :

Another day, another White House staffer falls out of the sinking ship. This time it’s one of Donald Trump’s most loyal and longest serving aides, communications director Hope Hicks. The camera shy press liaison is reported to be leaving within the coming weeks. And I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that yesterday she admitted at a congressional inquiry that she has been telling “white lies” as a part of her official duties.

Hope Hicks

That’s probably the problem. Hicks was telling only white lies when the President had warned her to stick to only the darkest of all possible lies. He gave her plenty of examples via his own behavior to make it clear what was expected of her. Obviously, she wasn’t able to cut it. Although she had her moments. Like when she helped to draft the false excuse for why Don Jr. was meeting with Russians. Or when she wrote the press release defending her boyfriend, Rob Porter, after he was revealed to be a wife-beater.

Trump will not likely make the same mistake again. He has a strong track record of hiring brazen liars to staff his White House operation. Champion fabricators like Sean Spicer, Anthony Scaramucci, and the current mistress of propaganda, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, have distinguished this president’s press office.

So who will Trump turn to to fill this critical post? It will have to be someone who doesn’t care about having a good reputation with the public or the media. In fact, the more hate for the media the better. After all, Trump regards the press as “the enemy of the American people.” The Hicks successor will need to be able to lie on camera, even when it’s painfully obvious that they are lying. He or she should have a relationship with other professional prevaricators like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh.

However, it isn’t necessary that the communications director candidate have any actual experience in communications. Trump prefers people who have little or no idea what they are doing. Probably to assure that they know less than he does (admittedly, a low bar). And in the end, he wouldn’t really trust anyone other than himself. An article in the Associated Press noted that Trump “increasingly sees himself as the White House’s only effective spokesperson.”

Given the criteria for filling this job, only one source for human resources comes to mind. Trump will have to poach another staffer from the pool of Trump-fluffers at Fox News. The Fox studio is a rich vein of inexperienced, dishonest, shameless, butt-kissers. It’s a vein Trump has tapped many times before for aides including K.T. McFarland, Ben Carson, Sebastion Gorka, Heather Nauert, Richard Grennell, and Jonathan Wachtel.

There are two names at Fox that stand out as potential White House flacks. Laura Ingraham would slide right into the role with her smug arrogance and jaunty know-it-allism. But having just secured a primetime show on Fox, Ingraham may be reluctant to bail. She may also be locked into a long-term contract.

That leaves Kimberly Guilfoyle. She has been on deck for a Trump slot for quite a while. Last year Trump insiders were telling the media that he “wants Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle to take [Sean Spicer’s] place.” She is currently a co-host of Fox’s right-wing gab-fest, The Five. She has never been a journalist and has no experience in press relations. So she has those assets going for her. Trump may also appreciate Guilfoyle’s admiration for Vladimir Putin, who she thought would be a better president than Barack Obama.

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

There are a few other names that could be thrown into the pot. Ainsley Earhardt of Trump’s favorite Fox News program, Fox and Friends. Evening Anchor Martha MacCallum could bring back some blondness to the gig. Or maybe, in a bid for the millennial audience, Tomi Lahren’s juvenile outbursts could be just the right spice for Trump’s media taco bowl. Only time will tell. And there’s no hurry since Hicks will still be around for a few weeks, or until she has to meet with special counsel Robert Mueller.

It’s About Dead Children: Fox News Military Analyst Advocates Banning Semi-Automatic Firearms

Posted by on February 24, 2018 at 1:58 pm. 7 Comments :

Despite the sharply reduced attention span, and constricted news cycles, of the 21st century in America, the nation is still immersed in the aftermath of the tragic massacre in Parkland, Florida. It is totally out of character for the public and the media to remain so focused on a single issue. Much of the credit goes to the passion and eloquence of the students who survived the shooting rampage.

Fox News Ralph Peters

However, this story’s staying power isn’t the only unexpected fallout from Parkland. While most Republican stalwarts continue to be whores to the National Rifle Association (NRA), along with their accomplices in the media, there have been a few surprising defectors. And one of them was interviewed by Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto on his Fox Business program on Friday.

Ralph Peters is a retired Army Lt. Colonel who has been serving as a military analyst on Fox News for several years. He generally falls in line with the hard-right narrative espoused on the network. In fact, he often wanders off the farthest right ledge of conservative wingnutism. For instance, he was once briefly suspended by Fox News for calling President Obama a “pussy” on the air. And then there was the time he argued for censorship and “military attacks on the partisan media.” But his comments on the availability of semi-automatic guns, like the AR-15 used to murder seventeen people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, were more than a little shocking (video below):

“I support the Second Amendment. I do not support the cherry-picking we’re seeing of it right now. […] I’m a gun owner. I know guns. My family’s a gun family going way back. But these weapons – AR-15 and similar weapons – are not for sporting purposes. You don’t take them hunting because they’re meant to tear bodies apart. They tear up the meat. They’re lousy for target shooting. They’re not even good for defending your home in the middle of the night against an intruder.”

And Peters didn’t stop there. He recognized that “my position is unpopular to many Fox viewers,” but that this is “a moral issue. It’s an ethical issue. It’s about dead children.” And he even defended the officers in Parkland who failed to enter the school as it was under assault saying that:

“Having those weapons in civilian hands is absolute madness. And by the way, those four deputies who didn’t go into the school. I think I can tell you what happened. They’re outside with handguns and they’re hearing that semi-automatic fire inside. Pop, pop, pop. It’s like going in there with bare hands.”

Peters also discussed the vagaries of the Second Amendment noting that gun fetishists always leave out the part about a “well regulated militia.” He mocked that omission by observing the hypocrisy of the amendment’s staunchest supports who insist on absolutely literal interpretations of the Constitution, but ignore that the language only protects the right to bear arms, but not to fire them.

The NRA and the Republican Party better wake up. When you’ve lost the support of someone like Peters, you pretty much have to acknowledge that your position is just plain nuts. Peters cannot be dismissed as a liberal snowflake who wants to confiscate every gun in America. Having been trained for battle he knows that a teacher, or other school employee, is unprepared and outmatched for combat with an opponent wielding an AR-15, even if the teacher has served in the military.

It’s fair to say that Peters is far better qualified to comment on these matters than Cadet Bonespurs (aka Donald Trump), who got five deferments to evade service during the Vietnam War years. And the same goes for cowards like Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, and the rest of the Trump-fluffing media who never served their country in uniform. Make no mistake, Peters is very likely the same right-wing crackpot he has always been. But that only makes these remarks all the more noteworthy and foreboding.

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

NRA Shill Says the Media ‘Love Mass Shootings,’ ‘Crying White Mothers are Ratings Gold.

Posted by on February 22, 2018 at 2:12 pm. 4 Comments :

If you were still uncertain as to whether the NRA is an organization steeped in partisan rancor and vile, hate-filled hysterics, the remarks by its chief spokesperson, Dana Loesch, at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), will put an end to your doubts.

Dana Loesch

On Wednesday night Loesch appeared on the CNN Town Hall featuring student survivors from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School along with some parents, teachers and politicians. Loesch attempted to present herself as a rational, open-minded participant in a discussion seeking to find solutions to a serious problem. But the very next day she let her true feelings come out in her speech at CPAC (video below):

“Many in legacy media love mass shootings. You guys love it. Now, I’m not saying that you love the tragedy. But I am saying that you love the ratings. Crying white mothers are ratings gold to you and many in the legacy media.”

It’s not surprising that she didn’t say this to the faces of the “crying white mothers” in CNN’s forum. She is a deceitful, manipulative hack who who will happily lie in order to achieve her ends and those of her benefactors in the firearms industry. To make the broad accusation that the media “loves mass shootings” in a public address demonstrates her utter lack of decency and humanity. And her ability to turn around in a few hours to display both ugly sides of her face is something that only comes with an innately grotesque personality.

But Loesch went even further to insult the parents of murdered children as if they were disingenuous contestants on a reality TV show. And the interjection of a racial component only makes the insult many times worse. Her CPAC performance was like watching a cartoon villain giving away all her secret, evil plans, secure in the belief that her opponents would soon be dead and unable to stop her. That may be why she also unleashed this bit of BS:

“The government has proven that they cannot keep you safe, and yet some people want all of us to disarm. And then they also call Trump a tyrant, but then say they want the president to also confiscate our firearms. Try to figure that one out.”

Of course, no one is proposing to disarm the entire nation. Likewise, no one has suggested confiscating all firearms. These are just the NRA’s standard lies to whip up fear among their followers that a tyrannical overlord is plotting to enslave America and only the NRA can prevent it. They screeched for eight years that President Obama was coming for their guns, never mind that it never happened, nor was there any threat of it. The NRA is fear machine and it has to have an enemy to survive. Preferably a dark-skinned one.

Loesch’s remarks were not a one-off or gaffe. It’s an NRA mantra as seen in this video from NRA-TV. The commentator uses the identical language that Loesch used about loving mass shootings, repeating it for emphasis. And he spent the rest of the time spewing the NRA line in a monologue of deceit.

That’s what the NRA does. It is their whole purpose for existing. They do not represent gun owners. They shill for gun manufacturers. Which is why they push for more guns as the solution to every problem. No matter what it is, the only NRA approved response is to buy more guns. They are about marketing and nothing else. And if innocent people die, that’s just the price of capitalism.

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

Fox Nation is Morphing into a Streaming Video Feeding Tube for the Fox News Cult’s Superfans

Posted by on February 21, 2018 at 8:50 am. 1 Comments :

In its ongoing mission to brainwash weak minds, Fox News is taking a major step into the video streaming business. They have announced that their community website and right-wing news aggregator, Fox Nation will soon become a subscription service that Fox’s glassy-eyed disciples can pay for without a cable account.

Fox Nation vs. Reality

The announcement states that the new Fox Nation will launch by the end of the year with original programming rather than reruns of Fox News Channel content. But that doesn’t mean that Fox favorites like Sean Hannity and Tomi Lahren won’t be featured frequently to spin the news and stir outrage. These and other Fox regulars will be producing exclusive commentaries for the new venture. John Finley, Fox News senior vice president, described the new offering saying that…

“Fox Nation is designed to appeal to the Fox superfan. These are the folks who watch Fox News every night for hours at a time, the dedicated audience that really wants more of what we have to offer.”

In other words, the network that is devoted to misinforming America is providing their wingnut junkies with an endless supply of moonbat juice to keep them riled up and free from the emotional complexities of reality. This is just what the person who already watches Fox News for hours needs. And the persons they are most likely catering to are superfans like Donald Trump. These zealots will surely appreciate how the new Fox Nation will “take a further look at the big issues of the day” and provide an opportunity for “interaction with all of FNC’s popular opinion hosts and personalities.”

The Fox News announcement heralded this new enterprise in terms that will be familiar and comfortable for their faithful devotees, noting that “insiders consider Fox Nation another step toward digital supremacy.” And whatever other types of supremacy they favor will be icing on the cake.

Fox Nation has long been a website that catered to the most extreme rightist crackpottery. They have posted links to articles by notorious conspiracy theorists and dedicated propagandists. They have altered headlines and content to comply with the conservative doctrines they espouse. And they have not been averse to spewing outright lies, as documented in my two books: “Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Community’s Assault On Truth” and “Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.” (Both available on Amazon). And there is no reason not to expect exactly the same sort of news distortion and purposeful deception from whatever the new Fox Nation turns out to be.