Month: September 2016

Trump’s Black Outreach Colorfully Crushed As ‘Nothing But A Scam’ (VIDEO)

Posted by on September 3, 2016 at 5:24 pm. 1 Comments :

On Friday Donald Trump went to Detroit to speak at the Great Faith Ministries Church. It was billed by the campaign as an attempt to reach out to African-American voters. However, most Americans saw it as a disingenuous political stunt aimed at making white voters more comfortable with a candidate who is widely perceived as racist. The speech itself was brazenly solicitous and devoid of sincerity.

Donald Trump

The first problem with Trump’s address was his opening assertion that he “meant it from the heart”. Which was difficult to believe considering the awkward way he read it from the script he was holding. The entire speech was prepared for him in advance. And much of his delivery sounded like he was reading it for the first time.

Trump recited an array of platitudes with little substance behind them. He talked about the African-American church being “the conscience of our country” and having the “spirit of charity and unity that binds us all together.” Astonishingly, he also said that “those who seek office do not do enough to step into the community and learn what is going on.” This from a candidate who just made his first foray into a minority community. What’s more, he only did so after being castigated for giving black themed speeches to majority white audiences.

Trump also spoke about the economy and jobs. He lamented that “When I see wages falling, people out of work, I know the hardships this inflicts.” Oh really? How does he know that? He has never suffered from low wages or unemployment. Perhaps he knows as a result of observing the people his bankrupt businesses have thrown into poverty. Or maybe he’s seen families whose jobs were eliminated when he moved his manufacturing operations to China, Bangladesh, and Mexico.

Among those who saw Trump’s speech was Wendell Anthony, the president of the Detroit chapter of the NAACP. Anthony appeared on CNN to respond to the insipid cliches Trump disgorged. He began by noting that Trump’s rhetoric “is doing no more than dividing this nation.” From there he rattled off many of the examples of Trump’s long record of bigotry. From lawsuits for racially discriminating against prospective black tenants, to his impractical and unlawful approach to immigration. Anthony reminded viewers that Trump said he didn’t want black people counting his money (only Jews). He also mentioned Trump’s opposition to livable wages. He railed against Trump’s campaign of deception saying:

“This is tantamount to a wolf coming to the farmhouse and asking the sheep to ‘let me lead you to greener pastures.’ When the pastures you’re gonna lead us to have no water, have nothing but weeds and dandelions in them, and do not increase us, but yet they diminish us. It’s nothing but a ruse. It’s nothing but a scam.”

Given that Trump’s support among African-Americans is hovering between two percent and zero, Anthony’s views are likely widely held. But he wasn’t finished. Past Republican strategy is visible in Trump’s current game plan. Anthony recognized the tactics of Lee Atwater that brought Nixon and Reagan and Bush to power. It’s the old southern strategy, he said, updated to 2016. And he wouldn’t let Trump’s obsession with President Obama’s birth certificate go unnoticed. Trump is one of the most persistent purveyors of the racist birther theories.

Most prominent in Anthony’s remarks was his view that Trump’s campaign rhetoric can’t be trusted. He continually changes what he says to conform to his audience or to escape ridicule when he says something stupid (i.e. daily). So it becomes impossible to predict which Trump will show up on any given occasion. And because Trump so often contradicts himself, Anthony wisely refuses to take him at face value saying that:

“You cannot determine the nature of a tree by the bark that it wears or but the fruit that it bears. Donald Trump has borne bad fruit. There are worms in it. And when you eat it you get sick. And when you go to the hospital, he doesn’t even want you have ObamaCare.”

He paints a pretty picture, doesn’t he? Here is Anthony’s whole segment on CNN. If Trump truly believes what he said about listening to the black community, he ought to watch this video. It is more representative than anything he’ll hear from the sycophants in his campaign.

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

Fox News Debate Moderator’s Ex-Boss Is Prepping Trump For The Debates

Posted by on September 2, 2016 at 8:31 pm. 1 Comments :

The 2016 presidential debates are now set with dates and moderators. They will be the most influential campaign events in the final two months of this election cycle. How they are produced and managed can have an impact nearly as significant as the performance of the candidates.

Baby Trump

For the past few weeks Donald Trump has been whining about the debate formats and moderators. Unlike Hillary Clinton, he has still not officially accepted the invitation to participate. To the contrary, he has been threatening to ditch the whole affair. He tweeted that the debates as scheduled were “Unacceptable,” and that “Hillary & the Dems are trying to rig the debates.” Furthermore, in an attempt to work the refs, he told Time Magazine that “certain moderators would be unacceptable, absolutely.”

Well, Donald Trump’s tantrums may have yielded some results (much like they did throughout the GOP primary debates). The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) just released their list of moderators. Lester Holt of NBC will host the first debate on September 26. The second will feature CNN’s Anderson Cooper and ABC’s Martha Radditz in a town hall format. The final debate will be moderated by Chris Wallace of Fox News.

The CPD managed to select journalists with reputations for fair, if bland, reporting for the first two debates. The problem comes in the third debate with Chris Wallace. Until a few weeks ago Wallace reported to Roger Ailes, the disgraced ex-CEO of Fox News who was ousted following multiple charges of sexual harassment. Prior to his exit, Wallace defended Ailes vigorously, and they remain close friends.

Ailes is now working for the Trump campaign, specifically helping to prep him for the debates with Clinton. The close relationship between Ailes and Wallace is unseemly at best. Will Ailes try to influence his pal on the topics or questions that will be asked? Will Wallace show favor to the candidate employing his friend and former boss?

While these questions can’t be answered with any certainty, the mere suggestions create enough of a conflict to have disqualified Wallace from moderating. Imagine the Republican howling that would ensue if a Clinton aide had a similar relationship with a debate moderator. Trump himself would throw fits of outrage at the bias and corruption of the system. Yet there has been nary a peep from anyone in the campaigns or the press about this blatant favoritism.

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

The presence of Wallace on the debate stage sets a low standard for fairness that will be difficult to overcome. Only time will tell if he has any interest in doing so. But the most revealing aspect of this development is what has not occurred. Donald Trump has not (as yet) complained about the lineup. That’s a pretty good indicator that he feels he got what he wanted. Too bad the voters who will be watching won’t be able to say the same thing.

Sorry GOP Haters: Clinton Foundation Given Top Rating By Charity Watchdog

Posted by on September 1, 2016 at 5:22 pm. 3 Comments :

Republicans have an obsessive compulsion to viciously denigrate anything associated with Democrats, and especially Hillary Clinton. Their derangement reached a pinnacle when they decided to go after the Clinton Foundation. It was a repugnant political tactic that could have a devastating impact on the life-saving work of the organization. Republicans, however, are more concerned with smearing Clinton than saving lives.

Hillary Clinton

Today their strategy of demonizing the Clinton’s hit a snag. Charity Navigator, America’s largest independent charity evaluator, completed an analysis of the Clinton Foundation that resulted in awarding it their highest rating. The Associated Press reports that:

“The Clinton Foundation received four out of four stars — the highest rating that Charity Navigator gives after a close look at a charity’s finances. The rating is based on annual federal tax documents and an objective algorithm.”

Rightist critics have been blasting the Clinton Foundation for unfounded charges of providing access to Clinton when she served as Secretary of State. To date they have produced no evidence that there were any favors or special treatment given to Foundation donors. So they re-aimed their rancor at the Foundation’s operations with charges of corruption. They alleged that the Foundation was negligent in funding worthy causes. That specific charge was refuted in by another non-profit evaluator:

“According to its 2014 consolidated tax report, the Clinton Foundation spends about 12 percent of its budget on running the foundation. Another watchdog, Charity Watch, previously gave the Clinton Foundation an “A” rating on a scale of A-F.”

Despite these glowing reviews, the GOP continues to slander the Foundation. Fox News, of course, pulled out all the stops to advance these lies. Bill O’Reilly complained that Clinton was “Using a charity for private gain.” Charles Krauthammer called it a “gigantic slush fund.” Jeanine Pirro and Monica Crowley both said it was a “money-laundering operation.” None of these charges had any evidence to back them up. Not to be left out, Donald Trump himself has taken a leading role in the obviously coordinated attacks. He alleged that the Foundation was a “vast criminal enterprise run out of the State Department.” Which begs the quest: Why did he donate $100,000 to the Foundation through his own foundation?

Speaking of which, the Trump Foundation contrasts very poorly with the admirable work done by the Clintons. Vanity Fair described it as a sham:

“Publicly available records for the Trump Foundation show that the real estate mogul has donated very little of his own money to his charity. Even more damning is the fact that few of those donations have gone to legitimate charitable causes, unless you count Trump’s own social interests and society galas as charities.”

Just this week additional proof of Trump’s corruption was exposed when it was reported that he paid a fine for making an illegal political donation with his foundation’s money. Even worse, the gift appears to be an attempt to buy off a prosecutor who was investigating him for fraud:

“Donald Trump paid a $2,500 fine to the IRS this year after it was discovered that the mogul’s namesake charity had illegally made a $25,000 political contribution, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.

“The Donald J. Trump Foundation gave the money to a group called ‘Justice for All,’ which was supporting Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi’s campaign. At the time, Bondi was weighing whether to pursue an investigation into allegations of fraud that had been leveled against Trump University. She eventually declined to bring charges.”

All of this makes it rather remarkable that Trump and his Republican cronies are condemning Clinton without any factual basis. While at the same time his reputation is in tatters and the damage is fully documented. The stellar ratings awarded to Clinton’s Foundation prove that her family has been operating their Foundation with integrity and transparency. Hopefully this news will break through the media clutter of Trump’s hate speech and phony Clinton scandals. The more we share this good news, the more good it will do come November.

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

Fox News ‘Psycho’ Analyst Lauds Donald Trump’s Crank Yanking

Posted by on September 1, 2016 at 12:57 pm. 3 Comments :

I want to apologize in advance for writing this article. I tried my best to avoid it but, in the end, this was too important to pass up. In just two months America will be deciding who will lead this nation and this fundamental issue needs to be on the record.

Fox News Ablow

The “Curvy Couch” potatoes of Fox & Friends were stirred up after hearing that Hillary Clinton was “consulting psychologists about Trump’s biggest insecurities to bait him into making mistakes on the debate stage.” So they brought in “Dr.” Keith Ablow, a member of the Fox News Medical A-Team, to give his professional psychiatric opinion about Clinton’s debate prep.

Ablow’s response briefly touched on the subject, but quickly diverted to another area that was more closely associated with his specialty – exalting perverts. Ablow inexplicably swerved off into a discourse on the courage Donald Trump showed by bragging about his manhood:

“I have to say, when the small hands issue was raised during the debate, this supposedly got the Clinton campaign very excited. They thought, ‘Man, he’s off his game.’ He wasn’t off his game at all. Freud would have been standing up, like applauding, standing ovation. To be able to address such an intensely personal issue and say, ‘Listen, there’s no problem in that department,’ to me that showed an incredible degree of psychological strength.”

Of course. The first indication of psychological strength is when someone is so insecure about themselves that they have to convince twenty million strangers how well endowed they are. It’s particularly admirable when such boasting is done in pursuit of the presidency. In Ablow’s mind democracy will be perfected when debates are replaced with dick measuring contests (sorry Hillary).

Ablow can add this to his other political diagnoses that found merit in the most repulsive character flaws. For instance, he recently praised Trump’s narcissism as “exactly what America needs.” He declared that Newt Gingrich was honorable for being unfaithful to multiple wives. And he even praised the Unabomber’s sociopathic philosophy.

All of these actually apply to Trump pretty well. He has obsessive penis envy; he is a textbook narcissist; he has also cheated on multiple wives; and his approach to public service is rife with sociopathic tendencies. These are the key components of the Cult of Trump.

So thank you, Dr. Ablow, for once again revealing your ignorance of the human mind. A few months ago Trump insulted his own followers by saying they were so stupid they would continue to support him even if he shot someone on Fifth Avenue. Apparently Ablow is among that glassy-eyed assembly of disciples. If Trump confessed to being a crack addict or a pedophile Ablow would praise his commitment to stick to unpopular positions. No matter what horrific personality disorder Trump displays, Ablow will spin it into a virtue. And Fox News will give him a platform to spread his nauseating psychobabble.

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