Month: June 2018

Donald Trump, the Reality TV President, Seen Yelling at Kids on the White House Lawn

Posted by on June 15, 2018 at 2:52 pm. 1 Comments :

Fresh from his return from Fantasy President Camp in Singapore, Donald Trump is reconnecting with his friends at home. Even though he already misses his new BFF, Kim Jong Un (who he wants so badly to emulate), Trump tried to mask his sadness by lashing out at old foes in the media, which he regards as “our country’s biggest enemy.”

Donald Trump, Fox News, Steve Doocy

Watching from his bathroom window where he tweets his official presidential pronouncements, Trump saw his pals from Fox and Friends on the White House lawn and went downstairs to play. Unfortunately, he also ran into those meanies from the other news networks who keep insisting on asking him real questions, rather than the tongue baths he gets from Fox News.

In the course of a few awkward encounters, Trump managed to challenge his own record for lies-per-minute. He brazenly lied about the FBi’s Inspector General report exonerating him. It did no such thing. While it found some opinions expressed inappropriately by a couple of agents, it concluded that there was no bias in their work. It also found that all of the errors of judgment identified resulted in harm to Hillary Clinton’s campaign, not Trump’s.

He also lied about his administration’s heinous policy of ripping apart immigrant families. He blamed it on Democratic laws that do not exist. He lied about Paul Manafort, who he said worked for his campaign for only forty-nine days. It was actually 144 days during a critical period where he relied on Manafort to secure him delegate votes at the Republican National Convention.

But he wasn’t through lying yet. He blamed President Obama for Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea. Naturally he wouldn’t blame his buddy Vlad, who he still doesn’t press to get out of Ukraine. And Trump also told a bizarre lie about the parents of Korean war dead asking him to bring back their remains. Those parents, who numbered in the hundreds, would have to be over 100 years old.

Perhaps the most telling exchange occurred between Trump and Fox and Friends co host, Steve Doocy. Trump revealed what is the highest priority of his presidency. In his banter with Doocy he said (video below):

Trump: You have a lot of fun, right? Supposing Hillary got elected instead of Trump. You think it would be so exciting? Your ratings would be way down. [To the camera] Number one show in the morning folks.
Doocy: Well, thank you. In cable news, that’s right.
Trump: Also beyond cable news you’re doing pretty well.
Doocy: We’re doing okay. Thanks for dropping by.
Trump: I like ratings. I study ratings.

So Trump is validating his election because it goosed the ratings for Fox News? And if Clinton had won their popularity would have suffered? That’s literally what he thinks is one of his great achievements. He even brags about his affinity for television ratings and his expertise in the subject. Never mind his prior statements that he doesn’t have time to watch TV because – documents.

It’s good to know that he studies ratings, because he sure doesn’t study legislation, economics, foreign policy, or any other prerequisite for being president. He’s obviously obsessed with his own ratings. He stages bill signings with silly photo ops where he proudly displays his penmanship before the gathered press corps. He frequently boasts about the attendance at his rallies and the ratings for his speeches, even when those numbers are embarrassingly low. And whenever there is a poll that shows him tick up a fraction of a point, he blasts it out to his Twitter followers, despite the fact that he remains in the thirties or low forties, and has never gotten near fifty percent.

This is what happens when a TV game show host with no experience in politics or governing is put in the White House by Russian cyber-spies and domestic white supremacists. Now America must endure until either Congress or the law enforcement authorities succeed in putting him where he belongs: a prison camp where he can make new friends with the same diseased morals that he has.

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

Trump: I Want ‘My People’ To Worship Me Like North Koreans Worship Kim Jong Un

Posted by on June 15, 2018 at 10:01 am. 6 Comments :

Donald Trump spoke briefly to reporters at the White House Friday morning and revealed something about himself that is both frightening and consistent with his past displays of tyrannical aspirations.

Donald Trump Tyrant Dictator

While engaged in his morning ritual of “Executive Time” (aka sitting on the toilet and disgorging himself via Twitter), Trump noticed the scrum of media outside and wondered aloud if he should go out and visit with the hosts of his favorite Fox News show, Fox and Friends. So, unsurprisingly, he did just that. But when he got there he managed to blurt out something that surely represents his most inner, and most despicable thoughts. Speaking enviously of Kim Jong Un’s unquestioned adulation by the oppressed people of North Korea, Trump said that:

“He speaks and his people sit up in attention. I want my people to do the same.”

And there you have it. Donald Trump is now openly lusting for the sort of obedience that only dictators can muster. It’s a thoroughly repugnant and un-American notion. He needs to be told that the citizens of America are not HIS people. They are his bosses. He works for us and is not entitled to blind devotion.

That’s especially true of a president who is under investigation for traitorous collusion with Russia for stealing an election. Also for criminal fraud with regard to his phony charity. Also for paying hush money to an adult film star who he had an affair with just months after his wife gave birth to his son. Also for breaching the emoluments clause of the Constitution by receiving money from hostile foreign agents. Also for obstruction of justice.

Americans are, in fact, sitting up and paying attention – to the criminality, dishonesty, bigotry, and ignorance of the grotesque perversion that is (temporarily) occupying the White House. He will never have the admiration of the vast majority of citizens who are justifiably ashamed that he is representing this nation. But not for much longer.

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

Sarah Sanders Uses Bible to Defend Trump’s Heinous Policy of Ripping Apart Families Seeking Asylum

Posted by on June 14, 2018 at 3:00 pm. 7 Comments :

The White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, is best known for her ability to dispassionately lie about any matter that arises in the course of the daily press briefings. It’s a skill that most of the rabid zealots in Donald Trump’s administration sorely lack. But it often comes across as callous when the subject requires some measure of empathy.

Sarah Huckabee-Sanders

That was exhibited in spades on Thursday as Sanders was questioned about the heart-wrenching policy that Trump has enacted to rip crying children from the arms of their terrified parents. This policy has drawn broad condemnation from across the political spectrum, yet Trump and Co. refuse to halt its enforcement. That position took a peculiar turn when Attorney General Jeff Sessions cited a bible verse to justify his nauseating actions. However, the quotation he addressed only referred to obedience of the law, but made no reference to tearing families apart. Even Trump-supporting evangelical Franklin Graham called the policy “disgraceful.” At the daily press briefing, Sanders was asked by CNN’s Jim Acosta to comment on the remarks by Sessions (video below):

Acosta: On these children that are being separated from their families as they come across the border, the Attorney General earlier today said that somehow there is justification for this in the bible. Where does it say in the Bible that it’s moral to take children away from their mothers?
Sanders: I’m not aware of the Attorney General’s comment or what he would be referencing. I can say say that it is very biblical to enforce the law. That is actually repeated a number of times throughout the Bible.
Acosta: You just said it’s in the bible to follow the law…
Sanders: That’s not what I said. And I know it’s hard for you to understand even short sentences, I guess.

Huh? That’s exactly what she said just seconds before denying that she said it. This is advanced level gaslighting. And in the process of flagrantly lying about what she just said, Sanders delivers a wholly inappropriate insult with regard to Acosta’s ability to understand her short (dishonest) sentences. It’s notable that other reporters raised the same inquiries, but Acosta, a Latino reporter from CNN, was the only one she insulted. And if Sanders is looking for an appropriate bible verse to quote, she might try this one referring to refugees (sojourners) from Leviticus (19:33-34) which, when President Obama cited it, Fox News went berserk:

“33. And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not do him wrong. 34. The stranger that sojourneth with you shall be unto you as the home-born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were sojourners in the land of Egypt.”

Sanders then went on to accuse Democrats of being responsible for the law requiring the separation of undocumented children from their parents. But there is no such law. It is being done as a result of an arbitrary policy implemented solely by the Trump administration. Nevertheless, Sanders said that Trump has called on Democrats to change the (nonexistent) law. But she fails to explain how Democrats could do that when they are in the minority and have no power to introduce or pass such legislation. Likewise, she ignores why Republicans, who do have the power, don’t just change the law themselves. Since they have the majority, they could make this issue go away overnight. What’s stopping them?

Among the other journalists questioning Sanders about this were Paula Reid of CBS, who advised Sanders, in vain, that there was no law mandating the separation of children. Also Brian Karem of Sentinel Newspapers made an impassioned plea asking “Sarah, you’re a parent. Don’t you have empathy for what these people are going through?” Sanders responded by recognizing a different reporter for an unrelated question. And that’s fairly typical of how she and Trump deal with difficult issues that require compassion and some expression of humanity.

Also brought up in the briefing were reports that Sanders and her deputy, Raj Shah, are planning their exit from the White House sometime this year. She would neither confirm nor deny the reports, but still criticized the reporting. We’ll see what she say when she actually leaves, which is all but certain. And we’ll also see what direction Trump will take when he names her replacement. I’m betting on Kimberly Guilfoyle of Fox News since she’s already sleeping with Don, Jr.

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

Here’s a Quick Primer on the Criminal Corruption of the Trump Foundation

Posted by on June 14, 2018 at 10:21 am. 1 Comments :

The New York Attorney General’s office just filed suit against Donald Trump, his family (Eric, Ivanka and Don,Jr.), and the phony charity they call the Trump Foundation. The suit announced by NY Attorney General Barbara Underwood alleges multiple violations of both state and federal charities law. It further seeks to place temporary bans on the Trumps from serving as directors of a New York not-for-profit.

Donald Trump

The Attorney General’s public statement was a damning expose of how Trump used the Foundation to enrich himself by exploiting people in need:

“As our investigation reveals, the Trump Foundation was little more than a checkbook for payments from Mr. Trump or his business to nonprofits, regardless of their purpose or legality.”

Naturally Trump responded in a rage-a-holic tweetstorm that made little sense, blaming his depravity on others. Specifically, he tweeted condemnations of “sleazy Democrats” and an attack on a former NY Ag who is not a part of this suit. And of course he had to bring the Clintons into it because, well, because he’s Donald Trump and isn’t smart enough to come up with a coherent defense. And finally, he insisted that he would not settle, a claim he’s made often in the past, right before settling (see Trump University).

News Corpse has been covering the illegal and immoral operations of the Trump Foundation for some time. Here is a brief summary of how Trump and Co. used their wealth and position to rip off unfortunates and stuff their pockets:

Trump Spends 100K From His ‘Charity’ To Quash Fraud Charges In NY
The Trump Foundation paid out $100,000 to Citizen’s United, a conservative group who was suing the NY Attorney General.

BUSTED: Trump Used His ‘Charity’ To Pay Off His Own Legal Settlements
IRS filings by the Trump Foundation show that charitable funds were used to settle Trump’s personal or business debts.

Donald Trump Caught Outright Lying About ‘Donation’ To Florida Attorney General
The Trump Foundation made an unlawful $25,000 political donation to a group called “And Justice For All.” The group was supporting the reelection of Pam Bondi, the Attorney General of Florida. Shortly after Bondi dropped a Florida state suit against Trump University.

Trump Charges Eric’s Cancer Charity for Kids Exorbitant Fees to Use His Golf Resort
The charity had been donating the use of Trump resorts to St. Jude Children’s Hospital until daddy intervened and insisted that they be charged for use of the facilities.

LOCK HER UP: Ivanka Trump’s ‘Charity’ Auction Sells White House Access To Wealthy Bidders
Ivanka Trump put up an auction on the Charitybuzz website. It offered an opportunity to “Enjoy Coffee with Ivanka Trump.” The bidding started at a hefty $50,000. The bidders admitted that they were buying access to the President.

New York Times Shatters Trump’s Denial that He Took 150G From a Ukrainian Oligarch
The New York Times posted a well researched article about Trump receiving $150,000 from a Ukrainian oligarch as payment for a twenty minute video address in September of 2015. The money was “donated” to Trump’s foundation.

And just for some balance:

Sorry GOP Haters: Clinton Foundation Given Top Rating By Charity Watchdog
The two top charity groups that independently evaluate non-profits, Charity Navigator and Charity Watch, both gave the Clinton Foundation their highest ratings.

Despite Trump’s temper tantrums and Twitter outbursts, there are good reasons for the NY Attorney General to hold him accountable for a long list of breaches of the law. In fact, it’s the validity of the charges that make Trump so angry and, quite obviously, afraid. We’ll have to wait and see where this litigation winds up, along with all of the other legal swamps Trump is currently wallowing in.

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

Trump Calls the Media ‘Our Country’s Biggest Enemy’ – But America Trusts the Media More

Posted by on June 13, 2018 at 4:32 pm. 4 Comments :

This is getting monotonous. Once again Donald Trump has lashed out at the free press and exhibited his utter contempt for the Constitution. In a Wednesday afternoon tweet the President made his position clear – again – about what he regards as the “biggest enemy” of the country. And it isn’t murderous dictators like Kim Jong Un or Vladimir Putin.

Donald Trump

The tweet that Trump posted was a response to his critics who correctly pointed out that his meeting with Kim produced nothing for the United States, but gave Kim everything he hoped for. Kim was able to stand next to the leader of the free world as an equal with the international diplomatic legitimacy that he craved. He got Trump to call off military exercises with South Korea, leaving us, as well as our allies, unprepared for whatever potential risks exist in the region. Trump even promised to remove the sanctions on North Korea before any action to denuclearize on Kim’s part.

The United States, however, got nothing but empty promises from a known liar – or liars (Kim and Trump). And Trump slammed unnamed (nonexistent) critics who he said “would have ‘begged’ for this deal-looked like war would break out.” But the only threat of war came from Trump himself. And now that he’s cozying up to Kim he wants credit for ending the crisis he manufactured. The tweet said:

The most troubling part of that deranged outburst is that Trump is repeating a dangerously anti-American rant that he has embraced for months. By calling CNN and NBC the biggest of America’s enemies he’s proving that he doesn’t understand foreign affairs or the risk scenarios that this country faces. He is completely wrapped up in his ego-bubble that informs him that only criticism of him is an actual threat. That could end up being a tragic mistake for the welfare of the nation.

Setting aside how delusional and perilous Trump’s paranoid fantasies are, they are also contradicted by hard data. A new poll by Public Policy Polling shows that the media that Trump detests so much is held in much higher esteem by the American people. The survey asked voters who they trust more, Trump or a variety of news enterprises. Here is a summary of who is more trusted:

  • CNN: 53% / Trump: 38%
  • NBC: 53% / Trump: 39%
  • ABC: 53% / Trump: 39%
  • CBS: 53% / Trump: 39%
  • New York Times: 52% / Trump: 38%
  • Washington Post: 51% / Trump: 38%
  • Fox News: 32% / Trump: 26%
  • Media: 48% / Sarah Huckabee Sanders: 35%

The trust of the media is pretty constant no matter the source. It’s a clear majority in the low fifties. The lack of trust for Trump is also consistently dismal in the upper thirties. Even poor Sarah Sanders is regarded as less credible than the media she lies to on a daily basis. The one anomaly in the group is Fox News. That’s likely because the survey respondents couldn’t decide who they trust most or least because they couldn’t tell the two apart. But even Fox News media correspondent Howard Kurtz says Trump’s media bashing has gone too far.

There was plenty of other bad news for Trump in this survey. For instance, Democratic voters are more excited about the upcoming election than Republicans. And voters overall prefer Democrats to the GOP. Trump’s approval still can’t crack forty percent. He’s considered dishonest, a liar, mentally unbalanced, in cahoots with Russia, and that he hasn’t made America great again.

The people think Trump should resign if proof emerges that he was working with Russia. They don’t want him to fire special counsel Robert Mueller or pardon himself. A plurality believe he should be impeached. And by wide margins people want a DACA bill passed, but do not want a wall along the Mexican border. His views on gun reforms are rejected by most Americans. And every Democrat posed as a 2020 challenger defeats him.

Other than that it’s clear sailing for Trump. And these results come after two years of endless bashing of Democrats and progressive policies by the President on Twitter and his State TV colleagues on Fox News. No wonder Trump thinks the biggest enemy is the media. Because it’s his enemy. Not because it’s biased against him. But because anything that might reveal more of his deceit and corruption is going to anger him. And that’s the only thing he cares about. And it’s also something that he has no control over, which only exacerbates his rage.

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

On Fox News Trump Shill Kellyanne Conway Affirms Demand to Censor CNN Reporter

Posted by on June 13, 2018 at 12:07 pm. 3 Comments :

Throughout Donald Trump’s presidency he has made a point expressing his hostility to the Constitution’s protection of the free press and to anyone who would challenge his supremacy as King of America. Trump has slandered the media in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the American people.” And he frequently calls out reporters by name to accuse them of being “fake news.” Of course, by his definition any news that is less than glassy-eyed adoration he regards as fake.

Kellyanne Conway

As the Trump-Kim Circus drew to a close this week, Trump’s campaign manager, Brad Parscale, parroted Trump’s loathing for the press in a Tweet that appears to imitate Trump’s own rancor. He said that:

That anti-American outburst drew an appropriate reply from CNN’s Acosta, who told Parscale that “Dictatorships take away press credentials. Not democracies.” Not that that will have any impact on the censorious attitudes of Trump and his minions. Earlier Parscale posted a similarly totalitarian notion in a tweet that said that “The media should be cheering @realDonaldTrump’s progress with North Korea.” As if it’s the job of the media to “cheer” for any politician.

Naturally, Fox News rushed to Parscale’s defense by delivering their own attack on Acosta. On Fox and Friends, co-host Ainsley Earhardt introduced a segment with Trump’s Senior Counselor, Kellyanne Conway, by quoting the headline of an article from the ultra-rightist website, The Daily Wire: “Watch: CNN’s Jim Acosta interrupts historic signing ceremony, shouts at Trump.” Surprisingly, she then played the video showing Acosta to be rather demure and respectful, which contradicts the whole narrative of her reporting. That was followed by this exchange (video below):

Earhardt: So there are some critics, Kellyanne, saying that he was choosing the wrong moment, a historic moment, to throw out questions to the President. And then the 2020 campaign manager for President Trump, Brad Parscale, who’s been on our show before, he’s now calling for Acosta to lose his press credentials. He thought it was inappropriate. What are your thoughts, and what are the President’s thoughts?
Conway: Well, some people in the White House press corps do that routinely. I’m not naming any names cause why give it oxygen? They certainly want to make it about me, myself, and I. On Twitter they’re all a hot mess with all this snark and bark toward this president and those who work for him, including those at the White House, in the Cabinet and elsewhere. Things that would not pass editorial muster in the newspaper. I call it social media muscle, cable news cajones. Many of them demonstrate that but don’t have the courage.

Conway, of course, is an expert on hot messes and can snark and bark with the best of them. but if you’re paying attention you will have noticed that Conway failed to take issue with Parscale’s desire to see reporters get punished for being independent and aggressive seekers of truth. Rather, she affirmed the criticism that anyone who disagrees with the President is an annoyance and a coward who ought to be silenced. That’s the sort of philosophy practiced by tyrants like Trump’s new BFF, Kim Jong Un. And Conway elaborated on by adding that:

“People really need to figure out how to cover this president in a respectful manner. They can be skeptical. They can be probing. But there’s a time and a place. Be a polite house guest.”

Exactly. Treat Trump with the same measure of refined courtesy that Fox News and Conway treated President Obama for eight years. You remember. The constant allegations that he was a Muslim born in Kenya who associated with terrorists and hated America. That kind of “respectful manners.” Right?

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

The 12 Most Dumbfounding Things Trump Said in His Post-Singapore Press Gathering

Posted by on June 12, 2018 at 12:23 pm. 2 Comments :

It’s the morning after Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice: Singapore Fling. And the consequences of sending an ill-informed man-child to conference with an international thug are beginning to sink in. The accomplishments that Trump predictably brags are the greatest of any human endeavor in the history of mankind are clearly a bundle of unconfirmed promises by two unreliable and notoriously dishonest leaders.

Donald Trump, Kim Jong Un

There will be an enormous amount of analysis of the event and its eventual repercussions. Fox News will hail Trump as the Second Coming and push for a Nobel Prize. Less biased news outlets will likely explore the complicated nature of international relations and the difficulties of implementing and certifying long-term agreements. So for the time being, News Corpse will simply provide a record of some of the dumbfounding (with an emphasis on the “dumb”) remarks that Trump made during a media event following the summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. So without further ado, here are. . . . .

The 12 Most Dumbfounding Things Trump Said in His Post-Singapore Press Gathering

“This is a big gathering of media, I will say. Makes me feel very uncomfortable.”
Of course it does. Any exposure to the free press threatens to reveal your innate deceit and corruption.

“Kim wants to do what’s right.”
Naturally, That’s the first inclination of all murderous tyrants.

“We signed a very, very comprehensive document and I believe he will live up to that document.”
Actually, the document specifies nothing, contains no details for implementation, and merely indicates an intention to talk more in the future. Still, your confidence in Kim’s utterly unproven sincerity is so sweet.

“We got to know each other well in a very confined period of time.”
Kind of reminds me of when George W. Bush “looked [Putin] in the eye” and got “a sense of his soul.” That worked out well.

“Chairman Kim has an opportunity like no other. To be remembered as the leader who ushered in a glorious new era.”
Which is much better than being remembered for committing human rights abuses on hundreds of thousands of your own people.

“We have 32,000 soldiers in South Korea. I would like to be able to bring them back home.”
Something tells me that the people of South Korea and Japan, as well as Americans concerned about world security, wouldn’t like that very much.

“We will stop the war games which will save us a tremendous amount of money.”
And also insure that we’re unprepared in the event that North Korea doesn’t comply with their promise to work toward denuclearization. (p.s. It aint that much money and South Korea pays much of it).

“What did they do to justify this meeting? Secured commitment for complete denuclearization. That’s the big thing.”
That would be a big thing – if they had actually done it.

“Seoul has 28 million people. Think of that. It is right next to the border. It is right next to the DMZ [demilitarized zone]. It’s right there. If this would have happened — I have heard 100,000 people. I think you could have lost 20 million people or 30 million people. This is really an honor for me to do this. I think potentially you could have lost 30 million or 40 million people. The city of Seoul. It is right next to the border.”
In one short paragraph the potential loss of life went from 100,000 to 20 million to 30 million to 40 million. For a city of 28 million.

“We have a tremendous, tremendous deficit in trade. Commonly known as a trade deficit.”
Thanks for that explanation, Einstein.

“Are there recordings of [the Trump-Kim meeting]? […] I have one of the great memories of all time. I don’t have to do that.
Except that Trump couldn’t even remember saying that he has “the world’s greatest memory.”

“I may be wrong. I may stand before you in six months and say, hey, I was wrong. I don’t know I’ll ever admit that. I’ll find some excuse.”
Really? Here we have the President saying explicitly that he will lie and that he will never take responsibility for his failures. Of course, we already knew that about him, but this is the first time he’s admitted it himself, in public.

It’s hard to comprehend that the person making these statements is the sitting President of the United States. And it’s even harder to imagine the potential harm that he’s capable of doing if left to his devices. Many politicians and pundits are now calling for the country to unite behind Trump and hope for his success in these endeavors. And of course, all Americans want to see a lasting peace in the world and a reduction in the threats that nuclear arms represent.

Unfortunately, Trump provides little confidence that he’s someone who’s capable of achieving those goals. His record consists mainly of antagonizing our allies and cozying up to our enemies. And that’s when he isn’t colluding with them to steal our elections or pocketing cash from his corrupt business enterprises.

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

Fox News Ignores Trump’s Attack on ObamaCare – While Criticizing the Media for Ignoring It

Posted by on June 11, 2018 at 3:30 pm. 2 Comments :

Last week Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that he would not mount a defense of the provision in the Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare) that prohibits insurance companies from discriminating against people with preexisting conditions. It is now the official position of Donald Trump’s Justice Department that if you have ever been diagnosed as diabetic, a had migraine, been pregnant, taken cholesterol medication, or suffered any of a thousand other common maladies, your insurance company should be allowed to charge you exorbitant rates or refuse to cover you at all.

Fox News, Howard Kurtz

This decision could result in millions of citizens losing their health insurance and risking the lives of themselves and their families. It is a coldhearted and utterly unnecessary action on the part of an administration that long ago proved it doesn’t care about ordinary Americans. The decision was covered by most news organizations last week. Perhaps not with the frequency and urgency it warranted, but there was broad coverage by the likes of the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, NBC, ABC, and CBS. Notice anyone missing?

The conspicuous absence of Fox News in this list should not surprise anybody. The Justice Department, under direction of the White House, has just taken a position that could seriously damage the electoral prospects of dozens of Republican candidates. The provision protecting for preexisting conditions may be the most popular part of ObamaCare. So Fox News appears to have made a deliberate decision to bury the story. And that possibility became more plausible on Monday when Fox’s chief media correspondent addressed the matter in a web-only video. Howard Kurtz, host of Fox News MediaBuzz, acknowledged both the significance of the issue and the limited coverage (video below):

“It was the most important issue in American politics for years. I’m talking here about ObamaCare. You’ll recall that the House Republicans – what – repealed ObamaCare about a thousand times while President Obama was still in office.” […]

“Now the Trump administration seems determined to strangle the law. And this news, it was covered and there’s been some newspaper stories but very little on television. The administration is now going to court – or getting involved in a court suit in which it says it will no longer defend really the pillar of ObamaCare which is no ban on preexisting conditions. This is pretty stunning news because if there’s one thing that almost everybody likes about the law – and lots of things that people did not like about the law – but it was the idea that if you were sick, you had a condition, you had a heart problem, you had cancer, whatever it was, insurance companies could not turn you down or charge you four times as much as any other people who got insurance.”

There’s just one glaring problem with this video. It never aired on Fox News. Kurtz spent four minutes decrying the sparse treatment this issue received on TV, but he said nothing about it on his own hour long media-focused program on Sunday. In this video he says that the “relatively little television coverage” the matter got was “striking” to him. But if he thought it was that important, then why didn’t he bring it up it on his show? And why didn’t he note that every other national television news network did multiple segments on it, but not Fox News? He is as guilty as his colleagues of ignoring this story, and maybe more hypocritical.

However, Kurtz is right about this issue needing more attention from the media. And it will likely get that attention as the November election gets closer and Democrats make an issue of it. Kurtz even pointed out that a recent poll showed that seventy-five percent of Democrats, and sixty-three percent of Republicans, approve of the law protecting people with preexisting conditions. He even noted that Trump had supported it during the 2016 election. But the only coverage you’ll see of this on Fox News will be in the service of Republicans as they attack proponents of healthcare during their upcoming campaigns. Or maybe in web-only videos that most people will never see.

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

Fox News Issues a Rare Correction For Accidentally Telling the Truth About Trump

Posted by on June 10, 2018 at 2:57 pm. NO Comments :

On Sunday morning Donald Trump’s favorite TV show, Fox and Friends, was engaged in their customary Trump-fluffing parade of propaganda. The President had just embarrassed the nation at the G7 meeting where he advocated for Russia, insulted American media, and made sure to blame all of his failures on his predecessors in the White House.

Fox News Breaking

Just prior to jetting off to Singapore for a summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, Trump also tossed a rhetorical grenade back at Canada. He called Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a liar and refused to join the other six member nations in a joint communique. The meeting that he previously described as “very, very successful,” was ditched as total waste of time. So naturally Fox News heartily praised Trump as a visionary leader who can do no wrong. Well, except for “Curvy Couch” potato Abby Huntsman, who had this to say as Trump arrived in Singapore:

“Regardless of what happens in that meeting between the two dictators, what we are seeing right now, this is history.”

Oh my. Dr. Freud may want to consult on this little slip. But never fear, Huntsman must have been alerted to her “mistake” by a rattled control room, and she quickly gave an on-air apology:

Ordinarily Fox News will not apologize for their obvious and egregious misstatements and deliberate lies. That’s a trait they share with the President they love so much they emulate him. When they do apologize it’s usually in a tweet or a press release that no one but newsroom insiders ever see. Fox News has still never apologized for their slanderous stories about the murdered DNC employee, Seth Rich. Just last night Fox’s Jesse Watters did a segment where he ran a video of violent right-wingers but said they were anti-fascist demonstrators. There has been no apology or correction. Neither have there been any corrections for the innumerable falsehoods of Donald Trump that Fox parrots as facts.

But Huntsman did apologize for accidentally – and some would say correctly – calling Trump a dictator. That’s because they wouldn’t want to let any negative impressions of Dear Leader go uncorrected. But all of the times they “inadvertently” disparaged Democrats or liberals are left to stand despite being alerted to the mistakes and called upon to correct them.

We’re still waiting for Abby Huntsman to apologize for saying Trump is “a phony and desperate for media attention,” in this 2015 segment when she worked for MSNBC:

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

America’s Crybaby: Trump Responds to Trudeau Like a Petulant Wimp Who’s Incapable of Governing

Posted by on June 10, 2018 at 8:59 am. 2 Comments :

Everyday Donald Trump burdens America with more reasons to be embarrassed by his infantile behavior. This would be disturbing if he were just a real estate investor or a TV game show host. But as the President of the United States it’s downright terrifying. Trump’s emotional immaturity is a national security risk that needs to be addressed before he does some lasting harm to the nation or the world.

Donald Trump, Angela Merkel

The latest example of Trump’s ill-mannered peevishness came at the conclusion of the G7 meetings in Canada. Trump held a mini press briefing to give his summary of the conference before jetting off to Singapore for a summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. He spent much of that time whining about how the U.S., in his opinion, was treated unfairly by the world (which he blamed on his predecessors in the White House) and how dishonest the media is (always the victim). Nevertheless, Trump hailed the results overall saying that “We’ve concluded a really tremendously successful G7.” And when asked about his relationship with the other members he rated it as a “ten” on a scale of zero to ten.

That era of good feelings, however, didn’t last long. A few short hours later, Trump demonstrated that he is thoroughly unstable and untrustworthy as a national leader. His reaction to comments by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau revealed his fatally flawed mental state and inability to grasp or deal with international relations. What rankled Trump was Trudeau’s remarks that Canada would respond in kind to Trump’s threats of tariffs on Canadian goods and services. Trudeau said that:

“It would be with regret, but it would be with absolute certainty and firmness that we that we move forward with retaliatory measures on July first applying equivalent tariffs to the ones that Americans have unjustly applied to us. I have made it very clear to the President that it is not something we relish doing, but it is something that we absolutely will do. Canadians: we’re polite, we’re reasonable, but we also will not be pushed around.”

This was not a new position on Trudeau’s part. It was exactly what he told Trump during the G7 meeting. But Trump seemed to have taken the public pronouncement in a bizarrely personal way. He almost immediately tweeted:

Trump didn’t bother to specify which statements by Trudeau he considered false. But that hardly matters, he never does. What really stands out as an erratic reaction is Trump’s decision not to sign onto the G7’s concluding communique. He appears to think that because the G7 meeting was held in Canada this year, that it is a Canadian enterprise and, by not signing, he is punishing Trudeau who he is mad at right now. In fact, he is insulting all six other members of the allied organization who the communique represents.

Also notable is that Trump liked Trudeau when he thought he was “meek and mild.” But now that Trudeau is standing up to him, Trump is throwing a tantrum and refusing to play nicely. Trump inexplicably considers Trudeau’s determination to represent the best interests of his country as “dishonest and weak.” Clearly the only problem Trump really has with Trudeau is that he is not capitulating to the wannabe dictator of America.

This spectacle of juvenile vengefulness is a bad omen for Trump’s next meeting (which he doesn’t think he needs to prepare for). Unlike Trudeau, Kim Jong Un is not an American ally. Nor can Kim be expected to be nearly as genteel and cooperative as Trudeau. Trump has already gone off half-cocked with Kim by manically scheduling, then canceling, then rescheduling this summit. And now he’s going to meet with Kim in a foul mood due to his perception of having been disrespected by Trudeau. It certainly can’t help matters with Trump going into this like a colicky infant. In fact, it will only exacerbate his notoriously ineffective negotiating skills that are further weakened by his willful ignorance. If we get through the next week without giving away Hawaii or launching any nuclear missile we should consider ourselves fortunate.

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