The Crackpot Cult of Trump Believes the January 6th Rioters Were ‘Defending Freedom’

Six months ago hundreds of treasonous subversives incited by Donald Trump stormed the United States Congress in an attempt to undermine democracy and prevent the peaceful transfer of power according to the will of the American people. It was an event so despicable that it produced harsh condemnations, even from Republicans including Sen. Mitch McConnell and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (although both have have since backtracked).

Donald Trump, QAnon, Dictator

That moment of bipartisan disgust and concern for the future of democracy was an encouraging sign that there was hope for unity where the fate of the nation hung in the balance. However, that moment was short lived. A new poll by CBS News has some disturbing findings and trends:

“A majority of Americans still specifically call what happened that day an ‘insurrection’ and an attempted overthrow of the government. This is where most Democrats and independents land. But roughly one-third of the country call it patriotism, or defending freedom”

While there is some comfort knowing that a majority of Americans recognize the horror of what took place January 6th, the number of those who see it as something positive is disconcerting. The most troubling finding in this poll is how Trump voters view the assault on America’s seat of government…

So a majority (55%) of Trump voters describe the riots on Capitol Hill as “Defending Freedom.” Likewise, a majority (51%) of Trump voters describe that event as “Patriotism.” Only 20% of them described it as “Insurrection.” Also worrisome is that 51% of Republicans strongly disapproved of the January 6th insurrection back in January, but now only 39% hold that position. That’s a 12 point swing toward insanity.

What this tells us is that today’s schizoid Republican Party has had some success in convincing their glassy-eyed followers that violent StormTrumpers who attacked police officers, vandalized property, and threatened to murder Vice-President Mike Pence and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, were actually guardians of virtue protecting the nation from some undefined, invisible foe bent on stealing Trump’s delusions of victory.

This also tells us that there is a lot of work to do if America is ever going to be restored as a model of democracy. How we will battle the kind of insanity that causes people to see unending videos of destruction and violence, but come away thinking it was, as Dear Leader Trump says, hugging and kissing, is a question that won’t be easy to answer. But if this poll is accurate, then it’s what we need to face, and we need to find to the solution sooner rather than later. Good luck to us all. We’re gonna need it.

NOTE: Twitter suspended the News Corpse account after 11 years without giving a reason. So if anyone wants to tweet articles from my website, please feel free to do so often and repeatedly. Also, Be sure to visit and follow News Corpse on Instagram. Thanks for your support.

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

Fox News Hack’s ‘Gotcha’ Question Proves He Doesn’t Know What ‘Super-Spreader’ Means

Is anyone keeping track of how many consecutive days Fox News White House correspondent, Peter Doocy, has asked a stupid question at the daily press briefing, only get humiliated by Press Secretary Jen Psaki? Doocy is nothing if not determined to make a name for himself in this competition and, to his credit, he has commanding lead.

Jen Psaki, Fox News, Peter Doocy

At Tuesday’s press briefing Doocy sought to revisit an issue that he has been clinging to for several days. It concerns the Texas Democrats who left the state to prevent Republicans from passing a draconian voter suppression bill. While in Washington, D.C. a few of them tested positive for the coronavirus (which sicko Donnie Jr thought was hilarious). Doocy, along with other Fox News shills, have been trying desperately to turn that into a scandal, despite the fact that these “breakthrough” are known to occur, and for people who are vaccinated the symptoms will likely be minimal. The facts not withstanding, Doocy entered into this exchange with Psaki (video below):

Doocy: More than 10% of the traveling party with these Texas Democrats now claim to have a breakthrough case. Is there any concern that this trip that was intended to advocate for voting rights is now a super-spreader event in Washington?
Psaki: Well, I would say that’s not a characterization we’re making from here. We certainly understand there will be breakthrough cases. Even vaccines that are incredibly effective are not foolproof. They’re not 100% effective. We’ve seen that. Here’s the good news, though. We know that these vaccines, that these individuals have been vaccinated. It means it protects from death. It protects from serious illness. It protects, for the most part, from hospitalization, so that is a good sign.

It’s pretty sad that Psaki has to give Doocy answers as if he were a child. But she wants him to understand, so it’s necessary to politely condescend. After all, in his question he demonstrates that he doesn’t even understand the words he’s using. You can hardly call a half dozen viral infections among a fully vaccinated group of people a “super-spreader” event. Does anyone recall Doocy referring to Donald Trump’s cult rallies, with thousands of unvaccinated, maskless attendees, during the peak of the pandemic, super-spreader events? Those mass encounters resulted in significant spikes in infections and hospitalizations in the locales where they took place.

The only reason that Doocy is raising this non-issue now is that he’s hoping to use it to deflect from the larger issue about voting rights that the Democrats from Texas are making. He explicitly sought to divert attention from that with his follow up question to Psaki. But Psaki would not be distracted:

Doocy: Now that COVID-19, after contact with those Democrats, has reached the White House, what is your message to these Texas Democrats?
Psaki: Our message continues to be, thanks for standing up for voting rights, and the rights for Americans to have their voices heard at the voting booth, and we appreciate their efforts in that regard.

Meanwhile, Trump himself continues to support the voter suppression bills in Texas and elsewhere. He released a statement Tuesday morning linking to an op-ed asserting that “Republicans Are Making It easier to Vote and Harder to Cheat.” But you really have to wonder who would believe that a pathological cheater like Trump cares about making it harder to cheat. This is a guy who has publicly cheated on his three wives, his charities, his golf score, his “university” students, his veterans fund, his election and reelection campaigns, his taxes, and most recently his own donors. So he’s real paragon of virtue who’s commitment to honesty can be trusted. Right?

NOTE: Twitter suspended the News Corpse account after 11 years without giving a reason. So if anyone wants to tweet articles from my website, please feel free to do so often and repeatedly. Also, Be sure to visit and follow News Corpse on Instagram. Thanks for your support.

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

Fox News Shill Asks Jen Psaki an Idiotic Question that Trump Already Answered Idiotically

Another day, another humiliation for the Fox News White House correspondent, and nepotism poster boy, Peter Doocy. He appears to have been given the daily assignment of lobbing vacuous questions at Press Secretary Jen Psaki that she hit out of the park. It’s a dirty job, but someone at Fox has to do it. And they apparently found just the right patsy.

Fox News, Jen Psaki

On Monday Doocy thought he had a real stumper when he was called on Psaki to wind up his pitiful pitch. Studying his notes carefully, he let loose this zinger (video below):

Doocy: On vaccine hesitancy, as COVID-19 cases rise, if this is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated and you guys are having a hard time getting a certain part of the population to go get the shot, would President Biden ever call former President Trump and say ‘I need your help. Let’s cut a PSA and tell people to go do it?’

Let’s go to slo-mo for a closer look at what Doocy just threw down. He is plainly conceding that COVID cases are rising due to the resistance of glassy-eyed, fact-averse, Trump cultists to getting vaccinated. That’s the only reason he could have for regarding Trump’s participation in a vaccine outreach program to be beneficial. However, Doocy isn’t acknowledging the fact that Trump’s absence from this discussion for so many months already tells us where he stands. Psaki’s response to the question addresses that:

Psaki: First I would say that what we’ve seen in our data is that the most trusted voices are local officials, doctors, medical experts, civic leaders, clergy from time to time, and that is really where we have invested our funding and our resources.

We’ve seen almost every former president play a role in putting out a PSA making sure people understood in the country that the vaccine is safe and effective. We don’t believe that requires an embroidered invitation to be part of. But certainly any role of anyone who has a platform where they can provide information to the public that the vaccine is safe, it is effective, we don’t see this as a political issue. We certainly welcome that engagement.

Psaki’s answer recognizes that Trump isn’t necessarily the best pitchman for the vaccine. Even his own disciples aren’t likely to take his word for anything. They already know that he got the shot back in January, but that hasn’t moved them. Perhaps because he did it privately and spent the next few months dismissing it. Meanwhile, his peeps are waiting on trusted sources in their community to convince them that they would benefit from the vaccine.

What’s more, Psaki pointedly notes that Trump could have done a PSA at any time in the past six months but chose not to. Not only does he not need an “embroidered invitation” from Biden, getting one would probably have a negative effect. Trump wouldn’t want to have anything to do with the guy who crushed him in the 2020 presidential election. He didn’t even bother to attend Biden’s inauguration.

Trump also snubbed a prior vaccine promoting PSA that included every other living president. So why would he accept an invitation now? Given his narcissistic reluctance to not being the center of attention, if he cared at all about the welfare of the American people he could still have shot his own PSA starring himself, which would have gotten plenty of play on the right-wing media outlets where those who care about what he says are watching. However, Trump hasn’t even done that. What he did on Monday was to release this pitifully egomaniacal statement:

“Joe Biden kept talking about how good of a job he’s doing on the distribution of the Vaccine that was developed by Operation Warp Speed or, quite simply, the Trump Administration. He’s not doing well at all. He’s way behind schedule, and people are refusing to take the Vaccine because they don’t trust his Administration, they don’t trust the Election results, & they certainly don’t trust the Fake News, which is refusing to tell the Truth.”

So Trump went out of his way to baselessly smear Biden, whose response to the pandemic has been effective and who has the broad approval (66%) of the public. Plus, Trump exalted himself with utterly delusional assertions that vaccine hesitancy is related to his “Big Lie” that the election was “stolen” from him. Seriously? Trump thinks that people will risk a slow and painful (and preventable) death from a virus because of his bald-faced, evidence-free lies about an election that he so decisively lost?

What is obviously missing from Trump’s statement is any encouragement to his foolhardy flock to get vaccinated. This would have been an ideal time to make that pitch. But not for a self-absorbed cretin like Trump. And this is the guy who Doocy thinks it would be useful to invite to participate in a pro-vaccine PSA with Biden? Yeah, right! That’ll happen.

NOTE: Twitter suspended the News Corpse account after 11 years without giving a reason. So if anyone wants to tweet articles from my website, please feel free to do so often and repeatedly. Also, Be sure to visit and follow News Corpse on Instagram. Thanks for your support.

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

Fox News: Unvaccinated People Dying From COVID? So What? That’s Their Choice

The crusade by Fox News to murder their own audience is continuing at full blast. The ignorant and dangerous advice they are disseminating is directly contributing to the recent surge in coronavirus infections, hospitalizations, and fatalities. Virtually all of those being swept up in that surge (99%) are unvaccinated.

Fox News, Covid

By far, the segment of the American population that is unvaccinated, and refusing to get vaccinated, are Republicans and Fox News viewers. That shouldn’t surprise anyone since Fox News hacks like Tucker Carlson have been actively peddling conspiracy theories that vaccines don’t work, but “they” aren’t telling you. Studies show that watching Fox News actually increases coronavirus fatalities.

On Monday morning the Fox and Friends Death Panel upped the ante. Their discussion touched an imaginary government mandate to get vaccinated that doesn’t exist anywhere in the United States. Nevertheless, co-host Brian Kilmeade went ballistic over that delusional encroachment on what he regards as his personal freedom to die and to kill others:

Kilmeade: If you didn’t get a vaccination, that’s your choice. But if you did, like I did, and they did, and maybe you did, then you should not wear a mask. And if you want to go cliff diving this weekend, you don’t have to check with me. It seems a little dangerous. But I’m not gonna judge you. But if you put yourself in danger, if you feel that this is not something for you, don’t do it. But don’t affect my life.
Doocy: 99% of the people who are dying from COVID are unvaccinated.
Kilmeade: That’s their choice!
Doocy: They don’t want to die. So the administration and government is saying we need the mask mandates to protect the unvaccinated.
Kilmeade: That’s not their job. It’s not their job to protect anybody.

There’s an abundance of idiocy in that brief exchange. It begins with Kilmeade asserting that everyone who has been vaccinated “should not wear a mask.” That is contrary to the guidance by most health experts and the CDC. Particularly in the midst of the rapidly spreading new Delta variant.

More to the point, Kilmeade’s tirade is reckless, heartless, and senseless. There is no rational equivalence between cliffing diving (a voluntary recreational activity), and COVID (a deadly viral pandemic for which nobody volunteers). What’s more, he includes his insistence that people should be allowed to make their own decisions so long as they “don’t affect my life.” Of course, the decision to not get vaccinated does affect the lives of the population at large because it increases the probability of viral transmission and mutation into more hazardous variants.

Finally, Kilmeade concludes with what he apparently thinks is the coup de gras of his irresponsible and idiotic argument. He claims that it isn’t the government’s job to protect people. He might want to check with the United States Constitution whose Preamble explicitly states as its purpose to “insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, [and] promote the general Welfare.”

If Kilmeade doesn’t believe that government has a role in protecting people, he must think that everything from the FDA to the EPA to even the armed forces are a heinous breach of government authority. He appears to be advocating for poisons in your groceries and toxins in your air and water. He is effectively arguing to disband the military and to defund the police.

Worst of all, Kilmeade and his confederates on Fox News are continuing to push for the rights of people to be inundated with lies that could result in their demise, or that of their loved ones. They are ignoring the fact that everyone has an impact on how the pandemic progresses and how much harm and grief it produces.

The only thing that Fox News and company care about is being opposed to whatever common sense health agenda is proposed by the Biden administration. It’s purely a partisan play that places politics above humanity. And it ought to make them criminally liable for the consequences.

NOTE: Twitter suspended the News Corpse account after 11 years without giving a reason. So if anyone wants to tweet articles from my website, please feel free to do so often and repeatedly. Also, Be sure to visit and follow News Corpse on Instagram. Thanks for your support.

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

DISGUSTING: Donald Trump Jr Thinks Democrats Getting COVID is God Being Funny

The Trump family has never been particularly respectful of religion or people of faith, other than to exploit them for political support or to enrich themselves. Their likeness to crooked preachers and pseudo-divine swindlers was evident in their transparent insincerity. They only ever brought up religion when they were in pursuit of some personal benefit.

Donald Trump Jr

Donald Trump was notorious for his blasphemous comments claiming to be The Chosen One and for his gross ignorance of the faith he pretended to practice. And apparently the rotten apple hasn’t fallen far from the Tree of Anti-Knowledge.

On Saturday, Donald Trump Jr sought to politicize and capitalize on the the distressing news that three Democratic representatives from Texas had tested positive for the coronavirus. A moral person would never use the misfortune of others to salve their own inherent inferiority. But the Trump spawn did just that in the most despicable way imaginable. This wasn’t an ordinary political insult. He is using humor to malign people who have been infected with a potentially fatal virus. He tweeted “Who says God doesn’t have a sense of humor?”

Really? Is there no bottom to this family’s abhorrent conduct? Mini-Trump’s callous tweet linked to an article on Fox News. That’s the same Fox News that his father has been battering for not backing up his dangerous and preposterous lies about the election being “stolen” from him; that has dismissed COVID-19 as hoax; that has attacked people for wearing masks; that has spread fake fear of vaccines; that has peddled conspiracy theories that vaccines don’t work, but “they” aren’t telling you.

The article on Fox News stated that “Three of the 60 Texas House Democrats tested positive for the virus while staying in Washington, D.C.” So while Trump and Fox sought to make the worst of this news, and to imply hypocrisy on the part of the Democrats, the truth is more complex.

All of the Texas Democrats were vaccinated, so traveling together without masks on a private chartered plane was in compliance with CDC guidelines. The three people who tested positive represent just 5% of the 60 who traveled together from Texas. Those numbers are in line with the estimate that the vaccine is about 95% effective in preventing infection. What’s more, those infected are suffering no symptoms, and avoiding severe illness, hospitalization, and death, is also a known benefit of having been vaccinated.

So what is the Trump puppy’s point? Is he just proud to be laughing at the misfortune of others, a common characteristic of compassionless Republicans? Is he endorsing the use of masks, which still provide protection even for those who are vaccinated, particularly during a surge caused by a new variant? Is he finally condemning the reckless behavior of his father who hosted many super-spreader cult rallies at the peak of the pandemic, and made both the White House and Mar-a-Lago coronavirus hot zones?

Additionally, Does Trump know that Texas is currently one of the worst hit states by increased COVID infections and hospitalizations? Does he think that’s funny too? He must think that the 600,000 dead Americans is downright hysterical.

It is unfortunate that a few Democrats have fallen victim to the coronavirus. And while they were complying with the guidance of health experts, it could be argued that they should have been more cautious. But this incident shouldn’t distract anyone from the reason that they are in Washington in the first place. Republicans in Texas are trying to pass a draconian bill that would suppress voting and give broad, totalitarian power to partisan state officials to overturn the will of the people.

These Democrats are heroes for doing what’s necessary, at great personal sacrifice and within the law, to preserve democracy. They deserve America’s thanks, not the grotesquely inappropriate and blasphemous attempt at “humor” by loathsome cretins like Trump.

NOTE: Twitter suspended the News Corpse account after 11 years without giving a reason. So if anyone wants to tweet articles from my website, please feel free to do so often and repeatedly. Also, Be sure to visit and follow News Corpse on Instagram. Thanks for your support.

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

CNN’s ‘Untouchable’ Jim Acosta: ‘What Are You Prepared To Do’ to Hold Trump Accountable?

The descent into authoritarian madness by Donald Trump remains a palpable threat to American democracy. With each new day he escalates his baseless allegations of a “stolen” election. And he does this with the full knowledge that his lies incited violent riots in Washington, D.C., by his insurrectionist cult followers. He does this with the full knowledge that his continuing lies will likely fuel more violence. Which is just what this maniac wants.

Donald Trump, Fox News, QAnon

Much has been said about how to respond to Trump’s persistent assault on democracy. People talk about indictments, legislation, and organizing to elect honorable representatives in Congress who will take their oath of office seriously. But this is an “all of the above” situation. It all comes down to one question. A question that probes the level of commitment that we have to preserve our republic. That question was asked on Saturday by CNN anchor Jim Acosta, after playing a particularly cringeworthy clip of Trump conceding his vile, aberrant character, or lack thereof:

Trump: I didn’t become different. I got impeached twice. I didn’t change. I became worse.
Acosta: I, for one, believe him. He has become worse, if that’s possible. The current President says American democracy is still being threatened. Yes, it is being threatened, by the former guy.

“As Jim Malone would ask, What are you prepared to do?’ What is law enforcement prepared to about Trump’s actions surrounding January 6th? What are Democrats prepared to do to protect our elections? What are you, the voter, prepared to do to hold accountable those politicians who choose Trump over American democracy? What are you prepared to do?

Acosta was channeling Jim Malone, the character played by Sean Connery in “The Untouchables.” FBI agent Eliot Ness sought out Malone’s advice on how to get Al Capone. Malone responded…

“You said you wanted to know how to get Capone. Do you really want to get him? … What are you prepared to do?”

Ness, of course, replied that he would do everything within the law. And that must be what American patriots pledge to do with regard to Trump. That must be what politicians – Democrats and Republicans – commit to. It must be the course that law enforcement and Justice Department prosecutors take without fear or prejudice.

Without accountability, the criminal acts of Trump will be swept aside, and future aspiring dictators will pursue the same paths of tyranny. However, Trump’s more savvy successors will have the benefit of learning from his failures and foolishness. They are already on that path as Republicans in many states are passing voter suppression bills and legislation giving partisan autocrats the right to overturn the will of the people.

For this reason we need to take Acosta’s adaptation of Malone’s question to heart. That scene led to the infamous exchange where in Malone advised Ness that if…

“You want to get Capone? Here’s how you get him. He pulls a knife? You pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital? You send one of his to the morgue! That’s the Chicago way, and that’s how you get Capone! Now, do you want to do that? Are you ready to do that?”

Of course that’s metaphorical in this context. But Acosta is providing just the sort of inspiration that is needed at this perilous junction in American history. We need to have that kind of devotion to political victory on behalf of democratic values. It will take great effort sustained for many months and years. Are you ready to do that? For America’s sake, I hope so.

NOTE: Twitter suspended the News Corpse account after 11 years without giving a reason. So if anyone wants to tweet articles from my website, please feel free to do so often and repeatedly. Also, Be sure to visit and follow News Corpse on Instagram. Thanks for your support.

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

HYSTERICAL: Trump Slams Fox News in Massive Meltdown Over His Absurd Election Lies

The downward spiral of Donald Trump continues to spin uncontrollably into the depths of madness. The evidence is impossible to ignore. He recently filed a laughably ludicrous lawsuit against Twitter, Facebook, and Google. He posted plagiarized plugs for books by Fox News flunkies. And on Saturday morning crybaby Trump whined pitifully that the British Open snubbed his money-losing Turnberry golf course.

Donald Trump Circling the Drain

However, that wasn’t the worst of Trump’s emotional malfunctions this week. His months long mental breakdown over having decisively lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden has consumed his every waking moment. Never mind that it was that lunacy that led to the deadly insurrection in Washington, D.C., on January 6th, and is likely to incite further violence on the part of his Crackpot Crusaders. Trump persists in peddling the “Big Lie” despite having no proof whatsoever.

On Friday Trump had his spokes-shill, Liz Harrington, post his latest temper tantrum on Twitter, since he’s been banned for repeated, and potentially harmful, lies. The message began with a wild swing at his own Ministry of Disinformation (aka Fox News):

“Fox News and other media outlets incorrectly side with the outdated and terrible Maricopa County Election Board to report no fraud found in the Presidential Election. They spew the gross misinformation purposefully put out by the county and the Associated Press.”

Trump is referring to an article published by the Associated Press and tweeted by Fox News anchor Brett Baier. The article revealed the results of a comprehensive study of alleged election fraud in Arizona and concluded that there wasn’t any to speak of (fewer than 200 “possible” cases out of 3.4 million votes). Trump went on to make what he presented as “factual” assertions of fraud, but for which there is zero basis in the real world:

“[They] IGNORE the very important Arizona Senate’s hearing yesterday, which showed 168,000 fraudulent ballots printed on illegal paper (unofficial ballots), 74,000 mail-in ballots received that were never mailed (magically appearing ballots), 11,000 voters were added to the voter rolls AFTER the election and still voted all the access logs to the machines were wiped, and the election server was hacked during the election.”

All told, Trump’s utterly unfounded claims assert that there were more than a quarter of million fraudulent votes tallied in a race that he lost by about 11,000. All of the allegations were drawn from Republican conspiracy theorists in the Arizona Senate and their hired hoaxsters, the Cyber Ninjas.

As an example of how flagrant their fallacies are, the AP fact check debunked the claim of 168,000 allegedly fake ballots on the wrong paper, noting that they were ordinary provisional ballots that were printed and cast on election day. It’s something anyone with election experience would know. Also easily debunked was the 74,000 mail-in ballot claim, saying that the Ninjas were simply using the wrong data files and that “the claim isn’t true and represents a misunderstanding of how early voting works in Arizona.” In other words, the Ninjas, who have no experience in election audits, are idiots who don’t have the slightest idea what they’re doing.

The same failure to grasp the assignment they’ve been given taints all of the other claims in Trump’s harangue. But that didn’t stop him from accelerating the crazy. He quoted a few blatantly partisan GOP state senators to support his babbling rant. None of them offered any proof of fraud either. Just like Trump’s crack legal team that lost more than 60 cases because they couldn’t produce a scrap of evidence. This is all he has to cling to. And it only confirms just how detached from reality he and his glassy-eyed cult followers are.

It should also not go without notice that Harrington’s posting of these statements by Trump are violations of Twitter’s terms of service that prohibit attempts to circumvent a suspension. (more on that here). She has posted Trump’s pseudo-tweets 48 times in just the past two weeks. Harrington’s account should be reported and suspended for her repeated breach of Twitter rules.

NOTE: Twitter suspended the News Corpse account after 11 years without giving a reason. So if anyone wants to tweet articles from my website, please feel free to do so often and repeatedly. Also, Be sure to visit and follow News Corpse on Instagram. Thanks for your support.

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

Fox News Piñata, Peter Doocy, Gets Psaki Bombed for ‘Loaded and Inaccurate Question’

If there’s one thing that Peter Doocy of Fox News should get credit for, it’s his tolerance for being made to look like an utter fool over and over again, without showing the slightest bit of the embarrassment that most other human beings would experience. He takes a beating and keeps on licking his wounds as if he’s actually enjoying the humiliation.

Psaki Lightening

Like a masochist unable to control his perverse compulsions, Doocy keeps coming back for more. On Friday he drenched himself in disgrace again by asking White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki a question that had to have been market tested by a committee in the bowels of the Fox News Propaganda Factory:

Doocy: For how long has the administration been spying on people’s Facebook profiles looking for vaccine misinformation?

Seriously? Doocy’s assertion that the administration is “spying” on Facebook profiles was pulled straight from his asinine notebook of nonsense questions. And this one was a slow pitch right across the strike zone for Psaki who replied…

Psaki: That is quite a loaded and inaccurate question, which I would refute.
Doocy: Inaccurate how?
Psaki: Well, Peter, first of all, as you know we’re in regular touch with a range of media outlets … as we are in regular touch with social media platforms. This is publicly open information, people sharing information online. Just as you are all reporting information on your news stations.

Psaki had addressed this issue on Thursday in stark detail. She spoke about the unprecedented finding by the Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, that vaccine disinformation is a serious threat to public health. Her remarks included how the Biden administration is working to counter potentially deadly anti-vaccine propaganda. She explained in clear and concise terms that the federal government is not commanding or controlling Facebook. Nor is it colluding with them to attack political foes. They are merely alerting them to posts that Facebook itself deems harmful, something every Facebook user can do. But that wasn’t sufficient for Doocy, who came back on Friday, clearly still confused and thirsting for more punishment:

Doocy: Okay, so these 12 people you have on list, do they know that somebody at the Surgeon General’s office is going through their profiles?
Psaki: I’m happy to get you the citation of where that comes from. There’s no secret list.

Doocy was referring to the 12 people who are responsible for 65% of the online disinformation about vaccines. Psaki mentioned it on Thursday, so Doocy had the time to look it up and come prepared on Friday. He chose not to. Had he done so he would have found that it was not a government list, but one produced by the private non-profit Center for Countering Digital Hate. And despite his deliberate fear mongering, there is nothing untoward about being apprised of harmful disinformation online so that legal countermeasures can be taken to save lives. Psaki attempted to educate Doocy saying that…

Psaki: Our biggest concern here – and frankly I think it should be your biggest concern – is the number of people who are dying around the country because they are getting misinformation that is leading them to not take a vaccine. Young people, old people, kids, children, a lot of them are being impacted by misinformation.

However, Doocy wasn’t having any of it. Still unable to grasp the simplest notion that government has a responsibility to protect its citizens from scammers and con artists, he went off on a tangent about “Big Brother” watching you. Psaki concluded by patronizing Doocy. “If you have the data to back that up,” she offered, “I’m happy to discuss it.” For his part, Doocy left the briefing room and did a remote on Fox News that confirmed that he completely failed to comprehend everything Psaki had just said:

“The White House is now trying to change the conversation from ‘is the Biden Administration censoring people’ to ‘is Facebook killing people.'”

Fer chrissakes. That display of incoherence isn’t even worth responding to.

NOTE: Twitter suspended the News Corpse account after 11 years without giving a reason. So if anyone wants to tweet articles from my website, please feel free to do so often and repeatedly. Also, Be sure to visit and follow News Corpse on Instagram. Thanks for your support.

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

The Donald Trump and Bill O’Reilly ‘Sexual Predator Tour’ is Flopping Bigly

As the nation continues to struggle with a pandemic that stubbornly refuses to go away (or more accurately, is aided and abetted by Trumpian Republican anti-vaxxers), the demand for live music, theater, and other in-person performances has been growing steadily. The Foo Fighters recently played for a fully vaccinated audience at Madison Square Garden in New York City, in show that sold out in 10 minutes.

Donald Trump, Bill O'Reilly

However, that level of anticipation is not apparently matched for the upcoming Sexual Predator Tour starring Donald Trump and Bill O’Reilly. The show was announced more than a week ago, but ticket sales have been lackluster, to put it mildly. According to Politico

“Donald Trump is having trouble selling advance tickets for his upcoming speaking tour with conservative pundit Bill O’Reilly, according to interviews with ticketing officials for the venues. […]

“The events are not until the end of the year, Trump’s camp notes. But so far, the pace of purchases has been slow compared to other acts, arena officials say. […]

“As of Thursday evening, Ticketmaster pages for the Orlando, Dallas and Sunrise events and the Axs page for the Houston event show wide swathes of available seats, with some large sections only having sold a few tickets.”

Trump and O’Reilly are not exactly packing them in. Even though there are only four dates on the tour and all of them in Trump friendly locales. Nevertheless, venues like those in Dallas, Texas, and Orlando, Florida, still have most of the ticket supply available. This despite early boasting that “This tour will be one of the most lucrative of all time.”

Even if the $7 million take is true (doubtful), it wouldn’t be anything to brag about. Since most of the “standard” seats priced at about $100 each are unsold, it would mean that they have only sold a couple of thousand seats at premium prices ($1,000 – $8,500) to the wealthiest and most zealous devotees. That’s out of a potential 80,000 available seats (approximately 2.5%). This is what happens when Trump disciples, who are accustomed to getting free entry to his cult rallies, are asked to pay substantial admission fees.

Perhaps the reason for this failure is that America isn’t anxiously awaiting to hear from a pair of notorious and abusive perverts. Trump has been accused by more than two dozen women of harassment and/or assault. O’Reilly was fired by Fox News after some multi-million dollar settlements with his female victims were disclosed. And both are hurting for cash, having lost access to their primary grifting platforms.

Whoever does eventually show up isn’t going to get anything more the same old clown show that Trump and O’Reilly have been performing for years. They’re like an aging 1960’s band of one-hit-wonders playing the same song over and over again for decades. They won’t cover anything controversial or newsworthy. Does anyone think that O’Reilly will challenge Trump with this observation…

Maybe ticket sales will pick up as the dates approach. Or maybe Trump will bully the Republican Party into buying up a few thousand seats. Or maybe QAnon or the Proud Boys will step up to rescue Trump from this humiliation. Or maybe it will just go down in history as another failed Trump attempt to fleece his dimwitted flock.

NOTE: Twitter suspended the News Corpse account after 11 years without giving a reason. So if anyone wants to tweet articles from my website, please feel free to do so often and repeatedly. Also, Be sure to visit and follow News Corpse on Instagram. Thanks for your support.

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

Trump World Freaks Out Over Jen Psaki ‘Flagging’ Anti-Vax Disinformation on Facebook

The curmudgeons of the Cult of Donald Trump continue to be obsessed with insuring that the American people preserve their freedom to die – and to kill others – due to their politically driven and mindless opposition to getting vaccinated. That perverse expression of pseudo-patriotism has already resulted in regional spikes of COVID-19 infections, hospitalization, and deaths, in Republican counties and states throughout the nation.

Jen Psaki, Donald Trump

Consistent with that stubborn embrace of suicide-by-pandemic, the anti-vax brigades on social media have affixed themselves to a sentence fragment from Thursday’s White House press briefing. Press Secretary Jen Psaki was addressing the profusion of purposeful lies about the pandemic, and the vaccines that prevent it, that are being posted on Facebook and other social media platforms. She was highlighting the unprecedented finding by the Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, that vaccine disinformation is a serious threat to public health. Her remarks included how the Biden administration is working to counter anti-vax propaganda, most of which is spread by a few dogged online hoaxters. She said in part that…

“In terms of actions that we’re working to take from the federal government, we’ve increased disinformation research and tracking within the Surgeon General’s office. We’re flagging problematic posts for Facebook that spread disinformation. We’re working with doctors and medical professionals … to get trusted content out there.”

And that…

“Facebook needs to move more quickly to remove harmful, violative posts. Posts that would be within their policy for removal often would remain up for days. That’s too long. The information spreads too quickly.”

All of that would would appear to be a reasonable agenda to advance the health and safety of an at risk population. Unless, that is, you’re a right-wing Trump cultist intent on finding horrors nestled into every crevice of rational dialogue. And, unfortunately, there are way too many of them littering the InterTubes.

Consequently, an array of stupefied outrage has arisen online over Psaki’s remarks. The vax-averse trolls are aghast at what they call an affront to free speech. They are misinterpreting Psaki’s comments as government intrusion into Facebook’s private rights of expression. Which is peculiar considering they have also recently been supporting Trump’s ludicrous lawsuit aimed at undermining those rights. Fox News even featured Sean Hannity and Alan Dershowitz making asses of themselves while attempting to make that legal argument.

Other Inter-trolls are saying that Psaki is proposing censorship. Or that she is revealing a conspiracy between government and business to silence critics. Some are associating it with communism or fascism or some other repellent ideology that they don’t even know how to define.

For the benefit of the Trumpists, whose reading comprehension skills are sorely lacking, Psaki said none of that. The entirety of her comments were clearly describing an intention to “flag” (i.e. bring to the attention of) vaccine disinformation and outright lies that have the potential to cause real harm. She explicitly notes that the content she’s referring to is that which has already been identified – by Facebook – as violating their policies.

Psaki is not commanding or controlling Facebook. She isn’t colluding with them to attack political foes. She is doing nothing more than alerting them to posts that Facebook itself deems harmful and not permitted. These are not Psaki’s or Biden’s rules that are being violated. They are Facebook’s rules. And anyone – Psaki, Trump, and every Facebook user – can report a violative post. Facebook even has a “report” function on every post for people to do this on their own.

Nevertheless, the Trumpian crackpots are up in arms again, over an offense that exists only in their warped imaginations. It’s reminiscent of their freak out over Psaki allegedly dispatching door-to-door forced vaccinator squads. Which, of course, was never even remotely suggested. These nutballs are just ultra-sensitively tuned for hyperbolic rage spasms whenever something infects their pre-misconstrued thoughts. Sadly, in this matter it is likely to lead to unnecessary suffering and grief.

NOTE: Twitter suspended the News Corpse account after 11 years without giving a reason. So if anyone wants to tweet articles from my website, please feel free to do so often and repeatedly. Also, Be sure to visit and follow News Corpse on Instagram. Thanks for your support.

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