Fox Nation vs. Reality: Fox Gives ‘Illegal Immigrants’ Full Voting Rights

Posted by on April 23, 2013 at 3:46 pm. NO Comments :

Continuing to cling obsessively to their anti-Latino bigotry, Fox News latched unto a story in Politico that speculated about an electoral windfall for Democrats if the immigration bill winding through congress becomes law. The Politico story was not particularly well-reasoned (and an article in The Guardian masterfully rebuts it), but, true to form, the lie-factory at Fox Nation took a weak argument and made it even less palatable with their trademark brand of hyperbole and inbred prejudice.

Fox Nation

The title, “Immigration Bill Gives Illegal Immigrants Full Voting Rights,” is patently false. No one other than an actual citizen is permitted to vote in this country and the pending immigration bill doesn’t change that. In fact, it contains a provision that explicitly punishes anyone who is not a citizen, if they unlawfully cast a ballot, by precluding them from obtaining citizenship.

So Fox’s assertion that “illegal Immigrants” will get full voting rights is dead wrong. And so is their unrelenting use of the derogatory phrase “illegal Immigrants.” Many news outlets have ceased to use the term that is considered offensive by those to whom it refers. Even the Fox News Latino web site has formally abandoned it.

The gist of the Politico article is that Democrats stand to gain electorally if the estimated 11 million undocumented residents were to become citizens. However, the legislation currently being debated contains a pathway to citizenship that would take thirteen years to complete. A lot can happen in politics in thirteen years. What’s more, there is no indication that all of the 11 million would ever become full citizens (either by choice or due to the stringent requirements in the law), or that those who did would ever register and turn out to vote.

So even if the Fox Nationalists had not overplayed their rhetorical bias in the headline, the facts would still not support their panicky fear of a browner, more Democratic electorate. That prospect is already manifest and is due primarily to the fact that Democrats welcome a more diverse society, while Republicans insult and demean minorities and aspiring citizens.

If the folks at Fox, and their allies in the GOP, are worried about losing future elections due to an expanding voter pool (and they should be), they might try not deliberately alienating the fastest growing demographic group in the nation, rather than trying to obstruct legal citizens from voting with measures that disenfranchise minorities, seniors, students, and the poor. But that would put them at odds with their Tea Party contingent and the confederate dead-enders that are the core of their southern strategy. It’s kind of a rock-and-a-hard-place dilemma for the them. Except the rock is equality and the hard place is their compulsive hatred for anyone not like them.

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Fox News Mystery: Conspiratorial Article On Boston Bombing ‘Suspect’ Disappears [Update]

Posted by on April 22, 2013 at 7:48 pm. 4 Comments :

In a peculiar and suspicious chain of events, Fox News ran an article by commentator Todd Starnes with the provocative headline “Saudi National Questioned in Boston was on Terror Watch List.” But the article was not there for long, and has since been deleted from other conservative news sites as well.

There was no evidence in the article affirming the title’s allegation other than Starnes’ assertion that “sources have told me.” Starnes went on to say that his sources alleged that “Abdul Rahman Ali Alharbi had been deemed inadmissible” for entry into the United States because he was engaged, or likely to become engaged, in terrorist activity. “Two additional sources,” Starnes said, “have confirmed to me that Ali Alharbi is set to be deported as early as this week.”

The article also notes that national security officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, have denied the reports and stated explicitly that Alharbi is not being deported, nor was anyone else with any connection to the Boston marathon bombings. All of the chatter in the right-wing media about this was definitively debunked days ago.

Despite the dismissals by Napolitano and others of these rumors, Starnes weaves a speculative tale of innuendo that he fails to back up with any substance. The missing article echoes the conspiracy theories emerging from the fringe outposts of Alex Jones’ InfoWars and Glenn Beck’s The Blaze. Beck’s recent foray into these wilds of reckless slander has been titillating his fans for several days with promises of jaw-dropping revelations that he literally described as the most important story in the history of the country. His pledge to unveil the sordid details Monday went conspicuously unfulfilled.

Glenn Beck

But here’s where the plot thickens. The delusional ravings of Jones and Beck might have been supported in some small measure by the article posted by Starnes. Mind you, Starnes did not have any better proof than they did that some untoward activity was taking place, but at least his column could have been cited as a rather useless and circular corroboration – and, in fact, Beck did just that. Which makes it all the more curious that Fox News made the column disappear. The link currently returns a “No Results Found” page. Making matters worse, Starnes also posted the article on the conservative Townhall web site, where it was also scrubbed. [Note: The Townhall article remains in Google’s cache]

What can explain this odd self-censorship by two separate, unaffiliated web sites? The articles simply vanished with no comment or correction. Was there a discovery that they were so far off base that they put the publishers in jeopardy of being sued for libel? If so, simply removing them would not be an effective defense without an apology for any harm done. It would more likely serve to prove that they had an awareness of the potential for harm and sought to cover up their actions.

Fox News

Another theory might be that Fox and Townhall are actually covert liberal agents who are in cahoots with Obama and the jihad movement and decided it would be better if they didn’t publicize these allegations. Plus they could sabotage Beck’s effort to reveal these harrowing truths and crush his credibility (if there were any left for crushing).

Alright, I know I shouldn’t be giving Beck any help in concocting his paranoid delusions. First of all, he’s better at it than I am. And secondly, it’s like giving a drug addict a fix. But what else might explain the behavior of Fox News, who ordinarily would leap at the opportunity to implicate Obama in some nefarious intrigue?

These missing articles create a mystery all their own, and it’s one that will likely never be solved because Fox is not forthcoming on matters related to their pseudo-journalistic endeavors. They rarely acknowledge errors in the best of circumstances, so we ought not to expect them to do so after having secretly excised a piece of dubious reporting. For all we are likely to ever know, these articles were just sucked into the black hole of Fox’s nightmare factory.

[Update 4/25/13] The articles referenced above are still missing and there have been no explanations or corrections offered. However, the “false flag” schemes they promote have been adopted by a GOP congresswoman from New Hampshire, Stella Tremblay, who said that “The Boston Marathon was a Black Ops ‘terrorist’ attack…by our own Government.”

Also, on Wednesday Beck interviewed a retired INS Special Agent on his webcast who disputed Beck’s account of the affair saying that “it doesn’t make sense.” Not surprisingly, Beck glossed over that portion of the discussion as if it hadn’t happened.


Where Are The Anti-Tyranny Teabaggers When Fox News Proposes Bugging Churches?

Posted by on April 22, 2013 at 5:35 pm. 9 Comments :

The Tea Party, and their Republican handlers, have created a cottage industry of fabricated fear mongering over imaginary plots to thrust the American people into slavery. Their incessant wailing over non-existent attempts by President Obama to designate himself a dictator and force his socialist, Sharia law down the throats of patrio-pathic Christicans has reached eardrum-busting decibel levels.

So it sort of makes you wonder why they aren’t aiming their NRA-approved assault weapons at their TV sets that are perpetually stuck on Fox News. Because this morning, Brian Kilmeade of Fox & Friends proposed that the government place listening devices in houses of worship.

Fox News

Whatever happened to the right-wing advocacy of small government? Where are the zealots who are convinced that Washington is a cesspool of would-be tyrants? How can those defenders of the Founding Fathers be silent when Fox News promotes such brazen violations of privacy and religious liberty?

The truth is that the righteous wing of the Republican Party was never opposed to big government. They have always favored a brand of oppression that focused on the private lives of the people. When they say that they want government “off their backs” what they mean is off the backs of big business. Regulation is a mortal sin to them. But they reserve the right to dictate how law-abiding individuals practice their faith, not to mention who they marry and what they are permitted to do in the privacy of their bedrooms.

Clearly hypocrisy is not foreign to their way of thinking. And that’s how they can sit back and be silent when their spokesmodels say things that are seemingly contrary to what they pretend to believe. Besides, when you violate the rights of minorities it doesn’t really count, does it?


Glenn Beck’s “Most Important Story In History” Just Another Epic Dud

Posted by on April 22, 2013 at 2:45 pm. 9 Comments :

Last week Glenn Beck was salivating over easily debunked rumors that he was convinced were proof of a scandalous cover up by the Obama administration. He spun a tale of a Saudi man who was near the scene of the Boston marathon bombing and was, according to Beck, connected to the Tsarneav brothers. And with the slimy veneer of the great snake oil salesman he is, Beck promised his glassy-eyed listeners that if they could just hold out for the weekend he would reveal unambiguous evidence that the Saudi was a terrorist and that President Obama was personally covering up for him.

Glenn Beck

And now our patience has been rewarded with Beck’s radio broadcast this morning. Completely oblivious to the fact that the man Beck is slandering as a terrorist was found to be a student with no ties to anything unsavory, Beck is clinging to his delusional conspiracy and reiterating his allegations from last week. And despite having threatened the President with the disclosure of the shocking truth, Beck has no further proof of wrongdoing or suspicious connection than he pretended to have previously.

The entirety of Beck’s expose consisted of unsupported allegations that a Saudi man was scheduled for deportation under “section 212, 3B” (security and related grounds). However, the Department of Homeland Security has already confirmed that the person in question was not a security risk and that he was not being investigated or deported. That, of course, hasn’t stopped Beck from persisting in his ramblings and calling for Obama to be impeached. He still has not speculated as to why Obama, and his entire national security apparatus, would be protecting a terrorist. Unless, of course, they themselves are behind the Global Jihad that Beck and his minions have been warning us about.

Beck failed to offer any substance to confirm his charges, other than unsourced “reports” and conjecture. So the weekend-long cliffhanger turned out to be bust. Now, as we all know, Beck having hallucinatory episodes marked by feverish fear mongering is not particularly newsworthy. What’s really troubling about this is that there are four Republican congressmen who are now demanding answers from DHS based on what they call “media reports,” but are really just Beck’s psychotic discharges.

It is always somewhat sad when Beck displays the severe mental deterioration that has become the hallmark of his broadcast career. But it’s downright nauseating that members of congress rely on such bull excrement and cite it in official communications. The American experiment in democracy sometimes comes frighteningly close to failing when people in government act like escapees from an asylum. And it isn’t just the obvious nutcases like Michelle Bachmann anymore.


Fox News Hosts Join The ‘Blame America’ Firsters

Posted by on April 20, 2013 at 11:41 am. 6 Comments :

Shortly after the attacks on 9/11, a stunned nation struggled to explain how such noxious hatred could have formed and congealed into the heinous plot that took the lives of so many innocent people. In a statement that still ranks amongst the most feeble-minded insults to America’s intelligence, George W. Bush proclaimed that “they hate us for our freedom.”

Bush O'Reilly

As observers who were less dim-witted than the inarticulate, persistently mediocre, dynastic runt who occupied the White House began to weigh in on the post-9/11 analysis, there were reasoned commentaries that outlined how the foreign policy of the United States could have contributed to the response taken by the Al Qaeda extremists. Many nationalistic Arabs and Islamic zealots resented our meddling in their affairs. However, when the thoughtful experts who offered these insights came forward, they were quickly castigated for what daft conservatives called “blaming America.” Any suggestion that our own actions might have set off the radical fringe groups in the Middle East was tantamount to treason.

Cut to April 2013. The aftermath of the Boston marathon bombing predictably inflamed the same small-minded wingnuts who fell for Bush’s tripe and they are now resorting to a “blame America” pose of their own. With a president whom they regard as illegitimate, unqualified, and unfamiliar with their brand of white, Christian pseudo-patriotism, it is suddenly acceptable to assign responsibility for a terrorist act to the government they simultaneously love and hate.

Yesterday on his radio program, Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade explicitly laid the blame for the the Boston tragedy on the steps of the White House:

“[Y]ou talk to these radicals in the Middle East and they say, ‘America, don’t get involved, leave us alone.’ So like it or not, this president has left them alone. And guess what happens? Now the IEDs are blowing up in our streets. So what are we supposed to learn from that?”

Setting aside the fact that Kilmeade offered no evidence of Obama having “left alone” any Middle East nation, or otherwise abandoning our interests in the region, his remarks plainly assert that the events of the past week in Boston were the fault of America’s behavior, rather than that of the perpetrators. In late 2001, that would have been considered blasphemy. In addition, Kilmeade is presuming that there is a jihadist component to the marathon bombing for which there is currently no proof.

Not to be left out, Fox’s Bill O’Reilly penned an op-ed that espoused the familiar and disturbing notion that “Freedom puts all of us at risk.” This might have been a perfectly reasonable articulation of the view that a free people are necessarily exposed to risks due to limitations on the part of government to interfere with their private lives. But that is not what O’Reilly meant. At the end of the same paragraph he disparagingly referred to the “security be damned” “zealots” who protest privacy invasions like warrantless wiretapping, “stop and frisk,” and deadly drone missions that too often result in the loss of innocent lives. So O’Reilly clearly does regard freedom as a dispensable impediment to security.

The rest of O’Reilly’s article is a laughable defense of his absurd statement that the Boston marathon bombing was not a tragedy by some imaginary definition he concocted. He doubles down on that theme by asserting that the desire of fanatics who want to kill us “is not tragic; it is real.” And he concludes by demanding that Obama “bring a sense of urgency to terrorism.” How Obama should behave differently, and where the lack of urgency is, O’Reilly never bothers to explain.

Both of these Fox News mouthpieces are advancing the notion that the harm done to America is of its own making. And unlike the rational perspectives put forth by informed analysts after 9/11, O’Reilly and Kilmeade are unable to support their positions which are nothing more than diatribes aimed at an administration they detest. What is certain is that their conservative brethren will fail to condemn them for blaming America, as they did when others were accused of the same offense. Apparently blaming America is just fine if it’s done by right-wingers who can’t form a coherent argument, and it’s aimed at a Democratic president they blame for everything else anyway.


Glenn Beck: Our President Aided And Abetted This Guy

Posted by on April 19, 2013 at 11:41 am. 5 Comments :

Ladies and gentleman, if you’re looking for Grade-A, certified, delusional paranoia, there is no better source than Fox News alum, and current Internet vlogger, Glenn Beck. Sure, Fox News leaped to the conclusion that the suspects in the Boston marathon bombing were Al Qaeda jihadists, and Fox Nation posted its usual lie-soaked chatter, but who else did you think would win the race to implicate President Obama in the terrorist attack?

Glenn Beck

For two days now Beck has been ranting about a man described as a Saudi national who was briefly questioned while hospitalized after the Boston attack. The FBI and Police determined that he was not involved in the affair and released him. But that hasn’t softened Beck’s acute hysteria.

Along with the crackpots at Breitbart, WorldNetDaily, and Alex Jones’ Infowars, Beck is outraged that the Obama administration is shielding this person whom they are certain is a dangerous terrorist. They go on to lambaste the Department of Homeland Security for initiating deportation proceedings against him in what they insist is an attempt to help him flee justice. That might be a curious development, except for the fact that it isn’t true. The Saudi who was in the hospital is not the same man that the DHS is deporting.

Beck’s dementia has escalated today to the point where he is now demanding that Obama be impeached for having “aided and abetted this guy.”

Beck: Our president, this administration, the Department of Homeland Security, and everything else – how they have covered this up, how they have aided and abetted this guy – is obscene, it’s criminal, it is out of control. And when America knows the full story on this, if she doesn’t stand up and, quite honestly, demand impeachment and the mass firing – if not shutting down – of agencies, we don’t stand a chance.

Do you hear that America? We don’t stand a chance! It is highly unlikely that Obama will shut down all of our law enforcement agencies which, for some reason, Beck thinks is a good idea. Go ahead – send all the FBI agents searching for the marathon bomber home. Cease all investigations into potential terrorist acts currently being plotted. But make sure that anyone who wants to buy assault weapons (including terrorists) is able to walk into a gun show and leave with a deadly arsenal without a background check. That will make us all safer. It’s really very simple. Beck has explained it all in a perfectly rational and sane manner:

Beck's Wall of Crazy

See? It couldn’t be more obvious. Except that Beck and his fellow lunatics never explain why Obama would want to protect someone who just blew up nearly 200 innocent bystanders. He leaves dangling the only possible explanation – that Obama himself is the terrorist mastermind and he is executing his evil plot to rule the world as the Grand Lizard of the Global Caliphate and Secular Progressive Emporium. It’s the unfolding of the Perfect Storm, Agenda 21, Common Core, Climate Changed, ObamaCare, Fundamental Transformation to Universal Gay Marriage. Be afraid, America.

Update: Beck is now threatening the administration with an expose that he will unveil Monday, April 22, if the they don’t reveal the “truth” first. It’s fair to say that Beck’s bluster is as impotent as a castrato in a coma. What’s more, if he has information that he says may be the most important story in history, why is he making us wait until after the weekend to report it (other than to build up his audience of nitwits)? Stay tuned.

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Note To GOP: The Will Of The People Is Not Optional

Posted by on April 18, 2013 at 1:48 pm. 22 Comments :

Republicans need to be taught that the will of the people is not optional. It is not contingent on convenience or the concurrence of special interest lobbyists. The people’s will is the compass with which public servants guide their path. And when 90% of a political party votes against the will of 90% of the people, that party must pay a price.

GOP vs America

Americans must reject the Republican Party that has rejected them. They must elect a Democratic majority that respects the principle of democracy. They must vote against Republicans, not because of where the party stands on any single issue, but because Republicans have demonstrated that they are not above betrayal. This isn’t about guns. This is about trust. And every citizen has the right to expect their representatives to represent them.

Republicans have proven that they cannot be depended on to do that. They have declared their opposition to the people. They have positioned themselves as far-right obstructionists, determined to hold back the tide of progress. They oppose (for the sake of opposition) legislation, cabinet appointments, judges, and even people and policies they formerly supported. Their opposition has produced a record number of filibusters via a rank abuse of senate protocol. Yet Democrats have failed to rein in their recalcitrant Republican colleagues. Due to either weakness, naivete or excess good faith, Democrats have permitted this situation to fester.

Politics almost always produces conflict, but yesterday something rare occurred. There was near unanimity across the nation and the partisan divide. The only place where division prevailed was in Washington, D.C. And the only way to mend such a broken system is through the force that gives democracy its strength: the voting booth. The Republican Party is hereby on notice: The disappointment and rage of the American people will not be diminished in the eighteen months between now and the next election. Prepare to be cast out.


Fox News Confirms Arrest/No Arrest Of Boston Marathon Bomber

Posted by on April 17, 2013 at 6:37 pm. 14 Comments :

It is well known that Fox News is an unreliable network for anyone interested in factual representations of current events. They will unabashedly lie in order to advance the ideological agenda of their political and corporate allies. And yet, it is still unsettling when something like this happens:

Fox News

Within the space of about half an hour, Fox News vividly demonstrated that their issuance of a “confirmation” is of no value whatsoever. After announcing that an arrest had been made in the Boston Marathon bombing, Megyn Kelly repeatedly assured her viewers that the information she was reporting had been verified by multiple sources. But it didn’t take long before the bottom fell out of her assurances.

To be fair, CNN also misreported the story and had to make an embarrassing retraction. The only cable news network that applied the rigorous standards of journalism and refrained from jumping on the erroneous story was MSNBC. Pete Williams, NBC’s justice correspondent, and NBC anchor Brian Williams, both made appearances to refute the reports that were coming out of other news outlets.

Will these people never learn? A few months ago both CNN and Fox (also Megyn Kelly’s show) misreported the Supreme Court decision on ObamaCare. And again, only MSNBC got the ruling right. On that occasion CNN acknowledged their mistake and apologized to viewers. Fox refused to do either, claiming that their analysis was justifiable at the time because they believed it was correct and, therefore, there was nothing for which to apologize. I know…it’s crazy.

Nevertheless, a prolonged discussion took place in the media about the pressure to be first butting up against the responsibility to be right. And despite the universal agreement that accuracy is the measure by which news enterprises will be judged, they continue to fall short of the professional standards they profess to hold.

News organizations can be forgiven for making mistakes from time to time because they are staffed by people and people are not perfect. But they ought ot learn from their mistakes and they ought to demonstrate that they care about the product they produce. At least CNN respects their audience enough to show some remorse. Fox News doesn’t have that kind of class. In fact, their routine abuse of their audience via fabrications and distortions suggest that Fox couldn’t care less what their viewers think they know. From Fox’s perspective, the more confused their viewers are, the easier it is for Fox to continue to deceive them.


So F**king What? Obama Supporter Wears Hat

Posted by on April 17, 2013 at 12:44 pm. 1 Comments :

The Obama haters seem to be struggling to come up with new scandals to hang on the President. They have already run through his Kenyan birth, his Marxist father, his gun confiscations, his economic sabotage, and his treasonous golf schedule. Now, grasping for anything with which to hammer the President, the congenital liars at Fox Nation have uncovered something so spine-chillingly horrific that they had to feature it on their news feed.

Fox Nation

So F**king What?

The Fox Nationalists sourced this ridiculous article to the laughably inept Daily Caller. The author, Patrick Howley, is actually identified as an “Investigative Reporter,” despite his history as a violent right-wing activist who admitted to infiltrating OccupyDC for the purpose of undermining it. Howley also recently alleged an absurd scheme by a media investor to buy up all the gun-related magazines in order to shut them down.

Now that Hat-Gate has been revealed we can concentrate on more important matters like how often the President flosses and whether the First Lady is a Belieber.


On Boston: Fox News Gun Control Opponent Laura Ingraham Proposes ‘Immigrant Control’

Posted by on April 16, 2013 at 10:24 am. 4 Comments :

In what has become a sad ritual following any crime or disaster, the weasels obsessed with scoring political points are among the first to slither out from the slimy media crevices they call home. The bombing in Boston yesterday is no exception.

Conspiracy crackpot Alex Jones predictably accused the government of following up on its “staged” series of “false flag” deceptions that include the shootings in Aurora, Colorado and Newtown, Connecticut. ThinkProgress has a disturbing collection of similarly repulsive outbursts. But one that was left out was Fox News contributor and Bill O’Reilly fill-in Laura Ingraham, who used the occasion to implicate immigrants in the bomb attack.

Fox News

Ingraham took to her radio pulpit this morning to advance her racist theory that America is in danger as a result of what she considers lax border security. She said…

“This, in my mind, raises all sorts of questions. I mean, again, we don’t know who did this, motivations, all of that. But it is interesting that at this moment — we are considering legalizing or giving regularized status to millions of people. Pretty much none of them have gone through any rigorous background checks, to have a temporary status in the United States. And we don’t — I just think that there are all sorts of security implications aside from the other arguments on immigration — national security implications that we don’t talk about with enough frankness and I think certitude here. We can’t stop every attack, but my goodness, if we had borders that were shut down and we actually had a proper screening process, maybe we could stop some of them.”

Ingraham doesn’t explain why “this moment” following the Boston bombing should cause concern over “giving regularized status” to undocumented immigrants who have lived in this country peacefully for years. She is simply insinuating, without foundation, that there is some connection between immigrants and terrorists. She offers no examples of any immigrants who came to the country illegally who have committed acts of terror (the 9/11 perpetrators entered the country on legal visas). And she doesn’t seem to regard the possibility that the Boston bomber might be an American citizen and pseudo-patriot like Timothy McVeigh or Eric Rudolph.

Furthermore, the tone of Ingrahams’s lament is strikingly similar to another public debate that is currently raging. While she is a vocal opponent of enhancing gun safety through new legislation, she seems comfortable with “background checks” for people seeking to become U.S. citizens, but not for people with fetishes for assault weapons and munitions stockpiles. She asserts that “proper screening” could stop terrorist activity that she cannot identify, but assails any effort to conduct such screenings to prevent the mass murders that are a grim part of our recent history.

If opportunistic hypocrites like Ingraham exercised greater reason and logic they would understand that access to military-style weapons (and explosives) pose a far greater danger than foreign-born persons whose only desire is for work, opportunity, and liberty. Then they might refrain from making offensive comments that demonstrate nothing but their intolerance and ignorance. One can only hope.