Megyn Kelly Is NOT The Women’s Champion Fox News Pretends She Is

Posted by on November 3, 2016 at 3:28 pm. 4 Comments :

Ever since Megyn Kelly was promoted to anchor of her own primetime program, “The Kelly File,” she has been heralded as “the future of Fox News.” These tributes came from a surprisingly diverse assembly of media watchers and even competitors. For the most part they were based on a couple of incidents wherein Kelly took positions that gently contradicted the Fox doctrine.

Megyn Kelly Roger Ailes Fox News

The most noticeable of those partisan detours occurred during discussions of issues of concern to women. But like most conservatives, Kelly only adopts progressive positions when they affect her personally. For instance, she soundly thrashed a couple of male colleagues who belittled her upon her return from maternity leave. And then there was her question to Donald Trump during a Fox News Republican primary debate. She put him on the defensive by asking about his derogatory references to women as “fat pigs, dogs, and slobs.” That led to a prolonged and public feud between Kelly and The Donald. She later made up with Trump and granted him an hour of softball questions that ignored his blatant misogyny.

However, a more thorough examination of her record does not show her to be much of a feminist icon. She has been a frequent critic of Planned Parenthood and efforts to advance reproductive health care. And she callously dismisses the gender pay gap as a “meme.” But the best evidence of her conflict with the interests of women comes in the pages of her new book.

RadarOnline got a pre-release copy of the upcoming book and published some excerpts. In these remarks she discusses her encounters with former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes. For the first time Kelly admits that she was also a victim of his unwanted advances:

“Roger began pushing the limits,” she alleges. “There was a pattern to his behavior. I would be called into Roger’s office, he would shut the door, and over the next hour or two, he would engage in a kind of cat-and-mouse game with me — veering between obviously inappropriate sexually charged comments (e.g. about the ‘very sexy bras’ I must have and how he’d like to see me in them) and legitimate professional advice.” […]

“But in January 2006, she claims, he “crossed a new line — trying to grab me repeatedly and kiss me on the lips.” When she shoved him away, she alleges, “he asked me an ominous question: ‘When is your contract up?’ And then, for the third time, he tried to kiss me.”

It’s about time Kelly came clean on the abhorrent behavior of her ex-boss. The problem is that she waited ten years to do so. If she was harassed in 2006, then her silence for a decade thereafter allowed Ailes to victimize countless other women. She didn’t even come forward with a public statement after the Ailes affairs broke in the press. It was her colleague Gretchen Carlson who took the courageous step of challenging Ailes – her boss and the most powerful man in media. Kelly essentially left Carlson hanging in the wind.

It’s not as if Kelly wasn’t aware of the consequences of her silence. The book excerpts include a quote wherein she expresses her concerns about other potential victims. She asks “What if — God forbid — he was still doing it to someone?”

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

Yeah – What if? In fact, he was doing it to other women and Kelly permitted it to continue for ten years until she was ready to publish it for profit. That is not how a champion of women’s rights behaves. That’s the behavior of a self-absorbed coward who is only concerned about her own welfare. And now Kelly is exploiting her experiences to squeeze a richer contract out of Fox. She’ll probably get it. Proving that the only woman who benefits from her “activism” is Megyn Kelly.

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BUSTED: Trump’s Campaign Boss Tied To FBI’s Review Of The Clinton Foundation

Posted by on November 2, 2016 at 4:41 pm. 9 Comments :

The FBI has come under sustained and deserved criticism for the past week due to public pronouncements regarding Hillary Clinton. They demonstrated a blatant double standard by releasing vague but damaging statements about Clinton a few days before an election. Those statements have allowed Clinton’s opponents to smear her, but leave her little of substance to rebut. However, the FBI refused to discuss investigations of Donald Trump’s shady connections to Russia saying that it’s too close to an election.

Comey Trump

Now the New York Times is reporting that the FBI’s inquiry into the Clinton Foundation was built on discredited reporting by a well-known anti-Clinton hack. The Times writes that the FBI’s case:

“…had not developed much evidence and was based mostly on information that had surfaced in news stories and the book ‘Clinton Cash,’ according to several law enforcement officials briefed on the case.”

In addition, CNN is reporting that internal discussions within the FBI debated whether to proceed with an investigation into the Clinton Foundation. However, according to CNN “Officials leading the meeting told the FBI that investigators hadn’t turned up much more evidence beyond that contained in ‘Clinton Cash.'” In other words, the whole affair was turning out to be a big nothingburger.

Some background is required on the book that the FBI has apparently embraced as the cornerstone of their inquisition. Clinton Cash was published last year as an attempt to connect donations to the Clinton Foundation with the personal finances of the Clintons. The book was harshly criticized for containing numerous factual errors and failing to document its thesis.

For instance, the book alleged that Clinton played a “central role” in approving the sale of a uranium company. It further alleged that she did so in return for a donation to the Clinton Foundation. In fact, the records show that Clinton didn’t weigh in on the matter at all. What’s more, the sale required the approval of nine different federal agencies, so Clinton’s participation would have had minimal impact. The book’s author later admitted in an ABC News interview that he had no evidence to substantiate his charge. That’s just one of many examples of the author’s dishonesty.

And speaking of the author, he is a long-time Republican activist named Peter Schweizer. His resume boasts stints with Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, and George W. Bush. He has a history of making false allegations that often require retractions. One of his previous books was saddled with this audacious and absurd title: “Makers and Takers: Why Conservatives Work Harder, Feel Happier, Have Closer Families, Take Fewer Drugs, Give More Generously, Value Honesty More, Are Less Materialistic And Envious, Whine Less…And Even Hug Their Children More Than Liberals.” And…inhale.

Schweizer may seem like a peculiar choice for the FBI to hinge their case on. But wait up – it gets worse. Schweizer is also the president of a conservative “think” tank called the Government Accountability Institute (GAI). The GAI conducts studies that have about the same low level of credibility as Schweizer’s books. It’s purpose is to stream their poorly-sourced, partisan propaganda into the media. The chairman and founder of GAI is Stephen Bannon. Bannon is currently on leave from his job as chairman of Breitbart News so that he can run Donald Trump’s campaign for president.

So in summary, the FBI is basing their Clinton case on a widely debunked book, written by a disreputable Clinton foe, whose boss is a right-wing propagandist, and the CEO of Trump’s campaign. You may want to go back and read that sentence again slowly. It describes a severely maladjusted law enforcement agency that is improperly politicizing its work.

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

And if that weren’t enough, recall that the Times also mentioned news reports as among the FBI’s sources. Presumably they are referring to reports like the hour-long special Fox News did on Schweizer’s book. It’s one thing when dimwitted wingnuts fall for malarkey from people like Schweizer and Fox News. But it’s much more depressing – and dangerous – when the FBI does it.


Obama Reveals His Halloween Nightmare In Hilarious Interview With Samantha Bee

Posted by on November 1, 2016 at 1:32 pm. NO Comments :

While the media is busy ignoring frightening reports of Donald Trump’s alliance with Russia, President Obama is ducking past the hacks that populate much of the electronic press. To that end he granted an interview to comedian Samantha Bee on Monday for her TBS program, Full Frontal.

Obama Samantha Bee

The discussion touched on many of the critical issues of the day, but with a decidedly lighter tone. And Bee did not shy away from the significance of the date that this interview was conducted:

Bee: “Seeing how this is our Halloween interview, can you tell us a spooky story of what will happen if people don’t vote?”
Obama: “Donald Trump could be president.”
Bee: “OK. That was very scary.”

Indeed. It’s hard to imagine anything scarier. A Trump presidency would burden the nation (and the world) with a racist, ignorant, narcissistic, fake billionaire, playing dictator in the White House. It would be horror show that could last four years or more. Giving a reality TV game show host control of a nuclear arsenal sounds like the plot of a Stephen King movie.

Bee asked Obama what he thought Hillary Clinton’s critics would cook up to rival the crackpot conspiracy theories (i.e. birtherism) that were thrown at him. Obama suggested many of the sexist themes that are already a part of the right’s war on women. He speculated that Republicans would portray her as moody and emotional, you know how women are. And expanding on that he observed that:

“When men are ambitions, it’s just taken for granted that, of course they should be ambitious. When women are ambitious, why? That theme, I think, will continue throughout her presidency. And it’s contributed to this notion that, somehow, she’s hiding something.”

Obama made time to express some serious thoughts about the upcoming election and the importance of participating. He particularly addressed his remarks to young voters who often fail to turn out:

“Look Sam, the reason I’m here is not just to celebrate Halloween with you. But is actually because I want to let first-time voters know why it is so important to vote. This is probably the most important election of our lifetime. And the choices could not be clearer. If we want to build on issues like climate change and gender equality, making sure that everybody has health care and making sure young people have a good education and can afford college, they’ve gotta make sure that their voices are heard.”

With Halloween behind us, the threat of a monstrous takeover of our government has not subsided. In order to avoid being destroyed by dark forces of the night it is imperative that every Democrat votes. And while they’re at it, drag along friends and family to the polls. Because the alternative is a vision of apocalypse that could thrust the nation into a dystopian hellscape. That I can tell you.

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

Watch Samantha Bee’s interview of President Obama:


YIKES: Ex-Spy Tells FBI That Russia Has Been ‘Cultivating’ Donald Trump For Years

Posted by on November 1, 2016 at 8:46 am. NO Comments :

This election just keeps getting curiouser and curiouser. The latest bombshell to roil the campaign comes out of the intelligence community and casts a dire shadow over Donald Trump.

Donald Trump Vladimir Putin

A former spy has divulged what he learned about Russia’s engagement with Trump to David Corn of Mother Jones. The magazine is reporting that:

“A former senior intelligence officer for a Western country who specialized in Russian counterintelligence tells Mother Jones that in recent months he provided the bureau with memos, based on his recent interactions with Russian sources, contending the Russian government has for years tried to co-opt and assist Trump and that the FBI requested more information from him.”

This is an alarming turn of events, to say the least. It suggests that Trump has been assimilated into the machinations of a foreign government’s clandestine operations. While this may sound like the plot of a Hollywood thriller, a senior US government official has vouched for the ex-spy as “a credible source with a proven record” of providing reliable information.

The information in this case is described as a “troubling” connection between Trump and the Russian government. It further asserts that “there was an established exchange of information between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin of mutual benefit.” According to an account by the ex-spy:

“…conversations with Russian sources noted, ‘Russian regime has been cultivating, supporting and assisting TRUMP for at least 5 years. Aim, endorsed by PUTIN, has been to encourage splits and divisions in western alliance.’ It maintained that Trump ‘and his inner circle have accepted a regular flow of intelligence from the Kremlin, including on his Democratic and other political rivals.'”

Corn’s reporting did not connect these allegations with the WikiLeaks scandal that found links between Julian Assange and the Russians. However, this is eerily similar to the sort of “intelligence flow” that WikiLeaks has been releasing. Notice that their information was derived from emails stolen from Trump’s Democratic rivals by Russian hackers. Among the victims were the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta.

But perhaps the most chilling revelation in the ex-spy’s memo was the assertion that “Russian intelligence had ‘compromised’ Trump” and could “blackmail him.” While that might seem implausible, it would explain Trump’s fervent defense of Russia against the hacking allegations. That’s something he actually did on a Russian propaganda TV network. It would also explain Trump’s advocacy of foreign policies that benefit Russia at the expense of U.S. interests. These include abandoning the West’s commitment to NATO, retreating from military presences in Japan, Germany, etc., and looking the other way when Russia annexes parts of Ukraine or other former Soviet bloc nations.

It is too soon to draw conclusions about the depth of Trump’s involvement with the Russians. The FBI has much of the information, but they refuse to comment on it. They wouldn’t even comment on the charge that Russia is responsible for various hacking efforts after the White House and other agencies did so. FBI Director James Comey is said to have objected to such disclosures so close to a federal election. And yet he had no such objections about commenting on an ongoing investigation of Clinton’s emails. Never mind that he had no evidence of any wrongdoing and it was even closer to an election.

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

That sort of double standard is becoming the hallmark of this election. It’s a state of political delirium wherein the media treats sloppy email management as more perilous than potential Russian espionage. As result we have 24/7 coverage of Anthony Weiner’s laptop, but a virtual blackout of Trump’s unsavory foreign adventurism. And even when a credible intelligence source implicates Trump as a tool of the Russian government the media yawns and cuts to his live rally.

Keith Olbermann does an outstanding job of telling the whole story:


The Biggest Hillary Hater On Fox News Defends Clinton, Pummels FBI

Posted by on October 31, 2016 at 10:19 am. 1 Comments :

There have been some historically unprecedented occurrences in this wildly turbulent presidential campaign. But through it all Fox News has maintained a consistent state of stridently partisan reporting in support of Donald Trump. Their programming relentlessly disparages Hillary Clinton and some of their most prominent hosts have explicitly endorsed Trump.

Clinton Pirro

In the wake of the FBI’s shameful disclosure about their investigation of Clinton, many critics have excoriated Director James Comey for breaching the agency’s policies and ethical responsibilities. These critics have spanned across the political spectrum with most law enforcement experts united in chastising Comey. Former Justice Department officials of both parties have publicly questioned his judgment and motives.

However, no critic is more surprising than Fox’s own Jeanine Pirro. Pirro is a former judge and prosecutor with years of experience in the legal system at the local and federal levels. She is also one of Fox’s most starkly anti-Clinton commentators. Her weekly rants against Clinton have accused her of having “corrupted the State Department.” She called Clinton “a liar, and a pathological one at that.” She falsely charged that the Clinton foundation is “nothing more than a money laundering operation.” In one commentary she lashed out that “Bill and Hillary Clinton are the Bonnie and Clyde of American politics.”

It’s difficult to imagine that someone who equates Clinton to cold-blooded murderers would suddenly come to her defense. But that’s an indication of just how seriously improper Comey’s behavior has been. In this week’s commentary on her Fox program, Pirro joined those who have assailed Comey saying that his announcement coming just “eleven days before one of the most hotly contested presidential elections of our time, both disgraces and politicizes the FBI.” Making certain to reinforce her political preference, Pirro said:

“Now you know that I support Donald Trump and I want him to win, but whether it’s Hillary Clinton or anyone else, Comey’s actions violate not only long-standing Justice Department policy, the directive of the person he works under, the Attorney General, but even more important, the most fundamental rules of fairness and impartiality.”

Pirro then relates her personal experience when she was as a candidate for New York State Attorny General. The FBI opened an investigation of her at the time about which she says “the adverse publicity cost me at the polls. What was done to me in 2006 was wrong, and what happened to Hillary Clinton [Friday] was equally wrong.” Continuing, Pirro laid out the fundamental reasons for her position:

“The Justice Department and the FBI’s policy to not comment publicly about politically sensitive investigations within 60 days of an election exists for a very important reason. Announcements so close to elections have an impact. Now this nation has already gone through an exhausting and traumatic campaign season. The FBI director should not now be front and center. One of the most revered agencies in our nation’s history, now seen as putting its finger on the scales of justice.”

No one should mistake Pirro’s remarks for anything resembling support for Clinton. And in the very same commentary Pirro made that crystal clear:

“Hillary Clinton should have been indicted a long time ago. She and Bill’s scandals have done nothing but soil this great nation’s image. It’s long-past time for both of them to start paying for their wrongdoing.”

Of course, she doesn’t expand on her vague condemnation of Clinton because there aren’t actually any violations of law for which she could be indicted. Virtually every alleged “scandal” attributed to the Clintons has been repudiated and debunked as purely political smear campaigns. But it does demonstrate the ferocity of her animosity toward the once and future First Family.

Yet with all of that seething hatred, Pirro cannot ignore the disgraceful and unjust actions by the FBI director. That should be enough to convince even the most glassy-eyed, alt-right, Trump disciple that Clinton was dealt an unfair blow. It is now incumbent on Comey to repair the damage he’s done by either releasing what he has, or clarifying that there is nothing in his findings that indicate any wrongdoing on the part of Hillary Clinton.

Short of that, Comey will continue to be suspected of partisanship that may even be illegal. As Senator Harry Reid noted, he may be in violation of the Hatch Act that prohibits such partisan activity by government officials. This includes the astonishing revelation that, while Comey is doing harm to Clinton’s campaign, he is protecting Trump. Says Reid:

“It has become clear that you possess explosive information about close ties and coordination between Donald Trump, his top advisors, and the Russian government.”

Reid wonders why Comey would release damaging information about an ongoing investigation of Clinton, but lets Trump off the hook. So should we all. Clinton’s past management of her email doesn’t compare with the threat of a Trump presidency that’s aligned with the Kremlin. So why won’t Comey reveal what he knows about Trump and the Russians? It’s a blatant double standard that tarnishes his reputation and that of the agency he heads. And if Jeanine Pirro, a notoriously shrill foe of Clinton notices the hypocrisy, it must be the genuine article.

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


EXPOSED: WikiLeaks And The Anti-American Trump / Putin Cabal – With New Pussy Riot Video

Posted by on October 30, 2016 at 2:33 pm. 4 Comments :

WikiLeaks began as a disrupter force in the battle for government transparency. They heralded a movement that professed freedom of information and open access to the inner sanctum of officialdom. Unfortunately, they have now devolved into just another self-serving political propaganda outfit. Their motives are blatantly partisan and they are affiliated with shady foreign powers.

Pussy Riot

The evidence of the downfall of WikiLeaks is all too apparent. They continue to release packets of documents stolen exclusively from Democrats and others associated with Hillary Clinton. And they don’t appreciate the difference between exposing government secrets and invading the privacy of individuals. They’ve bastardized their supposed mission of open government by peeking into the private lives of their ideological foes. They have even endangered the lives of people by exposing personal and identifiable information.

At the heart of WikiLeaks is its founder Julian Assange. He is currently a “guest” at the Ecuadorian embassy in London as he attempts to evade extradition to Sweden on charges of sexual assault. It’s ironic that this alleged rapist is now furthering the candidacy of a fellow sexual abuser. And while many consider Assange to be a hero, the truth about him is beginning to leak out.

Nadya Tolokno is a member of the Russian music and art collective, Pussy Riot. She recently spoke about her encounter with Assange in an interview with the Daily Beast. What she revealed was a shocking affiliation with Vladimir Putin and the Russian government. She said that:

“He couldn’t deny it [working with the Russian government]. On the next day after I visited the Ecuadorian Embassy, the head of Russia’s biggest propaganda network, Russia Today, the editor-in-chief came to him and they had a project together. He often works with the Russia propaganda machine, and doesn’t try to hide it. […] He’s connected with the Russian government, and I feel that he’s proud of it.”

Assange certainly shares that in common with Donald Trump, whose connections to Russia are tightly woven into his financial and personal life. Tolokno explained that Assange is motivated by deeply held anti-American views:

“He’s in a state of war with the American government. He’s smart and charismatic and will use any means to destroy the American government. And we had a conversation if it was really the ethical thing to do that with the hands of another government [Russia] which is, in fact, much worse and a real authoritarian government.”

According to Tolokno, Assange dodged the question. He refused to concede the ethical dilemma of advancing Russian totalitarianism at the expense of democracy. It’s an interesting paradox for a man who professes to believe in freedom of speech, but takes the side of one of the world’s most oppressive and censorious regimes.

Tolokno also had something to say about Donald Trump. She assailed his misogyny, racism, and immigrant bashing. The new Pussy Riot music video (below) is a punishing put-down of Trump and his campaign of hate and tyranny. And she drew some poignant parallels between Trump and Putin:

“They want to oppress people and don’t want them to raise their voices. Their reaction when it comes to people who try to criticize them is very similar: Putin put us in jail, and Donald Trump wants to put Hillary Clinton in jail if he’s elected President of the United States. So it makes perfect sense that Putin would want someone like Trump to take power. […Trump wants] to establish a new conservative right-wing oppressive order all around the world. And we need to do everything we can to stop them.”

Tolokno is providing a unique perspective of someone who has spoken with Assange and been the victim of the Russian oppressors that he is now aiding and abetting. She is right that we need to stop Trump, but we also need to stop Assange and his treacherous acts.

No one should give any credence to his document dumps. They are a breach of personal privacy and cannot even be certified as genuine, unaltered information. He is working with Putin, a former KGB agent, on his projects and is not to be trusted. And the media should refuse to cover the WikiLeaks stories without fully disclosing Assange’s unsavory affiliations and motives.

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

Watch Pussy Riot’s awesome anti-Trump music video “Make America Great Again”

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How Director Comey’s SHAMEFUL Behavior Destroys The FBI’s Ethical Tradition

Posted by on October 29, 2016 at 9:04 am. 6 Comments :

With less than two weeks before Election Day, James Comey, the Director of the FBI, injected himself into the campaign in a strikingly improper way. There is an unwritten rule at the FBI that has been in effect for decades. It states that the agency will not make public unconfirmed information regarding in-process investigations when the disclosure could have an impact on an election. This rule is typically enforced anytime within sixty days of an election. For some unexplained reason, Comey chose to violate that rule.

James Comey

By sending his letter to Congress announcing the FBI’s new investigation, Comey, wittingly or otherwise, benefited Donald Trump’s campaign. The unorthodox communique fueled a torrent of media speculation that Comey ought to have known would occur. He was especially negligent considering the qualifications he included in his own subsequent statements. Here is what he told his FBI colleagues following the letter’s release:

“Given that we don’t know the significance of this newly discovered collection of emails, I don’t want to create a misleading impression. […] there is significant risk of being misunderstood.”

Ya think? Given that you were well aware of the risk of creating a misleading impression, why did you proceed? By his own admission Comey knew of nothing of substance that would be of interest to the public. If he intended to complete the investigation prior to the election he might have had some justification. However, he already said that the investigation will not conclude until after Election Day. Therefore, the only consequence of his announcement is to unfairly prejudice voters against Hillary Clinton. So what happens if Clinton loses the race and is subsequently found to be innocent of any wrongdoing?

The media, of course, rushed headlong into reporting the most salacious interpretation of this news. However, there are numerous reasons to dismiss it as a prime-grade nothingburger. First of all, we already know that none of the emails found were to or from Clinton. Neither did any of them originate from her infamous private server. There is also no evidence that any of them are new. They may be duplicates of emails already submitted to the FBI. And even if any are new, they may not contain any classified information.

In light of how little is known about these emails, it could not have been more irresponsible for Comey to allow this titillating gossip to become public. But having made that mistake, he ought to be willing to set the record straight before anyone votes. Absent that, he should release everything he has so that the public can determine for themselves the significance of this. And that is precisely what Clinton has asked him to do in a hastily assembled press conference:

“The director himself has said he doesn’t know whether the emails referenced in his letter are significant or not. I’m confident whatever they are will not change the conclusion reached in July. […] That is why it is incumbent upon the FBI to tell us what they are talking about. Because right now your guess is as good as mine and I don’t think that is good enough.”

Comey has been receiving harsh criticism from his peers for his actions. Even Attorney General Loretta Lynch and her top deputy objected to his sending the letter to Congress. But Comey decided to disregard their objections and sent the letter anyway. Matthew Miller, a former Department of Justice spokesman, chastised Comey on CNN about the 60-day rule:

“This latest example violates a long-standing practice, which is that the department goes out of its way not to do anything that can be seen as trying to influence an election when you are in the closing days of an election. Usually they interpret the ‘closing days’ as the last 60 days before the election, let alone the last 11 days.”

The Trump campaign is already reveling in this reckless disclosure. Trump himself is making wildly hyperbolic misinterpretations at his rallies. His surrogates have fanned out across the media to hype their knee-jerk, anti-Clinton accusations. And his glassy-eyed disciples are deliriously chanting “Lock her up.” This is representative of the harm done by an FBI director with loose lips.

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

It’s unfortunate that Comey chose to poison the election with this boneheaded move. As a result, Clinton’s rights as a candidate have been violated by a careless government agency. But more importantly, the people’s right to a fair election is being trampled as purely speculative rumors consume the discourse. Comey now has an obligation to mitigate the damage. He needs to release what he has acquired or to conclude the investigation well before Election Day. Only by doing that can he hope to salvage his reputation and that of the FBI.


Trump’s New Excuse For Sex Talk Kills His WikiLeaks Case Against Clinton

Posted by on October 28, 2016 at 10:24 am. 2 Comments :

The 2016 presidential election has been unique in so many ways. Mostly due to the candidacy of a celebrity TV game show host running as a racist demagogue. But even in this year of abnormalities the recording of Donald Trump confessing to sexual assault was extraordinary and appalling.

Trump/Assange/Clinton

Up until now, Trump’s excuse for his nauseating behavior has been to trivialize it as “locker room talk.” But rather than leaving it at that he also re-injured his victims by calling them liars and insulting their looks. He actually reaffirmed the abhorrent personality traits that the tapes revealed.

However, on Thursday’s episode of the the O’Reilly Factor, Trump was interviewed by Bill O’Reilly who asked about the impact of the recordings (video below). That segment produced this startling exchange:

O’Reilly: I got one more question about the campaigning. Do you believe you would be ahead, if not for the Access Hollywood stuff?
Trump: I just don’t know. I think it was very negative. It was locker room talk. The microphone was not supposed to be on. Not that I make that as an excuse for myself, but certainly it was an illegal act that was NBC. It was not supposed to be on.
O’Reilly: You think it was illegal, what they did, putting that tape out?
Trump: Oh, absolutely. No, that was a private locker, you know. That was a private dressing room. Yeah, that was certainly illegal. No question about it.
O’Reilly: Are you going to take any action after the election against NBC?
Trump: Well, you’ll see. You’ll see.

So Trump is accusing NBC of an “illegal act” for having made his “private” communications available to the public. After all, he thought his discussion was strictly between himself and his TV colleague. Therefore, the disclosure of its contents to the world was an inexcusable invasion of privacy for which there must be consequences.

Sound familiar? The emails exchanged by associates of Hillary Clinton were also private communications. The participants also had a right to expect that no one else would have access to them. And unlike Trump’s conversation, Clinton’s emails were stolen by hackers and distributed by WikiLeaks, a secretive and shady operation affiliated with Russian intelligence.

Trump has been exploiting the WikiLeaks documents relentlessly in an attempt to malign Clinton and harm her campaign. He has not been the least bit bothered by using stolen documents for his own advantage. In fact, he has literally encouraged Russian hackers to expand their illegal activities and promised that they would be rewarded.

With Trump now declaring that it is improper and even illegal to make private conversations public, will he cease to make use of the illegally acquired WikiLeaks documents? Don’t count on it. Hypocrisy is his standard mode of operation. So while he will cry like a baby if the privacy of his elitist world is invaded, he will continue the exploitation of others when it’s in his interests to do so. That I can tell you.

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


WTF? Republicans Are Already Clamoring To Impeach Hillary Clinton

Posted by on October 27, 2016 at 2:58 pm. 4 Comments :

The Republican Party has just affirmed that they have given up on electing Donald Trump. There is no better sign of this than what they are now concentrating on as their next political priority. With election day still a couple of weeks away, Republicans are setting their sights on impeaching President Hillary Clinton.

Hillary Clinton

Never mind that there are no grounds for impeachment, or that Clinton has never been found guilty of any wrongdoing. And set aside the fact that the legal standard for impeachment may require that any “crimes” be committed while in office. The crackpot pundits and politicians on the right are determined to satisfy their fetish for removing Clintons from office. NBC News recently reported that:

“In the last few weeks alone, dozens of House Republicans have demanded that a special prosecutor investigate the Clinton Foundation for possible conflicts of interest. Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz has called for a ‘serious criminal investigation’ into a Democratic operative featured in a sting video by conservative activist James O’Keefe. And Speaker Paul Ryan has promised ‘aggressive oversight work in the House’ of an alleged ‘quid pro quo’ deal between the FBI and the State Department over reclassifying an email on Clinton’s private server.

“Utah Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz, who would likely serve as the chief antagonist of a second Clinton White House as chair the House Oversight Committee, told Fox News last week the ‘quid pro quo’ claim alone was worth at least ‘four new hearings,’ claiming it was a ‘flashing red light of potential criminality.'”

Clearly this Republican Praetorian Guard is establishing the battle lines for a prolonged war on American progress. They are reinforcing their reputation as obstructionists who couldn’t care less about doing their jobs for the American people. Their intention is to tie up the Congress and the White House with sham inquisitions. But their ultimate goal is even more absurd.

At least two GOP congressman have called explicitly for Clinton’s impeachment. Bradley Byrne (R-AL), asserts that “If all the things we’ve seen are true and they come out the way I think they will, then we should impeach her.” Mo Brooks (R-AL), agrees saying “With respect to Hillary Clinton, she will be a unique president if she is elected by the public next November, because the day she’s sworn in is the day that she’s subject to impeachment because she has committed high crimes and misdemeanors.”

Along with these confused congressmen, many of the right’s top pundits are lobbying hard for Hillary’s ouster. Rush Limbaugh rants that “Hillary Clinton is the most prepared to be impeached in advance of any presidential candidate this country has ever had. Hillary Clinton will be elected to be impeached,” Fellow radio yakker Mark Levin whines that Clinton “has attempted to cover-up and obstruct her Espionage Act violations … she must be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors in what is and will be continuing revelations about her criminality.” Judicial Watch President, and longtime Clinton basher, Tom Fitton says that there should be a “serious criminal investigation of Mrs. Clinton’s conduct” and that “impeachment is something that’s relevant.”

For her part, Clinton responded to some of this nonsense way back in October of 2015 (yes, they were doing it then too), when she was asked about it by Rachel Maddow. Clinton laughed and said “Isn’t that pathetic? It’s just laughable, it’s so totally ridiculous.”

Indeed. It’s so ridiculous that News Corpse wrote a satirical article in 2013 predicting that Republicans would attempt to pre-impeach Hillary. But with today’s Republican Party, satire cannot compete with their twisted reality. And while it is obviously ridiculous, it may not be all that laughable.

What Republicans are doing is ensuring that the nation will remain mired in gridlock for the indefinite future. With innumerable urgent matters requiring attention, the GOP would rather play political games and conduct smear campaigns. They would rather act out their petty political vengeance than lift up the economy. Or, for that matter, improve health care, mitigate climate change, enhance education, or even defeat ISIS. And make no mistake, the investigations that Republicans are threatening would severely hamper every other critical function of governing.

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

For that reason alone it is more important than ever to rid Washington of the Republican obstructionists. If Democrats can secure majorities in the Senate and the House, the chairmanship of every committee would be held by a Democrat. The Republicans would be unable to carry out the vendetta against America that they are promising. So be sure to vote (early, if possible) and get every Democrat you know to do so as well. It really does matter.


Fox News PANICS Over New Voter Fraud Plot They TOTALLY Made Up

Posted by on October 26, 2016 at 3:41 pm. 6 Comments :

Seeking to prop up Donald Trump’s frantic and baseless cries of a “rigged” election, Fox News has their fiction writers working overtime. This morning on Fox & Friends the “Curvy Couch” potatoes invited Betsy McCaughey to expound on a new theory. McCaughey is best known for having coined the term “death panels” which Sarah Palin made famous. It became PolitiFact’s “Lie of the Year“ for 2009.

Fox News

McCaughey’s latest fiction is the charge that perennial wingnut boogieman, George Soros, is clandestinely maneuvering to steal the election from Trump. The plot alleges that voting machines manufactured by a company he controls are being used across the country. Fox host Steve Doocy lays out the conspiracy in a typically hysterical fashion (video below):

Doocy: “Donald Trump has made the rigged system a centerpiece in his campaign. And now there are new concerns after a report showing that 16 U.S. states, 16 of them, have used voting machines tied to leftist billionaire George Soros in the past […] tied directly to George Soros and his personal quest for open borders.”

McCaughey: “That’s right. This really bears investigating. Because Smartmatic, this UK company, one of the top guns there, Lord Mallach-Brown, is very involved with George Soros’ left-wing globalist enterprises, many of which are trying to tilt elections in Europe and in the United States.”

Sounds scary, doesn’t it? And it would be except for the fact that none of it is true. Soros has no financial involvement with Smartmatic whatsoever, and never has. The actual owner sits on the board of Soros’ Open Society Foundation along with dozens of other board members. That hardly equates to a direct connection to the voting machine manufacturer. But that didn’t stop distraught Trump supporters from launching a petition on the White House website demanding that Congress “meet in emergency session about removing George Soros owned voting machines.” At the time of this writing it had 89,000 signatures, on its way to a goal of 100,000.

However, that’s not even the most ridiculous part of this lame attempt at scandal mongering. The Smartmatic machines in question are not being used in the United States at all. Not a single one will be used in any state in the 2016 election. So Fox News, and nearly 90,000 crackpot conservatives, are incensed and determined to rid America of something that doesn’t exist.

Not satisfied with making unhinged allegations about voting, Mcaughey continued her rant to assert that mentally ill and homeless people are being paid to cause violence at Trump events. She doesn’t bother to provide any proof of that, and Doocy doesn’t ask for any. She further claims that:

“There is already an airtight case against Soros trying to tilt this election, steal this election, using his money. He’s very close to Hillary Clinton. He is pouring millions of dollars into third party organizations like the Super PAC, Priorities USA.”

To be clear, McCaughey is now criticizing the Super PACs that were set loose by the Supreme Court’s Citizen’s United decision. Welcome to the progressive movement, Betsy. Liberals have been fighting that decision for years. But don’t expect her to have the same sense of outrage over the Koch brothers or the many other financiers of right-wing PACs. For the record, Soros’ own son started a Super Pac to end Super PACs.

What we can expect is for Fox News to get ever more absurd with far-fetched fairy tales in the few remaining days of this campaign. They are desperate and morose and ready to fling themselves off of rooftops. So maybe they can be forgiven for exhibiting signs of acute dementia.

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