Tucker Carlson is Vying for the Coveted ‘Fox News A-Hole of All Time’ Award

Posted by on February 11, 2021 at 12:50 pm. 7 Comments :

The Fox News Channel has long been the mouthpiece for an extremist right-wing agenda and the most radical fringes of the Republican Party. It’s what it was created to do by its founders Rupert Murdoch (an ultra-conservative media baron) and Roger Ailes (a GOP media consultant). And they have vigorously pursued their mission to distort the news and deceive their eagerly misled viewers.

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Fox News, Tucker Carlson

Over the years there has been a parade of lying charlatans on the network who shamelessly spread blatant disinformation and propaganda. They included such nefarious luminaries as Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck, Megyn Kelly, the recently terminated Lou Dobbs, and of course, the veteran of venality, Sean Hannity.

With such a stellar cast of cretins it’s hard to imagine that anyone else could sink below that roster and achieve new depths of disgust. But there is one Fox News stalwart who is unafraid of the formidable competition and is willing to debase himself sufficiently to descend to unprecedented new lows.

Tucker Carlson is undoubtedly Fox’s new leader in political lechery. He has earned this dishonor over many years of fashioning diatribes filled with flagrant falsehoods and hate speech. However, his most recent rants are testaments to his determination to reign as the Fox News GOAT (Grossest Of All Time). Just this week Carlson has unleashed these nauseating tirades:

Coronavirus Vaccines Are a Plot by the Left to Suppress Free Speech and Even Freedom Overall
Wherein Carlson asks a bunch of question about vaccines for which the answers are readily available, but because he’s too stupid to look them up, he insists they don’t exist and everyone is lying about it. The truth is that Carlson lied about virtually everything in this tirade. And his lies are going to get people killed by dissuading them from getting vaccinated. Media Matters answered his questions for him here:

George Floyd Died of a Drug Overdose, not the Cop’s Knee on His Throat for Eight Minutes
Wherein Carlson tries to divert attention from Trump’s historic second impeachment hearing in the Senate by bashing Black Lives Matter and making excuses for murderous cops. Which is a pretty wild diversion. And once again, according to Carlson everyone else is lying when it’s really just Carlson. He falsely asserts that George Floyd didn’t die of asphyxiation from having a cop’s knee on his throat for more than eight minutes. Carlson says he died of a drug overdose, like all Black “criminals” who defy authority.

Here’s the truth: The Hennepin County medical examiner ruled Floyd’s death a homicide due to “cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression.” Also, an independent autopsy determined Floyd died of “asphyxia from sustained pressure” on his neck and back that led to “impeded blood flow to the brain.” The report concluded that “Floyd has no underlying medical condition that would have contributed to his death.”

Defending Your Right To Believe That Democrats Eat Babies
Wherein Carlson’s segment sported a graphic that read “DEMS ARE TRYING TO CONTROL WHAT YOU BELIEVE,” although he never presented a single example of that. He began his demented dissertation on the dangers of censorship by sarcastically pronouncing that “The real threat is a forbidden idea, it’s something called QAnon.” This was his lead-in to a full-throated support for the crackpot conspiracy theorists.

Fomenting Civil War With Insanely Paranoid Lies
Wherein Carlson claims that Democrats are mounting a literal war against Republicans, with soldiers and everything. No, really. He actually said that Democrats “declared war on their rival political party. Not, by the way, a metaphorical war, but an actual one, with soldiers, paramilitary law enforcement, and the world’s most powerful intelligence agencies.”

This list could go on and on. But the point is made that Carlson is now the undisputed King of Crackpottery. And an especially dangerous brand of it. He is inciting violence with frightening tales of cannibalistic, freedom-hating Democrats. He is exacerbating the worst public health crisis in a century by maligning efforts to impede the COVID pandemic. He is stirring up his white supremacist audience to ever more noxious states of bigotry. And he is doing all of this tangible harm from his perch on Fox News where his ratings are higher than Hannity’s. Although the network suffered a sharp decline after the November election and is currently in third place behind CNN and MSNBC.

Fox News lawyers actually argued successfully in court that Carlson cannot not be held liable for the lies he tells because he “cannot be understood to have been stating facts,” and that “given Mr. Carlson’s reputation, any reasonable viewer ‘arrive[s] with an appropriate amount of skepticism’ about the statements he makes.” In other words, no reasonable viewer would believe Carlson’s BS. That’s according to the Fox News lawyers speaking on Carlson’s behalf.

The problem is that Carlson doesn’t have any reasonable viewers. So the cult disciples he’s disinforming on a nightly basis will blindly buy into whatever he says. And for that reason he’s earned the Fox News A-Hole of All Time Award. It’s an award that ought to be accompanied by a rapid cancelation so as to prevent any further harm to the nation. Sadly, Fox News is more likely to give him a raise and another hour to spew his bullcrap. Consequently, It might be more productive to do this: Un-Fox My Cable Box For more info on that, read this.

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How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
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Fox News Cuts Away From Senate Impeachment Hearing During the Most Horrifying Parts

Posted by on February 10, 2021 at 3:04 pm. NO Comments :

The historic second Senate Impeachment hearing of Donald Trump is unfolding with nauseating evidence of the assault by Trump’s Seditionist Brigades. It is new security camera video from inside the Capitol and shows the insurrectionists, as well as the members of Congress and the staffs being ushered to relative safety.

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Fox News, Censorship

These videos would make any sane, patriotic American cringe at the thought of how Trump and his cult followers desecrated the seat of American democracy and threatened the lives of representatives and others performing their constitutional duties. This treasonous riot in progress was among the most compelling parts of the House impeachment manager’s presentation.

So naturally, Fox News stopped airing it. All three broadcast networks, along with CNN and MSNBC aired it all live. But Fox thought it was more important to show their viewers what the screwball pundits on The Five had to say about the day’s news, some of which had nothing to do with the Senate hearing. The last thing Fox News wanted was to show videos of the Trump Brigades breaking into the Capitol and terrorizing innocent people.

This is more evidence that Fox News is NOT news. In fact, they are afraid the news. and they are afraid to allow their viewers to see what really happened on January 6. They need to keep them as ignorant as possible so they will continue to believe the Trump propaganda. And it really doesn’t matter what they show instead.

In this case it was a segment about an NBA team owner who briefly said he wouldn’t play the National Anthem before a game. And Fox thought that was the most pressing news at that moment in time. Seth Myers nailed on Tuesday night in his “Closer Look” segment when he said that “The smaller the story Fox News is focusing on, the bigger the story they’re ignoring is.”

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


You Want Unity? Here’s Your Unity: 83% Favor Biden’s COVID Relief Plan

Posted by on February 10, 2021 at 12:29 pm. NO Comments :

As the historical first of a second presidential impeachment proceeds, the most prominent argument by Donald Trump’s apologists is that the whole affair is divisive and that Democrats should “move on.” They plead for Democrats to embrace “unity” with Republicans, the party that has viciously maligned them for years and regards them as enemies. This call for unity by the losers who are supporting a criminal ex-president is, to say the least, convenient.

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Donald Trump, Republican, GOP

The Republican pretense of harmony is as phony as Trump’s spray-on tan. What they regard as unifying is capitulation to their agenda which was decisively defeated last November. In the eyes of the Trumpists, if Democrats don’t give Republicans everything they want, they will be accused of hypocrisy for rejecting the bipartisanship that Biden has been advocating.

The problem with the GOP stance – aside from being blatantly disingenuous – is that unity is not achieved by caving in to unpopular demands by the losing party. It is far more productive to be unified with the American people. And a new poll by CBS News affirms that the people – both Democrats and Republicans – are indeed unified behind the policies of progressives.

The poll asked respondents “Would you approve or disapprove of Congress passing an additional economic relief package that would provide funds to people and businesses impacted by the coronavirus outbreak?” The response was an overwhelming 83% favoring passage of the COVID relief plan.

There are very few polls with majorities that unified. And it was a bipartisan unity. When asked about the amount of the bill currently being discussed, 79% overall said it was either “about right” or wanted it to be more. Even among Republicans, 61% say the amount of Biden’s plan is either “about right” (34%) or “not enough” (27%). What’s more, the poll found that Biden’s approval was a solid 61% majority. For the record, Trump never hit 50% at any time during his presidency or candidacy.

Just because Republicans in Congress are more united with QAnon than they are with the American people – and even their own constituents – doesn’t mean that Democrats aren’t supportive of unity. Clearly they are united with the citizens of all political persuasions who want Congress to pass the relief bill and deliver the help that is so badly needed. it’s the GOP who needs to reflect on why they are not unified with either Democrats or Republicans. But don’t expect them to have the integrity for that sort of honest reflection.

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


Trump is Plotting His Post-Impeachment Comeback After His Failed Coup Attempt

Posted by on February 9, 2021 at 2:58 pm. 4 Comments :

The Senate is hearing the case for Donald Trump’s impeachment. There are a lot of good and necessary reasons to convict Trump. His words and actions for weeks prior to the Capitol insurrection are more than sufficient evidence of his intent to incite his seditionist brigades. The violence that occurred would not have happened but for Trump’s encouragement.

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Donald Trump Tyrant Dictator

Trump’s defenders are leaning on the argument that it is unconstitutional to impeach Trump after he has left office. That is not only untrue (the Constitution literally states that the Senate “shall” have sole authority to try “all” impeachments), but even if it were, Trump was impeached while he was still in office, so the argument is irrelevant.

What the focus on this bogus defense tells us is that Republicans have absolutely no legitimate defense for what Trump actually did. So they are struggling to avoid that debate altogether and get him off on a technicality. In other words, both Democrats and Republicans agree that Trump’s actions were abhorrent and even impeachable, and he is guilty as charged. Republicans, however, want to let the whole coup thing slide. They seem to be arguing that every president should be allowed one violent attempt to overthrow the government. But after that…?

In the meantime, Trump is said to be biding his time and planning his comeback tour. He’s laying low and playing golf so as to project an impression that he doesn’t care about any of this. But, according to what Trump associates told Politico, he has big plans brewing:

“Now, heading into what could have been an historic bipartisan rebuke, the former president and his team are confident both of his acquittal and that he’ll come out of the trial with his influence over the Republican party all but cemented.”

So Trump is feeling pretty good about having gotten away with a treasonous assault on the Congress of the United States. Just as he predicted, his supporters wouldn’t abandon him even if he shot someone on 5th Avenue. The solidarity of the Trump-publican Party is surprisingly sturdy.

What’s strange about this is is that the American people are solidly opposed to Trump and favor his impeachment and conviction. So what’s in it for Republicans to continue propping him up? This Senate hearing would be the perfect opportunity to free themselves from the yoke of Trump’s noxious and unpopular authoritarianism and egomania. They should take advantage of it.

Furthermore, Trump is not likely to remain sequestered in his Mar-a-Lago bunker forever. His silence will eventually give way to to his narcissistic compulsion to exalt himself. He can’t resist. That could result in some form of televised programming. He could launch another unreality program on Newsmax or OANN. There would be no guarantee of success for him in that venture. In fact, it likely only draw a tiny audience of glassy-eyed disciples.

The worst part of this possibility is that it would subject the nation (and the world) to more of the daily torture of watching Trump lying, and whining, and insulting, and bragging about himself, every damn day. He spent the last four years turning the presidency into a sort of daily soap opera, never giving the public a rest. People forget that in past presidential administrations you could go for weeks without hearing anything about the president. But Trump had to always be the center of attention.

Consequently, while Senators could comfortably convict Trump on the merits of the evidence against him, they should also be thinking about the mental health welfare of the nation. Their conviction could ensure that we wouldn’t have to see his craggy face or hear his grating voice every day. His conviction would banish him to his own private prison where his acid rants wouldn’t splash on the rest of us.

For Republicans, convicting Trump would allow them to pursue their political agenda without having to repeatedly make excuses for more of Trump’s atrocities and idiocies. It would free them to engage in an ideological debate on substantive issues that matter to them. And for those reasons alone the GOP members of the Senate should more seriously consider voting to convict Trump and get him out of their way. The question is, do they have the intellect and courage to do that? Don’t bet the rent money on it.

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


The Daily Show’s Depiction of Drooling, Doting Trump Disciple Lou Dobbs is Delicious

Posted by on February 9, 2021 at 9:57 am. 4 Comments :

Last week Fox News abruptly canceled Lou Dobbs Tonight, featuring their Senior Donald Trump Bootlicker and Fawning Fanboy, Lou Dobbs. It was the number one show on their low-rated Fox Business Network. They bounced Dobbs from the Friday broadcast without notice or even an opportunity to thank or say goodbye to his production team and viewers. That is unheard of except in cases of severe misconduct, such as the cancelation of Bill O’Reilly over multiple sexual harassment allegations.

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Fox News, Lou Dobbs

The explanation by Fox News was pitifully vague and insufficient. They claimed that they were planning programming changes for months. But if that were true, there would have been plenty of time for Dobbs to sign off gracefully and a replacement program would have premiered the next day. What Fox isn’t talking about is the lawsuit brought by Smartmatic, the voting systems software company that is suing Fox for $2.7 billion, and for which Dobbs is a named defendant despite a lame attempt to avoid liability.

Meanwhile, the Daily Show produced a touching video farewell to “Lou Dobbs, the most North Korean broadcaster America has ever seen.” It revealed his embarrassingly sycophantic worship of Dear Leader Trump. And it’s a hilarious presentation of just how madly Dobbs adored the twice impeached former reality TV game show host. See and enjoy for yourselves:

For the record, here are a few of the choice excerpts that expose Dobbs’ undying devotion to the love of his life:

  • “We have a president who is a true leader in my opinion. One I happen to believe will be regarded as one of our country’s greatest presidents, indeed, the greatest.”
  • “Have you ever seen a man as strong?”
  • “He’s already set a standard for presidents that most mortals won’t be able to meet.”
  • “I think he’s doing God’s work … God sent this president.”
  • “It will be century after century of veneration for this president.”
  • “Have a great weekend. The President makes such a thing possible for us all.”

And whiping the drool off his chin, Dobbs signs off the air. He will likely be be seen again on One America News Network (OANN), or some other weak Fox News wannabe. Meanwhile, Fox will probably slip former Trump advisor Larry Kudlow into the Dobb’s time slot. Which means that nothing will really change.

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How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
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Fox News Floats Reality-Defying Denial That the GOP is the ‘Party of QAnon’

Posted by on February 8, 2021 at 2:16 pm. 1 Comments :

The American people’s resolute rejection of Donald Trump last November marked a turning point for the nation that had been held captive by an anti-intellectual, truth-averse, doomsday cult. But that restoration of sanity still left behind a small but devoted constituency of crackpots determined to fight over the remnants of Trumpism.

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Fox News, QAnon Logo

Not surprisingly, Fox News is greedily clinging these deranged deadenders. They are the most militant flank of the Republican Party. They are the violent seditionists who assaulted the Congress on January 6th. And they are what Fox News views as the core of their audience that they cannot afford to lose. Since November Fox’s ratings have suffered a sharp decline, putting them in third place behind CNN and MSNBC. Once loyal viewers, including Trump, have changed channels to smaller and even more extremist competitors like Newsmax and One America News Network (OANN).

For that reason, Fox News isn’t taking any chances with the audience they have left. However, they have to walk a fine line between unflinching loyalty to the Trump cult and keeping a distance from their most rabid disciples. Fox News has already made programming changes aimed at shoring up the conspiracy theorist demographic. At the same time they canceled Lou Dobbs, one of Trump’s most sycophantic boosters.

In keeping with their desperate and conflicted position, Fox News just published an article on their website that sought to put space between themselves and the Trump-loving QAnon kooks. The article falsely asserts that the media and Democrats have formed a pact to tarnish Republicans by sharing “the talking point that the Republicans are the party of QAnon.” The truth, however, is that Republicans are doing that all by themselves. The article employs a preposterous comparison, saying that…

“QAnon folks were Trump backers, but to equate that with the Republicans writ large is a bit like saying the Democrats are communists because factions of the old Communist Party USA endorsed a strategy of voting for Hillary Clinton in 2016.” […]

“No one ever would ask the Democrats to explicitly denounce the Communist Party endorsement because it’s ludicrous anyone would assume Democrats and Communists are the same thing.”

First of all, no Democrat has ever promoted the Communist Party. And if asked they would vigorously renounce it without hesitation. Which is distinctly unlike how Republicans pander to QAnon. However, the author implies that it would be unthinkable to imagine Republicans equating Democrats with communists. Apparently he hasn’t been listening to Trump, who has frequently accused Democrats of “want[ing] to turn America into Communist Cuba.”

More to the point, Republicans are the ones who have equated themselves with QAnon. Democrats had little to do with it. The GOP has members of Congress who openly describe themselves as followers of Q. Others refuse to denounce the obvious madness of the movement that believes Democrats and journalists are sex-trafficking baby-eaters. Trump himself is among those who failed to renounce QAnon, saying that “I understand they like me very much, which I appreciate […] These are people that love our country.”

The article quotes several right-wing media pundits who naturally downplay the QAnon prominence in the GOP. One claims that “that trust in the media eroded during Trump’s tenure in the White House and, as a result, Americans are more likely to believe outlandish and irrational theories.” It’s notable that nobody can offer examples of Democrats believing in anything approaching the outlandishness or irrationality of QAnon. They don’t even support the GOP boogeyman Antifa, which doesn’t actually exist.

Another wingnut pundit quoted in the article whined that Democrats are trying “to make it seem as if all members of the GOP, not just an infinitesimally small group, believe this nonsense.” Well, maybe not “all.” But last week 199 of them voted (unsuccessfully) to allow Marjorie Taylor Greene, an avowed Republican QAnon congresswoman, to keep her committee seats.

Fox News itself has been actively boosting QAnon. In a recent segment Maria Bartiromo walked GOP House Whip Steve Scalise down the QAnon path. Likewise, Tucker Carlson went to bat for both Greene and QAnon. So Fox News has no credible claim that they are not aiding and abetting the maniac mob. And in as much as Fox is the GOP’s Ministry of Disinformation, the Republican Party is just as tangled up with the movement as Fox is.

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How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
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WTF? Trump Flunkies on Fox News Blame Pelosi for Plot to Assassinate Herself

Posted by on February 7, 2021 at 1:29 pm. 3 Comments :

The second Senate impeachment trial for Donald Trump will commence next Tuesday. And the approaching spectacle is driving up the anxiety levels of Trump’s apologists in Congress and the right-wing press. Consequently, their arguments in defense of the “former social media influencer” (h/t Colin Jost of SNL) are becoming ever more bizarre and downright hysterical.

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Fox News, Nancy Pelosi

Trump knows that he has no plausible defense. That’s why he is too afraid to accept the Senate’s invitation to make the case for his own innocence. He knows that there is too much evidence against him in the form of videos and the testimony of his cult disciples. And much of the evidence that Democrats will present at the trial is Trump’s own words. So at his lawyers’ direction, he is remaining sequestered in his Mar-a-Lago bunker imagining what he would be tweeting if he were still able to.

Meanwhile, Trump sycophants marched off to defend the dishonor of the Insurrectionist-in-Absentia. Two of them bravely faced the barrage of softballs pitched by Fox News’ Senior Trump-Fluffer, Maria Bartiromo. Although her network colleague Lou Dobbs was unceremoniously dismissed for disseminating flagrantly defamatory lies, Bartiromo, for the moment, still has a job. And on Sunday she exploited her platform to feature a pair of shameless mouthpieces for Trump.

There appears to have been some message coordination between the Trump spokes-weasels. Or else both of them just independently decided to launch the same ridiculous attacks on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The gist of the synchronized assaults was that Pelosi secretly plotted the Capitol riots that place the lives of her congressional colleagues at risk. And even worse, they allege that she was complicit with the conspiracy to assassinate herself.

For instance, Bartiromo interviewed Wisconsin Senator and alleged Russian agent, Ron Johnson. in the seemingly scripted segment, Johnson addressed Trump’s impeachment and the charges that Trump incited the violence that took place in his name:

“We now know that forty-five Republican senators believe that it’s unconstitutional. Is this another diversionary operation? Is this meant to deflect away from potentially what the Speaker knew and when she knew it? I don’t know, but I’m suspicious.”

First of all, there is no constitutional prohibition to the impeachment of Trump (which occurred while he was still in office), or the Senate trial, which the Constitution actually mandates. The fact that forty-five cowardly and biased Republicans voted to exonerate their Dear Leader is legally irrelevant.

Secondly, Johnson’s insinuation of some sort of “diversionary operation” is nonsense on steroids. He doesn’t bother to say what it’s diverting from. Nor does he explain what Pelosi could have known that would make her seek a diversion from the criminal attack on Congress by Trump cultists who were screaming their intention to kill the Pelosi, as well as Mike Pence.

If that weren’t bad enough, Johnson was followed by Trump’s former Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows. Bartiromo pressed Meadows to address the inadequate law enforcement response to Trump’s Seditionist Brigades. And in doing so, he attempted to shift the blame to Pelosi saying that the problem rested on some bad decisions:

“Some of those decisions weren’t made appropriately in my opinion. And those decisions did not come from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. They came from the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.”

The record shows that Pelosi and her staff had tried repeatedly to support the Capitol Police and provide back up with National Guard troops. Those efforts were stymied by Trump. And, once again, it wouldn’t make any sense to suggest that Pelosi wanted to cripple the law enforcement personnel who were there to protect her. However, Meadows and Johnson” remarks perfectly fit the character (or lack thereof) of the Republican hypocrites who are now maligning the police who were among the victims.

One of things we’ve learned since the emergence of the Trump cult is that making sense is very low on their priority scale. And the result is appearances like these on Fox News, a network that long ago abandoned any pretense of offering objectivity or even the barest hint of truth. And while the regular viewers of Fox won’t – or more accurately, can’t – critically assess what they see and hear on Fox, the rest of the nation cringes in disgust at the fatuous fabrications that emanate from these craptacular cretins. But that’s the good news. Most Americans see right through the bull. and with some luck, enough senators will alos and Trump will finally be held accountable.

NOTE: Twitter recently 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. And you can follow this surrogate Twitter account here. Thanks for your support.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
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Cancel Culture at Fox News: Lou Dobbs is Out. Will Tucker Carlson Be Next?

Posted by on February 6, 2021 at 11:05 am. 9 Comments :

Cable TV news got much better on Friday with the announcement that Fox News has canceled Lou Dobbs Tonight on their so-called “business” channel. Dobbs has been divisive and deceitful figure on FBN for years. Whatever reputation he had as a financial journalist was long ago lost in favor of a hard-core, right-wing political sycophancy that turned his program into nothing more than flagrant propaganda.

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Fox News, Tucker Carlson

Prior to the election in November, there were predictions that the media would suffer massive declines if Donald Trump lost. Many of those predictions came from Donald Trump himself. He frequently tweeted (before he was cast out) that without him there would be “no ratings, media will go down along with our great USA!” Instead, that grim prognosis only held true for his Ministry of Disinformation, Fox News. CNN and MSNBC have both enjoyed record ratings and have thrust Fox into third place:

https://twitter.com/noozvk/status/1356979757343100929

The Los Angeles Times just revealed that “Fox News Media has canceled ‘Lou Dobbs Tonight,’ the program hosted by television’s staunchest supporter of Donald Trump” Their reporting noted that “The cancellation comes a day after voting software company Smartmatic filed a $2.7-billion defamation suit against Fox News and three of its hosts — Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro.”

It’s difficult to pretend that the Dobbs cancelation was unrelated to the lawsuit. Smartmatic has an extraordinarily strong case, and they aren’t the only potential litigants going after Fox. Serving up Dobbs as a sacrifice would seem like a prudent move for a company in such legal and financial peril. It would be foolish to ignore it. What’s more, after Fox News received a “cease and desist” letter from Smartmatic, they began running a bizarre video that appeared to be an attempt to counter their prior defamatory “reporting” on election fraud. That’s a de facto admission of guilt.

Nevertheless, Fox has decided to go with the story that Dobbs’ departure was already on their calendar. A representative of the network told the Times that “Fox News Media regularly considers programming changes and plans have been in place to launch new formats as appropriate post-election, including on Fox Business.” But with this effort to save face, Fox is putting itself in the path of greater danger. By insisting that they canceled Dobbs for reasons other than to address the libelous content of the program, they are ensuring that his termination won’t indemnify them from the pending lawsuits.

Furthermore, Fox is clearly lying. Dobbs was FBN’s highest-rated show. You don’t fire your top host without notice and without giving him an opportunity to say goodbye and thank his production team and his audience unless there’s some underlying problem. And in this case there obviously was. In addition to Dobbs being a lawsuit magnet, according to the Times, “his program was a loss leader for Fox Business Network as major advertisers steered clear of it, probably out of fear of consumer boycotts.” That puts Dobbs in the same boat as his Fox News colleague Tucker Carlson.

Carlson’s reputation is even more toxic than that of Dobbs. In fact, Fox News lawyers argued successfully in court that the network could not be held liable for defamatory comments by Carlson because “given Mr. Carlson’s reputation, any reasonable viewer ‘arrive[s] with an appropriate amount of skepticism’ about the statements he makes.'” In other words, Carlson is a known liar who is incapable of defamation because who, other than a complete imbecile, would believe him?

As for Carlson’s ratings, he is also currently the leader on Fox News, but with a similar business deficiency that makes his program expendable. Advertisers have abandoned his program due to the relentless racism and advocacy of violence. Most advertisers don’t want their brands associated with such negative content.

Consequently, Carlson is left with lower-tier advertisers that aren’t as discriminating. They include reverse mortgage lenders, dubious vitamin supplements, personal injury lawyers, and gold coin peddlers. Forbes has reported that “According to iSpot, Tucker Carlson Tonight’s biggest advertiser is My Pillow, which spent more than $40 million on spots during 2019 and 2020. That is about ten times as high as the show’s next biggest advertiser and more than the next four sponsors’ combined spending.” And Mike Lindell, the conspiracy theory spewing CEO of MyPillow has problems of his own.

The insufferable bigotry and lies that are such a staple on most of Fox’s programs culminated in a humiliating dismissal for Lou Dobbs. But others on the networks of Rupert Murdoch are no better. Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro regularly embarrass themselves with their drooling Trump worship. Sean Hannity Laura Ingraham, and the “Curvy Couch” potatoes of Fox and Friends, are veteran Trump-fluffers.

But no one outperforms Carlson for the sheer audacity of his falsehoods, drenched in the smug superiority of the white privilege that he denies exists. If anyone follows Dobbs out the door at Fox News, it should be Tucker Carlson. He’s earned that dishonor, and it would be a shame to deprive him (and us) of it.

NOTE: Twitter recently 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. And you can follow this surrogate Twitter account here. 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.


Watch the Hysterical Disclaimer For the MyPillow Guy’s ‘Absolute Proof’ Doc on OAN

Posted by on February 5, 2021 at 1:17 pm. 5 Comments :

Just when you thought that the Charred-Core Wingnut Contingent of the Trumpian Republican Party couldn’t get any more distant from reality, they introduce their new star, MyPillow’s Mike Lindell, to prove just how massively you underestimated them.

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Donald Trump, Mike Lindell, MyPillow

Lindell had been promising for months to release a damning exposé of the rampant election fraud that he uncovered. He swore that it would blow the lid off of the Democratic cabal that conspired to steal the election from Donald Trump and deliver it to China’s man in Washington, “Sleepy” Joe Biden.

Finally the day has come when Lindell’s investigative bombshell was released to the public. And the best that could be said for it is that it will produce a better night’s sleep than the lumpy pillows he’s selling. Like the MyPillow scam, the “Absolute Proof” documentary is false advertising, It’s missing a key component that is featured in its title: Proof!

The propaganda video aired on the ultra-rightist One America News Network (OAN). But even the Trump-fluffing extremists at OAN were spooked by the content and its utter lack of factual basis. They are surely aware of the $2.7 billion lawsuit that was just filed by Smartmatic against Fox News. So OAN preceded their “special” with a long and brutal disclaimer:

“Michael James Lindell has purchased the airtime for the broadcast of this program on One America News (“OAN”) network. Mr. Lindell is the sole author and executive producer of this program and is solely and exclusively responsible for its content.

“The topic of this broadcast is the 2020 election. OAN has undertaken its own reporting on this topic. This program is not the product of OAN’s reporting. The views, opinions and claims expressed in this program by Mr. Lindell and other guests, producers, presenters or advertisers are theirs and theirs alone and are not adopted or endorsed by OAN or its owners. In particular, OAN does not adopt or endorse any statements or opinions in this program regarding the following entities or people: US Dominion, Inc. (and any related entities); Smartmatic USA Corp.; Brian Kemp; Brad Raffensperger; or Gabriel Sterling,

“Further, the statements and claims expressed in this program are presented at this time as opinions only and are not intended to be taken or interpreted by the viewer as established facts. The results in the 2020 presidential election remain disputed and questioned by millions of Americans who are entitled to hear from all sides to help determine what may have happened.”

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1357713334313902080

The first thing of note here is that OAN sold the time to air this nonsense to Lindell. Legitimate news networks do not sell their air time to outside parties. Especially not to biased purveyors of lies and propaganda.

The second paragraph is wholly intended to indemnifying OAN from lawsuits for libel and defamation. However, for that purpose it is utterly insufficient. A “news” network cannot defend itself from litigation if they air a program that calls your mother a prostitute, simply by stating at the outset that it isn’t their opinion. And OAN is demonstrating consciousness of guilt by identifying the victims that they know are being libeled.

Finally, OAN is making a farce of the presentation they are airing by admitting that the documentary entitled “Absolute Proof” is “not intended to be taken or interpreted by the viewer as established facts.” So why not call it “Absolute Bullsh*t” or better yet, don’t air it all?

There is nothing subtle about Lindell’s flagrant dishonesty. He says in the video that…

“The biggest thing against humanity and our country is this attack through these machines. they got – this opened up – this revealed – the machines to where we’re at right now. So what you’re gonna watch during this show is 100% proof that the big thing was the theft by these other countries that came in to attack our country through these machines that are made to steal elections.”

No wonder OAN is so scared. They are already the subject of a lawsuit by the Dominion voting technology company for defamation. Now they are just making things worse by giving Lindell a platform to spread more defamatory comments. And they can hardly pretend that Lindell’s views and their own are not in sync. OAN has aired numerous reports that make exactly the same charges against Dominion. For instance…

“It’s becoming glaringly apparent that Donald Trump absolutely crushed Joe Biden in the November election. We’ve learned enough about the Dominion machines and software to know that it is intentionally hackable, fixable. It monitors the spread of votes to alert of the needed additional votes and a host of other illicit election activities. The Democrats and never-Trumpers installed the Dominion voting system in key locations with the intent to rig elections.”

OAN also aired a multi-part program explicitly calling out Dominion that was called “One America News Investigates: “Dominion-izing the Vote” That puts the lie to their disclaimer saying that “The views, opinions and claims expressed in this program […] are not adopted or endorsed by OAN or its owners.” Having aired this program with this ridiculous disclaimer, it almost seems like OAN wants to be sued. And if so, they are very likely to get their wish.

NOTE: Twitter recently 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. And you can follow this surrogate Twitter account here. 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.


Read Smartmatic’s Gripping Introduction to Their 2.7 Billion Lawsuit Against Fox News

Posted by on February 4, 2021 at 2:46 pm. 11 Comments :

Following his decisive loss to Joe Biden last November, Donald Trump orchestrated a brazenly dishonest and dangerous campaign to stir the passions of his cult disciples. He sought to persuade them that the presidential election was stolen from him, that he won in a landslide, and that the rigged election was aided abetted by corrupt media and voting technology firms.

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Of course, none of those allegations were supported by evidence or reality. Trump’s efforts to malign the press, Democrats, and even Republicans who declined to embrace his lies, grew more intense as he repeatedly lost cases in court after court challenging the election results. He turned a common electoral defeat into a humiliating spectacle. And in the process, his accomplices found themselves in legal peril of their own.

The voting technology company Smartmatic has now filed a lawsuit against the proponents of Trump’s election fraud fictions. They include Fox News, Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo, Jeanine Pirro, and Trump attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell. The introduction to the lawsuit reads like a captivating tale of political intrigue and depravity that rivals any great work of literature. So without further ado, here is that intro unabridged:

1. The Earth is round. Two plus two equals four. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the 2020 election for President and Vice President of the United States. The election was not stolen, rigged, or fixed. These are facts. They are demonstrable and irrefutable.

2. Defendants have always known these facts. They knew Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the 2020 U.S. election. They knew the election was not stolen. They knew the election was not rigged or fixed. They knew these truths just as they knew the Earth is round and two plus two equals four.

3. Defendants did not want Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to win the election. They wanted President Donald Trump and Vice President Michael Pence to win re-election. Defendants were disappointed. But they also saw an opportunity to capitalize on President Trump’s popularity by inventing a story. Defendants decided to tell people that the election was stolen from President Trump and Vice President Pence.

4. Defendants had an obvious problem with their story. They needed a villain. They needed someone to blame. They needed someone whom they could get others to hate. A story of good versus evil, the type that would incite an angry mob, only works if the storyteller provides the audience with someone who personifies evil.

5. Without any true villain, Defendants invented one. Defendants decided to make Smartmatic the villain in their story. Smartmatic is an election technology and software company. It was incorporated in Delaware and its U.S. operations are headquartered in Florida. In the 2020 U.S. election, Smartmatic provided election technology and software in Los Angeles County. Nowhere else. Smartmatic had a relatively small, non-controversial role in the 2020 U.S. election.

6. Those facts would not do for Defendants. So, the Defendants invented new ones. In their story, Smartmatic was a Venezuelan company under the control of corrupt dictators from socialist countries. In their story, Smartmatic’s election technology and software were used in many of the states with close outcomes. And, in their story, Smartmatic was responsible for stealing the 2020 election by switching and altering votes to rig the election for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

7. Having invented their story, and created their villain, Defendants set about spreading the word. In November and December 2020, Fox News broadcasted thirteen (13) reports stating and implying that Smartmatic had stolen the 2020 U.S. election. They repeated the story in articles and social media postings. Night after night, publication after publication, Fox News reached out to its millions of viewers and readers around the world with a story: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris did not win the 2020 election; Smartmatic stole the election for them.

8. Defendants’ story evolved over time as they claimed evidence had come to their attention supporting the story. The story came to consist of eight themes:

  • Smartmatic’s election technology and software were widely used in the
    2020 U.S. election, including in six states with close outcomes;
  • Smartmatic’s election technology and software were used by Dominion
    Voting Systems Corporation (“Dominion”) during the 2020 U.S. election;
  • Smartmatic’s election technology and software were used to steal the 2020
    U.S. election by rigging and fixing the vote;
  • Smartmatic’s election technology and software sent votes to foreign
    countries for tabulation and manipulation during the 2020 U.S. election;
  • Smartmatic’s election technology and software were compromised and
    hacked during the 2020 U.S. election;
  • Smartmatic was previously banned from being used in U.S. elections;
  • Smartmatic is a Venezuelan company that was founded and funded by
    corrupt dictators from socialist and communist countries; and,
  • Smartmatic’s election technology and software were designed to rig and fix
    elections.

9. Defendants’ story was a lie. All of it. And they knew it. But, it was a story that sold. Millions of individuals who saw and read Defendants’ reports believed them to be true. Smartmatic and its officers began to receive hate mail and death threats. Smartmatic’s clients and potential clients began to panic. The company’s reputation for providing transparent, auditable, and secure election technology and software was irreparably harmed. Overnight, Smartmatic went from an under-the-radar election technology and software company with a track record of success to the villain in Defendants’ disinformation campaign.

10. Smartmatic’s loss was Defendants’ gain. Fox News used the story to preserve its grip on viewers and readers and curry favors with the outgoing administration – one of their anchors was even able to get a pardon for her ex-husband. Ms. Powell used the story to raise money and enrich herself. Mr. Giuliani used the story to guarantee himself a flow of funds from the sitting President and to sell products. Defendants knew the story could not change the outcome of the election. It could, and did, make them money.

11. The story, of course, did more than just make Defendants’ money and jeopardize Smartmatic’s survival. The story undermined people’s belief in democracy. The story turned neighbor against neighbor. The story led a mob to attack the U.S. Capitol. Defendants started a fire for selfish and financial reasons and they cared not the damage their story caused to Smartmatic, its officers and employees, and the country.

That just about says it all. Fox News and the other defendants should be worried. The facts of the case are pretty airtight. And other defendants could be added as the litigation proceeds. Perhaps even Trump himself. Although he may also be busy untangling himself from his second impeachment trial where Democrats are asking that he testify under oath. And for Trump, that’s perjury waiting to happen.

UPDATE 1/20/2022: MyPillow guy, Mike Lindell is now also being sued by Smartmatic for defamation.

NOTE: Twitter recently 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. And you can follow this surrogate Twitter account here. 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.