Release the Hounds: Fox News Inadvertently Solves Gun Control and School Security

Posted by on February 25, 2018 at 11:12 am. 2 Comments :

In the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, there has been a decidedly lopsided national debate about gun control and the security of America’s schools. Most of the nation overwhelming supports common sense measures like universal background checks and banning assault weapons. Even a hard-bitten military analyst on Fox News described putting AR-15s in the hands of civilians as “absolute madness.”

Rex, the Hero Dog

Nevertheless, Donald Trump and his sycophants in Congress and the media continue to serve as whores to the gun lobbyists at the National Rifle Association (NRA). They ignore the pleas of the student survivors and families of victims from Parkland to Newtown to Sutherland Springs and way too many more massacres. Even worse, they lie about their motives and tell them to shut up.

For his part, Trump has completely avoided the subject of restricting unfettered access to weapons of war. He fervently advocates putting even more guns on school campuses, a thoroughly boneheaded idea. And while doing so he shamelessly denies that he ever said any such thing. It’s a circus of hypocrisy and dishonesty that has become emblematic of the Trump era.

The Republican Party has fully embraced the inadequate proposals from the White House that mainly address the fringes of the issue. They talk disingenuously about banning bump stocks, raising age requirements, and reforming mental health care. But they offer nothing in the way of concrete legislation to accomplish even those minor components of a comprehensive solution. The one constant that is present in nearly every incident of mass murder is the assault weapon chosen by the murderers.

Surprisingly, Fox News covered a story this weekend that could provide a new direction for solving these problems. During a burglary in Des Moines, Washington, a German Shepherd leaped to the defense of the teenager who was home at the time. According to the report:

“A German Shepard is being hailed as a ‘four-legged angel’ after reportedly getting hit by three bullets while protecting his owner during a home invasion attempt this week in Washington.

“Javier Mercado, 16, said the dog, named Rex, came to his rescue after burglars broke into his home Wednesday afternoon in Des Moines.”

“‘I started hearing barking, a lot of barking, and then one of the guys screamed, ‘Get the dog! The dog bit me, the dog bit me!’ Mercado told Q13 Fox.”

Rex was shot three times, but still managed to scare off the intruders. He did what dogs are instinctively inclined to do: protect those they care for and who care for them. Which raises the notion of a far better way to protect schoolchildren than trying to turn schools into prisons and teachers into guards. Just get a few dogs to live on the school grounds and train them to recognize aggressors. The kids could get to know them and treat them as pets. But anyone who presented a threat would be met with a fearless and devoted defender.

Sure, there would be some details to work out with regard to preventing unintended injuries, but probably no more so than would occur with humans. This just seems like a more loving and humanitarian approach and should at least be included in the discussion. But those factors will likely rule that out for Trump and and his band of hateful, inhumane miscreants.

After treatment and surgery, Rex is expected to fully recover. The family has a posting for donations to cover veterinary bills on GoFundMe.

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

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It’s About Dead Children: Fox News Military Analyst Advocates Banning Semi-Automatic Firearms

Posted by on February 24, 2018 at 1:58 pm. 7 Comments :

Despite the sharply reduced attention span, and constricted news cycles, of the 21st century in America, the nation is still immersed in the aftermath of the tragic massacre in Parkland, Florida. It is totally out of character for the public and the media to remain so focused on a single issue. Much of the credit goes to the passion and eloquence of the students who survived the shooting rampage.

Fox News Ralph Peters

However, this story’s staying power isn’t the only unexpected fallout from Parkland. While most Republican stalwarts continue to be whores to the National Rifle Association (NRA), along with their accomplices in the media, there have been a few surprising defectors. And one of them was interviewed by Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto on his Fox Business program on Friday.

Ralph Peters is a retired Army Lt. Colonel who has been serving as a military analyst on Fox News for several years. He generally falls in line with the hard-right narrative espoused on the network. In fact, he often wanders off the farthest right ledge of conservative wingnutism. For instance, he was once briefly suspended by Fox News for calling President Obama a “pussy” on the air. And then there was the time he argued for censorship and “military attacks on the partisan media.” But his comments on the availability of semi-automatic guns, like the AR-15 used to murder seventeen people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, were more than a little shocking (video below):

“I support the Second Amendment. I do not support the cherry-picking we’re seeing of it right now. […] I’m a gun owner. I know guns. My family’s a gun family going way back. But these weapons – AR-15 and similar weapons – are not for sporting purposes. You don’t take them hunting because they’re meant to tear bodies apart. They tear up the meat. They’re lousy for target shooting. They’re not even good for defending your home in the middle of the night against an intruder.”

And Peters didn’t stop there. He recognized that “my position is unpopular to many Fox viewers,” but that this is “a moral issue. It’s an ethical issue. It’s about dead children.” And he even defended the officers in Parkland who failed to enter the school as it was under assault saying that:

“Having those weapons in civilian hands is absolute madness. And by the way, those four deputies who didn’t go into the school. I think I can tell you what happened. They’re outside with handguns and they’re hearing that semi-automatic fire inside. Pop, pop, pop. It’s like going in there with bare hands.”

Peters also discussed the vagaries of the Second Amendment noting that gun fetishists always leave out the part about a “well regulated militia.” He mocked that omission by observing the hypocrisy of the amendment’s staunchest supports who insist on absolutely literal interpretations of the Constitution, but ignore that the language only protects the right to bear arms, but not to fire them.

The NRA and the Republican Party better wake up. When you’ve lost the support of someone like Peters, you pretty much have to acknowledge that your position is just plain nuts. Peters cannot be dismissed as a liberal snowflake who wants to confiscate every gun in America. Having been trained for battle he knows that a teacher, or other school employee, is unprepared and outmatched for combat with an opponent wielding an AR-15, even if the teacher has served in the military.

It’s fair to say that Peters is far better qualified to comment on these matters than Cadet Bonespurs (aka Donald Trump), who got five deferments to evade service during the Vietnam War years. And the same goes for cowards like Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, and the rest of the Trump-fluffing media who never served their country in uniform. Make no mistake, Peters is very likely the same right-wing crackpot he has always been. But that only makes these remarks all the more noteworthy and foreboding.

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


LOL: Fox News Host Thinks Students Should Shut Up, Gets (Fact) Checked By Student

Posted by on February 23, 2018 at 12:07 pm. 2 Comments :

There is no one on Fox News who is more devoted to censorship and averse to free speech than primetime host Laura Ingraham. She wrote a book titled “Shut Up and Sing,” an extended diatribe on denying the First Amendment to talented Americans who were smart enough to become successful and popular.

Fox News Laura Ingraham

Ingraham recently expanded on that theme to deliver an overtly racist tantrum aimed at NBA stars LeBron James and Kevin Durant. Annoyed that they had the audacity to criticize Dear Leader Donald Trump, Ingraham literally told them to “shut up and dribble.” It was just the next step in her crusade to silence anyone with whom she disagreed. Particularly if those dissenters were dark-skinned celebrities. You will never hear her attack crackpots like Ted Nugent or Scott Baio in the same way.

On Friday morning Ingraham lashed again. This time her vitriol was aimed at Sarah Chadwick, a survivor of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. And it was typical of her censorial tendencies as she tried to shame Chadwick for speaking out. Ingraham tweeted this:

Seriously? Ingraham is outraged that a young adult with her own opinions would challenge an almighty member of the United States Senate. [Here is Chadwick’s tweet] Not to mention a young adult who just went through a nightmare and lost close friends and classmates. If anyone has the right to express her thoughts about assault weapons and the failure of the political class it’s Chadwick. And she took the opportunity to do so in a delightfully snarky response to Ingraham:

Just brilliant. Chadwick demonstrated that she has far more dignity than Ingraham by not emulating the Fox Host’s crass smear tactics. It was a succinct reply that conveyed the message that Ingraham’s ignorance isn’t really worth wasting time on. And at the same time she trumped the professional “journalist” by correcting her poor reporting.

This conniption fit by the allegedly “mature” Fox News shill adds to the pile of insults and slanders that Fox and other right-wing media hacks have been shoveling. There have been ludicrous accusations that the students were paid actors or professional protesters. They have been criticized for being insolent punks who were raised badly. And worst of all, raving conservatives have insisted that they should be disregarded because they are too emotional or too young to have valid opinions.

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

That’s the perspective of old fogies who wallow in their ageist supremacy and spend their days pulling out what’s left of their hair. There is no one more suitable to comment on the state of our society than those who are about to inherit it – complete with the flaws built in by their predecessors. This is their world. Adults who think that they are leaving it to their children have it backwards. They are just the caretakers for the future owners. And with heirs like Chadwick and her colleagues at Stoneman Douglas, the future has never looked brighter.


Trump Makes Impeachable Threat to Create ‘a Crime Mess Like You’ve Never Seen in California’

Posted by on February 22, 2018 at 3:55 pm. 6 Comments :

I know I’ve said this before, but this time this really is the most nauseating thing Donald Trump has ever said. During a White House meeting with state and local officials to discuss school safety, the President lurched off the track to unload a disgusting pile of crap on California.

Donald Trump Impeach

This meeting was supposed to be focused on finding solutions to the tragedy that occurred in Parkland, Florida last week. It was supposed to be about saving children’s lives and making it safe for them to attend school. But Trump couldn’t suppress his vile hatred for anything and anyone that he perceives to be against him. So he diverted from the topic at hand to attack his fellow Americans in California (video below). He began by raising the issue of gangs, describing them as not being “human beings, these are animals.” And he made the ludicrous and obviously false claim that he was “literally getting MS-13 out by the thousands.” Then he disgorged this bit of incoherent bullshit into a room that must have wondered WTF he was talking about:

“We’re getting no help from the state of California. I mean frankly, if I want to pull our people from California you would have a crime mess like you’ve never seen in California. All I’d have to say is ‘ICE and border patrol, leave California alone.’ You’d be inundated. You would see crime like nobody’s ever seen crime in this country. And yet we get no help from the state of California. They are doing a lousy management job. They have the highest taxes in the nation. And they don’t know what’s happening out there. Frankly, it’s a disgrace. The sanctuary city situation. The protection of these horrible criminals.”

Well, that was unexpected. Trump lashed out at one of the most prosperous states in the nation for a gang problem that exists nationwide. And for some reason he took a swipe at California’s tax codes that contribute to its prosperity. And surely he wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to yammer about sanctuary cities and make false claims about protecting criminals. But hold on. That wasn’t the worst of it. He continued:

“If we ever pulled our ICE out. If we ever said let California alone, let them figure it out for themselves. In two months they’d be begging for us to come back. They would be begging. And you know what? I’m thinking about doing it.”

Are you freakin’ kidding me? Trump flies off the handle to whine dishonestly about crime and then tells the nation that he’s actually thinking about deliberately creating a “crime mess” just to satisfy his ego and exact vengeance against a state where he has little support? That’s a threat to put Americans in harms way for the petty grievances of a sadistic narcissist. Just the threat of doing that ought to be grounds for impeachment. He took an oath to “protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” And now he’s saying that he might just decide not to do that.

How could Trump even consider this, much less say it out loud? Where would he get such a disgusting idea? The answer to that is pretty simple. It’s the same place he gets most of his disgusting ideas: Fox News. Just a few hours before this meeting, Fox ran an interview of ICE Director, Tom Homan. In the interview Homan took issue with comments by California’s senators, Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris. They were disturbed by his prior statements threatening to increase immigration enforcement activity and that California had “better hold on tight.” Feinstein and Harris wrote to him saying that “Diverting resources in an effort to punish California and score political points is an abhorrent abuse of power.”

So Trump was obviously watching this unfolding feud on Fox News and decided to weigh in. However his contribution was typically ham-fisted and offensive. His tone of voice when asserting that he was “thinking about doing it,” was dripping with animosity and undisguised hate. But if he ever actually acted on this threat it would just be another count of treason against him. He is the most traitorous, unpatriotic, heathen ever to occupy the White House. And the sooner he is gone, the better for the country.

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


NRA Shill Says the Media ‘Love Mass Shootings,’ ‘Crying White Mothers are Ratings Gold.

Posted by on February 22, 2018 at 2:12 pm. 4 Comments :

If you were still uncertain as to whether the NRA is an organization steeped in partisan rancor and vile, hate-filled hysterics, the remarks by its chief spokesperson, Dana Loesch, at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), will put an end to your doubts.

Dana Loesch

On Wednesday night Loesch appeared on the CNN Town Hall featuring student survivors from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School along with some parents, teachers and politicians. Loesch attempted to present herself as a rational, open-minded participant in a discussion seeking to find solutions to a serious problem. But the very next day she let her true feelings come out in her speech at CPAC (video below):

“Many in legacy media love mass shootings. You guys love it. Now, I’m not saying that you love the tragedy. But I am saying that you love the ratings. Crying white mothers are ratings gold to you and many in the legacy media.”

It’s not surprising that she didn’t say this to the faces of the “crying white mothers” in CNN’s forum. She is a deceitful, manipulative hack who who will happily lie in order to achieve her ends and those of her benefactors in the firearms industry. To make the broad accusation that the media “loves mass shootings” in a public address demonstrates her utter lack of decency and humanity. And her ability to turn around in a few hours to display both ugly sides of her face is something that only comes with an innately grotesque personality.

But Loesch went even further to insult the parents of murdered children as if they were disingenuous contestants on a reality TV show. And the interjection of a racial component only makes the insult many times worse. Her CPAC performance was like watching a cartoon villain giving away all her secret, evil plans, secure in the belief that her opponents would soon be dead and unable to stop her. That may be why she also unleashed this bit of BS:

“The government has proven that they cannot keep you safe, and yet some people want all of us to disarm. And then they also call Trump a tyrant, but then say they want the president to also confiscate our firearms. Try to figure that one out.”

Of course, no one is proposing to disarm the entire nation. Likewise, no one has suggested confiscating all firearms. These are just the NRA’s standard lies to whip up fear among their followers that a tyrannical overlord is plotting to enslave America and only the NRA can prevent it. They screeched for eight years that President Obama was coming for their guns, never mind that it never happened, nor was there any threat of it. The NRA is fear machine and it has to have an enemy to survive. Preferably a dark-skinned one.

Loesch’s remarks were not a one-off or gaffe. It’s an NRA mantra as seen in this video from NRA-TV. The commentator uses the identical language that Loesch used about loving mass shootings, repeating it for emphasis. And he spent the rest of the time spewing the NRA line in a monologue of deceit.

That’s what the NRA does. It is their whole purpose for existing. They do not represent gun owners. They shill for gun manufacturers. Which is why they push for more guns as the solution to every problem. No matter what it is, the only NRA approved response is to buy more guns. They are about marketing and nothing else. And if innocent people die, that’s just the price of capitalism.

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


Donald Trump in His Own Deplorable Words/Lies: ‘I Never Said Give Teachers Guns’

Posted by on February 22, 2018 at 9:49 am. 4 Comments :

Thursday morning’s tweetstorm from Donald Trump is typically filled with nonsense. It’s tempting to ignore these psychotic outbursts. They rarely have anything of substance or value in them. But he leads off with such a brazen and dangerous lie that it would be journalistic malpractice not to point it out and give it the ridicule it deserves. So buckle up. This is, unfortunately, our president talking.

Donald Trump AR-15

OK, I’ll give you that. You never said “give teachers guns.” But you did say to arm teachers (an utterly boneheaded idea). So they would have to buy the guns themselves? That fits your soulless agenda to cut funding for schools and school safety. And you just signed a bill that disallows tax write-offs when teachers use their own money for supplies. Also, note what you said about guns in schools a couple of years ago.

Immediately? You mean after they recognize that there’s an emergency situation, retrieve the gun from a safe location, load the gun, and – oh never mind. The teacher would be dead before any of that could happen. And in the meantime the kids would have been left on their own without the guidance of the teacher to secure their safety.

Parkland had had an armed security guard and police presence. That didn’t deter Nikolas Cruz. And even if there was a deterrent, it would only result in the shooter selecting another target, like a church, restaurant, mall, park, concert, etc. We would have to have armed guards, sales clerks, pastors, and more patrolling everywhere in your prison-like, dystopian world.

See above. And WTF do you mean by offensive? Do you intend to have teachers go out and hunt potential shooters?

Not sufficient. The availability of military assault weapons will insure higher body counts when “sickos” act out.

And you love the NRA. Why not? You took $30,000,000 from them to help Russia get you elected.

You’re the master of “all talk, no action,” so as usual, nothing will get done. Just like DACA. Correction: You do sometimes take action, but it always makes things worse.

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

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The Media Needs to Stop the False Argument of Arming Teachers and Fortifying Schools

Posted by on February 21, 2018 at 3:42 pm. 5 Comments :

One week ago a deeply disturbed young man entered his old school in Parkland, Florida, with an AR-15 and ended the lives of fourteen students and three adults. Ever since then the survivors and classmates of the victims have demonstrated a rare and inspiring resolve to make Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School the last site of a such a tragedy. If they succeed they will have beaten the odds, because survivors from Columbine to Sandy Hook have said the same thing.

Samuel Zeif Parkland

Many of the Stoneman Douglas students have made passionate and rational cases for taking military style assault weapons off the market. That solution has been predictably opposed by conservatives and NRA shills in Congress. And, of course, Donald Trump is siding with the obstructionists and mass murderers union. But one of the most galling responses to the demand for common sense gun safety reform is the notion that teachers should be put on the front lines by arming them with commensurate fire power.

That is maybe the most boneheaded solution imaginable. For one thing, it only makes the teachers more likely to be the first victims of the shooter. It also requires the teachers to turn their attention away from securing the students while they engage in a firefight. And it relies on the assumption that an armed teacher will be at the the specific location of the shooting with a weapon in hand. In real life scenarios that is an unrealistic assumption. The teacher might be in a different classroom. And their guns would probably be locked up for safekeeping. Since shootings like the one in Parkland usually last about three minutes, the tragedy would have occurred before an armed teacher could show up.

But what makes this suggestion so inappropriate as a potential solution is its narrow focus on schools. What would happen if every school in America were to be rebuilt as a fortress with armed teachers and security guards and snipers on the rooftops? Besides, that is, making our kids go to school in prison of war style institutions? If a shooter were to plot a mass murder under these circumstance, he would simply select a different target.

How would fortifying schools protect children who gathered at McDonalds on the way home after school? How would it protect them in the mall, or a concert, or at church, or at a playground in the park? Would all of those places also have to be re-envisioned as prisons with weapon-toting sales clerks and volunteer parents on patrol? Would American society be turned into one big gulag where any suspicious person might be gunned down by an overeager pseudo-cop?

Trump met with a group of students, parents, and teachers on Wednesday afternoon and told them that he supports concealed carry for teachers. He ignored entirely the subject of taking these weapons off the streets. The only other solution he proposed was for opening old-school mental hospitals where people with psychological problems could be held after being “nabbed” by the thought police. Bear in mind that the vast majority of people with mental illness are not dangerous or violent.

Why isn’t the media addressing these obvious flaws whenever the armed teacher solution is proposed? Our kids and country will not be safer because schools are converted into frightening destinations where learning would be nearly impossible. The only things that all of the potential sites for a massacre like the one at Stoneman Douglas High (or Las Vegas, or the Pulse nightclub, or the Sutherland Springs church) had in common was the means of execution and the tears of grieving friends and family.

No matter how many times the gun fetishists insist that guns are not the problem – guns ARE the problem. There may be many other facets of a comprehensive response, but the problem will never be solved until the weapons that produce the severity and quantity of casualties are removed from the equation. And that won’t happen until the NRA whores are removed from politics. That may be the silver lining that is being revealed by the brave and passionate Parkland students who are finally getting the voices of victims to be heard. Students like Samuel Zeif:

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


Fox Nation is Morphing into a Streaming Video Feeding Tube for the Fox News Cult’s Superfans

Posted by on February 21, 2018 at 8:50 am. 1 Comments :

In its ongoing mission to brainwash weak minds, Fox News is taking a major step into the video streaming business. They have announced that their community website and right-wing news aggregator, Fox Nation will soon become a subscription service that Fox’s glassy-eyed disciples can pay for without a cable account.

Fox Nation vs. Reality

The announcement states that the new Fox Nation will launch by the end of the year with original programming rather than reruns of Fox News Channel content. But that doesn’t mean that Fox favorites like Sean Hannity and Tomi Lahren won’t be featured frequently to spin the news and stir outrage. These and other Fox regulars will be producing exclusive commentaries for the new venture. John Finley, Fox News senior vice president, described the new offering saying that…

“Fox Nation is designed to appeal to the Fox superfan. These are the folks who watch Fox News every night for hours at a time, the dedicated audience that really wants more of what we have to offer.”

In other words, the network that is devoted to misinforming America is providing their wingnut junkies with an endless supply of moonbat juice to keep them riled up and free from the emotional complexities of reality. This is just what the person who already watches Fox News for hours needs. And the persons they are most likely catering to are superfans like Donald Trump. These zealots will surely appreciate how the new Fox Nation will “take a further look at the big issues of the day” and provide an opportunity for “interaction with all of FNC’s popular opinion hosts and personalities.”

The Fox News announcement heralded this new enterprise in terms that will be familiar and comfortable for their faithful devotees, noting that “insiders consider Fox Nation another step toward digital supremacy.” And whatever other types of supremacy they favor will be icing on the cake.

Fox Nation has long been a website that catered to the most extreme rightist crackpottery. They have posted links to articles by notorious conspiracy theorists and dedicated propagandists. They have altered headlines and content to comply with the conservative doctrines they espouse. And they have not been averse to spewing outright lies, as documented in my two books: “Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Community’s Assault On Truth” and “Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.” (Both available on Amazon). And there is no reason not to expect exactly the same sort of news distortion and purposeful deception from whatever the new Fox Nation turns out to be.


Trump’s White House is Shutting Down For CPAC, the Annual Orgy of Wingnut Conservatism

Posted by on February 20, 2018 at 2:14 pm. 3 Comments :

It’s time once again for the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) put on by the American Conservative Union. This affair is a four day circle jerk of right-wingers wallowing in their muddy pit of country club white nationalism. And this year the roster of speakers has a particularly notable stench of political devotion that borders on religious idolatry.

Donald Trump CPAC

The largest contingent of conference guests comes from the White House. Beginning with Donald Trump himself making a return appearance, and extending down the line of command to various cabinet secretaries and political operatives. It’s a baker’s dozen of Washington apparatchiks who are committed to proselytizing the President’s agenda. And the sheer quantity of StormTrumpers shows that this convention has only one mission: Propaganda. Here are the White House attendees:

  • Donald Trump
  • Eric Trump
  • Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the President
  • Don McGahn, Counsel and Assistant to the President
  • Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management and Budget
  • Scott Pruitt, Director of the Environmental Protection Agency
  • Betsy Devos, Secretary of Education
  • Rick Perry, Secretary of Energy
  • Ryan Zinke, Secretary of the Interior
  • Linda McMahon, Small Business Adminstration
  • Ajit Pai, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission
  • Ronna McDaniel, Chair of the Republican National Committee
  • Kayleigh McEnany, Spokesperson for the RNC

Joining the army of Trumpsters are their partners in propaganda, Fox News. A network that has the audacity to put the word “news” in their name is proving that they are nothing but shills for a corrupt presidency. The cadre of Foxies include two thirds of their primetime lineup. And they are supported by several paid contributors:

  • Sean Hannity
  • Laura Ingraham
  • Jeanine Pirro
  • Sebastian Gorka
  • Dana Perino
  • Elizabeth Peek
  • Katie Pavlich
  • Mark Levin
  • Sara Carter

And that’s not all. There are several other people that will be familiar to Trump’s followers and Fox News viewers. People like “sheriff” David Clarke, John Bolton, James O’Keefe, and the GOP chair of the House Intelligence Committee (and future felon), Devin Nunes. Also, Wayne LaPierre of the NRA, whose name was omitted from the speakers list because he’s toxic. And let’s not forget Marion Le Pen, the leader of France’s neo-Nazi party.

Trump has been having a horrible week. He has had to deal with a top aide who was accused of wife-beating. He has exhibited his inability to respond like a human being to the tragedy in Parkland, Florida. He unleashed a torrent of tweets exposing how frightened he is about the tsunami of political and legal jeopardy he faces.

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

So he is undoubtedly looking forward to his appearance at CPAC. It’s an opportunity to get in front of an adoring crowd and pontificate incoherently for an hour and be applauded for it. The audience will cheer wildly as Trump lashes out at their favorite enemies – liberals, democrats, minorities and, of course, the media. They’ll rise to their feet whenever he utters a word about a wall or a former “crooked” opponent. And Trump will get his fix of adulation from his glassy-eyed disciples before he has to return the “dump” on Pennsylvania Avenue and lay in bed worrying about when special counsel Robert Mueller’s hammer will come down.


Trump Thanks Fox News for Helping Him Ignore His Duty to Protect and Defend the Constitution

Posted by on February 20, 2018 at 11:52 am. 3 Comments :

Once again, Donald Trump is caught convening with his “outhouse” cabinet (too crappy to be in the kitchen) on Fox News rather than knowledgeable professionals. The “Curvy Couch” potatoes of Fox and Friends delivered another of their “Presidential Daily Briefings” to the only person in their audience that matters to them.

Fox News

The segment (video below) reiterated a White House talking point meant to distract from the reality that Russia invaded the United States with a massive and well-financed attack on our democratic system. They advanced the lie that President Obama didn’t do anything about Russia’s election tampering. In fact, Obama did quite a bit. He expelled thirty-five Russian “diplomats” and imposed new sanctions. These were actions that Trump’s soon-to-be National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, assured Russia would not be carried out if they won the election. Obama also tried to get Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell to sign on to a bipartisan public announcement revealing the Russian operations. McConnell refused, and Obama thought it would appear political if he were to proceed without GOP support. It could be argued that Obama could have done more, but not that he did nothing, as Trump did in this tweet:

Of course, Trump never has an original thought, and he didn’t in this case either. He was reacting to the policy dictates put forth on Fox and Friends. In addition to the tweet above, Trump also tweeted a quote that played on the Fox News program of Obama saying that…

It needs to be noted that Obama was talking about Trump’s campaign hysterics that Obama and Hillary Clinton were conspiring to steal the election. He was not talking about the sort of tampering that we know Russia engaged in. That’s a significant distinction, but one that Fox and Trump are too dimwitted to figure out. Or more accurately, too dishonest to admit. So Trump’s “Friends” merely repeated their well-rehearsed lines:

Brian Kilmeade: If you look at the President’s track record, it’s been anything but strong when it comes to Russia. [Steve Doocy had to interject that Kilmeade meant President Obama]
Steve Doocy: But here’s the thing, ultimately. Barack Obama was the president of the United States when Russia was meddling with our election. Trying to sow discord. So why didn’t he, as the chief executive of the country, stop it? And now, fast forward to now, what’s the narrative become? Forget about the fact that it happened on Obama’s watch, now it is ‘Well you know it looks like the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians.’ Which there is no evidence, absolutely none that that happened. All we found out Friday with the Mueller indictment was there was this place called the troll factory. Spent about a hundred thousand dollars and put out a few Facebook ads. That’s it.”

First of all, there is plenty of evidence of Trump’s collusion, starting with Donnie Jr.’s meetings with Russians (which he initially lied about) in Trump Tower. There are verified connections between Trump, Wikileaks, and Russia, who Trump begged to hack Clinton and release the stolen emails. There are more than a dozen Trump associates who met with Russians and lied about it. And no one knows what further evidence special counsel Robert Mueller has that won’t be disclosed until he concludes the investigation.

What’s more, Doocy’s deliberate disinformation about Mueller’s indictments misstates the facts. It wasn’t a hundred thousands dollars and a few Facebook ads. It was over a million dollars a month and thousands of Facebook and other Internet posts seen by millions of Americans.

More importantly, Trump appears to be conceding now that the election interference did occur. And while he’s obsessing over Obama’s response, he’s ignoring that he has done nothing himself. To the contrary, he is letting his pal Vladimir Putin off the hook. Trump refuses to impose sanctions that were voted on nearly unanimously by Congress. And although he will criticize everyone from Obama to Clinton to Oprah, he has never said a cross word to or about Putin.

No matter what Trump thinks of Obama, he has a responsibility as the current president to protect and defend the country. But he’s never even had a cabinet level meeting on the threat of Russia’s election tampering. Nor has he directed his intelligence and law enforcement agencies to address the matter. If he thinks that Obama was negligent, then what is he saying about himself? It’s almost as if he’s happy with Russia’s political intrusions and wants them to continue. Or maybe that they have something on him that is costly to his financial empire or personally embarrassing. Nah – couldn’t be any of that. Could it?

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