Immigration

Donald Trump Just Made the Best Friggin’ Argument for NOT Building the Border Wall

Posted by on August 31, 2017 at 1:54 pm. 2 Comments :

Donald Trump’s agenda so far has been a complete bust. The so-called master negotiator has failed to kill ObamaCare. He’s made no progress on tax reform. His budget has never advanced beyond the imaginary. He hasn’t even proposed a jobs bill or any infrastructure legislation. Hillary Clinton hasn’t been locked up. After seven months, everything he campaigned on is still in limbo, if that.

Donald Trump

That goes for his most recognizable campaign chant as well. Trump’s promise to “build the wall” along the border, that Mexico would pay for, is still an unrealized, unrealistic fantasy. Especially the part about Mexico paying for it. Even Trump is now conceding that American taxpayers would have to front for his vanity wall. And on top of the billions that we now have to devote to the victims of Hurricane Harvey, that becomes even more unlikely.

However, the best argument against building the wall may have come from Trump himself. During a recent press conference, Trump drifted off into campaign mode to brag about his achievements with immigration and border issues. Naturally he focused on the evils of our neighbor to the south as a crime-ridden haven for drug trafficking. All of which he used to justify going forward with the wall. But then he said this (video below):

“The wall is needed from the standpoint of security. The wall is needed from the standpoint of drugs. Tremendous, the drug scourge, what’s coming through the areas that we’re talking about. As you know, I have General Kelly here. We stopped traffic coming through, 78 percent. It’s going to be, I think, 81 percent this quarter, which is a record.

“In other administrations if they stopped it just a little bit, like 1 or 2 or 3 percent, they considered that a great thing. Well, we’re up to almost 80%, we’ll soon be over 80%.”

So Trump is asserting that without any new funds or personnel or legislation, he has already nearly eliminated illegal border crossings. That’s quite an success story. In fact, it makes the very notion of an expensive, questionably effective wall obsolete. Why spend billions of dollars on a problem that is already pretty much solved? The remaining percentage of the problem (in the teens) should be manageable with the same methods that produced these results.

If Trump’s boasting about these numbers is true, the wall would provide little benefit. Particularly since it was never a very good idea. Most undocumented residents did not scurry across the desert into the U.S. They came through border checkpoints with valid visas. And the major drug cartels ship their inventories primarily by sea and air. Neither of which would be impeded by a wall. So Trump has provided the best possible justification for ditching the wall project entirely.

By declaring victory and moving on, Trump could actually see a rise in his dismal approval ratings. The American people are staunchly opposed to the wall. And that opposition has only grown in recent years. According to a new poll by Fox News, the wall was supported by fifty percent in November of 2015. That went down to forty-one percent in September of 2016. And it now sits at only thirty-nine percent approval. The trend is crystal clear.

So the only conceivable reason to proceed with the wall would be to satisfy Trump’s gargantuan ego. Unfortunately, that’s generally the only reason he does anything. But in this case, the reasoning laid out above has a small problem. Trump’s contention that his inept and unproductive administration reduced border crossings by eighty percent is verifiably false. PolitiFact researched the claim and tried to run it through a variety of scenarios to get it to work. They all failed.

Trump has tried to peddle this falsehood on prior occasions, and it wasn’t true than either. So what we are left with is Trump’s lie about cutting illegal immigration. Which, ironically, serves to to make a lie of his insistence on the need for a border wall. It’s an usual three dimensional lie that only an accomplished liar like Trump could pull off.

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

Jeff Sessions Floats a Racist Plan to Make Americans – Not Mexico – Pay for the Border Wall

Posted by on April 24, 2017 at 5:03 pm. 5 Comments :

The 100 day mark is rapidly approaching in Donald Trump’s already failed presidency. And as it nears he is becoming more desperate to produce an achievement he can brag about. Ironically, he now pretends that the 100 day milestone is a “ridiculous standard.” Never mind that he cited it himself repeatedly.

Jeff Sessions

At the top of his list is his promise to build a wall along the southern U.S. border and make Mexico pay for it. It’s clear that Mexico has no intention of shelling out for such a ludicrous project. Consequently, Trump and his team have been flailing wildly to come up with an alternative payment scheme they can spin as dinging Mexico. The latest was proposed by Attorney General Jeff Sessions Sunday on ABC’s This Week:

“We’re going to get paid for it one way or the other. I know there’s $4 billion a year in excess payments, according to the Department of the Treasury’s own inspector general several years ago, that are going to payments to people – tax credits that they shouldn’t get. Now, these are mostly Mexicans. And those kind of things add up – $4 billion a year for 10 years is $40 billion. There are a lot of ways we can find money to help pay for this.”

As pointed out in Politico, Sessions was likely referring to a Treasury Department report published in 2011. It found that there were people who are not authorized to work in the U.S. but had received $4.2 billion in refundable tax credits. However, the report didn’t mention Mexicans or any other nationalities. That was an assumption spurred by bigotry. Trump tried to pass off this same lie during the campaign, but was slapped down by PolitiFact:

“Trump conflates ‘illegal immigrants’ with ‘unauthorized workers,’ a group composed largely of undocumented immigrants but also legal immigrants and others. The $4.2 billion refers to the amount given in tax credit refunds for children, the large majority of whom are U.S. citizens.”

That’s right. While some of the recipients of these tax credits may have been unauthorized workers, the beneficiaries were their children. These kids are citizens who were born in the United States. In effect, Sessions is proposing that funds intended to help American children should be diverted to Trump’s border wall instead.

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

Perhaps the biggest deception in this mean-spirited scheme is even if the beneficiaries were Mexican, the money wouldn’t be coming from Mexico. These are funds from the U.S. Treasury collected from U.S. taxpayers. So it’s Americans who would be paying for the wall with money originally intended to help American kids. But Sessions is trying to spin it as a way to get Mexico to pay. The dishonesty and cruelty of this contrivance is nauseating – and typical of Team Trump.

Fox News Pushes for Inhumane Treatment of Immigrants in Detention Facilities

Posted by on April 14, 2017 at 3:50 pm. 1 Comments :

Fox News has broadcast another of their signature demonstrations of callous disregard for human life. On a segment of Friday’s episode of Fox and Friends, the “Curvy Couch” potatoes addressed the subject of detention facilities for undocumented immigrants. The gist of the story was that the detainees had it way too easy and deserved much harsher treatment.

Fox News

The Fox News segment was in response to Donald Trump’s plans for tougher immigration rules. As reported in the New York Times:

“For more than 15 years, jails that hold immigrants facing deportation have had to follow a growing list of requirements: Notify immigration officials if a detainee spends two weeks or longer in solitary confinement. Check on suicidal inmates every 15 minutes and evaluate their mental health every day. Inform detainees, in languages they can understand, how to obtain medical care. In disciplinary hearings, provide a staff member who can advocate in English on the detainee’s behalf.

“But as the Trump administration seeks to quickly find jail space for its crackdown on illegal immigration, it is moving to curtail these rules as a way to entice more sheriffs and local officials to make their correctional facilities available.”

The Fox and Friends co-hosts couldn’t have been more thrilled by the prospect of making immigrants suffer more. Brian Kilmeade took the lead in advocating for more cruel conditions:

“The party is over for illegal criminals in jail. Get this: They’re enjoying seven hours of outdoor activity. Who gets that anymore? Fresh sheets, and absolutely — I don’t get that. No need to learn English. I was born with that. But the Trump administration vowing a new plan to cut back on perks in their immigration crackdown, saying, expect a far less detailed set of regulations — maybe even dirty sheets — including no translation services, so learn English.”

Let’s break down what is so upsetting to the Fox News crew. First of all, they think it’s outrageous that detainees are allowed to go outdoors. Still in prison, just not confined to a cell. Who ever heard of such luxury for prisoners? They also think that clean sheets are too extravagant for these “criminals.”

Perhaps the most disturbing of Trump’s reforms is the elimination of translators. Kilmeade says that he was born with English. That, of course, isn’t true. He was born without any language whatsoever. The fact that his birth took place in the United States to English speakers was an accident of fate. And in his arrogance he can’t comprehend the plight of people in legal detention. Not being able to defend themselves or consult with counsel is against every moral principle of justice.

In a later segment, Kilmeade’s co-host, Ainsley Earhardt, concurred with Kilmeade on every point:

“Seven hours of outdoor activity, freshly washed sheets, and absolutely no need to learn English. That’s the easy life of an illegal immigrant inside American jails. But now, the Trump administration says the party is over.”

Only an elitist who has lived a life of privilege could suggest that life in detention is “easy.” And the notion that it’s a party is both delusional and heartless. This is especially true when considering that these detainees are not the criminals that Fox News keeps describing. Most of them are parents and children fleeing poverty and violence. They are doing what any frightened and responsible family would do under those circumstances.

The truth is that many of the immigrant detention facilities are poorly maintained and managed. Detainees are routinely subject to illness and abuse. ThinkProgress has documented some of the despicable conditions that have led to prolonged hunger strikes. This is the reality that Fox News is trying to subvert in an effort to demonize vulnerable immigrants. And don’t forget that it is Trump’s policies that are the root cause of the suffering.

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

https://youtu.be/7Qa-y8Kn26Y

Misdirection Play? That’s Trump’s New Euphemism For Lying; CNN Responds Perfectly

Posted by on March 2, 2017 at 2:32 pm. 3 Comments :

Prior to his address before the joint session of Congress, Donald Trump invited a group of reporters to join him for lunch. During the affair he surprised his guests with news of a significant change in immigration policy. His new position would permit millions of undocumented residents a pathway to legalization. What’s more, he was planning on announcing it in his speech that night. Needless to say, that would be the headline for reports coming out of this gathering.

CNN Misdirection Play

There was just one problem. Trump’s speech began and finished with no reference to immigrants other than his standard hard-line. He still planned to deport the “bad dudes” and build a wall. Plus, he introduced his “Victims of Immigrant Crime Engagement” (VOICE) task force to publicize criminal activity by immigrants. You know, the way the Germans did with the Jews in the 1930’s and 1940’s.

Equally peculiar was the fact Trump insisted on providing this information on “background.” That means he was acting as his own anonymous source just days after condemning the media for using anonymous sources. But what happened next really blew the lid off this charade.

CNN’s Sara Murray was among the reporters that Trump baited with his fake proposal. She spoke with anchor John King about “the bait and switch that the president pulled when it came to immigration.” Then she went on to engage with King in this exchange:

Murray: “Basically they fed up things that they thought these anchors would like. That they thought would give them positive press coverage for the next few hours. A senior administration official admitted that it was a ‘Misdirection Play.’

“And you will note that when the President was actually out there speaking to the American public, he didn’t talk about a path to legal status. He talked about reforming the legal immigration system so that it’s merit based. That means fewer low-skilled workers. Fewer people coming in on family ties. More people coming in on high-skilled visas. That is closer to a Stephen Miller, Stephen Bannon framework of the world than ‘Gang of Eight’ who pushed comprehensive immigration reform.”

King: “Interesting twist. Although it does make you wonder. So we’re not supposed to believe what the senior-most official at the lunch says – who then they allowed it to be the President’s name. We’re not supposed to believe what they say? Maybe we shouldn’t believe what they say.”

YA THINK? Trump and his cohorts have been lying for years. If anything, they escalated their lie production after taking up residence in the White House. And reporters are just now wondering if these scoundrels are believable? These are the same people who brought us “alternative facts.” They lie so frequently and openly that it’s impossible not to assume that they simply don’t care if they’re caught.

I suppose it’s encouraging that King and Murray seem to be questioning Trump’s veracity. Although it remains to be seen how long it will last. The media often behaves like a battered spouse who believes that the beatings will stop and the abuser will change. Trump delivers one speech where he doesn’t drool and insult Meryl Streep, and the press sing in unison that he’s now “presidential.” So the next time he says “good morning,” if the morning is actually pleasant, the press may declare him a virtuous truth-teller. They have a distinct masochistic side. Either that or they are so obsessed with ratings that they’d sell their mothers to ISIS.

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

YOU LIE: Trump Gives His Standard Lie-Riddled Stump Speech And The Media Swoons

Posted by on March 1, 2017 at 12:30 pm. 3 Comments :

In 2009, President Obama gave his first speech before a joint session of congress. He was famously interrupted by Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina who yelled out “You lie.” He was reacting to Obama’s claim that undocumented immigrants would not receive healthcare benefits, which was true. So you have to wonder where Rep. Wilson was last night while Donald Trump unloaded a truckload of lies.

Donald Trump Lies

The speech itself was almost identical to his previous speeches before adoring throngs of StormTrumpers. The only difference was the lower volume and fewer insults and personal attacks. The stream of blatant falsehoods spewed throughout the address were familiar to anyone who witnessed his prior performances (See The Trump Bullshitopedia). For instance:

  • We’ve defended the borders of other nations, while leaving our own borders wide open.

    • Our borders are far from open and illegal crossings have declined.

  • Since my election, Ford, Fiat-Chrysler, General Motors, Sprint, Softbank, Lockheed, Intel, Walmart, and many others, have announced that they will invest billions of dollars in the United States and will create tens of thousands of new American jobs. The stock market has gained almost three trillion dollars in value since the election on November 8th, a record. We’ve saved taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars by bringing down the price of the fantastic new F-35 jet fighter.

    • In each of the cases listed, the jobs and investments were announced prior to Trump’s election. What’s more, the companies publicly refuted his involvement.

  • As we speak, we are removing gang members, drug dealers and criminals that threaten our communities and prey on our citizens.

    • Plus, he’s also removing mothers and brain surgery patients.

  • We are also taking strong measures to protect our Nation from Radical Islamic Terrorism. According to data provided by the Department of Justice, the vast majority of individuals convicted for terrorism-related offenses since 9/11 came here from outside of our country.

    • What he didn’t say is that none of them were from the seven countries he included in his Muslim ban. Nor did any of them enter the U.S. illegally. Some came with their parents as children.

  • Ninety-four million Americans are out of the labor force.

    • This is highly misleading. That statistic includes millions of people who are retired, students, stay-at-home parents, or disabled.

  • Right now, American companies are taxed at one of the highest rates anywhere in the world. My economic team is developing historic tax reform that will reduce the tax rate on our companies so they can compete and thrive anywhere and with anyone. At the same time, we will provide massive tax relief for the middle class.

    • This is an often repeated lie from Trump. PolitiFact has debunked it three times. The truth is that U.S. taxes on corporations are in the lower-to-middle of the pack. And his tax reforms are overwhelmingly beneficial to the wealthy.

  • Obamacare is collapsing.

    • The Affordable Care Act is achieving record sign-ups. To the extent that it is having difficulties, it’s due to obstructionism on the part of Republicans.

None of these lies are new. Trump has been been telling them throughout his campaign and into his brief presidency. Despite these documented fallacies, the media has been falling all over itself to congratulate the President on his speech. They seem to think that his having stayed on script and sticking to the TelePrompter is an oratory achievement. But just because he refrained from yelling or threatening to throw people out of the room doesn’t mean he’s finally pivoted to becoming “presidential.”

Unless, that is, you are an anchor or pundit on television news. Below are examples of how easily swayed our media is by obvious attempts to deceive and serve up propaganda:

  • Martha MacCallum, Fox News: We were told this was going to be an inspiring, uplifting speech tonight, and I think he hit the mark.
  • Jake Tapper, CNN: It was a much more subdued President Trump than we’ve seen,. It was a speech in which he clearly was trying to reset in a lot of ways.
  • Dana Bash, CNN: The most presidential of manners that we have heard from Donald Trump to date, period.
  • Brian Williams, MSNBC: Easily the most traditional speech he has given in public life. The most speech-like speech, if you will.
  • Anderson Cooper, CNN: It’s without a doubt one of his best speeches that I’ve ever heard.
  • Chris Wallace, Fox News: Tonight, Trump became President of the United States.
  • Martha Raddatz, ABC: Not only was he more presidential, he was a politician.
  • Van Jones, CNN: He did something tonight that you cannot take away from him — he became president of the United States.

What this tells us is that the media still hasn’t learned anything about the Reign of Trump. Either they are in a worshipful haze, or they are desperate to maintain access (ergo, ratings). Trump’s speech, as usual, contained little of substance. He failed to explain how he would achieve any of his policy proposals. Yet he shoveled piles of predetermined applause lines. The most jarring was his exploitation of the widow of a Navy SEAL killed in Yemen. But Trump didn’t disclose that his negligence was partly responsible for the failed mission that also killed thirty civilians, including ten children.

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

The media need to report the context that allows the American people to fully understand the issues they cover. And until they do they are nearly useless minions of a corrupt administration. It’s rather startling that they so quickly forget how abusive Trump is toward the press. But now that this highly anticipated speech is history, perhaps the press will seek answers to more important matters. Like whether the President conspired with Russia to rig the election. And what other relationships, personal, political or financial, he has with Putin’s dictatorship. Is that too much to hope for?

Thanksgiving Day On Fox News: Anchor Refers To Immigrants As Cattle

Posted by on November 26, 2015 at 10:24 pm. 7 Comments :

Always anxious to reflect the spirit of America on its revered holidays, a Fox News anchor took the time to produce a commentary that expresses his views on immigration. And what better occasion than Thanksgiving to contemplate the sacrifices of people from far off lands enduring long and perilous travels in the hopes of a better life in a new world?

In that spirit Todd Starnes, Fox’s Christian Taliban representative, sought to demonize immigrants as less than human with an obscure reference to a classic TV program. Starnes opened his commentary saying…

“Most Americans agree with Donald Trump — the illegal aliens have to go. Head ’em up, move ’em out.”

Todd Starnes

Fans of the old western show “Rawhide” will remember its theme song by Frankie Laine (video below) that went: “Move ’em on, head ’em up/Head ’em up, move ’em out/Move ’em on/head ’em out Rawhide!” It was a cowboy ode to wrangling livestock, often on long, arduous cattle drives. did he think that no one would notice the sly way he equated immigrants with cattle?

Apparently Starnes regards that as an appropriate way to address the issue of immigration, and particularly the plan by Donald Trump to round up some 11,000,000 undocumented residents and “herd ’em out” of the country. Starnes’ choice of that phrase proves that he regards immigrants as animals. But it is also typical of the racist rhetoric so prevalent on Fox News and among Republican bigots. In this context the lyric perfectly expresses the hatefulness of people who don’t see the irony of their own past as immigrants, especially in the part of the verse that says em>”Don’t try to understand ’em/Just rope and throw and grab ’em.”

Starnes continues his rant by citing the results of a Fox News poll that found that a slight majority of 52% of respondents favor deporting immigrants who are living in the United States illegally. He then characterizes that as proof that “Americans agree with Trump – Illegals Must go.” But in his own commentary he reveals that it isn’t Americans so much as it is Republicans. The breakdown of the poll shows that 70% of Republicans hold that view, but a majority (58%) of Democrats oppose the inhumane act of mass deportation.

Starnes also misrepresented another question in the poll that asked “Which of the following best describes how you feel about identifying and deporting millions of immigrants who are living in the U.S. illegally?” The responses were that 41% considered it “a smart idea,” which Starnes included in his commentary. However, for some reason, he left out that 54% considered it “Silly because it would be impossible [or] Wrong even if it were possible.”

Taking the numbers in their totality, it is ridiculous to conclude that Americans agree with Trump on immigration. Only someone intent on deception would make such a case. But Starnes wasn’t finished with his offensive diatribe. He went on to enumerate a series of known falsehoods about immigrants:

“Americans are frustrated — they see illegals taking away our jobs. They see our tax money funding sanctuary cities and funding social programs that a good many legal citizens don’t have access to. They see a government that turns a blind eye to the illegals as they murder American citizens and pillage and plunder local economies. They see a White House that favors the illegals over immigrants who are trying to enter the United States legally.”

There are so many outright lies in that paragraph it’s hard to know where to begin. But let’s start with the observation that Starnes, a self-appointed martinet of allegedly Christian values, repeatedly uses the racist slur “illegals” to refer to undocumented residents.

As for the immigration myths he is perpetuating, the facts are not with him. No one is stealing “their” jobs. The jobs are being offered to immigrants by American employers, yet nobody talks about punishing them for violating the law, and no one calls them “illegals.” What’s more, immigrants are actually responsible for expanding the job market and growing the economy. And they do this without tax money or burdening the welfare system because they are not entitled to most benefits.

The contention that immigrants are “pillaging and plundering” is both repugnant and entirely without basis. In fact, the undocumented immigrant population in the U.S. has a lower rate of criminal activity than native-born citizens. And Starnes’ assertions that the government is “turning a blind eye” to murders, and that the White House favors “the illegals” over other immigrants is downright delusional. He doesn’t bother to cite any examples because there weren’t any up his ass with the rest of what he pulled out for this commentary.

So what we have here is a Fox News anchor fabricating blatant lies in order to foment hatred toward a vulnerable population. He couches the whole tirade in a racist theme that casts his targets as sub-human cattle. And he chooses Thanksgiving Day, a day meant to celebrate brotherhood and the welcoming of strangers, to insult and smear people who want nothing more than to provide for their families and enjoy the blessings of liberty. Nice work Your Assholiness.

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

Donald Trump’s Latest Bonehead Theory Is Custom Made For His Racist Supporters

Posted by on November 18, 2015 at 7:10 pm. 14 Comments :

The Republican Party’s front-runner for their presidential nomination, Donald Trump, continues to peel off nonsense of the most extreme variety. Just when you think he’s topped out at proposing to reprise the repugnant “Operation Wetback,” he reaches down deep to deliver something that far surpasses the idiocy of any ordinary mortal.

Donald Trump

Yesterday Trump was on Laura Ingraham’s radio show and had something to say about the Syrian refugee crisis that most of the civilized world is struggling to address. But his remarks were not about the human suffering or the logistical challenges or potential solutions. What Trump sought to add to the debate was a ludicrous and wholly unfounded conspiracy theory accusing President Obama of another dastardly deed.

Trump: They send [the refugees] to the Republicans, not to the Democrats, you know, because they know the problems. In California you have a Democrat as a governor. In Florida you have Rick Scott. So, you know, they send them to the Republicans because, you know, why would we want to bother the Democrats? It’s just insane. Taking these people is absolutely insanity. I don’t know if you know. They’re talking about hundreds of thousands potentially. Hundreds of thousands.

Where to begin. How about with the fact that Trump’s assertion is a bald-faced lie. His projection of the distribution of refugees based on the party affiliation of a state’s governor makes no sense whatsoever, and he doesn’t bother to provide any support for the wild claim. Even using the example that he provided, the facts show that California has already taken in 218 Syrian refugees this year (more than any other state), while Florida has taken only 104 (placing them down at seventh). What’s more, states with Republican governors can be expected to receive more refugees simply because there are more of them. Currently there are 31 states led by Republicans and 18 by Democrats.

Furthermore, Trump’s assertion that there are plans to resettle “hundreds of thousands” of refugees must have been pulled straight out of his ass, because there is no such estimate in reality. The federal government has committed to receiving about 10,000 refugees. So Trump is only off by at least ninety percent.

Now if you’re wondering how Trump can get away with making such blatantly false comments and still retain his position at the top of the GOP primary contest, the answer is in the the type of voter to whom Trump is appealing. A new survey (pdf) by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) reveals that Trump’s supporters are fervently opposed to immigrants with 69% saying that “immigration is a critical issue to them personally.” That compares to only 50% of supporters of other Republican candidates. In addition, the survey found that…

Trump supporters are much more likely to express negative views of immigrants than the supporters of other candidates. Eight in ten (80%) Trump supporters say that immigrants today are a burden to the U.S. because they take American jobs, housing, and health care. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of Trump supporters say that it bothers them when they come into contact with immigrants who speak little or no English.

Never mind that it is completely untrue that immigrants are taking jobs from Americans or are consuming financial benefits. What’s most disturbing about these findings is the overt bigotry of the Trump contingent. But it gets even worse:

Trump supporters also express greater concern about discrimination against white Americans and white men in particular. Roughly three-quarters (74%) of Trump supporters — compared to 57% of supporters of all other Republican candidates — agree that, today, discrimination against whites has become as big a problem as discrimination against blacks and other minorities.

That must be why it’s so hard for white men to get jobs, or find housing. And it explains why so many of them are being killed while unarmed by police officers. [/snark] It would be bad enough if there were a significant portion of Trump’s supporters who held these absurd opinions, but these numbers are frighteningly high. It means that 75% of Trump’s followers are seriously deranged in a way that exposes the rancid biases of the Republican Party. Because in the end, Trump’s followers are GOP voters, and when he eventually flames out, the Party is still going to have to appeal to these same cretins to support their nominee.

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

The Republican Crisis Recycling Center: Syrian Refugee Edition

Posted by on November 17, 2015 at 3:34 pm. 17 Comments :

In what is being described as the worst refugee crisis since World War II, the plight of displaced Syrians continues to be a daunting humanitarian problem that is putting pressure on nations around the world to find a compassionate solution.

The United States is among those nations, but it is battling opposition from within. Not surprisingly, it is the Republicans and other conservative politicians and pundits who are adamantly against allowing Syrian refugees safe harbor in America. So far, more than half of the state governors are on record as opposing resettlement of Syrians in their states, and all but one of them are Republicans. [Legal note: These constitutional fetishists are unaware that they do not have the authority to dictate immigration policy, which rests with the federal government]

The GOP’s arguments against welcoming these refugees are consistently based on the fear that terrorists will clandestinely slip in among the legitimate migrants. While there is very little evidence of that occurring, it remains the favored excuse of the refugee opponents. The typical refrain goes something like this:

  • We must immediately prohibit those people from entering the United States.
  • Those being let in will include terrorists.
  • If our leaders won’t protect us they should resign.
  • It’s not our problem. Let others in their own region deal with it.
  • We can’t be humanitarians. We have to protect ourselves first.

Oh, sorry. Those were actually the reasons that Republican politicians and pundits opposed letting people from West Africa into the country last year during the Ebola outbreak. The degree of hysteria expressed by the wingnut contingency at that time was deafening. For their trouble they earned PolitiFact’s “Lie of the Year” award for 2014. It was a well-deserved tribute to their deranged insistence that Americans were going to be infected by the millions, and those who were fortunate enough to avoid the disease would be slaughtered by terrorists. Some of these fear mongers, like Glenn Beck and Fox News’ Keith Ablow, accused Obama of deliberately orchestrating this mass extinction of the U.S. population.

And while we’re on the subject, those were also the very same excuses the rightists gave for opposing the resettlement of Latino children. When thousands of kids were stranded in the Southwest they were treated like a plague and accused of being disease carriers, or having associations with drug traffickers or terrorists.

Let’s just call it the “Republican Crisis Recycling Center” where they repurpose their standard complaints to fit whatever outrage they are currently trying to push.

Republican Crisis Recycling

This might be a good time to point out there were never any outbreaks of Ebola in the U.S., nor did any of the kids who were eventually placed in foster homes blow up any pizza parlors. The irrational hysteria of the rightist fear merchants never materialized as they predicted (hoped?). And all of the available evidence points to the same results if we welcome the Syrian refugees in to America. There are, in fact, already some 2,000 Syrian refugees who have resettled here since 2011, and in four years they have done nothing but try to put their tattered lives back together.

Donald Trump was among those who exploited the Ebola crisis and charged that infected persons would be pouring across our southern border. Now he is doing the same to Syrians who he is convinced are serving as a “Trojan Horse” for terrorists. His plan is to acquire a parcel of land in Syria and make it a “safe zone” for the refugees. All 4,000,000 of them? It would have to be a city the size of Los Angeles. And no matter how good a builder he fancies himself, he isn’t going to construct such a metropolis overnight. These people need housing and food and medicine and all the other necessities of life, not a tents in the desert.

Sadly, that’s the sort of dumbfounded thinking (with an emphasis on the dumb) that dominates the Republican mindset. Another example is Mike Huckabee’s suggestion to only allow Christian refugees in. President Obama called that religious test “shameful.” How he would differentiate the Christians from the Muslims and others, he did not say. I suppose he could tattoo a number on all the Muslims to identify them for rejection. Then he can help Trump load 11,000,000 Latinos into train cars to deport them to “safe zones” in Central America for his reprise of Operation Wetback.

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

What the right seems to forget is that these refugees are fleeing the same violence and terrorism that we are fighting in Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere. They also seem to forget the values embodied in their faith that calls for compassion, service, and brotherhood. And finally, they quite easily forget the example of America’s principles expressed by the gift from France that beckons to the world…

Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free; the wretched refuse of your teeming shore; send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

[Addendum:] Jesse Watters of Fox News managed to connect the refugee crisis with the Ebola outbreak. On The Five he said “Obama has imported dangerous things into this country since he got there. He’s imported socialism here, He’s imported Ebola into America. He’s imported illegal aliens. Remember he brought all of the Ebola victims into this country?” All of them? This is the sort of idiocy that permeates the racist right-wing ideology on issues that go far beyond the current problem with refugees.

Super Genius Ben Carson Will Stop Illegal Immigrants By Cutting Benefits That They Don’t Get

Posted by on November 16, 2015 at 4:17 pm. 5 Comments :

Proving once again that having a degree in medicine doesn’t indicate any capacity for understanding other fields of study, Dr. Ben Carson has taken a position on immigration that defies any semblance of logic. So of course, the Fox News community website, Fox Nation, saw it as brilliant and passed it along to their dimwitted readers.

Ben Carson

Carson spoke to supporters in Henderson, Nevada, where reports revealed his plan for ending illegal immigration. It is a plan that he described as “simple” and with which “You can pretty much get it to 100 percent.” However, it would be more accurate to describe it as simple-minded. The fact that he believes that he can reduce illegal immigration to zero is the first indication that he’s gone completely bonkers.

The key assumption in the Carson plan is that immigrants are drawn to the United States by a smorgasbord of freebies they can feast upon when they get here and immediately proceed to slacking off. It still remains a mystery how such lazy moochers can simultaneously be accused of taking jobs away from Americans while lounging by their pools and collecting welfare.

Carson’s plan would cut off all of the government benefits that these freeloaders are supposedly enjoying, which would remove the primary incentive for them to come here. Of course, Carson did not identify any specific benefits that these alleged sponges are absorbing, but insisted that without them, “you won’t have anybody even trying to do this.” Probably the main reason why Carson could not cite a single abused benefit is that he couldn’t come up with any that undocumented residents are entitled to. And the few that may be available are not applied for by most immigrants due to the fear of being discovered and deported.

Had he done any research at all, Carson would have learned that undocumented immigrants are not eligible for most types of welfare, including food stamps, housing assistance, health care, etc. What’s more, they actually pay far more into state and federal treasuries than they will ever see come back from any source. They pay about ten billion dollars annually in state and local taxes. And over a decade they have contributed over 100 billion dollars to Social Security, which they are not eligible to receive. In effect, they are donating a substantial portion of their income to the retirement of American citizens.

So Carson’s plan to end illegal immigration is to deny the immigrants benefits that they do not and cannot receive. And it’s all based on the absurd premise that these nonexistent benefits are what draws them to make long and treacherous journeys across international borders. Had Carson not spent so much time researching how the pyramids were really just giant grain silos, he might have learned that what makes the U.S. such an attractive destination is the prospect of jobs. Yet Carson and his right-wing pals never propose cutting off access to that benefit by threatening to arrest or otherwise penalize the employers who are providing it.

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

What’s really most depressing about all of this is not that there are pitifully ignorant people like Carson and Donald Trump spewing such unmitigated nonsense. It’s that they are the leaders of their party’s primary contest for President of the United States. That there are so many Americans who are so blind and/or gullible that they buy into the most idiotic drivel is what should worry the rest of the country and motivate them to vote next November.

Buried By Fox News: Shooting Of SF Woman By Immigrant Was An Accident

Posted by on August 28, 2015 at 12:10 pm. 6 Comments :

Last month Kate Steinle was killed while walking with her father on a pier in San Francisco. Her tragic death very quickly took on a tabloid hue as conservative media outlets latched unto the news that an undocumented immigrant was arrested for the crime.

To the political opportunists exploiting this tragedy it was a chance to vilify all immigrants as menacing invaders who will eventually resort to committing atrocities. Fox News in particular went to great lengths to build a narrative of legions of “illegals” swarming the nation and randomly murdering innocent citizens.

Fox News

Because the suspect, Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, had recently been released from custody by the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department, the issue of “Sanctuary Cities” became a central target of the media criticism. Bill O’Reilly took a leading role in the fear mongering and even launched a drive to pass what he called “Kate’s Law:” legislation that would impose a mandatory five year sentence for undocumented aliens who are deported and return to the United States.

The merits of such a law could be reasonably debated, but the partisan atmosphere surrounding its introduction and its advocacy by an alleged “news” network were entirely inappropriate and created a distraction from the substance of the matter. What’s more, O’Reilly’s hypocrisy was evident in that he never advocated for legal remedies following the deadly shootings in a Lafayette movie theater, or a Charleston church, or a Connecticut elementary school. In those cases there was no convenient scapegoat to demonize, just the shared constant of gun violence which right-wingers regard as an acceptable consequence of their perceived right for any person to bear any arms at any time or place.

In addition to O’Reilly’s activism, the proposed bill was taken up by at least two Republican presidential candidates. Sen. Ted Cruz introduced a draft of the bill in the Senate. But it was Donald Trump who elevated the issue to ludicrous heights. He brought it up repeatedly during his campaign stump speeches and used it as a perverse affirmation of his previous racist comments aimed at immigrants who he called criminals, drug dealers, and rapists. Never mind that the undocumented immigrant population in the U.S. has a lower rate of criminal activity than native-born citizens. So far as Trump is concerned, having one example of a felonious immigrant is enough to label all immigrants as felons.

There is just one problem. Now that the conclusion jumpers have made their case against Lopez-Sanchez in the Steinle matter, the inconvenient unveiling of facts discovered from the actual police investigation are getting in the way of their anti-immigrant narrative. It turns out that the shooting might not have been a senseless act of brutality by a foreign animal. The evidence presented in the suspect’s preliminary hearing by a police inspector indicates that Steinle’s death appears more likely to have been an accident.

“The single bullet that struck and killed Kate Steinle, 32, in broad daylight on San Francisco’s Pier 14 in July appears to have ricocheted off of the pier walkway prior to hitting her, according to expert testimony provided Wednesday during the second day of the murder suspect’s preliminary hearing. Officials say the gun Francisco Lopez Sanchez is accused of firing was not actually pointed at Steinle, but at the ground.”

So this wasn’t a case of a sub-human alien thug mindlessly exterminating America’s helpless womenfolk after all. This evidence is consistent with reports published following the arrest of Lopez-Sanchez who told the police in his confession that he had found the gun and fired it accidentally. It’s a striking new development that destroys the right’s ability to exploit this affair to further vilify immigrants.

So how does Fox News handle these revelations? By ignoring them entirely of course. After making the Steinle killing a staple of their programming for weeks, Fox has not aired a single story about the disclosures in the preliminary hearing. And naturally, Bill O’Reilly said nothing about it on his program last night. This new information is a complete embarrassment for O’Reilly and his network who mischaracterized the facts for their own purposes before they actually had any. So now they have to suppress the story in order to keep from having to apologize and retract their prior biased reporting.

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This, however, is standard operating procedure for Fox News. They have never been concerned about factual reporting. Their entire reason for being is to propagandize on behalf of an extreme right-wing agenda. Therefore, early speculative stories that cast negative aspersions on their ideological enemies are broadcast frequently and with little vetting. But when exculpatory evidence later becomes available it is dismissed and ignored so as not to contradict their previous false perversions of journalism. It’s dishonest, irresponsible, unethical, and it’s the Fox way.