Self-Inflicted Truth: Fox Nation Bashes Fox News As ‘Ridiculously Fact-Free’

Posted by Mark NC on July 9, 2013 at 10:59 am. 1 Comments :

Just how determined is Fox Nation, the lie-riddled Fox News community web site, in its mission to slander anything and everything connected to liberal politics and media? Apparently they are so determined that they don’t care if they publish devastatingly negative representations of their pals down the hall at Fox News.

In a posting that must have given them goose bumps, the Fox Nationalists linked to an article at the uber-rightist NewsBusters that itself linked to an article at Alternet (Fox would never link directly to a liberal source). The Alternet piece was written by long-time media reformer Jeff Cohen and addressed the failure of the mainstream progressive media, and specifically MSNBC, to criticize President Obama for his actions taken against whistleblowers like Edward Snowden.

Capturing Cohen disparaging the network for which he used to work, was simply to compelling of a story to pass up. So Fox Nation slapped together a couple of paragraphs and topped it off with a headline that extracted the juiciest snippet in the column: Former MSNBC Producer: MSNBC Is ‘Official Network of the Obama White House.’ But in their haste (or more likely their ineptitude), they must have failed to notice that the passage they quoted was far more damaging to Fox News than it was to their intended target, MSNBC. Here is what Fox Nation posted about Fox News:

“…with Obama in power, a number of MSNBC talking heads have reacted to the Snowden disclosures like Fox News hosts did when they were in hysterical damage control mode for Bush – complete with ridiculously fact-free claims and national chauvinism that we’ve long come to expect from the ‘fair & balanced’ channel.”

Sweet! Fox Nation actually published an analysis of Fox News that noted its “hysterical damage control mode for Bush,” its “ridiculously fact-free claims,” and belittled their ever-mockable slogan asserting fairness and balance.

It’s heartening to know that Fox’s audience will read that evaluation and, perhaps, have some of it stick in their Silly Putty brians. The intended swipe at MSNBC is rather mild in comparison. In fact, Cohen’s critique really just demonstrates that progressives are not as cultishly attached to MSNBC as wingnuts are to Fox – a fact recently documented by Gallup.

Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Schizophrenic, Obama-Bashing, Fox News Reaction To Egypt’s Quest For Democracy

Posted by Mark NC on July 4, 2013 at 11:06 am. 4 Comments :

Watching Fox News struggle to frame the demonstrations in Egypt is like watching a man with a split personality have an argument with himself.

For more made-up Fox-aganda, get the acclaimed ebook:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Community’s Assault on Truth

On the one hand, Fox is adamantly opposed to any expression of faith that is not devoutly Christian. They are particularly averse to Islam, which they regard, falsely, as an innately violent religion that is responsible for most of the world’s terrorism. So you might think that they would celebrate the fall of an increasingly dictatorial regime in Egypt that sprung from the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood. And you would be right.

However, at the same time, Fox has reported on the ousting of Mohammed Morsi with a distinct negativity that conflicts with their broader worldview. The angle that Fox has taken is that the failure of Egypt’s new democracy is the fault of President Obama’s incompetent foreign policy. They manage to blame Obama for both the ascendency of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood and for its downfall. That’s a thin line for Fox to walk, but they are used to it. They work very hard at characterizing everything Obama does as a disaster. If he eats a slice of apple pie on Friday he is promoting an unhealthy diet. If he doesn’t have a slice on Saturday, he is un-American.

Of course the reality is that foreign policy is a much more complex endeavor than Fox (or its viewers) can comprehend. Just one year ago, the Fox pundits unanimously condemned Obama for supporting the Arab Spring uprising that resulted in the nation’s first democratic elections ever. But today the same pundits are condemning him for not speaking out. What these simpletons fail to realize is that, if Obama were to more vocally advocate on behalf of the protesters, he would give the Morsi government ammunition to dismiss them as pawns of the Great Satan in the United States. So Obama has adopted a more diplomatic approach that allows the demonstrators to pursue their goals, while maintaining support for the role of democracy.

Another example of how the Fox Nationalists have misread these events is their criticism that Egypt’s new found aspirations for democracy have failed under Obama’s watch. First of all, let’s not forget that they blossomed under Obama’s watch. But more to the point, it is shortsighted and simplistic to pronounce them as a failure at this early stage of the game. Egypt has only been a democracy for one year. That is not a long time historically for new democracies to stabilize.

Take the United States of America, for a random example. They declared their independence from a colonial monarchy in 1776. But they didn’t secure their sovereignty until 1783, with the end of the Revolutionary War. Then, they didn’t have a functional constitution until 1789. The Bill of Rights was not ratified until 1791. For much of the next half century, only white, male, property owners were permitted to vote. And in 1861 a Civil War broke out dividing the new nation and taking the lives of hundreds of thousands of its citizens. By comparison, Egypt is doing way better.

Let’s face it, the only reason Fox is reporting on this (or any other) subject is to bash Obama. That’s why they so blatantly stuff inflammatory rhetoric into their headlines. And this one offered them an opportunity to associate Obama with the Muslim religion that they have tried for years to connect to him. In the end it’s just another attempt to revive the birther crap that has been such a big part of their Obama-hate campaign.

Why Is The Fox Nation Rooting For George Zimmerman?

Posted by Mark NC on July 3, 2013 at 2:38 pm. 107 Comments :

For the past week a murder trial in Florida has fixated the nation and the media. This sort of thing is not unusual as the past trials of Jodie Arias, Scott Peterson, Casey Anthony, and all the way back to O.J. Simpson have proved. What is unusual is the lengths to which Fox News has gone to cheerlead for the defendant.

From the very beginning Fox has sought to portray George Zimmerman as the victim who was only acting in his own defense. At the same time, they cast Trayvon Martin as a violent thug who must have been up to no good. Take a look at the graphic editorializing Fox engaged in early on:

In reporting on the court proceedings this week, Fox continued to demonstrate their overt prejudice in favor of Zimmerman. Nearly every commentator Fox put on the air found fault with the prosecution and managed to spin the witness testimony as beneficial to the defense. And the headlines at the Fox Nation Lie Factory tell the story that Fox is desperately trying to implant in the weak minds of their viewers:

Zimmerman Blockbuster: Witness Saw Man With ‘Lighter Skin Color’ Getting Pummeled ‘Ground And Pound’ Style
ZIMMERMAN PROSECUTION WITNESS IMPLODES
Zimmerman ‘Elated’ at Prospect That Trayvon Fight Was Recorded
Prosecutors ‘Must Have Had a Stroke’ Over Detective’s Testimony
AP: Trayvon Martin’s Legal Troubles Reportedly Covered Up By Police
GRETA: THE ZIMMERMAN PROSECUTION HAS A GIANT PROBLEM
Travyon Martin’s Friend Grilled By Defense

This parade of pro-Zimmerman analysis is reminiscent of last year’s election analysis on Fox, where every discussion leaned heavily in favor of a Romney victory. Fox irresponsibly led their audience to believe that President Obama was irredeemably unpopular and bound for defeat. Fox would only present disreputable polls that showed Romney ahead, while ignoring all the other surveys (including their own) that forecast an Obama victory. When reality set in on election day, Team Fox and the gullible dupes who watch the network, were dumbfounded at a result for which they were entirely unprepared.

The same thing is happening now with this trial. The obvious zeal that Fox is expressing for a Zimmerman acquittal is not incidental. It fits into their mission to demonize minorities. Try to imagine what Fox’s (or the rest of the media) reaction to this case would have been if the races were reversed. Do you think Fox would be defending a black man who had shot and killed an unarmed white kid walking home with Skittles and iced tea?

The consequences of Fox’s disinformation could be troublesome. If Zimmerman is convicted, the response by the racially biased viewers of Fox will be shock and awe. Just like after the election, they will be unable to grasp how a jury had concluded that Zimmerman was guilty when everything they had seen on Fox News convinced them that he was innocent and that there was no chance of a conviction. Fox appears to be priming their viewers to rise up in outrage at a verdict they never saw as even a remote possibility.

On CNN and MSNBC there has been a much more balanced presentation of the court proceedings. When the prosecution flubbed an argument, it was reported as such, even on Al Sharpton’s show, despite the clear bias of the host. When a witness contradicted a defense assertion, that was reported as well. The reason for this is that unbiased journalists do not have a stake in the outcome. Liberals, from the outset, have only wanted justice to be done. They were appropriately disturbed at the start of this affair when Zimmerman was let off without an arrest or investigation. The protests that erupted were focused on those ends, not on railroading Zimmerman into jail.

Now that the people are getting their trial, the judgment of the jury ought to be respected. But That is not the tone that Fox is advancing. The hunger for absolution on Fox is palpable. They are convinced that a black youth with no record of violence or criminal activity initiated an unprovoked attack on a conscientious neighborhood watch captain. And until the jury rules, that is the position Fox is sticking with. If that isn’t racism, then what the hell is it?

Fox Nation vs. Reality: Impeach Obama Rally Causes 10 Mile Yawn

Posted by Mark NC on June 12, 2013 at 3:41 pm. 6 Comments :

The folks at Fox Nation must be getting pretty desperate for any slime to fling Obama’s way. Clearly the parade of phony scandals has failed to convince the President to resign and join a Muslim monastery, so they are grasping for ever shorter straws in an effort to break Obama’s back.

Today the Fox Nationalists reported that an “Impeach Obama” rally in Southern California organized by confirmed birther had snarled traffic for 10 miles.

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First of all, anyone who has ever driven in Southern California knows that there are very few 10 mile stretches of highway that are not snarled at almost any time of day. That said, the particular claim in this case was easily disproved by photos supplied by the source for the story. One glance shows that traffic was moving fairly well. It also shows that the rally was a pathetic affair that brought out only six or seven nutcases who were unable to articulate an actual reason to impeach the President. Their signs carried unrelated messages concerning Benghazi, immigration, guns, and something about cults. This also further confirms earlier reports that these Teabaggers have not gained any ground in the wake of recent political melodramas.

The organizer was long-time birther, Roger Ogden. He has been advocating for Obama’s impeachment for years. He continues to believe that the birth certificate the White House posted was a fake. He also defends comparing Obama to Hitler and the Nazis. I’m not sure whether Ogden is a LaRouche follower, but there was at least one LaRouche sign at the rally.

I don’t particularly care what a loser like Ogden does on his spare Saturday mornings, but the fact that Fox News saw fit to feature this non-event on their web site says something about how frantic they are to invent a new controversy. But what made them think that a lame handful of wingnuts on a freeway overpass would have a better chance of stirring up trouble than the pseudo-scandals that have already flopped, I’ll never know.

Fox Nation vs. Reality: Surveillance Flip-Flops A One-Sided Phenomenon

Posted by Mark NC on June 11, 2013 at 10:23 am. 5 Comments :

One of the few encouraging aspects of the current controversy over the privacy intrusions of the NSA is that civil libertarians from across the political divide are in agreement that government is overstepping its authority. When both Michael Moore and Glenn Beck say that whistleblower Edward Snowden is a hero, there seems to be a ray of hope that something might be done about rolling back the invasive policies of George Bush’s Patriot Act Doctrine.

Of course, it is way too much to expect the serial liars at Fox Nation to embrace a moment of bipartisanship and parlay it into constructive action for the betterment of America. Their headline this morning mutilates the substance of a new poll by the Pew Center and the Washington Post:

Get the acclaimed ebook Fox Nation vs. Reality at Amazon.com

By declaring that “Dems Flip-Flop on Surveillance When Obama in WH,” the Fox Nationalists ignore the fact that Republicans flipped also. In fact the Democrats’ flip was almost identical to the Republicans’ flop. The Washington Post, whose headline (“Who loves surveillance? It depends who’s in the White House”) was accurate, reported the poll’s results showing that Democrats’ approval for national security over privacy increased by 27 percentage points since the Bush years. On the GOP side such approval dropped by 22 points. The plain conclusion is that approval is often a function of who’s doing the snooping. But Fox read these poll results and deliberately misrepresented the facts to show only a flip-flopping Democratic position.

Additionally, there is some nuance to the variations in the poll questions asked. In 2006, Democrats expressed their disapproval of Bush’s policy because it eavesdropped on the actual phone conversations without obtaining a warrant. Today Democrats are expressing approval of a policy that does not listen in on the calls, but only stores information like phone numbers and dates. Plus, Obama’s NSA gets a court’s OK to do even that. This mitigates to some extent the degree of flipping that can be attributed to the Democrats.

What does not change is the fact that no administration should be permitted to broadly collect private data on American citizens who are not under investigation for some criminal activity. That principle is being advanced by conscientious Americans of all political stripes. It’s unfortunate that Fox is so obsessed with partisan animus that they cannot fairly report a story that unites the nation. Rather than being honest and responsible, Fox is being divisive and is creating barriers to moving the nation in a positive direction that even their own viewers would support.

Fox Nation’s “Must Read Twit Of The Day”

Posted by Mark NC on June 4, 2013 at 4:43 pm. 1 Comments :

Any article that begins “According to Drudge editor and Washington Times columnist Joseph Curl…” — is one that you know is going to be perversely entertaining. And sitting in the headline spot atop the Fox Nation web site is this item that isn’t the least bit sensationalized: “Must Read Tweet of the Day.”

Get the acclaimed ebook Fox Nation vs. Reality at Amazon.com

As noted above, the author of the Tweet is Joseph Curl, a columnist at the “Moonie” Washington Times and the editor of the widely disreputable Drudge Report. Curl is also a pal of master conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who has been featured on Drudge more than 200 times in the past two years.

On the basis of that resume, the Fox Nationalists chose to make their top story a reposting of Curl’s Twitter feed wherein he reveals a couple of late-breaking, unsourced “scoops” that they regard as having the importance of a “nuclear” blast. Here is what Curl Tweeted:

“Hearing from some top Hill sources that IRS scandal about to explode. Low-level agency workers miffed at being blamed. About to return fire.”

And…

“One source says there’s a paper trail to DC, and some who were worried from the get-go kept a paper trail. Wouldn’t say WH, but said ‘high.'”

The smart money is on Curl’s reporting to be left in the dustbin of journalistic fantasies that never come true. Like most of what Curl writes, there is no factual basis or named sources. It is merely wishful thinking that he, and his enablers at Fox, hope will keep the drool dripping from the mouths of their glassy-eyed followers for another day, while they try to manufacture a smear that might actually stick to President Obama or his administration.

Undoubtedly these soundbites will fade away and Curl will never be called upon to answer for his erroneous reporting. It’s their modus operandi. Make an outrageous and unsupported statement. Get Drudge to post it. Then Fox News cites it as their source for what “some people say.” When none of it pans out, move on to a new unsupported, outrageous statement and start the cycle again.

Thanks To Fox News: Human Intelligence Is On The Decline

Posted by Mark NC on May 27, 2013 at 9:02 am. 6 Comments :

Imagine my surprise to find a story on Fox Nation, the lie-riddled community web site of Fox News, about the decline of human intelligence. Was this an attempt to convey the results of an academic study, or are they just bragging?

The article refers to a study done at the University of Amsterdam that concludes that westerners have lost 14 IQ points on average since the Victorian Era. The study’s author surmised that a number of complex factors led to the conclusion that was based on tests of visual reaction times. The tests reflect a person’s mental processing speed which correlates to IQ. Among the explanations offered for the brain drain were the migration of populations to densely packed cities and a tendency for more intelligent women to choose to have fewer children.

Not surprisingly, the Fox Nationalists utterly misconstrued the study’s findings. Their linked source for the story was an article on the conservative blog, Townhall, where the web editor dismissed the science behind the research and offered his own opinion that the decline in IQ was caused by MTV and video games. Somewhere along the way he missed the fact that the reported decline occurred over a period of more than a hundred years, which makes his hypothesis focusing on modern television and technology a pretty good example of a dumbed-down contemporary human.

The rejection of science is not unusual for conservatives who persistently refuse to accept the scientific community’s nearly universal consensus on things like evolution and climate change. That may explain why scientists themselves veer away from conservative associations. A study by the Pew Center for the People and the Press revealed that “most scientists identify as Democrats (55%), while 32% identify as independents and just 6% say they are Republicans.”

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Furthermore, if there is a decline in intelligence, it is most starkly evident in the Tea-publican Party. A report published by (of all places) Fox Business, surveyed the nation’s academic profile and found that the ten states with the best educated citizens were all “blue” states, while nine of the ten worst educated were “red” states (and eight of those were in the south).

The decline of western intelligence, according to the Amsterdam data, has been in the works for many decades. It would be interesting to conduct another version of this research that measures IQ in the United States since 1996, the year that Fox News debuted. Numerous studies have already documented the fact that Fox News viewers are more ill-informed than consumers of other media. In fact, one study demonstrates that the more one watches Fox, the more misinformed one becomes. Of course, being ignorant or misinformed is not the same as lacking intelligence. But it has the same effect on electoral outcomes and, consequently, public policy.

So whether Fox viewers are stupid or ignorant is immaterial. The important thing is to continue to provide a counterbalance to the propaganda Fox spews and rescue citizens from their deceitful disinformation that only benefits the wealthy, right-wing elites who Fox was created to serve.

So F**king What? Fox News Suffering From Judge Dread

Posted by Mark NC on May 21, 2013 at 1:46 pm. 12 Comments :

Fox News is putting all judges on notice that if they are ever criticized by Fox News, they can no longer be regarded as impartial.

This is a rather monumental upheaval for the judiciary, because Fox has criticized hundreds of judges. In fact, they have made it a cornerstone of their editorial philosophy that the judiciary (along with the media, academia, and most other social institutions) is hopelessly liberal. Fox’s Bill O’Reilly frequently sends his ambush unit (producer Jesse Watters) out to harass judges when a legal outcome does not meet with his approval, whether or not the judge had anything to do with it. And now Fox is providing cover for their own reporter by alleging some vague conspiracy between a judge and the Department of Justice.

So F**king What?

The first thing that makes this item so supremely asinine is the fact that the judge upon whom Fox is casting aspersions was appointed to the Federal District Court by Ronald Reagan and confirmed by a senate run by a Republican majority.

The source for Fox’s piece also has a less than credible reputation. The story was posted on the web site of the notorious political clown, Herman Cain. It addressed a ruling by Judge Alan Kay that permitted detainees at Guantanamo Bay to meet with their lawyers, something the Bush administration was improperly prohibiting. Author Dan Calabrese wrote that…

“Fox News quoted extensively on the air from Kay’s ruling in the case of Salim Muhood Adem v. George W. Bush. I have not seen the segment, but knowing Fox News – particularly on issues like Gitmo in the post-9/11 years – I think it’s a pretty safe guess that they weren’t quoting Kay’s ruling as a means of praising his decision.”

Seriously? Calabrese is admitting that he has no idea whether or not Fox actually criticized Kay because he hasn’t seen any criticism himself. He is simply assuming that Fox was critical because it would be consistent with their well-known political leanings. Acknowledging Fox’s biases may be the only honest part of Calabrese’s article. However, it does not satisfy any standard of proof that Fox slighted Kay, sparking a grudge that he has allegedly held for seven years so far.

To suggest that an independent jurist who was put on the bench by Reagan has joined a conspiracy with President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder to criminally prosecute a Fox News hack is further evidence that Fox’s paranoia gauge has flipped completely off the scale. Their best efforts to topple Obama have collapsed into a pile of rotting rubble, while Obama’s approval ratings have risen in the midst of supposed scandals. That paradox is driving the right wild and causing them to concoct ever more fantastical fables.

So soon after an election that was an epic embarrassment to Republicans, they seem to have learned nothing and are continuing to live in a world of rightist delusion. No one but reality-challenged disciples of Glenn Beck and Alex Jones will believe the outrageously nonsensical tripe that Fox is spewing. And even while some of the more moderate wingers are cautioning their comrades to lay off the crazy juice, Fox continues to pour it on by the gallon. If this is their strategy for political success in 2014 or 2016, all I can say is “Bring it on.”

Fox Nation vs. Reality: Who’s The IRS Targeting Now?

Posted by Mark NC on May 20, 2013 at 6:44 pm. 5 Comments :

When a dishonest “news” enterprise is so determined to disseminate misleading information to disparage their enemies, they often get careless and wind up hitting themselves with a sort of journalistic friendly fire. That’s what happened as the editors of Fox Nation rushed to republish a petulant little hit piece from Breitbart News.

The article by Matthew Boyle (known for his discredited smears that falsely alleged improprieties by Sen. Bob Menendez), took aim at an attorney who represented the United Church of Christ (UCC) when it was being investigated by the IRS for potential violations of its tax-exempt status. The inquiry was prompted by a speech made by then-candidate Barack Obama in 2008.

The Fox Nationalists plastered a lurid headline atop their posting that said “Chief IRS Counsel Bailed Jeremiah Wright’s Church Out of IRS Probe in 2008.” The only thing wrong with that headline is…well, everything. First of all, the attorney, William Wilkins, did not work for the IRS in any capacity at the time. He was in private practice with a firm that specialized in tax matters. Secondly, his client was the UCC, not Rev. Wright’s Trinity United, which was just an affiliate of the denomination. Thirdly, he had no power to bail anyone out. What he did was represent them in the investigation, which he did in a manner that produced a favorable outcome.

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This was a thoroughly hollow assault that was contrived by unethical partisans to hurt the President. But how can you blame them? This barrel of lies touched on so many of the phony components of their smear machine, it was just too good to pass up. After all, it had Obama, the IRS, and an old fave, Rev. Wright.

What both the BreitBrats and the Fox Nationalists missed in their haste to bash Obama was the fact that this investigation was another example of the Bush administration deploying the IRS to harass organizations they perceived as unfriendly (i.e. Greenpeace, NAACP, et al). In this case it was a liberal church that invited a Democratic presidential candidate to deliver a speech on faith.

So not only has the right-wing media cabal missed their target by a mile, they inadvertently weakened their case that the IRS is a rogue outfit that exclusively harasses conservatives. Nice work, kiddies.

Fox News Troglodytes Cheer Beefcake Conservatism

Posted by Mark NC on May 18, 2013 at 10:26 am. 13 Comments :

A visit to the Fox News community web site, Fox Nation, is always an adventure that yields surprises and curiosities. But even amongst the brazen lies and flagrant distortions, there are some gems of idiocy that stand out. For instance…

In an item about a study on “the Ancestral Logic of Politics,” the Fox Nationalists slapped on a this headline: “Strong Men Lean Conservative,” In doing so they have made their best case yet for the right-wing sloganeering to “Take our country back – to the Stone Age.”

The study referenced in the article examined and compared data on bicep size, socioeconomic status, and support for economic redistribution. What the researchers concluded was that upper-body strength “may reflect psychological traits that evolved in response to our early ancestral environments.”

In other words, physically domineering specimens were more inclined to take what they want and refuse to share. Sounds pretty much like every Randian Teabagger in the GOP (Greedy One Percent). It is a perfect description of the rightist ideology of self-interest above all. It’s what shapes the Republican agenda of opposing regulations that protect people, as well as taxes used to provide food, housing, and other social services to the sick, the elderly, and the poor (known to right-wingers as “the weak”).

The Fox interpretation of this study is typically shallow in that they regard physical strength in the same way that our Neanderthal ancestors did – as a class-based asset. The more powerful members of the community were once elevated to leadership posts by virtue of their ability to bully everybody else. And that’s pretty much the way Tea-publicans want it to be today, although they have modified the definition of strength to include financial muscle. Hence their reverence for (and subservience to) wealthy upper-crusters like the Koch brothers.

It’s rather amusing that Fox chose to illustrate their posting with body-builder-turned-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger – a pot-smoking, pro-choice, steroidal, Hollywood mogul, environmentalist, who married a Kennedy and then cheated on her (fathering a child with his Guatemalan maid). What better role model for the egocentric selfishness of modern conservatism that is so smitten with swaggering blowhards and chicken-hawks?

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So F**king What?

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