CNN

To CNN’s Jake Tapper: You HAVE Wasted Enough of Your Viewers’ Time, So Stop Doing It

Posted by on January 7, 2018 at 2:17 pm. 3 Comments :

On Sunday morning’s episode of CNN’s State of the Union, there was a remarkable interview by Jake Tapper. His guest was Donald Trump’s senior advisor for policy, and thirty-two year old man still stuck in a temper tantrum he began as a five year old, Stephen Miller. The segment (video below) was a train wreck due to Miller’s relentless interruptions and shameless Trump-fluffing.

CNN Stephen Miller

Tapper took a fair amount of abuse from Miller who accused him of being condescending, snide, and joyful for opportunities to “stick the knife in.” These personal insults were designed to evade the actual questions that Tapper asked. For instance, Tapper inquired twice whether Trump met with the people that attended Don Jr.’s meeting with Russians at Trump Tower, as Steve Bannon said. In the course of Miller’s evasion, he never denied that Trump met with those Russians.

The majority of the interview consisted of Miller fawning over his boss. He described Trump as a political genius who “took down the Bush dynasty, took down the Clinton dynasty, took down the entire media complex.” Miller’s adoration of Trump was all-consuming and more than a little nauseating. He refused to allow a question to interrupt his arrogant filibustering. Which led to Tapper reclaiming control of his show and muzzling Trump’s unhinged attack dog:

“Okay, you’re not answering the questions, I get it. There’s one viewer that you care about right now and you’re being obsequious, you’re being a factotum in order to please him. And I think I’ve wasted enough of my viewers’ time.”

With that, Tapper went to a commercial. This was exactly how a journalist with integrity should behave under these circumstances. It’s one thing to assure that all sides have an opportunity to be heard, but it’s something else to permit a political shill to hijack a news program for the purpose of force-feeding propaganda to the audience. If an interview subject is more interested in spewing talking points than honestly answering questions, then the interview should be terminated. One measure of Tapper’s correctness is the rage-soaked and delusional response he got shortly after from Trump:

While Tapper did exactly the right thing in this instance, he and most other TV reporters too often let themselves be exploited by partisan mouthpieces. It’s a game that Trump has benefited from since his first day as a presidential candidate. Every news network routinely broadcast his rallies in their entirety, despite the fact that they rarely contained anything that was newsworthy. And as President, Trump has dispatched surrogates like Kellyanne Conway and Sarah Huckabee Sanders who view their jobs as being willing to lie without restraint in the service of Trump’s ego.

The media needs to reevaluate its relationship to this presidency. There has never been an administration that was so openly hostile to the press. Nor, ironically, one that so flagrantly exploits the press to deceive the public and advance such a brazenly dishonest agenda. Trump loves to bash the media that he relies on to disseminate his hatred for it. And there is no reason that the media should tolerate that.

The press needs to cut off right-wing trolls more often, and refuse to host those who repeatedly lie. They have to stop hiring bootlickers (like CNN’s Jason Miller and Jack Kingston), who add little substance to any debate and are as predictable as the sunrise. The media must recommit itself to its core mission of informing the public and exposing the truth. Hosting people like Stephen Miller does not advance that goal. CNN isn’t helping itself or the country by hosting pathological liars. That’s what Fox News is for.

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

‘Drunk on Our Children’s Blood’: Alex Jones Goes on Psychotic, Grunting Rant Against CNN Host

Posted by on January 5, 2018 at 3:11 pm. 2 Comments :

No one is going to be surprised that the Grand Lizard of Conspiracy Crackpottery, Alex Jones, had a massive cerebral dysfunction and captured it all on video for his slobbering fans. That’s pretty much the theme of his entire career. But the latest maniacal episode to manifest itself is just too hysterical to ignore.

Alex Jones

It’s difficult to decipher what set Jones off on this tirade. None of what he said made the slightest bit of sense. But his radically bizarre outburst was clearly triggered by something that mortified him. The target of this daffy disgorging was CNN’s media correspondent, and host of “Reliable Sources,” Brian Stelter. Apparently Stelter is in cahoots with Satan in a plot to control schools and banks and feast on your children’s blood. No, really! (Video below):

“Just look at Stelter again. Put him on screen. I think that’s all the broadcast should be, is just a photo of Stelter smiling. Ugh. Ugh. Oh my gosh. Oh, hell on earth. He wants to run your life. He wants to control every aspect of your life because he knows he is a cowardly degenerate sack of anti-human trash.

“I pledge before my heavenly father that I will resist them every way I can. These people are the literal demon spawn of the pit of hell. Look at him. And you know what? He is better than you if you keep letting him run your life. He runs your kids, he runs the schools, he runs the banks. This guy, this spirit, this smiling, leering devil that thinks you can’t see what he is. He is your enemy. Period.

“All the narcissistic devil-worshiping filth. I see you enemy. I see you enemy. Enemy. Enemy. You are my enemy. And I swear total resistance to you with everything I’ve got. Disingenuous, fake, false, brokeback, twisted, a defiler, a betrayer, a back stabber, a devil. You will pay. Yeah, you don’t think I see your face, scum? You don’t think I don’t see you, Stelter? I see you, you understand me? I know what you think of me and my family. I see you right back. You understand that? You understand that, Stelter? Grrhrghararagh (sp?)

“Stelter, you will fall. You will not bring humanity down. God is going to destroy you. Get him off the screen. Oh, God, they’re so evil. Just please God, free us from them. They’re drunk on our children’s blood for God’s sake. OK, I’m going to stop right now.”

I had no idea that Stelter was so all-powerful. Sure, he runs the media and maybe a couple of Costco outlets. But who knew he was controlling our kids with his smiling and leering and having a face. And what a devious scheme by the Devil to appoint someone like Stelter to bring humanity down. No one would suspect him. So we can all take comfort knowing that Jones is marshaling the forces of Heaven against Stelter and his ilk. He “sees” Stelter and knows that God will destroy him. And then maybe he will go after Tom Hanks before that demon unleashes Hell’s fury on the world.

For the record, Jones and Donald Trump are close pals and mutual admirers. Trump has appeared on Jones’ Infowars program praising his “amazing” reputation. And an Infowars “correspondent” was actually granted a White House press pass. Both Trump and Jones are obsessed with what they regard as “fake news,” and they both produce much of it themselves.

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

Fear and Desperation Spur Trump to Announce His Own ‘Reality TV’ Fake News Awards

Posted by on January 3, 2018 at 8:42 am. 4 Comments :

The current President of the United States is someone whose previous job was hosting a so-called reality TV game show. And that utterly irrelevant experience is showing as Donald Trump continues to embarrass himself and the nation on the world stage. His obvious intellectual and emotional inadequacies prove that he is ill-equipped for the job of president, which may explain why he spends so little time doing it.

Donald Trump

Much of the world faces crises that threaten the stability of international affairs. At times like these it is important to have a leader who recognizes the risks and provides security and solutions. Unfortunately, Trump offers just the opposite. In a series of ignorant tweets on Tuesday, the President managed to inflame everyone from Iranians to North Koreans to Pakistanis to Palestinians to his own “Deep State” Department of Justice. And true to form, his approach was childish and ego-driven. He actually got into a phallic showdown with Kim Jong Un over whose “Nuclear Button” was bigger.

Amidst this crazed tweetstorming, news broke that tightened the legal noose around Trump’s neck. In an op-ed for the New York Times, the founders of Fusion GPS say there are credible allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, and that Republicans in Congress are suppressing it. So consistent with his psychological pathology, Trump is seeking to mask his fear with diversionary tactics. On this occasion his desperation could not be more transparent. He posted a tweet slamming the media in a way only a former TV game show host could:

Well gosh, we can all hardly wait for that. Who will win his BS awards? Do you think it might be the “failing” New York Times or “fake news” CNN? Perhaps there was a clue on his website where Trump posted a poll seeking to “Crown the King of Fake News.” The poll had only three questions, each asking whether a particular news item was “fake,” “faker,” or “fakest.” (Here’s a screen shot). Trump foreshadowed this gala awards ceremony a few weeks ago with a tweet that said:

So Trump has been thinking about having this contest for some time. And he was smart enough to exclude Fox News from the competition. He must have have known that Fox would dominate every category. In fact, shortly after that tweet Rasmussen Reports conducted a survey based on Trump’s fake news trophy idea. And surprisingly, for the notoriously right-wing pollster, “40% of all voters think Fox News should be the winner of the first annual Fake News Trophy.” CNN came in a distant second with only twenty-five percent of the vote.

We’ll be watching for Trump’s announcement on Monday for the results of his awards show. Even though the outcome could not be easier to predict. But no matter who “wins” the true award will still go to Donald Trump for being trusted less than the media he despises. Recent polling shows that, despite Trump’s attempts to smear the media, most Americans continue to trust the press more than they trust the President. It’s not even close. And part of the reason is that he engages in stupidities like this fake news award. Americans are smart enough to know that he’s only doing it to divert attention from his criminal and treasonous behavior that is being revealed more every day.

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

Roy Moore’s Alabama Trainwreck Was a Disaster for Fox News and a Big Win for MSNBC

Posted by on December 14, 2017 at 9:25 am. 1 Comments :

Alabama’s senate race became a national event due the the unique circumstances that marked the election. Roy Moore’s campaign was emblematic of a new movement to hold sexual predators accountable. And his anachronistic racial and religious rigor was reminiscent of the Spanish Inquisition. Donald Trump also figured into the southern soap opera. Despite his sudden amnesia with regard to Moore, the outcome would be a referendum on the President whether Fox News liked it or not. And they really didn’t like it.

Fox News Sad

You’ll never guess who else didn’t like it. Fox News viewers voted with their remotes Tuesday. As the election returns came in, the ratings for Fox News fell off a cliff. And by the time the race was called for Doug Jones they had lost more than half their audience. In the 9:00 hour Fox’s coverage of the race was pretty strong with about 3.8 million people watching (831K in the 25-54 demo). For much of that time Moore was still leading. Rachel Maddow wasn’t far behind with 3.1 million viewers (760K in the demo).

However, the race was called (first by Fox News, oddly enough) at about 10:30. And that saw a drop off for Fox to about 3.5 million (889K demo). But, Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC took off scoring 3.745 million (1.0M demo). And CNN also spiked with 3.5 million (1.5M demo). And by the 11:00 hour, when it was clear that Jones was victorious, Fox News was pitifully defeated. They ended primetime with just 1.8 million viewers (470K demo). That’s less than half the total audience they had before the returns were in That compared to MSNBC’s 3.7 million (947 demo), about twice Fox’s numbers, and CNN’s 3.2 million (1.4M demo).

Clearly Fox News viewers were too upset to continue watching television. Seeing the pedophile they supported lose to an honorable Democrat was just too painful. Never mind that by the next morning most of them were insisting that Moore was never a viable candidate, they never really liked him, and that they are better off without him in the senate making the GOP look bad. That’s pretty much the view taken by Fox News and, not coincidentally, many Republicans and Donald Trump. Not to worry. They still have sexual predator and Russian collaborator (allegedly) Trump and his devoted Deplorables to make them look bad.

On the other hand, Doug Jones’ victory inspired viewers to tune into MSNBC and CNN en masse at the conclusion of the race. This isn’t because the Democrat won. Americans tuned in to the networks where they thought they would get truthful reporting of the results, without the desperate spin of losers trying to make excuses. That’s why the numbers didn’t increase for Fox News even when there was actual news to report. And the Fox cultists who had tuned in early weren’t going to subject themselves to what they considered bad news. A few more nights like this and Fox News will have to cease broadcasting.

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

Fox News = The Astrology of Journalism: Cries ‘Fake News’ While Burying Their Own Fakery

Posted by on December 10, 2017 at 12:15 pm. 2 Comments :

On Sunday morning Fox News has a program that ostensibly covers what’s happened in the media during the prior week. MediaBuzz is hosted by Howard Kurtz, a reliably right-wing shill who spins almost every story in favor of Donald Trump and conservative Republicans. The latest episode had plenty of red meat to chew on, but Kurtz predictably managed to shift the focus to the so-called “liberal” news outlets while letting his own network off the hook.

Fox News Howard Kurtz

The program began by dedicating the whole A-block to Trump flunkies Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie. They spent several minutes bashing Democrats with provably dishonest statements. Kurtz never once challenged them or questioned the phony basis for their remarks. And when he eventually wrapped up this Trump Lovefest, Kurtz moved on to devote much of the rest of the program to comparatively minor media mix-ups.

In the first instance Kurtz pressed his panel to discuss a CNN story that misstated the date of an email (September 14 rather than 4). The main point of the story was to reveal a communication with the Trump campaign about Wikileaks and Hillary Clinton’s hacked emails. That was little changed by the differences in the date. It’s still significant that Trump and his associates were alerted to the Wikileaks data almost immediately after it was posted. Nevertheless, several minutes were spent discussing the story that CNN had quickly corrected.

Kurtz also featured a tweet of a photo that showed low attendance at Trump’s Pensacola rally for Roy Moore. Dave Weigel, a Washington Post reporter retweeted the photo on his personal account, not as a WaPo item. He later apologized saying that the photo was taken before Trump’s arrival (although other photos seem to confirm that the venue was not “filled to the rafters”. as Trump said). Trump also addressed this tweet and, in a tweet of his own that breaches the constitutional protections of a free press, he called for Weigel to be fired.

A date mix-up and a reference to Trump’s crowd size are typical of the trivia that Fox News seems to be perpetually obsessed with. They blow up stories like these into major catastrophes because they haven’t got any legitimate criticisms to report. And they conclude from these trite examples that the media is hopelessly biased and infested with fakery. Trump himself lied about these mishaps being “vicious and purposeful,” when there is no basis whatsoever for that hyperbolic and delusional reaction.

What makes the focus of Kurtz’s program all the more troubling is that Fox News also had a problem this week with a report that they had to correct. Of course, they have lots of problems every week that they never bother to correct. But this story resulted in Fox News editing their story and headline because it was too dishonest even for them.

The story was about Roy Moore, the GOP senate candidate in Alabama who has been accused of sexual assault on a minor (among other atrocities). Fox’s headline falsely asserted that “Roy Moore accuser admits she forged part of yearbook inscription attributed to Alabama Senate candidate.” There was just one little problem with that. The accuser, Beverly Young Nelson, never admitted any such thing. All she did was reveal that she made a notation, next to Moore’s yearbook message and signature, to recall the date and location it was signed. Nothing was forged, and there was no attempt to deceive anyone into thinking the notation was Moore’s handwriting.

Fox News changed the headline (although not the URL) to read “Roy Moore accuser admits she wrote part of yearbook inscription attributed to Alabama Senate candidate.” But that’s also untrue. She did not write Moore’s inscription and she did not attribute the notation to Moore. Fox’s correction fell beneath ethical standards expected of professional journalists. And the magnitude of the mistake was far more serious than those of CNN and the Weigel. In fact, Fox News literally accused Ms. Nelson of the crime of forgery, something she could sue them for.

That seems like it would be an excellent story for a program that reports on the media to cover. But Kurtz gave the Fox News story a whopping three seconds. He mentioned it in passing as he immediately segued back to other alleged media faux pas. He didn’t criticize Fox for the error or allow his panel to discuss it. He quite obviously and deliberately buried the story. And that’s pretty much his mandate for the program he hosts. It’s a regularly scheduled propaganda machine to make all other media look bad, while sweeping Fox’s far more blatant problems under the rug.

Most intelligent media consumers are aware that mistakes happen. Reporters are human. And the presence of errors does not translate into “fake news.” To the contrary, when a mistake is made an ethical news operation will acknowledge and correct it. That’s actually evidence of their honesty and dedication to the truth. Conservative David Frum put it perfectly Sunday morning on CNN’s Reliable sources when he said:

“These mistakes are precisely why people should trust the media. Astronomers make mistakes all the time because science is the process of the discovery of truth. Astrologers never make mistakes, or at least they never own up to them. Because what they are offering is a closed system of ideology and propaganda.”

And that could not be a better description of the difference between Fox News and responsible journalism. Fox is the astrology of news. They report what they believe their audience wants to hear. And it doesn’t matter if they have to make it up or bend it to fit a preconceived viewpoint. It’s purpose is not to inform, but to make the audience feel better about themselves and to affirm what they already believe (or hope) is true. And the way Fox News reads the stars somehow always divines good news for Trumpians and bad news for Democrats and liberals. Funny how that happens, isn’t it?

And this just in: Leland Vittert of Fox News was having a discussion this morning about fake news when he interjected that Dave Weigel had been fired from the Washington Post. That is fake news.

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

Fox News Wins the First Annual Trump Trophy for Fake News – Rasmussen Poll

Posted by on November 30, 2017 at 2:01 pm. 3 Comments :

Donald Trump’s relentless campaign against the free press has been in progress for a couple of years now. At every opportunity he disparages news organizations and reporters as dishonest, corrupt, sleazy, and even called the media “the enemy of the American people.” It’s a transparent attempt to make people distrust what they see and read in the press so that any bad news about Trump is dismissed as fake.

Fox News Lies

Earlier this week Trump posted a proposal on Twitter to have a contest to determine the most dishonest television network. How ironic that the former reality TV game show host thinks this would be an appropriate method of establishing journalistic credibility. Needless to say, his proposal was somewhat skewed by his prejudices:

Let’s just set aside his delusional suggestion that he is our favorite president (He’s not). The idea of competing for a fake news trophy is as silly as any of the childish notions that infect Trump’s cartoon brain. Nevertheless, it was taken up by Trump’s favorite pollster, Rasmussen Reports. Rasmussen is a notoriously right-wing outfit that exists to provide biased data to Republicans and conservative political operations. Which makes the results of this survey all the more interesting.

Rasmussen asked the respondents which network should win the hypothetical Fake News Trophy postulated in Trump’s tweet. They ignored his insistence on leaving Fox News out of the competition. And the results point to why that might have been. According to Rasmussen:

“The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 65% of Likely U.S. Voters consider fake news a big problem […] But 40% of all voters think Fox News should be the winner of the first annual Fake News Trophy.”

So Fox News was the runaway leader in the Fake News pageant. A distant second place went to CNN with only twenty-five percent of the vote. Rounding out the field were MSNBC with nine percent, and ABC, CBS and NBC each received less than 5 percent. The partisan breakdown by party was also notable. Not surprisingly, a majority of Democrats (53%) voted for Fox News to take the honors. However, a sizable chunk of Republicans (24%) felt the same way.

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

This poll affirms what many previous polls have found. Fox News is not regarded as a credible news source. And despite Trump’s attempts to smear the media, most Americans continue to trust the press more than they trust the President. It’s not even close. Trump’s record of distortions, dodges, and deliberate lies has demonstrated his malice for the truth. Or worse, his inability to distinguish truth from lies, or reality from delusional fantasies.

Rachel Maddow Crushes Trump-Fluffer Sean Hannity in November Ratings War With Fox News

Posted by on November 29, 2017 at 3:13 pm. 1 Comments :

Two months ago Fox News moved Sean Hannity’s program to 9:00 pm. It was the latest schedule change resulting from the terminations of Fox anchors (Bill O’Reilly, Eric Bolling) accused of sexual harassment and abuse. For Hannity it was a promotion to a more desirable time slot with a potentially larger audience. He must have been excited for the opportunity.

Rachel Maddow

He very likely regrets it now. The latest Nielsen ratings report for November 2017, has some depressing news for Hannity and Fox News. In the new time period Hannity has been losing to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on a regular basis. The programs are not really competing for the same viewers, but the bragging rights for being number one are important for both promotion and advertising revenue. Hannity is especially hurting on the latter as a result of his support for the pedophile senate candidate in Alabama, Roy Moore. Advertisers have been fleeing the program and a successful Stop Hannity campaign was launched.

The Nielsen ratings results for the month of November reveal another bitter loss for Sean Hannity. With the pressure of going up against Fox’s top program, Rachel Maddow managed to score an impressive victory. That makes her the number one program in all of cable News in the coveted 25-54 year old demographic. Her ratings improved year-over-year by forty-eight percent. Fox News was down eighteen percent.

On the strength of Maddow’s popularity, the rest of the MSNBC lineup benefited as well. It was the only cable news network to grow its total audience from last year, rising thirty percent. Meanwhile CNN and Fox News both declined (-49% and -31% respectively). The MSNBC primetime was a strong contender across the board, finishing either first or second.

For early risers, Morning Joe took second place and delivered its best numbers in the twenty-one year history of the network. It was also the only show in the time period to grow its audience. In the 25-54 demo Morning Joe advanced twenty-two percent. CNN was down just three percent. And the “Curvy Couch” potatoes at Donald Trump’s favorite show, Fox and Friends, fell by twelve percent.

This has to be a satisfying victory for Maddow and MSNBC. Having suffered a year of Donald Trump’s infantile whining about fake news and low ratings, the network can boast that it handily outperformed Fox News (aka State-Run TV). It’s an indication that the country is hungry for real, in-depth reporting and analysis that doesn’t talk down to them. And, more importantly, doesn’t lie or engage in humiliating episodes of fawning over and defending the ignoramus in the White House.

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

As we go forward we will likely see more of the same as Trump’s star falls ever further and the legal noose around his neck gets tighter. Hannity and his Fox News colleagues will undoubtedly ramp up the crazy (just as Trump is doing) in a desperate attempt to keep from becoming totally irrelevant. But their desperation will result in even more ludicrous conspiracy theories and lunatic outbursts. Who knows? This might actually end up being kinda fun to watch.

Impeach Now: Trump’s Hateful, Deranged Twitter Tirade Affirms His Total Mental Collapse

Posted by on November 29, 2017 at 11:08 am. 2 Comments :

Where’s the bottom? Donald Trump is rapidly declining into a state of utter psychological incapacitation. The evidence has been apparent for years. But since becoming president the severity of his disturbance just keeps getting worse. It is unthinkable that such a diseased mind can actually occupy a position at the helm of the greatest power on Earth.

Donald Trump

This is not a common case of partisan political differences. Trump is spiraling into a profoundly dark space wherein nothing but his ego and grim hallucinations govern official acts. In just the past few days he has raged about not being chosen Time Magazine’s Person of the Year; he insulted soldiers deployed in Afghanistan on Thanksgiving; and his anti-media tweet helped slave traders in Libya.

This is not normal. It’s dangerous. And it’s getting worse. On Tuesday there were reports that he is regressing back to his birther beliefs that President Obama is Muslim born in Kenya. He is even telling confidants that the Access Hollywood video, where he bragged about committing sexual assault, isn’t him. That’s after he previously admitted that it was and apologized (just before hyping his new hotel).

On Wednesday morning Trump devolved further into his dementia. A series of tweets show that he is unarguably unfit to serve as president. Some of them were a continuation of his campaign against the free press. For instance:

Many politicians have had disputes with the media, but no president has ever advocated boycotting a particular network because he didn’t approve of the coverage. What’s more, Trump’s boycott threat is somewhat absurd considering that he has been doing that for nearly a year already.

Next Trump dived into the issue of sexual harassment with tweets about the firing of Matt Lauer. The irony is thick considering his own disgusting record of abuse and assault. However, typical of his malady, he drifted manically off the subject:

Trump’s repetitive whining about “fake news” is just getting tedious. He never actually proves any of his complaints, or even offers examples. It’s just a mindless flood of invective aimed at his perceived enemies. In this case, no one knows what the hell he’s referring to with regard to NBC News chairman Andy Lack or the others that he thinks should all be “terminated.” However, his swipe at Joe Scarborough is more proof that he’s living in a fantasy world. The incident that he wants investigated is neither a mystery nor unsolved.

Furthermore, it’s his favorite network, Fox News, that is by far the most mired in sexual harassment and abuse. It has already jettisoned its CEO (Roger Ailes), it’s biggest star (Bill O’Reilly), and several other prominent figures on the air and in the executive suites. The culture of misogyny continues at Fox with daily segments that disparage women on the news and their own personnel.

Where Trump really exhibits serious mental infirmity that calls into question his sanity is with his tweets of videos of alleged Muslim violence. The problem is that he’s retweeting a notorious British Islamophobe and an official with Britain First, a white nationalist organization. She is a convicted racist who has previously posted content that was proven to be hoaxes. Naturally, none of the videos in Trump’s tweets were verified as authentic.

Why would the President of the United States disseminate dubious materials whose only purpose is to incite hatred and violence? Trump would never post videos of the vast majority of responsible Muslims helping their community or country. He is focused squarely on creating more hate and division. It’s an obsession. Even the British Prime Minister, Theresa May, lashed out at Trump’s recklessness saying that “Britain First seeks to divide communities in their use of hateful narratives which pedal lies and stoke tensions. […] It is wrong for the President to have done this.”

On top of that, Trump’s press secretary, Sarah Huckabee-Sanders, is an enabler of Trump’s lunacy. When asked about the sketchy source for the videos he retweeted she gave an almost unimaginably obtuse reply:

“Whether it’s a real video, the threat is real and that is what the president is talking about. That’s what the president is focused on.”

She is actually saying that it doesn’t matter if the videos are fake. This from the administration that constantly (and dishonestly) calls all media, except for Fox News, fake. Never mind that. Trump is allowed to promote phony videos any time he wants, even if they are openly bigoted hoaxes intended to incite violence.

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

The longer Trump is in office, the more perilous America’s future. If he doesn’t start a war with North Korea or Iran, he’ll incite white riots here at home. His muddled brain is too dysfunctional to perform his job and, if special counsel Robert Mueller doesn’t take him out of the game, then Congress and any sane members of the administration have to do it. And judging by the rapid descent he is showing, they don’t have much time.

Trump’s ‘Fake News’ Media Bashing on Twitter Helps Slave Traders In Libya

Posted by on November 28, 2017 at 3:45 pm. NO Comments :

The debate over Donald Trump’s obsession with disgorging himself on Twitter has stirred a variety of opinions. Many people say he is reckless, insulting, and childish, and that his outbursts can be damaging to American interests. Others say he is just just expressing himself and it shouldn’t be taken seriously. Those in the latter groups are wrong.

CNN Kellyanne Conway

On Saturday Trump post a tweet that, on the surface, appeared to be typical Trumpian bluster. It was another assault on the free press that he despises so furiously. This particular message was directed at CNN’s international news bureau:

Needless to say, Fox News is only important to conservative partisans who need reinforcement of their political prejudices and deceit. It’s a vital outlet for right-wingers who can’t think for themselves. But the more disturbing part of this tweet is Trump’s slander of a major American news source and its international journalists who risk their lives to tell stories critical to the welfare of the our country and our world. And the damage that Trump’s infantile tantrums can cause was just revealed in a horrific way, as reported in The Guardian:

“A tweet by Donald Trump accusing CNN of purveying ‘fake news’ has been seized on by Libyan media to challenge a report by the US broadcaster which suggested modern day slave auctions were being held in the country. […] in a sign that the US president’s persistent attacks on the credibility of American news outlets has a real world effect, the broadcaster Libya 218 used the tweet to question the credibility of the CNN video.”

In other words, the perpetrators of slave trade in Libya were caught in the act, but were able to dismiss the charges using Trump’s criticism of CNN as proof that their reporting can’t be trusted. The Guardian’s story went on to say that Libyan broadcasters regarded CNN’s reporting as an effort “to secure an as yet hidden political objective.”

So what Trump has done is to assist the slavery market in Libya, and everywhere else, by telling the world that the President of the United States thinks CNN’s reporting is fake. That message can and will be extended to all other criminal activities uncovered by dedicated and courageous journalists. And this is precisely what Trump intends. He hopes that his media smear campaign will have the same effect domestically as his own crimes are revealed.

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

When special counsel Robert Mueller completes his investigation, the press will report his findings related to Trump’s collusion with Russia, his financial corruption, and his attempts to obstruct justice. When those reports come out Trump will slander them as fake and hope to avoid the consequences of his lawless depravity and greed. But he may have more trouble with the American press than its counterparts in Libya. With the exception of Fox News, we don’t have a state-run media in the U.S.

Fox News is So Desperate They’re Hyping an ‘Implausible’ Discrimination Lawsuit Against CNN

Posted by on November 10, 2017 at 3:29 pm. 4 Comments :

The current news cycle is jam-packed with stories that reflect badly on Donald Trump and the Republican Party. Trump is bumbling his way through an embarrassing junket to Asia. Among other things, he has already flipped on his hard-line stance against China trade deals. In fact, he insulted American leaders and praised Chinese President Xi Jinping for taking advantage of their “incompetence.” In addition, The GOP’s candidate to fill Jeff Sessions’s senate seat in Alabama, Roy Moore, is mired in a pedophilia scandal. And last Tuesday Democrats swept the elections in Virginia, New Jersey, Washington, and more.

Fox News Lies

This puts Fox News in a difficult position. They have virtually nothing positive to report about their Dear Leader in the White or his flailing party. They’ve already been swinging wildly at bogus and irrelevant Hillary Clinton hogwash to the point where it’s just tiresome. And the must-pass Republican tax bill is faring no better than their much despised attempts to kill ObamaCare.

So Fox News is hitting the shelves for some ripe fiction they can disseminate. What they found was a lawsuit against their arch rival CNN for racial discrimination. Fox News giddily latched onto that and posted a wholly dishonest article on their website. The headline is a brazen lie that screams “CNN faces another racial discrimination lawsuit.”

The first thing to note is that CNN is not facing “another” lawsuit. The first paragraph reveals that it is the same lawsuit that was filed previously and thrown out of court for being inadequate. The judge ruled that “it doesn’t meet a plausibility threshold.” He also said that it was “unsupported by factual allegations sufficient to support the inferences claimed by Plaintiffs,” and that it was “littered with conclusory assertions, rank speculation, confusing statements, and generalized allegations.”

However, in the Fox News story the attorney for the alleged plaintiffs is confidant that the suit will prevail the second time around. He claims that he will refile sometime this year, ignoring the judge’s admonition that “any amendment would be futile.” So Fox News based the entire story on a failed lawsuit that has not been, and might never be, refiled. Fox didn’t bother to interview the plaintiffs to try to validate their claims, or do any thing else that resembles journalism.

What Fox News did do was was plant this totally unrelated landmine in the article: “The news comes as CNN continues to cause problems for parent company Time Warner as it tries to complete an $84.5 billion deal with AT&T.”

For the record, CNN isn’t causing any problems with regard to the merger. It’s Trump’s Justice Department (and possibly Trump himself) who are threatening to prohibit the merger unless the new company divests of CNN. There are plenty of reasons to oppose this merger, but CNN isn’t one of them. AT&T has no news division that would raise anti-trust concerns. This is clear case of abuse of power as the Trump administration seeks to punish a media outlet they despise.

If any news operation is causing problems for their parent company, it’s Fox News. They are making it unlikely that Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox will be able to acquire the European SKY satellite network. The U.K.’s Ofcom regulatory agency is studying whether Murdoch’s business is a “fit and proper” owner, and whether it would comply with local rules on broadcasting standards. Given the history of Fox’s overt political biases, it’s tight embrace of Trump, and the terminations of multiple senior staff (Roger Ailes, Bill, O’Reilly, etc.) for sexual harassment and abuse, that’s gonna be a high bar to hurdle.

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

Finally, for some reason the Fox News article left out any mention of the lawsuits against Fox for racial and sex discrimination. Over two dozen current and former Fox News employees now suing the network. These are actual suits that are proceeding, not imaginary ones that were previously tossed out of court. But why would Fox include these facts in an article that was only published as a diversion from all of the bad news that is currently staining Trump and the right-wing cabal he is leading? As noted above: Desperation.

And remember: Racism is an integral part of the business model of Fox News. So this hypocritical and false story is almost funny (almost).