Fox & Friends

This Fox News Lie About a Uranium One Indictment is Outrageously Stupid, Even for Fox News

Posted by on January 14, 2018 at 2:47 pm. 2 Comments :

Never let it be said that Fox News wouldn’t hype a pile of steaming bullpucky whenever they had an opportunity to do so. The frailty of their so-called logic is often built on making absurd connections between disparate subjects just because they might share a single word, even if they have nothing else in common. And a perfect example of that was aired Sunday Morning on Fox (video below):

Fox News Lies

The headline blaring from Fox News was “1st Indictment in Uranium One Probe.” That would be a pretty significant development in the bogus scandal that Fox News and the Republican Party have been trying to push. Never mind the fact that it has already been fully investigated and no wrongdoing was found. Trump is improperly directing his Justice Department to investigate and prosecute Hillary Clinton for imaginary crimes.

The thirty second story on Fox News Sunday morning didn’t address any of the details of the indictment they were reporting. They only raised it long enough to imply that Clinton was somehow involved:

“The first indictment is out in the Justice Department probe of the Clinton State Department Uranium One Deal […] The deal was okayed by the Obama administration, including Hillary Clinton, giving a Russian company twenty percent of the U.S. uranium.”

Fox News correctly reported that there was an indictment served by the Department of Justice. But that was the only thing that was true in their report. Fox’s claim that this indictment was connected to a probe of Clinton was utterly false. For an honest account of the matter see the report by Reuters who wrote that:

“U.S. authorities have charged a Maryland businessman with bribing a Russian official in an effort to win contracts to ship uranium to the United States. […] Prosecutors allege Lambert, former co-president of a Maryland-based shipping company Transport Logistics International (TLI), bribed a Russian energy official through a series of shell companies in Cyprus, Latvia and Switzerland in exchange for contracts to ship nuclear fuel to U.S. utilities.”

The debunked conspiracy theory that Trump, Fox News, and other rightist propaganda merchants have tried to hang around Clinton’s neck has to do with the sale of Uranium One, a company in Wyoming that refined uranium for non-military use within the United States. The indictment in this new report was against a Maryland businessman for bribing Russian officials in order to secure a contract to transport uranium from Russia to the U.S. It has nothing to do with Uranium One or Hillary Clinton.

That, however didn’t stop Fox News from connecting the two, and even saying outright that the Maryland deal was approved by the Obama administration and Clinton. It wasn’t. It was strictly a case of a dishonest businessman allegedly trying to get an unfair, illegal advantage for himself. And while the lies Fox News told about Uranium One included the allegation that the deal would send U.S. uranium to Russia (it wouldn’t), this indictment involves a contract to ship Russian uranium into the U.S.

There is nothing remotely connecting these two news stories other than the fact that both involve uranium in some respect. But Fox News reported the Maryland bribery indictment as the “1st Indictment in Uranium One Probe,” which it isn’t related to in any way. It’s like connecting the Charles Manson murders to the Charles Lindbergh kidnapping because both involved someone named Charles. Or more to the point, it’s like connecting Fox to news because it has “news” in its name. Let’s face it, the only reason that Fox News promotes nonsense like this is to distract their dimwitted audience from the very real crimes of Donald Trump. But because they’re so inept, they only end up bringing more attention to their obvious deceptions and refocus the spotlight on the corruption of Trump and his conservative co-conspirators.

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

LOL: Trump Celebrates Poll on the Economy that Shows Voters Give Obama Credit For It

Posted by on January 11, 2018 at 1:07 pm. NO Comments :

Donald Trump may be the most poll-obsessed president in history. While it’s common for politicians to insist that they don’t care about polls, Trump’s behavior is more typical of a television performer who relies Nielsen ratings to affirm his popularity. Wonder why? He relentlessly posts survey results that he thinks portray him positively. Although, upon further scrutiny, that is often not the case.

Fox News

An example of this occurred during Trump’s “Executive Time“ on Thursday morning. He tweeted the results of a Quinnipiac University poll that asked whether voters considered “the nation’s economy these days as excellent, good, not so good, or poor.” Sixty-six percent responded that the state of the economy was either excellent or good. But since Trump couldn’t be bothered to read any further than the headline, which he very likely picked up from Fox News (see the Fox and Friends graphic above), here are the results that put that number in context:

Forty-nine percent of voters said that former President Barack Obama is more responsible for the state of the economy, while only forty percent gave credit to Trump. Even twenty-four percent of Republicans chose Obama. When asked if Trump’s policies are helping or hurting the nation’s economy, fifty-nine percent of voters replied that they are hurting or made no difference. Seventy-three percent said that Trump’s policies hurt or made no difference to their personal financial situation.

Clearly Fox News was fulfilling its mission to fluff Trump’s ego by cherry-picking poll results that they knew would please the President. He has to be carefully tended to in order to avoid unnecessary fits of rage and depression. For his part, Trump ran with the sliver of data that he was fed by Fox News, tweeting it with pride, but without knowledge of how pitiful his standing really is with the American people. Some other results from the poll elaborate on just how poorly he is perceived:

  • 63-34 percent say that he is not honest.
  • 59-39 percent say that he does not have good leadership skills.
  • 59-38 percent say that he does not care about average Americans.
  • 65-32 percent say that he does not share their values.

Finally, survey respondents graded Trump’s first year in office with thirty-nine percent giving him an “F” and another seventeen percent give him a “D.” Those aren’t exactly the sort of grades you’d expect from a “stable genius.” So it isn’t surprising that both Fox News and Trump ignored most of this poll’s data. However, just by tweeting the one bit of news that he thought was positive, all he really did was send more people to the poll’s full results where they found out the whole truth. Nice work, Donnie.

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

Trump’s Fox News Fetish Could Be Making the Network a Security Risk Exploitable By Russia

Posted by on January 10, 2018 at 6:04 pm. NO Comments :

The relationship between Donald Trump and Fox News has always been problematic. It represents the closest thing to state-run TV that the United States has ever had. The anchors and reporters on Fox serve as dutiful sycophants to the Trump administration, advancing his self-serving agenda and defending his every fault. While Trump repays Fox by promoting the network and its personalities with free advertisements on his Twitter feed and relentless attacks on their competition.

Fox News Commies

However, there may be more worrisome consequences from this political/media marriage of propagandistic convenience. Aki Peritz, a former CIA counterterrorism analyst, just wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post that raises some frightening possibilities that might result from the parasitic combination of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire and the dimwitted White House. The article, headlined “Foreign spies are watching — and probably targeting — Fox News Channel” delves into some reasonable speculation about how hostile foreign intelligence operations might benefit from monitoring – and possibly compromising – Fox News. What follows are some excerpts that provide a taste of how this problem could become a recipe for disaster:

“[I]f I were a spymaster in the employ of a hostile foreign service, I’d devote some significant effort to penetrating one specific private institution: Fox News Channel.”

“It’s no secret that Fox News — specifically, shows such as ‘Hannity,’ ‘Fox & Friends,’ ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’ and ‘Justice with Judge Jeanine’ — have outsize influence on the inner workings of how certain policies are carried out by the U.S. government.”

“[H]ostile foreign intelligence services are probably consuming as much Fox News as President Trump does.”

“Trump’s unfiltered Twitter feed provides world intelligence operatives with ‘a real-time glimpse of a major world leader’s preoccupations, personality quirks and habits of mind’ – traits to be exploited in further dealings on the global stage. And what better way to determine what the president thinks – for the price of basic cable — than to watch selected Fox News programming?”

“A truly aggressive intelligence effort would not just monitor what’s being said on the network. It would target the on-air talent, as well as the folks behind the scenes who make the network’s programming possible: producers, bookers, associate producers, production assistants and the like. This might range from opening friendly contacts with these employees to outright recruitment.”

“Compared to government workers, Fox employees would make easy targets. That’s because they aren’t public officials — they’re news and entertainment people. Also, it’s television — full of trade secrets, big personalities and titanic egos. Most wouldn’t expect to be compromised by a hostile intelligence power, especially on American soil. Few, if any, have the sort of counterintelligence training the U.S. government administers to people in sensitive positions, because Fox employees are not the usual targets for intelligence operations. But the president’s continuing, very specific interest in the channel heightens their risk of being approached by a hostile government.”

Peritz specifically mentions the risk posed by covert operations aimed at Fox News staff. For instance, Sean Hannity is known to speak frequently with Trump. So bugging Hannity’s phone or office “could provide real-time intelligence on the American president and his thoughts.” The same could be true for others at Fox News. Trump’s chumminess with people at Fox has resulted in several of them getting jobs in the administration, including K.T. McFarland, Ben Carson, Sebastian Gorka, and Heather Nauert. Two of Fox’s current prime time lineup, Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham, were reported to have been candidates for press secretary.

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

The WaPo article is careful not to present this theory as anything more than informed speculation. But given what is known about how Russia conducts its spy operations, it would be prudent for all Fox News employees to be wary, even suspicious, about contacts from friendly strangers. That is, if they aren’t actively seeking out Russians for collusion on behalf of Trump, who is already deeply compromised.

Trump is a ‘Very Stable Genius’ Who Mindlessly Repeats What He Just Saw on Fox and Friends

Posted by on January 6, 2018 at 11:46 am. 3 Comments :

The questions about Donald Trump’s apparent psychological decline are rapidly becoming more than partisan speculation. And the person most responsible for affirming the President’s mental infirmity just happens to be Donald Trump. The more he talks about his own cerebral frailty, the more feeble he appears to be.

Fox News Trump

On Saturday morning Trump thought it was necessary to defend himself against the allegations that have been made by politicians, pundits, and mental health professionals. But his comments were a pathetic mess of ego and delusion. He tweeted that:

It is notable that these tweets were posted less than ten minutes after a segment on this subject was aired on Fox and Friends. This is a pattern that is repeated frequently by Trump who obviously watches the program religiously, despite saying that he doesn’t have time for television. The message in the tweets is one that should be of concern to all Americans.

First of all, the investigation into his involvement in Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election has not been proven to be a hoax. Quite the contrary. There have already been four indictments with two guilty pleas. The rest of what has been uncovered by the special counsel, Robert Mueller, is still under wraps. And PolitiFact awarded Trump it’s Lie of the Year for repeatedly making this statement about the matter being a hoax.

Secondly, no one has ever recognized Trump’s two greatest assets as his “mental stability” or “being, like, really smart.” And if he wants to make that claim himself he probably shouldn’t sound so much like a “Valley Girl.” (fer sure). His true assets were actually having been born into a wealthy family and having the shameless lack of character that permits him to lie, cheat, and steal to get what he wants.

His boasts about education are a lame attempt to cling to some alleged glory from half a century ago. And it’s all the more irrelevant since he refuses to release his college transcripts. Also, Trump has never been a successful businessman. He would be far richer if he had just invested his inheritance in an S&P 500 indexed mutual fund. With at least four bankruptcies, he can hardly lay claim to any business prowess. And like his college claims, Trump refuses to release his tax returns to validate his alleged success in business.

Finally, Trump’s self-exalting assertions about his sanity and brilliance are downright surreal. When was the last time you heard “a very stable genius” say he was a very stable genius? Smart people are the last people to say that they are smart. Trump’s bragging is actually a sort of certification of his ignorance and instability. And he elaborated on that theme in brief remarks to reporters at Camp David when a reporter asked “This morning you were tweeting about your mental state. Why did you feel the need to tweet about that this morning?”

Whereupon Trump regurgitated his tedious refrain about having been an “excellent student” and becoming a successful businessman and TV star. Then he drifted off into a diatribe against Fire and Fury author, Michael Wolff, and his former top White House aide, Sloppy Steve Bannon. Watch this video and see for yourself if he ever approaches a coherent answer to the question regarding his mental state:

Remember, the question was “Why did you feel the need to tweet about [your mental state] this morning?” The answer was aimless blather about his perception of his own awesomeness and his perceived enemies. That isn’t the response of someone who is either stable or a genius. If anything, Trump’s response this morning affirms the broadly held assessment that he is unfit for the office he holds. His inability to maintain a focus on the topic is a symptom of cognitive dysfunction. It’s a cry for help that everyone – from his family to his Republican peers – is ignoring. And the peril this represents to the nation, and the world, cannot be overstated.

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

Trump Finally Leaves His Palm Beach Resort to Return to His Day Job: Watching Fox News

Posted by on January 2, 2018 at 2:23 pm. 3 Comments :

On Christmas day, Donald Trump posted a tweet wishing everyone a “great Christmas” (not merry?) and then promised that “tomorrow it’s back to work in order to Make America Great Again.” He then spent the next seven days at his luxurious Mar-A-Lago golf resort in Palm Beach, Florida. He had no presidential duties on his schedule and his only public appearances were on the golf course or at private galas.

Donald Trump Fox News

On January 2, Trump finally made it back to Washington, D.C., and the White House he has called “a dump.” It took him a week from his tweet, but he eventually returned to what he considers to be his job: Watching Fox News. That was apparent by the stream of tweets he posted Tuesday morning. Each one following closely a segment from that morning’s airing of Fox and Friends. He began the New Year Twittapalooza with a dark message that affirms his authoritarian tendencies:

In that one tweet Trump manages to breach a variety of principles required for a free society. First, he makes unsubstantiated allegations against Hillary Clinton, a former political opponent, and her aide, Huma Abedin. Trump actually calls for them to be jailed, without evidence, or even a trial. He was tipped to this nonsense while watching a correspondent from the Daily Caller on Fox and Friends. The Daily Caller is the website run by by Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

Secondly, Trump disparaged the Department of Justice as a tool of the “Deep State,” a term of paranoia that he picked up from his pal, Sean Hannity. Of Course the Justice Department is currently run by Trump appointees and he recently said that he has the “absolute right to do what I want to do with the Justice Department.” That’s a scary thought, and it isn’t true, but it calls into question his criticism that implies the whole institution is conspiring against him and his glassy-eyed disciples.

Finally, Trump made a point of dragging former FBI Director into this web of alleged criminals that he wants to lock up. That would be a legally perilous act since he would be persecuting someone that is a likely witness in charges that may be filed against Trump and his associates. It would add to the counts of obstruction of justice that might already be pending.

The tweet immediately following that one thanked Brandon Judd of the National Border Patrol Council. Judd had said some nice things about Trump on Fox and Friends a few minutes before the tweet. Obviously, Trump was watching and wanted to express his gratitude, along with promoting the utterly useless border wall that has become an obsession with him.

Trump also tweeted about the situation in North Korea, reprising his infantile use of the nickname “Rocket Man.”. He bragged that sanctions (which have been in place for years) were having a “big impact,” despite the fact that recent reports reveal that North Korea is planning new ballistic missile tests within the next few days. Apparently that wasn’t part of the report that Fox News aired, so Trump didn’t hear it. And we all know he relies on Fox rather than the intelligence agencies the president commands.

For someone who insists that he doesn’t have time to watch TV, he sure watches a lot of TV. And just one network in particular. Trump’s tweeting patterns have long been documented as regurgitations of something he just saw on Fox. He rarely has an original thought. And when he does, it’s likely to be praise to himself for something he had nothing to do with.

For instance, his tweet Tuesday morning citing a report that there were zero jet airliner fatalities in 2017. He attributed that to his having been “very strict” on commercial aviation. Of course, there is no record of his having done anything that would affect this statistic. What’s more, there were also zero jet airliner fatalities in the U.S. for the past eight years, long before his do-nothing presidency. However, Trump did repeal safety regulations for coal mining, and 2017 saw a surge in mining fatalities. Is he taking credit for that too?

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

With everything going on in the world today, it’s comforting knowing that Trump is so focused on what he thinks is his job. Because most Americans would rather he be watching TV and tweeting than creating international crises or adding to the domestic trauma and divisiveness he’s responsible for. Hopefully his babysitters in the White House will keep him glued to Fox News and out of the Situation Room.

The Lies Fox News Told in 2017 That They (Kind of) Admitted or Corrected

Posted by on December 31, 2017 at 2:15 pm. NO Comments :

Well, it’s that time of year. The time for end-of-year lists and collections of the best/worst whatever that we all endured for the past twelve months. The prospect of compiling such lists for 2017 seemed particularly daunting considering the wealth of material created by our sociopathic president, Donald Trump, and his PR division at Fox News. After all, no one was going to read through a 1,000 best/worst list for the year. And how could it be pared down to ten?

Donald Trump

So News Corpse found a category that would not be too overwhelming. Fox News has told literally thousands of lies this year. But they have only acknowledged or corrected a handful. That’s because they don’t practice the sort of journalistic ethics that a legitimate news enterprise normally would. In fact, their mission is to disinform and deceive. Consequently, they have no use for retractions or apologies. But News Corpse did document the rare occasions when Fox News was forced to at least make a comment about some blatantly false story that they leaked into the mediasphere. What follows are some stories that even Fox couldn’t pretend were true (kind of).

The Seth Rich Story

May 24: There is a conservative mythology that Democratic operative Seth Rich was assassinated by some nefarious lefty cabal because he leaked stolen DNC documents to Wikileaks. However, there’s no evidence of any such activity, and the police have concluded that the crime was a botched robbery. Nevertheless, Fox News, and especially Sean Hannity, repeatedly advanced the ludicrous conspiracy theory.

The Comey Files

July 11: Steve Doocy of Fox and Friends falsely reported that former FBI director James Comey made documents public that were classified as “Top Secret.” But Doocy had to retract that report the following day because it wasn’t true. Donald Trump retweeted the original false story, but never corrected the tweet.

Bogus Baghdadi

July 24: Fox News contributor Gen. Tony Thomas accused the New York Times of allowing a terrorist leader to escape. Then Fox weekend host Pete Hegseth elaborated on the charge that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi would’ve been captured if not for the Times. The Times responded with proof that Fox’s story was false, but Fox continued reporting the same lies, as did Trump.

Smearing the Good Lawyers

September 9: Fox’s Greg Gutfeld rattled off some falsehoods that portrayed the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as charlatans and associates of violent nutjobs. He accused them of financial improprieties and failing to perform the legal they work that is their mission. The SPLC responded with a letter proving Gutfeld’s remarks to be false. But Fox ignored the letter and never corrected their libelous story.

The Verdict is In

December 5: Fox and Friends co-host Pete Hegseth erroneously reported that MSNBC failed to cover the not guilty verdict in the Kate Steinle murder trial. […] The false reporting by Hegseth was uncorrected for at least twelve hours despite the network being informed of the error.

Please, No Moore

December 10: A Fox News 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.

It’s interesting to note that Fox News made a big deal about a few incorrect reports during the year by ABC News or CNN. These were portrayed as proof that the entirety of the media was fake. Many of Fox’s pundits went so far as to accuse the press of making these mistakes deliberately. And of course, that was Trump’s standard approach as he labeled everything “fake news.” However, Fox went to great lengths to avoid mentioning any of their own falsehoods when discussing this subject. They’re pure as the driven snow. It’s the same way they treat the subject of sexual abuse. Harvey Weinstein and Al Franken are always brought up as examples, but Roger Ailes and Bill O’Reilly are forgotten figures from some distant past.

To be sure, the list above doesn’t represent the full picture of Fox’s dishonesty. They continue to press flat out lies about the Uranium One deal, which their own “hard news” correspondent, Shepard Smith, utterly debunked. And Fox News is obsessed with tarnishing the reputation of the FBI and special counsel Robert Mueller. If you watched nothing but Fox News you would come away believing that Mueller was an unscrupulous Democrat determined to crush Donald Trump with manufactured tales of collusion. Never mind that in reality he is a life-long Republican selected by a Republican Acting Attorney General, who was appointed by Trump.

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

Next year is almost certainly going to be more of the same. Fox News will defend Trump from any and all criticism, while writing new talking points for him to tweet. Trump will adopt Fox’s rhetoric and disgorge it on Twitter and to friendly reporters. Then Fox will cover what Trump said bringing the circle to a close, ready to recycle in an endless loop of lying. And on that depressing note, News Corpse would like to wish everyone a very Happy and Healthy New Year.

Trump’s ALL-CAPS Post-Christmas Rant Reveals How Frightened He Is of His Bleak Future

Posted by on December 26, 2017 at 2:12 pm. 1 Comments :

The day after Donald Trump made it safe for Americans to say “Merry Christmas” again, he went straight back into the political fray. Well, he actually went straight back to one of his golf courses. But he did find the time to post a message on Twitter that expressed his innermost thoughts on the news of the day. Well, the news according to Fox News.

Donald Trump

Trump’s latest Twitter tirade was pretty much a rehash of the same nonsense that he has been disgorging for months. He has frequently yelped about the investigations being conducted to ascertain his involvement with Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election. But he is clearly adding a huge helping of the horror that is overwhelming him as the investigations circle ever closer around him and his associates. Perhaps as a sort of relief valve he tweeted:

WOW, indeed. The first notable part of this presidential outburst is that Trump is, once again, identifying his source as his favorite Fox News program, Fox and Friends. So despite his access to the world’s best intelligence apparatus, Trump still relies on the “Curvy Couch” potatoes of a morning cable “news” show, that Fox doesn’t even classify as news. And to make matters worse, Trump was apparently so flustered with fear that he linked to a fake Fox and Friends Twitter account (note the “L” rather than an “I” in Friends).

As for the rest of the tweet, it was feast of falsehoods that are easily disproved. The so-called Steele Dossier to which Trump refers is decidedly not bogus. While the entirety of it has not yet been affirmed, much of what has been researched has been solidly verified. CNN reported in October that:

“While the most salacious allegations in the dossier haven’t been verified, its broad assertion that Russia waged a campaign to interfere in the election is now accepted as fact by the US intelligence community. CNN also reported earlier this year that US investigators have corroborated some aspects of the dossier, specifically that some of the communications among foreign nationals mentioned in the memos did actually take place.”

Additionally, Trump’s eagerness to blame Hillary Clinton for all his problems is not only misplaced, it’s a purposeful attempt to malign his arch nemesis and shift attention from himself. He never bothers to mention that the dossier originated with the Washington Free Beacon, a right-wing news website. And Trump’s assertion that it was used “as the basis for going after the Trump Campaign” is just wholly made up.

The inspiration for Trump’s Boxing Day bluster was, as is often the case, something he saw on Fox and Friends. The segment featured Buck Sexton, a conservative radio talk show show and former CIA analyst (with a comic book name that makes it hard to take him seriously). Sexton and Fox co-host Pete Hegseth covered some of the exact subjects as Trump’s tweet (video below):

Sexton: What we really want to know is was the dossier, as you all are quite aware, was a Clinton funded opposition research document, the basis for weaponizing the intelligence community against a political campaign as it was happening. People are talking about the Russian collusion as the greatest scandal – this would be the greatest scandal certainly of my lifetime.
Hegseth: And the Washington Times reporting that the FBI admitting that it can’t verify that dossier claims of Russia. Which would further the potential problem with that.

For the record, the FBI never said they “can’t verify” the dossier’s claims. They said that they “haven’t verified” some of the claims. Which is completely different. But Fox did manage to back up their BS with the ultra-right “Moonie” Washington Times. It’s all part of the conservative media machine’s effort to discredit and delegitimize special counsel Robert Mueller and any other independent investigation of Trump’s corruption and treason. That war on the truth is also being waged by Trump’s pals in the Kremlin. Newsweek reports that Russia “is using social media to undermine Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, a former CIA official and a former Republican congressman said Monday night.” And with that the quartet is complete: Russia, Trump, the GOP, and Fox News are all working together to sabotage Mueller and his investigation.

They must realize that the facts are against them and that their only hope is destroy the reputation of career law enforcement professionals who are doing their jobs. Think about this: if Trump, et al believed for a second that Mueller’s investigation would exonerate him, would he seek to tarnish the reputation of the man who could prove his innocence?

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

Democrats For Trump? Fox News Interviews Convicted Money Launderer Who Supports Trump

Posted by on December 23, 2017 at 4:46 pm. 1 Comments :

In its ever vigilant mission to misrepresent political discourse, Fox News frequently seeks out spokespersons for constituencies that don’t really exist. It’s a significant part of their determination to create more division and partisan rancor. One of Fox’s favorite methods of bending reality to their own prejudices is to latch onto alleged Democrats who will betray their party to back some ill-advised nonsense proposed by Donald Trump.

Fox News

Fox News is particularly good at finding such political turncoats. Some are angry about a pet project that may have been ditched. Others are simply looking for attention. By promising them segments on the cable network to broadcast their personal rage, Fox gets them to publicly oppose their peers. And Fox gets to promote their own biases as told by supposed Democrats or liberals. In some cases the association is tenuous. For instance, Fox continues to identify right-wing zealot Pat Caddell as a Democratic pollster years after he abandon any semblance of Democratic politics.

On Saturday Fox News found another dubious Democrat to advance their promotion of Trump. Andrew Stein was once a New York City Councilman, but way back in the nineties he openly courted Republicans when he briefly ran against David Dinkins for mayor. More recently he pleaded guilty to charges related to his involvement in a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme. However, as the self-declared president of “Democrats For Trump” (an organization that doesn’t appear to exist) Fox News was thrilled to give him some valuable airtime.

Stein was interviewed by Fox’s Ed Henry on Fox and Friends (video below). He began the segment by accusing Democrats of having “Trump Derangement” for not being able accept that he was elected. When Henry asked Stein what advice he would give to “his fellow Democrats,” Stein offered this:

“Democrats are making a big mistake by just ‘resisting,’ talking about impeachment. It’s nonsense. This President has one of the best records I’ve ever seen. And I’ve been around a long time.”

Stein went on to praise Trump’s tax scam bill, particularly for how it benefits corporations. As if that were ever the focus of Democratic principles. Henry noted that Stein had recently spent half an hour with Trump in the Oval Office, which is undoubtedly how he came to the attention of Fox News. And when asked how Trump might do a better job of reaching out to Democrats, this fake Dem responded that:

“I think he’s done a fantastic job with this tax bill and with cutting regulations.”

Huh? You mean the bill that not one Democrat voted for? The one they weren’t allowed to contribute to or to offer amendments? The one they weren’t even allowed to see until a few hour before the vote? The one that violates every core value that Democrats hold dear by cutting taxes for the wealthy, making everyone else pay for it, and is also another GOP attempt to sabotage ObamaCare? That’s what Stein thinks was a “fantastic job of reaching out”?

There simply are no words.

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

Donald Trump and Fox and Friends Keep Mistaking Insults For Compliments

Posted by on December 22, 2017 at 6:33 pm. 4 Comments :

The power of narcissism can be awfully astonishing at times. When someone has this psychological sickness they have a distorted perspective of the real world that, one way or another, reflects on their greatness or it’s dismissed as a deliberate fiction authored by one’s enemies (fake news).

Fox News Steve Doocy

This is evident in a recent tweet by Trump concerning what he regarded as an “honor” for his pals on Fox and Friends. Mediaite published a list of the seventy-five most influential names in media for 2017. In a list that long nearly everyone you’re ever heard of made an appearance. Including folks like Rachel Maddow and Sean Hannity. But the number one most influential name was not a totally illogical choice when the reasons are fully appreciated. And it wasn’t because of the program’s “quality.” Mediaite’s article explained that the show’s alleged influence resulted from a rather narrow scope of actual influence:

“The President of the United States regularly starts his day watching Fox & Friends and then tweets about whatever they cover, and however, they cover it. He promotes their show, tags them by name, and sings their praises.”

So the gist of their analysis is that Fox and Friends is influential because “they have captured the President’s attention.” That’s not exactly difficult to accomplish. Any shiny object would do the trick. Or any fawning praise or accurate criticism. Trump is notoriously obsessed with himself, and by being the Fox News program that is the most shamelessly adoring, they have burned a place in Trump’s shriveled heart. Mediaite did not intend that to be a compliment. But Trump responded by tweeting:

The formula for success employed by Fox and Friends is blind sycophancy combined with blatant lies about Trump’s foes. It’s the ability to not be embarrassed by brown-nosing the President at all times and serving as the administration’s Pravda. Fox and Friends has mastered that kind of behavior that would be humiliating to any credible journalist. And for their effort they are promoted frequently by Trump. Just since his inauguration the Fox News President has pimped Fox and Friends 152 times. That’s an average one tweet every other day for nearly a year. And it’s also advertising that would be worth millions.

This isn’t the first time that these dim bulbs have mistaken insults for praise. In July Trump tweeted about another faux honor bestowed on the “Curvy Couch” potatoes of Fox and Friends. On that occasion they were called “The Most Powerful TV Show in America“ in an article in the New York Times. In a congratulatory tweet Trump wrote that:

Wow, indeed. In one tweet Trump heralded the homage for Fox and Friends and disparaged the newspaper that gave it. Of course, to anyone who actually read the article in the Times it was apparent that they were criticizing both Trump and Fox for clinging to one another in a mockery of journalism. They called Fox’s posture toward Trump a “Romper Room-style” broadcast intended to flatter our ego-obsessed, narcissistic president. The article said that:

“President Trump is the show’s subject, its programmer, its publicist and its virtual fourth host. The stars offer him flattery, encouragement and advice. When he tweets, his words and image appear on a giant video wall. It’s the illusion of children’s TV — that your favorite show is as aware of you as you are of it — except that for Mr. Trump, it’s real.”

That’s the article that Trump and Fox and Friends quoted with such pride. They entirely missed the fact that the Times was calling the President a child and the program a bunch of unethical stenographers and Trump-fluffers. It’s as if all they could see was flattery and good news – except, of course, when it’s 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 Officially Becomes the New Infowars with Theory that the FBI Plotted to Kill Trump

Posted by on December 19, 2017 at 1:39 pm. 3 Comments :

For twenty years Fox News has obediently served the interests of the Republican Party and its wealthy, corporate benefactors. Throughout much of that time they have advanced provable lies advancing the policies and agenda of the far-right. On occasion they ventured off into Looney Tunes territory by pushing unadulterated nonsense such as charges that Obama’s birth certificate was fake, or that Hillary Clinton was running a child sex slave ring from the basement of a D.C. pizza parlor.

Fox News Infowars

However, with the election of Donald Trump, Fox News has skidded off the runway of sanity. They have embarked on a coordinated campaign to smear special counsel Robert Mueller and everyone connected with his investigation into Trump’s collusion with Russia during the 2016 presidential election. But on Tuesday morning they sunk to new levels of delusional conspiracy mongering.

Radio talker and Fox News contributor Kevin Jackson was the allegedly “one lucky guy” on Fox’s Outnumbered. In a discussion about whether individuals at the FBI were biased against Trump, Jackson upped the ante by asserting that Trump may have been the target of an FBI assassination plot. No, really:

“Well, I think they’re going to say, is it — what was his intent, right? Because that’s exactly what FBI Director, former FBI Director [James] Comey said when he was letting Hillary Clinton off the hook. And his intent, regardless of whether it was an assassination attempt or whatever, it was definitely something. […] I’m just saying, we don’t know what it was. When you say, ‘we’ve got to make sure that this guy doesn’t get in at all cost,’ what does that mean?”

The magnitude of derp expressed in those remarks even gave co-host Harris Faulkner the heebie-jeebies. She vainly attempted to give Jackson an opportunity to walk back his lunatic comment. “I just want to make sure,” she said, “that we press in on the fact that no one has floated any sort of an idea…” But Jackson interrupted her saying “Oh, it’s been floated.”

Indeed, it has been floated. On Fox News of all places. Although they are coming to it a little behind Alex Jones of Infowars who was floating in a similar orbit just yesterday. He told his glassy-eyed disciples that:

“I think they’re going to go ahead and make their move to kill the president. I think in the next 30 days, I think they’re going to make an assassination attempt. I just — my gut — I see all of them together, they’re that desperate. They’re either going to give up or they’re going to activate their cells. And a lot of my smart sources agree with that.”

So now the crackpot idiocy of Alex Jones has jumped feet first into the Fox News cesspool of Trump-fluffing derangement. Jackson is a confirmed StormTrumper whose opinions border on fetishism. Just prior to Outnumbered, Jackson was a guest on Fox and Friends where he likened Trump to King Midas saying that “everything that Donald Trump is touching, for the most part, has turned to gold.” That, of course, is patently false. Trump has failed on too many levels to enumerate here. But more to the point, Jackson apparently doesn’t know that the moral of the Midas story is a warning against exactly the sort of all-consuming greed that Trump represents.

For Fox News to put on these sort of irresponsible and dangerous ravings proves that they are desperately searching for a narrative to suppress any talk of Trump’s corruption and criminality. The fact that they are stealing material from Alex Jones suggests that they have completely run out of plausible ideas. So the notion of dipping into the most far fetched conspiracy mud holes is no longer unthinkable. And we should expect more of this preposterous insanity from Fox as Trump’s prospects continue to dim.

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