Fox News Poll: Donald Trump Is An Ignorant Snot Who Nobody Likes

Posted by on April 15, 2016 at 2:49 pm. 5 Comments :

The Republican primary this year has affirmed what many people have known about the party for decades. It is dominated by boorish, judgmental, demagogues who are determined to deceive the American public into believing that they benefit when the rich get richer. The emergence of a billionaire reality TV game show host as their front-runner puts an exclamation point at the end of that sorry state of affairs.

foxnews-poll-trump

Now a new poll from (of all places) Fox News tells us more of what we already knew if we were paying attention. Donald Trump really is an ignorant blowhard with the highest unfavorable rankings ever recorded. Fox News begins their article detailing the poll results saying that…

“Majorities of American voters think Republican front-runner Donald Trump lacks the knowledge, temperament, and the likeability to be an effective president.”

No shit! This has been obvious since Trump announced his candidacy with a speech that demeaned immigrants as rapists and criminals. It has been manifest in his relentless insults directed at minorities, liberals, women, and even his own party peers. Still, it’s useful having confirmation of this from the media mouthpiece for conservative politics and Republican PR, Fox News.

The survey asked several questions related to the fitness of the candidates to hold the office of president, and Trump fared dismally in every one of them. On whether the candidate has the knowledge to serve effectively as president, Trump scored lowest with only 38% saying that he did. Clinton had a large majority of 63%, and Sanders also had a majority of 58%.

On whether or not the candidate has the integrity to serve effectively as president, Trump flopped with a mere 40%, still way below his Democratic rivals: Clinton 48%, Sanders 70%.

On whether or not the candidate has the temperament to serve effectively as president, Trump underperformed again with an embarrassing 33%. Clinton and Sanders pulled in 62% and 68% respectively.

Finally, the survey asked if the candidate is likeable enough to serve effectively as president. And again, to no one’s surprise, Trump sat at the bottom with 41%, while Clinton drew 52% and Sanders soared at 71%.

On a couple of other issues addressed in the survey, Trump was similarly situated at the low end. Americans would trust both Clinton and Sanders more (53%) when negotiating with Vladimir Putin, than Trump (40%). And when asked about whether the candidate would make them proud, the highest response to “Not at all” went to Trump (56%). And while the poll found that 64% of the respondents think that the Democrats have been “generally polite and respectful” throughout the primary, 80% of them think that the Republicans have been generally rude and disrespectful.

It’s significant to note that this poll is not just an expression of general distaste for all politicians, because the abysmal numbers for Trump are unique. They are matched by majorities with favorable views of the Democrats. There isn’t an across the board anti-government sentiment.

So according to the Fox News poll, the leading light of the GOP, and the standard bearer for Republican politics, is regarded by majorities of the population as too ignorant, too lacking in integrity, too temperamental, and too obnoxious to be President of the United States.

What a surprise. The man who can’t articulate a single coherent thought on domestic or foreign policy; who insults anyone who has the temerity to criticize him; who whines like a baby whenever things don’t go exactly the way he wants; who advocates violence against protesters at his rallies; who brags incessantly about how awesome he thinks he is; that man is not particularly well thought of by most Americans. That’s a very good sign of the astute character judgment of the American people.

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

However, it’s also a very frightening sign of the deranged minds of the people who are such loyal followers of the Trump cult. Where will they go when he eventually flames out? Right back into the mainstream of the Republican Party with the rest of the zombie Tea Party fanatics and white supremacists. And that is a very bad sign indeed.

Find us on Google+
Advertisement:

Glenn Beck: Donald Trump Will Campaign With Hillary Clinton If He Isn’t The GOP Nominee

Posted by on April 14, 2016 at 4:27 pm. 4 Comments :

Former Fox News anchor and Prophet of Doom, Glenn Beck, has made many predictions in his long career of radio buffoonery. He has foretold of stock market crashes and election victories and global Caliphates and, most frequently, the end of this world that God hates so bitterly (see The Perfect Storm: A Glenn Beck Delusion). Obviously, Glenn Beck has it all figured out.

Glenn Beck

And now the psycho psychic has a new prediction with which to tantalize and frighten his dimwitted followers. In a rambling discussion of Donald Trump’s prospects for securing the Republican nomination, Beck (who has endorsed Ted Cruz) has had a vision of a dark future that only he could see. It projects a terrifying union of two camps that Beck is certain are rooted in Hell. This is what he forecast on his program yesterday:

“You will see Donald Trump, if he loses the nomination – and he doesn’t start a third party which I don’t think he will – you will see Donald Trump run, er campaign with, Hillary Clinton.”

That’s right brothers and sisters. The two most evil representatives of Satan will merge their crusades to deliver America to the devil’s door. Never mind that Trump has called Clinton “the worst Secretary of State in U.S. history.” Or that he berates her for unethically honoring her marriage vows and restoring her relationship with a fornicator. Or that he blames her personally for murdering four Americans in Benghazi. Or that he has called for her to be jailed because of email activity that was not illegal. Or his most recent attacks on her honesty wherein he said that her whole lie is a lie.

Despite all of that, Beck thinks that if Trump is denied his GOP crown he will rush to Clinton’s side and support her for president. Beck explains his theory by asserting that Trump will be angry over the GOP nomination having been stolen from him. And since he could not possibly back Lyin’ Ted Cruz, his only other choice is Clinton. Beck went on to claim that Clinton and Trump are basically aligned on policies, a claim for which he never bothered to provide evidence. But that isn’t important because the main reason they will join forces is because Trump has already bought and paid for Clinton, as proven by her attendance at his third wedding eleven years ago.

Beck was not completely oblivious to the factors that would make this pairing absurd. He admitted that Trump has “said, obviously, things about Hillary that were negative in this campaign,” but that he has “no allegiance to what he said last week. He’ll just switch and say Hillary Clinton is good now and Ted Cruz is bad.” Of course, Beck never realizes that Trump could do exactly the same thing for Cruz and back him instead of Clinton without having to dirty himself with the socialists in the Democratic Party.

One component of this theory that Beck left out entirely is that Hillary Clinton would laugh so hard at the notion of Trump seeking to support her candidacy that she might rupture a lung. Perhaps that is the dastardly plan that is lurking below the surface of this whole affair. It’s a plot to murder Clinton by a fit of fatal hilarity. Clinton would sooner run with Spongebob Squarepants than Donald Trump. After all, she actually wants to win.

Beck must be getting desperate for new conspiracies and deranged prophesies to disseminate to his glassy-eyed audience. If he is settling for absurdities like this, that is the clearest sign yet that the End Times are upon us – or at least upon Beck.

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


Prawn Of The Dead: Return Of The Fox News ‘Shrimp On A Treadmill’ Sham

Posted by on April 13, 2016 at 2:05 pm. 1 Comments :

The scandal mongers at Fox News must be getting bored with Donald Trump’s bitching about how the GOP is conspiring against him and their utter failure to convince anyone that Hillary Clinton should be thrown in jail. The desperation is visible in their latest recycling of an ancient story that was a core part of their propaganda back in 2011.

The venerable tale of the “Shrimp on a Treadmill” was an audience favorite for the Fox cultists. It had all the components of classic rightist mythology: It portrayed government as wasteful and stupid; it elevated Republican whiners in Congress; it disparaged scientists as greedy perpetrators of hoaxes; and most importantly, it was completely made up. There was literally no truth to the story at all.

This morning on Fox News the Scampi-Scam was resurrected in conjunction with a story about the release of the annual “Pig Book,” a publication from Citizens Against Government Waste that details what they allege are unnecessary government expenditures. Perhaps their report should include the millions of dollars in unnecessary government expenditures on useless and spiteful shutdowns, dozens of fruitless, partisan hearings on Benghazi, and fifty-plus futile attempts to repeal ObamaCare. Fox’s Eric Shawn introduced the today’s segment saying…

“So last year we had the famous shrimp on the treadmill study. There it goes. There goes the little guy. This thing costs over a number of years three million dollars, they say, in taxpayer money. And this absurdity, I mean, continues now?”

Even this many years after the story had been debunked, Fox News is still propagating the lie that it cost millions of dollars. News Corpse documented this journalistic malpractice back in 2014 in an article that include the account of the professor responsible for the experiment. This seems like a good time to reprise that article. So here it is in full:

Back in May of 2011, Fox News assigned its crack investigative reporting team to expose a case of government malfeasance on a grand scale. They claimed to have uncovered wasteful spending on scientific research that served no purpose other than to line the pockets of academics engaged in questionable studies. At the top of the list was a now infamous project that involved the absurd but adorable image of a “shrimp on a treadmill.”

Fox News Shrimp Treadmill

This story became emblematic of government’s incompetence and inability to exercise fiscal restraint. Fox News took it up in big way with hundreds of segments featuring the by now exhausted little sea creature. It was featured on nearly every Fox program with Neil Cavuto playing a prominent role in hyping it with a hefty dose of smugly delivered disgust.

Well, if you haven’t guessed yet, it turns out that this is just another fraudulent invention of the myth spinners at Fox News. David Scholnick is the professor of marine biology at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon, where the notorious research was conducted. Earlier this week he published an article for the Chronicle of Higher Education that laid out for the umpteenth time what was actually being studied and the true costs involved.

On behalf of the National Science Foundation, Scholnick developed a project to ascertain “how recent changes in the oceans could potentially affect the ability of marine organisms to fight infections.” He justified the study by linking it to the very real risk of bacteria contamination to the food supply. But more to the point, he adamantly denied the accusations of any fiscal improprieties.

“Exactly how much taxpayer money did go into the now-famous shrimp treadmill? The treadmill was, in fact, made from spare parts—an old truck inner tube was used for the tread, the bearings were borrowed from a skateboard, and a used pump motor was salvaged to power the treadmill. The total price for the highly publicized icon of wasteful government research spending? Less than $50. (All of which I paid for out of my own pocket.)”

The truth is that the $3 million dollars attributed to the study was actually an aggregate sum that was used for a variety of NSF projects. It was not the amount spent on the shrimp experiment. And there is no evidence that any of the funds were misused or were not justifiable from a research perspective.

However, given the attitude of Fox News and conservative politicians toward science, it is not surprising to find them falsely accusing scientists of malfeasance. The wingnut community staunchly denies the existence of man-made climate change, evolution, and even the harmful effects of excessive sugar, salt, and tobacco. It’s only a matter of time before they begin to challenge the “theory” of gravity.

At the end of his article Scholnick takes a well deserved swipe at his right-wing critics by offering to sell his shrimp-sized NordicTrack for the bargain price of $1 million – a 67% discount on the bogusly reported cost. That’s the sort of special only found during the Black Friday sales after Thanksgiving. Some lucky buyer is going to get endless hours of satisfaction and be the envy of his friends and neighbors.

Stay tuned for the Fox News correction of their erroneous reporting, which I’m sure they will be broadcasting just as soon as they are finished spewing lies about Benghazi, IRS emails, executive amnesty, ObamaCare, the Keystone XL pipeline, voter fraud, Ebola, trickle-down economics, and – oh never mind. It may be better not to stay tuned after all.

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


Lying Liar Donald Trump’s New Attack On Hillary Clinton Proves He Is Running Out Of Material

Posted by on April 12, 2016 at 7:52 pm. 4 Comments :

Anyone who has been paying attention to the cognitive meltdown known as the Donald Trump campaign for president already knows how immature he has been with regard to his name-calling and whining about his rivals and the mean poopyheads at the Republican National Committee who are all out to get him.

Hillary Clinton

Also apparent to conscious observers is his robo-Trump stump speeches that incessantly repeat the same nonsensical talking points and crowd pleasing hate-speech. Sing along with me: build the wall; make Mexico pay for it; waterboard ISIS; repeal ObamaCare; get ’em [protesters] outta here; I’ll pay your legal fees if you hurt them; I love the vets [when he isn’t stealing from them]; protect the 2nd Amendment; Little Marco; Lyin’ Ted; I’m leading every poll; everyone loves Trump; only I can make America great again; etc. ad nauseum.

Trump’s modus operandi is to coin juvenile slogans that disparage his opponents. It’s a type of shorthand, anti-branding designed to stick to his targets like rhetorical tar. It works because his followers are too dumb to comprehend more complex policy proposals, which Trump refuses to provide anyway. The simple-minded buzzwords make it easy for his realityTV-forged fans to follow along.

Today Trump made his first official foray into general election politicking with a swipe at Hillary Clinton. He has previously tried to tag her as “low-energy” (which he recycled from Jeb Bush) and lacking stamina. But Clinton’s obvious vitality on the campaign trail made those barbs impotent. He also tried to tarnish her with her husband’s infidelity, but since that doesn’t actually reflect on her, and his own marital peccadilloes are far worse (and creepier), that didn’t work either. So now Trump is floating this:

“Her whole life has been a lie. A big, fat, beautiful lie. Everything about her is a lie.”

First of all, Trump has already assigned this theme to his GOP challenger, Ted Cruz. So it might be hard to undo the marketing effort already underway and flip it to a new foe. But more importantly it exposes Trump as having utterly exhausted his ability to develop any new thoughts. He’s just recycling insults that have worked for him before with the GOP lightweights he has been baffling with tactics derived from Celebrity Apprentice. It’s almost as if he doesn’t even realize he has used them before as he fires them off and hopes they hit the side of the barn.

What’s more, Trump is opening himself up for criticism that is far more applicable to him. News Corpse has been cataloging Trump’s falsehoods for several months and the result is a portrait pathological lying (see the Trump Bullshitopedia). And Trump’s obsessive privacy has concealed much of his flagrant dishonesty. He still has not released a single year of his tax returns. To follow him is to rely on the sort blind faith that empowers cults.

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

Clinton, on the other hand, has been in public life for more than thirty years and no one has been able to make a charge of dishonesty stick. She has been absolved of every wingnut conspiracy theory that has been lodged against her. She isn’t a perfect person (who is), but she has led a life that is an open book and people are able to draw their own conclusions as to her veracity. Trump, however, has constructed a wall around himself and his inner dealings. And yet, the corruption and deceit that has filtered out is more than sufficient to recognize a con man when you see one. So good luck, Donnie, with your new anti-branding of Clinton. You’re gonna need it.


Donald Trump: The Aspiring Whiner In Chief

Posted by on April 11, 2016 at 8:05 pm. 2 Comments :

If there is one thing that Donald Trump has proven this election year, it’s that there is a thriving market in the Republican Party for bigotry, ignorant bluster, and overt hostility. What may not have been as predictable is the surging demand for childish tantrums and self-indulgent carping.

Donald Trump GOP

Last week Ted Cruz outmaneuvered Trump in Colorado to win win all of the state’s delegates. In response Trump has unleashed a torrent of bile aimed at both Cruz and the Republican Party. He is spewing bitter and harshly worded complaints that the system is “corrupt” and “rigged” and that delegates are being “stolen” from him. His new campaign advisor, Paul Manafort, accused Cruz of using “Gestapo” tactics Hyperbole aside, this is just another example of Trump not knowing the rules or being willing to play by them. Rules don’t apply to Trump.

The fact is that Cruz just whipped Trump’s butt. Trump never showed up in Colorado. He just sent some pamphlets and had supporters selling Trump-branded merchandise. However, Cruz shouldn’t get a swelled a head. Besting the Trump family is apparently a pretty simple task. It was just reported that two of his kids, Ivanka and Eric, cannot vote for him in the New York primary because they neglected to register as Republicans before the deadline. This is the easy part, people.

So Trump has been hitting the campaign trail and with blistering condemnations of the delegate selection process. He is whining about delegate loses in Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, and Tennessee, to name just a few. He has even threatened to file lawsuits in Georgia and Tennessee to secure delegates that he is convinced belong to him. He thinks that because he has “millions of votes” that he is entitled to all of the delegates, regardless of what the rules are. In fact. Trump actually has a higher percentage of delegates than the percentage of votes he has received. So maybe he should release those extra delegates.

Ironically, today he told Fox News contributor Kirsten Powers that “I don’t love to see leaders who sit back and cry.” Yet that’s pretty much all that Trump does. He cries about what he regards as mistreatment by the GOP when he’s too stupid to follow the rules. He cries when voters reject him and belittles them for not recognizing his awesomeness. He cries about how awful America is, literally calling it a hell hole. His entire campaign is crying over his assertion that America isn’t great anymore and that he is the only human being that can restore its greatness.

Virtually everything about Trump screams infantile. He calls his rivals liars and cheaters and pussies. He calls critics dummies and losers. Then he points fingers at others saying that they started it. He brags about his alleged (and unlikely) phallic endowment. He is a pathological liar (see the Trump Bullshitopedia). It’s just a matter of time before he rails against his enemies as poopyheads who smell funny. Worst of all, he is willing to resort to violence. He encourages it at his rallies and has threatened riots at the GOP convention in Cleveland if he is denied his right to the crown.

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

And now Trump is adding persistent whining whenever he doesn’t get his way. It’s behavior that is ugly and juvenile. And yet, there are dimwitted Republicans who are still willing to support a candidate that doesn’t seem to have matured past the third-grade level (literally with regard to his speeches). What does that say about the wingnuts and Tea Party deadenders that comprise the core of Trump’s following? It says they are satisfied with a candidate who has failed to articulate a single policy with any measure of intelligence; who aspires to tyranny; and whose narcissistic ego has blown up to unprecedented proportions. Here is a video simulation of Donald Trump at ten years old – or for that matter, yesterday.


Fox News Freak Out: Sesame Street Introduces Afghan Girl Muppet

Posted by on April 9, 2016 at 12:52 pm. 6 Comments :

This week the venerable PBS children’s program, Sesame Street, made a historic addition to its cast of lovable characters. For the first time in its decades long run an Afghan girl will join the Muppets for its broadcast in the Afghanistan version of the show. Zari is six years old and is excited about the opportunities she will have to learn and make new friends. But not everyone feels the same way.

Fox News Sesame Street

The news of Zari’s debut has produced the all too predictable rash of bigotry that we’ve all come to expect from the conservative hate mongers who believe that all Muslims are terrorists. Apparently this also applies to cloth puppets of children on educational TV. What they are afraid of was announced by the producers in this press release and video:

“Sesame Workshop unveiled today its first Afghan Muppet, Zari, a curious and eager six year-old girl, who will make her debut in season five of Baghch-e-Simsim—the local co-production of Sesame Street. Zari, whose name means “shimmering,” will be featured in new, locally produced segments that focus on curriculum topics like girls’ empowerment, national identity, physical health, and social and emotional well being.”

Sounds terrifying, doesn’t it? What’s more, Sherrie Westin, Executive VP of Sesame Workshop, told reporters that Zari “is modeling for young girls that it is wonderful to go to school and that it’s OK to dream about having a career.” In a country where girls are often discouraged, or even forbidden, to attend school, this should be welcomed as progress toward a more inclusive society. It’s an example of American media having a positive influence on some of the more oppressive cultural aspects of other countries.

Unfortunately, the hatred that infects the right-wing in this country is at least as oppressive as the Taliban. A few of the headlines generated by conservative media include knee-jerk condemnations like “Sesame Street Uses New Muslim Muppet, Zari, To Indoctrinate Kids,” “Sesame Street Goes Halal, Incorporates Sharia Law & Islam Into New Episodes,” and “Sesame Street Afghanistan Gets New Female Muslim Puppet: ‘Asalaam Alaaikum'” Of course, much what they allege is simply untrue. Zari is identified as Afghan, not Muslim. And there is no indication that religion or Sharia Law will play any part in the character’s role on the program.

Some of the more heated criticisms of Zari are centered on what the wingnuts regard as hypocrisy for having a girl represented on the program despite the sexism that exists in that part of the world. This is an utterly absurd argument. First of all, if they were really worried about the place of women in Afghan society they should be thrilled that a TV show is working to improve the situation by advocating for more education and opportunity for girls and women. Secondly, it’s the wingnuts who are the hypocrites. They are as dismissive of women as many of the Muslims they castigate. Take a look at the type and tone of complaints they level at American women in politics, including Hillary Clinton. For the record, a ranking of the proportion of legislative seats held by women in 213 countries puts Afghanistan at 49. The United States is 94th – below Kenya (93), Saudi Arabia (92), and Pakistan (83), to name a few.

Nevertheless, the rightist bigots are flying off the rails with vile insults directed at a make-believe character in the form of an adorable puppet. They make insinuations about her being fitted with a suicide vest or preparing to engage in a jihad. This sort of xenophobic zealotry was particularly notable at the home of brain-dead bias, Fox Nation. As usual, the commenters there spoke for the community of American bigots with their customary flare for blind hatred (see The Collected Hate Speech Of The Fox News Community).

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

Fox Nation Sesame Street Comments

Find us on Google+
Advertisement:

Veterans Still Getting Shafted By Phony Donald Trump Benefit

Posted by on April 8, 2016 at 12:25 pm. 2 Comments :

A couple of months ago Donald Trump put together a campaign stunt aimed at distracting the media and the public from his cowardly refusal to face Megyn Kelly in a Republican primary debate hosted by Fox News. After running away from the debate he frantically cobbled together a benefit that he said would aid various veterans’ groups.

Donald Trump

However, a month after the alleged benefit, CNN reported that most of the groups cited by Trump as beneficiaries had not received any of the money raised. A mere $800,000 of the reported $6 million was said to have been disbursed. Well now another month has gone by with little change in the situation.

According to a new report by the Wall Street Journal, “the targeted beneficiaries are still seeing a fraction of the promised money raised from the Republican’s charitable foundation and his wealthy friends.” So two months after the fake benefit, Trump is still hoarding the money he claimed was being collected for the veterans he professes to love. This is typical of Trump who is famously known as the least charitable billionaire in the United States. But this isn’t just a matter of being stingy, because this isn’t Trump’s money. It is money pledged by others for the benefit of veterans. Philanthropy experts have affirmed that these funds should have been disbursed long ago.

This may be one of the reasons that several veterans groups announced that they would refuse to take any of Trump’s money before the bogus telethon began. Many people regarded the event as a political stunt that insulted America’s veterans by using them as campaign props. What’s more, there have been reports that Trump has conditioned receipt of the donations on the recipient endorsing his campaign or appearing at his events. And even groups that have seen some benefit from the publicity have also noted that they have lost backers due to the association with Trump.

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

Once again, Donald Trump is demonstrating an utter lack of ethical conduct, in this case to the detriment of veterans. His campaign has consistently proven that he is only interested in what benefits him and he will shamelessly pander to whomever he thinks he can exploit to his own advantage. What’s really startling is that there are still people who can’t see through his obvious insincerity. That’s the sort of behavior that is observed in cults, and the Trump Cult has been pretty effective in deceiving weak-minded Americans.


Oblivious Alert: Megyn Kelly Slams Media Coverage Of Fox News Darling Donald Trump

Posted by on April 7, 2016 at 8:25 pm. 1 Comments :

There is something terribly fishy frying at Fox News. Their star primetime anchor, Megyn Kelly, has been making the media rounds and hinting at a possible separation between herself and her current employer. The rift first showed up in an interview wherein she said that she is not sure whether she will renew her contract at Fox. While Kelly says that she believes that Fox has backed her up during some recent controversies, she nevertheless is ambiguous about her future with the network. She told Variety that…

“I don’t know what’s going to happen. I’ve had a great 12 years here, and I really like working for Roger Ailes. I really like my show, and I love my team. But you know, there’s a lot of brain damage that comes from the job.”

Donald Trump Megyn Kelly

Brain damage? That’s a peculiar way to characterize her work experience. Is she referring to her colleagues Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity? That would be understandable. Or is she addressing what Fox has called Donald Trump’s “sick obsession“ with her? Or is that how she feels after having to spew right-wing propaganda incessantly? She went on to say that she loves covering the news but that “I just don’t think that’s the perfect thing for me.”

Perhaps not. Judging from a subsequent interview with Katie Couric at the 2016 Women in the World Summit in New York City (video below), she seems to have some serious problems with the unprofessional conduct of her media peers, specifically with how they have covered Donald Trump. Although Kelly never directly indicts Fox News as being guilty of journalistic wrongdoing, what she describes as the failings of the press in general sound more like Fox than any other network.

For example, Couric referenced reporting that estimated the value of Trump’s free media coverage at nearly two billion dollars. She alluded to the “hand-wringing” going on at various media outlets over their responsibility for the excessive attention lavished on Trump and the impact it’s had on the race. Couric even noted comments by media executives who excused their fetish by saying that “Donald Trump is good for business,” and asked Kelly if that bothered her. Kelly answered that “It does bother me, and I don’t think it’s right.” She described some of the early coverage and then related a conversation she had with her executive producer:

“I could see all of the other media starting to do it, and I said when the post mortem is done on the coverage of Donald Trump, wherever this race goes, let’s make sure we’re on the side of the angels.”

I’m afraid that cloud has blown away. From there Kelly set about absolving herself of any of the Trump-worship that infected just about every news outlet. She said that “our show has not taken those pressers,” and that “We won’t wallpaper the show with a Donald Trump campaign event.” because “we also have to worry about our souls and journalism.” She noted that “it’s not fair” and that they “don’t do that for the other candidates.”

The problem with Kelly’s assessment is that it simply isn’t true. Donald Trump’s press events and stump speeches have been broadcast during the Kelly File’s time period. Perhaps that wasn’t a decision made by her or her producers, but she is not an innocent bystander in this. What’s more, no network has been more solicitous to Trump than Fox News. Kelly’s protestations are lame attempts to pretend that Fox didn’t create Trump. And she makes those excuses even while laying blame at her competition for making similar excuses.

“Now other journalists are trying to defend themselves by saying ‘Well we asked Ted Crux and he doesn’t say yes, we ask Donald Trump and he says yes.’ OK, that’s fine when it comes to interviews. That doesn’t explain all the phoners that the Sunday shows allow Trump and not the other candidates. Phoners! Fox News Sunday hosted by Chris Wallace is the only Sunday show that from the beginning said we’re not doing it.

Actually, Fox News Sunday did allow Trump to conduct interviews by phone, however they were the first Sunday show to put an end to it. But Kelly conveniently leaves out the fact that virtually every other program on Fox continues to this day letting Trump phone it in. Fox & Friends, Neil Cavuto, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, etc., all take Trump’s calls. Fox News Sunday is just one hour a week and it isn’t even on the Fox News Channel (its first run is on the Fox Entertainment Network). But Kelly isn’t through yet.

“And not only that, we’re talking about the campaign events. When have you ever seen news stations take campaign events? We don’t do that for anybody. We don’t do that for Hillary. We don’t do that for Cruz. We never did it for Rubio or Scott Walker. Only one candidate. And the media would sit there and say ‘It’s amazing how the polls are just up, up…’ It’s like you’re putting your thumb on the scale.”

Excellent points, Kelly. It has been patently obscene watching the media slobber all over Trump and helping him to realize his narcissistic dreams. But serious media critics have been making these points for months. Where have you been all this time? And even as Kelly says all the right things in this interview, her network is still doing all of the wrong things about which she is complaining. She seems to be totally oblivious to her own criticisms.

Fox News crafted Donald Trump from the raw clay of their partisan ideology and their desire to manipulate the news to achieve their political goals. Kelly has been an integral part of the plan from the beginning of her tenure at Fox. Now she is suddenly denouncing the business model in which she has been so much a part. And by extension she is denouncing her colleagues who continue to engage in the shoddy behavior she is railing about. They are gonna love that.

The fact that Kelly is being so openly critical of the unprofessionalism of the people she works with and for, while at the same time is glaringly vague about her intentions to remain at the network, suggests that she has other ideas. Most likely she is dreaming of being the next Barbara Walters or Oprah, and she isn’t worried about burning a few bridges behind her on the way to that destination. Unfortunately, in the process she and most of the rest of the media have saddled America with the closest thing it has ever had to a fascist leading a major political party.

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


The Fox News Audience Wants To Bomb An American City Because – MUSLIMS!

Posted by on April 6, 2016 at 8:33 pm. 3 Comments :

As the Republican primary campaign continues its march to their summer revival meeting (aka convention), the rising temperature of hostility threatens to leave the party in ashes. We have already seen Donald Trump warn that if he is denied the nomination that he considers his birthright there will be riots. Not to be outdone, Ted Cruz raised the specter of revolt if he is passed over.

Fox News

The lingering stench of violence that hovers over the GOP this election year is a constant reminder that the party that worships the Second Amendment is fully prepared to use force to achieve their ends, even against those who would otherwise be considered their ideological allies. So just imagine how they would treat those they regard as enemies.

Sadly, no imagination is required as the misanthropes of the right are not shy about revealing their barbaric side. A recent segment on Fox News was sufficient to draw out their inbred hatred toward fellow Americans that don’t happen to look like them. In this case it was a community in Michigan with a predominately Muslim population. An openly biased Fox correspondent, Pete Hegseth, visited the city of Hamtramck to interview the residents about how awful it is to live among heathens. But that isn’t the worst part of the story.

On the Fox News Facebook page that posted the video of the segment, commenters lived up to their reputation for bigotry and brutality. They went beyond merely insulting the peaceful citizens of Hamtramck to calling for this American city to be bombed and its people eradicated. For example…

  • “Soon we will find it necessary to start dropping bombs in towns like this.”
  • “Since Obama can’t seem to identifytargets before he sends our pilots out to drop bombs, maybe tey should practice on Hamtramck and the mosque they built in Maryland!”
  • “We need a radical militia in America to snuff these Islamic toe holds out.”
  • “So we know the coordinates to drop the next a-bomb. What’s the problem?”
  • “Put them all in the same place like that city and drop a big bomb on it.”
  • “I can’t believe we’re letting Obama get away with this. Soon it will be Obama’s folly. I see a day when we start rounding them up and forcing them out or killing them.”
  • “Drop a bomb. Be done with these barbaric savages. Disgusting.”
  • “Now we know where to drop the bomb first Detroit is already a shithole.”
  • “They spread like roaches, then the only way to get rid of the infestation is to bomb the area.”
  • “Blow the town up with a smart bomb , made to hurt the muslims only.”
  • “Kill all Muslims before they kill you they are not your friends.”

Remember, these comments are being directed at people who love America and condemn terrorism. The grotesque character (or lack thereof) of the Fox audience has been documented in detail in The Collected Hate Speech Of The Fox News Community. It is evidence of the breadth of animus that infects so much of the conservative movement for which Fox speaks. They are literally taking sides with ISIS and Al Qaeda, who also want to bomb American cities.

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

And it also explains why hostile demagogues like Trump can rise to become leaders in their party while advocating violence. Anyone who is surprised by the incidents at Trump rallies, or his hateful rhetoric that encourages it, is terminally naive. This is the modern Republican Party. And the eagerness of American bigots to bomb fellow citizens living peacefully in an American city is a sad indication of just how low these cretins have sunk.


Note To Hillary Clinton: Megyn Kelly Is NOT A Superb Journalist

Posted by on April 5, 2016 at 3:20 pm. 11 Comments :

In recent weeks Megyn Kelly has received an abundance of media attention thanks to Donald Trump’s “sick obsession“ with the Fox News host. Regardless of her strident biases and disregard for journalistic ethics, the personal attacks on her by Trump are unwarranted and offensive. They demonstrate Trump’s inbred misogyny and unfitness for any public office. Even though Kelly herself has exploited her sex appeal to boost her ratings (and income), that is no excuse for Trump’s vile chauvinism.

Megyn Kelly

This morning Hillary Clinton appeared on “The View” (video below) and addressed this topic with some potent and well-deserved criticism of Trump. She astutely pointed out that throughout his campaign he has “insulted everybody” and “demeaned everybody,” and has generally engaged in behavior that is divisive and rife with “hateful rhetoric.” She said in part…

“You know, he started, on his very first day, saying that all Mexican immigrants were rapists and criminals, right? And then he moved on to attack people with disabilities. He attacked John McCain, who’s a friend of mine, and said he wasn’t really a war hero. And then, of course, going after American Muslims and really drawing these lines.”

That’s a pretty good summary of Trump’s stump speech bigotry so far. Although she left out some significant moments like his embrace of the white supremacists who endorsed him, his acknowledgment that he isn’t bothered by being compared to Hitler, and his more recent position that women should be punished for having abortions. But Clinton should have left it at that. Unfortunately, she went on to say…

“And his attitude about, and what he has said about, so many women – the way he treated Megyn Kelly, who is a suburb journalist, right?”

No, that’s not right. Not by a long shot. Megyn Kelly is one of the most dangerous propagandists on a network that is crawling with them. She is brazenly partisan and shamelessly prejudiced. She is a more visually compelling version of conspiratorialist Glenn Beck. The stories she features are a collection of partisan tripe and manufactured outrages that have little basis in fact. From her near-obsession with the irrelevant New Black Panther Party, to her defense of an anti-Islam filmmaker as a “patsy” of the Obama administration, Kelly has been a non-stop, gushing flow of disinformation and gossip.

Kelly has, in fact, been especially vicious in her coverage of Clinton. She has spent countless hours asserting, without foundation, that Clinton lied about Benghazi. She aired numerous fact-free segments alleging that Clinton’s emails would land her in jail. She even went after Clinton on trivial pop culture matters like her interview with Lena Dunham. For more examples:

  • Kelly promulgated false accusations against then-Pennsylvania senate candidate Joe Sestak
  • Kelly asserted that Americans have “gotta get a little squeamish” about the prospect of being killed by drones.
  • Kelly told her colleague Bill O’Reilly that pepper spray used against student protesters was just “a food product, essentially.”
  • Kelly moderated a discussion that was based on a series of “Fox Facts” that were cribbed directly from a Republican National Committee press release.
  • Kelly featured a disreputable reporter with a history of violence (who was later arrested for sexually assaulting a four year old girl) in her frequent attacks on the funders of the Islamic Center that Fox derisively referred to as the “Ground Zero Mosque.”
  • Kelly misrepresented the results of a Fox News Opinion Dynamics poll to argue that Democrats are defying the will of the people.
  • Kelly helped to cover up the extra-marital affair of GOP senator John Ensign and failed to disclose her personal involvement in the story.

There is nothing wrong with Clinton holding Trump accountable for his noxious comments and ludicrous political positions. She is totally justified in castigating him for the pattern of hatred he exhibits toward women and others. However, it was completely unnecessary to throw a solicitous compliment to Kelly that she so clearly does not deserve. Clinton could easily make the point that Trump is a sexist pig without boosting the profile of a professional right-wing purveyor of disinformation. Would Clinton defend Sarah Palin from a sexist attack by praising her as a superb governor? We can only hope not. And while neither Palin nor Kelly should be subject to gender-based insults, neither should they be showered with false flattery in the process of defending them against jerkwads like Donald Trump.

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