Jonesin’ For Benghazi: Fox News Takes Another Hit From Their Stash Of ‘Smoking Guns’

Posted by on December 10, 2015 at 2:52 pm. 6 Comments :

With all of the media attention tightly focused on San Bernardino’s conjugal killers, you may have forgotten about a little pseudo-scandal that was previously the foremost fetish of Fox News and other right-wing media. Driven from the front pages was the Benghazi affair that had been the cudgel with which Fox News was beating up on Hillary Clinton for the past couple of years. Well, it’s back.

Benghazi

Thanks to the release of an email obtained by the rightist muckrakers at Judicial Watch, Fox News is once again satisfying its lust for the Libyan outpost that was attacked in 2012. And even though every investigation, including those conducted by Republicans in Congress, has found no wrongdoing by Clinton, President Obama, or any other government official, the obsession to cultivate a narrative that indicts Clinton for imaginary crimes remains in effect.

The email that is stirring the Benghazi stew is reported to be from the Defense Department to Clinton’s deputy chief of staff. Fox is claiming that it contradicts testimony made to Congress by former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta. The email said in part…

“We have identified the forces that could move to Benghazi. They are spinning up as we speak.”

From that snippet, and absent any of the sort of research that real journalists do, Fox News immediately designated the email a “Smoking Gun” It was covered on Fox & Friends by former Survivor contestant Elisabeth Hasselbeck and retired judge Andrew Napolitano:

Hasselbeck: A newly released email from the Pentagon may be the smoking gun in the Benghazi investigation. The email addressed to top aides of Hillary Clinton shows the United States military was gearing up to respond to the Benghazi terror attacks. A message from then-Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta’s chief of staff reads this, quote, “We have identified the forces that could move into Benghazi. They are spinning up as we speak,” end quote. The email contradicts statements made by Panetta, who told the Senate after the attack that there was no time to get forces to Libya to try to save the people there. It now looks like the only thing standing between the terrorists who overran the compound and the four Americans who lost their lives was a green light from the State Department. Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano is here with reaction. This is big.

Napolitano: This is huge. And it’s extremely troublesome for the Obama administration today and for Mrs. Clinton.

Actually, this is just another in a long string of symptoms that can only be attributed to Smoking Gun Delirium Disorder. And every instance of Fox’s alleged smoking guns has turned out to be shooting soap bubbles. In this case it doesn’t take much work to determine that this email has no real significance. It does nothing to contradict Panetta’s testimony, in fact, it affirms it. Panetta explicitly cited the same military resources identified in the email when he appeared before Congress. And while Fox says that there was no response, the facts show that there were military deployments. However, neither his testimony nor the email indicates that the military response could come in time to intervene in the attack.

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

There is no doubt that this new smoking gun will suffer the same fate as all the others. Despite their desperate yearning for some nuclear fallout to land on Obama and/or Clinton, Fox News will come away disappointed. But that will not dissuade them from continuing to throw mud at the objects of their hate. They know that their audience will only retain the misinformation that was broadcast. And that’s because they drop the subject after it fails to advance their narrative. That’s why you haven’t heard about Benghazi since the last false email story. And it’s why you hear about it from Fox now that this story has been debunked.

Fox News

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Fox Nation Promotes A Racist Hate Group’s Twisted Defense Of Donald Trump

Posted by on December 9, 2015 at 8:17 pm. 3 Comments :

FrontPage Mag, the online organ of David Horowitz’s right-wing Freedom Center, regularly publishes virulently anti-Muslim screeds intended to spread disinformation and fear. Horowitz is a radical rightist who has been called “the godfather of the modern anti-Muslim movement” by the Southern Poverty Law Center. His organization is a fringe assembly of wingnuts that is tied to notorious Islamophobes like Pamela Gellar and Daniel Pipes. And that makes it a perfect source for the bigots at Fox Nation.

Seeking to shore up Donald Trump’s widely lambasted proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the United States, FrontPage reached back thirty-five years to post an article titled “Jimmy Carter Banned Iranians from Coming to the U.S. During the Hostage Crisis.” The apparent purpose is to exonerate Trump by suggesting that Carter did the same thing. There’s just one little problem: It isn’t the same thing at all.

Fox Nation

It takes a deliberately obtuse individual to find any similarity between what President Carter did when Americans were being held captive in Iran, and what Trump is proposing now. Iran is a sovereign nation with an identifiable and accessible governing body. In 1979, in what became known as the Iranian Hostage Crisis, students, with the support of the government, took over the American embassy in Tehran and held fifty-two diplomats hostage. Responding to that act of terrorism, Carter implemented a series of sanctions against the nation of Iran to pressure them to release the hostages.

Among the measures taken by Carter was the breaking off of diplomatic relations, suspension of trade, freezing financial assets, and this one that was included in the FrontPage article to vindicate Trump:

“Invalidate all visas issued to Iranian citizens for future entry into the United States, effective today. We will not reissue visas, nor will we issue new visas, except for compelling and proven humanitarian reasons or where the national interest of our own country requires.”

That is what FrontPage and the Fox Nationalists think is comparable to Trump’s desire to prohibit all Muslims, from all nations, from entering the U.S. based on their religion. Carter was imposing sanctions on the citizens of a country that was unlawfully detaining Americans. That is a reasonable reaction to an act of aggression by sovereign state. It is how diplomacy is conducted in order to pressure an antagonistic country into complying with international law.

Trump, on the other hand, is advocating a ban on all individuals of a particular faith. They may have nothing to do with any other nation or entity that is in conflict with the U.S. They may, in fact, be supporters of the U.S. who seek to travel here in order to help in the fight against terrorism. They may be doctors or scientists or teachers who cherish Western freedoms. They may be diplomats or politicians from Canada or Italy or Indonesia. They may be relatives of American Muslims who simply want to visit or reunite with their families. The one identifying characteristic prohibiting them from entry under Trump’s proposal is their religion.

That sort of religious bigotry is antithetical to everything for which America stands. It violates the very principles that inspired the first Europeans to venture to a New World. And, unlike the sanctions imposed by Carter, there is no discernible benefit that could be derived from imposing it. Nevertheless, here is the nearly incoherent argument offered by FrontPage:

“Now unlike Muslims, Iranians were not necessarily supportive of Islamic terrorism. Many were and are opponents of it. Khomeini didn’t represent Iran as a country, but his Islamist allies. So Trump’s proposal is far more legitimate than Carter’s action. Carter targeted people by nationality. Trump’s proposal does so by ideology. […] Classifying Iranians as a group is closer to racism than classifying people by a racist supremacist ideology that calls for the mass murder and enslavement of non-Muslims, as ISIS is doing today.”

To set the bar for idiocy as low as possible, the very first sentence of their argument implies that all Muslims are “supportive of Islamic terrorism.” They go on to make the absurd contention that “Khomeini didn’t represent Iran as a country.” WTF? And based on those ludicrous assertions, they conclude that Trump’s proposal is “far more legitimate than Carter’s.” This is literally too stupid to respond to.

But they aren’t done embarrassing themselves. The next half-baked notion they float is that targeting citizens of a nation with which you are in conflict is racist, which by definition, it is not. At the same time they dismiss that notion that targeting people by religion is racist, which by definition it is. And they close by again implying that all Muslims practice the sort of perversion of Islam that is practiced by ISIS.

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

This is the sort of garbage “journalism” that Fox News has chosen to pluck out of the hate mongering fringe in order to defend Donald Trump. That tells you just how desperate they are to maintain their appeal to Trump’s bigoted supporters. It is a marriage made in hell that only furthers the interests of America’s enemies.


Donald Trump Says He Is Not Bothered By Comparisons To Hitler. Is The GOP?

Posted by on December 8, 2015 at 8:08 pm. 11 Comments :

It had to come to this. Donald Trump’s affinity for Nazis was always just beneath the diseased skin of his repulsive rhetoric. Now, after months of promulgating brazenly racist views, advocating policies that are indistinguishable from those of history’s fascists, and promising to commit war crimes if elected, will anybody be surprised by it bubbling to the surface? Trump’s true face was exposed today when he was asked a simple question on Good Morning America:

George Stephanopoulos: You’re increasingly compared to Hitler. Does that bother you?
Donald Trump: No, what I’m doing is no different from FDR.

Donald Trump

So there you have it. Donald Trump is not bothered by comparisons to Adolf Hitler. And why should he be? He has been running on the platform of the Nazi Party since he announced his candidacy. What’s more, he justifies his comfort with the association by positively referencing the Japanese internment camps built during the FDR administration, which are universally condemned as one of America’s most shameful actions.

When asked about those concentration camps by Michael Scherer of Time, Trump refused to say he would have opposed them. Instead, he said that he “would have had to be there at the time to tell you, to give you a proper answer.” The rest of the civilized world doesn’t need to be there to know that it was a horrific violation of human rights. Would Trump have had to be there during slavery to give a proper answer?

Trump’s fascist tendencies are apparent in his signature issue, a border wall to keep out those inferior foreigners. And he goes even further by suggesting that foreigners already in the country be rounded up, herded into boxcars, and deported using the deadly model from the 1950’s charmingly called “Operation Wetback.” He wants to create a database of American citizens based on their religion and require Muslims to wear identifying badges. He uses the media (mostly, but not exclusively, Fox News) to stir up irrational fears based on an ever-expanding catalog of lies (See the Trump Bullshitopedia). And, sadly, the media sheepishly complies with his campaign of propaganda.

The question now is: Where does the Republican Party go from here? With an avowed fascist currently leading their primary for president, the GOP has to decide which side they’re on. They simply cannot abide a candidate espousing Third Reich doctrine and expect to be taken seriously. Some of the other GOP contenders have distanced themselves from Trump’s most recent comments, and RNC chairman Reince Priebus even made a public statement of disapproval, an almost unheard of move for a party boss.

But that’s hardly enough. Earlier this year the Republican Party made all their candidates sign loyalty oaths promising to support the Party’s nominee regardless of who it is. But given the grotesque course of Trump’s campaign, that would mean pledging to support America’s foremost fascist. Anyone who honors a pledge to support Herr Trump for president is unfit for public service in a free nation. This sentiment was boldly expressed today by President Obama’s press Secretary, Josh Earnest (video below) who said that Trump’s proposal to ban all Muslims…

“…disqualifies him from being president. And for Republican candidates to stand by their pledge to support Mr. Trump, that in and of itself is disqualifying.”

So far, none of the other GOP candidates has had the integrity (guts?) to publicly declare that they would not support Trump if he is the nominee. That is partly due to their innate cowardice, as they do not want to alienate Trump’s current constituency of fascist-friendly voters. Why they want those voters in their corner is a sick mystery. But a part of it is also due to their fear that Trump might ditch the GOP and run as a Third (Reich) Party candidate. A recent poll shows that 68% of his glassy-eyed disciples would vote for him were he to run as an independent. And Trump is reminding his Republican pals of this in his twitter feed.

So Trump is wrapping his GOP peers around his middle finger. But how much sway does he really have? He can’t possibly win as an independent. While more than two-thirds is a significant chunk of his base, it is a tiny slice of the electorate. Do the math: About 30% of the American people identify as Republican. Trump has about 30% support within the Republican Party. So that’s about 9% of the population at large. Those who would follow him to a third party reduces that by 30%. So Trump would get a measly 6% of the national vote from Republicans, plus whatever independents and Democrats would crossover. In short, he would lose in a landslide.

The problem for the GOP is that, in a close race, that 6% could swing the election to the Democrat. And that’s why Republicans are running scared and failing to show the character to renounce Trump. However, if they don’t renounce Trump they are doing serious damage to their reputation which could cost them more than 6% come November. So the only course of action for them is to have some intestinal fortitude and do the right thing. They need to modify their loyalty oath to exclude Trump from among those whom they would support as the GOP nominee. This shouldn’t be that hard for them because Trump has already hinted that he is ready to violate the pledge.

If Trump acts first and bolts the Party they can’t ever regain the dignity that would come by having kicked him out. But if they move first they can at least brag that they held to their principles and turned their backs on fascism (at least Trump’s brand of it). But they better move fast. Trump is just unpredictable (and egotistical) enough to make a surprise announcement before anyone expects it. And since the GOP has little to lose, they would be smart to cast him out now. Unfortunately for them, they may not be that smart. Of course, that would be quite fortunate for the Democrats.

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

[Update:] Donald Trump continues his Anti-American Crusade: “These are people that are outside the country, so we’re really not talking about the Constitution. And it’s not about religion. This is about safety.” In other words, in pursuit of his warped idea of safety he would scrap the Constitution.


Fox News Promotes Crazy Ex-Congressman’s Unhinged, Islamophobic Rant

Posted by on December 7, 2015 at 7:56 pm. 4 Comments :

On a day that has seen two Fox News loudmouths suspended for using profanity on the air, and the leading Republican presidential candidate (yep, Donald Trump) propose banning all Muslims from entering the United States (an idea so repulsive that Dick Cheney (!) said it “goes against everything we stand for and believe in”), there is still another lowlife wingnut competing for recognition as asshole of the day.

Fox Nation Joe Walsh

Former Illinois representative Joe Walsh (R-Loon) is a world-class nutcase who has called for beheading members of the media. He posted a video on his Facebook page (see below) to express his dismay over something he thought he heard Attorney General Loretta Lynch say. The resulting tirade was a spectacularly deranged descent into rank Islamophobia. So obviously Fox News featured it on their community website, Fox Nation, so as to spread the hate to the biggest audience possible.

Walsh: You got a problem Loretta Lynch? Well this is for you and everybody else in this country who is trying to shut me up.

[This paranoid douchebag seriously believes that scads of people are trying to shut him up, when there probably aren’t a dozen who even know that he’s talking]

Walsh: You come out today and you say you’re going to prosecute Americans who use anti Muslim speech? That doesn’t happen in this country. I can say whatever I want about Christians, Jews or Muslims.

[Actually, Lynch never said anything like that. More on that point later]

Walsh: I think Islam has a real freaking problem, alright? There is a cancer in Islam, and if they’re not going to learn to assimilate, I don’t want them in this country. You got a problem, Loretta Lynch, with me saying that? Then throw me in jail. […] Well you know what? I hope that there is a backlash. There should be a backlash. I’m going to encourage a backlash. And do you know what Loretta Lynch? If that bothers you, prosecute me.

[And not only is Walsh paranoid and delusional, he’s bitterly racist. And he is not shy about advocating violence]

Now let’s take a look at what Lynch actually said:

Lynch: When we talk about the First Amendment we [must] make it clear that actions predicated on violent talk are not American. They are not who we are, they are not what we do, and they will be prosecuted. My message not just to the Muslim community but to all Americans is: we cannot give in to the fear that these backlashes are really based on.

Notice that Walsh is trembling with anger at the thought that his God given right to hurl noxious insults at Muslims who have never harmed him might be infringed upon by the chief law enforcement officer of the land. He is absolutely furious that she would suggest something so un-American.

The only problem with Walsh’s bitchfest is that Lynch didn’t suggest anything of the kind. What she said plainly referred to “actions” not words. And in America, if you engage in violent actions that were incited by the sort of crackpot rhetoric that Walsh is dishing out, you can and will be prosecuted. It is also possible to be prosecuted if speech is deemed to have incited violence, but there has to an imminent threat and a direct causal association and intention. That’s much harder to prove.

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

So Walsh’s howling harangue was a big waste of time and energy wherein he completely misunderstood what Lynch said. It accomplished nothing other than to reveal what an ignorant, racist dickwad he is. It’s also an ideal illustration of what President Obama was warning against in his speech last when he said…

“We cannot turn against one another by letting this fight be defined as a war between America and Islam. That, too, is what groups like ISIL want. ISIL does not speak for Islam. They are thugs and killers, part of a cult of death […] the vast majority of terrorist victims around the world are Muslim. If we’re to succeed in defeating terrorism we must enlist Muslim communities as some of our strongest allies, rather than push them away through suspicion and hate.”


Foul-Mouthed Fox News Obama-Hater Is Given Time-Out By Puppet/Anchor

Posted by on December 7, 2015 at 12:37 pm. 29 Comments :

The seething hatred of President Obama by Fox News came gushing out this morning by one of the network’s most notorious hatchet men. Lt. Col Ralph Peters (whose name translates to “vomiting penises” in Slanglish) appeared on Stuart Varney’s Fox Business program to discuss/bash Obama’s Oval Office speech on terrorism last night.

Fox News Ralph Peters

Peters was virtually spitting teeth (video below) as he was unable to control his most primitive tendencies. In an otherwise mundane response to Varney’s inquiry as to “What was your commentary as the President’s speech unfolded?” Peters launched into a profane rant that barely addressed anything about the speech itself.

Peters: Well, first of all, he keeps speaking about “We can’t give in to our fears. Don’t be afraid.” Look Mr. President, we’re not afraid. [shouting] We’re angry. We’re pissed off. We’re furious. We want you to react. We want you to do something. You’re afraid. I mean this guy is such a total pussy it’s stunning.

Really? The President who presided over the capture and execution of Osama Bin Laden; who as Commander-in-Chief as ordered more than 8,000 airstrikes against ISIS; whose military missions have dropped more than 20,000 bombs on enemy targets; who has killed thousands of ISIS fighters, including many of its leaders; this president is a pussy? What Peters, and every right-winger, are too ignorant to acknowledge is that Obama has been executing a plan that has had much success. Yet his critics keep blathering about irrelevancies. Is it because he refuses to send more Americans onto a battlefield where they would become sitting ducks for a guerrilla insurgency? Or because he expects the people of the region to take responsibility for the ground war against an enemy that is murdering them?

Peters goes on to lambaste Obama in the fashion that birthers have long used to “otherize” him as an alien creature saying that “The American people, whom he does not know in any sort of intimate manner,” want action. He then rattles off s a series of assertions that the President cares more about our enemies than ourselves. Eventually, Varney steps in to daintily scold Peters for his potty mouth.

Varney: I can tell you are super-angry, and I asked you what your reaction was, but I gotta call you, you can’t use language like that on the program. OK. I’m Sorry.

He’s sorry? What for? Peters comes completely unglued with an offensive rant and Varney apologizes for chastising him, while excusing the outburst due to Peters’ anger. What makes this even more ridiculous is that Varney allows Peters to continue for a bit and then…

Varney: Ralph, I’m sorry. I’ve got to interrupt again. You used some very strong language there about the President of the United States, and I’m the anchor of Varney & Co. and I have to ask you, either you should apologize for that or take it back.

Peters chose only to apologize. But you have to wonder what happened in between Varney’s first redress of the foul language and his subsequent request for an apology. It seems likely that someone in the control room pulling Varney’s strings gave him a directive to force a more formal atonement. While Fox’s audience likely shares Peters’ crude disgust for all things Obama, the network may have to tread lightly so as not to offend their glassy-eyed, Christianist viewers.

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

For the record, Peters has proven to be one of the most repugnant individuals to ever appear on Fox News (and that’s saying something). The Ralph Peters Story is one of truly nauseating notions that include: advocating military strikes on the American media; that there aren’t enough civilian casualties in war; that the U.S. should be more like ISIS; that the Taliban should have been allowed to execute an American soldier; and many more horrendous pronouncements. Consequently, this frothing tirade is not particularly surprising. And it is typical of the irrational loathing that is broadcast on Fox News every day.

[Update:] Fox News has issued a press release stating that Ralph Peters has been suspended for two weeks due to his “inappropriate and unacceptable” comments. Fox also suspended contributor and fill-in cohost on Outnumbered, Stacey Dash, for saying that the President “doesn’t give a shit” about terrorism. It should be noted that these two contributors are often not on the air for two weeks or more, so this “punishment” is purely symbolic.

Also notable is that Fox has not reported the news of these suspensions and they have not posted video of Peters’ appearance on Varney & Co. It’s too bad that Fox will punish people for bad language, but not for bad information. Let’s see if they suspend Donald Trump who has been saying “bullshit” and “chickenshit” in his stump speeches lately.


Pathological Liar Donald Trump Is Calling Other People Liars Which, Of Course, Is A Lie

Posted by on December 6, 2015 at 3:46 pm. 4 Comments :

The volume of excrement spewing from the mouth of Donald Trump continues to increase by the day. The latest eruption comes from a speech he gave in Davenport, Iowa, where he made baseless accusations against Saira Khan, the sister of terrorist gunman Syed Farook.

Donald Trump

In an interview (video below) with NBC’s Chris Jansing, Khan revealed that she, and other members of her family, were shocked by her brother’s involvement in the attack. She was clearly distraught and described it as a nightmare. But when Trump watched the interview he saw more than the average mortal would be able to see.

Trump: I watched the sister of the guy last night on television, right, and I’m pretty good at this stuff, and I watched her, she had the veil, the whole thing, she’s talking about the brother. […] I thought she was lying so much. I’m good at this. I thought she was a total liar. I watched her being interviewed last night, right? She lied about him. She didn’t know he felt this way? She knew. And a lot of other people knew, too.

So The Donald is “good at this stuff?” What is he talking about? Reading people’s minds? What he’s good at is libeling people without a speck of evidence. For him to say flatly that “she knew” is a malicious assertion that could result in serious harm physically, emotionally, and to her reputation. Trump is effectively saying that she is an accomplice to terrorism. And for a pathological liar like Trump to impugn the honesty of anyone else is just ludicrous.

A couple of years ago Glenn Beck similarly implied that an innocent person was involved in the Boston marathon bombing. Beck is now being sued for his reckless and bigoted comments. And the same thing should happen to Trump. However, this defamation fits nicely with Trump’s prior remarks last week wherein he said that family members should be targeted in military strikes, which would constitute war crimes.

Trump: When you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families. They care about their lives, don’t kid yourself when they say they don’t care about their lives. You have to take out their families.

This focus on the family is a rapidly developing pattern for Trump. With today’s libel against Ms Khan, and last week’s advocacy of war crimes, Trump is showing that he has no regard for innocent human life. It’s a position he comes to through his innate racism and a desire exploit the fear of his paranoid followers. Even worse, it is steeped in the sort of unmitigated ignorance and delusion that produced his fantastical claim that “thousands and thousands” of Muslims in New Jersey were celebrating the fall of the World Trade Center buildings.

Trump’s disturbing assault on family members, whose beliefs he can’t possibly know, took another turn toward the nauseating hate-mongering that has become the trademark of his campaign. On CBS’ Face the Nation this morning he whipped up another slap at families and simultaneously added another bald-faced lie to the Trump Bullshitopedia:

Trump: [The 9/11 hijackers] put their families on airplanes, couple of days before, sent them back to Saudi Arabia for the most part. Those wives knew exactly what was going to happen.

There’s just one small problem with that wild assertion. Only one of the nineteen hijackers was married. No doubt Trump saw “thousands and thousands” of terrorist housewives boarding planes on September 9th, taking with them their knowledge of Bin Laden’s plans. And if anyone disputes his claims he will back them up with hundreds of his twitter followers who also saw the phantom planes. Mass dementia is working well for Trump. It’s probably something he learned from Fox News.

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

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If You Think Donald Trump’s Supporters Are Ignorant Asses, Guess What? Trump Agrees!

Posted by on December 5, 2015 at 3:12 pm. 7 Comments :

Let’s face it, there cannot be an any more willfully ignorant constituency in America than the pinheads who have pledged their allegiance to Donald Trump. They continue to support him despite his failure to offer any specifics on how he would govern. Even worse, they continue to support him even when he is caught brazenly lying.

Donald Trump

For instance, he grossly mimicked a disabled reporter, then claimed that he didn’t despite the video evidence. He said that he personally saw “thousands and thousands” of Muslims in New Jersey celebrating the collapse of the World Trade Center on 9/11, despite the absence of any corroborating video which would have been everywhere if it existed. He claimed to have met Vladimir Putin during a 60 Minutes interview and “got to know him very well,” even though they were interviewed on separate occasions, thousands of miles apart. [See the Trump Bullshitopedia for many more documented lies]

Generally when a candidate is proven to be a pathological liar, rational voters will slink away repulsed and a bit ashamed for having been fooled. But for some reason Trump, an elitist, narcissistic billionaire, born into wealth and privilege, inspires a demented loyalty on the part of his glassy-eyed disciples. In fact, the more blatant and bizarre his lies, the louder they cheer.

As an illustration of just how eagerly Trump-pods lap up his empty rhetoric, observe this exchange with a supporter at a rally yesterday in Raleigh, North Carolina:

Question: I want to know what you would say to President Obama.
Trump (interrupting): You’re fired.
[Isn’t that cute? He used the lame catchphrase from his old TV show to make an impotent threat that he has no power to carry out]

Question: I was wondering what you would say to President Obama now that we’ve had a terrorist attack right here in our country, in California. that I’m sure they did everything they could to try to cover that up. But it has been stated today that it is and it was a terrorist attack. How would you handle that?
Trump: I would handle it so tough, you have no idea.
[That’s right. Because you never say what you would do about anything]

Trump (cont’d): You don’t want to hear, you don’t even want to hear. You don’t want to hear how I’d handle it.
[Of course they don’t. It might hurt their feeble brains. This is where Trump acknowledges that his supporters are mindless devotees who aren’t interested in his plans, only his cult of personality]

Trump (cont’d): I would get myself in so much trouble with them (pointing to the media). We are going to handle it so tough. And you know what we’re going to do? We’re going to get it stopped.
[Oh! That’s how you’re going to stop terrorism – by stopping it. Why hasn’t anyone else thought of that?]

Throughout this surreal dialog the audience was clapping like trained seals. They actually think this was a substantive discourse on national security. They also think that Trump will save the economy by saving it, fix healthcare by fixing it, and that Climate Change is a hoax because it’s cold where they are right now. [Also great news: World hunger is over because I just ate. h/t Stephen Colbert]

Donald Trump is the perfect manifestation of the idiocy of his audience. His inability to articulate a coherent policy matches their inability (and disinterest) to grasp one. The frightening thing is that the rest of the Republican field is jockeying to attract these same dimwits. So even when the Trump bubble deflates, the eventual GOP nominee will have adopted his crackpot platform. Trump is the lowest common denominator of the Republican base (with an emphasis on base). He is an egomaniacal wannabe despot who thinks he’s a savior. He has such delusions of grandeur that he thinks (via tweet) that the parody video below was “Done by a real fan!” Yeah, sure it was.

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


Fox News Wouldn’t Know Comedy “If It Hit Them In The Ass With A Fish”

Posted by on December 4, 2015 at 11:30 am. 7 Comments :

The hypersensitive crybabies at Fox News have found something new to whine about. It’s not they have exhausted their obsession with demonizing Latinos and Muslims and women, or that they are tiring of the War on Christmas and other Christianist rhetoric (supremacy). It’s just another avenue of outrage for them to venture down as they seek to spread right-wing propaganda.

Fox News Bozo

Roger Ailes, the CEO of Fox News, is complaining about a comedy pilot being considered by ABC. According to Adweek, the program “stars Kal Penn as a journalist who aspires to work for NPR, but instead takes a job at a cable news network that resembles Fox News Channel.” The working title for the show is “Fair and Balanced.” And that’s all it took to rile up the hilarious Mr. Ailes, who doesn’t think the idea for this show is very funny.

Clearly upset, Ailes told Adweek that “They ought to call it an attempt at liberal comedy which will fail.” That’s pretty funny Roger, and a sterling example of your brilliant sense of humor. That must be why Fox News has recently been trying to transform itself into a full-fledged comedy network. Why not? They certainly suck at news. And Ailes knows what he’s talking about on the subject failing comedy. Just think back to his attempted Daily Show rip-off, “The Half-Hour News Hour.” It lasted less than one season amid scathing reviews and universal ridicule. But all of this unintentional humor was still not as funny as this:

Ailes: People tried to poke at this, and the whole Fair and Balanced concept. They wouldn’t know fair and balanced if it hit them in the ass with a fish.

Having sufficiently embarrassed himself with regard to comedy, Ailes is now reverting to the safety of his defense of Fox News as being “fair and balanced.” Indeed, the network’s slogan has been the subject of relentless ridicule, for good reason. Most cognitively functional human beings laugh hysterically at the notion. Fox News is about as fair as a carnival game of ring toss and about as balanced as Charlie Sheen.

So where does Ailes go from here? He calls out his legal beagles to attack the “poor dumb bastards” at ABC. And after threatening to sue for infringement of his allegedly trademarked slogan, Ailes compounds his threat with a typically juvenile taunt saying “I’ve got 24 hours a day to trash ABC programming. You guys can’t program your way out of the men’s room.” If he really believed that, then why is he so disturbed by the prospect of a program he’s certain will fail?

This isn’t the first time that Ailes has released his legal hounds on someone who had the audacity to use the words “fair” and “balanced” in a project satirizing Fox. Sen. Al Franken, prior to his election, wrote a book titled “Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them,” with the subtitle “A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right.” Fox News promptly filed a lawsuit against Franken that was literally laughed out of court. You might say that Ailes got himself “hit in the ass with a fish.” Fish-slapping, of course, is a time-honored staple of comedy, as demonstrated here by the masters, Monty Python:

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


Fox News Refuses To Accept That “God Isn’t Fixing This” Epidemic Of Gun Violence

Posted by on December 3, 2015 at 7:46 pm. 28 Comments :

It seems inconceivable that yet another mass shooting has occurred in a public space filled with innocent people. The frequency and fatality of these events appear to be increasing. And, sadly, the efforts by partisans on both sides to find a political advantage is troubling, but unavoidable.

While the human tragedy is of paramount concern, particularly in the first few hours after the assault is over, there are real issues that have to be addresses in any discussion of the most important subject: How to prevent these tragedies from happening again. In that regard, the only thing that makes sense is to pursue real policies to mitigate the risks and intercept the perpetrators before they can cause harm.

Unfortunately, the political divisions in this country make that nearly impossible, even though there are some solutions that both sides agree on. A majority of Americans favor universal background checks, limiting magazine size, enhancing mental health screening, prohibiting people on the terrorist watch list from purchasing guns, and several other measures that, while not a panacea, are an improvement over what we have now. Even majorities of conservatives and NRA members favor most of these ideas.

Emerging as perhaps the biggest obstacle to progress is, not surprisingly, Fox News. Fox has long been a factor in exacerbating political division in America. And today they made a concerted effort to drive Americans farther apart. Throughout the day they fanned the flames of outrage over a headline from the New York Daily News that said “God Isn’t Fixing This.”

Fox News

To most rational people that is a fairly obvious truth. After every one of these shootings, politicians and pundits climb all over themselves to offer their “thoughts and prayers.” If praying were going to have any effect on this, ISIS would already be a deranged and distant memory. By focusing on the ludicrous notion that prayer represents a reasonable response to terrorism, Fox is transforming itself into a televangelist operation. Program after program, hour after hour, Fox repeated this story, holding up the Daily News front page to drive home their sanctimonious fury.

What could Fox News possibly hope to gain by making this a staple of the news reporting for the whole day. It does nothing but take time from more practical analyses of the array of potential solutions. And that is, in fact, what Fox News hopes to gain. They are deliberately evading thoughtful dialog on the causes and cures for the rampant gun violence our nation is enduring. It is blatant pandering to the most fringe elements of the right-wing and the NRA nutcases who are opposed to solutions.

Whenever you hear an NRA-theist claim that the best way to deal with mass shootings is make sure more people are armed, remember that the NRA is a manufacturer’s representative whose mission is to promote the sales of more guns. They benefit handsomely from events like these. There are always stories following a mass shooting about how gun sales skyrocketed to record levels in the aftermath. And since there are already more guns in America than people, if the abundance of guns were going to reduce the incidence of gun violence, there would already have been some evidence of it.

Gun advocates argue that if more people were armed they would be engaging in shootouts with criminals. The truth is that, in the country with the most heavily armed populace, there has never been an incident where an armed civilian stopped a mass shooting. The argument doesn’t even make much sense because an armed civilian would be no match for a mass murderer who shows up with body armor and semi-automatic assault weapons. In such a situation, the civilian’s bullets would bounce off of the perpetrator, but would gain his attention, making the civilian shooter the next victim.

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

Police protection is the second best way to avoid being a casualty. The first best is to prevent the mass shooting before it begins. That’s something that can be done if people in positions of authority would get off their asses and work together on practical solutions. It will not get done with prayer, no matter how many times Fox News runs the same story insisting that God will rescue us from this epidemic of gun violence.


If Elected President Donald Trump Promises To Commit War Crimes

Posted by on December 2, 2015 at 3:16 pm. 8 Comments :

The unlikely candidacy of Donald Trump for the Republican nomination for president just keeps getting more bizarre with each new day. This is a candidate who has already insulted Latinos as rapists and murderers, described women as stupid and ugly, he’s cheered on supporters who assaulted African-Americans and the homeless, proposed forcing Muslims to wear IDs and be tracked in databases, and has lied so often that it’s getting hard to keep track of it all (see the Donald Trump Bullshitopedia for an ongoing attempt to catalog).

Donald Trump

Today Trump hit another new low. While discussing the conflict with ISIS on Fox & Friends this morning, Trump enthusiastically bragged about his ideas for defeating the terrorist group. He told the kids on the Curvy Couch that…

“When you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families. They care about their lives, don’t kid yourself when they say they don’t care about their lives. You have to take out their families.”

No doubt this display of false bravado will delight his dimwitted disciples. There is nothing they like more than reckless calls for indiscriminate violence and mayhem against manufactured foes. And consistent with his flagrant ignorance on pretty much any subject, Trump is once again proving how disastrous a Trump presidency would be.

The problem with targeting the families of suspected members of ISIS, aside from the obvious moral depravity, is that it is against international law. The Geneva Convention, a treaty developed to set standards for humane treatment of people caught up in hostilities, and to which the United States is a signatory, addresses this specifically (Article 3:1(a)) saying that…

“Persons taking no active part in the hostilities…shall in all circumstances be treated humanely […] To this end, the following acts are and shall remain prohibited: Violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture.”

Consequently, Trump is proposing to commit war crimes by deliberately targeting non-combatant family members. He regards this as a justifiable alternative to complying with the principles of the Geneva Convention, which he characterizes as too “politically correct.” But in addition to making the United States a practitioner of crimes against humanity, Trump is also validating the tactics of the terrorists who routinely target non-combatants. This would give the terrorists justification for their evil acts and remove any moral high ground we might have otherwise had. That plays into the hands of the terrorists who could then use it as an effective tool for recruiting more terrorists.

Coming from Trump, this idiocy further establishes that he is utterly incapable of governing the country. It is further proof that he is nothing but a diplomatic neanderthal who would insult and alienate our allies and foes alike. He recently expressed his support for waterboarding, an interrogation technique that the rest of the world regards as unlawful and inhumane torture.

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

And if all of that isn’t enough evidence that Trump is downright dangerously inept, then consider his interview this morning with conspiracy nutcase Alex Jones. Trump spent most of the interview hawking his book and effusively praising Jones. You might wonder which of Jones’ theories Trump likes best. Is it that 9/11 was an inside job; or that Hurricane Katrina was a test run for FEMA concentration camps; or that the government is using chemicals to create gay people; or that Obama is the devil?

The question that really needs to be answered is: What chemicals are causing people to support Donald Trump for president? And is there an antidote?