Censorship

Trump’s Free Press? His FBI Flunky Kash Patel Threatens to ‘Come After the People in the Media’

Posted by on December 1, 2024 at 12:54 pm. 1 Comments :

It is becoming more apparent every day that Donald Trump has abandoned any pretense of presidential leadership or responsible governing, He is now fully committed to a juvenile campaign of trolling his perceived enemies, “owning the libs,” and exacting retribution for wrongs he believes he has suffered.

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Donald Trump, Constitution

What else could explain the collection of crackpots that Trump has nominated to positions of considerable power in his emerging administration? It is no wonder that Trump is refusing to allow his nominees to undergo FBI background checks. So far the weirdo roster includes a brain-wormed, anti-vax, conspiracy theorist, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, to run the Department of Health and Human Services, a blatantly unqualified, sexual deviant, Pete Hegseth, as Defense Secretary, and an alleged pedophile with no legal experience, Matt Gaetz, (who has already been dropped for being even too ridiculous for the MAGA-philes) for Attorney General? The only apparent prerequisite for a job in Trump’s White House is unflinching adoration for Trump and an apprenticeship at Fox News.

SEE THIS: Trump is Stacking His Cabinet with Fox News Trump-Fluffers

However, Trump may have outdone himself with his latest proposed nominee. He is putting the name of Kash Patel up to be the Director of the FBI. As usual, Patel has little to no experience for the job he is being tasked to preform. What he has is an extraordinarily brown nose and a record of performing any evil or illegal stunt that Trump asks of him. That includes being a relentless election denier, covering up Trump’s theft of classified documents, and being an accomplice in Trump’s attempts to stage a violent coup on January 6, 2021.

There are a multitude of examples of Patel’s manifest unsuitability to serve in the upper echelon of federal legal affairs. But one particular example stands out. During an appearance on Steve Bannon’s War Room, Patel spoke about what he would do if put in a position of power. And it had nothing to do with fighting crime or making the nation safer. He ranted that…

“We’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections. We’re going to come after you. Whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’ll figure that out. But, yeah, we’re putting you all on notice. And this is why they hate us. This is why we’re tyrannical. This is why we’re dictators.”

Yes, indeed. That IS why they are tyrannical dictators. Patel’s first priority is to persecute the free press that accurately reported on Trump’s serial criminal activities. This would be an implementation of Trump’s visceral hatred of the free press that he calls “the enemy of the people.” He has already sought to suppress the media by filing innumerable, meritless lawsuits against a variety of news organizations. He has even threatened to revoke the licenses of the networks. Licenses that, by the way, do not exist, so therefore, cannot be revoked. But that doesn’t mean that he can’t do damage in other petulant ways.

In addition to his assaults on the media, Trump intends to retaliate against honorable officers and prosecutors who brought January 6th insurrectionists to justice. He is focused intently on inventing crimes related to Trump’s “Big Lie” that the 2020 election was “rigged.” And he will seek to legally terrorize upstanding FBI operatives who recovered the stolen classified materials that Trump lied about hoarding at his Mar-a-Lago home/hotel.

Trump posted his announcement about Patel on his failing Twitter ripoff, Truth Social, saying that…

“I am proud to announce that Kashyap ‘Kash’ Patel will serve as the next Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. […] He played a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax.”

First of all, Trump cannot unilaterally announce that Patel “will serve as the next Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.” Only that he is being nominated. The Senate must confirm the nomination before Patel can assume the post. And due to the highly controversial nature of this nomination, there is some doubt as to whether the narrowly divided Senate will provide their consent.

Secondly, Trump’s announcement explicitly cites one of the best reasons to block Patel’s confirmation. The role he played in trying to hide Trump’s unsavory and well documented associations with Russian officials and operatives was arguably as treasonous as Trump’s own actions. There was no “hoax” with regard to Trump and Russia. And Patel didn’t uncover any wrongdoing. He participated in it.

The opposition to Patel’s nomination isn’t coming solely from Democrats. Trump’s National Security Advisor, John Bolton, said that “The Senate should reject this nomination 100-0.” And Trump’s Attorney General Bill Barr wrote in his book that he “categorically opposed making Patel deputy FBI director,” telling Trump’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows that it would happen “over my dead body. Someone with no background as an agent would never be able to command the respect necessary to run the day-to-day operations of the bureau.”

It is also notable that for Patel to assume the directorship of the FBI, the current Director, Christopher Wray, would have to resign or be fired by Trump. Wray, by the way, was appointed by Trump in 2017, after he fired James Comey for not sufficiently sucking up. A shortcoming that Wray may soon be punished for by Trump.

The unmistakable path toward tyranny that Trump is traveling should alarm every American who cherishes the principles this nation was founded on. His flagrant efforts to silence the media is his way of insuring that he gets away with his authoritarian takeover. But with the Patel nomination, he may be overreaching. And that could give a couple of Republicans in the Senate the courage to stand up to him and for democracy. And that’s all it would take to sink the nomination of Patel.

Ironically, Trump’s overreach may actually stiffen the spines of Republican senators after they get a taste of independence by rejecting Gaetz and possibly Patel. They may just have the integrity to also ditch Kennedy, Hegseth, Tulsi Gabbard, and some of the other more reprehensible nominees. That may be a lot to hope for, but if we the people make our voices loud enough, they might actually hear us and do the right thing.

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UH-OH! News Corpse Has Been Suspended on Daily Kos

Posted by on October 11, 2024 at 11:47 am. 27 Comments :

I would like to apologize in advance for this totally self-serving note, but I thought some of my readers might like to know.

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Twitter Bird Censorship

Daily Kos has suspended my account because they said my headline was “hyperbolic” and inaccurate. For that they have suspended me for 2 weeks during the most important final days of the presidential election.

This is so frustrating, because they don’t provide any way to appeal or explain their action. So I’m just immediately muzzled, despite my many years as a good faith contributor to the site. The headline on the article in question, and the change made by the site admin, is…

Mine: TYRANT TRUMP Demands that ALL Network TV Licenses Be Revoked and that He Be Declared President
Admin: Trump calls for network broadcast licenses to be revoked and for Democrats to concede election

I suppose the part that they object to is that I said Trump would be declared president. But it’s not much of a distinction from demanding that Harris concede. What would then be the result, other than Trump being de facto declared the winner?

I don’t know why they couldn’t just ask for the change and allow me to continue posting. Also, I am now under a threat of being permanently banned. And I can’t even post any article on the site to inform others there that this occurred. Maybe someone else will.

In the meantime, I hope you all continue to enjoy and benefit from my work to advance progressive causes and candidates, and revealing the dishonesty of right-wing media. And now, on to elect Kamala Harris and every other Democrat running this year.

UPDATE: A Daily Kos member named Shockwave has posted an article about my suspension. It is getting some great comments that are supportive and for which I am grateful. And there’s also a poll with over 5,700 votes where 85% oppose the suspension. Thanks to all.

FOR THE RECORD: This is the third time that Daily Kos has suspended my account. Each of the other times seemed unwarranted to me and were disputed, but no re-consideration was given. They were…

FIRST: An article titled “Trump Posts Video Confirming that He Illegally Bought a Gun that His Campaign Denies He Bought”
Daily Kos asserted that the headline was inaccurate because Trump didn’t actually buy the gun. However, Trump actually did post a video on his Truth Social site that said that he bought the gun. I didn’t say he bought it. The video he posted said that. And that’s what my headline said. So it was totally accurate. But even if they still had a problem with the headline, they could have just asked for it to be changed. Instead. they just suspended my account without consultation or opportunity to appeal.

SECOND: An article titled “Trump’s Truth Social Reports Massive Losses and Warns that it Could Go Out of Business”
Daily Kos pointed out that part of the information in the article was incorrect. That’s because my source, the Hollywood Reporter, modified its article several hours after it was originally published. My reference to it was correct at the time that I read it. So Daily Kos was punishing me for quoting verbatim from a reputable news source that I corroborated from additional sources (NBC News, Forbes), who all reported the same thing. And the change didn’t even affect the substance of the story, just the amount of the loss, which was still huge. They could have alerted me to the update and asked for an edit. but once again, they just suspended my account without consultation or opportunity to appeal.

This latest matter, along with those from the past, are unfortunate incidents that I believe stem from overly sensitive moderators who refuse to consider rational appeals. Consequently, there is nothing that authors on their website can do about it. So now I’m facing a potential permanent ban based on three incidents that should not have been considered violations in the first place. Which raises the question of whether to bother continuing to post there. In the end, it’s the community that makes Daily Kos worthwhile, and if I stay, that will be why.

Trump Threatens CBS Over Kamala Harris Interview on 60 Minutes He Says Was ‘Possibly Illegal’

Posted by on October 9, 2024 at 1:19 pm. 4 Comments :

Donald Trump has spent the past nine years castigating the media in the most vile terms. He regularly insults journalists as “stupid,” “lying,” “corrupt,” and biased against him, simply because they report the things he actually does and says. He maligns them with the same language that Stalin used, calling them “the enemy of the people.”

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Donald Trump, Constitution

Trump’s fear and fury at the press is a core feature of his perverse persona. He labels any reporting that isn’t sufficiently worshipful “fake news.” Even his official Ministry of Propaganda (aka Fox News) isn’t safe from his seething animosity. And his anger extends far beyond mere insults and tantrums. He often issues impotent threats if a news network has the audacity to engage in responsible journalism. For example…

SEE THIS: Wannabe Dictator Trump Threatens to Revoke ABC News Broadcast License in Fox News Interview

On Wednesday morning Trump was so bothered by a recent media event that he unleashed a rambling and rancid rant on his failing social media scam, Truth Social. The object of his outrage was the 60 Minutes interview of Vice-President Kamala Harris on Monday. Trump had agreed to participate at first, but later chickened out because he objected to their insistence on {gasp} fact-checking. And now, after the fact, Trump is lashing out with another lame and utterly preposterous threat. He raged that…

“I’ve never seen this before, but the producers of 60 Minutes sliced and diced (‘cut and pasted’) Lyin’ Kamala’s answers to questions, which were virtually incoherent, over and over again, some by as many as four times in a single sentence or thought, all in an effort, possibly illegal as part of the ‘News Division,’ which must be licensed, to make her look ‘more Presidential,’ or a least, better. It may also be a major Campaign Finance Violation.”

What Trump is whining about is that 60 Minutes edited the Harris interview, something that is done routinely in television journalism for legitimate reasons, including time constraints, clarity, and relevance. Trump’s assertion that some answers were edited “four times in a single sentence” is downright bonkers. And there is no indication whatsoever that Harris’ answers were altered to effect some political advantage. Trump’s complaint doesn’t even make sense, because he’s accusing CBS of edits that resulted in the answers being “virtually incoherent.” How would that help Harris?

Most troubling is Trump’s charge that the 60 Minutes interview was in some way “illegal.” As usual, Trump doesn’t provide any evidence of a crime, nor any statute that has been violated. He simply believes that if it bothers him it must be against the law. So he latches onto the fact that TV stations (not network “news divisions”) must be licensed to use the public airwaves. Which is his way of threatening CBS with the revocation of its license if they do not comply with his tyrannical demands.

This threat is consistent with Trump’s abhorrence of the free press. And it’s also consistent with his flaming hypocrisy. He has never complained that Fox News regularly (albeit futilely) edits his interviews to make him look better. He has never accused Newsmax of campaign finance violations for their slobbering sycophancy. And he doesn’t seem to object to the constant “sane-washing“ of his demented speeches by the rest of the so-called “mainstream” media. Which leads us to the rest of his Truth(less) (anti)Social comment…

“This is a stain on the reputation of 60 Minutes that is not recoverable – It will always remain with this once storied brand. I have never heard of such a thing being done in ‘News.’ It is the very definition of FAKE NEWS! The public is owed a MAJOR AND IMMEDIATE APOLOGY! This is an open and shut case, and must be investigated, starting today!”

The public is indeed owed an apology – from Trump. His hostility toward the press is another example of his imminent threat to democracy. And his attempts to intimidate the media are antithetical to the Constitution that he has said he would “terminate.”

If this is “an open and shut case,” why is Trump yammering about it on his website that no one but his glassy-eyed cult followers read, rather than filing a complaint with the FCC or the Justice Department? Maybe because even he knows that he’s full of **it.

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Trump’s Real ‘MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT’ Has Nothing to do with His Pathetic Trading Cards Scam

Posted by on December 15, 2022 at 2:36 pm. 4 Comments :

On Wednesday night Donald Trump posted a comment on his floundering Twitter ripoff, Truth Social, teasing a “MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT” coming on Thursday. The post declared that “America needs a superhero,” and included a picture of him as a Bizarro World cartoon crusader.

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Trump Trading Cards

Trump’s fantasies of himself notwithstanding, his big reveal turned out to be even more pathetic than anyone could have imagined. It was nothing more than another opportunity to pick the pockets of his glassy-eyed cult disciples with a sham offering of “Trump Trading Cards” at $99.00 a pop. But they are not even real cards, they are just digital NFT images. He starred in his own telemarketing ad to hawk his latest sucker bait…

“Hello everyone, this is Donald Trump. Hopefully your favorite president of all time. Better than Lincoln, better than Washington, with an important announcement to make.”

Whereupon Trump declared that he is selling NFTs – digital trading cards that “feature some of the really incredible artwork pertaining to my life and my career. It’s been very exciting.” He further revealed that any purchase enters the buyer into a contest with “prizes” (?) like dinner with Trump, who regards himself as something just short of a messiah. However, it’s notable that these cards are produced by a third party that is not owned, managed or controlled by Trump. He is simply licensing his name and likeness in order to fleece his flock. Which is so like Trump…

RELATED: GRIFTER EXPOSED: Trump Campaign Scam Defrauds Hundreds of His Supporters

That said, there was another announcement posted on his website shortly after the trading cards pitch. And it actually has more of the “majorness” that he attributed to the digital card con. In a lengthy video, Trump laid out his plan to “shatter the left-wing censorship regime.” And he would do it by imposing his own totalitarian control of free speech. What follows are annotated excerpts of his uncomfortably high-decibel harangue. He began…

“If we don’t have free speech, then we just don’t have a free country. It’s as simple as that. […] That’s why today I’m announcing my plan to shatter the left-wing censorship regime and to reclaim the right to free speech for all Americans..”

Never mind that the only free speech deniers in American politics are Trump’s Republicans. They have literally banned books in schools and libraries, and have sought to silence critics of Trump in their ultra-biased MAGA media. And notice that he doesn’t provide a single example of alleged censorship by the fearsome left-wing regime. Undeterred by reality, Trump continued…

“In recent weeks, bombshell reports have confirmed that a sinister group of deep state bureaucrats, silicon tyrants, left-wing activists, and depraved corporate news media have been conspiring to manipulate and silence the American people. They have collaborated to suppress vital information on everything from elections to public health. The censorship cartel must be dismantled and destroyed and it must happen immediately.”

What Trump is referring to here is the wholly manufactured and bogus “Twitter Files” “scandal” that was orchestrated by Elon Musk and purported to expose left-wing bias by Twitter when it suspended Trump’s account. After five data dumps, Musk and his cohorts failed utterly to achieve their goal of smearing the left. In fact, they actually proved that Twitter’s Trust and Safety team (who Musk recently fired) was exceedingly fair and conscientious in their deliberations and decision making.

RELATED: Elon Musk’s ‘Twitter Files’ Farce Fails Pitifully in Portraying Poor Trump as a Put Upon Victim

Then Trump gets to the meat of his whining with the articulation of his five-point plan…

“First, within hours of my inauguration, I will sign an executive order banning any federal department or agency from colluding with any organization, business, or person to censor, limit, categorize or impede the lawful speech of American citizens. I will then ban federal money from being used to label domestic speech as mis- or disinformation.”

Who wants to tell Trump that the federal government is already prohibited from “imped[ing] the lawful speech of American citizens?” Trump is merely declaring his intention to issue an executive order that essentially repeats the Constitution’s First Amendment. Except, that is, for the last part where he proposes to punish those who exercise their free speech by alerting citizens to the dangers of mis- and disinformation. Trump, a major supplier of disinformation, wants to make sure he can keep on doing that. Moving on…

“Second, I will order the Department of Justice to investigate all parties involved in the new online censorship regime, which is destructive and terrible, and to aggressively prosecute any and all crimes identified. These include possible violations of federal civil rights law, campaign finance law, federal election law, securities law, and anti-trust laws, the Hatch Act, and a host of other criminal, civil, regulatory, and constitutional offenses.”

Here Trump is threatening to force the Justice Department to – uphold existing laws? Yep. But let’s face it, when Trump makes this sort of threat, he intends that it be directed exclusively at his enemies. He and his administration are more prone to violating those laws, but he never bothered to hold any of those who violated them accountable when he occupied the White House. And there’s more…

“Third, upon my inauguration as president, I will ask Congress to send a bill to my desk revising section 230 to get big online platforms out of the censorship business. From now on digital platforms should only qualify for immunity protection under section 230 if they meet high standards of neutrality, transparency, fairness, and non-discrimination. We should require these platforms to increase their efforts to take down unlawful content such as child exploitation and promoting terrorism, while dramatically curtailing their power to arbitrarily restrict lawful speech.

First of all, Trump has no idea what Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act is or does. While there is room to refine it, it is basically a protection so that online services aren’t held accountable for comments made by the public. Without it platforms like Twitter and Facebook couldn’t allow people to post comments at all.

Furthermore, Trump’s idea that platforms should have to “meet high standards of neutrality, transparency, fairness, and non-discrimination,” is an imposition on their free speech rights, as well as posing difficult questions about who sets those standards. The government? Trump wants to force private companies to allow all “legal” comments, even if they are racist, hate speech, or sufficiently vague incitements to violence. And he’s still not through…

“Fourth, we need to break up the entire toxic censorship industry that has arisen under the false guise of tackling so-called mis- and disinformation.”

In other words, Trump wants to prohibit private Internet platforms from refusing to post purposefully false information that has the potential to cause real harm. He wants fake COVID cures and anti-vaccine propaganda to be readily available. He wants lies about election fraud to stir up civil unrest. He even explicitly brought up his own fixation with phony election fraud saying that “Once you lose those elections … you no longer have a country.” Which brings us to his fifth point…

“Fifth, the time has finally come for congress to pass a Digital Bill of Rights. This should include a right to digital due process. In other words, government officials should need a court order to take down online content, not send information requests such as the FBI was sending to Twitter.” […] In addition, all users over the age of 18 should have the right to opt-out of content moderation and curation entirely, and receive an unmanipulated stream of information, if they so choose.”

To be clear, Trump is proposing the first law that would allow government – with a court order – to censor content, which would be unconstitutional. Remember, this is his plan for free speech and to end censorship. And while the FBI did inform Twitter about certain content that was false (and so did Trump and the GOP), they never had the right to force it to be removed. That’s Trump’s idea. And so is his suggestion that adults can “opt-out of content moderation,” effectively forcing private Internet platforms to post content that they regard as harmful, offensive, or otherwise contrary to their standards. Then Trump closed saying…

“The fight for free speech is a matter of victory or death for America and for the survival of Western civilization itself. When I am president, this whole rotten system of censorship and information control will be ripped out of the system at large. There won’t be anything left. By restoring free speech we will begin to reclaim our democracy and save our nation.”

The problem with Trump’s initiative is that it produces the polar opposite of what he claims is his intention. It would permit censorship, allow the government to force private businesses to post content they disapprove of, and shred the First Amendment. Which is all pretty much precisely what is expected of an aspiring authoritarian tyrant like Trump who has openly advocated banning websites he doesn’t like, such as Twitter and Facebook. America would be better off if his “major announcements” were all about trading cards and other snake oil ventures.

RELATED: WTF? Trump Regrets Not Banning Facebook and Twitter When He Was President

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WHUT? Tucker Carlson of Fox News Boldly Refuses to Verify that His Disinformation is Reliable

Posted by on October 14, 2021 at 12:24 pm. 3 Comments :

The Olympic grade hypocrisy at Fox News continues to shine through everything they do. And nowhere is that more evident than with matters related to the coronavirus and the tragedies it has wrought on America, largely attributable to the lies and disinformation disseminated by Fox and Donald Trump. Studies show that the nation is currently suffering through what can accurately be described as The Fox News Pandemic.

Fox News. Tucker Carlson

Leading the way down to the depths of viral hell is Fox’s Senior Deceiver, Tucker Carlson. He has already peddled dangerous and flagrant falsehoods such as his promotion of quack cures, his paranoid conspiracy theories that the vaccines don’t work, his support for the unlawful use of fake vaccination cards, and his urging of viewers to make false police reports of child abuse against parents whose children wear face masks.

Despite that record of deliberate and deadly deception, Carlson is now complaining about social media sites trying to encourage the accurate and honest sharing of information upon which lives may depend. Because who would want that? On Wednesday night’s episode he delivered a diatribe against Instagram for what he falsely said was censorship. He was triggered by a message he received when he tried to post a video that was lousy with lies:

“When we put that video on Instagram the following message appeared: “Make sure the information is reliable before sharing!” And then it attempts to redirect you to a site, “Get Vaccine Info.” From some approved site. I guess info about policies at a company they don’t work at? So if you’re not allowed to explain information that you have first hand, credible knowledge of, like your own employer’s own policies, then what rights do you have?”

So Carlson is outraged that Instagram politely asked that he be certain of the reliability of what he was about to post. How dare they care about the accuracy of critical health data? Especially when they are asking someone who is so renowned for spreading lies that his employer, Fox News, argued in court that he couldn’t be guilty of defamation because “no reasonable person” would believe him.

Carlson falsely characterized Instagram’s message as censorship, claiming that he was not allowed to post his dishonest video. He also put his complaint in a chyron that read “Big Tech Tries to Censor this Show Once Again.” However, there was no censorship because Instagram allowed him to click through the message and post his video, which he did.

Another chyron in this segment told another lie regarding the video that he did, in fact, post on Instagram. This one read “There is no Vaccine Mandate at Fox News.” The truth is that Fox News has a policy that does mandate that their employees get vaccinated. It’s a conditional mandate that requires them to be tested daily if they are not vaccinated. That’s almost exactly the same as the policy that President Biden recently announced, except that Biden’s policy is actually less strict. requiring only weekly tests for the unvaccinated.

Apparently Carlson doesn’t know the Fox News position on vaccinations, despite having “first hand” knowledge of his “own employer’s own policies.” And in his ignorance he has slandered Biden as a tyrant for “forcing” people to get vaccinated. But if Biden is “waging war” on the American people, than Fox News has escalated it. Yet, as was scathingly pointed out by MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, Carlson is too cowardly to call out his bosses, or demonstrate an iota of integrity by quitting. And that goes for the rest of the Fox News roster of hypocrites who are nearly as bad as Carlson.

NOTE: Twitter suspended the News Corpse account after 11 years without giving a reason. So if anyone wants to tweet articles from my website, please feel free to do so often and repeatedly. Also, Be sure to visit and follow News Corpse on Instagram. Thanks for your support.

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

SCAREDY FOX: Why Did Fox News Censor Trump’s ‘Big Lie’ Rant? Pending Lawsuits?

Posted by on August 8, 2021 at 5:10 pm. 6 Comments :

A startling event occurred on Sunday that may be unique in modern times. Donald Trump’s spokes-shill, Liz Harrington, posted a tweet that exposed a bona fide case of media censorship. But this assault on free speech was not the work of the usual suspects among the “fake news” purveyors. It wasn’t CNN or the New York Times that clipped Trump’s officious oratory.

Donald Trump, Fox News, White House

Nope. Harrington caught the thought police at Fox News in the act of making unauthorized edits to Trump’s divine discourse during an interview with Fox News host Dan Bongino. Most of this segment was filled with the typical Trumpian adoration by the Fox host and hysterical incoherence by Trump. But Harrington noticed something terribly wrong when she went to post Trump’s sermon on Twitter (which is a flagrant violation of their terms of service. Feel free to report it). She tweeted her discovery saying…

“WOW. So I went to post a clip from President Trump’s great interview on @dbongino last night, and lo and behold, Fox News EDITED and CHANGED what President Trump said, censoring out 45 accurately describing the Fake Election.”

First of all, it’s “former” President Trump. Secondly, it was more of a love-fest than an interview. Thirdly, what was edited out was not accurate. That said, she was quite right that some editing took place. What was excised was Trump lying again about the 2020 presidential election being “stolen” from him. He said that…

“You have a Fake Election, you have an election with voter abuse and with voter fraud like nobody has ever seen before and based on that and based on what happened they are destroying our Country.”

So the question is why would Fox News cut out this 14 second portion of a 16 minute interview? It could hardly be due to time constraints.

There are, however, a couple of plausible reasons to expunge this particular commentary. Fox News is already the subject of two multibillion dollar lawsuits (one by Dominion Voting Systems, and another by Smartmatic) for defamation as result of the network’s dishonest assertions, on Trump’s behalf, that that the election was “rigged.”

So Fox News has a strong self-interest in avoiding exposing themselves to further legal liability by providing additional evidence that supports the case against them. That would be sufficient reason to cut Trump’s incessant whining about voter fraud for which he he has never been able to provide any proof in the 60-plus court cases he lost.

What’s more, by posting Trump’s lies, Fox News could be placing themselves at risk of being banned by Twitter – just like Trump – for posting false and potentially harmful misinformation. It is Trump’s lies about the election that incited the deadly insurrection at the Capitol on January 6th.

Fox News has already shown that they are worried about being associated with Trump’s “Big Lie.” Last month Fox refused to air an ad by the MyPillow conspiracy crackpot, Mike Lindell. The ad was to promote his “cyber symposium” that he said would “prove” that Trump won the election. Needless to say, the “proof” exists only in his diseased mind. However, Fox News wasn’t going to take the chance of getting further into legal jeopardy, so they nixed the ad. And in retaliation, Lindell pulled all of his ads from Fox News. And since MyPillow is Tucker Carlson’s biggest advertiser, that leaves his show with hardly any major ads at all.

It will be interesting to see how this censorship melodrama plays out. Currently Trump’s cult disciples are in a tizzy online, lambasting Fox News as the “enemy of the people,” and pledging to boycott the network forever. Harrington is appearing on whatever mousy Fox News wannabe that will book her to bad mouth Fox for caving in to the “Deep State.” And Trump is still stuck with with his thumb in his mouth, unable to get his malicious messaging out. Could this be any more fun? Stay tuned and have plenty of popcorn ready.

NOTE: Twitter suspended the News Corpse account after 11 years without giving a reason. So if anyone wants to tweet articles from my website, please feel free to do so often and repeatedly. Also, Be sure to visit and follow News Corpse on Instagram. Thanks for your support.

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

GOP Bill Would Force Twitter to Allow Trump’s Inflammatory Lies and Disinformation

Posted by on April 30, 2021 at 11:36 am. 4 Comments :

The Republican Party has been engaging in a full court press to cripple democracy across the country. They tried to obstruct and/or overturn the 2020 presidential election (and Trump is still doing so). They passed bills aimed at suppressing and disenfranchising voters, particularly those of people of color. They are disseminating the racist “white replacement theory” to frighten their base that “others” are conspiring to replace them in the electorate.

Donald Trump, Toilet, Bathrobe

Now they are upping the ante by advocating trashing the Constitution in order to impose totalitarian control over social media companies who fail to comply with their demands. NBC News is reporting that…

“Florida is on track to be the first state in the nation to punish social media companies that ban politicians like former President Donald Trump under a bill approved Thursday by the state’s Republican-led Legislature. […] the proposal appears destined to be challenged in court after a tech industry trade group called it a violation of the First Amendment speech rights of corporations.”

Let’s be clear about this. Florida Republicans are seeking to force private companies to bend to their partisan political will. Social media services like Twitter and Facebook took the extraordinary step of suspending the accounts of Donald Trump after his reckless and dishonest posts led to deadly riots in Washington, D.C. by insurrections for whom he professed his love. The sole purpose of the new law is to placate Trump and make it easier for him to advance his self-serving, anti-democratic crusade. The article went on to note that “Republicans have called social media bans unfair censorship,” and that…

“The Florida bill would prohibit social media companies from knowingly ‘deplatforming’ political candidates, meaning a service could not ‘permanently delete or ban’ a candidate. Suspensions of up to 14 days would still be allowed, and a service could remove individual posts that violate its terms of service.

“The state’s elections commission would be empowered to fine a social media company $250,000 a day for statewide candidates and $25,000 a day for other candidates if a company’s actions are found to violate the law.”

The state has absolutely no legal authority to force private companies to provide a platform for any individual. The constitutional protection against censorship applies only to the government. But Florida’s Republicans argue that the wide influence of social media is cause for increased regulation. If that’s true, then shouldn’t the same principle apply to television and newspapers that also enjoy wide influence? By that standard, shouldn’t Fox News be forced to carry my stories and opinions, and be fined if they refuse?

Republicans used to believe in something called a “free market.” They insisted that business should be free of government intervention and that the marketplace should decide the winners. Trump even made that argument recently when he predicted that Twitter and Facebook would fail without him and he floated a proposal to start his own social media company.

That’s competition. And while Trump’s alt-Twitter would likely suffer a humiliating defeat, at least it would be decided in the free market. Florida’s bill upends all of that and puts the boot of autocracy on businesses that they regard as disobedient. Which is further proof that Republicans are flaming hypocrites who will discard any and all principles when they don’t adhere to their advantage.

NOTE: Twitter recently suspended the News Corpse account after 11 years without giving a reason. So if anyone wants to tweet articles from my website, please feel free to do so often and repeatedly. Also, Be sure to visit and follow News Corpse on Instagram. Thanks for your support.

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

Dr. Fauci Tells Rachel Maddow How the Trump Admin ‘Blocked’ Him From Her Show

Posted by on January 23, 2021 at 10:30 am. 2 Comments :

The differences between the negligent, incompetent, and wantonly corrupt administration of Donald Trump, and that of the incoming Joe Biden administration have been evident in just the few hours that Biden has been President. The stench of ego-driven criminality has been replaced by the refreshing fragrance of experience and compassion. And America has heaved a massive, collective sigh of relief.

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Donald Trump, Anthony Fauci, Censored

Among those relieved by the passing of the Trump era is Dr. Anthony Fauci, the widely respected expert on infectious diseases. His presence on Trump’s phony Coronavirus Task Force – that was nothing more than a thinly veiled reelection campaign operation – was awkward, to say the least. He frequently had to cover his face in shame as Trump dispensed pure idiocy and flagrant falsehoods. Often he was ignored or even uninvited to the press briefings altogether.

Those times are over. Dr. Fauci was interviewed Friday for the first time on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show. It was the sort of enlightening hour of useful information that the public sorely needs during these troubling times. And Dr. Fauci was clearly pleased to have the opportunity to communicate with Maddow and her audience. In fact, he addressed his prior absence from the show during this exchange:

Maddow: Dr. Fauci…The country really trusts you in particular, but we’ve seen this sort of disappearance of, and sort of muzzling of, these other senior folks within the government. Do you think that we’ll have more access to you, both the press and the public?

Fauci: I’m positive of it. I’ve been wanting to come on your show for months and months. You’ve been asking me to come on your show for months and months, and it’s just gotten blocked. Let’s call it what it is: It just got blocked because they didn’t like the way you handle things, and they didn’t want me on. I mean it was just so clear when we sent it down. “Why would you want to go on Rachel Maddow’s show?” “Well, because I like her and she’s really good.” “It doesn’t make any difference. Don’t do it.”

I don’t think you’re going to see that now. I think you’re going to see a lot of transparency. You might not see everybody as often as you want, but you’re not gonna see deliberate holding back of good people when the press asks for them. We were assured that that’s the case. And that goes along with what you were mentioning before about different types of pressures that were put on. It was a tough situation. It really was.

Those gracious and honest remarks also reveal the dangerous censorship by Trump of critical information necessary for the preservation of life during a deadly pandemic. Trump never cared about the welfare of the American people, particularly if it contrasted with his own narcissistic self-interest. Dr. Fauci said as much in another interview on CNN (where he had also been barred by Trump from appearing) when asked…

John Berman: Did the lack of candor over the last year and lack of facts, in some cases, cost lives?
Fauci: You know, it very likely did… When you start talking about the things that make no sense medically and no sense scientifically, that clearly is not helpful.

In the weeks, months, and years to come, we are going to learn more and more about how unconscionably destructive Trump was for the nation and the world. And the damage he’s done will not be repaired overnight. But at least we won’t be seeing the sort of suppression and deliberate disinformation going forward that was so painfully prevalent while Trump was occupying the White House.

NOTE: Twitter recently suspended the News Corpse account after 11 years without giving a reason. So if anyone wants to tweet articles from my website, please feel free to do so often and repeatedly. And you can follow this surrogate Twitter account here. Thanks for your support.

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

Sexual Predator Donald Trump Hypocritically Threatens NBC’s ‘License’ Over Weinstein Story

Posted by on September 4, 2018 at 11:34 am. 1 Comments :

As his Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, is being grilled in the Senate, it appears that Donald Trump is striving mightily to shift attention back to himself. So naturally he’s emulating the totalitarian policies of censorship and oppression, especially with regard to the media, that he admires so much. He frequently refers to the press as “the enemy of the people,” a phrase lifted straight from Stalin era tyranny. And even after being schooled on the historical horrors of his reference, Trump persists in his flagrantly anti-constitutional harangues.

Donald Trump, Censorship

On Tuesday morning, during his regularly scheduled Twitter tirade, Trump took another swipe at the press in the most appalling terms. Beginning with his incessant repetition of his now tedious “fake news” rhetoric, Trump launches into a peculiar criticism of NBC News for their handling of Ronan Farrow’s groundbreaking expose of Harvey Weinstein:

To be sure, there were some problems with how the network dealt with the allegations Farrow unveiled. NBC’s brass did not seem to be especially supportive of his efforts. Farrow charges that they tried to prevent him from proceeding with his investigation. NBC, however, claims that they just didn’t think the story was sufficiently documented. But the network didn’t try to interfere with Farrow taking the story to another publisher. In fact, according to Farrow, they suggested it. Subsequently, Farrow’s story ignited the #MeToo movement that has brought accountability to dozens of cretinous characters in the media, business, and politics. And it isn’t over.

What makes this so unbelievable is the shocking obliviousness on Trump’s part to reignite the Weinstein scandal. Of all the people to traffic in the sewer of sexual harassment and assault, Trump would be at or near the bottom of the list. After all, there are still outstanding allegations of the most repugnant misconduct by Trump from at least sixteen women (see video below). These charges have never been properly investigated and Trump has not been held accountable, as others in public life have.

When the President of the United States is credibly charged with actual sex crimes, it ought to be addressed in the press, the Congress, and especially the courts. But Trump has been given a free pass for his assaultive acts. For him to raise the matter of similar behavior by others is an Olympic-grade feat of suppression of self-awareness and shame.

And to make matters worse, Trump adds to the remarkably amoral mindset that led to this tweet by using it as reason to punish NBC via what he calls a “Look at their license.” What exactly does he intend to look at? There is no government authority that grants licenses to news organizations permitting them to engage in journalism. In fact, the Constitution explicitly prohibits it. Perhaps Trump was aiming at the licenses of local broadcasters. But even Trump’s own FCC chief, Ajit Pai, rebuked Trump’s prior license revocation fantasies saying that “The FCC does not have the authority to revoke a license of a broadcast station based on the content.”

So Trump is, once again, just mouthing off in total ignorance as he attempts to threaten the media and chill any effort to criticize him. That isn’t going to work any better now than it has worked in all of his previous attempts at censorship. It just certifies that he is a wannabe dictator who aspires to silence any dissenting voices, much the way his heroes, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and Kim Jong Un, have done in their countries, where free speech is a crime against the state. Consequently, Trump will have to be satisfied with his version of State TV, aka Fox News.

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

Trump Threatens to ‘Take Away Credentials’ of Media that Doesn’t Slobber Him with Praise

Posted by on May 9, 2018 at 11:21 am. 4 Comments :

Reporters Without Borders publishes an annual World Press Freedom Index. The most recent study reported that the United States fell to 45th place, a new low. Much of that decline was attributed explicitly to Donald Trump, whose open hostility to the media has been a core component of his presidency.

Donald Trump

Continuing to push forward with his aggressively anti-First Amendment agenda, Trump took to his official presidential policy platform – Twitter – and posted a comment that is a further demonstration of just how extreme his hatred of the free press is. This tweet should frighten all Americans who value constitutional principles and the indispensable role the press plays in democracy:

There is so much wrong with that tweet that it’s hard to know where to begin. First of all, the economy has been expanding for nearly ten years, and that expansion began near the beginning of President Obama’s first term. Contrary to Trump’s claim, for which he provides no factual support, the economy has largely stalled as of late. The Dow Jones is down year-to-date. And Trump has been undeservedly taking credit for an economy whose performance has trailed that of Obama’s.

Secondly, Trump is actually admitting that, in his view, any media that is negative is therefore fake. It isn’t surprising to learn that he feels that way, but it’s a little surprising that he says so publicly.

Third, Trump’s reference to network news being ninety-one percent negative about him was likely taken from Sean Hannity’s program last night. Hannity reported that statistic based on a dubious study by the ultra-rightist media watchdogs at NewsBusters. And he wrapped the biased data in the same package as Trump, fretting about his negative coverage despite the utopia he’s supposedly presiding over. This is another example of Hannity serving as a close advisor to this fumbling president (video below):

Hannity: “President Trump’s poll numbers, they’re rising. This despite a Newsbusters study showed that newtwork news broadcasts in this country featured negative stories about the President 90% of the time. Wow. And I told you journalism is dead.”

Notice the similarities between Hannity’s commentary and Trump’s tweet. But the most troubling part of Trump’s tweet is his threat to revoke press credentials for any media that fails to exalt the Dear Leader. Trump has long pined for a submissive press corps that only celebrates his every word and deed. This isn’t the first (or twentieth) time that Trump has attempted to punish the press by banishing them from the White House or worse, challenge their licenses. Last October he explicitly tweeted that threat saying:

The fact that Trump repeatedly takes this censorious position is evidence that it isn’t just an offhand remark that he doesn’t mean literally. He is deadly serious about his intention to gag any media that dares to criticize him. And in advance of that he has been avoiding any independent media for most of the last year. He’s only held one solo news conference (February 2017, just after the inauguration) during his entire presidency. And he hasn’t given an interview to a non-friendly (i.e. Fox News) outlet in the past year. What’s he afraid of?

The World Press Freedom study noticed these disturbing trends for American journalism. They addressed them specifically in their report as reasons for downgrading the U.S. position:

“In 2017, the 45th President of the United States helped sink the country to 45th place by labeling the press an ‘enemy of the American people’ in a series of verbal attacks toward journalists, attempts to block White House access to multiple media outlets, routine use of the term ‘fake news’ in retaliation for critical reporting, and calling for media outlets’ broadcasting licenses to be revoked.”

The American people need to be alert with regard to the threat that Trump represents to the freedom of the press and the sustainability of democracy. These are not idle threats made as political rhetoric. They are dangerous challenges made by a wannabe dictator who truly believes he has the right to muzzle the media and mislead the people. We the people cannot let that happen.

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