Guns

Fox ‘News’ Downplays Colorado Mass Shooting to Mock Biden Walking Up Stairs

Posted by on March 23, 2021 at 10:26 am. 7 Comments :

Can we finally put to rest the question of whether or not Fox News is actually a news network? For an allegedly journalistic enterprise, their presenters are mostly ultra-conservative propagandists rather than experienced reporters. They don’t break stories. They have never won any awards from their professional peers (Emmys, Pulitzers, etc.). And their guests are predominantly Republican shills.

Fox NOT News

Other than that Fox News is a textbook example of journalistic junk food, seasoned generously with manufactured outrage, racist tropes, and appeals to cult mentality.

As affirmation of the above, on Monday Fox News made some particularly odious editorial decisions. While every other legitimate news network was covering the heinous mass murders in Boulder, Colorado, Fox chose to go a different way. All of their primetime programs conspicuously avoided reporting on the shootings.

Tucker Carlson featured an anti-trans segment about “the end of girls’ sports.” Laura Ingraham discussed how masks and social distancing don’t work to mitigate the COVID pandemic with disgraced “doctor” and herd immunity advocate, Scott Atlas. Sean Hannity spent the entire first half of his show on President Biden walking up stairs. He spent most of the second half on spring break.

All three programs, and most of the rest of Fox’s coverage throughout the day and night, focused narrowly on immigration – specifically that of unaccompanied minors – as means to attack Biden for a problem that he inherited from Donald Trump.

So why would Fox News so flagrantly dodge such an important story as a mass shooting? Three reasons. First of all, the shooter was thought to be white. Had they known otherwise Fox would have been all over it. [NOTE: Now that the suspect has been identified as Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, Fox briefly covered the story, despite still not knowing the motive]. Second, a story about gun violence is antithetical to Fox’s editorial mission to advance right-wing politics and the interests of their benefactors like the NRA. Third, there is nothing in this story with which Fox can bash Joe Biden, so Fox considers it a waste of valuable anti-Biden airtime.

It’s not as if Fox needed to conserve time for other important news events. Their top stories for the past week have been devoted to such critical issues as canceling Dr. Seuss, Mr. Potato Head gendering, imaginary immigrant caravans, and Grammy porn. They already downgraded the last mass shooting in Atlanta saying that it was an over-hyped ploy by Biden (whom they have also been maligning as boring). Fox News is also tired of hearing about the half million people who died from the coronavirus. However, they were right on top of the “news” that the Secretary of Homeland Security had resigned (which didn’t actually happen).

Which brings us back to the question that opened this article. Can we finally put to rest the question of whether or not Fox News is actually a news network? Anyone who has any trouble answering that question in the affirmative is hopelessly indoctrinated into the Fox cult and, consequently, knows little about this shooting or any other matter of importance to the American people.

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.

Trump Backs E-Cigarette Ban After 6th Vaping Death, Still No Gun Reforms After 313 Deaths

Posted by on September 11, 2019 at 1:33 pm. 3 Comments :

On Wednesday morning Trump invited the press – you know, the “enemy of the people” – into the White House to make an announcement about his new initiative to ban flavored e-cigarettes. He is apparently very concerned about a recent report that a sixth person has died from lung disease associated with vaping.

Donald Trump, Yosemite Sam, Guns

This is a legitimate problem that potentially affects millions of people, including children, who have taken up the habit. And there hasn’t been enough research to establish the safety of this relatively new product. However, there is something peculiar about the rapid response with which Trump is moving to limit access to e-cigarettes. If six deaths ever from vaping is a serious enough crisis to push through a virtual prohibition on an otherwise legal product, why isn’t 313 deaths this year alone enough of a crisis to enact common sense gun reforms?

Many conservatives and Trump Republicans make the argument that restrictions on access to assault-style guns won’t prevent people from acquiring them. But they seem to believe that similar restrictions will be effective on e-cigarette smokers. That’s a contradiction they cannot explain away. At the same time, they are driven to action by a half dozen vaping-related deaths, but fight tooth and nail to protect their right to own military weapons intended solely to mutilate the human body, despite being responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people at schools, churches, and malls.

During his brief visit with the press (video below), Trump revealed that he is “looking at vaping strongly” because “it’s very dangerous” and that “children have died.” Of course, all of that is true many times over for guns and mass shootings. He also asserted that “we’re going to have some very strong rules and regulations.” Which he is vigorously obstructing with regard to guns and accessories like large capacity magazines. He elaborated saying that…

“Vaping is becoming a big business as I understand it, like a giant business in a short period of time. We can’t allow people to get sick and we can’t have our youth be so affected. And that’s how the First Lady got involved. She’s got a son — together that is a beautiful young man, and she feels very, very strongly about it. She’s seen it. We’re both reading it. A lot of people are reading it. But people are dying.”

First of all, it’s curious that Trump has noticed that Melania has a son, as if he has nothing to do with it. But more to the point, Trump’s observation that “people are dying” from vaping seems especially callous when he can’t make the same connection to the far more numerous fatalities caused by easy access to killing machines that have no justifiable purpose for anyone other than soldiers and police officers.

It’s hard to dismiss the likelihood that Trump’s reluctance to take any action on guns is due to his alliance with – and/or fear of – the National Rifle Association. He has repeatedly made hollow, insincere gestures toward reform efforts, only to abandon them after talking to his pals at the NRA. And it’s fair to say that Big Tobacco has a firmer grip on Trump and the GOP than Big E-Cig. Since the e-cigarette industry doesn’t have anything comparable to the NRA lobbying on their behalf, they will end up being regulated in short order. And Americans will continue to be mowed down by assault weapons thanks to the self-serving, cold-blooded, depravity of Trump and his Re[publican Nationalist Party.

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

America’s Laziest President: Trump Admits to Delegating His Job to the Media That He Hates

Posted by on August 3, 2019 at 11:16 am. 2 Comments :

The first two and a half years of Donald Trump’s presidency has been marked by his spectacularly underdeveloped work ethic. The only things he has demonstrated an interest in are his devotion to golf, tweeting, holding cult rallies, and watching Fox News. He has done virtually nothing else. Consequently, he has racked up a record of unparalleled failure, unable to achieve the vast majority of his campaign promises.

Donald Trump

[UPDATE: The sloth-like behavior of Trump is horrifically magnified on days like this when it’s being reported that as many as twenty people were slaughtered in an El Paso, Texas mall. The gunman is being described as a Trump-supporting, 21 year old white male, who has posted virulently hateful screeds against immigrants on social media.

Trump took three hours to react with a typically useless offering of “thoughts and prayers.” Then only twelve minutes later he was tweeting about a UFC fighter who idolizes Trump. That was followed by three posts about a MAGA-loving black “pastor.” And true to form, nothing was said about any potential solution to this epidemic of gun violence. Meanwhile, Fox News was baselessly speculating about an ISIS connection to the shooter.]

Among the presidential duties that Trump has neglected are the appointments to key White House positions. His nominees comprise an assembly of dimwits, donors, and utterly unqualified bootlickers. That played out in an epic disintegration of Trump’s nominee for Director of National Intelligence, John Ratcliffe. From the start there was bipartisan recognition that Ratcliffe was a political plant with no relevant experience for the job that Trump wanted him to fill. The only reason he got the nod was because Trump had just seen him on TV smearing special counsel Robert Mueller.

In less than a week Trump threw Ratcliffe overboard, but not without making some of the most asinine and transparently false excuses for another embarrassing misstep by a president known for being unable to walk a straight line. During a segment of Trump’s Reality TV show, “Lying on the White House Lawn,” Trump replied to a reporter’s question about the state of his vetting process saying that “I like when you vet.” He continued (video below):

“I think the White House has a great vetting process. You vet for me. When I give a name, I give it out to the press, and you vet for me. A lot of times you do a very good job. Not always. I mean if you take a look at it, the vetting process for the White House is very good.

But you’re part of the vetting process, you know. I give out a name to the press and they vet for me. We save a lot of money that way. But in the case of John, I really believe that he was being treated very harshly and very unfairly.”

This is totally deranged on so many levels. First of all, it isn’t the job of the media to vet critical national security personnel. They can analyze a president’s nominee and do background checks, but the commander-in-chief should be making these decisions. The fact that Trump is comfortable letting others vet for him is baltant dereliction of duty. It can hardly be called a “great vetting process.” Where else is Trump abdicating his responsibilities, and to whom?

What’s more, Trump is delegating this profoundly vital task to the media that he often maligns as “the enemy of the people.” But for some reason he now regards them as competent to evaluate one of the most pivotal positions in the U.S. government. What sane leader would assign such a task to people that he routinely disparages as being dishonest, corrupt, and even treasonous?

Then, after handing off the vetting process to the media that he hates, Trump accuses them of harshly mistreating his nominee. Never mind that he doesn’t offer any examples of that alleged mistreatment. Trump just wants you to take his word for it that the press was out to get him. But even after condemning the media’s vetting of Ratcliffe, Trump still takes their advice and nixes the nomination.

Finally, Trump fails to mention during any of this rant that the real reason Ratcliffe went down was because Republican senators told Trump that the nomination of this unqualified hack would likely not be confirmed. So while Trump sought to blame the media for doing what he says he asked them to do, he is really just covering up for the senate GOP and his own incompetence. And sadly, Trump is even incompetent at that.

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

Kid Reporter Steals Show at WH Press Briefing, But Sanders Ducks Question on School Shootings

Posted by on May 30, 2018 at 2:35 pm. 1 Comments :

The Wednesday edition of the White House Press briefing was mostly in line with previous sessions. Sarah Huckabee Sanders conducted her routine delivery of lies posing as responses to reporters’ questions. Although there were some inquiries that are unique to Donald Trump’s administration. Such as how the President justifies his baseless claims that his campaign was infiltrated by FBI spies. Or whether Trump had spoken to Roseanne Barr after her show was cancelled due to her racist tweeting.

Sarah Huckabee-Sanders

However, the most extraordinary moment of the briefing was when Benje Choucroun was recognized for a question. Choucroun is a student at Marin Country Day School and was attending the briefing as a correspondent for Time for Kids magazine. His question was one that has special significance for all of America’s kids, and adults as well. He asked (video below):

“At my school, we recently we had a lockdown drill. One thing that affects mine and other students’ mental health is worrying about the fact that we or our friends could get shot at school. Specifically, can you tell me what the administration has done and will do to prevent these senseless tragedies?”

Considering that it has been less than two weeks since the most recent fatalities at the shooting at Santa Fe High School, this is a pertinent question that deserves a straight answer. Unfortunately, he was directing it to someone who had no intention of providing that kind of answer. Sanders very obviously evaded the question, declining to address it with the specifics that Choucroun requested:

“I think that as a kid and certainly as a parent, there is nothing that could be more terrifying for a kid to go to school and not feel safe, so I am sorry that you feel that way. This administration takes it seriously and the school safety commission that the president convened is meeting this week in an official meeting to discuss the best ways forward and how we can do every single thing within our power to protect kids in our schools and to make them feel safe and make their parents feel good about dropping them off.”

It’s notable that Sanders’ voice broke with apparent emotion while giving this reply. But that didn’t make the answer any less hollow and devoid of substance. She basically said that it’s too bad that you have to suffer like this and we are holding meetings to talk about it. She didn’t mention that the meetings were often restricted to the leadership of the National Rifle Association, or other partisan groups who refuse to acknowledge that guns are a major part of the problem. This administration has sold out the lives of America’s children for the profits of the NRA and its weapons manufacturer members.

It will be interesting to see what Choucroun’s report looks like when it’s published. For the most part, it has been the kids who have provided the most honest and effective dialog on this issue, beginning with the courageous students from Parkland, Florida’s Stoneman Douglas High School. And while it’s disappointing that Trump’s spokesperson so brazenly dodged Choucroun’s question, it’s inspiring that he asked it so profoundly and articulately.

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

Fox News Senior Douchebag Tucker Carlson Demonstrates Why No One Should Ever Do His Show

Posted by on May 16, 2018 at 12:45 pm. 1 Comments :

Anyone who has watched more than five minutes of Fox News knows that the network is a wholly dishonest purveyor of right-wing lies and propaganda. Throughout the day they broadcast flagrantly biased stories that advance the interests of Donald Trump and the Republican Party. But it’s more than that. They are actually serving as an arm of the White House and the GOP by coordinating their messages and featuring Republican operatives and candidates almost exclusively.

Tucker Carlson Fox News

Among the most repugnant Trump-fluffers on Fox News is Tucker Carlson. He is a proud white supremacist who believes that Democrats hate America. On Tuesday night Carlson conducted a harangue (as opposed to an interview) with New Mexico congressional candidate, Pat Davis (video below). What brought this particular Democrat to the attention of Fox News was a campaign ad that held nothing back with the opening line, “F*ck the NRA.”

Needless to say that has caused much of the conservative snowflake community to belly flop onto their fainting couches. Oh my, a cuss word. This is from the same people who idolize the has-been schlock-rocker and NRA board member Ted Nugent, who has repeatedly dropped f-bombs while demanding that various politicians “suck on my machine gun.” See this for a compendium of Nugent’s violent obscenities.

The exchange between Carlson and Davis is a perfect demonstration of why no Democrat should ever lower themselves to appear on that thoroughly useless program. Carlson relentlessly badgered Davis with irrelevant questions, but wouldn’t give him ten seconds to try to provide a substantive answer. For example, When Davis explained that “If a curse word on TV offends you more than pictures of dead children in Parkland or Newtown then your priorities are all wrong,” Carlson interrupted to ask if rudeness would save lives. Huh?

Following that, Carlson asked Davis “How many NRA members have committed mass shootings?” Who cares? First of all, law enforcement doesn’t collect NRA membership data when investigating crimes. But more importantly, Davis’ ad did not attack NRA members, it attacked the organization that is known for opposing any and all reasonable measures to reduce gun violence. Davis tried to explain that to Carlson who refused to listen in between inappropriate chuckling and snide remarks.

Having proven absolutely nothing, other than that he’s an obnoxious buffoon, Carlson changes the subject again. He criticizes another ad by Davis that says that AR-15s can fire 150 rounds in fifteen seconds. Carlson disputes that and asks Davis how that would work. And Davis tells him. But Carlson continues to insist that it’s impossible and that Davis, a former police officer, doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Aren’t we supposed to respect our men and women in blue? Carlson belittles Davis’ service by saying “I know that you were a police officer, or you claim to have been.”

Davis provided support for his statements about AR-15s on website. He certainly wasn’t going to be able to do that on Carlson’s show with interruptions every ten seconds. And whenever Davis was making a salient point Carlson would laugh or sneer or mock him. Eventually, Carlson cut the segment short shouting abruptly, “Interview over! Cause you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

There is one lesson that can be learned from this disastrous affair. There is no reason – ever – for any Democrat, liberal, or even reasonable Republican, to sink so low as to appear on Carlson’s hate-fest. You will not be able to persuade him of anything regardless of the facts you present. His audience doesn’t care what you have to say and will cheer on his repulsive and childish taunting. He is an ignorant bully whose sole reason for being is to act superior and insult anyone who disagrees with him. Appearing on his show will never result in an informative interview. It will result in Carlson hanging by his tail and throwing feces at you.

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

Fox News Covers the March For Our Lives By Fixating on the One Parkland Student Who Supports the NRA

Posted by on March 24, 2018 at 12:50 pm. 3 Comments :

On Saturday there was a historical, nationwide demonstration in support of gun reforms and protecting the lives of America’s children – and adults too, for that matter. The demonstrators represented a broad swath of the American public, including Democrats, Republicans, young, old, NRA opponents and members. Millions of marchers turned out for this protest in 800+ cities, with more than half a million in Washington, D.C. alone.

Fox News

It is inspiring to see the passion and determination of the young people who are the catalyst for this movement. Many of them are students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, the site of a shooting that took the lives of seventeen students and adults. Their efforts are having a bigger impact than most of the previous attempts to force our ineffectual congress to act on behalf of the majority of their constituents rather than the National Rifle Association and their campaign bribes.

But leave it to Fox News to deliberately distort the public discourse on these critical issues. While most other news networks are reporting continuously and live from demonstrations around the nation, Fox News “reporters” are remaining in their studios and delivering infrequent updates and interviewing opponents of those marching.

One of those opponents is Kyle Kashuv, a Stoneman Douglas student who supports the position of the NRA. That’s fine, and it’s his right to have and express his opinion. But Fox News is plastering their airwaves with this kid who represents a tiny minority of his peers – and the nation. Apparently Fox News couldn’t find any other kids who share his opinion, so they’ve been inviting him on repeatedly and hyping his appearances without interviewing anyone whose views are more consistent with the majority. For instance:

It can hardly be called “fair and balanced” to promote the views of a single individual whose views are decidedly outside of the mainstream. Yet Kashuv has been featured on just about every Fox News program throughout the day. That includes Donald Trump’s favorite show, Fox and Friends, where Kashuv and the “Curvy Couch” potatoes whined about his not being included on a recent Time Magazine cover (video below). NOTE: There were only five students on that cover so many others, including prominent movement leaders, were not in that photo. That fact notwithstanding, Fox’s Steve Doocy had the answer for why Kashuv was allegedly snubbed:

Doocy: I know why you weren’t included. I think, and according to what I’ve read, you support the Second Amendment. And the people who were featured on the cover have a different political point of view.
Kashuv: Well it’s clear that the people on the cover are pushing for gun reform. And they’re pushing for they don’t want to see weapons of war on the streets, like the AR-15. I mean, on the march itself, the march’s website, they listed how they want to ban AR-15s and I don’t agree with that.

First of all, the advocates for gun reform are not against the Second Amendment. They want the sort of common sense regulations that apply to other items in the Bill of Rights. Secondly, Kashuv reveals his own absurd position by saying that he doesn’t agree with those who want weapons of war off the streets. So he wants them on the streets?

They went on to discuss the role of the NRA in this debate. Kashuv was adamant that people who were pointing their fingers at the NRA were not helping to solve the problem. But he concluded by saying that:

“We can have all the legislation we want, but if the legislation isn’t actually being enacted or going through or doing what we should be doing, then what’s the point of legislation.”

Fox’s Pete Hegseth complimented Kashuv on making “a great point” and, in fact, he did. But what neither of them seem to grasp is that the reason legislation isn’t going through is because of the hold that the NRA has on weak, mostly Republican, politicians. You cannot have this debate without observing the toxic interference of the NRA.

This is how Fox News is filling its schedule on the day of the March For Our Lives. For them to hype a conservative opinion, to the exclusion of all other opinions, is not surprising. That’s what they do. But in this case they couldn’t even find a second source for the propaganda they want to disseminate. So they book the one source they have to the point of sheer tedium. What’s more, many of Fox’s pundits and hosts have spent the past several weeks demeaning the opinions of the kids who have been speaking out about gun violence. However, when they found one kid who has their bias, he is treated like a prophet and given an inordinate amount of airtime. It’s the same sort of hypocrisy that Fox News uses when they disparage celebrities who express themselves – except when its right-wing celebrities.

Expect to see more of Kashuv on Fox News in the coming days and weeks. And if their exploitation of this young man is carried to its logical conclusion, then expect to see him hosting his own Fox show or maybe becoming Trump’s next ATF director or even Attorney General.

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

The Democratic Party is Anti-American: Deconstructing Tucker Carlson’s Noxious Trump-Fluffing

Posted by on March 2, 2018 at 8:38 am. 1 Comments :

There are plenty of repugnant cretins on Fox News who devote themselves to distorting reality and misinforming their dimwitted audience. No one is more of a sycophantic disciple of Donald Trump than Sean Hannity. And Steve Doocy’s portrayal of an imbecile infatuated with the President is spot on. But Tucker Carlson has carved out his own domain as the master of indignant arrogance stewed in hypocrisy and logical dysfunction.

Fox News Tucker Carlson

On Thursday’s program Carlson set out to express a rare disappointment with his hero in the White House. It stemmed from Trump’s boneheaded assertion that guns should be confiscated from certain individuals without due process of law. That’s a position that was quickly denounced by all sides of the gun reform debate, including most fiercely by the NRA. But Carlson’s lecture (video below) was especially convoluted and managed to make Democrats the villains for what Trump said. What follows is an annotated transcript of the highlights.

“The alternatives to what we have now are scary and getting scarier. The Democratic Party is completely irresponsible and increasingly anti-American. They prefer illegal aliens to our middle-class. That’s true and it’s terrifying. Someone needs to defend the country from these people. Trump mostly does that.”

So Trump advocates violating the Constitution, but it’s Democrats who are anti-American? And Carlson’s deranged and insulting assertion that Democrats “prefer illegal aliens to our middle-class” is baseless and purposefully inflammatory. What’s true and terrifying is Carlson’s anti-American suggestion that the country needs to be defended from people he disagrees with.

“At one point the President said ‘The government should take the guns first, go through due process second.’ How honest do you want to be. Imagine if Barack Obama had said that. Just ignore due process and start confiscating guns. Obama would have been denounced as a dictator. We would have denounced him first. Trust me.”

Well, to be fair, Carlson and Fox News did denounce Obama as a dictator with predictable frequency, but never with justification. But his point was that Trump’s proposal for gun confiscation should receive the same criticism. Let’s see how that went.

“It’s important to remember that nobody should be tied to a person, but instead to principles. So with that in mind, do you think it’s worth just reminding the President – as we all need to be reminded sometimes – that there are deeper principles here?

How generous. Carlson won’t denounce Trump’s dictatorial raving, but politely remind him of the principles that he’s certain Trump has anyway. What happened to being the first to denounce dictatorship? That must not apply to your ideological crush with the long, flowing, golden locks (vainly covering his crusty bald spot). However, Carlson’s presumption of Trump’s true inner feelings were proven correct overnight as Trump tweeted that he’d made up with the NRA in an Oval Office tryst:

Here’s the video of Carlson’s Democrat-bashing, love letter to dictator Trump, if you can stomach it.

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

Release the Hounds: Fox News Inadvertently Solves Gun Control and School Security

Posted by on February 25, 2018 at 11:12 am. 2 Comments :

In the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, there has been a decidedly lopsided national debate about gun control and the security of America’s schools. Most of the nation overwhelming supports common sense measures like universal background checks and banning assault weapons. Even a hard-bitten military analyst on Fox News described putting AR-15s in the hands of civilians as “absolute madness.”

Rex, the Hero Dog

Nevertheless, Donald Trump and his sycophants in Congress and the media continue to serve as whores to the gun lobbyists at the National Rifle Association (NRA). They ignore the pleas of the student survivors and families of victims from Parkland to Newtown to Sutherland Springs and way too many more massacres. Even worse, they lie about their motives and tell them to shut up.

For his part, Trump has completely avoided the subject of restricting unfettered access to weapons of war. He fervently advocates putting even more guns on school campuses, a thoroughly boneheaded idea. And while doing so he shamelessly denies that he ever said any such thing. It’s a circus of hypocrisy and dishonesty that has become emblematic of the Trump era.

The Republican Party has fully embraced the inadequate proposals from the White House that mainly address the fringes of the issue. They talk disingenuously about banning bump stocks, raising age requirements, and reforming mental health care. But they offer nothing in the way of concrete legislation to accomplish even those minor components of a comprehensive solution. The one constant that is present in nearly every incident of mass murder is the assault weapon chosen by the murderers.

Surprisingly, Fox News covered a story this weekend that could provide a new direction for solving these problems. During a burglary in Des Moines, Washington, a German Shepherd leaped to the defense of the teenager who was home at the time. According to the report:

“A German Shepard is being hailed as a ‘four-legged angel’ after reportedly getting hit by three bullets while protecting his owner during a home invasion attempt this week in Washington.

“Javier Mercado, 16, said the dog, named Rex, came to his rescue after burglars broke into his home Wednesday afternoon in Des Moines.”

“‘I started hearing barking, a lot of barking, and then one of the guys screamed, ‘Get the dog! The dog bit me, the dog bit me!’ Mercado told Q13 Fox.”

Rex was shot three times, but still managed to scare off the intruders. He did what dogs are instinctively inclined to do: protect those they care for and who care for them. Which raises the notion of a far better way to protect schoolchildren than trying to turn schools into prisons and teachers into guards. Just get a few dogs to live on the school grounds and train them to recognize aggressors. The kids could get to know them and treat them as pets. But anyone who presented a threat would be met with a fearless and devoted defender.

Sure, there would be some details to work out with regard to preventing unintended injuries, but probably no more so than would occur with humans. This just seems like a more loving and humanitarian approach and should at least be included in the discussion. But those factors will likely rule that out for Trump and and his band of hateful, inhumane miscreants.

After treatment and surgery, Rex is expected to fully recover. The family has a posting for donations to cover veterinary bills on GoFundMe.

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

It’s About Dead Children: Fox News Military Analyst Advocates Banning Semi-Automatic Firearms

Posted by on February 24, 2018 at 1:58 pm. 7 Comments :

Despite the sharply reduced attention span, and constricted news cycles, of the 21st century in America, the nation is still immersed in the aftermath of the tragic massacre in Parkland, Florida. It is totally out of character for the public and the media to remain so focused on a single issue. Much of the credit goes to the passion and eloquence of the students who survived the shooting rampage.

Fox News Ralph Peters

However, this story’s staying power isn’t the only unexpected fallout from Parkland. While most Republican stalwarts continue to be whores to the National Rifle Association (NRA), along with their accomplices in the media, there have been a few surprising defectors. And one of them was interviewed by Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto on his Fox Business program on Friday.

Ralph Peters is a retired Army Lt. Colonel who has been serving as a military analyst on Fox News for several years. He generally falls in line with the hard-right narrative espoused on the network. In fact, he often wanders off the farthest right ledge of conservative wingnutism. For instance, he was once briefly suspended by Fox News for calling President Obama a “pussy” on the air. And then there was the time he argued for censorship and “military attacks on the partisan media.” But his comments on the availability of semi-automatic guns, like the AR-15 used to murder seventeen people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, were more than a little shocking (video below):

“I support the Second Amendment. I do not support the cherry-picking we’re seeing of it right now. […] I’m a gun owner. I know guns. My family’s a gun family going way back. But these weapons – AR-15 and similar weapons – are not for sporting purposes. You don’t take them hunting because they’re meant to tear bodies apart. They tear up the meat. They’re lousy for target shooting. They’re not even good for defending your home in the middle of the night against an intruder.”

And Peters didn’t stop there. He recognized that “my position is unpopular to many Fox viewers,” but that this is “a moral issue. It’s an ethical issue. It’s about dead children.” And he even defended the officers in Parkland who failed to enter the school as it was under assault saying that:

“Having those weapons in civilian hands is absolute madness. And by the way, those four deputies who didn’t go into the school. I think I can tell you what happened. They’re outside with handguns and they’re hearing that semi-automatic fire inside. Pop, pop, pop. It’s like going in there with bare hands.”

Peters also discussed the vagaries of the Second Amendment noting that gun fetishists always leave out the part about a “well regulated militia.” He mocked that omission by observing the hypocrisy of the amendment’s staunchest supports who insist on absolutely literal interpretations of the Constitution, but ignore that the language only protects the right to bear arms, but not to fire them.

The NRA and the Republican Party better wake up. When you’ve lost the support of someone like Peters, you pretty much have to acknowledge that your position is just plain nuts. Peters cannot be dismissed as a liberal snowflake who wants to confiscate every gun in America. Having been trained for battle he knows that a teacher, or other school employee, is unprepared and outmatched for combat with an opponent wielding an AR-15, even if the teacher has served in the military.

It’s fair to say that Peters is far better qualified to comment on these matters than Cadet Bonespurs (aka Donald Trump), who got five deferments to evade service during the Vietnam War years. And the same goes for cowards like Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, and the rest of the Trump-fluffing media who never served their country in uniform. Make no mistake, Peters is very likely the same right-wing crackpot he has always been. But that only makes these remarks all the more noteworthy and foreboding.

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

LOL: Fox News Host Thinks Students Should Shut Up, Gets (Fact) Checked By Student

Posted by on February 23, 2018 at 12:07 pm. 2 Comments :

There is no one on Fox News who is more devoted to censorship and averse to free speech than primetime host Laura Ingraham. She wrote a book titled “Shut Up and Sing,” an extended diatribe on denying the First Amendment to talented Americans who were smart enough to become successful and popular.

Fox News Laura Ingraham

Ingraham recently expanded on that theme to deliver an overtly racist tantrum aimed at NBA stars LeBron James and Kevin Durant. Annoyed that they had the audacity to criticize Dear Leader Donald Trump, Ingraham literally told them to “shut up and dribble.” It was just the next step in her crusade to silence anyone with whom she disagreed. Particularly if those dissenters were dark-skinned celebrities. You will never hear her attack crackpots like Ted Nugent or Scott Baio in the same way.

On Friday morning Ingraham lashed again. This time her vitriol was aimed at Sarah Chadwick, a survivor of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. And it was typical of her censorial tendencies as she tried to shame Chadwick for speaking out. Ingraham tweeted this:

Seriously? Ingraham is outraged that a young adult with her own opinions would challenge an almighty member of the United States Senate. [Here is Chadwick’s tweet] Not to mention a young adult who just went through a nightmare and lost close friends and classmates. If anyone has the right to express her thoughts about assault weapons and the failure of the political class it’s Chadwick. And she took the opportunity to do so in a delightfully snarky response to Ingraham:

Just brilliant. Chadwick demonstrated that she has far more dignity than Ingraham by not emulating the Fox Host’s crass smear tactics. It was a succinct reply that conveyed the message that Ingraham’s ignorance isn’t really worth wasting time on. And at the same time she trumped the professional “journalist” by correcting her poor reporting.

This conniption fit by the allegedly “mature” Fox News shill adds to the pile of insults and slanders that Fox and other right-wing media hacks have been shoveling. There have been ludicrous accusations that the students were paid actors or professional protesters. They have been criticized for being insolent punks who were raised badly. And worst of all, raving conservatives have insisted that they should be disregarded because they are too emotional or too young to have valid opinions.

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

That’s the perspective of old fogies who wallow in their ageist supremacy and spend their days pulling out what’s left of their hair. There is no one more suitable to comment on the state of our society than those who are about to inherit it – complete with the flaws built in by their predecessors. This is their world. Adults who think that they are leaving it to their children have it backwards. They are just the caretakers for the future owners. And with heirs like Chadwick and her colleagues at Stoneman Douglas, the future has never looked brighter.