Trying to figure out Donald Trump’s relationship with China is no simple task. He castigates them for taking U.S. jobs, for unfair trade, for manipulating currencies, and generally beating stupid American leaders at every turn. On the other hand, he has his fashion products manufactured there, leases them luxury real estate, and confesses his deep love for them and/or their money.
However, for the purposes of his delusional presidential campaign, China is a bitter enemy that is seeking to destroy America and freedom worldwide. Which makes them a perfect foil with which to bash President Obama. A couple of years ago Trump tweeted that “The Chinese are now hacking White House computers. Why not? They already own the place.”
Ha. What a wit (or at best half). What Trump was referring to was an attempt at “spear phishing,” wherein an email that appears to be legitimate tricks the recipient into clicking on a link that executes malicious software. As usual, Trump got it wrong because there was no successful intrusion into the White House network. The matter was addressed at the time by then-Press Secretary Jay Carney, who said in response to a reporter’s question…
“The attack you’ve mentioned was what’s known as a spear-phishing attack against an unclassified network. Let’s be clear — this is an unclassified network. These types of attacks are not infrequent, and we have mitigation measures in place. In this instance, the attack was identified, the system was isolated, and there is no indication whatsoever that any exfiltration of data took place. Moreover, there was never any impact or attempted breach of any classified system.”
But what makes this interesting now is the report of a massive hack into Trump’s hotel operations nationwide. This was a successful intrusion wherein the hackers accessed the payment systems, potentially stealing customer credit card numbers, expiration dates and security codes. It has been going on for at least a year, only being discovered recently.
So the question for Trump is: If China “owned” the White House following an unsuccessful hacking attempt, then who owns Trump now? Could it be China, who would certainly have a motive stemming from his hostile rhetoric, and opportunity resulting from their business relationships? It could just as well be Russia or fugitive Mexican drug lord, El Chapo. But even if it’s just some larcenous cyber-thieves, Trump has some explaining to do.
Anyone who watches Fox News for more than a few minutes quickly becomes aware that the network has a severe case of schizophrenia. They spend about half their airtime fawning over patriotic symbolism and pretending to embrace a near perverse love of country that borders on obsession. America probably wouldn’t have any trouble getting a judge to issue a restraining order to keep Fox stalkers away.
The other half of their airtime is consumed by the sheer hatred of everything about America today. They hate the President and the Congress. They hate school lunch programs and Social Security. They hate any effort to provide its citizens with healthcare or education. They even have a love/hate relationship with the military: They love invasions of foreign countries, but they hate training exercises in the southwest.
So when it comes to expressing pride in America, Fox News has to resort to making up stories that reflect their patriopathic fetishism. Case in point is a segment that aired this morning on Fox & Friends.
The “Curvy Couch Potatoes” got wind of an appalling insult to America’s ego by some academic apparatchiks at Jackson Hole High School in Wyoming. The story first appeared on the Fox Nation website and was attributed to the Daily Caller (which is run by weekend Fox & Friends host Tucker Carlson). Here is what Fox reported (video below):
Heather Nauert: Proud to be an American. The teenagers refusing to stay silent after their principal canceled America Pride Day. They canceled it over fears it would make other students feel sad or left out. Instead of going with the principal’s plan, the students decked themselves out in red, white and blue in protest.
Imagine that! What kind of high school principal would cancel America Pride Day? The outrage on Fox continued as co-hosts Steve Doocy and Ainsley Earhardt read emails to Fox that castigated the school officials “who want to impose their personal agendas on students,” so that in the future “we will not recognize America.” To which Earhardt added “That’s scary. […] It’s ridiculous. If you don’t want to be here…”
Yeah! Just get out of here you un-American children. The only problem with this tale of America shaming is that none of it is true. The school officials did not cancel America Pride Day, the students did. There was a survey taken to ascertain what themes the students preferred for their upcoming homecoming week. As reported by the Jackson Hole High School News…
“A piece of the homecoming planning included JHHS student council representatives creating a Spirit Day school wide student survey, which was approved by the JHHS administration. This provided all students an opportunity to weigh in and engage in the democratic process of determining how to celebrate each day. This process included the voices of many of our students as opposed to just the opinions of JHHS student council leaders or JHHS administrators only, as had been past practice.
“The results of the survey are as follows: 1 Toga/Pajama Day 2 Lumberjack Day 3 America Day 4 School Spirit day (orange and black) 5 College Day 6 Decades Day 7 Cowboy Day 8 Sports Day.”
With regard to the naming of America Day, the JHHS report noted that…
“America Day had many personal student comments about why that day was uncomfortable for some students. In an effort to compromise on the title of a day, and to meet district goals, a conversation with JHHS student council leaders and JHHS administration discussed alternative ways to name the day ‘Patriot Day’ or ‘Heritage Day’ to be inclusive. Both of these days were declined by JHHS Student Council leaders.”
So contrary to Fox News, there was no imposition of personal agendas by school officials on hapless students. The entire series of events was driven by the students themselves. And to the students’ credit, they were striving to be inclusive and sensitive to their fellow students. It seems that they should be commended for that rather than becoming the subjects of falsified reporting that frames the story derogatorily.
The JHHS report also made specific mention of the fact that “on any given day, students are welcome to celebrate their national pride and heritage,” and that “we support the pride of our country and those that have faithfully served so these democratic principles can be expressed.” And that’s exactly the way it should be. Too bad Fox News has to come along and smear their school and their community with lies aimed at dividing people and manufacturing hostility. The good people of Jackson Hole don’t deserve that and, fortunately, they are strong enough to transcend it.
American’s comedians are in the midst of a hilarity Renaissance thanks mainly to the dementia that caused Donald Trump to think he could be President of the United States. No one has provided more raw material for political humor since the thawing of Sarah Palin. And now that Caribou Barbie has returned to hibernation in the frozen wilds of Alaska, the Trump train could not have chugged along at a better time.
The latest treasure trove of Trumpian farce gushed from The Donald this weekend during a speech in Franklin, Tennessee. He was responding to the tragic shootings at the Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, that left nine dead and nine others wounded. In the course of his remarks he thought that it would be appropriate, and in keeping with the solemness of the occasion, to impersonate the vigilante character played by Charles Bronson in Death Wish. Unfortunately for Trump, he came off looking more like cartoon tough guy, Yosemite Sam.
Setting the scene for this theater of the Absurd is Tucker Carlson, host of Fox & Friends, who along with his co-hosts drooled lovingly over Trump’s pathetic rendering of machismo. Carlson prefaced a video (posted below) of Trump with this introduction:
“So every politician in America is talking about gun control this week after those horrifying shootings in Oregon. But no one has really talked about it the way Donald Trump talked about it the other day. Watch this.”
Whereupon they played Trump reciting his policy on guns (reading from a printout of his website) that focused solely on his perverse interpretation and idolatry of the Second Amendment. However, Trump had to interject some personal and dubious boasting to say that…
“I have a license to carry in New York. Can you believe that? Somebody attacks me, oh they’re gonna be shocked. Can you imagine? Somebody says ‘Oh, there’s Trump. He’s gonna be easy pickens.’ [Holding his finger like a gun] Whad’ya say? […] Can you imagine with Trump, somebody says ‘Oh, all these big monsters running around. He’s easy pickins.’ [pulls the finger again] And then p’ching.”
First of all, Trump’s swaggering BS is just plain delusional. Does he really believe that if approached on the street he could outdraw a would-be assassin who already has his weapon drawn? Does he think he’s better prepared than the highly trained police officers who have been ambushed and murdered while on duty? What a maroon. This pitiful attempt at bravado is not only stupid, it’s dangerous. He is practically daring some psycho to make a name for himself by offing the Dingbat Don.
More importantly, what he offered as substance for his gun policy was rooted in falsehoods and nonsense that make you wonder whether he already took a slug to the cranium. He made ludicrous claims that his opponents want “a gun that fires one bullet.” Like much of what he says, he simply made that up.
Trump also said the Oregon college was a gun-free zone and that if more people had guns they “would be a hell of a lot better off.” However, not only was he wrong about the campus being a gun free zone, there was an armed veteran there who decided not to intervene because of the risk that police officers would arrive shortly and, seeing him with a gun, might mistake him for the shooter. So the “good guy” with a gun made a rational decision not to use it. As for society being safer if more people have guns, a carjacking victim in Houston might not agree. A witness to the carjacking took out his weapon and fired at the suspects, but hit the victim in the head. Then he picked up his shell casings and took off.
Following the video of Trump, the Fox News “Curvy Couch Potatoes” returned and Carlson continued his fact-free reporting and Trump-fluffing.
“He makes an important point. Why is disarming normal people good for the country. I mean maybe it’s good for politicians who want a compliant population, but it doesn’t make us safer.”
Of course, no one is talking about “disarming normal people” except for Carlson, Fox News, and the rest of the NRA-theists. What’s more, his contention that politicians want to disarm everybody in order to have a “compliant population” implies that he wants an armed populace so that they can shoot politicians. And these people call themselves patriots.
It is the proliferation of guns, and the ease with which they can be acquired by people who ought not to have them, that makes our nation less safe. And that state of affairs is being reinforced by the gun lobbyists at the NRA, right-wing Dirty Harry wannabes, cowardly representatives, and buffoons like Donald Trump.
These people all comprise a special interest group that regards the loss of nearly 30,000 people – men, women, and children – every year to be an acceptable price to pay for unfettered access to firearms. And while people like Trump spew ridiculous comments and half-baked proposals that make great fodder for mockery, when you consider all the pain and suffering for which they are responsible, it isn’t really all that funny.
If you’ve been wondering why you’re having trouble understanding Quantum Mechanics, or conjugating Spanish verbs, or following Sarah Palin’s logic, Bill O’Reilly has the explanation: You’re just a stupid American.
That’s right. According to the Sage of Fox News, “Many Americans are simply dumb.” And that’s not some lefty mischaracterization, or a soundbite taken out of context. It’s a direct quote (video below). O’Reilly was discussing a recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll that showed that 62% of respondents believe the nation is on the wrong track. Not surprisingly, O’Reilly agreed because, in his view, the economy is soft (it’s booming) and earnings are stagnant (they’re at record highs).
What O’Reilly was dumbfounded by was that, despite the public’s dissatisfaction with the nation’s direction, the poll also showed that Vice-President Joe Biden, if he were to run for president, would beat every Republican he was matched against. While he didn’t bring it up, the same is true in most cases for Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in many polls. But O’Reilly just couldn’t grasp how this could happen. He thinks that if polls show that Americans express an affinity for Democrats like Biden then “Americans are losing it.” He laughingly asked “Why would you vote for him?” And then he provided the answer:
“Talking Points believes the answer to that question is kind of cruel. Many Americans are simply dumb. They don’t know what’s going on. They don’t pay attention. They don’t care.”
So there you have it. If you don’t have the same electoral preferences as Bill O’Reilly, you are obviously a lazy, uncaring, idiot. And especially if you have a positive impression of President Obama, or anything associated with his administration, you’re probably crazy. It’s a viewpoint that exposes the shallowness of O’Reilly’s thinking. He apparently is incapable of entertaining the notion that Americans think the country is on the wrong track at least in part because of Republican obstructionism in Congress rather than any dissatisfaction with the President. And that’s a more likely scenario since most polls show that Obama and the Democrats are held in higher esteem than the GOP. It’s not even close. Obama currently has a 48 percent approval rating, compared to 14 percent for Congress.
This isn’t the first time that O’Reilly has put his contempt for the American people on display. Last year, in a similar response to a poll that he couldn’t comprehend, O’Reilly complained that…
“The harsh truth is that many of us are blatantly ignorant and lazy. We simply will not pay attention to the world around us. We get our information from other people, who may be as dumb as we are.”
Once again, O’Reilly’s definition of ignorant was tied to support for our president. Actually, since he used the inclusive pronouns “we” and “us” he isn’t far off from the truth. So long as he’s referring to himself, the terms “ignorant, lazy” and “dumb.” are entirely appropriate. But he shouldn’t lump the rest of America into the same group. He did much the same thing when he demeaned American voters saying that…
“Informed voters will not be swayed by media coverage, but millions of Americans are simply uninformed.”
This pattern of disrespect for the intelligence of the American people is unmistakable. But it’s even more galling coming from one of the most flagrantly ignorant pundits, with a long record of being a pathological liar. However, his audience won’t hold any of this against him because they believe that they are part of a privileged class of knowledge holders in whom the future depends. A tenet of the right contends that conservatives have a unique intelligence that escapes the rest of society. Only they have access to the universal truths that are being suppressed by the so-called “liberal” media. And, consequently, they are not stupid, they are special. And they are the disciples of America’s saviors. God help us all.
Last night the Republican Majority Leader in the House of Representatives (and prospective future Speaker), Kevin McCarthy, revealed what many people already knew about the GOP’s investigation into Benghazi. And contrary to some characterizations in the press, it was not a gaffe. McCarthy openly bragged to Sean Hannity of Fox News that he helped to orchestrate an anti-Hillary Clinton campaign by forming a Select Committee To Politicize Benghazi. It was, and still is, a repulsive endeavor that dishonors the dead and exposes the self-serving immorality of the Republican Party.
However, McCarthy wasn’t the first to proudly disclose the rank partisanship of the phony Benghazi probe. Two years ago Fox News congratulated themselves on their dishonest Benghazi coverage with particular praise for Fox CEO Roger Ailes. Steve Doocy of Fox & Friends said that…
“Fox News has been doing this story from the get-go. And the mainstream media, the Daily Show, has mocked us for covering Benghazi. And now everybody else is catching up. It’s been a story they’re realizing. One of the reasons we’ve followed it is Roger Ailes, our chairman and CEO. […] Had Roger and Fox News not pushed this story the White House would have just left it in the dust.”
“Roger Ailes spent decades as a professional Republican consultant before being tapped by Rupert Murdoch to run Fox News. Ordinarily media executives do not interfere with the operations of their editorial departments, but such journalistic ethics have never been a part of the Fox News mission. Thus we see their CEO openly shaping news coverage, even influencing policy, and getting praised for it on the air by his employees.”
“Neither Boehner nor Gowdy have any interest in getting to the bottom of anything. Their statements and actions for the past year and a half show that they are only interested in politicizing a tragic loss of American lives. Having failed to uncover even a sliver of evidence of any wrongdoing, Boehner is, in effect, insulting his own colleagues in Congress (i.e. Darrell Issa) who have been conducting pseudo-investigations without producing the hoped for “smoking guns” with which they could continue their campaign of political slander. […]
“It is a desperate attempt to dig up some political mud to throw, to tarnish the prospective presidential candidacy of Hillary Clinton in 2016, and to salvage Boehner’s sinking reputation with the far-right fringe of his party whom he needs if he wants to be Speaker in the next session of congress.”
So McCarthy didn’t actually reveal anything new. He was merely corroborating what Fox News had admitted years ago: That they were the driving force keeping Benghazi alive. The arrogance they display with on-air graphics confessing that they “made terror attack a story” in response to a “push” by their CEO, is unprecedented.
Furthermore, that arrogance is matched by Republicans in Congress who obediently complied with the demands by Fox News to impanel a select committee. To put it in perspective, Republicans allocated more money to the phony Benghazi Committee (over $3 million) than to either the Intelligence Committee or the Veterans Committee, which deal with matters that have much more far-reaching impact on the nation’s citizens and security.
The Republican Party is showing signs of desperation after virtually every attempt to manufacture scandals that they can blame on Democrats has failed. Rather than developing some policy initiatives that might find favor with the American people, or conducting outreach to voter groups, the GOP is diving deeper into unfounded allegations and conspiracy theories. Just yesterday three of their top players engaged in some Olympian nuttiness that produced nothing but embarrassment for their floundering team.
Let’s begin this three degrees of separation journey with an appearance on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program (video below) by the man projected to be the next GOP Speaker of the House of Representatives. Kevin McCarthy may have thought that he would have a genteel Tea Party with the GOP-friendly host, but he wasn’t prepared for the level of animosity that wingnuts like Hannity have for establishment conservatives. Hannity took McCarthy to task for not having done more to monkey wrench the Obama administration’s agenda. He assailed McCarthy and the House GOP for presiding over budget deficits, funding ObamaCare, amnesty for immigrants, and not shutting down the government over Planned Parenthood. Having been caught off guard, McCarthy carelessly revealed the real, not-so-secret purpose of the House Select Committee to Politicize Benghazi as he tried to defend his record.
“Everybody thought that Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? Because she’s untrustable. But no one would have known any of that happened had we not fought to make that happen.”
So McCarthy admitted on TV that the true aim of the Benghazi hearings was to damage Clinton’s reputation and electability. To which Hannity graciously replied “I agree, that’s something good. I give you credit for that.” McCarthy later let slip that he intends to form another pointless select committee on Planned Parenthood. Under Republican control, this congress has held an unprecedented number of flagrantly partisan hearings that have produced nothing of value to their party, much less the nation. The Benghazi investigation has now officially lasted longer than any previous congressional investigation, including the JFK assassination, the Nixon Watergate affair, and 9/11, yet has not found a single bit of evidence of any wrongdoing.
The Benghazi Committee is chaired by Rep. Trey Gowdy (SC-Tea Party), which brings us to the second degree of separation. Gowdy is also a member of the committee investigating Planned Parenthood for misconduct alleged by an anti-abortion group’s videos that have been proven to be edited in a deliberately deceptive fashion. When it was Gowdy’s turn to question Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards he asked whether she had an understanding of those who oppose abortion. Richards said that she appreciates that “people have a lot of different views on the issue of abortion,” then dismissed the condescending premise saying that Planned Parenthood “trusts women” to make decisions about their own bodies.
That provoked Gowdy to accuse Richards of wanting to “frame the issue” to say that she is “the reasonable one, and those of us who have a contrary position are not reasonable.” Which, of course, she did not say. Gowdy actually conceded that she didn’t say that, but then, using his supernatural power to read minds, told her that “It’s not always what you say, sometimes it’s just what you mean.” But he still could not explain how anything she said could be interpreted to mean what he asserted. It’s plain that he was intent on mischaracterizing her remarks no matter what she actually said.
The chairman of the Planned Parenthood committee was Rep. Jason Chaffetz, which conveniently moves us to the third and final degree of separation. During the same hearing, Chaffetz made some glaring blunders. For instance, he displayed a highly distorted and prejudicial chart that Richards had to tell him was provided by Americans United for Life, a virulently anti-abortion group. But his worst gaffe may have been uttered after the hearing when he went on Fox News to spin the event for the media. In an effort to drive home his slanderous perception of events, he said that “Planned Parenthood is the new ACORN. That’s who they are. Remember when we talked about ACORN? That is Planned Parenthood as far as I can see it.”
You know, he’s actually right. ACORN was an organization that helped people, but was smeared by liars who produced false videos that eventually led to Congress defunding them. Sound familiar? There was never any evidence that ACORN did anything wrong. To the contrary, James O’Keefe, the producer of the videos, lost a lawsuit and was ordered to pay a former ACORN staffer $100,000. But, unfortunately, that was after ACORN lost their funding and had to close up shop. Now the same sort of liars are trying to do the same thing to Planned Parenthood despite several state investigations that have already cleared them of any wrongdoing.
What all of this adds up to is the brazen dishonesty of a desperate Republican Party trying to invent scandals and exploit their congressional power to bring down their political foes. With McCarthy we have an admission that their efforts are partisan. With Gowdy we see how blinded they are by their own biases. And with Chaffetz a clear connection is made to a previous effort to sabotage an honorable public service organization.
Ironically, the GOP is whining about taxpayers having to pay for Planned Parenthood and women’s health care services, but most Americans support Planned Parenthood. So the real question is why are Americans forced to pay millions of dollars for congressional hearings that are nothing more than partisan witch hunts based on proven lies?
It’s been nearly three months since Jon Stewart signed off of the Daily Show for the last time, and the void he left has been felt by millions of satire-starved fans. While Larry Wilmore’s Nightly Show has tried to fill that void, and Stephen Colbert’s new Late Night show launched a couple of weeks ago, the sustained satirical presence of the Daily Show has not been reproduced by any of the other late night comedy offerings.
Consequently, the anticipation for Noah’s premiere was at fever pitch when the show finally came to the air last night. And everyone, fans and critics, were bristling with suspense as to how he would perform, and whether he would make a suitable successor to Stewart.
Well, the best indication of success is wrapped up in the loathing of one of Stewart’s most notorious and mush-headed critics. John Nolte of Breitbart News said that “Awkward Trevor Noah Bombs In Debut.” And with that we know that Noah can be proud of his maiden outing. If the Breitbrats hated it, you know you’re on the right track. Not to dwell on the ravings of a knee-jerk …er… jerk, Nolte’s critique consisted mainly of childish insults and ignorance:
“For all of Stewart’s fascist, bullying tendencies, he did possess some talent. Noah is undoubtedly talented enough to land this gig, but he is unquestionably in over his head. Noah might grow into the gig. He might not. It won’t matter. He is politically correct and a left-wing extremist. […]
“Although fewer than 1% of the population ever watched Stewart, the media still managed to turn him into a Potemkin Phenom. When you’re a leftist, talent and popularity are not required.”
Isn’t that sweet? Nolte thinks Stewart was a talented fascist. That will undoubtedly make Stewart’s day. However, Nolte’s long-standing and inbred hatred for the Daily Show makes it impossible for him to express a coherent opinion. He even admits that “it won’t matter” if Noah is any good, because he’s a “politically correct left-wing extremist,” and therefore deserving of failure. It’s also rather amusing that Nolte condemns the influence of the program because fewer than 1% of the population watched it. He’s not far off, but what he doesn’t mention is that the Daily Show had more viewers than most of the shows on Fox News. So apparently Nolte also regards Fox as talentless and unpopular.
For the record, the Breitbrats predicted the failure of the new Daily Show months ago with a hilariously stupid article that only affirmed that they are as terrible at analyzing television and comedy as they are at analyzing politics.
As for Noah, his debut was a respectable effort with many hilarious moments. It will take some time for him to fully come into his own, but he is obviously smart and funny and is using the show’s producers and writers (held over from the Stewart regime) effectively to maintain a smooth transition. The opening segment (video below) was a perfect introduction that established an emotional connection to the audience saying that he is just as nervous as they are. He revealed a little personal information that explained how he felt about his new role:
“Growing up in the dusty streets of South Africa, I never dreamed one day I would have two things — an indoor toilet and a job as host of ‘The Daily Show.’ And now I have both. I’m quite comfortable with one of them.”
And with that he thanked the audience for “joining us as we continue the war on bullshit.” That, of course, was a reference to Stewart’s last monologue, and a neat trick to assure the audience that he had the same aspirations to produce the sort of quality satire that acts as a much-needed release mechanism for those of us who are outraged daily by the foolishness and dishonesty of our political and pundit classes. He’s off to a great start.
The latest round of polling has hit the press with curiously coordinated reactions. Nearly every mainstream news outlet chose to spin the results as negative for Hillary Clinton.
To be sure, Clinton’s favorability has suffered in the past few weeks due to relentless bashing by more than a dozen Republican presidential hopefuls and an unending stream of baseless but damaging stories about her email. However, the uniformity of the media presentation is hardly representative of the reality. Here is how the press is covering the news:
Washington Times: Hillary Clinton’s unfavorable rating approaches record territory
ABC News: Clinton Goes Under Water
Breitbart News: Gallup: Hillary Clinton’s Favorability at All-Time Low
Wall Street Journal: Hillary Clinton Hits Lows on Favorability, Trustworthiness
Reuters: Clinton’s favorability ratings lowest since 2001
The Hill: Poll: Clinton’s favorability tumbles
NBC News: Hillary Clinton’s Popularity Drops Sharply in NBC/WSJ Poll
Fox News: Fox News Poll: Clinton popularity drops
While there is nothing wrong with reporting the facts in polling, it is misleading if the reporters don’t put the numbers into context. And an examination of the poll results paints a very different picture of the campaign. Just using the most recent Fox News poll as an example, Clinton’s “low” favorability rating is still higher than every Republican in the poll except for one (Ben Carson). It is not a trivial side issue to note that Clinton scores better than the GOP front-runner, Donald Trump, and trounces him in a head-to-head match-up. But that is not considered newsworthy by the so-called “liberal” media.
What’s more, the press didn’t think it was important to report that every Republican’s unfavorables are at their all-time highs. Why is it news that Clinton’s favorabilty is suffering, but it isn’t news that all of her potential rivals are suffering as badly or worse? This is something the media has been doing for years with President Obama. They leap at every opportunity to report any drop in his popularity (which currently stands at about 47%) and how it will hamper the success of his agenda with Congress. What they leave out is that Congress has a favorability in the mid-teens, which should give the President a significant advantage.
Every single one of the headlines above could just as easily have read “Clinton And All Republicans Favorability At Or Near All-Time Lows,” but that would have meant engaging in honest journalism rather than deliberately misleading horse-race tabloidism. So the next time you see a spate of negative headlines hammering Clinton, remember that there is almost certainly more to the story than the media is telling you. And what they are usually leaving out is that, no matter how much people dislike Clinton, that hate Republicans even more.
For several weeks Fox News has been trying to stir up irrational fears among their xenophobic audience over the plight of refugees fleeing war and economic hardship in Syria and Iraq. To that end they have mounted a relentless campaign to slander the refugees as terrorists seeking to infiltrate Europe and the U.S. This propaganda blitz is based on nothing but invented tales of horror and racist speculation. But apparently those attempts to deceive their pre-rattled viewers were not sufficiently frightening.
Consequently, Fox News had to manufacture “evidence” of the doom that awaits any nation that shows empathy for the suffering refugees. So they enhanced their fictional narrative with video that was completely unrelated to the story. Of course, they’ve been caught doing that before. What makes it surprising this time is that it was revealed by John Oliver in an enlightening and hilarious episode of his HBO program “Last Week Tonight:” From the segment (video below):
Kristin Fisher: A new video has surfaced online showing why some are worried that Europe is opening its doors to potential terrorists. Those are reportedly Muslim refugees on a train in Europe chanting “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great.” Now to be clear, we’re not saying that any of those people are terrorists or in any way affiliated with a terror group. But it does highlight just how many of these refugees who are fleeing violence in Iraq and Syria are Muslim. John Oliver: OK, first, you don’t get to claim that you’re not calling those people terrorists when your lower third says “Terrorists Inbound.”[It later changed to “Terrifying Chant”] If you are really not saying that they’re terrorists, maybe change it to something more accurate like “People Take Train.”
But it was what Oliver noticed next that hammered another nail into Fox’s already tattered journalistic credibility. Comically understating the situation, Oliver reported that the video Fox News ran was “a little misleading.” It turns out that the video Fox said was “new” had actually been uploaded to YouTube in July of 2010, long before there was any refugee crisis in Syria. What’s more, Fisher’s report aired on the September 9th broadcast of Fox & Friends, one day after the five year old video had been dredged up by conspiracy kook Alex Jones for his Infowars website.
So to recap: It wasn’t new; there was no indication that they were terrorists; nor was there any indication that these Muslims on a train in Paris were even refugees; the video didn’t just “surface” online, it was the conspiracy fodder of Alex Jones; and the only people worried about it are Fox News and the dimwits who watch it. And finally, this fake story must be publicly acknowledged by Fox News. They must recant and apologize for deceiving viewers. But unless you’re into asphyxiophilia I wouldn’t hold your breath waiting for Fox to do so.
This week’s Donald Trump news was mainly focused on his latest feud with Fox News, whom he has pledged to boycott unless he is treated “fairly.” But just under the radar is another story that adds to the absurdity that characterizes the life of The Donald.
Trump is threatening to sue a small t-shirt vendor who is producing “Stop Trump” merchandise in response to his racist assaults on the Latino community. The vendor is donating a percentage of the proceeds to “organizations that support democracy, immigrant rights and Latino education.” What makes this legal action notable has nothing to do with the facts of the case. Trump actually has no case as it is entirely within the vendor’s First Amendment rights to produce and sell merchandise with a political message. For someone who pretends to aspire to the presidency, Trump should learn a little something about the Constitution.
No, what makes this newsworthy is simply the cumulative effect of Trump’s growing collection of lawsuits. Petulant little crybaby/bully that he is, Trump seems ready to file suits at the drop of a “Make America Great Again” hat. [Note: Trump has trademarked that slogan so maybe he’ll sue me for using it] The list of legal compalints that he has filed or threatened is extensive, and pretty hilarious. Here are the ones that I’ve been able to compile:
In 2013 Angelo Carusone’s “Dump Trump” campaign aimed to persuade Macy’s to sever their business relationship with Trump. More recently Trump claims to have broken off that relationship himself with a parting slap at what an awful company Macy’s is.
Trump recently threatened to sue Bill Maher for having made a joke about his thoroughly joke-worthy challenge to get hold of President Obama’s college transcripts.
Trump claims to have filed a $500 million lawsuit against Univision. And he’s going after NBC too. Both of these are related to their cutting ties with his Miss Universe pageant following his remarks about Mexicans being criminals and rapists.
Trump is suing Jose Andres after the mega-chef pulled out of a restaurant deal with his DC Hotel. This was also a response to Trump’s racist comments.
Trump has also threatened to sue the National Hispanic Media Coalition for exercising their free speech rights.
Trump recently threatened to sue the conservative Club for Growth because they ran some negative ads against him.
Late Additions:
Trump threatened to sue a small t-shirt vendor who is producing “Stop Trump” merchandise in response to his racist assaults on the Latino community.
After losing to Ted Cruz in the Iowa caucus, Trump threatened to sue him for campaign violations as well as to challenge his citizenship status and eligibility to serve as president.
These are all pretty recent, and most are after he announced his presidential campaign. There have been many other Trump litigations that go back decades as compiled by the Daily Beast. And that isn’t even counting the legal actions that have been taken against him. Most notable is the New York Attorney General’s case against Trump for defrauding the students of his phony Trump University. But the most disgusting episode is one where Trump dispatched his attorney to literally threaten a reporter:
“I will make sure that you and I meet one day while we’re in the courthouse. And I will take you for every penny you still don’t have. And I will come after your Daily Beast and everybody else that you possibly know,” Cohen said. “So I’m warning you, tread very f*cking lightly, because what I’m going to do to you is going to be f*cking disgusting. You understand me?”
And that is the Donald Trump who wants to be president; who Republicans are currently supporting more than any other candidate; whose rivals have signed pledges to support if he gets the nomination. And they better not renege because he will certainly sue them.
