Fox News on Sunday night denounced remarks by host Jeanine Pirro this weekend suggesting that Rep. Ilhan Omar supports Sharia law in defiance of the U.S. Constitution because she wears a hijab. “We strongly condemn Jeanine Pirro’s comments about Rep. Ilhan Omar,” the network said in a statement. “They do not reflect those of the network and we have addressed … Read More
New Yorker Expose Full Of Mini-Bombs About The Fox News-Trump Relationship
In a far-reaching New Yorker exposé titled “The Making of the Fox News White House” published today, Jane Mayer dissects the often-incestuous relationship between the Trump White House and Fox News. The arguably biggest revelation is that Fox New passed on the Stormey Daniels story, which it knew before the election. “Diana Falzone, who often covered the entertainment industry, had obtained proof that … Read More
Trump Faces The Ire Of The Mob He Created
It turns out that it isn’t so easy to make deals with people who fundamentally disagree with you. Politics has beaten Trump and he is forced to sign a deal that gives only $1.4 billion for his stupid border wall. So what does Trump do? He tries to gaslight his supporters. At the El Paso rally this week, he implored … Read More
The Hilarious Plot To Derail Mueller, Part Two
Today’s the day for Jacob Wohl’s big press conference on his supposed Mueller assault allegations. I detail the early hilarity here. Wohl and Burkman have doubled, tripled and quadrupled down on their allegation that the accuser is very credible. And they said they will reveal all at a press conference at the Rosslyn Holiday Inn at noon today. Wohl has … Read More
Max Boot: Fox And Right Wing Media Is Reponsible
Boy, I am old enough to remember when Max Boot was a staple of the right wing media, at least in print. Back in the aughts, he famously wrote this bizarre defense of the War in Iraq: Yes, folks. The fact that we had bad intelligence relating to WMDs is a GOOD (not a BAD) pretext for starting a war … Read More
Fox News Stops Showing Trump Campaign Rallies
Politico reports: President Donald Trump loves to brag about ratings, but he’s not getting them anymore. As he’s ramped up his rally schedule ahead of the midterms, viewership numbers for the raucous prime-time events have been roughly similar to — sometimes dipping below — Fox News’ regular programming, and the network has recently stopped airing most evening events in full. … Read More
Epistemic Closure Can Kill A Party
An internal poll conducted by the Republican National Committee revealed that “57 percent of people who describe themselves as strong Trump supporters don’t believe Democrats have a chance” of winning back the House. That has Republican operatives worried because it signals complacency, which is a problem for the upcoming midterm elections where turnout is key. It’s not hard to imagine … Read More
Fox Prime Time Not Even Trying To Hide Racism Now
Ingraham basically blamed brown people for ruining the country she once loved. Her remarks bear more than a passing resemblance to the notorious white supremacist “14 Words” slogan about how “we must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.” But Former KKK Grandwizard David Duke liked it, so…. But Ingraham’s blatantly racist sentiment has been expressed … Read More
Apple, Facebook and YouTube Remove Content From Alex Jones and Infowars
New York Times: Top technology companies erased most of the posts and videos on their services from Alex Jones, the internet’s notorious conspiracy theorist, thrusting themselves into a fraught debate over their role in regulating what can be said online. Apple, Google, Facebook and Spotify severely restricted the reach of Mr. Jones and Infowars, his right-wing site that has been … Read More
Document Dump: The Rich Family Loses Its Lawsuit Against Fox News
The basic issue here is that the most natural claims against Fox et al would be defamation claims on Seth’s behalf; however, only a living person can bring a defamation suit. An estate can’t. So they tried to shoehorn Intentional Inflection of Emotional Distress claims by relatives and the judge wouldn’t go for it, mainly because Fox ceased and desisted … Read More
QAnon Conspiracy Theorists Visible At Trump Rally Last Night
A story today in the Washington Post does a great jump of summarizing the QAnon insanity and its growing influence. I’ve been wanting to write about QAnon for a while, but it is difficult to get one’s hands around: Believers in “QAnon,” as the conspiracy theory is known, were front and center at the Florida State Fairgrounds Expo Hall, where … Read More
Media Bias Chart
This is interesting, but I wish there was a third axis showing how many conservatives/progressives read/watch each of these outlets
Comedian Acts As Check and Balance To Failed White House Media
The White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) is taking heat the day after comedian Michelle Wolf took shots from the stage at presidential press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. A number of observers in attendance felt the former “Daily Show” comedian went over the line with her jokes, which drew heavy conservative fire on Sunday. White House national security adviser John Bolton slammed the … Read More
Why The Nunes Release Of The Comey Memos Backfired
David Frum gets it right: It’s another familiar story that conservatives have built themselves a closed information system. The system generates and repeats agreed fictions, and people are rewarded according to their ability to internalize, repeat, and embellish these fictions. The system has revved itself into hyper-activity in the Trump years. And no Trump-era fiction has been more profoundly internalized … Read More
Hannity Under Fire For Journalistic Ethics
… Or lack thereof. From Politico: Just hours after the raid on the office of Cohen, President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Hannity inveighed that special counsel Robert Mueller had “declared war against the president of the United States.” But Hannity didn’t disclose that he, too, had received legal advice from Cohen. Hannity’s relationship with the embattled attorney was revealed during … Read More