Consuming The "Fertilizer" Of Right-Wing Media

 

As networks and legacy media slowly obey in advance to the sociopathic Malignant Fascist's pressure to tailor news coverage to his liking, the MF has a major effort underway to steer people to social media and alternative "news" sources that parrot his line. Melanie McFarland at Salon.com looks at the changing landscape from recent firings at MSNBC and CNN, the heavy hand of WaPo owner and MF ass-kisser Jeff Bezos, and signs of the rise of propaganda over journalism and concludes:

"On Thursday, the Washington Post published an article about the White House’s 'rapid-response influencer operation, disseminating messages directly to Americans through the memes, TikToks and podcasts where millions now get their news.'

It continues, 'After years of working to undermine mainstream outlets and neutralize critical reporting, Trump’s allies are now pushing a parallel information universe of social media feeds and right-wing firebrands to sell the country on his expansionist approach to presidential power.'

Optimists may tell you that this tumult amounts to the birthing agony that precedes a new age of journalism, and they’re probably correct to some degree. But what will the next generation look like, and how long will it take to recover from this age of expanding disinformation and propaganda?

A free press that deals in facts and promotes diverse viewpoints is the water that nourishes a healthy democracy. But for it to function, citizens have to seek out those wells and insist on them. And that feels harder to do as the public is conditioned to consume the fertilizer that's piling up." (our emphasis)

McFarland's entire article is an excellent read into the diminished nature of America's media, which pleases the MF who abhors criticism and independent journalism, as any fascist would. 

It's Russia! Russia! Russia! Again

 

A Russo-MAGA propaganda outlet (one that isn't part of the corporate Republican-wired media) says "Do svidaniya, suckers!":

Tenet Media is no more.

The conservative media network folded Thursday night, just one day after the Department of Justice unsealed an indictment accusing it of being funded by Russian state-controlled media, according to Tenet Media field reporter Tayler Hansen.

The indictment accused Tenet and its founders of receiving nearly $10 million from employees of Russia Today as part of “a scheme to create and distribute content to U.S. audiences with hidden Russian government messaging,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement.

The company’s founders, Canadian Lauren Chen and her husband, Liam Donovon, have not yet commented publicly on the scandal. The fallout from the alleged propaganda scheme lost Chen her broadcasting gig with another far-right media group, Blaze Media, which has already wiped episodes of her podcast from Spotify and deleted her contributor page from its website. Blaze Media CEO Tyler Cardon told Semafor that the conservative anchor had been “terminated.”

The Russian funds paid for videos by popular far-right personalities, including podcaster Tim Pool and Lauren Southern. Pool has since described himself as a “victim” in the Tenet scandal.  [snip]

Tenet is just the latest flavor of Russian-backed misinformation campaign that has plagued American politics, but it is a sign of just how sizable the foreign country’s budget is in 2024 for influencing the November election.

"Victim," no.  At best, useful idiot.  At worst, unregistered foreign agent.  

Democrats in general and the Harris-Walz campaign in particular are running against not only the Malignant Loser's legacy disinformation structure, but also the "sanewashing" Republican- wired media and foreign influencers that are mainly Russia- or China-backed.  

All these years in, it's still good to remember a "tenet" to count on:  if a media outlet makes the Malignant Loser look other than the ignorant, deranged, treasonous, narcissistic, misogynistic, raping, felonious con artist that he is, it's lying to you and counting on you being a sucker.  Oh, and it also might be part of the Russian (or Chinese) disinformation and propaganda ecosystems.

(Photo illustration:  Jessica Tanney/ Brandeis Now)

Musk Wants Twitter To Be Right-Wing's New Fox

One of megalomaniac right-winger Elon Musk's traits, beyond his pure weirdness, is his knack of biting off more than he can chew. His purchase of Twitter is a good example: he swept in, fired over 75% of the employees, trashed the platform's moderation standards, and caused advertisers to abandon him as he allowed hate speech and conspiracies back on the site. His defect-prone electric vehicle's performance has caused its stock to sink, as buyers were also turned off by his right-wing brand. 

However, even after last week's disastrous roll out of Gov. Ron "Bootsie" DeSantis' campaign on Twitter Spaces, Musk has pretensions of turning Twitter into the right-wing's premier go-to place for disinformation, conspiracies and propaganda, replacing a weakened Fox:

"For years, Fox News has attracted the right-wing base and served as a powerful force in Republican politics so much so that officials target the network's coverage as a political tactic. 

But with the recent firing of Carlson, who raked in millions of views, Fox's recent ratings have slumped and its grip on the Republican base is slipping, presenting a ripe opportunity for another platform to surpass the network's reign. [snip]

The new owner of Twitter has already won over the far-right by relaxing Twitter's policies on hate speech and disinformation and reinstating previously banned right-wing extremists. 

His actions are increasing Twitter's reputation 'as the wild west of disinformation,' said Jill Garvey, chief of staff at Western States Center.

'This is the place now where people can go who want to spread conspiracy theories and content that is not allowed on other platforms,' she said. 'Fox News isn't going anywhere so the threat may be less about Twitter replacing Fox News and more about Twitter just becoming an ever-expanding network of places where disinformation can spread.'"  (our emphasis)

Musk will be vying with other growing right-wing outlets that are already winning Fox's audience, like Newsmax, that are more sophisticated about the media than Musk has been with his deconstruction of Twitter. He's hired a supposed whiz at marketing from NBC/Universal to be Twitter's CEO, although there's much doubt about how much authority she'll wield over Musk's toy. He'll also face competition from emerging Twitter alternatives like Bluesky and Mastodon that provide an alternative to the increasing hate speech and right-wing vitriol. We'll see if his plans to be the new "Bullshit Mountain" succeed or flame out like some of his Teslas.

 

Right-Wing Lies Kick Into Gear Over Ocasio-Cortez Visit To Concentration Camps

Adam Silverman at Balloon Juice dissects a right- wing disinformation lie and influencing campaign unfolding in real time on the southern border:

A congressional delegation (CODEL) went to visit several Customs & Border Patrol (CBP) facilities today. John just put up a post about it here at Balloon Juice Actual. But we weren’t the only ones tracking on it. Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez’s remarks, as well as her just being part of the CODEL, set off the expected firestorm. The highly credulous, fabulist Anna Giaritelli, who poses as The Washington Examiner‘s Homeland Security reporter, and who was not on site covering the CODEL, decided to report, first by tweet and then in the Examiner, that Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez threw a pair of temper tantrums during the visits. This was picked up by Students for Trump* on twitter and put on blast. Townhall, Breitbart, The Daily Caller, and The Blaze all picked up Giaritelli’s disinformation and published their own stories around it. So while there are at least five articles about this in the conservative news media, four of them simply refer back to Giaritelli’s original reporting, which hasn’t been confirmed by any of the reporters actually in attendance with the CODEL. [snip]

I expect that by the evening the disinformation will have fully spread throughout the Republican, conservative, alt-right, and white supremacist information ecosystems. It’ll finish making the rounds of Twitter and Facebook, jump to Gab, the Chans, and the sub-reddits. From there it will be amplified. Most likely by the President’s caddy, Dan Scavino, who runs the President’s social media feeds, Jr, and other of the President’s social media surrogates, as well as the Russian troll and bot networks will pick it up and kick it into high gear. And, if we were able to actually monitor the direct messages of Scavino, Jr, Giaritelli, whomever is running the Students for Trump twitter account, as well as a variety of other Presidential surrogates, including those in the conservative news media, I would be very surprised to find that there isn’t widespread coordination going on between the players on these disinformation and influence operations.

As Silverman goes on to note, the purpose of the campaign is to not only smear Rep. Ocasio- Cortez, but to divert attention away from the inhumane, deadly conditions at the Trump concentration camps, such as people being encouraged to drink out of toilets. It's no surprise that the goon outfits Silverman mentions in the right- wing media miasma would eagerly repeat lies and smears -- after all, look at who they idolize.  What would also be no surprise: the corporate media being distracted by these shiny objects spread in their path.

Some of Trump's bullies- on- the- beat were also willing to pitch in to the campaign: 

Customs and Border Protection has launched an investigation into a secret Facebook group for current and former Border Patrol agents who posted derogatory remarks targeting migrants and lawmakers.

The group, which called itself "I'm 10-15" — a reference to the Border Patrol code for "aliens in custody" — was revealed Monday by ProPublica, a nonprofit news organization, as a delegation of Democratic congressional lawmakers toured three migrant detention facilities in southwestern Texas.

Among the group's most offensive posts were discussions of recent migrant deaths, including that of a 16-year-old Guatemalan boy who died in May while he was in Border Patrol custody in Texas. Other posts joked about throwing burritos at lawmakers visiting its facilities.

Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, who were both part of the delegation, were also targets of the group. Members referred to the women as "scumbags" and on multiple occasions posted graphic illustrations of Ocasio-Cortez performing a sex act.

We believe this is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg and that other examples of sociopaths- in- uniform exist that we may never know about.  The evil instincts many of these people have long suppressed has been given a green light by the words and actions of the demagogue in the White (Supremacist) House.  Beyond exposing them, we agree with Rep. Nadler that there are crimes that deserve to be prosecuted here (but, we won't be holding our breath on that).  Also unlikely, though to be desired, is a tear- down and re- forming of the CBP into a more professional and humane organization.

It's fortunate that we have moral, courageous people like Rep. Ocasio- Cortez and Rep. Escobar to act as the conscience that is so missing in the current regime and its minions.  It's small comfort, but it's what we have right now in this hellscape.

(Reminder:  If you can, please consider donating to humanitarian relief efforts for the immigrant community.)

Sinclair Broadcasting's Orwellian Move

You'll be seeing a lot of this video, courtesy of Deadspin, in the next hours and days. It's a mashup of news anchors from dozens of TV stations owned by the right-wing Sinclair Broadcasting Group, reading an identical script that could have been written by demagogue and would-be autocrat Donald "Rump" Trump with the references to "media bias" and fake news. Sinclair has become a favorite of the White (Supremacist) House for their unabashed support of Rump's agenda, and they're looking to add another 40 stations to their empire of nearly 200 TV stations, courtesy of a partisan, Rumpian Federal Communications Commission. The stations could have had a printed version shown onscreen, with a voice over, but they chose to involve their anchors reading the canned statement, to the "journalists'" lasting embarassment.



BONUS: One local "journalist" reading the script (1:07 mark) is Autria Godfrey of ABC7 in Washington who was arrested last year for public intoxication and trespassing at a Northern Virginia nightspot. Highest standards, indeed.

BONUS II:  Charles Pierce has some thoughts worth reading about this latest right- wing degradation of the free press. Now, that's extremely dangerous to our democracy!

Trump's Desperate Defenders

The level of panic in un- indicted co- conspirator Donald "Rump" Trump's Republican Party has increased exponentially with the recent flipping of former National Security Advisor Michael "Lock Him Up!" Flynn and the reported subpoenaing of Rump's bank records from Deutsche Bank. The strategy so far seems to involve mindless flailing by Rump's attorney ("I sent the incriminatory tweet!" and "the President can't obstruct justice") as well as more serious attempts to derail or discredit the investigation of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Beltway purveyor of sound- bite conventional wisdom Mike Allen itemizes some of these Trump survival tactics.

One of those tactics -- discrediting the investigators to discredit the investigation -- has, to us, the most dangerous and ominous overtones.  It involves the usual party- before- country Republican media accomplices: Rupert Murdoch's army of flying monkeys at Fox "News" and the Wall Street Journal editorial board;  the likes of termite impersonator Hugh "Man Boobs" Hewitt, who has an op/ ed in the Washington Post this morning asking for appointment of another special counsel to investigate Mr. Mueller (we won't link to it); and elfin Confederate States Attorney General and serial perjurer Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, who is suddenly concerned about "confidence" in the Justice Department:

Special counsel Robert Mueller removed a top FBI agent over the summer helping to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election, a spokesman for Mueller's office said Saturday. Confirmation of the agent's dismissal from his role on Mueller's team came after two reports surfaced that said the agent may have shared texts that were critical of President Donald Trump. [snip] 

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has recused himself from matters relating to the Russia investigation, said in a statement that if proven to be true the agent's actions "would raise serious questions of public trust." 

"My job is to restore confidence in the Department of Justice in all aspects of our work and I intend to do so," said Sessions, whose recusal following revelations that he had failed to disclose meetings with Russia's ambassador to the U.S effectively paved the way for the appointment of Mueller as special counsel.

"Raising serious questions of public trust" is exactly what these nihilist, treasonous shitheels are all about. Beyond providing a narrative that their credulous base can cling to, this is intended to build a firewall in the House of Representatives against impeachment charges. There are already vile Republican Trumpkins actively working to undermine the Trump- Russia investigations under their jurisdiction =cough= Devin Nunes =cough=.  Casting enough doubt, however baseless, is one way to muddy the waters enough to allow spineless weasels to run for cover when they should be standing up for the rule of law and the Constitution.

Normally, we'd say its up to the "mainstream" media to avoid its usual rush to "cover the controversy" and catapult this bullshit line of defense into the reality- based world. However, given their track record, our expectations aren't especially high.

No, once again it falls upon us -- those citizens of the United States who value the truth and want to see the Mueller investigation through to the end -- to maintain pressure, especially on our elected officials and the media, to do their jobs.  Then, in November 2018, we must do our jobs as voters.

BONUS:  Here's a good read about the FBI agent who was removed from the Mueller investigation, and how Rump defenders are blowing this nothingburger up to derail/ discredit that investigation at a crucial time.

Monday Reading

We have some suggestions this morning that we think you'll find interesting. As always, the full articles are well- worth going to at the links.

David Nakamura and Ashley Parker look at Putin puppet Donald "Rump" Trump's trip to Asia as proof that, with Rump's withdrawal from the Trans- Pacific Partnership in particular, the U.S. is now "America alone":

But on the 295th day of his presidency — during a trip to the region where the trade pact was most vital — a competing narrative emerged. Trump’s “America first” slogan has, in many ways, begun to translate into something more akin to “America alone.” 

As the president’s motorcade wove up a mountain road Saturday to a regional summit in the Vietnamese city of Danang, news broke that the 11 nations that had once looked to U.S. leadership to seal the deal on the Trans-Pacific Partnership had moved on without the United States and announced a tentative agreement among themselves. 

It marked a stunning turnabout that foreign-policy analysts warned could further erode U.S. standing at a time when China is embarked on a major economic expansion and further undermine global confidence in the United States’ ability to organize the world around its own liberal values.

Liberal values? From someone who wants us to believe Putin's version of election meddling versus the entire U.S. intelligence community? This trip was a complete bust in all aspects, from Rump getting his fragile ego massaged while getting played in the most transparent and laughable ways, to getting sidelined with no trade deals, to the aforementioned backstabbing of the American intelligence community, to his playing footsie with violent Philippine human rights abuser Duterte. Well done, "f*cking moron."

Our friend P.E.C. drew our attention to a great long- read article in The Atlantic by Kurt Anderson, "How America Lost Its Mind." From the magical thinking and love of conspiracy theories, to the related abandonment of empirical and critical thinking ("post- truth" and "alternate facts") by vast numbers of Americans (not sparing the left, by the way), Anderson examines the past 50 years and identifies when the right became unhinged and why:

One reason, I think, is religion. The GOP is now quite explicitly Christian. The party is the American coalition of white Christians, papering over doctrinal and class differences—and now led, weirdly, by one of the least religious presidents ever. If more and more of a political party’s members hold more and more extreme and extravagantly supernatural beliefs, doesn’t it make sense that the party will be more and more open to make-believe in its politics? [snip] 

Religion aside, America simply has many more fervid conspiracists on the right, as research about belief in particular conspiracies confirms again and again. Only the American right has had a large and organized faction based on paranoid conspiracism for the past six decades. [snip] The right has had three generations to steep in this, its taboo vapors wafting more and more into the main chambers of conservatism, becoming familiar, seeming less outlandish. Do you believe that “a secretive power elite with a globalist agenda is conspiring to eventually rule the world through an authoritarian world government”? Yes, say 34 percent of Republican voters, according to Public Policy Polling.

Anderson also scores the rise of the post- Fairness Doctrine right- wing media conglomerates and the advent of the internet that enabled "full Fantasyland" in politics.  It's a really comprehensive dive into what took us to where we are today, and also offers Anderson's thoughts about what can be done at this point.

Finally, we always like to recommend the link round- up pulled together by fellow blogger Infidel 753 for its wide- ranging and eclectic mix of topics. Check it out.

Morning Reading - The Media And Trump

Two interesting reads this morning on the role of the media ("mainstream" and right-wing) in the rise of neo- fascist demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump.

Catherine Rampell says the only antidote to Trumpism in the Republican Party is to "dismantle" the right- wing media machine.

The sickness in today’s Republican Party is not confined to its current standard-bearer. It is therefore not curable by merely disavowing, however belatedly, the soon-to-be-defeated nominee. The sickness has taken over the Republican base, and there’s only one antidote.  

If Republicans truly want to save the Republican Party, they need to go to war with right-wing media. That is, they need to dismantle the media machine persuading their base to believe completely bonkers, bigoted garbage. 

It is, after all, the right-wing radio, TV and Internet fever swamps that have gotten them into this mess, that have led to massive misinformation, disinformation and cynicism among Republican voters. And draining those fever swamps is the only way to get them out of it. [snip]

In other words, Trump is not some black swan, whose unique cocktail of charisma, telegenicism and political fluidity landed him the nomination. His nomination is the product of years of race-baiting, conspiracy-theorizing, expert-delegitimizing right-wing media nonsense, which Republican politicians aided and abetted because it seemed politically expedient at the time. They helped the alt-right create the alternate reality that made a Trump nomination inevitable. 

And unless the party establishment grapples with its own complicity in misinforming, misleading and frightening the masses, it’s doomed to field more Donald Trumps in the future.  (our emphasis)

Somehow, we don't see the party establishment going to war with the likes of Fox "News," Drudge and Breitbart.  If nothing else, this election has proven how absolutely craven that "establishment" is in not wanting to offend its Stormtrumper base that lives and breathes in the right- wing media bubble, a monster it's created and encouraged for 40 years or more.  It would also require some level of honesty and introspection, traits we don't associate with today's Republican Party. So, not likely.

Focusing on the "mainstream media," Dana Milbank calls out the "lap dogs" of "horserace journalism" (which we've come to associate most closely with his friend and colleague Chris "Lizard" Cillizza, by the way), and goes after one particularly rotten apple:

“Morning Joe” has come in for a large share of criticism for cheering on the rise of Trump. And contributor [Mark] Halperin’s praise for Trump’s tactical genius has been particularly soulless. 

In March, Halperin declared on “Morning Joe” that Trump is “one of the two most talented presidential candidates any of us have covered.” In January, also on “Morning Joe,” he said Trump’s attacks on the Clintons were “politically brilliant.” 

In June on his Bloomberg TV show, “With All Due Respect,” Halperin asserted that “it’s not racial” for Trump to attempt to disqualify an Indiana-born federal judge as a “Mexican” because of his ancestry. His reason: “Mexico isn’t a race.” 

When Trump named Stephen Bannon to head his campaign, coverage noted the publisher’s strong ties to the racist alt-right. Halperin argued that Bannon “should not have let himself be so defined by others. The guy’s got an impressive résumé.” 

Earlier this month, when a New York Times lawyer responded to Trump’s threat to sue the newspaper, Halperin said the lawyer’s letter was a “big mistake” because “we have to be fair and even in this campaign and not basically take sides.” 

And when Trump was widely panned for calling on Russia to find Clinton’s missing emails, Halperin said, “There is a lot of fault on both sides.”

Halperin has long been viewed by progressives as a soulless and hardly neutral observer of politics (see here, here, and here just for the un- appetizer). It's good to see he's finally being called out on the pages of the Washington Post. Milbank goes on to explain why the attempt by many in the media to be neutral only served to "legitimatize the illegitimate."

But Halperin (and, Dana, feel free to call out your colleague Lizard in the future) is one rotten apple in a barrel of rotten apples that populate the cable channels, op/ ed pages, and internet. Once this election is over, the stain on their reputations that we would see as indelible may fade quickly as diversionary scapegoats (Rump as black swan event, as Rampell puts it), and the necessity for our political and its handmaiden media culture to "heal," push the question of culpability for Rump into the background.  We'll end up with the same cast of loathsome characters after as we had before, both in the media and the Republican Party, because it'll continue to work for them.

Tweet Of The Day - 15,000's A Crowd, Except When It's Not (UPDATED)

Neo- fascist lunatic Donald "Rump" Trump fan site Breibart "News" desperately wanted to show how yuuuge the crowds were that Rump was generating in battleground state Florida ("Trump's Jacksonville Rally Draws 15,000").  The result of its effort, though, wouldn't pass muster with, say, Uncle Joe Stalin's photo diddling pros:

LOL. Okay, guys.

(h/t @ConradKaz) pic.twitter.com/ABH7ljNp4x

— T. Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) August 4, 2016

That's the photo from the Cleveland Cavaliers' crowd celebrating it's 2016 championship.

Fools.  Sad!

UPDATE:  Right- wing "media" just can't seem to get it's crowd pictures right.  More sad!

In-Fighting In The Republican Party Hits New Level

With the Republican clown car bus debates looming in early August, we've seen a circular firing squad already beginning to form among the 16-odd (and we do mean odd) candidates, with incoming and outgoing insults every day.  The turmoil isn't contained to the campaign trail, it seems, as the frothing natives in Congress are also increasingly restless and combative:

-- Sen. "Tailgunner Ted" Cruz (Tea Bagger-TX) recently claimed -- on the Senate floor no less -- that his Majority Leader, Sen. Mitch "Missy" McConnell lied to him and other caucus members over holding a vote on the re-authorization of the Export-Import Bank, which led McConnell and others to publicly humiliate Cruz (yay!);

-- Cruz's acolyte, Sen. Mike "Mini Me" Lee (Tea Bagger-UT) was just caught trying to get right-wing organizations to support his rule-flouting effort to demand a vote repealing Obamacare as an amendment to the pending transportation bill, causing McConnell to rip him a new one in a meeting of Senate Republicans;

-- Rep. Mark Meadows (Tea Bagger-NC) filed a "motion to vacate the chair" in a parliamentary maneuver to remove Speaker of the House John "Mr. Tangerine Man" Boehner. Meadows' motion read, in part:

[the] “Speaker has, through inaction, caused the power of Congress to atrophy, thereby making Congress subservient to the Executive and Judicial branches, diminishing the voice of the American People. Whereas the Speaker uses the power of the office to punish Members who vote according to their conscience instead of the will of the Speaker.”

We like that "voice of the American People" line, although we think the voice Rep. Meadows may be hearing is coming through the fillings in his teeth.

BONUS:  Nancy LeTourneau on the right-wing media that's largely the cause as well as the beneficiary of the turmoil.

Trumpnado!

It bears repeating and repeating and repeating:  Donald "Rump" Trump is the Republican brand:

They say he’s [Trump's] trashing the Republic brand. They say he’s “stirring up the crazies,” in the words of Senator John McCain. But Trump is the brand, to a sizable degree. And the crazies have long flourished in the Republican media wing, where any amount of gaseous buffoonery goes unchallenged.  [snip]

Trump is a byproduct of all the toxic elements Republicans have thrown into their brew over the last decade* or so — from birtherism to race-based hatred of immigrants, from nihilists who shut down government to elected officials who shout “You lie!” at their commander in chief.

It was fine when all this crossing-of-the-line was directed at President Obama or other Democrats. But now that the ugliness is intramural, Trump has forced party leaders to decry something they have not only tolerated, but encouraged.  (our emphasis)

He's still polling strong among Republicans even after his comments on Sen. John "McAngry" McCain's status as a war hero, and notwithstanding his ongoing attacks on his Republican rivals.  "Trumpism" is not going away, because it's the beating heart of the inchoate, angry id of the Republican base, and the fact that he has no filter to soften the ugliness appeals to that base.  Because of that (and his "TEN BILLION DOLLARS"), he'll be in the race for the long-run.

 For that, Republicans can thank their own toxic, increasingly extremist politics over the past half-century, their right-wing rabble-rousing media, and the "mainstream media" that has been too neutered or co-opted to report honestly on the slow-motion radicalization of the Republican/ New Confederate/ Stupid Party and the conservative movement that drives it.  In the meantime, it's important now that Rump continue to have the high profile his poll numbers and ego demand, because he's the most accurate reflection and best spokesperson for a party and movement gone mad than anything else in this election cycle.  Let's see how long that fact can be ignored.

* Steve M. points out, as we do above, that it's been a lot longer than a decade.

(Photo:  Trumpnado - "Oh hell no!")

Sinclair Broadcast Group Begins Its Politicization Of Local D.C. News

From the once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle, the Sinclair Broadcast Group didn't waste any time politicizing local news in its new Washington, D.C., market:

Last week, for example, WJLA viewers woke up to a new face on the morning news: Mark Hyman, a veteran conservative pundit, who offered some criticism of President Obama. 

In his video commentary, Hyman railed against the inconsistent enforcement of a ban on travel to Cuba by Americans. Noting that the music stars Jay Z and Beyoncé had “partied up” in Havana last year without penalty, Hyman insinuated that Obama had protected the couple from prosecution. “It occurs to me that Beyoncé and Jay Z are close friends of the president and first lady,” said Hyman, adding sarcastically, “You don’t suppose . . . oh, never mind. He’d never do that.” 

Hyman’s critiques — which range from warning about the cost of Obamacare to advocating the abolition of the Transportation Security Administration — will be a regular feature on WJLA, just as they are on dozens of stations owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, the new owner of ABC 7.

Sinclair (owned by the Smith family) has a track record of shilling for the Republican Party and right-wing views, as well as contributing heavily to Republican candidates. As the article points out,

On the eve of the 2012 election between Obama and Republican Mitt Romney, for example, Sinclair stations in several battlegrounds states aired a ­corporate-produced half-hour news “special” that criticized Obama’s handling of the economy, his signature health-care law and the administration’s management of the terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Romney’s record received less scrutiny. [snip] 

In 2004, Sinclair generated controversy when it considered airing a documentary attacking Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry’s military record just before the election. After complaints from Democrats and calls for an advertiser boycott, Sinclair backed down and ran a program that analysts said was more balanced. The company nevertheless fired its Washington bureau chief after he publicly said that plans to air the anti-Kerry film were “indefensible.”

The folks in the newsroom aren't happy that Sinclair is not only pushing a Republican agenda, but that they want to newsroom to "work for" the advertising-sales department (e.g., doing news tie-ins with corporate sponsors). The article concludes with a quote from Charles Lewis of the Center for Public Integrity:

“I’d be nervous if I were working at WJLA right now,” said Charles Lewis , the founder of the investigative Center for Public Integrity in Washington and a communications professor at American University. “They are stuck with an idiosyncratic owner with its own political views and agenda. It’s a nightmarish scenario for journalists.”

Apparently, too, the Smiths hope to build a networked "local-national channel" that will give them an even greater megaphone to spread the news  Republican propaganda intertwined with local content.

That sound you hear is John Peter Zenger rotating in his grave.

More Right-Wing, White Supremacist Violence

In the past week, we've seen at least two outbursts of far-right extremist violence, with the most recent the deadly shootings in Las Vegas:

A man and a woman who shot two police officers and then a civilian in Las Vegas on Sunday may have been white supremacists, according to Las Vegas newspapers. 

The Las Vegas Sun quoted neighbors at the couple’s apartment complex saying that the two “had a reputation for spouting racist, anti-government views, bragging about their gun collection and boasting that they’d spent time at Cliven Bundy’s ranch during a recent standoff there between armed militia members and federal government agents.”  (our emphasis)

The pair, after killing the two police officers and civilian, committed suicide.  Naturally, the cowards ambushed the two police officers and the unarmed civilian;  those are the tactics "armed militia members" are most comfortable with, when they're not parading their manhood compensators weapons in a Chili's or Starbucks, or at Cliven Bundy's ranch.  As an added touch and to make clear where they stood, the pair put a cover over the dead cops that included the tea bagger "Gadsden flag" ("Don't Tread On Me").

Earlier in the week, a "sovereign citizen" named Dennis Marx attempted to take over a Georgia courthouse:

Dennis Marx, a former TSA employee and member of the 100,000-plus “sovereign citizen” movement, planned to lay siege to a Forsyth County, Ga., courthouse and take hostages before he was killed by a sheriff’s deputy on Friday.

Throwing smoke bombs and tire spikes, Marx attacked the Forsyth County Courthouse on Friday morning, striking a sheriff’s deputy in the leg with a bullet. The deputy, 25-year veteran James Rush, returned fire, and Mr. Marx was killed after a brief gun battle on the street, which was joined by a local SWAT team.

As is generally the case, Charles Pierce leads us to the heart of the matter:

Yeah, like Dennis Marx, these two jamokes allegedly marinated themselves in the stew of guns and paranoia that bubbles daily in the conservative media from fringe radio hosts and chain e-mails all the way up to the polite precincts of the National Review Online and the Fox News Channel. That shouldn't surprise us any more. The enabling of dangerous loons and the empowerment by firearms thereof is simply a staple of conservative politics in this country, yet another fetish object, yet another set of conjuring words for the conservative priesthood, which (always) deplores the activity of a few while realizing in its heart of hearts that it has no political future at the moment, no real substantial constituency, without people like this and millions of others who share Dennis Marx's motivations and his view of the world, but who thus far have declined the opportunity to ventilate their fellow citizens.

We would only add that it should also come as no surprise that the "mainstream media" will do its gosh darned best not to dwell on these stories when there's a good Bergdahl Benghazi!!!  non-scandal to over-inflate.

Meanwhile, it's not a moment too soon that the Justice Department is refocusing on the domestic terrorist front.

UPDATE:  Raw Story has more on the Las Vegas killer-creeps, with photos and the pair's Facebook likes (Rand Paul, Ron Paul, Freedom Works, the NRA, "patriot movement's" Alex Jones, etc.).

UPDATE II:  Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog trashes typical right-wing attempts to paint the two Las Vegas wingnuts at "leftists."  Leftists, my ass.

UPDATE III:  The Anti-Defamation League weighs in:

“The two police officers who lost their lives are only the latest in a series of casualties in a de facto war being waged against police by right-wing extremists, including both anti-government extremists and white supremacists,” said Mark Pitcavage, ADL Director of Investigative Research.

Letters We Wish We'd Written Dept. - Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl Edition

From this morning's once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle:

Those who would heap scorn on Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl after he has suffered more than most of us can imagine need to read the parable of the prodigal son. In the parable, the son who has squandered his inheritance and returned to his father in shame is welcomed with open arms by his father. When the father’s other son, who has remained loyal to his father, protests this warm welcome, the father replies, “But it was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this, your brother, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.” 

No matter what mistakes Mr. Bergdahl made prior to being captured, on the occasion of his return can’t we put aside our judgment for once, show a little grace and just be glad Mr. Bergdahl has returned to his family?

Andrew Huston, Washington 

We're not sanguine that the good bible-thumping Christian Republicans busy smearing Sgt. Bergdahl care much about the lesson of this parable.  As Sen. Reid said on Wednesday, "It is clear they are worried his release could be seen as a victory for President Obama."

Also from this morning's Bezos Bugle, a front-page article exposing some of the flip-flopping in the Republican Party concerning Bergdahl's release (they were for it before they were against it).  Let's have some more of this front-page Republican hypocrisy-shaming, Bezos Bugle!

Not mentioned, the 24/7 right-wing calumny machine that's determined to make Bergdahl a figure to be loathed, because after all, Obama!  Also Benghazi!  Also beards! Also grifters gotta be griftin'.

"The Brainwashing Of My Dad"

There's a documentary being funded through Kickstarter called "The Brainwashing Of My Dad"which is about the effects of a multi-year diet of right-wing hate radio, Fox "News," and other right-wing media on the father of Jen Senko. It's a project deserving of our support (go to the Kickstarter page for more information and to contribute). Here's the trailer:

WWSRRD?

What Would St. Ronnie Reagan Do about the situation in the Ukraine?  Jon Stewart knows:

The Mole That Roared

Paul Farhi, the once great Washington Post  Bezos Bugle's media critic, has a feature article today about whether the "media-briefing battles between [White House press secretary] Jay Carney and ABC's Jon Karl" are benefiting anyone.  Farhi catalogs some of the more noteworthy dust-ups between the two and concludes that the confrontations are emblematic of a format that sheds more heat than light on topics of the day.  Well, yeah.  But throughout his pearl-clutching, Farhi never gets to the reason why Karl is the biggest dick in a briefing room full of dicks.

All you need to know about Jonathan Karl is right here:

Karl came to mainstream journalism via the Collegiate Network, an organization primarily devoted to promoting and supporting right-leaning newspapers on college campuses (Extra!, 9-10/91)—such as the Rutgers paper launched by the infamous James O’Keefe (Political Correction, 1/27/10). The network, founded in 1979, is one of several projects of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, which seeks to strengthen conservative ideology on college campuses. William F. Buckley was the ISI’s first president, and the current board chair is American Spectator publisher Alfred Regnery. Several leading right-wing pundits came out of Collegiate-affiliated papers, including Ann Coulter, Dinesh D'Souza, Michelle Malkin, Rich Lowry and Laura Ingraham (Washington Times, 11/28/04).

There's a lot more at that link that paints Karl as a fairly obvious Republican mole in the press corps.  He's notorious for being caught parroting Republican talking points during the Benghazi! phony e-mail flapdoodle.  So, are we shocked that someone in the media is a right-winger?  Hardly (see: Fox "News").  But, when the story's about someone who's essentially a political operative who happens to have a press badge, let's have his/ her professional pedigree at least be mentioned, ok?

Hey, Who Invited These Clowns?

Jon Stewart on the "extreme takeover" of the Republican Party by the tea baggers, and the hacks who facilitated it (after the ad):

WSJ: Drop The Obamacare Defunding Gambit So You Can Beat Up On The Poors

The Republican establishment editorial board of the Wall Street Journal has a moment of sanity on the Republican "defund Obamacare" suicide pact :

We’ve often supported backbenchers who want to push GOP leaders in a better policy direction, most recently on the farm bill. But it’s something else entirely to sabotage any plan with a chance of succeeding and pretend to have “leverage” that exists only in the world of townhall applause lines and fundraising letters.

And in the next breath wants us to know what's really important to them:

The best option now is for the GOP to unite behind a budget strategy that can hold 218 votes, keeping the sequester pressure of discretionary spending cuts on Democrats to come to the table on entitlements. The sequester is a rare policy victory the GOP has extracted from Mr. Obama, and it is squeezing liberal constituencies that depend on federal cash.   (our emphasis)

"A rare policy victory," if by "victory" you mean bringing misery to millions of your fellow Americans.  And that's exactly what they mean.

(h/t Washington Monthly)

The Rethugs' Hostage-Taking Base

The loons and crackpots that seemingly inhabit the far-right base of the Rethuglican Party, as well as their own alternate universe, are doing great damage to Rethug prospects nationally, says Harold Meyerson in today's Kaplan Daily (to which we say, play on!). Having been fed a steady diet of lies, stuff and nonsense by right-wing outlets like Fox and the hate radio nuts for years, the Rethug base has gone so far off the deep end (think birfers, sharia law being imposed everywhere, Obama's an Islamofascistsocialist, and climate change denial) that any Rethug looking at a run for office is in effect held hostage by these loons and crackpots and has to play their loony tune just to gain traction. Even Karl "Turdblossom" Rove has started to look upon the madness as a huge looming problem for Rethugs in the months and years ahead. Sample from Meyerson's article:

"If Rove really wanted to stop Trump and the birthers in their tracks, he should have looked Fox News viewers straight in the camera's eye and told them to change the channel."

But that would be biting the hand that feeds him, wouldn't it?!