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Showing posts with label liberal media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label liberal media. Show all posts

Sunday, March 05, 2017

Creating Their Own Safe Space

Today's Strib had a piece in it about pro Trump supporters and their protest at the state capital today in St. Paul. Two parts jumped out at me.

The rally was one of several held around the nation Saturday by a loosely organized group called March4Trump. Word about it was spread largely via social media. Many at the Capitol expressed deep mistrust of the mainstream news media, with some livestreaming the event on social media.

Most on the right think the media is liberal, liars, fake news etc. Doesn't this mean that they are just like liberals in creating their own safe spaces?

Yes. Yes it does.

They refuse to accept any information that isn't to their liking. They summarily reject critical thinking and, well, FACTS. Worse, they think liberals do the same thing. Hint: we don't. We read and see all the same news they do but recognize nonsense when we see it.

Here was the other part that interested me.

Steven LaMont, a 30-year-old plumber from Rush City in Chisago County, came to St. Paul with a group of friends. He, too, blasted negative characterizations of Trump supporters, saying voters like him backed Trump because the middle class has been squeezed by policymakers in Washington. "I'm sick of the hard left always putting a label on individuals, like you're a racist, you're homophobic, you're this or that, and they don't even know who we are," LaMont said. "People voted for Trump not just because of who he is. We voted for him because we're the squished middle class."

This is why Trump won. The same people that voted for Obama twice voted for Trump. Democrats need to figure out exactly why and use that going forward. It's going to be easy because Trump isn't going to deliver.

Oh, and btw, why are Trump supporters just normal folk when they protest but liberals are "paid" protesters?

Friday, February 24, 2017

Smelling More Like Nixon

The Trump Administration must be pretty nervous about its Russian ties these days. Apparently, they asked the FBI to "knock down" stories about Trump ties to Russia. Appalling in many ways and a gross breach of ethics. Further, it tightens the comparison to Richard Nixon in the final months of his presidency. Considering we are barely out of the first month of the Trump administration, the future does not look good for this president.


Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Hey Media, Shut The Fuck Up About White Working Class Voters

I haven't gone off on a full rant in awhile but the douchey hipster sitting next to me at Caribou right now has inspired me (Why do these asshats all the same? Always a goatee...bald...skinny sweater...super complicated coffee order...says the word "useability" 89t times...they are working on via their laptop is cutting edge...vital...limited edition "thing" that will change everyone's lifestyle....like they are a Google engineer or some fucking thing...fucking millenials...)

Anyway, I'm way past tired of all the attention white working class voters are getting these days. Every single media elite is falling all over themselves to breathlessly explain how the Democrats have lost their connection to this group. Of course, Democrats must listen to the media who, just a few weeks ago, were talking about how Republicans had lost their connection to this group, because if they don't they are going to lose every election ever until the end of all that is holy!!! Never mind the fact that Democrats won back seats in both the Senate and the House. Facts be damned!!!

Yes, Hillary Clinton should have gone to Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania more as Barack Obama did. It would have helped if she took of the pants suits and maybe wore jeans and hung around some local cafes in the precincts that mattered. But that's putting all the blame on her and that's simply not fair. Why not look at the people themselves? These are the folks that voted for Donald Trump and they should be accountable for that.

Catering to their every whim and making sure they are all tucked in at night in comfy, flannel pajamas is ludicrous. Someone needs to tell them that their jobs are not coming back. They have been replaced by robots and, unless they go back to school or retrain, they are going to be sitting at home, watching Fox News and reading Drudge all fucking day. In short, they will amount to nothing regardless of what Donald Trump does in the White House.

It's not the rest of the country's fault that they have made shitty choices in their lives. It's certainly not my fault or anyone else's fault that they are so fucking ignorant that they voted for the worst possible human being to run our country. Can anyone honestly think of someone who is worse? Maybe Kim Jong Un....

My point (and rant) is this. White, working class voters, are not the center of the universe. In fact, they are part of a United States that no longer exists. The media's obsession with them does a great disservice to all of the other Americans out there who don't fall into this demographic. Honestly, it's mildly racist to obsess about them so much considering they have lived a life of privilege and your average black person has not.

The worst offender in all of this is Morning Joe. I used to really love this show but since Trump has won (and since Joe and Mika are apparently advising the Donald), their tone has gotten really ugly. They aren't talking much about Russia which I find to be most interesting. They are trying to make the massive train wreck that is coming seem like it's not big deal. They simply refuse to accept anything less than gargantuan criticism of the Clintons and rip anyone who tries to point out that Hillary really had a lot of nasty shit done to her in this election.

Remember, folks, every thing is Hillary's fault...especially her failure to connect with white working class voters!

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Propaganda 101

Take a look at the image below.


























For me and other citizens living in the US, this represents right about where all the various media outlets fall in terms of political bias. Yet, the right wing blogger mentality that will sadly soon be running our nation would see this and howl in derision. All those "useful idiots" in the middle? Yeah, they're all secret communist agents. Fox is more middle of the road. And the Daily Caller, Drudge and Zerohedge? Well, they are the only truth tellers out there, dammit!!

This is EXACTLY how Donald Trump won the election.

Paul Krugman has a great piece up called "Useful Idiots Galore" which perfectly summarizes how much like a fiddle we were all played. In particular, his comments about the mainstream media were dead on right.

The bigger surprise was the behavior of the news media, and I don’t mean fake news; I mean big, prestigious organizations. Leaked emails, which everyone knew were probably the product of Russian hacking, were breathlessly reported as shocking revelations, even when they mostly revealed nothing more than the fact that Democrats are people. Meanwhile, the news media dutifully played up the Clinton server story, which never involved any evidence of wrongdoing, but merged in the public mind into the perception of a vast “email” scandal when there was nothing there.

I completely agree. But there's something deeper that Krugman has missed. Propaganda 101 tells us that the first thing you have to do is get a good chunk of people to stop listening to trusted news sources. After that, it's merely a matter of introducing alternative news sources that don't cause heads to hurt (see: cognitive dissonance.). Enter the Drudge Report, Zerohedge, InfoWars and, of course, Fox News...all of which peddled pro-Russian stories the entire election. What does all this amount to?

President Donald Trump.

What a bunch of suckers. Putin probably has daily stomach aches from laughing at how easy it was to fool so many Americans. When US hegemonic power begins to erode in the world because of all of this and we start to see hints of authoritarianism here at home, will they still find a way to blame liberals?

Or will they finally understand what they have done and accept responsibility?

Saturday, December 03, 2016

A Liberal Elitist Speaks

As a member of the liberal elite in the US, why am I responsible for the poor life choices and willful ignorance of other people? As a teacher and highly educated person, I've been told in this election by voters, pundits and the right wing media that I am a smug liberal who has been taught a lesson now that Trump has won. Apparently it's my know it all ness and desire for progression that offends them.

At the core of this issue is the concept of responsibility. Far too many people don’t want to take responsibility for their lot in life and want to blame others for their choices. The factory worker in the Rust Belt who voted for Trump and is angry about the liberal elites would serve him or her self better by accepting that the computer chip, not the faux boogieman of media/Democrats/Progressives/academics.

It’s not their fault that he/her chose their path in life. People who are filled with anger, hate and fear need to scapegoat and are incapable of taking responsibility for themselves. It always has to be the fault of someone else and why not someone who is more accomplished and intelligent? In the final analysis, this kind of stuff (seen in the OP’s link) is petty jealousy and insecurity.

Of course, the bigger issue of the coming Trump presidency is not so much the man himself but the masses that will believe when he refuses to accept the responsibility of his actions. They will cheer him because they too always love to blame others, specifically the media and liberals, for their actions not really working out in reality.

We live in a post truth world. and when the reality of the 21st century starts to sink in, the authoritarians like Trump and his supporters will do what their ilk always do: find a scapegoat. Some would argue that they already have…

Ten Days After: Harassment and Intimidation in the Aftermath of the Election

Saturday, November 26, 2016

Memo To Media: Shut the Fuck Up About Rural White Voters

At this point, the media really needs to shut the fuck up about rural white voters. Let's see...some people have lost their jobs because of globalization (along with a steadfast refusal to retrain in a different field) and technology versus hundreds of years of systemic oppression which still continues to this day.

If I were a person of color in the US today, I'd be way past sick over this hyper obsession with people who have honestly enjoyed privilege their entire lives and refuse to accept it.

Thursday, September 08, 2016

The Media's Five Unspoken Rules For Covering Hillary Clinton

Reprinted here from this very much spot on piece from Jonathan Allen.

1) Everything, no matter how ludicrous-sounding, is worthy of a full investigation by federal agencies, Congress, the "vast right-wing conspiracy," and mainstream media outlets

2) Every allegation, no matter how ludicrous, is believable until it can be proven completely and utterly false. And even then, it keeps a life of its own in the conservative media world. 

3) The media assumes that Clinton is acting in bad faith until there's hard evidence otherwise. 

4) Everything is newsworthy because the Clintons are the equivalent of America's royal family. 

5) Everything she does is fake and calculated for maximum political benefit.

I'd like to see them apply this standard to Donald Trump.

Sunday, August 14, 2016

Most Talented Presidential Candidate Ever?

I can't think of a better clip that demonstrates the media's Sybil like relationship with Donald Trump.



Now, of course, Halperin thinks Trump is a buffoon. Sheesh...

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

It's The Media's Fault!!

For years, conservatives have foamed at the mouth about victims. They caterwaul about how too few Americans don't take responsibility for their individual actions. Even the Gun Cult will tell you that if someone shoots someone else, it's not their fault. We have to place the blame squarely on the shoulders of the individual.

Yet when it comes to their candidates for office or even their pundits, they are not responsible for their words or actions. It's the liberal media, twisting their words and making it seem like they said something they didn't. Rather than own it, they wriggle away with scapegoating an institution that merely calls them on their bullshit.

Take the latest call from Donald Trump to commit violence in the name of liberty. I say "latest" because he's done this before with protesters at his events. Yesterday, he said the following.

Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish, the Second Amendment. By the way, and if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know. But I’ll tell you what, that will be a horrible day.

Conservatives have tried to spin this as Trump talking about taking political action to prevent Hillary from getting into office but let's keep in mind that his phrasing suggests that she has already won. That's when the Second Amendment people can step in and it will be horrible. It's pretty clear as to what he is referring. Check out this guy's reaction in the audience.



Rather than apologize for what he suggested and own it, Trump has blamed the media and its bias. Let me make this very, very simple.

No, Donald (and Cult members), it's YOUR fault because YOU said it.

Saturday, October 31, 2015

Republicans Take Ball, Go Home

In a not very surprising move, the GOP has suspended its relationship with NBC due to the poor questioning at last Wednesday night's debate. In short, they are taking their ball and going home.

Although, home ain't what it used to be. Similar complaints were aired about Megyn Kelly and Fox News after the first debate. CNN also received a a laundry list of beefs. Essentially, if it's not Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, and Mark Levin, Republicans don't have the balls to face anyone who is even remotely contrary to them.

Once again, we see The Adolescent in full play. Whining about fairness...blaming others (the media, liberals) for their problems...tantrums...shutting out reality. They don't want any sort of pesky facts like...oh, the fact that the USA ranks #1 in the world in terms of economic competitiveness...getting out there.

Perhaps they should have a debate exclusively run by conservative media. I think the United States should get unfettered access to life inside the bubble.

I don't have much else to say about the debate. No one really "won" or "lost" in my opinion. All I heard was the same wacky, ideological nonsense combined with fevered predictions of doom and gloom. The media is saying Rubio, Cruz and Christie won and Bush lost. Who really cares?

Monday, August 24, 2015

A Fair Shake?

With Hillary Clinton currently under fire for kicking a dog in Iowa and telling some kid that he wasn't good at sports in New Hampshire, the normally conservative Chicago Sun Times has an interesting piece about how she can't seem to get a fair shake in the media.

“Someone said the other day that Washington may now have reached the state-of-the-art point of having a cover-up without a crime,” pronounced the Washington Post. By failing to come clean, Hillary had managed “to make it appear as if the Clintons had something to hide.” “These clumsy efforts at suppression are feckless and self-defeating,” thundered The New York Times. Hillary’s actions, the newspaper continued, “are swiftly draining away public trust in (her) integrity.” 

OK, I’m teasing. Both editorials appeared 21 years ago, in January 1994. They expressed outrage at Hillary Clinton’s turning over Whitewater documents to federal investigators rather than the press, which had conjured a make-believe scandal out of bogus reporting of a kind that’s since grown all too familiar in American journalism.

Hilarious!

Even more amusing...

Bottom line: When they start talking about narratives and perceptions, these would-be insiders, they’re talking about themselves.

Exactly right.

Prediction...

This has to be at least the fourth time the same crowd has predicted her imminent demise, if not her indictment and conviction. All based upon partisan leaks — this Trey Gowdy joker is nothing compared to Kenneth Starr’s leak-o-matic prosecutors — and upon presumed evidence in documents nobody’s yet seen. From the Rose Law Firm billing records to Benghazi, it’s the same old story: When the evidence finally emerges, it turns out that Hillary has been diligently coloring inside the lines all along.

I doubt that uncomfortable feeling in their brains (cognitive dissonance) will allow them to admit this, though. Expect more dogs kicked and little kids feelings hurt.

Saturday, May 23, 2015

The Media (ahem) Covers White Crime

Great piece up on Vox about the "liberal" media covers crime when white people are involved.

With the Waco incident, we got just the news — not the racial pathology. Those who are using what happened in Waco to start conversations about stereotypes and media biases against black people aren't complaining about the tenor of this weekend's media coverage. They're saying something a little different: that by being pretty reasonable and sticking to the facts, this coverage highlights the absurdity of the language and analysis that have been deployed in other instances, when the accused criminals are black.

Yep.

Friday, May 01, 2015

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

The "Liberal" Media v The City of Baltimore

While the (ahem) liberal media continues to show images of crazy niggers looting the city of Baltimore, I thought I would share some other images.






































































And these images are where on MSNBC?


Tuesday, April 21, 2015

The End of the Liberal Media Meme

Today, I formally declare the death of the liberal media meme so often used by conservatives. With the admission that the New York Times and the Washington Post have joined Fox News for exclusive deals to anti-Clinton research, this signals the end of that giant pile of shit.

The media has always been interested in what sells and sensationalizes, not propping up liberal leaders and candidates. Conservatives don't like when the media reports on liberals succeeding because it reveals the contrast they don't want the voters to see. There's no bias in illustrating that liberals are generally better at solving problems than conservatives. It's simply a fact. Whether it's the economy, foreign policy, the environment, health care or education, liberals do a better job. Period. Relating these facts doesn't make the media liberal.

Every major news outlet is going to be reporting about the emails, the donations and Bill Clinton's shenanigans for the next 18 months...just like they reported about Reverend Wright, Bill Ayers, Benghazi, and all the other "OMG!" moments in the political career of Barack Obama. The difference between their reporting on this stuff as opposed to say...WMD's in Iraq...is that conservative mistakes invariably result in massive disaster (terrorists attack on US soil-loss of 3000 lives, city of New Orleans falling into the sea, economy collapsing).

Perhaps if conservatives don't like that, they should do a better job of being more competent. Of course, that begins with an admission that the core tenets of their ideology are complete failures.

Thursday, March 05, 2015

It MUST Be About BENGHAZI

As I predicted, conservatives are only interested in the Hillary email kerfuffle as it relates to Benghazi. Like a dog that just won't let go of that Frisbee, they are laser focused in on the emails that pertain to the thing they still think they can "get" Obama on and win (see: still with the sour grapes that he got bin Laden and Bush didn't).

At first, I couldn't figure out why they haven't been more vocal about these emails but this piece on Politico explains it quite well. They know that their emails are next. In fact, I predict that every candidate who currently holds public office is going to have to release all their emails to the public. Further, their silence calls attention to the fact that it was the New York Fucking Times that broke this story. So, I guess the whole "liberal media" narrative has been blown to shit...again.

The media does deserve some criticism, though, because we are likely going to have to hear about this shit for the next 20 months along with a bunch of bullshit stories about the rest of the candidates. Wouldn't it be nice if we looked at how each candidate might, y'know, address the myriad of challenges our nation faces?

Friday, October 10, 2014

Sunday, September 14, 2014

The Changing Times

It's been a bad week for the NFL. The elevator video of Ray Rice punching his wife Janay and knocking her out was terrible. Adrian Peterson taking a wood switch to his step son and leaving welts and cuts is simply awful. I've enjoyed watching AP play for my beloved Vikings over the years but these recent revelations are simply too much. Both he and Ray Rice should never play in the NFL again.

Although each situation is markedly different, there is an overriding issue that bind them together in commonality. To illustrate this similarity, I have to begin by noting how thoroughly sick I am of the media and their race to prove which one of them is a bigger defender of abused women. I'm a very proud liberal and Democrat but I am completely disgusted by outlets like ThinkProgress, HuffPo, and MSNBC for their hyper over reaction to the Ray Rice story. Here's the deal, folks.

No one is going to dispute that Ray Rice is awful. He should be charged with assault, not a petty misdemeanor. But guess what? Janay Rice is also awful. She spit on him and charged him. That does not give him the right to do what he did but it most certainly means she's not a passive victim from an ABC afterschool special about spousal abuse as the media is making her out to be. That's what makes the Ray Rice story different from the AP story. AP's step son was a passive victim who simply got into an argument over a video game with this brother.

As soon Janay's payday was threatened, she showed her true colors. Both Ray Rice and his wife are emotionally unintelligent people who need years of intensive therapy to be better members of our society. So does Adrian Peterson. So do millions of other couples or parents who think it's OK to solve their problems through violence. This is a problem within the NFL but it's really our society as a whole that has failed to address this issue properly.

If the media wants to perform an actual public service here, they should stop trying to get an "A" in Women's Studies 101 and start promoting good mental and emotional health for all US citizens. Encourage people to go to therapy for their problems and become more emotionally intelligent. EVERYONE needs therapy and the day domestic violence ends is the day the stigma about mental and emotional health is gone with people talking about it as openly as they talk about going to the dentist.

At an even higher level, our revulsion to Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson represents just how much society has changed over the past fifty years. I recall a debate on TSM a couple of years back in which one of biggest fans (DJ) advocated corporal punishment. His support of this shows just how out of step his mentality is with our current society. What we are seeing with these stories is a shift away from that "golden age of America" that conservatives childishly pine for on a daily basis.

There was no fucking golden age of America. Blacks were treated like shit, gay people were arrested, men beat their wives and got away with it because women were considered inferior, and dads whopped their kids leaving welts and cuts. It was a very emotionally unintelligent culture and we are seeing the remnants of that being swept away.

Thursday, August 14, 2014

If They Gunned Me Down, Which Picture Would They Use?

Since the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri last weekend, a social media trend has started called "If They Gunned Me Down, Which Picture Would They Use?" Here is an example on tumblr.

I've basically said the same thing in the past about Trayvon Martin. If he was wearing a suit and carrying a Bible, he would still be alive today and George Zimmerman wouldn't have given him a second look. But because he fit the image of how the "liberal media" portray hoodlums, a suspicion arose based purely on cultural prejudice.

Take a look at the photos in the above link and ask yourselves honestly...what image would the media use?


Monday, August 04, 2014

The Blamestream Media
























And their solutions to our problems are...?