Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Media: The press can't stop crying wolf

Aesop made some solid points, that's why the fables continue to be passed down.  We're thinking specifically of THE BOY WHO CRIED WOLF.   The point of that fable was that if you repeatedly alarm people falsely, when a real cause for alarm arises, no one's going to believe you.

It's a lesson most of us learn.  That category (most) does not appear to include the US press -- a reality that became more obvious over the last few days.

These Tweets:

  1. Why should I, as President of the United States, allow countries to continue to make Massive Trade Surpluses, as they have for decades, while our Farmers, Workers & Taxpayers have such a big and unfair price to pay? Not fair to the PEOPLE of America! $800 Billion Trade Deficit...
  2. Fair Trade is now to be called Fool Trade if it is not Reciprocal. According to a Canada release, they make almost 100 Billion Dollars in Trade with U.S. (guess they were bragging and got caught!). Minimum is 17B. Tax Dairy from us at 270%. Then Justin acts hurt when called out!
  3.   Retweeted
    President and the Prime Minister of Italy, at the in Canada...
  4. PM Justin Trudeau of Canada acted so meek and mild during our meetings only to give a news conference after I left saying that, “US Tariffs were kind of insulting” and he “will not be pushed around.” Very dishonest & weak. Our Tariffs are in response to his of 270% on dairy!
  5. Based on Justin’s false statements at his news conference, and the fact that Canada is charging massive Tariffs to our U.S. farmers, workers and companies, I have instructed our U.S. Reps not to endorse the Communique as we look at Tariffs on automobiles flooding the U.S. Market!
  6. …Create peace and great prosperity for his land. I look forward to meeting him and have a feeling that this one-time opportunity will not be wasted!
  7. I am on my way to Singapore where we have a chance to achieve a truly wonderful result for North Korea and the World. It will certainly be an exciting day and I know that Kim Jong-un will work very hard to do something that has rarely been done before...
  8. The United States will not allow other countries to impose massive Tariffs and Trade Barriers on its farmers, workers and companies. While sending their product into our country tax free. We have put up with Trade Abuse for many decades — and that is long enough.





They set off a storm in the US.


Donald Trump is so this, Donald Trump is so that.

What is the point?

Why did NYT employees, for example, feel the need to comment?

Do they not understand they need to shut the f**k up on social media?

How is that so hard to grasp for an outlet that wants to be seen as unbiased?

THE NEW YORK TIMES, CNN, and others don't get that they prove Donald Trump correct everytime they pull this crap.

The media is clearly biased against him.

This helps no one.

The bias allows any accurate reporting or analysis to be ignored.

Last week, CNN's Jim Acosta sought to school Trump on the 1812 War over Trump's question to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as to whether Canada didn't once burn down the the US White House.  Acosta didn't know what he was talking about.

And he issued no correction, not even when it was repeatedly pointed out that he (Acosta) was wrong.

How does this help anyone?

When Dan Rather covered the White House for CBS, Rather was antagonistic.  That's fine.  You shouldn't be a lap dog for anyone you cover.  But CBS understood that antagonistic role limited Rather in what he could do elsewhere in the news department.

CNN doesn't seem to grasp that.  They're either as stupid or fraudulent as their own ugly Chris Cuomo who insisted his prime time show would be fair.  CUOMO PRIME TIME is more of his yelling and abuse.  He's a blow hard and he's a very ugly blow hard.  Sean Hannity is getting fat, no question.  But his photographic negative Cuomo gets uglier each year.  He left passable about ten years ago and he's flat out ugly now.  A woman of Chris' equivalence in physical looks would not get hired by CNN.  His looks don't justify continued employment and his actions certainly don't.

CNN isn't supposed to be FOX NEWS or MSNBC.  It's supposed to be a neutral, mainstream channel.

But in The Age of Trump, there's apparently no such thing.

Donald's disagreements with Justin?

Not the end of the world.

Also true, Donald's the one on the right side.


Some of the things Trump are doing are autocratic. Pointing out the trade system screws the US and that our allies don’t pay enough for NATO are long overdue and frankly if they had been admitted earlier Trump wouldn’t be President.






A reminder that Trudeau is fighting to preserve in NAFTA a privatized court for global multinationals opposed by Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and... Donald Trump. These politics are weird. Do not get suckered.




  1. What's ironic is that factions of the Democratic Party have always supported tariffs like this. Presumably is also under Putin's spell
  2. Wanting to impose some modest tariffs is evidence of a full-blown Manchurian Candidate conspiracy






But the press didn't want to tell you that Donald was right for US workers.  They just wanted to attack.  It was, said the asshole father of Maggie Haberman, enough to finally make him embarrassed of his own government.


That's what it took?  Trump being right?

They are out of control and they do not realize that their reputation today is so far beyond how bad it was when Paul Newman felt the need (a strong need, a good need) to make the film ABSENCE OF MALICE

That film?  Why, that's a good time to bring up Carter Page.  Let's go to CRAPAPEDIA:


Page served as a foreign policy adviser in Donald Trump's 2016 Presidential campaign.[22] In September 2016, U.S. intelligence officials investigated alleged contacts between Page and Russian officials subject to U.S. sanctions, including Igor Sechin, the president of state-run Russian oil conglomerate Rosneft.[4] After news reports began to appear describing Page's links to Russia and Putin's government, Page stepped down from his role in the Trump campaign.[1][23]
Shortly after Page resigned from the Trump campaign, the Federal Bureau of Investigation obtained another warrant (he was subject to one beginning in 2014) from the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) in October 2016 to surveil Page's communications.[24] To issue the warrant, a federal judge concluded there was probable cause to believe that Page was a foreign agent knowingly engaging in clandestine intelligence for the Russian government.[25] The initial 90-day warrant was subsequently renewed more than once.[26] The New York Times reported on May 18, 2018 that the surveillance warrant expired around October 2017.[27]
In January 2017, Page's name appeared repeatedly in the "Steele dossier" containing allegations of close interactions between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.[28][29][30][31] By the end of January 2017, Page was under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Director of National Intelligence, and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.[32] Page was not accused of any wrongdoing.[33]
The Trump Administration attempted to distance itself from Page, saying that he had never met Mr. Trump or advised him about anything,[2] but a December 2016 Page press conference in Russia contradicts the claim that Page and Trump never met.[34] Page responded to a question about his contact with Trump saying, "I've certainly been in a number of meetings with him and I've learned a tremendous amount from him."[35] Page testified before the intelligence committee that he kept senior officials in the Trump campaign such as Corey LewandowskiHope Hicks, and J.D. Gordon informed about his contacts with the Russians.[36]
In October 2017, Page said he would not cooperate with requests to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee and would assert his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.[37] He said this was because they were requesting documents dating back to 2010, and he did not want to be caught in a "perjury trap". He expressed the wish to testify before the committee in an open setting.[38]



Carter Page hasn't been charged with anything.

ABSENCE OF MALICE?  Rogert Ebert noted in his original review of the film (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES):

The first approach, no doubt, would be to criticize this film's portrait of an investigative newspaper reporter -- to say that no respectable journalist would ever do the things that Sally Field does about, to, and with Paul Newman in this movie. She is a disgrace to her profession.
What journalistic sins does she commit in this film? She allows the facts of a secret investigation to be leaked to her. She prints an unattributed story about the investigation. Then she becomes "personally involved with the subject of the investigation," as they say. In other words, she falls in love with Paul Newman. Then she prints another story she should never have printed, and as a result an innocent bystander commits suicide. Then…


What reporter would do stuff like that?

No respectable journalist, as Roger Ebert noted.

Hey, meet Ali The Press Hooker Watkins.  She works for THE NEW YORK TIMES now.

She felt the way to get ahead was to sleep with a married man and not tell readers that her 'scoops' were based on her ability to sleep with James A. Wolfe, several decades older, and use him as her source.  He wanted Carter Page's name publicized?  Ali's the cheap hooker to do it.

Ali's not the first person to put out in order to get ahead.  But she's still rather vile.

She never told her readers that her source was her sex partner.  In fact, in her Twitter account, she implied that her source(s) were from within the Trump administration.  That's lying.

She's a disgusting person who sullies the name of any journalist who plays by the rules.

Her ass should be fired immediately.

And anyone stupid enough to call James A. Wolfe a 'whistle-blower' doesn't grap what he was leaking.  He wasn't whistle-blowing.

She makes journalists look bad an she needs to be fired.  Her actions give Donald Trump the backing he needs to cry "fake news!" yet again.

The fact that some are trying to rally support for her goes to how out of touch journalists are today.  We were also reminded of how out of touch they were when THE WASHINGTON POST's Barton Gelman Tweeted the following:


I’ve wondered the same thing you’re wondering. There are worse things than life in prison and loss of all wealth.






Barton Gellman, is he for real?

The idiot neoliberal Josh Micah Marshy Asscrack Tweets that Manafort is "fighting this like his life, his wife's life, his kids and grandids . . ."

That deserves to be rebuked, not popularized.  Manfort is under indictment and house arrest (neither of which proves guilt, a court will determine guilt).  Who wouldn't fight like their life depended on it?  Lazy ass Josh Micah Marshy Asscrack?  And Barton wonders "the same thing" because "[t]here are worse things than life in prison and loss of all weatlh."

Is Barton that out of touch?  Are journalists?

Because to the average person in America, if you tell them you're coming for what they own and throwing them in prison for life, they're going to see that as serious and something to fight.  Only pompous asses can't see that.

Sadly, the pompous asses appear to be in charge of the press.  And they're destroying it and any faith the public might have left in it.


















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