As the media constantly demonstrates with its bad actions, it's not about serving the interests of the people or about telling the truth. And no one ever nailed them as strongly as Joni Mitchell.
It's dog eat dog
I'm just waking up
The dove is in the dungeon
And the white washed hawks
peddle hate and call it love
Dog Eat Dog
Holy hope in the hands of
Snakebite evangelists and racketeers
And big wig financiers
Dog Eat Dog
On prime time crime the victim begs
Money is the road to justice
and power walks it on crooked legs
Prime Time Crime
Holy hope in the hands of
Snakebite evangelists and racketeers
and big wig financiers
Where the wealth's displayed
Thieves and sycophants parade
And where it's made
the slaves will be taken
Some are treated well
In these games of buy and sell
And some like poor beasts
Are burdened down to breaking
-- "Dog Eat Dog," written by Joni Mitchell, title track to her 1985 album.
What is it -- a sense of tribalism, a need to belong, a desire for a non-secular church -- that causes so many otherwise intelligent people on the left to rush to cheer the serving up for reality -- treating it as an honor instead of as the media obligation that it actually is?
We started asking that question a few weeks back when, during our public speaking, we heard non-stop praise for CRAPAPEDIA.
We wondered what amazing feat was responsible for this praise.
Nothing. They'd done nothing but state reality. June 21st, Amy Goodman (DEMOCRACY NOW!) noted:
Wikipedia has declared the Anti-Defamation League a “generally
unreliable” source on the Israel-Palestine conflict in a major PR blow
for the pro-Israel group. The majority of Wikipedia editors found the ADL to be heavily biased against Palestinian rights. The label puts the ADL
in the same category as Fox News and Amazon reviews, among other
“unreliable” sources. Editors are also considering applying the
unreliable designation to the ADL in relation to “antisemitism.”
Next up, cheers for that broken analog clock you haven't yet thrown out for still getting the time right twice a day!
CRAPAPEDIA, for those who don't know, is nothing to praise. We've long documented its sexism and racism as well as its inability to be factual.
Take the current page on Farrah Fawcett where the biggest lie is in Farrah's TV credits. At the end of them, you will find "2008 South Park Post mortem appearance in 'Dead Celebrities'."
That episode does not feature Farrah Fawcett. They do not use live footage of the actress and she is voiced by April Stewart.
The lie is from November 3, 2023 by FilmTastic who justified the edit as "Added her post-mortem appearance in the cartoon South Park."
The episode includes characters such as Farrah, Michael Jackson, Ted Kennedy, Patrick Swayze, Bea Arthur and many others. Characters. The actual people, who were all dead by the time the episode was written, do not appear, do not provide voices. Interestingly, if you're unaware of CRAPAPEDIA's long history of sexism and desire to punish any woman who ever embraced her own sexuality, it's only Farrah that they did this too. The Michael Jackson entry, for example, didn't get this nonsense -- disrespectful nonsense -- put into it. None of them have it listed as a 'credit' except for Farrah.
Some may say, "That's minor." Really because it's been up for months now and remains uncorrected and it never should have gone up to begin with. It's known at CRAPAPEDIA. They could have fixed it. They chose not to.
They make a lot of choices. Most of those choices involve lying. If they like you -- or they like the person who moderates your page -- they lie for you.
Some of them like Ani DiFranco -- is it because she no longer pretends to be a lesbian? You remember Ani, don't you? The singer-songwriter who trashed MS. MAGAZINE -- but not THE WALL STREET JOURNAL or ROLLING STONE -- for focusing on her album sales? The album sales that people only knew of because Ani DiFranco -- a 'self-published' recording artist -- released them. Well she had bigger problems than that in 2014. Here's how CRAPAPEDIA noted it in her entry in November 2014:
2014 Righteous Retreat
In 2013 DiFranco was criticized on social media and faced "a great deal of outcry"[65] after the announcement that she was hosting a three-day artists' workshop billed as the "Righteous Retreat" at Iberville Parish's Nottoway Plantation in White Castle, Louisiana.[66][67] Nottoway was one of the largest plantations in the South, and features the largest antebellum mansion. Its operator and founder John Randolph owned over 155 slaves in the year 1860.[68] The grounds are now operated as a luxury resort.[69] Critics charged that the resort's promotional material attempts to portray the plantation owner in a positive light,[70] to downplay the suffering of the slaves, and to "sanitize" and "romanticize" the history of slavery for commercial gain.[65][71][72][73][74] DiFranco's choice of venue for the retreat was called "a very blatant display of racism" on a petition at change.org that collected more than 2,600 signatures.[75][76]
On December 29, 2013 DiFranco issued an apology and cancelled the retreat, stating that "i am not unaware of the mechanism of white privilege or the fact that i need to listen more than talk when it comes to issues of race. if nottoway is simply not an acceptable place for me to go and try to do my work in the eyes of many, then let me just concede before more divisive words are spilled. ... i think many positive and life-affirming connections would have been made at this conference, in its all of its complexity of design. i do not wish to reinvent the righteous retreat at this point to eliminate the stay at the Nottoway Plantation. at this point I wish only to cancel."[77] The singer's statements were called "remarkably unapologetic" on jezebel.com,[67][70] and "a variety of excuses and justifications" on ebony.com,[72] and a piece at theguardian.com said the announcement made "much of the idea that this was all a mistake, with no indication of remorse."[74]
DiFranco issued a second apology on January 2, 2014 following continued criticism. In it she wrote, "..i would like to say i am sincerely sorry. it is obvious to me now that you were right - all those who said we can't in good conscience go to that place and support it or look past for one moment what it deeply represents. i needed a wake up call and you gave it to me."[78]
That was too much for her dwindling White girl supporters. So January 1, 2015, it was rewritten:
2014 Righteous Retreat
In 2013 DiFranco was criticized on social media and faced "a great deal of outcry"[65] after the announcement that she was hosting a three-day artists' workshop billed as the "Righteous Retreat" at Iberville Parish's Nottoway Plantation in White Castle, Louisiana.[66][67] Nottoway was one of the largest plantations in the South, and features the largest antebellum mansion. Its operator and founder John Randolph owned over 155 slaves in the year 1860.[68] The grounds are now operated as a luxury resort.[69] Critics charged that the resort's promotional material attempts to portray the plantation owner in a positive light,[70] to downplay the suffering of the slaves, and to "sanitize" and "romanticize" the history of slavery for commercial gain.[65][71][72][73][74] DiFranco's choice of venue for the retreat was called "a very blatant display of racism" on a petition at change.org that collected more than 2,600 signatures.[75][76]
On December 29, 2013 DiFranco issued an apology and cancelled the retreat, stating that "i am not unaware of the mechanism of white privilege or the fact that i need to listen more than talk when it comes to issues of race. if nottoway is simply not an acceptable place for me to go and try to do my work in the eyes of many, then let me just concede before more divisive words are spilled. ... i think many positive and life-affirming connections would have been made at this conference, in its all of its complexity of design. i do not wish to reinvent the righteous retreat at this point to eliminate the stay at the Nottoway Plantation. at this point I wish only to cancel."[77] The singer's statements were called "remarkably unapologetic" on jezebel.com,[67][70] and "a variety of excuses and justifications" on ebony.com,[72] and a piece at theguardian.com said the announcement made "much of the idea that this was all a mistake, with no indication of remorse."[74]
DiFranco issued a second apology on January 2, 2014 following continued criticism. In it she succumbed to the rants of these petty little people by writing, "..i would like to say i am sincerely sorry. it is obvious to me now that you were right - all those who said we can't in good conscience go to that place and support it or look past for one moment what it deeply represents. i needed a wake up call and you gave it to me."[78]
"She succumbed to the rants of these petty little people" -- she "succumbed" to criticism of her racist decision.
From 1996 through 2012, she landed 11 studio albums in the top one-hundred of BILLBOARD's album chart. Her 2012 album made it all the way to 26 -- her second highest charting album (1998's LITTLE PLASTIC CASTLES remains her highest charting album, it made it to number 22). In 2013, she wanted to hold her racist retreat and got a ton of press attention. Which is why 2014's ALLERGIC TO WATER became her lowest charting album since 1996 and struggled to make it to 155 before quickly falling off the charts. Three years later, she tried again with 2017's BINARY which did even worse coming in at 192.
The career was over. Two studio albums failed to chart in BILLBOARD's top 200 and one live album also flopped. And each year, she becomes more and more of a reactionary. Elaine noted in 2023 that she was trying to let the past be the past only to discover, when she wanted to post a video of Ani's "Little Plastic Castles," Ani had only gotten worse:
But I don't really care and was happy to note her until I went looking
for a video of "Little Plastic Castles." I found her 're-mix' which
pissed me off because it destroyed the song. Then I found a live
version she'd done a few months back. Is the reason that two women "in
leather bras and rubber skirts" is left out because there's a small
child listening to you perform the song? I don't find it objectionable
for a child to hear the line. But if you do, don't perform the song in
front of him.
But we're not done with CRAPAPEDIA. The issue with Ani and her racist event? CRAPAPEDIA made it worse. The retreat -- the biggest news ever in Ani's entire career and the event that destroyed her career so it's historically important for both reasons? March 16, 2018, CRAPAPEDIA let a user remove the entire incident from her page with this 'defense:'
15:52, 27 December 2019 72.66.118.132 talk 54,657 bytes −7,521 This incident is unimportant and should not stay on this artist biography and was clearly ginned up by right wing trolls. She is an atheist who revamped a church. So, why would she (an advocate for civil rights and human rights activist) not use a plantation for good and try to do something good with its pain and negative history. This incident of her own community ignoring her good works to support right- wing talking still hurts this artist to this day and should be corrected for history.
It's unimportant? It destroyed her career. She can't even do a tour anymore without seeing rows and rows of empty seats. And that's what she gets. She posed as a lesbian and as a feminist. It brought her money and eventually fame. It led her to the womyn's circuit which made her a professional and a known artist. So isn't it interesting that, in the 90s, the label she owns, heads and controls, released albums by Arlo Lindsay, Utah Phillips, and Kurt Swinghammer? Yeah, that is strange, a feminist heads a recording label and finds success in the 90s as she tells the music press and anyone who will listen how she sees it as her role to put out albums by important artists. She releases, in the 90s, albums by three other artists -- all men.
Ani has always been eager to use feminism. She just never wants to give back. Among the reasons many of us don't see her as a feminist and haven't since she attacked MS. MAGAZINE -- and only MS. MAGAZINE -- for noting her album sales.
The retreat is an important part of the Ani DiFranco story.
Yet CRAPAPEDIA allowed it to be deleted and ignored -- see the talk section -- comments by African-Americans objecting to the deletion. Second, they allowed that ridiculous statement to stand -- it is not "an unimportant" detail, it was not "ginned up by right wing trolls" (JEZEBEL, for example, was not a right-wing site), and talk of the factual event "still hurts this artist to this day." Oh, boo-hoo.
Is that what CRAPAPEDIA stands by, that the truth can be vanished if it hurts the person the truth is being told on?
There's a reason we've long called it CRAPAPEDIA.
And there's a reason that we avoid BREAKING POINTS. There's Saager's homophobia which we've documented before. And there's the general issue that it does more harm than good.
This was yet again demonstrated Sunday when the charismatically challenged and fact-free James Li hosted a segment. Unfamiliar with the prick? To steal from John Mellencamp, "Jackie says 'Baby, you ain't missing nothing'."
And we won't highlight BREAKING POINTS. We'll highlight Kyle because he does some interesting segments and has a brain.
But BREAKING POINTS? Community wide we now boycott it.
June is Pride Month. A detail James Li wanted to remind us of on Sunday as he queued up his segment. So he wanted to cover an LGBTQ issue, he said. (He did not add "plus.")
That could be good. BREAKING POINTS ignored Pride all month -- and the LGBTQ+ community, except for one segment on the recorded homophobic remarks of Martha Alito. So, yeah, they were kind of overdue and then some.
But James Li had a funny way of covering it. He brought on Heidi Briones.
Who? Exactly. But let's help you out, here's how the transphobe describes herself online:
My name is Heidi Briones, and I consider myself a progressive for most of my adult life.
I changed my views after running for office in 2020 and experienced how the left came after me for my views on COVID and other issues that I saw as authoritarian overreach.
Since then I've naturally leaned towards libertarianism as I feel it's crucial to fight authoritarianism on all sides of the aisle.
She's naturally leaned towards the Libertarian Party . . . except when attacking the openly gay Chase Oliver whom lesbian Heidi loathes and has noted she will not be voting for him.
Yes, Heidi is a lesbian. A long closeted lesbian though she frequently lies in interviews in the last two years about this fact and claims she's been out since the 90s. She wasn't out in college. That was three phone calls -- not at her community college and not when she went onto Santa Cruz.
Let's pause for college just a moment. Heidi is a deeply stupid woman. For example, "I have a degree in politics." She said that in the April 6, 2020 interview she gave to Young Republicans for Oregon. It's political science -- yes, when she transferred from her community college she went to The University of California at Santa Cruz, she was on a campus that termed it that; however, around the country it's political science. She's really not a bright person. Or maybe she's just a liar on everything. After all, the point we're making about political science? She made it herself in a 2020 interview with Matt Skidmore. She was really ugly in that interview, by the way, physically repulsive and there's a reason to note that and we'll get to it but let's stay on college. She likes to say she was an English major in grad school but the degree is actually "Teaching English as a Second Language" -- as she notes it on her professional resume -- curiously, she doesn't note her two years of community college on her professional resume. About that resume, she claims in interviews to have a PhD in "applied holistics" yet somehow hasn't managed to include that on her resume either (or, for that matter, on her filing paperwork when she ran in the primary -- despite listing her other degrees).
She ran for the Democratic Party's Congressional seat in Oregon's first district. No surprise that she didn't bother to note that she was a lesbian, that she was married on the voters survey she completed and she didn't bother to note any LGBTQ+ issues either.
Let's underscore that, the idiot James Li brought her on to talk about LGBTQ+ for Pride month but she had no pride when she was running for office in 2020. Had nothing to say on the issue. Watch her 2020 interviews and notice how she doesn't disclose she's a lesbian. The exception is the hour-and-a-half interview with Matt Skidmore where she lets slip she was a lesbian for the Yang Gang. And that she has a wife. A half-sentence. We had to hear tons about her worship of Elon Musk, for example, or about her first job (working for a relative -- on her official resume she leaves out that it was for a relative). That interview is the exception and it's over in 15 seconds. There's her 2020 interview with Will Stern, while she has time to praise Elon Musk yet again (he's what led her to Andrew Yang), she doesn't mention a wife. Kind of strange isn't it. a candidate for office who is married and never mentions their spouse. Suzanne Bonamici -- the candidate who won the primary that Heidi lost -- didn't hide her spouse. By the way, we especially loved her 2020 FACEBOOK interview. Not for her dog face boy look but for the fact that she was on for four live minutes and never knew it and said nothing of consequence because she's honestly that stupid. "I need to go on FACEBOOK and see if I see my face" and "It's not working" when, in fact, for four minutes it worked and she came off like a buffoon.
She did a 2020 nine-minute-plus interview with The League of Women Voters and never noted that she had a wife, that she was a lesbian or addressed any LGBTQ+ issues.
And this is who James Li thinks is needed for his sole LGBTQ+ content for the month of June (and, if you're kind, BREAKING POINTS' second piece of LGBTQ+ content for the month of June).
Wait though. It gets worse. So, so much worse.
Before James Li decided to platform Heidi, she was already on record referring to Dylan Mulvaney as "it."
That's when FOX "NEWS" first started noting the grifter. Quite a step up for a candidate that got 8,000 voters. And she was a candidate for Congress. No, Heidi was running in a primary and the winner of the primary would be the candidate for Congress. Stop inflating her meager resume that includes 'legislative assistant' (intern) because she worked for her aunt who held public office.
She has a long, long history of expressing hatred towards transpeople. She made her feeling perfectly clear in a March appearance on transphobic Kim Iversen's program. And, like the idiot Iversen, it's all "Commies" to Heidi. Who the f**k let this ugly bitch out of the kennel, by the way?
If you know our writing, you know by now, we treat people the way they treat others. And Heidi loves to tweet about the looks of trans women and to tell them they should be judged by their looks since they're women (she actually says since they "want to be women"). And let's not forget her Tweet where she attacked Britney Griner and spread rumors that Britney was a man.
Heidi is physically repugnant. And her hair lightening has not helped her nor has growing it out. That nose is appalling, her beady eyes are disgusting and did she shave her face each day in high school because it's are to see a woman with so much facial damage.
U-g-l-y, she ain't got no alibi, say it with us.
And neither does James Li or, for that matter, BREAKING POINTS.
There was no reason to bring on a hate merchant. None at all. And there was especially no reason to bring on this hate merchant. She's a fan of MEGA MAGA CRAZY Lauren Boebert and got her first mention in THE NEW YORK POST for fluffing Boe-Boe.
She's always been an idiot on every topic. It's why she was selling gym memberships to begin with. She's unskilled and stupid -- at least she admitted to the unskilled part in some interviews. She tried to talk economics in the past despite the fact that she has no grasp of economics. Proposing a 10% tax on goods that everyone would pay -- regardless of income -- is neither fair nor economically just. It would put a higher burden on low income earners. She's a liar and she's an idiot. In 2020, she tried to pass that garbage off as being like the oil dividend in Alaska ("I think it makes a lot of sense") while failing to grasp that the dividend has nothing to do with a flat rate task.
She became a 'feminist' publicly when she wanted to trash transwomen. So she found an African-American conservative who supports Trump and suddenly she was a feminist to do a podcast with him in 2022. She needed a conservative pig who hates women because that's the only way she could pass for a feminist and serve up one lie after another such as her claim that "radical feminists" are for "biological women's rights" but not for transrights. She called trans women "men" and "they're male bodied, they're males" and "they're big and scary."
"So I really think, conservatives and feminists, this is a good time for us to come together," she said in 2022 sucking up to conservatives who hated transgendered people as much as she did. She wants to "get things done" and "come together" with conservatives (she is one herself) to attack the rights of transgender people. "You might not have cared as much about bathrooms," she insisted but sports is "American and everyone can relate" so she joined a dogpile on Lia Thompson and passed that off as feminism.
As Kelsy Burke (WASHINGTON POST) reported in July of 2023:
These findings challenge the prominence of those who wrap their opposition to the transgender rights movement in the language of feminism. This group includes author J.K. Rowling and columnist Abigail Shrier of the Wall Street Journal, who has called advocacy for trans rights a “war on women.” Celebrities Bette Midler and Macy Gray also have attracted negative attention on Twitter for posting similar remarks.
That's actual fact.
Feminists are not anti-trans.
Isn't it cue how Heidi Briones, who wants to draw a line between herself and trans women, has no problem embracing -- hell, humping -- conservative men who want to destroy women's rights?
Heidi went after Lia Thomas, she explained, because "sports gets so many eyeballs." When you're a grifter, a failed politicians and someone who in 2020 was bemoaning her lack of marketable skills and education, you go where the eyeballs are.
And this is who BREAKING POINTS elected to bring on as a guest?
And they call themselves 'independent news' -- though they don't do news. They do commentary and, thanks to James Li they did very bad commentary today.
Were it a functioning 'news' outlet, they would immediately rectify that segment by bringing on someone to talk about trans issues -- someone who is actually trans. They won't do that because they have no standards. They'll bring on a transphobe to talk about trans people but they won't bring on a trans person.
Joni Mitchell's "Dog Eat Dog" song and the album itself got attacked by American media in real time. It's one of her great albums of the 80s (sorry, WILD THINGS RUN FAST is garbage). We would rank DOG EAT DOG as a classic and think it's telling that the album the American media ripped apart was also the album that . . . called American media out.
