Our good friend Keith has a way with words … he can sum up a situation without rancor or rant, just logic. I admire that and he is, as Roger and I have often said, the ‘gold standard’ for political blogging! Today, he reminds us that in the world of politics, two negatives do NOT create a positive! Thank you, Keith!
Tag Archives: Lies lies and more lies
Sound Advice For Future Interviewers of TFG
Okay, so I’ve spent the last two hours reading various accounts of the interview Kristen Welker did with the former guy last Friday. From all accounts, NBC should have kept Chuck Todd as moderator for Meet the Press, though I was not a fan of Mr. Todd. Not one single story I’ve seen had anything whatsoever positive to say about the interview … apparently Ms. Welker let Trump dominate with his lies which were allowed to stand uncontested, and Ms. Welker even went so far as to address him as “Mr. President”, a big faux pas in my book. I did not watch the interview, nor will I, for I refuse to allow Mr. Trump and his annoying voice anywhere near my computer, but from all I’ve read, I think Ms. Welker is not ready for prime time.
David Pepper, former Chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, author of several books and an astute political analyst, is a voice I recently discovered on Substack. He has some advice for media personalities on how to interview Donald Trump and others of his ilk, and it seems like sound advice to me. See what you think …
How to Interview Trump …
… Without It Becoming a Disinformation Forum
By David Pepper
18 September 2023
After yesterday’s Meet the Press interview with Trump , NBC released an after-the-fact fact check documenting 11 of the lies he told.
News flash: if you allowed someone to lie 11 times in such a short amount of time, you did something wrong.
And if you are a major media outlet, if you let it happen such that you need that hefty of a fact check, you are acknowledging that you provided a national forum for disinformation.
Which means you failed.
But if you are going to interview Trump, knowing he will lie repeatedly, how can you stop this?
Here’s my simple suggestion:
Never move on from the FIRST lie until he acknowledges it’s a lie.
NEVER.
Literally….end the interview rather than moving onto the next topic.
Why does this matter?
Because Trump and other dishonest subjects go into these interviews KNOWING they can get away with endless lying, for two reasons.
First, in many cases, they’re not even fact-checked.
Second, even if they are fact checked, they KNOW that the interviewer’s goal is to get through a long list of questions.
Which means they KNOW that if they simply dodge or repeat the lie just one or two more times, the interviewer will move on to their next topic they’ve planned out.
Which gives them their next opportunity to lie, and start the cycle over. And then they repeat the same pattern for the rest of the interview.
Again, the interviewer’s need to “move on” to the next question is the key…the best friend of the dishonest interviewee.
Repeat the lie enough, run right through the initial fact check (if there even is one), and you exhaust the interviewer until she or he feels like it’s time to move on to the next question. And the next lie.
And that’s how you get so many lies and so much misinformation spewed into one interview.
One other thing: every time you “move on,” if done incorrectly, it can come across as a white flag of surrender. A declaration of “both sides” having a point. As if it must not really be a lie. Or as if the truth of the matter is subjective. Or that there are perhaps multiple views of the matter.
And once that impression is left, the lie just won. The liar just succeeded. And then when the next questions come, he gets to do it again.
So what’s the answer?
Do NOT move on from the first lie.
Don’t do the very thing they count on you to do to get their next round of lies.
STOP at that first lie and dig in.
For as long as you need to.
Rebut that lie with every fact and figure and proof point there is. (Having of course planned in advance). Air video clips showing the truth. Whatever it takes.
Just keep going and digging and rebutting.
Make it clear to your audience (and the person you are interviewing) that there is an objective truth on the matter, and also make clear to the person you are interviewing that you will not move on until they acknowledge it.
Do it for as long as it takes to force Trump or the lying subject to acknowledge the lie.
And most importantly, for as long as they refuse to acknowledge it, as much as you want to move to the next question, do NOT!
Yes…if that means end the interview rather than moving on, end the interview.
And make it clear that you will not move to the next question—that you will end the interview if necessary—if they do not acknowledge that what they said is not true.
When this leads to awkward silence or hostility, which it will, stick to it. (Trump counts on that awkwardness and silence so that you will move on. It’s a form of his bullying).
And amid that silence, if Trump still won’t acknowledge the lie, just end the interview.
Get up and go.
But what about all those other questions you wanted to ask?
Forget them!
Those questions (and the lies they would’ve elicited if you move on from the first lie) aren’t nearly as important as making a clear statement that you will not move on from a blatant lie being shared on your airwaves.
Doing this may be the only thing that convinces the interviewee not to lie. Or to admit it was a lie. Because at some point, they too will want to move on to other questions.
But even more importantly, this approach is the ironclad guarantee that the forum you provide will not be used as a place for anyone to foment lies and disinformation.
Because you have established that if they even try it once, and you show them clearly they are lying, and they still keep trying to lie to you and your audience, you will close the forum immediately.
That guarantees that you won’t host a forum of disinformation.
Now, if all those who decide to interview the likes of Trump conducted interviews this way, things would be pretty different, wouldn’t they?
Hoping someone tries it.
Snarky Snippets — Assholes All Around!
I haven’t done one of my infamous ‘snarky snippets’ posts for quite a while now, but the snark is starting to boil over and needs an outlet! A few things caught my eye today that fit that bill perfectly.
George Santos … remember him? He’s the U.S. Representative from New York who has never told the truth in his life. He has been charged with 13 counts of fraud, money laundering and theft of public funds, and his entire resume is nothing but lies. He even lied about his mother, saying she was killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks but according to the documents from the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services, Santos’ mom, Fatima Devolder, applied in February 2003 for an immigrant visa from the American consulate in Brazil. The form states that she had not been in the United States since June 1999!
Anyway, I largely ignore him, for we already know that anything he says will be a lie, and frankly I have better things to do with my time than listen to lies. But one caught my attention today when I noticed Santos’ name in the same headline as one of my heroes, Rosa Parks! Naturally, I had to read the article, fully expecting to read that Santos claims he was on that bus with Rosa in December 1955, fully 33 years before he was even born!
But no, he was only comparing himself to Ms. Parks, saying “Rosa Parks didn’t sit in the back, and neither am I gonna sit in the back.” Sorry, Georgie boy, there is NO comparison. Rosa Parks stood up for what she believed in … equality for all, regardless of race or skin colour. All you believe in is whatever you think will gain you the most wealth. Rosa Parks is a hero; George Santos is an asshole.
Remember Kirk Cameron? He was a cute kid playing in a sitcom, Growing Pains, back in the ‘80s. Well, that cute kid has turned into a grade-A asshole! He and his book publisher (who knew he even wrote a book?) are demanding that the federal government investigate the American Library Association. Why? Well, apparently because he has written a children’s book that is extremely homophobic, and he is planning a book tour, but most libraries, for what I think are obvious reasons, do not want him to stage an event at their library. He thus says they are discriminating against Christians.
No, Mr. Cameron, but we don’t choose to indoctrinate our children into your world of hatred. The majority of us, especially those of us outside the Christian evangelical cult, are raising our children in a world of diversity where no person is judged based on skin colour, sexual orientation, religion, gender, or any other such criteria. We are raising our children to believe in equality for ALL people, not just those who look, act, and think like us! Now, go back to your typewriter and write some more homophobic white trash that nobody will want to read! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr …
A United Airlines flight left Houston, Texas, on its way to Amsterdam in the Netherlands, but it only got as far as Chicago because … um … one passenger wasn’t satisfied with the food. Yep, you heard me right. According to the article in The Guardian …
“While it is unclear exactly what meal the unruly passenger had gotten upset over, business class passengers on United are typically offered a full three-course meal in addition to more food throughout the flight.”
Apparently, the man became livid and begun issuing threats to airline personnel. The plane had to dump some fuel in order to land in Chicago, and once it landed, the passenger was escorted off the plane by law enforcement and the plane then resumed its journey. He had paid nearly $7,000 for his ticket and now faces fines in excess of some $37,000. A pricey lesson in humility! What an asshole!
Wednesday wanderings in late June, 2023
Our friend Keith went for a walk this morning! When he walks, he ponders and muses (his blog is, after all, titled ‘musingsofanoldfart’) and often the results are share-worthy, as they are today. He cuts through the rhetoric and gives a cogent summation of the person who seems likely to be the Republican nominee next year … and convincingly shows us just how foolish/dangerous it would be to allow that candidate to get a foot in the door! Thanks, Keith … you have a much more well-organized mind than most of us!
The rain finally stopped after about a week of wet weather. It is a sunny day for a walk about, but it will need to be in the morning with the summer heat. Here are a few thoughts to ponder as I wander.
Since we rid ourselves of Messers. Bolsonaro and Johnson, it is time to send Putin and Trump packing. Putin continues to stumble with his Ukraine foray and the truth about Trump’s crimes continue to unfold. The latter two need to be held accountable for their illicit actions.
The latest from Trump is he can be heard on audio admitting to and sharing classified information to others, including people writing a book about him. He, of course, is pulling a “Wizard of Oz” saying the tape says something else and we should “ignore the man behind the curtain.” The gaslighting continues.
Speaking of gaslighting people, I was watching…
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Rude, Obnoxious, Ignorant Liar — Volume MMCXIV
I did not watch CNN’s “town hall” with Donald Trump last night, and frankly I’m glad I didn’t, for I might well have thrown something through my screen if I had, not to mention I probably would have thrown up. I’ve read numerous accounts today, and it seems to me that Trump has nothing new to say … at all … but rather continues with the same ol’ schtick that has bored us to tears for years now. Lies, lies, and more lies … ho hum. I was incensed by his treatment of his host, Kaitlan Collins who he told at one point that she was “nasty”, and especially incensed by what he said about the woman he raped some years ago, E. Jean Carroll. Do we really want to lower our standards to the point we would put something like him in charge of this nation yet again? Did we learn nothing in the four years from 2017-2021???
Of all the analyses I’ve read, I think Taegan Goddard’s sums it up with the fewest words, and frankly it’s a waste of time to write or read many words about Trump, for he himself is like a broken record. According to Taegan …
Some Thoughts on Trump’s Town Hall Event
Taegan Goddard
May 10, 2023
I did not expect much from tonight’s town hall event with Donald Trump.
But it was so much worse than I could have ever imagined.
Trump had complete control from the start. He pushed the Big Lie that he won the election during his very first response. Moderator Kaitlan Collins attempted to interject that “it was not a rigged election.” But Trump just responded by lying some more.
I think Collins did the best she could, but there’s only so much anyone can do in the face of Trump’s endless fire hose of disinformation. It’s impossible to fact check something like this in real time.
Furthermore, the idea that you can discuss something — anything — with Trump is crazy. He is indifferent to reality.
The town hall format made the night worse. Limiting the audience to Republican primary voters was a huge mistake. It allowed the crowd to cheer him and laugh at his jokes.
The crowd cheered along as Trump defended the Capitol riots and mocked E. Jean Carroll after he was found liable for sexual abusing her. They clapped when he endorsed the U.S. defaulting on its debt. He got applause when he said he would pardon the Capitol riots.
That said, I’m not sure it will help Trump in a general election campaign. The Biden campaign could make an entire library of attack ads just using video from tonight.
You may even see ads with this line as soon as tomorrow: “The fact that I was able to terminate Roe vs. Wade… I was so honored to have done it.”
But none of that makes up for CNN’s decision to host this event. It was deeply irresponsible to put this on live television.
Shell knew (half a century ago!) that CO2 was a problem
More often than not, the most important issues facing us are lost in the noise and bluster of day-to-day battles. Never in our lifetimes has this been more true than right now when we are all fighting about one thing or another, but almost nobody is talking about the elephant in the room. Our friend PeNdantry effectively brings the topic back to the forefront, at least for the 3-4 minutes it takes to read the post! Oh, and take a second … and a third look at the little meme at the top of his post. Just that.
Fossil fuels are the very bedrock of our global civilization; but oil and gas ‘production’ is nothing of the sort: it’s not production, it’s extraction. Those who ‘produce’ these resources are profiteering from their historic control of them, and actually generate nothing but vast fortunes for themselves and those in league with them (banks, lawyers and lawmakers, politicians, and so on). Wealth is power, and they use their enormous riches to subjugate the rest of us. Though we hugely outnumber them, it seems we are powerless to resist – so much for ‘democracy’ – as they continue to destroy the very fabric of our home planet, Spaceship Earth.
But, worse than that, they’ve known exactly what they were doing all along. And they deliberately lied to us all, in many ways, scheming to maintain the status quo and their positions at the top of the pecking order. The evil…
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But Who Plays The Wolf?
The Boy Who Cried Wolf … from Aesop’s Fables
There once was a shepherd boy who was bored as he sat on the hillside watching the village sheep. To amuse himself he took a great breath and sang out, “Wolf! Wolf! The Wolf is chasing the sheep!”
The villagers came running up the hill to help the boy drive the wolf away. But when they arrived at the top of the hill, they found no wolf. The boy laughed at the sight of their angry faces.
“Don’t cry ‘wolf’, shepherd boy,” said the villagers, “when there’s no wolf!” They went grumbling back down the hill.
Later, the boy sang out again, “Wolf! Wolf! The wolf is chasing the sheep!” To his naughty delight, he watched the villagers run up the hill to help him drive the wolf away.
When the villagers saw no wolf they sternly said, “Save your frightened song for when there is really something wrong! Don’t cry ‘wolf’ when there is NO wolf!”
But the boy just grinned and watched them go grumbling down the hill once more.
Later, he saw a REAL wolf prowling about his flock. Alarmed, he leaped to his feet and sang out as loudly as he could, “Wolf! Wolf!”
But the villagers thought he was trying to fool them again, and so they didn’t come.
At sunset, everyone wondered why the shepherd boy hadn’t returned to the village with their sheep. They went up the hill to find the boy. They found him weeping.
“There really was a wolf here! The flock has scattered! I cried out, “Wolf!” Why didn’t you come?”
An old man tried to comfort the boy as they walked back to the village.
“We’ll help you look for the lost sheep in the morning,” he said, putting his arm around the youth, “Nobody believes a liar…even when he is telling the truth!”
We are so bombarded by lies every hour of every day told by Republicans that if, by some miracle, one of them ever tells the truth, we will discount it as just another lie. The “Grand Old Party” has lost its integrity, its reputation, and sold its values to the highest bidder. Collectively, they are the little shepherd boy in the fable, and the people who watch Fox “News” are the sheep, while those of us who recognize a lie when we see one are the ‘woke’ villagers who are trying to ignore the lying, cheating likes of George Santos, Matt Gaetz, Marge Greene, Lauren Boebert, Kevin McCarthy, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and all the rest, while realizing the potential for danger. And the wolf?
Well, you see, the little shepherd boy crying wolf are the Republican politicians and media clowns who are painting Democrats as the wolf, but when the real wolf shows up, they may be surprised to find it isn’t at all who they thought. The real ‘wolf’ is a combination of climate change, guns, racism & bigotry, wealthy corporations, technology, and a few others. And yes, the wolf is really there, creeping ever nearer, unimpressed by the deniers and the conspiracy theorists who have laid the path, allowing him to creep forward at an even faster pace.
Grumpy Speaks The Truth …
Our friend Jerry over at Grumpy’s Grumblings has a new post that is spot on regarding the state of truth in our nation today. It is well worth the few minutes it will take you to read and ponder it, for one must ask the question: Is this the new ‘normal’ or can we fix this? Thank you, Jerry, for your thoughtful words!
When Tropes Trump Truth
I have a journalism degree and I worked within the newspaper industry for nearly two decades. While I never worked as a “hard-news” reporter, I did spend a year as a copy editor and also wrote feature stories for the business pages of several newspapers. So, I think I have a better-than-average understanding of how a newsroom is meant to operate.
But with or without a journalism degree, I think most folks know—or, more precisely, knew—what the primary purpose of any news organization should be: to factually inform its readers or viewers about events and phenomena that have occurred or are occurring within their communities—and beyond.
Forgivable Errors Versus Intentional Misreporting
News reporters are fallible humans who occasionally make mistakes in their reporting. Most of us are willing to forgive those relatively rare reporting inaccuracies. Occasional unintentional mistakes are forgivable. Intentional misreporting is—or should be— intolerable.
We The People v Fox ‘News’ Corporation
During the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, the New York Times published an ad for contributing donations to defend Martin Luther King, Jr., on perjury charges. The ad contained several minor factual inaccuracies.
The city Public Safety Commissioner, L.B. Sullivan, felt that the criticism of his subordinates reflected on him, even though he was not mentioned in the ad. Sullivan sent a written request to the Times to publicly retract the information, as required for a public figure to seek punitive damages in a libel action under Alabama law.
When the Times refused and claimed that they were puzzled by the request, Sullivan filed a libel action against the Times and a group of African American ministers mentioned in the ad. A jury in state court awarded him $500,000 in damages. The state supreme court affirmed, and the Times appealed.
When the case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, the Court ruled that when a statement concerns a public figure, the Court held, it is not enough to show that it is false for the press to be liable for libel. Instead, the target of the statement must show that it was made with knowledge of or reckless disregard for its falsity. Brennan used the term “actual malice” to summarize this standard. This was a landmark case and decision that has probably saved this nation billions of dollars in lawsuits over mistakes made by the press.
Fast forward to 2021 through present and consider the information we recently learned that Fox ‘News’, with full knowledge that the 2020 election was a fair one and that President Biden was the legitimately elected president, perpetuated the Big Lie that the election had been “stolen” from one Donald Trump. Not only did the reports like Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham know that they were telling lies, but the CEO of Fox Corporation, Rupert Murdoch, also knew that his employees were selling the public a grab-bag of very harmful lies! And Murdoch allowed this to go on for two years.
Dominion Voting Systems, the company that manufactures the electronic voting machines used throughout the country, is suing Fox ‘News’ for libel, and it seems to me they have a pretty darn good case, based on what we have seen of the private communications among the Fox hosts. However, I don’t think it should end there. Certainly Dominion suffered harm from Fox’ lies, but so did the people of this country.
Fox ‘News’ is the most-watched cable ‘news’ channel in the nation. Though I personally do not understand this, according to New York Times’ David Brooks, rural America sees Fox as their ‘community’, as the people who understand them and their problems. Some, perhaps millions of people, never see any news outside of Fox’ control and may still not be aware that they were blatantly lied to for two years about the results of the 2020 election. Those people are voting, based on what Fox tells them, against their own interest as well as against the interests of the nation. They … and we … have been harmed by the lies that Fox hosts repeatedly told, lies that were believed and acted upon, by their viewers.
It seems to me that Dominion isn’t the only one who should be suing Fox, but that We the People have grounds for an enormous class action suit against the company. Because of their lies, we had January 6th. Because of their lies, millions if not billions of dollars of taxpayer money has been spent on recounts and lawsuits. Thousands of hours of personnel time have been dedicated to debunking Fox’ lies. And nearly every state in the nation has seized on the false notion that there was significant voter fraud in 2020 to warrant them passing voter suppression laws that will hurt us all.
Oh yes, we can prove ‘actual malice’ in this case. Fox cared only about one thing … its ratings, not losing viewers and thus advertising money. Murdoch’s and Hannity’s and Carlson’s and Ingraham’s personal bank accounts and investment portfolios meant more than the trust of the public and thus they betrayed that trust. What’s to stop the people of this nation from filing a lawsuit?
Sunday Morning Political Humour
I thought a good way to start out this Sunday morning would be with a few of the week’s most spot-on political cartoons, followed by a humorous monologue by one of my favourites, Seth Meyers. I’ll get back to you later with the serious stuff, but for now, have a few chuckles with your morning coffee or tea …
This is my favourite of the lot!!! So very apt, don’t you think?
A few nights ago I stumbled across this video of one of my favourite comedians, Seth Meyers …
Filosofa's Word 