Da Fox Loses … But Gets To Keep The Henhouse

Posted on April 19, 2023 by jilldennison under Election 2020, Free Press Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Social commentary

I was both pleased and disappointed by the news of the $787.5 million settlement in the Dominion v Fox News case. I was pleased for a number of reasons, mainly that a willingness to settle proves yet again that Rupert Murdoch and others at Fox are well aware they lied to increase their own profits, but also because a trial was likely to be turned into a media circus that would have kept our attention away from most anything else. My disappointment is in the fact that Fox got off light. Oh sure, over a three-quarters of a billion dollars is a lot of money … more than I can even begin to comprehend … BUT true justice in this case would have stemmed from Murdoch, Hannity, Carlson, Ingraham, Pirro and others having to face their viewers, the people they lied to, and say, “Yes, we lied to you because we think you are stupid enough to believe our lies, and so we could make more money.” We were denied that. Fox viewers were denied an apology, are still being denied the truth.

Erik Wemple, media critic for The Washington Post, addresses this “big hole” left in the wake of the settlement, and I agree … money is paid, but full accountability is still lacking.

There’s a big hole in the Dominion-Fox News settlement

Erik Wemple

18 April 2023

When news of a possible settlement between Dominion Voting Systems and Fox News surfaced on Sunday night, pleas from concerned citizens popped up on social media: Don’t settle this lawsuit, Dominion. Put all the evidence before a jury. Drag Fox News hosts and executives to the witness stand. Grill them on their deceptive programming.

So, the news Tuesday afternoon that the two parties had settled Dominion’s $1.6 billion defamation suit over election disinformation for $787.5 million will disappoint those who longed for a more visceral comeuppance for Fox News. That’s understandable, considering that Fox News has littered the public square with lies and half-baked stories — essentially mini-Dominions — for 26-plus years.

The size of the payout, however, speaks to both the journalistic atrocities and the reams of internal correspondence that Dominion pried from Fox News during the pretrial maneuvering. And yet: It all feels a bit empty.

Justin Nelson, a top attorney for Dominion, sounded a triumphant tone in a statement following the announcement. “The truth matters,” said Nelson. “Lies have consequences. Over two years ago, a torrent of lies swept Dominion and election officials across America into an alternative universe of conspiracy theories.” The settlement, he added, “represents vindication and accountability.”

That accountability came via volume. A Dominion document filed with the court on Tuesday listed 7,021 trial exhibits, including transcripts of offending programs, internal correspondence among producers expressing doubts about the stuff their bosses were broadcasting, scolding remarks about people committed to doing actual journalism, and a lot more. A good portion of the material relates to the actions of former Fox News host Lou Dobbs, a 30-plus-year veteran of cable news. He figures to be among the winners in this settlement, considering that he won’t have to see his propaganda exposed again in what promised to be saturation coverage.

Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro and Rupert Murdoch are among the others whose spring outlook just got a little brighter.

In its statement, Fox News demonstrated that not even a court record bulging with evidence of perfidy is enough to shame the organization into genuine contrition. “We are pleased to have reached a settlement of our dispute with Dominion Voting Systems. We acknowledge the Court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false. This settlement reflects FOX’s continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards.”

(Boldface added to highlight the network’s minimization of the fact that the discovery materials exposed not just falsehoods but lies. Boldface italics added to highlight an unthinkable proposition — firm evidence that the network refuses to learn from any experience.)

After Nelson and other speakers finished addressing the media, the Erik Wemple Blog and other reporters asked whether the settlement required Fox News to publish any retractions or apologies. The lawyers turned and left without answering those questions. The Post’s Jeremy Barr reported that the network will not have to air any retractions or apologies pursuant to the settlement agreement. Which is to say, the resolution requires a great deal of something that Fox News has in wheelbarrows (money) and very little of something it has in teaspoons (editorial integrity).

That’s where the emptiness comes in.

Documents made public in the course of the litigation showed that Fox News’s relationship with its audience tortures the ideal of an America that runs on a shared set of facts. When Fox News bosses observed that its loyal viewers were fleeing to other networks peddling election lies, they grew worried that their two-decade-long ratings dominance was in jeopardy. So, they fine-tuned the coverage to indulge some conspiracy-theorizing. The upshot is that Fox News was able to keep its audience both sizable and ill-informed.

The settlement might only perpetuate that dynamic. The full depravity of the network’s 2020 election coverage will never have to be disclosed to viewers on the only cable-news outlet they trust.

The slam-dunk nature of the evidence in Dominion Voting Systems v. Fox News stirred expectations — a bankrupt Fox News; abject apologies from the likes of Carlson and Murdoch — that a single lawsuit may never have been able to deliver. “This litigation cannot solve all problems,” said Nelson.

Lies, Lies, And Still More Lies

Posted on February 18, 2023 by jilldennison under Election 2020, Free Press Issues, Political commentary, Social commentary

Yesterday came big news … now hold onto your hats, ‘cause this is going to shock you … ready?

Fox ‘News’ Lies!!!

An excerpt from Heather Cox Richardson’s nightly newsletter explains …

Dominion Voting Systems is suing FNC for defamation after FNC personalities repeatedly claimed that the company’s voting machines had corrupted the final tallies in the 2020 election. The filing today shows that those same personalities didn’t believe what they were telling their viewers, and suggests that they made those groundless accusations because they worried their viewers were abandoning them to go to channels that told them what they wanted to hear: that Trump had won the election.

The quotes in the filing are eye-popping:

On November 10, 2020, Trump advisor Steven Bannon wrote to FNC personality Maria Bartiromo: “71 million voters will never accept Biden. This process is to destroy his presidency before it even starts; IF it even starts…. We either close on Trumps [sic] victory or del[e]gitimize Biden…. THE PLAN.”

FNC’s internal fact checks on November 13 and November 20 called accusations of irregularities in the voting “Incorrect” and said there was “not evidence of widespread fraud.”

On November 15, Laura Ingraham wrote to Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity: “Sidney Power is a bit nuts. Sorry, but she is.”

On November 16, Carlson wrote to his producer, Alex Pfeiffer, “Sidney Powell is lying.”

On November 19, FNC chair Rupert Murdoch wrote: “Really crazy stuff.”

Hannity later testified: “[T]hat whole narrative that Sidney was pushing. I did not believe it for one second.”

Fox Politics Editor Chris Stirewalt later testified, “[N]o reasonable person would have thought that,” when asked if it was true that Dominion rigged the election.

The filing claims that FNC peddled a false narrative of election fraud to its viewers because its pro-Trump audience had jumped ship after the network had been the first to call Arizona for Biden, and its ratings were plummeting as Trump loyalists jumped to Newsmax. “I’ve never seen a reaction like this, to any media company,” Carlson wrote to Suzanne Scott, chief executive officer of Fox News, on November 9. “Kills me to watch it.” On November 12, Hannity told Carlson and Ingraham, “In one week and one debate they destroyed a brand that took 25 years to build and the damage is incalculable.”

They went to “war footing” to “protect the brand.” For example, when FNC reporter Jacqui Heinrich accurately fact checked a Trump tweet, correcting him by saying that “top election infrastructure officials” said that “[t]here is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised,” Carlson told Hannity: “Please get her fired. Seriously…. What the f*ck? I’m actually shocked…. It needs to stop immediately, like tonight. It’s measurably hurting the company. The stock price is down. Not a joke.”

Heinrich deleted her tweet.

The filing says that not a single witness from FNC testified they believed any of the allegations they were making about Dominion. An FNC spokesperson today said, “Dominion has mischaracterized the record, cherry-picked quotes stripped of key context and spilled considerable ink on facts that are irrelevant under black-letter principles of defamation law.”

I have never considered Fox to be a legitimate news venue, which is why I write it as Fox ‘News’ when I refer to them, but this gives us all the evidence we need that their focus is not on accurately reporting the news, but providing entertainment in whatever form gains them the most viewers. That, my friends, is a damn shame, but the bigger shame is that Fox is the most viewed cable ‘news’ channel in the country! It is my hope that these latest revelations about Fox’ dereliction of duty to provide accurate, fact-based news will drive viewers back to legitimate news channels, but I’m not holding my breath.

Here is a link to a video clip from PBS Newshour with David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart talking about this. I fully agree with Brooks’ first remarks about how every journalist will sometimes make mistakes in their reporting, but that the majority of them try to get it right. Fox wasn’t even trying to get it right … they KNEW they were lying to the public and were only trying to hold onto their bottom line.

What Planet Have I Landed ON???

Posted on August 18, 2022 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, education, Election 2024, History, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Rants, Social commentary

Ooooooohhhh … my head is ‘sploding! 🤯 The snark-o-meter is well into the danger zone . It must be time for me to share the misery, the angst, the utter depravity! Fasten your seatbelts, my friends, for it won’t be a smooth ride!

I first read The Diary of Anne Frank at around the age of 7. I already knew of the Holocaust through first-hand stories told by family members, and Anne Frank’s account of the terror in Germany during those years stayed in my mind long after the first time I read it. Since then, I have read it at least twice more. But some children today are not being allowed access to the book. WHY??? Because at the Keller Independent School District in Keller, Texas, the district has ordered The Diary of Anne Frank to be pulled from all school library shelves immediately!

“By the end of today, I need all books pulled from the library and classrooms,” wrote Jennifer Price, Keller ISD’s executive director of curriculum and instruction.

WHY???

Okay, so it appears that not only do some in this nation wish to whitewash the history of the U.S. – slavery, Indigenous People, internment camps, St. Louis, Jim Crow etc. – but now they also want to pretend that anti-Semitism isn’t even a thing, that Hitler never called for the execution of some six million Jewish people and others, that … what? That World War II never happened and that the Jews self-exterminated because they didn’t like Hitler’s broomin’ mustache?

Apparently there is a concerted effort in some districts to see just how ignorant we can make the next generation!

Sean Hannity is a talking head for Fox “News” who just happens to have a net worth of some $250 million, was an unofficial ‘advisor’ to the last so-called president, and apparently is even more stupid than he looks. Here is the nonsensical babble he uttered last Friday …

“What do you think the next thing that happens here is, do you think that they would try and indict the former president in the hopes of convicting him and having him in jail at the time of the next election to prevent him from running . . . Because a conviction by the way, constitutionally, would not prevent him from running for office.”

Marc Elias, a lawyer specializing in election law, rebutted Hannity’s claim by quoting U.S. Code Title 18, Section 2071, which states that anyone “having the custody of any such record, proceeding, map, book, document, paper, or other thing, willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, falsifies, or destroys the same, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both; and shall forfeit his office and be disqualified from holding any office under the United States.”

Hannity continued his claim that Trump could run and be elected even if convicted and even from a jail cell. Well, Mr. Hannity is not as smart as he thinks, but he sure is, just like his idol, a royal pain in the patootie. Oh, and by the way, if Trump should happen to be convicted for his role in the events of January 6^th, Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that Hannity claims to understand, prohibits anyone who has previously taken an oath of office (Senators, Representatives, and other public officials) from holding public office if they have “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the United States. Unlike Mr. Hannity, I have actually read and studied the Constitution!

Boston Children’s Hospital is ranked the #1 children’s hospital in the nation by U.S. News & World Report and is a pediatric teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. They do good things … they save children’s lives. But in the past two weeks or so, the hospital and some of its staff have been harassed and are receiving threats. Why? Because some of the children they treat are transgender children and the radical right do not like it.

Apparently, it all started with a right-wing Twitter account, “Libs of TikTok” with misinformation, and then it snowballed, as such things are wont to do. Now, doctors are being threatened with ‘execution’, staff are being harassed with threatening emails and phone calls, all because of some blatant lies told on a social media platform. I have long seen two sides, a positive and a negative, to social media in general, but these days I’m seeing more negative than positive and am wondering if it’s really worth it.

The January 6^th attempted coup was so well attended because participants were able to openly communicate on Facebook and Twitter to coordinate such things as travel arrangements, weapons, etc. What’s next … a riot with bombs at a hospital filled with sick children? Law enforcement is said to be working with the hospital … they damn well better search until they find every single person who has issued a threat and put them in jail where they belong! A growing portion of this nation is sick and disgusting!

And on that note, I bid you a good-night or a good morning, depending on which side of the pond you’re on!

Humour In The Snippets!

Posted on August 12, 2022 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, cartoons, Environmental Issues, Humour, Law and justice, Political commentary

Sometimes snarky snippets can be humorous, too.

A bit of a disappointment, I guess

A man named Shahram Poursafi started planning to murder former national security advisor John Bolton in October in likely retaliation for his involvement in a drone strike that killed Qassem Soleimani. Poursafi, a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, attempted to pay people in D.C. or Maryland up to $300,000 to carry out the murder, but was thus far unsuccessful and the FBI is currently attempting to locate him.

John Bolton was interviewed by Wolf Blitzer on CNN’s “Situation Room” on Wednesday. Blitzer asked …

“The suspect put a $300,000 price tag on your head. What goes through your mind, ambassador, hearing the details of this plot, as explained today in great detail by the U.S. Justice Department?”

I don’t know what sort of response I might have expected, but it wasn’t this one …

“Well, I was embarrassed at the low price. I would have thought it would have been higher. But I guess maybe it was the exchange rate problem or something.”

Okaaaay …

A costly – but funny – venture

In Miami, Florida, a dude named Thomas Kennedy and his friends spent $1,800 to commission a plane to fly over Mar-a-Lago for three hours with this banner …

Says Kennedy …

“It brought me a lot of joy to do so. I would do it again.”

Kennedy said the message was for Trump and his supporters who had gathered on the Southern Boulevard Bridge near the property for a third day this week.

“Honestly, go do something better with your time.”

I wouldn’t have spent $1,800, but I have to admit I got quite a kick out of this!

The drama ‘king’

Oh the drama! If you ever doubted that Sean Hannity of Fox is an actor, not a newsman, wonder no more. After the search warrant was executed at Mar-a-Lago, Hannity went on a tangent, saying …

“The FBI is blatantly targeting our fellow Americans for their political beliefs. The bureau’s reputation has been shattered. My faith in an organization — I’ll be honest, I had two family members. They were a deity in my family because they worked for this organization. I revered this organization for decades of my life. If you listen to my radio show, watch this show, you know my love of law enforcement, it has now been pretty much utterly destroyed.”

As dramatic a speech as any I’ve heard! Grow up, Sean … pull up those big-boy pants and get over yourself, ‘k?

Well, folks, that’s all the humour I could find in the news tonight, so will you settle for a few cartoons to round things out?

The echo chamber feedback loop

Posted on January 4, 2021 by jilldennison under Election 2020, Environmental Issues, Free Press Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Re-blogs, Social commentary

Once again, our friend Keith is spot-on with his analysis and advice. Thanks, Keith!

musingsofanoldfart

“Everyone is talking about this,” says the outgoing president on more than a few occasions.. “Everyone knows this is true” or “Everyone knows” he might use as an alternative or add-on to the above, as he is prone to repeat himself. These are intentional phrases used to make the listener or reader skip past them and assume the statements are true. When you hear or read these comments, do yourself a favor and assume the opposite.

Why? Because you are hearing an echo chamber feedback loop. The echo chamber occurs when the same piece of information, rumor or conspiracy theory is repeated within limited sources of information. In fact, this is how disinformation is so easily shared, especially with an untruthful, unrelenting and unaware user in the White House. In fact, when a Russian, Iranian, Chinese or American troll hears the outgoing president repeat what they made up, it is…

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♫ The Way It Is ♫

Posted on October 30, 2020 by jilldennison under music

I played this song in April 2019 … and tonight as I was seeking a song … a meaningful song for the strife of the moment … I came across this one. This is one of those songs that speaks of ‘things’ that are wrong in the world, of injustices. And today, as never before, there are many such ‘things’ wrong in our world. So, in my angst as I finish my final post for mine and Jeff’s project, as I read the news, as I have a cup (or two) of wine to try to relax enough to sleep, I replay this song. I know … or at least I believe … that in 50 years this song will still be as relevant as it was when it was first aired in 1986, and as it is today.

When I posted this last year, my friends in both Canada and the UK were unable to view the video, so I have changed the video in hopes that they, too, will be able to enjoy Bruce Hornsby and the Rain … er, Range!

Sometimes one of you refers to a song when commenting on my music posts, and a 💡comes on … an AHA! moment, as I am reminded of a song I haven’t heard nor thought of in years. Such was the case yesterday when Roger commented that yesterday’s song reminded him of this one by Bruce Hornsby and the Range. Well, I remembered the song, always liked the song, but I thought it was ‘Bruce Hornsby and the Rain’. I went to check and … my bad … Roger was quite right. Sigh.

The opening verse recounts a story taking place at a line for welfare that illustrates a divide between the rich and poor. The chorus presents several lines insisting that social ills are “just the way it is”, and repeatedly suggests resigning oneself to them as a fact of life—however, the chorus ends with the author rebuking this attitude by insisting “but don’t you believe them.”

The second verse recounts past social issues from the voice of someone supporting racial segregation. The author responds in a narrative voice, insisting his view that if those who make laws took them into careful consideration they would be convinced that laws enforcing principles like racial segregation are morally wrong. The song reminds the listener that it was at one time argued that racial segregation was “just the way it is”, and suggests that legislation and what the author views as progress on current social issues should be pursued without regard to those who insist “some things will never change.”

The third verse recounts the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as a victory in the civil rights movement, but insists that more is needed. In particular, the verse highlights individual prejudice and employment discrimination as an enduring form of racism. The third chorus suggests that it only feels like “some things will never change” when we wait for social problems to change themselves rather than taking steps ourselves to actively change them.

The song was released in 1986, and here, 33 years later the song still has relevance, for we are still fighting the same battles.

According to Hornsby, who grew up in Virginia …

“My mother came from the New England area, and she was a little more enlightened about racial subjects than a lot of people in the South. So I had a different attitude to a lot of my friends whose parents were more conservative. When I was brought up, the vibe I got of Martin Luther King in my town was that he was a real evil man – just the vibe in the air, that he was terrible. And if you grow up in that environment you can’t help but be affected by it a little bit. Luckily, I came from a family that guarded us against that conservatism, but sure, I grew up in the thick of all that bad feeling.”

Believe it or not, Sean Hannity used an instrumental portion of this song as his show’s theme for many years. Hornsby, a liberal democrat, had vastly different political views, but there was nothing he could do about Hannity using the song as long as royalties were paid.

The Way It Is
Bruce Hornsby and the Range

Standing in line, marking time
Waiting for the welfare dime
‘Cause they can’t buy a job
The man in the silk suit hurries by
As he catches the poor old lady’s eyes
Just for fun he says, “Get a job.”

That’s just the way it is
Some things will never change
That’s just the way it is
Ah, but don’t you believe them

Said hey, little boy, you can’t go where the others go
‘Cause you don’t look like they do
Said hey, old man, how can you stand to think that way?
Did you really think about it before you made the rules?
He said, son

That’s just the way it is
Some things will never change
That’s just the way it is
Ah, but don’t you believe them

Yeah

That’s just the way it is
That’s just the way it is

Well, they passed a law in ’64
To give those who ain’t got a little more
But it only goes so far
Because the law don’t change another’s mind
When all it sees at the hiring time
Is the line on the color bar, no

That’s just the way it is
Some things will never change
That’s just the way it is
That’s just the way it is, it is, it is, it is

Songwriters: Bruce Hornsby
The Way It Is lyrics © Zappo Music, Sony Atv Music Publishing France, SONY/ATV TUNES LLC OBO ZAPPO MUSIC

Snarky Rides Again

Posted on October 11, 2020 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, Election 2020, Environmental Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

I suspect the snark will keep on rolling for the next few weeks, don’t you? I wonder who’s to blame for that? Maybe a whole bunch of people!

Ol’ Lindsey strikes out …

Good ol’ Lindsey Graham just doesn’t know when to sit down and shut up, does he? For those who may not be aware, Graham is running for re-election to the United States Senate this November. There was a debate scheduled for last Friday between him and his democratic opponent, Jaime Harrison. Lindsey was exposed to the coronavirus on October 1^st, when he attended a hearing with Senator Mike Lee of Utah, who has since tested positive. Jamie Harrison, a diabetic, requested that Graham be tested for the coronavirus prior to their debate, and Lindsey refused!

Now why would any sensible person refuse to be tested before such an event where other people could be exposed? Some speculate that he has tested positive already. At any rate, on Thursday evening, Mr. Harrison issued the following statement:

“If Sen. Graham will not take a coronavirus test, I cannot responsibly debate in person tomorrow night and allow politics to put my family, my campaign staff, Sen. Graham’s staff, and members of the media at unnecessary risk.”

Instead, each of the two men took part in an online forum that replaced the debate. During the forum, Lindsey was asked how to address civil unrest in his home state of South Carolina. His response …

“If you’re a young African American, an immigrant, you can go anywhere in this state, you just need to be conservative, not liberal.”

GASP!!!!!! That statement alone should cost him his re-election! Lindsey won by a whopping 17 points back in 2014, but this year he is in a dead heat with Jaime Harrison. My bet is that this unconscionably racist statement will doom his campaign and we will finally be able to bid adieu to Mr. Graham.

Transparency???

Sean Hannity is another person without a conscience. Well, he works for Fox ‘News’ and is a close confidant of Trump’s, so it goes without saying that he has no conscience. But yesterday I read this statement by Hannity that caused my jaw to drop …

“First, we do start with a simple fact. The level of transparency in the Trump administration is unmatched. This president communicates with you, we, the American people often, he does it without a filter, he answers a million questions across multiple platforms, he does it each and every day.”

Say WHAT???

Now, Merriam-Webster defines transparent as:

a: free from pretense or deceit : FRANK

b: easily detected or seen through : OBVIOUS

c: readily understood

d: characterized by visibility or accessibility of information especially concerning business practices

Not a single one of these can be said to be true of Donald Trump, any of his cabinet members, his press secretary or other spokespeople! Think about it a minute …

Free of pretense or deceit? How many proven lies has he told now? Last I checked it was something over 20,000 in just three-and-a-half years. He didn’t even tell the truth about when he first tested positive for the coronavirus! And as recently as yesterday, his “White House doctor” lied and said he was no longer a contagion risk, when scientists tell us otherwise.

And … he answers “a million questions” a day? First, that isn’t humanly possible, especially for a person who spends half his day watching television and playing on Twitter. But more to the point, during press briefings, he only chooses to answer the questions he likes … otherwise, he insults the reporter and moves on, or simply leaves the room. And even when he does answer a question, he answers it with a lie, so … what’s the point?

And the last one, (d) … accessibility of information? What about those tax returns and financial records? What about his continuing refusal to make public the results of his medical condition and when he last tested negative for the virus? What about ordering people not to testify before Congress? I could go on and on … I could make a whole post about Trump’s blatant lack of transparency, but why bother? You guys know the truth … Donald Trump has lied and lied to us since before he even took office, and there is not a damn thing transparent in his administration. Sean Hannity is every bit as much a liar and conman as Donald Trump is … just another clown in the GOP Circus.

Buses, planes & trains – stay off them!

Last month the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) drafted an order requiring all passengers and employees to wear masks on all forms of public and commercial transportation in the United States. It makes perfect sense if you think about it … in each of these venues, passengers are in very close proximity, sometimes nearly touching shoulder-to-shoulder, and given the airborne nature of the coronavirus, of course masks should be worn, as well as gloves if you ask me.However, Mike Pence, as the “head of the White House Coronavirus Task Force”, nixed the order from the start. He refused to even discuss the matter, with no explanation.

So, since he doesn’t wish to discuss the matter, we are left to draw our own conclusions that Pence, like his boss, does not believe in the wearing of masks or simply does not care if we live or die.

CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield, who oversaw the drafting of the order, said …

“I think masks are the most powerful weapon we have to confront Covid and we all need to embrace masks and set the example for each other.”

Representative Peter A. DeFazio, Democrat of Oregon and chairman of the House committee on transportation and infrastructure was highly critical of Pence’s refusal …

“It’s especially outrageous because the science is so clear: masks save lives. The millions of Americans who work in and use our transportation systems every day — from bus drivers, train conductors and flight attendants, to the frontline workers who rely on public transit — deserve to know their president is relying on experts’ best advice and doing everything possible to keep them safe.”

Y’know … this whole thing has gotten out of hand. People who insist on going about their business in public and refuse to wear a mask are a danger to us all, and they frankly don’t care who they put at risk – even their own families. I’m currently reading a book that takes place during World War II, and at the mention of blackout rules and rationing, I had the thought … I suppose half the people in the U.S. would refuse those, too, and put the entire nation at risk. There is such a thing as taking personal freedom too far, and insisting on riding a crowded bus sans mask is a step too far. Thanks, Pence, for showing us how little our lives are worth to you and your boss.

Never-ending Snarky Snippets …

Posted on April 10, 2020 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, cartoons, Environmental Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry

I was in the midst of writing an introspective piece about … well, I shan’t tell you what it was about, for hopefully one day soon I can finish it, and I don’t want to have spoiled the surprise. Anyway, I was in the middle of calmly pondering and opining, when I decided to take a quick gander at the end-of-day news briefs … BIG mistake! No longer could I calmly ponder, but instead needed to loudly rant. Remember that old Sonny & Cher song, The Beat Goes On? And the snark goes on … and on … and on.

Wah …

Lest you thought that Trump was the only one in the White House with a juvenile mentality, rest assured there are more. The latest example? None other than Mike Pence.

As you all know, Trump holds daily ‘press briefings’ these days. I use the term loosely, for they are mostly rants against his perceived ‘enemies’, rants against the press, opportunities to push drugs manufactured by companies in which he owns stock, and opportunities to pat himself on the back saying what a ‘great’ job he is doing. I haven’t watched even one, nor will I, for watching him makes me physically ill. Lately certain networks, seeing them for the propaganda they are, don’t carry the entire presser, but only the first part where he is reading from a card that someone else wrote. One such network is CNN … one of Trump’s favourite targets for his ire.

Mike Pence decided to retaliate against CNN on behalf of his boss, and Pence decided to only allow the nation’s top health officials to appear on CNN and discuss the coronavirus pandemic if the network agreed to cover the entire rambling, lengthy press briefing. What a waste of people’s time to listen to such drivel, and yet it is being shoved down our throats. And … if anybody believes a word Trump says, then I’ve got a great bridge in Brooklyn for sale real cheap! If I were CNN, I would have told Pence and Trump both just where they could put their pressers.

After the story was made public, Pence reversed course yesterday and kindly “allowed” CNN to book Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield for CNN’s Thursday night coronavirus town hall, and Dr. Anthony Fauci for Friday on “New Day.” Wow, how very generous of him to allow the experts to be heard without forcing the moron down our throats.

You have GOT to be KIDDING me!!!

Jared and Ivanka … a pair of do-nothing, know-nothing dolts who couldn’t even pass muster to earn top-level security clearances (Trump overrode the decision), are now considered experts on the economy???An excerpt from an article in Bloomberg …

The White House is considering whether to create a working group focused on reviving the U.S. economy after the coronavirus pandemic eases, and whether the panel should include private-sector representatives.

The discussions are in their early stages, according to three people familiar with the matter. Administration officials including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, President Donald Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner and the director of the National Economic Council, Larry Kudlow, may be involved, the people said.

Meadows has also asked Trump’s daughter and senior adviser Ivanka Trump to join the group, one person said. All of the people spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions are ongoing.

Neither Ivanka nor Jared are a) economists, or b) intelligent. What could possibly go wrong, eh? This is what happens when nepotism runs rampant in government. This is what the Founders explicitly did not want. Yet, here we are, with our own twisted version of an American royal family. As if one idiot in the White House wasn’t enough.

Two bleating arses …

I have little or no use for the editorial/opinion side of Fox News. In truth, I have little use for Fox News, but admittedly some of their actual news reporters try to tell the truth every now and then. But the editorial side consists of such flakes as Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Jeanine Pirro, Brian Kilmeade, and others who are no better than conspiracy theorists and hard-core Trump supporters. They can take his most heinous act and find a way to justify it … in their own minds. And sadly, their viewers lap it up as they sit in front of the television, smushing half of a cake into their mouths.

The latest? Sean Hannity and former Fox persona Bill O’Reilly were conversing on Wednesday on Hannity’s radio show and … well, here is a short snippet from their conversation:

Sean Hannity (HOST): I want life back to normal, can you fix that in a simple way?

Bill O’Reilly: Oh man I wish I could, you know?

Sean Hannity: Oh, me too.

Bill O’Reilly: But we’re making little steps. Bernie Sanders, you know, he’s — he’s gone, that’s really good for everybody. The projections that you just mentioned are down to 60,000, I don’t think it will be that high. 13,000 dead now in the USA. Many people who are dying, both here and around the world, were on their last legs anyway, and I don’t want to sound callous about that.

Sean Hannity: You’re gonna get — hold on, you’re going to get hammered for that.

Bill O’Reilly: Well, I don’t care. I mean, a simple man tells the truth.

What he should have said is a “simple-minded man”. When I return to earth as a wolf, these two are going to get torn from limb to limb. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

And on that note, I leave you with just a couple of ‘toons …

Just Another Snarky Thursday …

Posted on March 5, 2020 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, Election 2020, Global Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary

There are, apparently, only two news stories this week: Joe Biden & the coronavirus.

Joe Biden …

It was obvious from the day Joe Biden announced his candidacy in the 2020 election that he was the candidate Trump most feared. Hence, the now-infamous call to the president of the Ukraine that got Trump impeached, and if we had conscionable senators, would have removed him from office.

Just to set the record straight before I go any further, it has already been proven that Joe Biden did nothing illegal when his son worked for Burisma in the Ukraine. It has been discussed, investigated, etc., ad nauseam, and there is nothing.

For a time, when Bernie Sanders seemed to be coming out ahead of the pack, Trump dropped off on his rhetoric about Biden. It was reported that Russia was not only intervening on Trump’s behalf, but also on Sanders’. Why would they do that? Well, Russia helped put Trump in office in 2016 because Putin saw a puppet he could use. Putin could never have manipulated Hillary Clinton in the ways he has Trump, he understood that Trump would be easy to sway, and that was that. It’s in Putin’s best interest to keep his puppet in the White House. It’s largely believed that Trump could beat Bernie Sanders, if for no other reason that that label, ‘democratic socialist’, that Bernie wears. So, if Russia helps Bernie, they help Trump as well.

But now, it appears that Trump’s nemesis on November 3^rd may well be Joe Biden after all, so … the day after Biden’s Super Tuesday win, Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin attempted to plant a seed of doubt about Biden’s credibility. He told reporters that the Senate Homeland Security Committee, of which Johnson is chairman, will be releasing an interim report on his panel’s probe of Hunter Biden’s ties to a Ukrainian gas company, Burisma. Oh for Pete’s sake, get over it, Johnson! ENOUGH already! First, it has been clearly established that, while Hunter Biden may not have used good judgment, he broke no laws, and at any rate, it was nothing whatsoever to do with his father! DROP IT!

But, Trump is clearly not going to drop it, either, for in an interview Wednesday night on Fox, he opined that it …

“will be a major issue in the campaign, I will bring that up all the time because I don’t see any way out.”

So … in other words, if you can’t win fair and square, then lie, cheat and steal! Why should we be surprised, for that’s how he ‘won’ in 2016, though he didn’t actually win, for he lost by nearly 3 million votes!

Coronavirus …

In the U.S., it isn’t so much the virus itself that is making headline news, as the response of the loon in the White House. He (Trump) has been on some sort of tirade for weeks now, as if somebody must have concocted the virus to personally offend him. First, it was a hoax, or rather the media coverage of it was a hoax, designed to “bring him down”. The latest?

Due to slow and insufficient response to the virus by the Trump administration, testing has been haphazard and inadequate. But, since nothing can ever be Trump’s fault, it must be Obama’s fault, right? BINGO! He’s blaming Obama for the shortage of test kits (is there really a shortage of kits, or is it simply that they aren’t being distributed properly?) …

“The Obama administration made a decision on testing that turned out to be very detrimental to what we’re doing and we undid that decision a few days ago so that the testing can take place in a much more accurate and rapid fashion. That was a decision we disagreed with — I don’t think we would have made it — but for some reason it was made but we’ve undone that decision.”

As I said in this morning’s post … don’t believe a word of it. But, as if that weren’t enough, Trump called in and had a chat with his good buddy Sean Hannity over at Fox last night. Hannity asked Trump about the new estimate by the World Health Organization (WHO) that the global fatality rate for the coronavirus is around 3.4%. Trump, however, had a ‘hunch’ …

“I think the 3.4% is really a false number. Now, this is just my hunch, based on a lot of conversations with a lot of people that do this, because a lot of people will have this, and it’s very mild – they’ll get better very rapidly, they don’t even see a doctor, they don’t even call a doctor. You never hear about those people, so you can’t put them down in the category of the overall population, in terms of this corona flu, and/or virus. So, you just can’t do that. You know, all of a sudden it seems like 3 or 4%, which is a very high number, as opposed to a fraction of 1%. So I think that that number is very high. I think the number, personally, I would say the number is way under 1%.”

I didn’t realize you could earn a medical degree at Wharton School of Business. Obviously, Trump knows sooooo much more than the scientists and medical experts. Who needs all those experts when we can just ask Trump for his latest ‘hunch’?

I don’t know about you guys, but I am getting damn sick and tired of the childish, harmful games that Trump and his republican sycophants are playing. They have put their own interests much higher on their priority list than ours, and now are even willing to gamble with our very lives. Let’s send them a HUGE message on November 3rd … Let’s send them all packing!

A Little Dose of Snarky Snippets …

Posted on May 1, 2019 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry

The big news of the day, of course, is that Robert Mueller let Attorney General Barr know more than a month ago that he was displeased with Barr’s 4-page summary of Mueller’s report, when Mueller had provided summaries for Barr to use. And today, as I write, AG Barr is testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and methinks he has much to answer for. I peeked in on the hearing and saw Barr chewing his lower lip and looking downright unhappy. Serves him right … his lies are catching up with him. Anyway, since I’m not prepared to write about that whole situation today, but as it has left me in a state of some angst, I am bursting forth with more snarky snippets!

Trouble brews over at Fox …

Just as Hermie, in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer did not want to make toys, apparently some of the talking heads over at Fox ‘News’ don’t want to tell lies! It is reported that Fox’s Corporate CEO Lachlan Murdoch has quite the task on his hands to keep Donald Trump and the White House satisfied with regards to loyalty and coverage. They also have to keep advertisers happy. Lachlan also has to deal with the internal conflicts between Fox’s rank and file journalists and the prime time hosts who are the faces of the network.

According to one source …

“Reporters are telling management that we’re being defined by the worst people on our air.”

Ya think? Golly gee. You lie down with the dogs, don’t be surprised to get up with a bad case of fleas!

CEO Lachlan Murdoch is in a bit of a tough spot here, for the people who see themselves as journalists, such as Chris Wallace and Shepard Smith don’t appreciate the image the network has taken on, that of being more of an entertainment venue rather than a news station. And, to further complicate Murdoch’s life, advertisers have begun boycotting some of the more offensive Fox personalities such as Tucker Carlson, Jeannine Pirro, and Laura Ingraham, costing the network money.

Perhaps, however, Murdoch’s biggest worry is that Sean Hannity is said to be leaving when his contract expires in 2021 (Oh yes, please, GO!). According to one of Hannity’s staffers …

“Sean doesn’t feel supported,. He has no relationship with Lachlan. Sean thinks, Wait a second, I was hired to get ratings and I get ratings, but now people are embarrassed about me? He feels Fox spends a lot of time supporting Shepard Smith but his show makes no money. That’s annoying to him.”

Awwww … poor li’l fella …

Donnie’s mad at the firefighters …

The national firefighter’s union, International Association of Fire Fighters, has given their endorsement for the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden, and little Donnie is none too happy. To let the world know just how unhappy he is, he tweeted no less than 60 times about it this morning.

“I’ve done more for Firefighters than this dues sucking union will ever do, and I get paid ZERO!”

“The Dues Sucking firefighters leadership will always support Democrats, even though the membership wants me. Some things never change!”

In addition to his own juvenile tweets, he re-tweeted some 53 tweets by others who claimed to be firefighters in support of Trump. All this in a 30-minute span … wait, is this what we are paying him to do???

He also said that Biden is “not the brightest lightbulb”. Ahem … do I even need to point out the irony here?

There is a bright side, however, and that is that within a short time after his ‘tweet storm’, people began ‘unfollowing’ him and within an hour and a half, he had lost 1,150 Twitter followers! Is it just possible that people are finally getting sick and tired of his crude language, his lies, and his promotion of hate? We can only hope.

Nitpicking words

After the Easter Sunday bombing attacks on hotels and churches in Sri Lanka that killed hundreds, public figures expressed condolences. Three such people were former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and former HUD Secretary Julián Castro.

The attacks on tourists and Easter worshippers in Sri Lanka are an attack on humanity. On a day devoted to love, redemption, and renewal, we pray for the victims and stand with the people of Sri Lanka. – Barack Obama
On this holy weekend for many faiths, we must stand united against hatred and violence. I’m praying for everyone affected by today’s horrific attacks on Easter worshippers and travelers in Sri Lanka. – Hillary Clinton
On a day of redemption and hope, the evil of these attacks on Easter worshippers and tourists in Sri Lanka is deeply saddening. My prayers today are with the dead and injured, and their families. May we find grace. – Julián Castro

Note the common denominator is that they referred to the victims as “tourists and Easter worshippers”. Not a problem, right? It was Easter and they were in church, presumably ‘worshipping’. Unless, of course, you are a right-wing evangelical, and then it becomes a problem, apparently.

Fox ‘News’ hosts and other conservatives took this opportunity to rant that it was an attempt to avoid using the word “Christian”.

“How do President Obama and Secretary Clinton both come up with Easter worshippers in their tweets about the murders in Sri Lanka? To have both of them use the same term the same day is strange. Is Easter Worshipper the left’s new way to avoid the word Christian? Pathetic.” – Newt Gingrich

Seriously, Newtie? Have you nothing better to do than nitpick the verbiage of a condolence message? Even Kellyanne Conway jumped on this bandwagon …

“I think there’s anti-Christianity. That’s why the Sri Lankans were gunned down. They’re not Easter worshippers, Obama and Hillary Clinton. They are Christians.”

Nearly 300 people were killed, and all these fools can do is nitpick the words from well-intentioned people who happen to be democrats. I think this speaks for itself.

Well, that’s all I’ve got time for today folks. Have a happy evening!

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