Yesterday's leading distraction: We the people have lots of important matters to get clear about.
Take the Southern border. How many people could explain what the policy was, and how it worked, as of April 1 of this year?
Under the recent "Zero Tolerance" policy, how many kids got placed in those cages? How long were they in those cages, as opposed to more felicitous settings? Most important of all, have you seen any news org attempt to define and report the key question:
Is it possible that the federal government has actually "lost" some kids?
For ourselves, we haven't seen that question defined and reported in an authoritative way. Last Friday night, by way of contrast, we saw Lawrence O'Donnell spend the last half of his program clowning around with TV's Tom Arnold as that basic question went unaddressed.
(The clowning ate 21 minutes of "interview" time, commercial breaks not included.)
We're now a broken, entertainment-drenched, partisan culture in virtually every respect. The basic law of our entertainment-based journalism has become this:
No Distraction (or Bait) Left Behind!
Yesterday, the key, highly entertaining distraction involved Sarah Sanders' visit to the Red Hen. Let us tell you what we saw during two visits to the Washington Post's web site.
The first visit occurred around 3 PM. High up on the site's front page, we encountered these six headline/links. Because we care about your sanity, we aren't providing the links:
Post offerings around 3 PM Eastern:Around 3 PM, the Post was offering six different ways to explore this entertaining event. No distraction had been left behind!
The Fix: Maxine Waters shows why the Sanders-Red Hen story is extremely important
Trump takes aim at Waters after she calls for public harassment of his Cabinet
Analysis: Did restaurant violate Sanders’s rights when it kicked her out?
Did President Trump defame the Red Hen?
Rep. Waters on Trump administration: 'Tell them they’re not welcome'
Play Video
Virginia restaurant owner takes a stand against Sarah Sanders
Play Video
We returned to the Post site around 6 PM. We found this new set of offerings, also high up on the site's front page:
Post offerings around 6 PM Eastern:In two visits to the Post site, we were offered ten different ways to kill time and lose ourselves in the excitement of the Red Hen. This represents the basic problem with the 24-hour "news cycle."
No, D.C.’s Red Hen didn’t ask Sarah Huckabee Sanders to leave. The restaurant is still taking heat.
‘NOT THAT RED HEN’: Critics slam distant eateries with similar names and logos
The greatest threat from the Red Hen flare-up has nothing to do with civility
Think before you mob (an op-ed column about the Red Hen)
As of today, we still couldn't answer a lot of questions about policy at the Southern border. But land o' goshen! We've been offered so many ways to entertain ourselves with the incident at the Red Hen!
Why is our culture lying in tatters? We'd list talk radio, partisan cable, partisan Internet and social media as four principal offenders. That said, we'd also list the 24-hour "news cycle."
Round-the-clock "news" leads to round-the-clock bullsh*t. No distraction, no bait left behind!
"Is it possible that the federal government has actually "lost" some kids?"
ReplyDeleteSomerby seems to think that information exists but the press is too lazy to ask questions and write the answers down for people.
Interviews of civil rights activists working with immigrants make clear that the government has not been transparent about its policies. It enacted zero tolerance in secrecy. Lawyers who work with those seeking asylum became aware of this and communicated it to activists, who then told the press. The government then refused to answer questions and tell people what was going on.
It should be obvious even to Somerby that the press has not been allowed into the detention centers. Even members of congress were not allowed into them. It has been difficult to interview and question the people there.
Nevertheless, I have seen stories reported about women who were given paperwork and told the names of their kids were included, but the papers had the wrong names on them. Others got nothing telling them where there kids were, not even a receipt. We know this because a judge was angry about it. Others were told to call a number that was a generic immigration phone line. In many cases, people calling were told that any contact info they provided would be used to locate them and in future immigration proceedings against them.
So, yes, there is evidence that some children have been misplaced and there is also evidence that the government is placing obstacles between parents and displaced children.
The press has made a strong effort to report what is going on, but the government has stonewalled.
But Somerby thinks the press is exaggerating the problem. He thinks it cannot possibly be as bad as is being reported, that liberals are being hysterical again. What an ass Somerby is these days. He just won't believe that Trump is as bad as reported, and worse.
Many people in Nazi Germany wouldn't believe that children with disabilities were being systematically murdered in hospitals, along with mentally ill, elderly and disabled adults. They thought reports of this were propaganda, hysteria ginned up by Hitler's enemies, communists, Jews. They didn't believe anything like that could happen. I think Somerby's mindset and refusal to accept what is being reported is similar. Trump's government is doing awful things. It is tempting to deny it, but evil people who do this stuff count on that reaction. Their reassurances make it easier to ignore the complaints that ARE coming from the people affected and those who work with them, civil rights organizations and lawyers. We need to continue to put pressure on our government, not blame the press as Somerby wishes to do.
Somerby is on the side of the appeasers. He is wrong about this issue. He needs to pay attention to history and defend our liberties, even when it is immigrants (today's scapegoats) who are being targeted.
Welcome to AVANT LOANS, Do you need a genuine loan Online to secure your Bills? Starts a new business? Do you need a personal loan? or Business loan, Apply for a quick and convenient loan to start a new financing of your projects at a cheapest interest rate of 2%. Are you in need of a Loan of any amount? Has the bank or Payday Loan Company refused your Loan Application because of your Low Credit Scores or Lack of Collateral Security? and you are in an urgent need of this Personal Or Business Loan to re-finance your business, pay your bills, settle your bad credit problems, buy and own a house of your own? etc. CONTACT US NOW VIA EMAIL:{ avantloan@yahoo.com }
DeleteAvant Loans is the first lending platform to leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning to price credit and automate the borrowing process. Avant has demonstrated strong credit performance and maintains one of the industry’s highest consumer ratings according to leading consumer review sites. Apply for any kind of loan and any amount of your choice today by reaching us through email: { avantloan@yahoo.com }
Avant Loans believe Everyone deserves a better financial future if they strive for it. We’ve built a marketplace that keeps costs low and opportunity high.
You can also reach us via our website but for instant reply fill in the application form below and forward to our email address { avantloan@yahoo.com }
* Full Name:
* Loan amount needed:
* Loan Duration:
* Purpose of loan:
* City / Country:
* Telephone no:
* How Did You Hear About Us:
Genuinely Interested to get a loan then kindly email us { avantloan@yahoo.com } with the loan requirement above.
Sincerely yours,
Etienne L. Audrey
Company: Avant Loans
Contact: avantloan@yahoo.com
CRYPTO ACCOUNT TAKEOVER (ATO) attacks are on the rise and are costing individuals, businesses, and organizations significant financial and damage that are often difficult to recover quickly.
DeleteCybercriminals use stolen credentials such as usernames and passwords obtained by malware and social engineering to gain sensitive information, and they’re using that same data to access websites and bankings/Bitcoin accounts wallet to transfer money, execute fraudulent transactions and bring people down to a Zero point financially.
Dhacker is a multinational equipped Hackers come together as a team to track down & to recover whatever that has being stolen from you from the most difficult internet SCAMMERS. NOTE!! We've received countless heartbreaking reports of notorious cyber scammers and we’ve successful recover them back.
contact us on
1⃣Binary Recovery.
2⃣Files Recovery
3⃣School Graded & Exam Questions
4⃣Password Bypass / Recovery
5⃣Malware Removal / Erase Criminal Records
6⃣Blank ATM Card
7⃣Social Media Hack
8⃣Remote Mobile Monitoring & Hacking
9⃣ DOCs & Reports Removal/
🔟 Private Key Reset
Relate whatever it is to City Center Of Binary Option Service & allow us give you positive result you’ve always wanted with our hacking skills.
Email 📩binaryoptionservice01@gmail.com pointekhack@gmail.com cyberhackertap@gmail.com we Guarantee you up to %85
REMEMBER YOUR HAPPINESS IS OUR PRIDE
CRYPTO ACCOUNT TAKEOVER (ATO) attacks are on the rise and are costing individuals, businesses, and organizations significant financial and damage that are often difficult to recover quickly.
DeleteCybercriminals use stolen credentials such as usernames and passwords obtained by malware and social engineering to gain sensitive information, and they’re using that same data to access websites and bankings/Bitcoin accounts wallet to transfer money, execute fraudulent transactions and bring people down to a Zero point financially.
Dhacker is a multinational equipped Hackers come together as a team to track down & to recover whatever that has being stolen from you from the most difficult internet SCAMMERS. NOTE!! We've received countless heartbreaking reports of notorious cyber scammers and we’ve successful recover them back.
contact us on
1⃣Binary Recovery.
2⃣Files Recovery
3⃣School Graded & Exam Questions
4⃣Password Bypass / Recovery
5⃣Malware Removal / Erase Criminal Records
6⃣Blank ATM Card
7⃣Social Media Hack
8⃣Remote Mobile Monitoring & Hacking
9⃣ DOCs & Reports Removal/
🔟 Private Key Reset
Relate whatever it is to City Center Of Binary Option Service & allow us give you positive result you’ve always wanted with our hacking skills.
Email 📩binaryoptionservice01@gmail.com pointekhack@gmail.com cyberhackertap@gmail.com we Guarantee you up to %85
REMEMBER YOUR HAPPINESS IS OUR PRIDE
Does Somerby think it is OK for the President of the United States to call an African American Congresswoman "a person of low intelligence"?
ReplyDeleteTalk about a dog whistle to white supremacists!
Clarence Thomas has certainly had his detractors.
DeleteThe President called her a low IQ person. The president. Not some white supremacist yahoo. The president.
DeleteI used to like Waters (though her race-baiting has always been rather obnoxious), but now she's turned into an outright zombie-nazi. Zombies have no IQ.
DeleteIt's spelled: I-Q.
DeleteMao.
Trump is a liar and a thief.
DeleteAnd Putin's bitch'
Discuss.
Mao,
DeleteYou lying sack of shit.
Discuss.
Chickenshit worm.
Trump is an equal-opportunity insult-meister.
DeleteYou thrive on that.
DeleteAfro-Americans and Latinos are more equal than others. Right?
DeleteTrump whistles, you, Mao and DinC bark.
Ruff, ruff.
No, that's wrong. I dont.
DeleteNo shit. Fooled me.
DeleteWell, that's a perception you have a lot invested in.
DeleteNo more than you have invested in the liar in chief.
DeleteWell, since you're ok with that then...
DeleteI know all three assertions are true.
DeleteArgue against it, worm.
Your cohort Mao will never respond.
DeleteI wonder why.
Chickenshit.
DeleteTrump's not dumb--he's mentally ill and a sociopath (Copyright 2018, TDH)
DeleteDavid in CalJune 26, 2018 at 8:57 PM
DeleteYou raise an interesting point. Should all races be treated the same? Not as long as racism exists in the destructive manner it currently manifests.
Should we expect the president to behave in a considered, mature, and respectful manner, differently from the more impetuous among us?
Yes, AnonymousJune 27, 2018 at 6:42 AM, we should expect the president to behave in a considered, mature, and respectful manner, differently from the more impetuous among us. Trump fails to meet this standard.
DeleteHowever, this standard ought to apply to both parties. E.g., it would be immature and disrespectful to call Maxine Waters "stupid" or "insane" or "(anti-white) racist.". It's equally immature and disrespectful to apply those terms to Donald Trump.
Wait a minute.
DeleteWhy can't we call Trump a "racist"?
This should be entertaining.
While you think of an answer, I'll be making popcorn.
"Trump fails to meet this standard."
DeleteDavid's TDS is on offer again today, I see.
The standard for being presidential applies....only to the president. Since Trump has entered the national political scene, his influence has led the level of discourse to devolve to the point where facts and evidence are dismissed, and insults and outlandish misinformation rule the day. One can not truly know Trump's inner thoughts on race, but he clearly uses racism to gain political power. This is not new to the Republican party, Lee Atwater spelled it out pretty clearly:
DeleteAtwater: You start out in 1954 by saying, "Nigger, nigger, nigger". By 1968 you can't say "nigger"—that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states' rights and all that stuff. You're getting so abstract now [that] you're talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites. And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I'm not saying that. But I'm saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me—because obviously sitting around saying, "We want to cut this", is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than "Nigger, nigger".
"Why is our culture lying in tatters? We'd list talk radio, partisan cable, partisan Internet and social media as four principal offenders. That said, we'd also list the 24-hour "news cycle."
ReplyDeleteWhy not include Sanders on that list? Why not the President with his inflammatory tweets? Why not list the lack of transparency and the conflicting information given out by different agencies of our government? Why not blame the liars?
Has it escaped Somerby's attention that Sanders was targeted at Red Hen because she has failed at her JOB of keeping Americans informed about their government? Red Hen is an issue because of the lying and unwillingness of our government to tell the people what it is doing (including the press).
Somerby thinks Lawrence O'Donnell is supposed to magically discover what is happening even when no one tells the truth and no one answers questions and no one provides access to detainees, and no records are available. How?
"Why is our culture lying in tatters?"
ReplyDeleteBut it always was, Bob. "From barbarism to decadence without civilization in between".
Trump has improved our "culture". Ha!
Deletem
DeleteMao, like his(?) hero Trump always makes shit up.
FYI: Trump is a liar and a thief.
And Putin's bitch.
I eagerly await the video of the Russian whores pissing on Trump.
Your kind of "culture" Mao.
If you google “Trump lost 1500 kids” you’ll see it’s not a case of the claim not having been covered, but of the media moving on.
ReplyDeleteI feel sorry for people in their 20s who don’t remember a day when adults were in charge.
ReplyDeleteBe sure to read all the way down.
http://thehill.com/homenews/media/393981-msnbcs-odonnell-i-would-love-for-the-president-to-attack-me-instead-of-cnn?dg
Somerby thinks the Red Hen incident is a distraction. I think it is important to report on protest. That is how our democracy works. People dissent and the press should cover dissent, not just government announcements.
ReplyDeletehello,
ReplyDeleteAm writing this article to appreciate the good work of DR Abiodun that helped me recently to bring back my Husband that left me for another lady for no reason for the past 8 months . After seeing a post of a woman on the internet testifying of how she was helped by DR Abiodun. I also decided to contact him for help because all i wanted was for me to get back my Husband happiness and to make sure that my child grows up with his father. Am happy today that he helped me and i can proudly say that my Husband is back with so much love and joy like never before thanks Dr contact email drabioduntemple@gmail.com
I got my programmed and blanked ATM card to
ReplyDeletewithdraw the maximum of $5,000 daily for a maximum of 30
days via (wesleymarkhackers@gmail.com).
I am so happy about this because i got mine last week and I have used it to get $150,000. Wesley mark Hackers is giving
out the card just to help the poor and needy though it is illegal but it
is something nice. He also give loans at 3%. get yours from Wesley Mark Hackers today! Just send an email
to (wesleymarkhackers@gmail.com)
or watsapp +16315383658
GOD BLESS AMERICA
My name is Handford Ann,i base in canada.i want to share my wonderful testimony on how i got back my ex-lover of my life back, he left me for another woman for no reason and i try to make things work for both of us yet things where getting worse and i love him so much and there is nothing i could do to get my ex back until i met a testimony share by Maria from USA on the internet talking about a powerful spell caster who brought his ex lover back within 48hours and i decide to give it a try and to my greatest surprise he also did it for me just as he did for Maria and i have a lot of people complaining of fake spell caster but this one i met was a real spell caster who help me to solve my problem i have no solution to,i introduce many of my best friends that have a similar problems,and their problem were solve with the great help of Dr.Trust. They get back their ex within 48 hours. I am so happy that my ex is back to me again,and the most surprise,is that our love is very strong,every day is happiness and joy. and there is nothing like been with the man you love.i am so happy my love is back to me with the help of Dr.Trust. If you have any problem in your relationship i will advice you to contact him now (Ultimatespellcast@yahoo.com or Ultimatespellcast@gmail.com) Call or Text him now +1(317) 762-7416
ReplyDelete