SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2024
The things they'll never hear: Last Saturday morning, at 6 o'clock sharp, "Trader Pete"—the Fox News Channel's Pete Hegseth—got busy denouncing the U.S. Army's attacks in the Middle East as an utterly useless "fireworks display."
The campaign had only just begun. The nation had been explicitly told that there would be more to come.
For whatever reason, the handsome star of Fox & Friends Weekend got busy mocking the popgun campaign. He was joined by a retired brigadier general with this remarkable record:
Anthony Tata
Anthony Jean Tata (born September 7, 1959) is an American retired United States Army officer, author, and government official. He is a retired brigadier general of the United States Army (1981–2009), and later served as a school district administrator for two large school districts in the District of Columbia and North Carolina. He served as Secretary of Transportation of North Carolina from 2013 to 2015 under Governor Pat McCrory. Tata is the author of the Threat series of thriller novels.
After leaving the Army, he became a regular on Fox News, where he offered pro-Donald Trump commentary and promoted conspiracy theories. He has falsely claimed that Barack Obama is a Muslim and "terrorist leader" and promoted a baseless conspiracy theory asserting that the CIA sought to assassinate Trump.
[...]
In Twitter posts and radio-show appearances in 2017 and 2018, Tata repeatedly made the false claim that President Barack Obama was a "Muslim" and a "terrorist leader"; accused Obama of being "an anti-Semite" who wanted to "destroy Israel" and "did not want" to defeat ISIL; and claimed that the negotiation of the multilateral nuclear agreement with Iran was born by Obama's "Islamic roots." Tata accused then-President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama of being "borderline treasonous" during Trump's transition to the presidency. In August 2018, he accused former CIA Director John O. Brennan, a critic of Trump, of being a "clear and present danger" to the U.S. and called Brennan a "communist" on Fox & Friends.
He repeatedly pushed the notion that a "deep state cabal" was working to undermine Trump; pushed false conspiracy theories that Brennan ordered the assassination of Trump; and, on another occasion, tweeted at Brennan, "Might be a good time to pick your poison: firing squad, public hanging, life sentence as prison b*tch, or just suck on your pistol." Tata also referred to Islam as "the most oppressive, violent religion"; accused both Obama and former president Bill Clinton of being guilty of "sedition and/or treason"; accused Obama of being a "Manchurian candidate" who supported "Hamas & Muslim brotherhood"; and suggested that "the left" and Obama "hates America." Tata also made various inflammatory Twitter posts attacking Democratic politicians Nancy Pelosi and Maxine Waters as "violent extremists" and using a racist hashtag to criticize CNN journalist Don Lemon.
Trader Pete brought on this fourth friend. At any rate, so it went:
The American commander in chief had started his bombing campaign in Syria and Jordan. Within a matter of hours, the people at Fox had started theirs.
Today, we tuned in to Fox & Friends Weekend to see what Hegseth would say. The bombing campaign had continued through the past week. Damage and death had resulted.
Would the campaign still be described as "a fireworks display" for the nation's red tribe viewers? We never got a chance to find out! Trader Pete was a no-show today. The Fox News trader had cut and run, leaving this as the day's collection of friends:
Fox & Friends Weekend, 2/10/24
Will Cain: former ESPN sports commentator
Rachel Campos-Duffy: former cast member, MTV reality show, The Real World
Johnny Joey Jones: combat-wounded former American Marine
Below, we'll link you to one superb segment. First, we want to show you something our nation's red tribe viewers were told, at least twice, during the program's first two hours.
At 6:33 a.m., Jones—he strikes us as basically sincere, though perhaps not heroic at this point—introduced former acting attorney general Matt Whitaker.
As you can see by clicking this link, Whitaker had this to say about the willful possession of classified documents. We'll highlight one key phrase:
WHITAKER (2/10/24, 6:33 a.m.): I don't know how you can not say there's a two-tiered system of justice when the exact same case is reviewed against one person in Donald Trump and they charge him, raid Mar-a-Lago, all the things they did, very aggressive tactics, and then, you know, Joe Biden is allowed, not only to cooperate, but is given no consequence for his behavior. Joey, it's just not the way our system of justice should work.
"The exact same case?" In fact, Robert Hur's report on the Biden probe spells out the kinds of inappropriate behavior allegedly engaged in by Trump which Biden did not engage in.
Obviously, these two investigations did not involve "the exact same case." Everyone on the planet knows that—everyone except for red tribe viewers, who will never be told about that part of the Hur report by guests on the Fox News Channel.
It was "the exact same case," the former Trump official said—and then, sure enough! Early in the 7 o'clock hour, Cain referred to Whitaker's earlier appearance, and the program's producers played videotape of the bogus claim all over again:
WHITAKER (7:06 a.m.): I don't know how you can not say there's a two-tiered system of justice when the exact same case is reviewed against one person in Donald Trump and they charge him, raid Mar-a-Lago, all the things they did, very aggressive tactics, and then, you know, Joe Biden is allowed, not only to cooperate, but is given no consequence for his behavior. Joey, it's just not the way our system of justice should work.
Fox viewers heard it all over again! None of the friends, arrayed on white chairs, noted the inaccuracy of the statement they'd just replayed.
First at 6:33 a.m., then again at 7:06, red tribe viewers heard a flagrantly bogus statement by a former Trump official—by someone they think they can trust. Later in the 7 o'clock hour, viewers of C-Span's Washington Journal were afforded a fairer deal.
At 7:53 a.m., Tom from Elgin, Illinois called in on the Independent line. He spewed a bunch of talking points straight from Donald J. Trump himself, prompting moderator Kimberly Adams to read this part of the Hur report:
The exception is President Trump. It is not our role to assess the criminal charges pending against Mr. Trump, but several material distinctions between Mr. Trump's case and Mr. Biden's are clear. Unlike the evidence involving Mr. Biden, the allegations set forth in the indictment of Mr. Trump, if proven, would present serious aggravating facts.
Most notably, after being given multiple chances to return classified documents and avoid prosecution, Mr. Trump allegedly did the opposite. According to the indictment, he not only refused to return the documents for many months, but he also obstructed justice by enlisting others to destroy evidence and then to lie about it. In contrast, Mr. Eiden turned in classified documents to the National Archives and the Department of Justice, consented to the search of multiple locations including his homes, sat for a voluntary interview. and in other ways cooperated with the investigation.
To hear the full exchange with Tom from Elgin, click here, then move to minute 53. After Adams read that passage, Tom said that Hur was apparently part of the deep state too, though perhaps not of its "fedsurrection."
We'd never heard that term before! Summarizing:
Fox viewers were told that the DOJ had assembled "the exact same case" against Biden and Trump. C-Span viewers were allowed to hear that excerpt from Hur's report.
Fox viewers will very rarely, if ever, hear about the glaring distinctions between the two cases. As a general matter, they don't know that information of that type is being withheld from them by the former reality show stars they have come to trust.
They trust the friends their channel provides, and they trust the former Trump official. One week earlier they didn't know that they perhaps and possibly can't really trust someone like Tata.
They've come to trust the friends on Fox. They don't know that they're being misled—that they're being played, misinformed.
Under current arrangements, news orgs like the Fox News Channel are segregated by viewpoint. No one will challenge or correct false statements by other members of the tribe.
In such ways, our giant nation is being turned into a pair of nations. Can a large modern nation really function this way? Our answer would of course be this:
"Son, take a good look around."
The friends are one of the red tribe's armies in the ongoing siege of the White House.
The siege of Troy went on for ten years. At this site, we'll be recording the history of this modern-day siege, which won't last nearly that long.
12-year-old, 13-year-old: We loved every bit of the Fox & Friends segment which started at 6:42 a.m.
We loved the statement by the 12-year-old girl that she and her family felt "sad and distraught," six months ago, about the Maui fires.
As the Carter Family used to say on their posters, this [segment] is morally good.
I'm sorry Fox News viewers are misinformed. It's all my fault. From now on I'll try to do better.
ReplyDeleteThe fewer lies you understand the more the ideological suppression works on your own country
DeleteI understand very few lies.
DeleteBob is right that Fox viewers won’t learn some things—from Fox. But they will learn these things from the mainstream media.
ReplyDeleteOTOH some important things omitted by CNN and MSNBC will also be omitted by the mainstream media.
What state is CL?
DeleteMainstream media has become a meaningless moniker; there is corporate media and independent media.
DeleteMany people find comfort in the scale and strength of corporations, ironically many of these same people attack “big government” even though it has less influence in their lives than corporations. These people are right wingers and most of them are Republicans, although there still remains a sizable cohort of right wing neoliberals in the Democratic Party, they are slowly being weeded out.
@2:49 are you addressing the influence of the totality of a group of corporations or of a single corporation? No single corporation has as much influence over us as the government.
DeleteCL means "can't lie".
DeleteCorporations in general (thus the plural “corporations”), not a single corporation, although one could make a somewhat plausible argument for that.
DeleteHowever, it should be noted that we are moving towards a near singularity with respect to corporations, as they increasingly consolidate their massive power into fewer entities.
While there are clear differences between Biden and Trump, the Democratic and Republican parties, the Left and the Right, it’s less distinct when it comes to corporations. Unsurprisingly, it is the Right and the Republicans that are most captured by corporate interests.
The power of corporations date back to a misuse of the 14th amendment, in the late 1800s, when right wingers extracted their revenge for the ending of slavery by giving personhood to corporations. They’ve been having a good laugh about that ever since, at the expense of everyone else. Wage slavery, which is what most of us operate under, is not as horrible as chattel slavery or racial chattel slavery, but it’s still a miserable existence that runs counter to our innate human nature.
https://www.history.com/news/14th-amendment-corporate-personhood-made-corporations-into-people
You should go post this on a right wing blog, since they are the ones who backed the Citizens United lawsuit and decision.
DeleteHur is a proud member of Leonard Leo's Federalist Society. Leo has hand picked the last 5 or 6 Supreme Court justices, is responsible for Roe; and joins in on Harlan Crows fancy vacations. The DOJ guidelines are if you have no crime, don't spread slime, especially for political candidates. Comey violated the policy repeatedly in 2016, and the media jumped in with both feet, and butter emails gets the hateful idiot elected. Hur makes asinine slights against Biden and the media is off to the races again. Disgusting. (Some dude sold his company and gifted Leo $1.5 Billion, but OMG that dirty Hungarian Jew Soros.) I am thinking of switching Registration to Republican to help stay out of Trump's promised camps.
DeleteWhen Somerby says that Tom from Elgin will not hear about the differences between Trump's and Biden's cases, he perhaps means they may be told but they won't listen. Here is Tom's response after C-Span told him about the differences:
ReplyDelete"After Adams read that passage, Tom said that Hur was apparently part of the deep state too, though perhaps not of its "fedsurrection."
Does it matter whether Fox viewers are not told stuff or if they refuse to listen when told? In fairness to Fox, perhaps they realize that presenting news their listeners don't want to hear may just drive away their audience.
Perhaps this lack of info comes from the viewers as much as it does from Fox.
Here is info about what fedsurrection means to right wingers. Somerby can google this stuff himself. Why doesn't he?
https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-investigations/sixteen-members-of-congress-have-spread-fedsurrection-conspiracy-theory/
We know from behavioral science that the conditions that lead one to become right wing prohibit them from being reasonably persuaded. The persuasion myth that Somerby pushes is just a con to benefit his right wing agenda.
DeleteHaving said that, everything and everyone is on a spectrum, and studies have shown that Fox News viewers that switched to CNN for a month became more knowledgeable about the world.
I'm off the spectrum.
DeleteWalk it off and then get back in the game.
DeleteI’m infrared now.
Delete2:54,
DeleteSeriously? After Somerby has spent weeks beating up on Fox you can still say he has a right wing agenda? Is there no fact that can permeate the thickness of your skull?
Repeating Fox messaging here so that liberals can be exposed to it (when they don't want to watch Fox) is not "beating up" on Fox. Calling Gutfeld a clown when he is a comic, is not "beating up" on Gutfeld. Repeating Fox messages without debunking or refuting them is not "beating up" on Fox. It is giving Fox propaganda a broader platform.
DeleteSomerby seems to be confusing Gutfeld with Tucker Carlson, referring to them each as "angry boy" when it was Tucker, not Gutfeld who he was excusing because his mommy and daddy got divorced, whereas Gutfeld merely went to school in the same neighborhood as Somerby. I think Somerby's own dementia is preventing him from diagnosing other people accurately.
Deleteanon 2:54 / 8:39, you seem to be completely without shame. Wow.
DeleteShame is negative.
Delete"12-year-old, 13-year-old: We loved every bit of the Fox & Friends segment which started at 6:42 a.m.
ReplyDeleteWe loved the statement by the 12-year-old girl that she and her family felt "sad and distraught," six months ago, about the Maui fires.
As the Carter Family used to say on their posters, this [segment] is morally good."
Somerby remains a sucker for sappy, emotionally manipulative stories, as long as they involve 12 and 13 year old girls.
Does Somerby need a Carter Family poster to remind him that helping other people is good? Children are cute even if misguided, but flying a family from Hawaii for conservatives to bask in their own generosity, is not the best way to help anyone, especially 6 months after a fire that made them homeless. $12,000 per household "district" isn't going to replace anyone's home, so this is performative, a token gesture made by viewers. These same viewers do not support government help during disasters. Recall that Trump not only tossed paper towel rolls at the people in Puerto Rico after the hurricane there, but he never delivered any financial aid. Nor did he help California with its forest fires, which not only burned an entire community but killed 85 people in the town of Paradise. Crickets from Somerby on that one, which made a lot of us sad, but Trump didn't care and neither did Fox with its districted $12,000 housing fund.
Hawaii is exotic and 12/13 year olds are cute little girls, but this is another stunt, like flying migrants to cold Northern cities without coats, or banning books, and not a sincere concern about other people's burned homes and deaths. Performative is the only name for such a Republican stunt. But a little girl sent $100 so that makes it morally right, says Somerby.
This is a very odd segment, right down to the name of the mother, Trixi, which the archive rendered as "Tricksy."
I wonder how much Somerby contributed to their fund.
It is traditional that we don't change presidents in the middle of a war. Given Somerby's ongoing war language and Tata's appearance on Fox, it seems wrong to shift to another Commander in Chief given the military conflicts that Biden is currently managing.
ReplyDeleteThe Republicans are on the opposite sides of this war from the Democrats. Republicans are supporting Putin in both the Ukraine invasion and Netanyahu in Israel's Gaza war. Democrats are on the other side. That is why Republicans are working so hard to remove Biden, despite his being the leader of our war efforts.
DeleteWhen has the minority party in our country actively supported the other side during an American war? I guess you could say the left supported Hanoi while the right supported Saigon, and the right did support the Nazis before the bombing of Pearl Harbor caused the US to enter the war against Germany. But it shocks me the way the right wing these days has so actively worked on behalf of Russia, a long-time enemy of the US since the end of WWII and the beginning of the Cold War. It just seems treasonous to me the way Trump, most Republicans, and the right wing support the bad guys, the wrong side.
The Pearl Harbor attack brought war with Japan. War with Germany didn’t start until Hitler declared it.
DeleteInteresting how Edward Snowdon, Tara Reade (who tried to smear Biden), and now Tucker Carlson are now in Russia, suggesting they were Russian assets. Trump has been offered asylum in Moscow too. That is a fitting payment for outing so many American intelligence agents (causing deaths and disappearances) as well as his loyal service as President and Putin puppet.
DeleteNow the right wants to do it all again. Biden could be in a coffin and he would be better than putting this Russian asset back into the presidency. It is going to be bad enough trying to root out all the compromised Republican congress members without letting them all do their dirty work for another four years.
Russia has a long history of being little more than a fascist imperial power dating back 1500 years, which is why socialism/communism failed to take hold there and quickly devolved into authoritarian state capitalism.
DeleteBiden doesn't have any notable political achievements. And he's older than dirt.
DeleteRussia was a fascist imperial power in 524? Good to know.
DeleteBeing elected president is a notable political achievement. He beat Trump. Trump is a big fat loser compared to Biden.
DeleteYes that’s roughly when they started engaging in that activity.
DeleteDirt is constantly being created as rocks and other material weather and decompose.
Anono 2:28 "I guess you could say the left supported Hanoi while the right supported Saigon." No you fucking cannot just say that. The Civil Rights Dems Kennedy and LBJ are responsible (tragically) for expanding the Vietnam War. Nixon ran on ending it. You cannot say Hanoi Jane and mean the Democratic Party.
DeleteThe upshot is that this presidential election isn't only about whether Biden or Trump should be president, but it is a referendum on whether we think Ukraine should remain free or Putin should be allowed to reassemble the Soviet Union. A vote for Trump is a vote for Russia, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI couldn’t watch Fox News this morning so I really appreciate these daily recaps Somerby provides.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete"They've come to trust the friends on Fox. They don't know that they're being misled—that they're being played, misinformed."
But how do you know that it's not you who is being misled and misinformed?
Either it is, as Fox insists, a selective political prosecution, or it is, as the rest of state-run media insist, a case with "several material distinctions".
Knowing what we know now, countless anti-Trump witch-hunts that we've seen over the last seven years, Fox's hypothesis appears very likely indeed.
So, if you must blame someone, why don't you blame your tribe's zeal in "getting Trump"?
It isn’t technically a witch hunt when Trump is guilty of wrongdoing. What has he been exonerated of? Nothing.
Delete5:22 - meant to post this here instead of 5:56 and as a response to 5:35.
DeleteBiden molested his own daughter.
Trump will be convicted this year in the DC trial.
DeleteBiden did not molest his daughter, that’s an old accusation dating back to 2020 that has long been debunked and in fact Biden won in 2020, so it wasn’t an effective ploy.
On the other hand, Trump has credibly been accused of sexually assaulting over 20 women, including his first wife and a minor at Epstein’s house. Trump was found liable for sexual abuse last year. And Trump openly admits he has the hots for his own daughter.
6:17 You weren't there. There was touching and licking. The report showed that.
DeleteWhy do we have to have these conservative trolls posting crap like this via bots? Somerby needs to moderate his blog, the way even Kevin Drum does.
DeleteShe said he would blow on her neck with his mouth pursed and open.
Delete
ReplyDeleteOh, and also, in addition to my 5:22 PM, when the political operative assigned to protect Mr. Biden, whose official role is not "to assess the criminal charges pending against Mr. Trump" suddenly decides to do just that, that just adds to the (quite reasonable) suspicion of political persecution. And it's not obvious to me at all that this quote that starts with "It is not our role to assess the criminal charges pending against Mr. Trump..." is as valuable to the public as you want us to believe.
I can’t decide if I want Italian dressing or thousand island with the above word salad.
Delete@5:54 above is not responsible for your ignorance @6:22.
DeleteYes, but which dressing do you recommend?
DeletePass the croutons.
DeleteBiden molested his own daughter.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of those classic “accusations as confession” on the part of 5:56.
Delete5:56 is my dad (he’s not Biden), I’m his daughter, and he molested me.
That is a total lie.
Delete6:21 It was meant as a reply to 5:35.
DeleteKevin Drum looks at Robert Hur again:
ReplyDeletehttps://jabberwocking.com/robert-hurs-final-report-is-worse-than-i-thought/
Via Marcy Wheeler at EmptyWheel blog. Hur had no case so he made up a story about Biden's memory problems. It is a hit piece.
DeleteCould it be what really scares Marcy Wheeler at EmptyWheel blog is that Hur is a short, transgender, Asian male who uncovered instances of carelessness related to Biden and who graduated at the top of his class and became a real lawyer, something she could never do but pathetically pretends to be?
DeleteHur may have done the Dems a favor. The Hur report may lead the Dems to choose a stronger candidate.
DeleteWho is stronger than the guy who defeated Trump by 7 million votes in the popular vote and won the electoral college overwhelmingly? Not someone untested, no matter what their age might be.
DeleteAnton Hur is not the person who investigated Biden. It was Robert Hur, and he is not transgender or gay. This is pathetically ridiculous trolling. Why do you people even bother with this?
DeleteMarcy Wheeler the writer of RussiaGate fan fiction? Let me guess, she sides with the DNC and the security state, amiright?
DeleteThey can't ever allow themselves to accept there was no "russian collusion" and its been elevated to a religious belief at this point. This is from someone who never voted for trump and thought there may be something to it up until 2017.
DeleteSo, you didn’t read the Mueller report.
DeleteEvidence to support allegations Trump colluded with Russia was not found in the report.
DeleteYes, it was.
DeleteAnonymouse 8:24, does he have a brother named Ben?
DeleteBen Hur is a fictional character created by Susan Elston’s husband.
DeleteHur and Biden are both lawyers. Biden had a mediocre record. Hur was a super star. We should choose as President people like Hur, rather than people like Biden.
DeleteWithout running the numbers, I assume that the most common profession in congress is lawyer. Leadership equates with proficiency at law? No.
DeleteDavid in Cal,
DeleteIs that as big a favor to the Democrats as Hur not being able to find any crimes to charge Biden with?
I'd say coming up empty, after an investigation like this is better for Democrats.
Of course, all allegations the Right makes against the Left fall apart under oath in a court of law.
Trump, as everyone might recall, refused to be interviewed by the special counsel, Mueller. Biden, adhering to norms and a willingness to cooperate, gets slimed by Hur for doing it. Both sides!
DeleteHow is it that he gets slimed? He's described as a "sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory".
DeleteIf Trump was described the same way, all you DNC bots here would've had convulsions.
The report is a hit piece and a lie, since the things he supposedly couldn't remember are untrue and the classified documents found had nothing to do with Biden having a poor memory. You apparently didn't read the linked info at Drum's website and what Marcy Wheeler said.
DeleteHe had a bunch of classified papers dumped in a garage (and other places). For many years. Is he a total idiot? Or did he forget about them? Could be both, but I don't see a third possibility.
DeleteThe New York Times is already talking about the “troubling” things the report reveals about Biden. The report is already being weaponized by media, mainstream and otherwise, which was Hur’s goal. A media critic might make note of this.
DeleteActually, Hur has favored you with a golden parachute.
DeleteRead Drum's report and the Marcy Wheeler discussion linked to elsewhere. Trying to discuss something without knowing the facts is a waste of time.
DeleteAnonymouse 4:19pm, oh, you can’t share “the facts” from your mentors Drum and Wheeler?
Delete
Delete@2:50 PM
He also "willfully retained and disclosed classified materials", apparently. If you don't like the poor memory (a-la Ronald Reagan) defense, then what is your defense?
I thought you DNC bots consider retaining the state secrets a terrible crime, but disclosing them is positively the end of the world, the APOCALIPSIS. Is it not?
Hur is a GOP hack.
DeleteHur could be a GOP hack straight from the womb of the Heritage Foundation, but he may have done you a solid with this one.
DeleteYou’re just too dense and ideological to know it. Trump’s persona is more vigorous than Biden’s , but Trump is still an oldster and more importantly he is utterly irreplaceable in the race. Utterly. He is the “cult of personality”. On the other hand, Biden IS replaceable, by several politicians who are not frail and who are not VP Harris.
Trust me, smarter-than-you-by-light -years DNC honchos are hammering this out as we speak.
Hur finding no basis for criminal charges against Biden is a win for the Democratic Party.
Delete@10:42 AM
DeleteIt's not quite so obvious, actually. It looks like their globalist sponsors want Biden out, but have no mechanism to force him out. An indictment might've helped.
10;49,
DeleteThat's where the New York Times and the rest of the Right-wing media (AKA the media), who are addicted to corporate tax breaks, come in.
Republican front-runner vows: will "not protect" NATO allies from invasion
ReplyDeleteBut, Biden is old.
False @7:05. Trump used this threat against NATO members IF they didn't strengthen their military as required by the terms of the NATO treaty. NATO members did strengthen their militaries. NATO is stronger today thanks to Trump's threat.
DeleteTrump understands negotiation tactics better than @7:05 does.
And yet that is not what Trump has said recently.
Delete"Truly unhinged stuff: Presumptive Republican nominee says he’ll encourage Russia to attack our allies triggering a world war if they don’t 'pay' (never mind that Europe is paying more than the US for Ukraine now)," he wrote. "This should be front page, top of broadcast, news."
DeleteFormer GOP communications director Tara Setmayer directed her message directly to the New York Times.
"Hey [Times] Where's your headline about Trump abandoning NATO and encouraging Russia to attack our allies in Europe?" she asked Saturday. "'In fact I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want...' Openly encouraging our enemy to attack our allies gets a shrug... But Biden is old so.."
People who are ignorant of negotiating tactics and then criticize negotiation expert because they don't understand what's going on are funny.
DeleteTonight I attended an orchestra concert. Would some critics find fault with the guy who stood in front because he distracted the musicians by waving a stick around?
Trump: "One of the presidents of a big country stood up and said, Well, sir, if we don't pay and were attacked by Russia, will you protect us? I said, No I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell the want."
DeleteFirst of all, does anybody believe this actually happened? A president of another country called this fucking maniac, "Sir"? Besides Dick in Cal, I mean.
Second, "There is no ledger that maintains accounts of what countries pay and owe", says National Security Council staffer Aaron O'Connell. NATO is not like a club with annual membership fees. It's not Mar-a-lago."
Trump wants to be John Gotti. Dick in Cal loves it.
So, did Trump ever negotiate/threaten Russia like this? Does the term “ally” mean anything at all to the nut job, David?
Delete@7:02 NATO members agree to spend a certain percentage of their GNP on defense. Many members other than the US were failing to meet this target. Thanks to Trump’s prodding, NATO countries increased their military spending.
DeleteNo one believes that cover story. It is obvious that during his term, Trump was trying to undermine NATO on Putin's behalf.
DeleteThis would be like saying that Putin invaded Ukraine, thereby prodding NATO countries to increase their military spending, in order to strengthen NATO. No ulterior motives.
You're such a credulous simple-minded ass, David.
DeleteDavid in Cal,
DeleteIf you tell me Trump calls Republican voters "losers", for negotiating purposes, I'm going to be very disappointed. How does stating something everyone already knows help him in negotiations?
Ask E. J. Carroll how great Trump-in-shit is at negotiating.
DeleteThis isn't a passive matter of viewers being told things by different networks. Viewers are active seekers of information and they find what they look for. Those who watch Fox exclusively are looking for what they find there, even if it is limited and biased. That is not true of people who watch a variety of different news channels and sources.
ReplyDeleteIt is wrong for Somerby to frame this as a matter of what people are TOLD in different places, as if we didn't have agency.
This is form-letter trolling. This troll has made this same comment several times before here. It may be a bot. This is why Somerby needs to moderate his comment section.
DeleteNotice how Republicans call in on the Independent C-Span line and then spout the MAGA line. That is dishonest. It results in the Democrats getting to express their ideas once while the Republicans get two bites of the apple. Unfair and dishonest.
ReplyDeleteDrum interprets Trump:
ReplyDeletehttps://jabberwocking.com/deciphering-donald-trump/
David, who the fuck do you think you're kidding? Trump aint' negotiating shit.
ReplyDeleteThe Fox viewers are uninformed because they CHOOSe to be uninformed. It might actually take a little work to be informed. Just like the people who complain about high food prices. They don't take the time to check out digital coupons and sales, they would rather complain than do something about it. Just like the Republicans and Border Security. They blew and opportunity to do something about what they say is a major issue, because they would rather whine.
ReplyDeleteHeather Cox Richardson describes the history of Trump's efforts to help Russia dismantle NATO and retake parts of the Soviet Union. It is a must read for those who think Trump was not aided by Russian meddling in 2016 (and now):
ReplyDeletehttps://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/february-10-2024
DeleteRemind me, please: why should I worry about any of this?
I'm neither employed nor bribed by the MIC. In fact, it's financed by my taxes, that could be spent on something useful instead. Like border security, for example.
Because life isn't only about you.
DeleteSo, no reason. Thanks. That's what I thought.
DeleteAnd if you, for some reason, feel like militarizing Europe and killing Russians, go right ahead. As a private individual. Buy yourself a rifle, a tin hat, and a ticket to Kiev. They're waiting for you there.
So you also oppose aid to Israel.
DeleteWill anything I say result in you advising me to vote for Trump?
DeleteTrotting out these canards about a scary Russian threat is such a dumb political move by the DNC. Maybe it will work but I doubt it.
Delete11:16,
DeleteAgreed, that we have way more to fear from modern American Conservatives.
So how about it? Stop aid to both Ukraine and Israel.
DeleteAnd businesses.
DeleteDNC isn't trotting out these concerns. It is largely the content of the investigations coupled with statements by former foreign policy officials from Trump's administration.
DeleteWhy exactly does anyone think Paul Manafort was Trump's campaign manager and why did he leave so quickly and why was he paid nothing?
These are not canards and they are not political maneuvers. Ivana Trump grew up in communist Czechoslovakia and came to the US in 1970. She married Trump in 1977 and he has been under the Russian thumb ever since.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/29/trump-russia-asset-claims-former-kgb-spy-new-book
"DNC isn't trotting out these concerns."
DeleteYes. DNC would never stoop so low. It's their various disgraced proxies, like Hillary Clinton and such.
Then why did none of these scary threats to Democracy that are being presented now not happen when Trump was President for four years? Because Ivana Trump grew up in Czechoslovakia?
DeleteGood luck with this ridiculous propaganda effort, DNC.
I guess Russia is all they can think of. It's weird. It works on their partisan sheep (which is fascinating!) But thinking it's going to get play with swing voters seems optimistic.
DeleteCalling other commenters "DNC" is just name calling. Not everyone here hates the DNC like you would-be progressive Bernie bro Eastern European trolls.
DeleteThese Russian accusations are very serious and in many cases they are the only thing that makes sense out of some of right wing behavior.
Meanwhile, this is a typical bot troll remark and a big giveaway, since only the right wing and would-be demagogues call people "sheep" these days. Note the disrespectful attitude toward voters in general displayed by this troll. That is how the right thinks.
Three rapid-fire troll responses -- you can assess the truth of the previous comment they are reacting to by the magnitude of their response. Pointing out Trump's Russian connections cleary touches a nerve.
I'm all shaking now. Your pointing out Trump's Russian connections is earth-shattering.
DeleteThe fact that Ivana Trump grew up in communist Czechoslovakia and came to the US in 1970 is positively damning. I don't know why anyone would want to vote for Trump, knowing this. It's inconceivable to me.
Good luck getting people to think voting for another 4 years of Trump will allow Russia to dismantle the rules-based international order, invade Europe and put us all at the mercy of global authoritarians. It sure sounds scary. Maybe it will work.
DeletePeople have been hearing about "very serious Russian accusations" for (checks notes) EIGHT YEARS now. How has that worked out for you?
For a faithful DNC dead-ender eight years is nothing. They just keep going. Like the energizer bunny.
DeleteThese DNC robots still bring up ridiculous canards like the Trump Tower meeting, "Russia, if you're listening" and 'polling data". And they lie about what's in the Mueller Report, claiming it had evidence to support allegations Trump colluded with Russia. It's crazy.
DeleteOne argument for the DNC continuing to perpetrate these idiotic fantasy stories is that the people themselves, these DNC dead enders of which you speak, really believe it. The ones that are not actually bots. The real people who don't realize that Heather Cox Richardson is a DNC propagandist, are dumb enough to actually think these claims are true.
It may work. But as I've said all along, making these accusations that are so easily proved false really really hurts them in the end. When someone actually does look at the Mueller report, they see very clearly that the DNC propagandists are lying which really hurts the DNC brand a lot. And helps Trump so much. It's a very reckless, crazy gambit. Especially at this stage. I don't think they take into account the decentralization of media and how quickly lies like these are debunked. I could be wrong though.
DNC stands for Democratic National Committee. No one here is a representative of that committee. It is a political organization intended to get Democratic candidates elected. Your attempt to use that as a slur is ridiculous since it is much better for everyone on the left when the Democrat and not the Republican wins election. So, your attempts to portray the left's political arm as something bad seems aimed at convincing ignorant people that what left wingers say here is wrong. Yet this is supposedly a lefty blog (Somerby says).
DeleteHow can a DNC supporter be "dead end" when we have a Democratic president and Senate? That is success, not anything dead-end.
So, this troll is making no sense at all.
This troll's frantic reaction to discussion of Trump's Russia connection confirms that it is is true.
DeleteI didn't write it but I think they might have meant 'dead end' in the sense of rabid partisans still trying to make people believe that Trump is a puppet of Putin and colluded with Russia in their interference after two major investigations settled the issue years and years ago.
DeleteI enjoy trolling DNC bots.
DeleteThe DNC helped start the Russia collusion hoax.
DeleteThe DNC took over from a Republican primary opponent of Trump's who had commissioned the Steele report. But that is far from the only evidence against Trump.
DeleteTry again DNC-bot breath"
DeleteWASHINGTON (AP) — In a story Feb. 2 about a Republican memo on the Russia investigation, The Associated Press erroneously reported that a former British spy’s work on an opposition research project was initially funded by the conservative Washington Free Beacon. Though the former spy, Christopher Steele, was hired by a firm that was initially funded by the Washington Free Beacon, he did not begin work on the project until after Democratic groups had begun funding it.
https://apnews.com/article/63c883156e314b68b86209d3b63890f5
The Steele dossier originated with the DNC which helped start the Russia collusion hoax. The DNC lied about funding it to the FEC. The DNC helped start the Russia collusion hoax which is kind of sleazy and anti-democratic.
DeleteSince we know for a fact that Donald J Chickenshit obstructed the investigation in multiple ways, tampered with witnesses, dangled pardons, and was too chickenshit to answer questions under oath, only a flaming magat would claim Russian collusion was a hoax.
DeleteYou don't have to be a magat only. You just have to not have your head in your ass. And not be afraid to speak the truth amidst a hugely coordinated conspiracy of silence on the left about it. It was a hoax from the beginning orchestrated by the Clinton campaign and the DNC. They thought it was going to help knock Trump out as Hillary took her place as President but then Trump fucking won! So they doubled down on it ever since then, with most of the media going along with it. Now they are stuck. They are caught, everyone knows it. (except gullible partisan normies.) Right after the election they began to "engineer the case that the election wasn’t entirely on the up-and-up" inventing the Russia story to pitch to the press and the public. Then, liberal think tanks spent millions and millions to "help normalize ultra-partisan conjectures as supposedly factual", all highly successful efforts that still lead people to make idiotic assertions about the matter, quixotically repeating conjectures as facts like cultists or pious religious zealots. It's quite an episode that will be studied for centuries. We're still in the middle of it though as the a powerful institutional actors who invented and executed the hoax and the powerful institutions that went along with it still haven't fessed up to it.
Deletehttps://www.huffpost.com/entry/how-the-russia-spin-got-so-much-torque_b_5906e5f6e4b03b105b44ba15
Delete1:03, get back to me when Donald J Chickenshit testifies under oath.
Delete3:35 PM: "which is kind of sleazy and anti-democratic."
DeleteHow can it be anti-democratic if the Democrat party does it? Hello?
It's a standard mccarthyist psyop; "democratic" has got nothing to do with it. Don't romanticize politics, please.
I prefer presidents who don't suck Putin's dick when they meet in Helsinki.
DeleteThe NY Times today had an article about how older voters feel about Biden's age. About half were concerned but half were not. In fact, older voters are less concerned than younger ones. This response at the end of the article is fairly typical:
ReplyDelete"“We all have deficits as a young person and deficits as we age,” said Linda Georgeson, a 74-year-old retiree and Democrat, of Bayfield, Wis.
As a court administrator, Ms. Georgeson ruled on cases involving competency and abuse of older people, and came away believing that age does not necessarily determine mental acuity.
After reading the special counsel’s report, Ms. Georgeson felt insulted “on behalf of all older people,” she said. “I think it’s time in this country we understood everybody’s going to age.”
Hur the whore got his cheap shot in. Informed people know this is just more Republican sleaze. A thousand things like this will come and go before the election.
ReplyDeleteFrom Daily Kos, here is a review of Trump's talk before the NRA:
ReplyDelete"Now, Trump will say whatever he thinks the people he’s talking to want to hear at any given moment, and so while speaking to an NRA crowd, he disgorged the kind of lie that should boost his standing with gun violence aficionados but will almost certainly be poison in the general election.
Promising that, if elected, “no one will lay a finger on your firearms,” Trump claimed that the years he served as “president” were the salad days for the gun rights movement: “During my four years nothing happened. And there was great pressure on me having to do with guns. We did nothing. We didn’t yield.”
Say, is it okay to use an opposing candidate’s statement in an attack ad if you know that statement is a lie? Because what he said is both demonstrably false and liable to make suburban mothers spontaneously swallow their tongues.
POLITICO remembers it differently.
While in the White House, Trump supported loosening gun restrictions for hunting and fishing on public lands. He declared gun stores, shooting ranges and weapons manufacturers “essential services” during the pandemic. And he appointed more than 200 federal judges with conservative records on Second Amendment rights.
But Trump and the NRA were at times at odds. Trump encouraged states to pass Extreme Risk Protection Orders, or Red Flag laws, which allow people to seek a court order to prevent a potentially dangerous person from purchasing or having a gun. And the Trump administration banned bump stocks, a firearm attachment that enables semi-automatic weapons to function like machine guns. The devices have been used in some of the worst mass shootings.
What do you know? Another baldfaced lie, along with an implicit promise to make the most murderous nation in the developed world just a wee bit more murder-y. Yawn. Say, did you hear that Biden fell off his bike last year?
Of course, Trump is so awful in so many and varied ways, it’s just white noise for the most part. When Biden says something kind of weird or flubs a line, it’s news, because Biden is a normal, relatable human, and when normal, relatable humans do something that doesn’t quite align with our expectations, we take notice."
People who have known and interacted with Biden say he is not slipping. For example, from Rawstory:
ReplyDelete"During an interview on ABC's This Week program, host Jonathan Karl noted that Hur had described Biden as an elderly man with a poor memory.
"You've known Joe Biden for decades, and you've dealt with him a lot over the course of this conflict," Karl told Netanyahu. "What's your assessment of him?"
"Well, John, I've had more than a dozen phone conversations, extended phone conversations with President Biden," the Israeli leader replied. "He also came on a visit to Israel during wartime, which is a historic first."
"And I found him very clear and very focused," he added."
Whatever you might feel about Netanyahu, he is an unbiased bystander who can comment on Biden over time.
Why, oh, why would Netanyahu fail to jump into this controversy?
DeleteAre you serious?
Netanyahu should run for POTUS.
DeleteWhy, oh, why would Netanyahu fail to jump into this controversy?
DeleteBwahahaha!!! Sure, Cec, Bebe has certainly been shy and reticent to impose his corrupt fat ass in USA politics. LOL, stop it, you're killing me.
Should Biden be charged with the crimes Hur couldn't find in his investigation?
ReplyDeleteThis will be tomorrow’s major oped in the New York Times.
DeleteYastreblansky claims that neither Biden's nor Trump's word problems arise from dementia or old age, but from longstanding problems. In Biden's case, he says it is related to his stuttering (grasping for word substitutions that are easier to speak). In Trump's case, he says it is related to his reading disability. For both men, these are problems they have had all their lives.
ReplyDeleteFor details see: https://yastreblyansky.blogspot.com/2024/02/blog-post.html
This incident reveals the Fox News agenda to tar suppoed migrants with accusations of violent behavior:
ReplyDelete"Near the end of Thursday night’s episode of his Fox News show, Sean Hannity took a moment to acknowledge that all the claims made about a man who was viciously assaulted, live on-air, by members of the nonprofit vigilante group Guardian Angels, were false.
“Before we go tonight, I want to talk about Curtis Sliwa’s appearance on this show on Tuesday night, when members of the Guardian Angels stopped a man, and the police were called,” Hannity said.
“Now, Curtis said the man was a migrant and that he was shoplifting. Fox News has since spoken to the NYPD. Apparently, the statements made by Curtis that the man is a migrant is not true. And the man was given a summons for disorderly conduct,” Hannity continued."
https://www.thewrap.com/sean-hannity-guardian-angels-on-air-assault-correction/
We all know that Fox News cannot be trusted, but Republicans don't seem to know it. They should pay more attention to these retraction stories, which appear semi-regularly in other media.
It's the opposite, it seems to me: those who make corrections are the ones who can be trusted.
Delete@12:06 -- The retraction story consisted of Hannity admitting that he lied about a migrant shoplifter -- the guy wasn't a migrant at all.
DeleteThat doesn't mean we should trust Hannity. It means he got caught in a lie by Curtis Sliwa, who has enough clout to force him to admit it.
People who make good faith statements that they later correct for accuracy might fit your rule, but people who are lying liars and admit it when backed into a corner are still lying liars in the other things they say.
Hannity didn't lie. There are no allegations that anyone lied. From your quotes it follows that Curtis Sliwa made a mistake, and Hannity later corrected it, in prime time. Good for him.
DeleteHannity admitted he lied.
DeleteYou're a DNC bot.
DeleteI’m an FSB bot.
DeleteThese age-related smears are having an effect, as can be seen from this reporting:
ReplyDelete"Huge Majority Think Biden Is Too Old for Another Term
February 11, 2024 at 11:06 am EST By Taegan Goddard
An overwhelming majority of Americans — 86% — think President Biden is too old to serve another term, according to a new ABC News/Ipsos poll.
Sixty-two percent of Americans think Donald Trump is too old to serve as president.
There is a large difference in how partisans view their respective nominees — 73% of Democrats think Biden is too old to serve but only 35% of Republicans think Trump is too old to serve. Ninety-one percent of independents think Biden is too old to serve, and 71% say the same about Trump."
What percentage of the media thinks Biden is too old?
DeleteI'd guess 95% at least.
If 50 is the new 30, then 70 is the new 50 and 90 is the new 70. What this really means is that modern medicine and health conditions, especially for wealthy individuals, has improved not only longevity but daily functioning so that being old isn't what it used to be.
ReplyDelete"However, if a man is healthy enough to reach age 70 this year, the Social Security actuarial tables indicate he could live an average of 15.4 years more." Note that this prediction is an average, which means some will live less long and others longer. Biden is now 81, which means he has 4 more years, according to this average, and a reasonable chance of living longer than that.
By the way, we do not assess health or longevity by looks.
“We do not assess health or longevity by looks.”
DeleteActually - we do.
We shouldn't, because cosmetic surgery and spray tan don't actually make anyone younger or increase longevity. In fact, Joan Rivers died during cosmetic surgery, which didn't help her longevity at all.
DeleteJoan Rivers wasn’t funny.
DeleteShe was disloyal to Johnny Carson.
DeleteRivers did not die from cosmetic surgery.
DeleteShe previously had cosmetic surgery, but it didn’t make her pretty.
DeleteSomerby is a bot.
ReplyDeleteKevin questions Trump’s mental fitness:
ReplyDeletehttps://jabberwocking.com/the-real-donald-trump-is-losing-it/
Let's try a little try media criticism:
ReplyDelete‘But His Memory’ and the slow train wreck of American democracy
by Will Bunch | Columnist
Published Feb. 11, 2024, 1:38 p.m. ET
Feb. 8, 2024, is a date that will live in infamy for America's failures to stop fascism, from a corrupt SCOTUS to a broken media.
Some night around the year 2064, when the ragtag children of the last historians huddle around a cave fire and mix up some berries and the blood of their groundhog dinner to paint crude images of what the heck ever happened to the United States of America, they will probably render a depiction of Feb. 8, 2024 — a date which will live in infamy.
There are so many images to choose from — a corrupt and contented black-robed Supreme Court putting the last rubber stamp of cowardice on a nation’s failure to hold a coup leader accountable, or a White House press corps shouting like a pack of wild hyenas at President Joe Biden about his 81-year-old brain while ignoring the orange blob of Donald Trump as he plots the betrayal of Europe and a kind of American Kristallnacht against immigrants.
To see last Thursday unfold in real time was like watching the wreck of a slow-moving train, with democracy heading like Wile E. Coyote toward a cliff and nobody — not a Supreme Court bought and paid for by billionaires, nor a judiciary too easily gamed by inertia, nor a Congress engineered to produce only gridlock and gibberish, nor a gullible news media lacking backbone — throwing the switch to stop it. And the American people?
No one bothered to get off the couch.
https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/biden-memory-trump-supreme-court-20240211.html
Let's try a little "real" media criticism:
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