Funtatlaguy
Funtatlaguy's JournalSo, the Friday news dump worked, I guess.
Storm Has completely dominated all news coverage.
Which is understandable because of the severity. I'm sick about what Houston is facing.
Guess the White House finally made a good public relations move with the timing of Arpaio pardon.
Hopefully, Trump won't get away with this outrage, though.
I'm still angry about it.
But, right now, Texas should be uppermost on our minds.
Let's hope the rain stops soon and healing can commence.
Once the Trump era ends, just imagine the tell all books.
Try a title or two:
Here's mine: "Arsenic and ole Spicey". Sean Spicer
"Can't touch this". Melania Trump
So, my dear Hoosiers, I do believe you are getting a President.
I truly believe that the powers that be have now decided they can not stick it out with Trump.
I think that they will force him to resign possibly even before Muellers report is released.
He's doing too much damage to that oh so important Republican "brand".
So, the power will soon be turned over to the former Indiana Governor.
All I really know about Mike Pence is that he is a staunch Evangelical and looks like a funeral director.
What other things can you tell me? What kind of Governor was he?
Why are MAGA and TOCB never questioned?
Make America Great Again
Take Our Country Back.
Whenever I hear some right winger throw these out there, they are never questioned.
I'm still waiting for just one reporter to ask:
What do you mean by Make America Great Again?
Why is it not great now?
Do you believe that it was great at one time but stopped being so?
When and how did that happen?
How do you define great?
What do you mean by Take Our Country Back?
Take it back from whom?
Give it to whom?
Should a Democratic Republic be owned by any one particular group?
If your group did take it back, what would it then look like?
I'm still waiting.
I THINK I know what they really mean by this.
I think they want to take us back to a time like the Father Knows Best 1950's..
An extremely patriarchal conservative Christian corporate loving top down strict law and order based society that does not question authority and rules with a firm hand.
But, I can only think that because of my own biases and experiences.
I want to HEAR AND SEE these people say it out loud.
If they can't explain what MAGA or TOCB means to them, why do they use these terms and why has our mainstream media allowed them to do so without any questioning?
It's all setting up nicely for a President Pence.
The new media phrase is....."a vacuum of moral leadership."
Trump being, rightly, derided for his 48 hour delay and being forced into naming names.
CNN even put together a greatest hits montage of poor moral leadership during the campaign (with clips like the mocking of disabled reporter) and since the election.
I believe the die is now cast.
More and more republicans will abandon the Trump ship.
Most had planned to wait on the Mueller report to officially do so.
But, they now have a "justifiable" reason not to.
And, for many, that's just dandy because they will get someone much better than Trump.
Mike Pence.
Watch for a deal to be cut before the end of the year.
Trump will resign with the condition of unconditional pardons for him and his family.
Plus, there will be no release of any of his financial documents or information.
We will be told that this is best for the country.
North Korea will be used as a convenient excuse.
We must turn to that immediate threat and not be embroiled in what Trump and his family "may or may not" have done.
And, who better than the ever so gentlemanly smiling Preacher wannabe from Indiana.
Straight out of 1960's casting for a remake of Father Knows Best.
He will help heal this nation. They will say.
And, the Murdochs, Mercers, and Kochs will agree to this.
Knowing that Pence will go along with big tax cuts.
Speaker Ryan will agree knowing that Pence will help him go after entitlements.
McCain and Graham will agree knowing Pence will go along with all of the war games.
And, for Pence?
Oh, he's just licking his chops for Justices Kennedy and Ginsburg to retire.
He wants to take this country back to God. That will be his mission.
Get rid of abortion, gay rights, separation of church of state.
Those are the things that he cares most about.
That and the End Times.
He will step that up in the Middle East...and, if North Korea also helps...praise BE, sure, Hallelujah!
For those that think Muellers report will bring down Pence along with Trump, you're dreaming.
It's done.
The deal has been made.
Watch for hints from conservative media.
Watch how they move away from praising Trump to praising Pence.
Listen for words like healing & forgiveness (which is how Pence will defend his pardons).
Am I wrong? Where?
Malignant narcissists think very differently.
It's not so much that he likes what the white supremacists stand for.
Or what anybody stands for.
He only cares that they like him and voted for him.
When trying to analyze anyone that has Trumps level of narcissism, always remember to do so within that framework.
Flattery is his lifeblood. Anybody who says he is great must, therefore, also be great.
It's really that simple.
Trump just a symptom. RW Media is the cause of our political misery.
There was the genesis of right wing radio primarily with Rush, then Savage and Levine, and now Alex Jones. More and more vile. And, the total takeover of the radio networks and the AM band.
The Telcom Act of 1996 loosening the ownership rules that made more huge companies and the loss of local oriented radio and tv stations.
And, sitting back watching it all happen was Roger Ailes.
And, with the Backing of Rupert Murdochs money, the creation of the greatest right wing propaganda media outlet that this country has ever seen.
The holy grail.
Fox News.
Using the very cleverly tested and marketed slogan of "fair and balanced".
Using very attractive (primarily blonde) female anchors who were required to wear short skirts or dresses. And, the camera people and directors told to take a lot of low angle wide shots to show off those slim beautiful legs.
Completely blurring the once mandatory journalistic lines of what is straight reporting and what is opinion/editorial comment.
Completely going from information to entertainment and creating the new genre of infotainment that they soon found had a great and very PROFITABLE niche.
But, surely, this wouldn't last.
Surely REAL journalists would speak out against this vehicle of propaganda for what it was.
Surely no REAL journalists would work there.
Surely our politicians (even the sane moderate republicans) would join ALL Democrats and boycott them by never appearing on Fox and never issuing them media credentials because THEY WERE NOT MEDIA.
Well, don't call us Shirley because it all happened.
And, not only that.
Even worse, many other media outlets tried to copy much of what Fox was doing trying to emulate their success to gain better profits.
Because news was no longer what it once was for the broadcast networks.
Remember when news was considered a necessary public service that the networks must provide to be given our air space. Remember when news divisions were separate from entertainment divisions and it was ok if the news divisions lost money.
Fox News changed that forever.
And, nothing can kill them.
Yes, their ratings are a little down niw with all of the sexual harassment stuff forcing out Ailes and O'Reilly and others.
But, it doesn't matter now.
What Fox News does is now accepted and expected (even craved) by a huge portion of the public.
Sure, their audience is getting older.
But, they or another incarnation dreamed up by the Koch, Mercers or others will adapt and follow with new technologies and new ways to shape younger and future generations minds.
Did some of us try to stop it?
Yes, we called it Faux or Fixed news.
Had bumper stickers.
Tried to tell friends and family not to watch.
But, too many did and still do watch.
They are addicted to this type of non thinking authoritative media that feeds them a particular point of view with the truth abandoned and the facts not very important or even important at all.
America let this happen.
The Republicans thought this was what they wanted to offset their perceived mainstream media leftist bias. So, what if Fox was a little loose with the truth. It meant winning.
It meant a set of completely loyal voters.
And, it meant the end of America having a real free and honest press that we so need and sorely miss. It's happened right in front of us. Before our very eyes.
And, we thought it couldn't happen here.
And, we thought nobody like Trump could be elected.
To quote the ending of Planet of the Apes... Damn you, damn you all to hell.
Only the BACKSWILL of America still supports Trump.
I wish we all would refer to the 32-38% (depending on which poll) of people that say they still
support Trump as "backswill".
***ready for this response - "that's no way to refer to people that you want to win over".
****my response - you can't re-regurgitate backswill...it is unre-regurgitatable.
I thought she went over to NBC
So I didn't include her.
I also wonder if she's still dating Lawrence O'Donnell and how that might have affected her job.
Thinking about jettisoned or demoted MSNBC talent.
Was sitting around talking political tv hosts. The subject came up that it looks like things have now settled down at MSNBC after several years of on air moves.
People they dumped or demoted to a lesser role and fewer on air hours:
Alex Wagner
Ed Schultz
Phil Donahue
Melissa Harris Perry
Al Sharpton
Thomas Roberts
Alex Witt
Chris Jansing
Steve Kornacki
Jonathan Capehart
Others?
