Unfixable Crimes

Unfixable Crimes

Dear media, you are being used. You are playing right into the hands of a dangerous madman. You are disseminating propaganda and terror by giving too much oxygen to a lying fascist and white supremacist. For the sake of your own credibility and a fragile democracy, please stop playing video clips of the president. You can report on what he says and does without incessantly showing clips of him lying. It doesn’t matter if you tell us before and/or after showing the clips that it’s a lie—the clip is more powerful. And he knows it. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video clip is worth a million.

He is using you to spread hate and distract. Stop playing along.

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Bothsidesism

Bothsidesism

Part of me wants to turn off all television news and live a happily ignorant existence. Another part of me needs to scream. At Chris Matthews. At Chris Cuomo. At Chris Hayes. It’s not the name Chris that bothers me. My confirmation name is Chris. No, it’s how the Chrises and others in the television news business are once again doing their best to sway and blow another election for Democrats.

After the terrorist murders in Pittsburgh, almost every news show had on good ol’ folksy John Kasich. He’s been making the rounds. What he says in all of these appearances is appealing: we need to have more empathy, stop putting up walls, reach out to others, and Trump is incapable of being a unifier. All of it sounds good. Common sense. But just as he criticizes Trump in one breath, he then invokes bothsidesism in another.

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The Rhetoric Blame Game

The Rhetoric Blame Game

False equivalency strikes again.

Yesterday pipe bombs were sent to political opponents and vocal critics of Donald Trump. Specifically, the targets of the bombs were people he has called out by name at his cult shows.

Today the media has bent over backwards to show how both sides need to cool down on the rhetoric. For example, CBS This Morning showed several clips in an attempt at being “fair.” One clip was an interview with a Trump supporter—it looked like she was in the lobby of his rally last night—who said both sides need to take a step back. This was followed by another clip of past Trump cult shows (aka rallies) where he whipped up the flock into frenzied chants of “lock her up.”  Then, to be “fair,” CBS showed a clip of Eric Holder saying, “when they go low, we kick them.”

How are these things even remotely equivalent?

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The Warren Condition

The Warren Condition

Typical Democrat: Bringing a biological DNA test result to a chemical weapons fight.

Dear Elizabeth Warren, your response to Donald Trump should be, “Fuck off, you sleazy snake oil salesman and fat, ugly, disgusting, misogynist pig!”

I don’t believe Democrats need to take the low road to beat Trump, but we do need a quick-striking and forceful fighter who can offer hope and firmly rebuke Trump at the same time. It’s possible and the media will love it.

I like Elizabeth Warren. A lot. I support everything she stands for. But if she is nominated, she and her Fact Squad will get obliterated. The media doesn’t pay attention to facts. Facts are boring. Facts get no oxygen. They want drama. They want ratings. They want a candidate trying to stand in a category 5 with debris flying around.

I will still vote for her if she wins the nomination, but we will lose. And so will the country.

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Make or Break Time?

Make or Break Time?

Most Sunday mornings we tune into CBS Sunday Morning, and watch right up to the sights and sounds of nature at the very end. Then we turn it off before the talking heads and pundits pontificate on Face The Nation (and the other Sunday round table shows).

This morning, right before they left us with that tranquil end to the show, they showed a promo for Face The Nation. When John Dickerson said, coming up, it’s make or break time for the Republican healthcare bill, I turned to my husband and ranted, “What does that mean? Make or break time? Mitch McConnell owns the Senate. He can make or break anything any time he wants. If he wants to have a vote on the healthcare bill next week, he can. If he wants to have a vote a year from now, he can. He controls the Senate. This is a guy who stole a Supreme Court seat. He can do whatever the fuck he wants whenever the fuck he wants to.”

And in response to my short, but intense outburst, my loving husband calmly said, “You had to get that out. Now, what do you want to eat for dinner this week?”

And with that, we set off to Trader Joe’s.

But… Media: stop with this make or break time narrative. It’s meaningless. There are no norms left in DC. 

That’s my post for today. I’ll leave you with an image from Rocky Mountain National Park.

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Freedom and Fake News

Freedom and Fake News

Anyone who knows me or reads this blog knows I’m not a big fan of the television news media. And by news, I mean legit news organizations, not the sly-as-a-fox-make-shit-up-to-brainwash-our-viewers-in-order-to-serve-our-oligarchic-agenda “news.”

CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, BBC, etc., are all legit news. I may not like the way they present the news, um, I mean BREAK the news, since it’s always BREAKING NEWS with fancy graphics, ominous scoring, and dramatic language—for Pete’s sake, I’m watching the news, not a James Cameron movie—but they are legitimate.

I wish they’d stop trying to entertain me and just give me the facts.

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Is this the kind of disruption people voted for? Sure, some did. (During the campaign, Hillary referred to those folks as a basket of deplorables, and that was being kind.) Others voted for Trump because they were in pain or they felt like they had no voice or they just wanted to shake up the system. While I didn’t vote for Trump, I, too, thought Washington needed a big time jolt. But not like this. If you are still defending this president and his autocratic goons, then you are delusional. You are the problem. Please, take your head out of Sean Hannity’s propaganda-filled ass and get some real facts and fresh air.

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Just the Facts

Just the Facts

Dear media,

Where were you in 2015 and 2016 have you been the last 30+ years?

Congratulations! You successfully enabled a man who now declares war on you.

And you deserve it.

You have no one but yourselves to blame for your eroded credibility. For far too long, you have chased sensationalism, the ratings dollar, and portrayed the news as entertainment. So you get what you deserve. It’s tempting to jump on the Trump administration’s media-bashing bandwagon, but we need you now more than ever. You are the only check left on a complete fascist and Orwellian takeover of America and democracy. Your rights—unlike women, LGBT, black, immigrant, voting, and many other rights—are enshrined in, and protected by, the Constitution, because, have no doubt, the current administration would strip you of those rights in a rushin’ Russian heartbeat. This is what they plan to do to me, my husband, son, sister, mother, and fellow marginalized brothers and sisters. So count yourselves lucky.

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Pay No Attention To That Man In Front Of The Curtain

Pay No Attention To That Man In Front Of The Curtain

Dear media,
It’s clear Trump is the shiny object you can’t help gawking at. In fact, you wet yourselves over his every tick and tweet. Grow up. Trump is the distraction. Ignore him. The real show, and the laws and policies that will affect our lives more, will take place behind the scenes. Shine the spotlight there. On Bannon. On Miller. On Mike Pence, Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, and anyone else using Trump as a blinding shield. Resist Trump’s temptations to lure you back in. Ignore him. He hates you anyway. He has called you disgusting and corrupt. The enemy of the people. And the more attention you give him, the more you prove him correct. Covering him for ratings is disgusting. Covering him to make a buck is corrupt. So stop. Ignore him. This will drive him crazy. You must focus your attention on the players in Congress. Please, please, please, just ignore Trump. He deserves nothing more than your total disregard and neglect.
Bigly.

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