March 18, 2019

"The Fake News Media..."

101 comments:

Inga...Allie Oop said...

Oh boy. This is one of over 50 tweets he posted this weekend. I think he got really shook by the White Nationalist in NZ naming him in his Manifesto and the piling on by media. Maybe it would be a good idea to make a special address to the Nation and explain his position on White Nationalism.

Birkel said...

Imagine an alternative reality in which the MSM played things fairly.
How high might Trump's approval rating be in that potential world?

And he still leads in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin by 46-40.

Gk1 said...

Isn't it striking that a republican president with a 90% approval rate among his own party so often is alone and having to defend himself against these baseless smears by the cucks that reside in Washington D.C. He wouldn't have to tweet half the time if they would get up off their asses and push back whenever the press is peddling this crap. So tiresome.

Rob said...

A mundane tweet, as Trump tweets go, except for capitalizing "ridiculous." Trump can take even the mundane and elevate it to Art.

Ann Althouse said...

I am so disgusted by the efforts to make the NZ attack about the United States and to weaponize it against Trump. I have been refusing to talk about it, but I would call it evil. I think it promotes white supremacist terrorism to elevate it like this. The news media has been utterly shameful.

That's all I want to say.

Henry said...

My son was shocked that Pewdiepie was mentioned by the psychopath.

Hagar said...

The New Zealand event is similar to Anders Breivik in Norway, both shooters claiming to want publicity for a fantasy world of their own making.

You can't blame Breivik on Trump, so why Tarrant?

narciso said...

And some psycho dragon cartoon as well, much like the joker from dark knight

Gretchen said...

I love how the left claims Trump has nothing to do with the stellar economy but is at fault for everything terrible.

Obviously this attack was horrific, and the perp was a horrible person. Of course the murder of 120 Nigerian Christians at the hands of Muslims has been ignored by the media for two reasons. First, that the media couldn't care less about black people being murdered unless they are killed by whites. They are despicable racists. That's why they don't address black on black crime, which makes inner city neighborhoods intolerable for the majority of the black population, but instead focus on the occasional cop killing by a white cop.

Chuck said...

Can anyone offer up a good example of the mainstream media "weaponizing" the NZ story against Trump?

I hope we can all agree that it was newsworthy to report on the content of they guy's manifesto. Whether he mentioned Trump is, I think newsworthy. And, it should also be put in context. The context, that is, of a madman.

I would immediately agree with Althouse if the point was, "We have no reason to 'blame' anything on Trump in this context." But what I want -- and what I expect that someone will supply in short order -- is a sterling example of a mainstream media outlet that did that, in a way that Althouse chose to describe as "weaponizing." I want your best shot, Trump fans. Give me a link to a story in a truly mainstream publication (and not some weird leftist-extremist outlet), that really weaponizes the "blame" aspect and laying it directly at the feet of Donald Trump.

Ken B said...

I agree with Trump here. And with Althouse. It's always about us — only Americans have agency, and my opponents are to blame. Every damn time.
Equally repulsive is the Blame Chelsea stuff, but that isn’t being pushed by multi billion dollar media companies.

n.n said...

While Americans are nationalists or community-oriented, neither the Declaration nor the Constitution indulge diversity, summary judgments, and cruel and unusual punishment (e.g. kill zones). So, as there is no principled alignment, the court of public opinion in following a coherent jurisprudence must see fit to acquit. That said, he may still be a warlock.

Ken B said...

Birkel: there is a book by Tim Groseclose on just that very topic, trying to quantify the effect of left leaning media on voting and polling. The book is about 8 years old now I guess.

rhhardin said...

Trump offers the media clickbait stories they can't resist, even if they know it's what Trump wants. I mean a click is a click. (Punch, two pigs: Alphonse, don't go in there! It's a poke! - But Maurice, that's garbage in there!)

With over-the-top stories the media and the dems discredit themselves to Trump's advantage.

traditionalguy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
narciso said...

Well you must follow the cair/splc rulebook to silence any critic of islamism and further to enable them to get the high ground.

Ken B said...

Chuck asked for a link. I suggest google.com Using google I found the Guardian in under 1 second https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/mar/18/white-supremacy-donald-trump-christchurch-shooting

Gk1 said...

Since Chuck asked. Here is Chris Wallace of Fox news asking a Trump person why Trump won't come out against White supremacists in a speech (as if he has a special obligation to) https://thehill.com/homenews/media/434460-chris-wallace-presses-mulvaney-why-doesnt-trump-give-a-speech-denouncing-anti

Or the Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/mar/18/white-supremacy-donald-trump-christchurch-shooting

Or the Washpo
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/03/.../mick-mulvaney-is-over-his-head/

Achilles said...

The NZ killer said he wanted to cause division and get the leftists to attempt to grab all of the guns.

The leftists have been happy to oblige.

The New Zealand killer called himself an eco-fascist.

The leftist media and democrats and the killer are all on the same team.

They are all enemies of freedom.

traditionalguy said...

Blame NZ on gamers creating a video game .Everything he said is a joke he is making for fun and ridicule of today’s Media narratives. He made fun of Muslims by shooting them.

Achilles said...

Chuck said...

Can anyone offer up a good example of the mainstream media "weaponizing" the NZ story against Trump?


Don't forget Chuck. The neocon globalist open borders republican wing of the uniparty is also an enemy of freedom.

Hagar said...

An Australian shoots up New Zealand in order to meddle in United States internal politics.
"One world-ism" on steroids?

It is becoming very difficult to keep up with this stuff!

narciso said...

And he was anti capitalist, if he was more tech savvy hed be the villain in skyfall.

Achilles said...

Inga...Allie Oop said...
Oh boy. This is one of over 50 tweets he posted this weekend. I think he got really shook by the White Nationalist in NZ naming him in his Manifesto and the piling on by media. Maybe it would be a good idea to make a special address to the Nation and explain his position on White Nationalism.

He should be shaken up. We are all shaken up.

We have a bunch of disgusting people like you piling on and attacking us every time some non-christian gets shot anywhere in the world.

There was no connection between this individual and Trump. This person disagreed with Trump on every policy position.

The only connection is that evil people like you want to attack your political enemies using any garbage you can find.

Please keep making it clear that you are never going to be decent people. Even Ann is forced to notice.

narciso said...

One might call it a strategy of tension as I referred re Italy in the 70s

https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/273197/muslim-terrorist-kills-3-dutch-train-daniel-greenfield?fbclid=IwAR2EpCaSkdbmBDJ68JZc-74L4nSWtGydo5tU1gGU_NEgbOsIZgtV3x2KBi8#.XJAtO7z2N0Y.facebook

Leland said...

The NZ shooters concept of the United States were purely based on media coverage of the US. It is the media, not Trump, that shaped the shooters views on the US, Muslims, and gun control. It seems the media, seeing its reflection, agrees with the shooters. I don't.

Paul said...

News flash... Muslim terrorist in Africa murder over 60 people... I am sure Dems will try to find someway to blame Trump for this... did they use guns? Ah ha!

And in Mexico Narco-terrorist left 19 dead in a ditch just last week. Some shot, some strangled, some stabbed. Clearly this is somehow the fault of Trump for trying to build a wall!

In the Neatherlands a Turk shot several people on a train, killing at least one! Yes a gun! Another one to blame Trump!

Birkel said...

Even Zogby thinks Trump wins the upper Midwest.
Meanwhile, people know - and can feel in their bones - that there are more job openings than unemployed.
Maybe as many as two million depending on the surveys you use.

Trust in media is at or near an all-time low.

And the NZ guy wanted the Left and the media to overreact.
The MSM abides.

narciso said...

If he had a masque hed be rorschach from watchmen, who in turn was channelling travis bickel

Michael K said...

The NZ shooters concept of the United States were purely based on media coverage of the US.

Good point. Hollywood is teaching the world to hate us.

Francisco D said...

Trump is smart to tweet about this.

Many components of the MSM jumped the shark a long time ago. More and more people are starting to see that the MSM has a political agenda that makes them dishonest and (in many cases) opposed to things that ordinary people support.

As an aside because I do not know if it is related. I was shocked to see that my liberal (not leftist) Democrat wife has been watching Fox News. Maybe the obvious bias of the MSM is getting to her.

Michael said...

How many white nationalists do our dim lefty commenter(s) believe exist in the US? I would guess there are less than 10,000. Trump was right to dismiss them as insignificant . The NZ shooter has much more in common with Al Gore and Bill McKibbon and Tom Steyer than with Trump.

John henry said...

Thomas Wictor has a really interesting take on the shooter. He does not think it is a terrorist attack but rather an 8Chan "Troll" attack.

Instead of reading what the media say the manifesto says he read the actual manifesto and picks it apart for us. It has a lot of 8Chan copyPaste memes in it.

For example:

I'll have you know I graduated top of my class in the Navy Seals, and I've been involved in numerous secret raids on Al-Quaeda, and I have over 300 confirmed kills. I am trained in gorilla warfare and I'm the top sniper in the entire US armed forces.

the whole manifesto sounds like loony rantings and perhaps it is. But much of it is not the shooter's loony rantings. It is his copying and pasting of other rantings both real and parody.

You can read the manifesto here:

https://milnenews.com/2019/03/15/christchurch-mosque-shooter-brenton-tarrants-full-manifesto/

You can read Thomas Wictor's analysis here.

https://quodverum.com/2019/03/75/a-new-form-of-atrocity-.html

John Henry

John henry said...

BTW: Thomas Wictor posted a short video just now about "White Nationalists" ie; white skinned people who are nationalist for their countries.

Pics of Hmong, Yezidi, Mexican, Afghan, Persian, Mongolian "white nationalists"

His point being that the whole concept of "white nationalist" is a crock of shit.

Video here

https://www.quodverum.com/2019/03/77/the-toxic-lie-of-ethnonationalism-.html

John Henry

narciso said...

Remember this is the same Holland where they chased out hirai Ali after the van Gogh's murder, where gert wilder's security detail was infiltrated by the Moroccan mob

John henry said...

OT but another blogger at Quodverum goes by the name of Rex. He has a theory that Mueller is working with, not against PDJT.

This is based on Donal Trump being an FBI informant in the 80s who helped Mueller, Giuliani, Barr and Rosenstein bring down the Mafia 5 families in NYC and Nicky Scarfo in Philadelphia.

Rex does a lot of dot connecting.

So when you get done with Wictor, scroll down a few posts to this one:

https://www.quodverum.com/2019/03/75/endgame-potus-trump-s-vindication-nears.html

John Henry

Chuck said...

Okay!

First up; Ken B. Ken B, your link was to an op-ed in the Guardian. The Guardian is about as left-wing as I will grant status to "mainstream media." But in any event, it wasn't news reporting. It was commentary.

Next up; Gk1. Gk1, I think you may have been pasting your Guardian link the same time that Ken was pasting his link. The same link. It's commentary in the Guardian, not news reporting. But then you linked to some Washington Post commentary. It's on the WaPo Opinion pages. Not news. Not presented as news. It's an Op-Ed.

But Gk1, you DID link to a news story, and that was The Hill's story about Chris Wallace of the Fox News Channel (I am yuuuge Chris Wallace fan), asking Mick Mulvaney questions about why Trump doesn't more forcefully speak out against anti-Muslim violence. I suspect that if I were the editor on that story, I would not have changed a word of it. The report was perfectly accurate, about Chris Wallace's questions posed to Mick Mulvaney, and Mulvaney's answers thereto. It was about as far away from "weaponized" news as I could imagine.

Then there was Achilles, who didn't link to anything at all.

Does anyone have a good example of a "weaponized" anti-Trump news story?

Sebastian said...

"I am so disgusted by the efforts to make the NZ attack about the United States and to weaponize it against Trump. I have been refusing to talk about it, but I would call it evil. I think it promotes white supremacist terrorism to elevate it like this. The news media has been utterly shameful."

They have. I appreciate the disgust. But that should be the default. Disgusting evil is their MO: everything and anything gets "weaponized." Sometimes Althouse doesn't notice, sometimes she doesn't care, sometimes she is sad--and sometimes, to her credit, she is disgusted. Her disgust gives me hope. But as best I can tell, she still judges the MSM on a case by case basis, as if they just happen to be evil occasionally, and just occasionally give in to temptation to vilify Trump.

No. It's what they do, it's who they are.

And they don't give a damn about anyone's disgust. Althouse hasn't gone there yet, but she should: acknowledging that they do not just despise the deplorables, they despise her too. It is a hard thing: to know that there are people who fundamentally reject who you are and what you stand for. But that's where we are.

Drago said...

One of the most important results of Trumps election is the complete exposure of how the establishment/LLR media has become the plaything of far left and radical lefty billionaires and how eagerly the LLR's were to throw off their microscopically thin veneer of "conservatism" and publicly embrace the lefty policies and social posturing of their lefty benefactors.

We see now that Google has been funding National Review and little by little that publication is steadily morphing into another openly leftist sewer like The Weekly Standard was and The Bulwark (Pierre Omidyar) is.

That explains the all-out assault against David Victor Hanson by the NPR-loving LLR set.

Again, the good news is its all out in the open with an astonishing 93% of republicans supporting Trump and not falling for the LLR and lefty lies. Particularly in the midwest, which is critical.

So Trump has survived all the lefty and LLR snears and lies thus far and is stronger than ever.

Clearly.

Big Mike said...

@Althouse, you and he are both right.

narciso said...

I dont see much foundation to Rex's sorculatio , I did see how they took Thomas wictor off Twitter right before the qatari info op.

Ken B said...

“Give me a link to a story in a truly mainstream publication (and not some weird leftist-extremist outlet), that really weaponizes the "blame" aspect and laying it directly at the feet of Donald Trump.”

I gave you that Chuck. (So did others of course.) You don’t think it should count because the Guardian is leftwing. That's a nifty approach. Demand proof of bias, then deny it counts because of ... bias.

narciso said...

The thing is Buckley knew the enemy in south America he had encountered eudocio ravines back in the states fmr trotskyite James Burnham former illegals operative Whittaker chambers etc showed us the perspective of the evil empire, which was consigned 30-40 million to death.

Gk1 said...

Chuck resorting to the no true scotsman fallacy for links that serve him exactly the weaponization he was asking for. Guess he didn't read the Washpo link carefully either. Duly noted. But to Ann's point the weaponization of this massacre against Trump is truly disgusting and has no place in a decent society.

narciso said...

So Twitter curates Sean Davis for pointing lisa pages testimony, as a week before they did to chuck Ross pointing out the silicon valley funding behind fusions expansion project,

narciso said...


https://thefederalist.com/2019/03/18/no-new-zealand-shooter-not-nationalist/

Francisco D said...

@ John Henry

That was an extremely interesting article.

It makes me wonder if the over-the-top Trump derangement has to do with the idea that he is far more knowledgable about dirty politics and criminal investigations than most people imagine. He is a serious threat, not just the bullshit artist that he appears/pretends to be.

FullMoon said...


For the new or occasional visitor:

Chuck said...

"I am afraid you are mistaking me for someone who has an interest in fair treatment of Donald Trump. I'm not your guy. I am interested in smearing him, hurting him and prejudicing people against him."

3/4/16, 4:46 PM

Three years later, same old song..

narciso said...

Sometimes his extrapolations seem far fetched, but they are think pieces unlike the usual fusion GPS palaver recycled through omidyar and Steyer organs

David Begley said...

Althouse, “The news media has been utterly shameful.”

Ann: That’s the Standard Operating Procedure for today’s MSM.

Chuck said...

No, Ken B; the problem with your Guardian link is that it was not a link to a news story at all. It was a link to a column of commentary -- explicitly labeled as such -- in the opinion section of that left-wing newspaper.

Absolutely no one should be fooled into thinking that an opinion column in the Guardian is "news."

I'm not sure how I can explain this to you any more explicitly. Althouse was talking about the "weaponization" of the news media. But there are all sorts of opinion columnists. And they aren't to be mistaken for news reporting.

And the reason I am discounting The Guardian is that it hardly counts as mainstream American news media. It is a determinedly left-wing newspaper in the UK, where newspapers are even more balkanized than the current US news media.

I honestly didn't think you guys would struggle this much.



David Begley said...

Paul:

I think you are referring to the beheading of 60 sex slaves by ISIS. No outrage by the MSM.

narciso said...

Burnham taught Henry grunwald future chief of time magazine while he consulted for the company

Drago said...

I am glad that narciso brought up FusionGPS

We now have clear evidence that the LLR turncoat McCain, along with betraying all republicans on obamacare, as only a LLR coud and would do, has now been conclusively shown to have openly colluded with dems who openly colluded with Putins pals to smear Trump and atack at the very heart of our republic by being helping to weaponize the govt and lefty media against Trump.

A most fitting result for this icon of faux-conservative LLR-ism.

And remember, the conservatives have JUST BEGUN to fight back with released information against the far left/LLR cabal.

It is guaranteed each day will bring additioal clarity to the extent the left and LLR's have damaged our republic.

narciso said...

Twitter has shadow banned a whole series of interesting feeds while Hezbollah so called antifa and Louis farrakhan still get a blue check.

narciso said...

It's just one of many such outfits, that reinforce the former Iranian lobby niac the whole wahhabi infrastructure for cair to mpac, the splc has receded but not before giving way to new America foundation.

FullMoon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Gk1 said...

Or here is another link https://thehill.com/media/434375-washington-post-editorial-board-condemns-trump-rhetoric-after-nz-shooting

And another https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-new-zealand-mosque-shooting-christchurch-washington-post_n_5c8c9882e4b03e83bdc1337c

Or this one where the NYT doesn't blame Trump explicitly for the NZ shooting but goes ahead and blames him anyway. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/17/opinion/trump-violence.html

I get some posters are just trolls but its not like anyone can't use google to refute an easy lie that the media is not blaming Trump, because like, they are.

jg said...

FNM *is*, not are. So it's a proper name.

iowan2 said...

I'm not sure how I can explain this to you any more explicitly. Althouse was talking about the "weaponization" of the news media. But there are all sorts of opinion columnists. And they aren't to be mistaken for news reporting.

What are you blathering on about?
The media has weaponized the NZ shooting against President Trump. The idiocy of trying to claim they do it as an opinion, in meaningless. It is a distinction, with no difference. News has almost entirely devolved into narrative setting. Polls are in the "news" section everyday. They are not fact. Polls are narrative setting, ie opinion. We have floods covering the front pages and lead stories on TV. Fact sure enough...wrapped in CAGCC narrative setting, ie opinion.
Attempting to use the NZ shooting in your stated quest to smear President Trump, is the weaponization of a senseless tragedy.

FullMoon said...

Has any mainstream publication or legitimate source disproved the rumored Adam Schiff payoff to a 19 year old lover?
Seems eerily reminiscent of the way the media ignored the John Edwards scandal.
Weird.

Anonymous said...

When a non-Muslim kills Muslims, we get lectures on Islamophobia.

When a Muslim kills non-Muslims, we get lectures on Islamophobia if it's mentioned at all.

When Muslims kills Muslims, no one says anything.

FullMoon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kirk Parker said...

John Henry,

Holy sh*t, that paragraph you quoted is amazing nonsense! I suppose the vast majority in the MSM can't spot it as nonsense, alas. 8chan copypasta, eh? I sure do wonder who this guy really was...


Chuck,

Don't be silly. Althouse referred to "new media", not "pure news stories", and The Grauniad and Jeff Bezos' blog are very much news media. Yes, they have both "straight [more or less]" news, and commentary, all published/hosted by one-and-the-same media outlet.

pacwest said...

Most news of the day is opinion. Very little is reporting of facts only. Conclusions are drawn in nearly every report. I will draw my own conclusions thank you very much. I would of thought that AP would have stayed above the fray.

"The context, that is, of a madman."

That would be 'A common sense revolution led by a madman.' It's just a matter of can he survive the onslaught, or will he screw the pooch somewhere down the line.

Ken B said...

Chuck, I will respond to your dodge just one more time. You didn’t ask for a news story. That is your post facto addition, that is your no true Scotsman.
Nor would insisting on a news story be sensible. Althouse condemned the abuse of these murders to bash Trump by anyone in any way, and added that the media were doing it. And they are, in many ways. These ways include editorials, leading questions, framing, and so on. You demanded proof that any such thing was going on.
Everyone here can read what AA said, and your challenge. And now they can see your goal post moving clearly.

John henry said...

Francisco D

He is a serious threat, not just the bullshit artist that he appears/pretends to be.

Ever see Woody Harrelson in White Men Can't jump? Scene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLQ77hbtE5A

Or Paul Newman in The Hustler?

Or WC Fields in My Little Chickadee?

All three fiction, of course. All three dead on accurate portraits of someone who in real life will take your socks as well as the fillings out of your back teeth and leave you smiling at the end thinking "If it hadn't been for that run of bad cards (balls, wind, whatever) that chump never could have taken me."



John Henry

Ken B said...

One advantage of the new regime is that, with fewer posts, people can read Chuck more carefully. If they do they will see clearly his distortions and word games. AA complained of the “weaponization” of the massacre against Trump and implied the news media were guilty of it. She did not say that it was just in news reports. CNN and the rest of the media have more than just reports. They have talking heads, chryons, leading questions, editorials, graphics, music, editing, framing. Chuck pretends he asked for a news report — he did not — and that only a news report would *count* as an example of what AA meant.
That is bad faith arguing on his part.

Nichevo said...

johnhenry100 said...
Thomas Wictor has a really interesting take on the shooter. He does not think it is a terrorist attack but rather an 8Chan "Troll" attack.

Instead of reading what the media say the manifesto says he read the actual manifesto and picks it apart for us. It has a lot of 8Chan copyPaste memes in it.

For example:

I'll have you know I graduated top of my class in the Navy Seals, and I've been involved in numerous secret raids on Al-Quaeda, and I have over 300 confirmed kills. I am trained in gorilla warfare and I'm the top sniper in the entire US armed forces.

the whole manifesto sounds like loony rantings and perhaps it is. But much of it is not the shooter's loony rantings. It is his copying and pasting of other rantings both real and parody.

You can read the manifesto here:

https://milnenews.com/2019/03/15/christchurch-mosque-shooter-brenton-tarrants-full-manifesto/

You can read Thomas Wictor's analysis here.

https://quodverum.com/2019/03/75/a-new-form-of-atrocity-.html

John Henry

3/18/19, 8:34 PM


So what are you saying? Howard is the 8Chan shooter? Sold.

Ty said...

Can anyone offer up a good example of the mainstream media "weaponizing" the NZ story against Trump?

Trump again punts on white supremacy after New Zealand attacks

doctrev said...

Again, the good news is its all out in the open with an astonishing 93% of republicans supporting Trump and not falling for the LLR and lefty lies. Particularly in the midwest, which is critical.

So Trump has survived all the lefty and LLR snears and lies thus far and is stronger than ever.

Clearly.

3/18/19, 8:54 PM

One thing I like about increased pressure is how it can bring out the best in people. So with that, I started to do a little research into two blogs that I read, and came up with some absolutely fascinating numbers.

Vox Day claims over 32 million viewers annually (from a high of 35 million in 2017), yet his Quantcast ranking is around 43223, with around 11500 unique American pageviews per month. Ann Althouse is ranked considerably lower than he is on Alexa, but much higher on Quantcast, with almost 17000 unique American views per month. Instapundit is tied for 151234th place with 2410 unique American monthly pageviews per month. (WHAT?!)

At this point I became sufficiently intrigued to do further research. Breitbart isn't ranked at all (idiocy squared!), The Daily Wire has more unique American views than Amazon.com (oh Ben Shapiro, if you must tell lies, tell plausible ones), etc. etc.

It's quite clear that American websites relying on traffic rankings have a -vastly- inaccurate perception of their reach into the public sphere. Which is ironic, because the Internet should make it easier for content providers to gather numbers on such things easier than ever before.

How are you feeling about your traffic, Ann Althouse? Do you get 32 million pageviews per month? You don't have to answer, judging by Donald Trump's immense popularity among the Republican base, my hypothesis is that conservative websites are vastly more influential among that base than ever before.

And that the most popular websites are also increasingly reactionary.

Crazy World said...

Fake news is quite EVIL constantly blaming the President of the United States and anyone who supports him as a danger to this country while it is QUITE the opposite. Sickening!

narciso said...

There should have been quote Mark, this a 28 fmr fitness instructor with no apparent military training whose father was an insurance agent.

walter said...

"Maybe it would be a good idea to make a special address to the Nation and explain his position on White Nationalism."
Meh. Maybe AOC triggered the self-proclaimed eco-fascist with her chatter about CAGW/CHANGE/STASIS being "like" WWII.
Let's have THAT conversation..with a few vets from WWII.

walter said...

Btw, Chuck,
Plenty of examples of said innuendo/"weaponization" of that story on radio news..which can be severely "drive-by" in its extremely selective wording.
Don't discount that..likely many who going about their day hear only that.

walter said...

doctrev said...(oh Ben Shapiro, if you must tell lies, tell plausible ones)
-
Oh..do give examples to support your smear.
(Just pressing you to bring out your best.)

Hey Skipper said...

[Cjiuck:] Can anyone offer up a good example of the mainstream media "weaponizing" the NZ story against Trump?

Sure, Sunday's NYT OpEd, courtesy of David Leonhardt: It Isn’t Complicated: Trump Encourages Violence

The NYT is as mainstream as it gets. And Leonardt tortures facts right into the realm of fakery, and fits in perfectly with the NYT Style Manual: interpret everything Trump says in the worst possible light, and if the worst possible isn't bad enough, then just start making stuff up. From the article:

The Anti-Defamation League reports a 73 percent rise in “extremist-related killings” during the last four years.

As an exercise for you, identify the fake-media abuse of statistics in that sentence.

Lewis Wetzel said...

I watched "Saint Elmo's Fire" (1985) on Amazon last night.
I had never seen it before. I was born in 1960, so it was supposed to be about my generation.
It made me a bit sad. The actors look like little kids, but they smoke (a lot!) and drink. They screw one another like rabbits. The characters are highly privileged, by money, and yet they think that they are just average people.
This was not my experience of the 1980s.

Sara D said...

Should Amazon be blamed for the shooting in NZ? after all, they sold Andres Breivik's Manifesto on Amazon.com

"A Sunday Times investigation found Breivik’s book for sale on the site,"

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/amazon-profits-from-books-by-mass-killers-such-as-anders-breivik-xf3tfjvhm

Achilles said...

Chuck said...


I honestly didn't think you guys would struggle this much.

We aren’t struggling at all.

You are obviously not here in good faith.

You only deserve mockery.

tim maguire said...

Chuck said...
No, Ken B; the problem with your Guardian link is that it was not a link to a news story at all. It was a link to a column of commentary -- explicitly labeled as such -- in the opinion section of that left-wing newspaper.

Absolutely no one should be fooled into thinking that an opinion column in the Guardian is "news."


Not sure why you keep harping on the fact that The Guardian is left wing. Please explain the relevance.

To your larger point, the distinction you keep making between news and opinion simply won’t do all the work you are asking it to do. So what if it’s opinion and not news? It’s the opinion they are pushing, that’s everyones point. And op-eds are one of the most read sections of a newspaper. It’s not some back-page nothing that they aren’t responsible for.

So, my second request is the same as my first: please explain the relevance of your objection.

Chuck said...

Hey Skipper said...
[Cjiuck:] "Can anyone offer up a good example of the mainstream media "weaponizing" the NZ story against Trump?"

Sure, Sunday's NYT OpEd, courtesy of David Leonhardt: It Isn’t Complicated: Trump Encourages Violence


And here, I think, we have our sole winner. My guess is that Trump's Tweet about "The Fake News Media is working overtime to blame me for the horrible attack in New Zealand" stems directly from the Leonhardt column. Leonhardt is one of a dozen or so opinion columnists for the Times. He is one of their several left-wing opinion writers.

Based upon one, or a handful, of opinion writers, Trump might just as well say "The media is working overtime to point out how Trump is being falsely accused of having something to do with the New Zealand shooting." Because several columnists at WND and Breitbart have written columns saying so.

Like this:
https://www.wnd.com/2019/03/why-the-left-is-blaming-trump-whites-for-new-zealand-shooting/

And this:
https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2019/03/15/hollywood-blames-trump-for-new-zealand-shooting-bin-laden-sends-warmest-sympathy/

Or this somewhat sensible column in Bob Tyrrell's American Spectator.

See, the problem is that Trump might well have criticized David Leonhardt's NYT column on the merits, or in some specifics. Trump didn't do that. What Trump did was his usual tiny-fisted Twitter pounding. Not accurate, not well-considered, not articulate.

Lloyd W. Robertson said...

I certainly hope there is no increase in "white nationalist" violence underway, just as I hope there is no increase in any kind of lawless violence. I also hope there are no fanatics who derive some kind of inspiration for violence from Trump. The media cannot be trusted on this, because they are quick to blame all kinds of episodes, including storms and hoaxes, on Trump.

But here is some logic. White males in Western countries can't help noticing that they or their fathers had a lot of opportunity in the 1960s and 1970s. It was often said to be "unlimited" opportunity, meaning limited mainly by their own abilities and desires. As we've heard repeatedly, especially during recessions or periods when jobs are moved abroad or automated, those days are over. A woman is about as likely to be working full-time as a man, and the wage gap is narrowing; I suspect the "job insecurity" gap is narrowing faster, i.e. a man is about as likely as a woman to lose a job, even if when he gets a job, he is likely to make more money. Governments don't seem to know how to help the "previously employed" and "previously more significant" white male; a policy of open borders, driven partly by global corporations wanting to hire whomever they want while keeping wages low, and partly by humanitarianism, is changing the demographics of Western countries. Trump, as we've heard many times, spoke for some of the resentment about all this in the U.S.; Brexit gives voice to similar concerns, etc. The concerns themselves are not necessarily racist, evil, or likely to lead to violence. But people who have lost power, feel frustrated, and can't find lawful means to do much about it, might be tempted by violence. Arguably Hindu nationalism represents a similar development in India. It still probably takes something like extreme mental illness (or fanaticism) to commit mass murder, and anyone who does this should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law--which may include incarceration on grounds of mental illness.

Drago said...

What we often see on the far left is an effort to construct "analysis" frameworks that definitionally make it impossible for the left to be "wrong" or at fault for anything and for the conservative to be right about anything.

We also know that there are left-wing billionaires who have publicly admitted (like Reid Hoffman) they pay people to post on public sites as, say, "conservatives" or "LLR's", while sowing dissension amongst republicans and subtly support amd push leftwing talking points.

One way that is accomplished might be to have the lefty-funded fake conservative attempt to tar all strong conservatives and republicans as hopeless bigots. The fake conservatuve might look at a number like "93% of republicans support Trump" and attack them all with sime bizarre theory like they are all "Birchers" from long ago.

These tactics are rather hapless of course since the fake conservative poster clumsily gives the game away. Yet, the faux conservative will persist despite this failure because history has shown the left lacks feedback loops capabilities and the ability to adapt.

I expect to see more of this as 2020 approaches.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Imagine if someone else were president of the US, and the killer mentioned that person.

Would the D-hack press blame Obama or Clinton or____? No. way.

F Amy Goodman and her show "I want my Fascism now!" She's a liar. Same with the crap weasels on MSDNC.

Unknown said...

The report was perfectly accurate, about Chris Wallace's questions posed to Mick Mulvaney, and Mulvaney's answers thereto. It was about as far away from "weaponized" news as I could imagine.

No it wasn't, and that is why you like it so much. Chris Wallace asked more than once why Donald Trump doesn't "make a speech" against white nationalism, ironically the same exact question a hard left panelist asked on Howie Kurtz's show just before. Gee I wonder why a hard left activist, a self-described LLR and Chris Wallace all asked the same stupid question?

Because it's a meme, a trope, an oft-repeated lie in the DNC-Media, usually posed as a question so they can hide behind the "we're just asking" crap that weasels use to shield their editorializing.

But the meme is a lie. Donald Trump had repeatedly denounced white nationalism, nazism, all the isms that people try to link him to (except narcissism which all political players have in spades). Molly Hemingway (bless her) stood up to the mob on Howie's show, actually read from Trump's Charlottesville speech (yeah that speech!) where he explicitly condemns white nationalists right there in the very speech lefties always point to as proof of his racism. But there's more! Both SOTU addresses have contained passages like this. And Trump continually calls for us to be "one America" and to come together with our common bond of love for Country.

It's not enough for haters and anti-Trumpists, but it should be enough for rational people, and that is why Trump's approvals continue to climb while the media (that some here just "LOVE") continue to drop in credibility. Chris Wallace is a hack. He asks hack questions that he could answer for himself if he just watched his own network once in a while and actually listened to what Trump has said, instead of listening to what CNNMSNBC says he said.

And in this case, why are all these FakeNews "reporters" or commentators doing exactly what the shooter asked them to? Why?

tommyesq said...

Chuck, there are other examples - Senator Blumenthal (D. Conn.) on CNN on the day of the shooting said "Words have consequences like saying we have an invasion on our border and talking about people as though they were different in some fatal way... I think that the public discourse from the president on down is a factor in some of these actions. I think it's more than the president, it's the people who enable him, and who fail to stand up to him and speak out." This was reported by multiple outlets beyond CNN (see https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/15/blumenthal-trump-new-zealand-massacre-1222892, for example).

NBC News national security analyst Ned Price claimed on MSNBC that “the tragic reality is that President Trump, whether intentionally, or I think in a lot of cases even inadvertently, has provided a lot of fodder for people like this. This was the same president who praised ‘good people on both sides’ in the aftermath of Charlottesville, so this is a president who has given plenty of rhetorical ammunition I think to terrorists like this, terrorists and extremists who are looking for fuel for their motivation.”

Journalist Shaun King tweeted "Don’t you tell me I’m politicizing this massacre of Muslims in New Zealand. The massacre was overtly political. The murderer said as much - literally in 65 different ways. And he said he was inspired by Trump & how Trump has brought white people together for a common cause."

Of course, celebrities piled on as well, uncritically reported by the MSM - see Mia Farrow, John Cusack, etc.

Unknown said...

"The mass shooting at two New Zealand mosques is a symptom of the growing threat from white supremacy and far-right extremism in the U.S. ..."

That's from NBC news today. What do you think counselor? Assumes facts not in evidence? At the very least? Do you think this sentence will be supported by objective facts to back it up if you click through?

NBC News

Unknown said...

I get some posters are just trolls but its not like anyone can't use google to refute an easy lie that the media is not blaming Trump, because like, they are.

They repeat these themes like a mantra:

"Trump is a racist!"
"Trump won't rebuke the NAZIs that love him!"
"Trump is a white nationalist!"
"Trump should finally come out and denounce white nationalism!"
"Trump wants to ban all Muslims!"

Then, in between verses of that, is the chorus:
"The racist in New Zealand said the same things Trump does. And he loves Trump too!"

So yeah, it's hard to pin down where exactly they associate Trump and the violence done by others to sow hatred and division, unless you just listen. Then you'll hear it.

Charlie Currie said...

This nutter self describes as an "eco fascist", so I blame Al Gore, Green Pease, the Sierra Club and AOC.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

" “CNN/the left wants you to know that Trump did not sufficiently denounce white supremacy following the horrible massacre in New Zealand. I can’t imagine a group of people more ill-suited to address ‘white supremacy’ than the band of jokers who have reduced every person in America to their color, gender and sexual preference while elevating victimhood to the highest virtue. What did they think was going to happen when they insist people are identified primarily by their attributes?

--Liz Sheld

According to the hivemind, you are a white nationalist is you refuse to support the corrupt left and their bad ideas.

Amadeus 48 said...

Darn! I thought the shooter said that it was Candace Owens that influenced him the most. What happened to that? The MSM must have lost the thread while translating the guy's manifesto from Australian to English. It must not have fit the story.

Sally327 said...

This reminds me of the Nixon response to a question from David Frost in that famous interview:

"...there are some friends who say, "just face 'em down. There's a conspiracy to get you." There may have been. I don't know what the CIA had to do. Some of their shenanigans have yet to be told, according to a book I read recently. I don't know what was going on in some Republican, some Democratic circles as far as the so-called impeachment lobby was concerned. However, I don't go with the idea that there ... that what brought me down was a coup, a conspiracy etc. I brought myself down. I gave them a sword, and they stuck it in and they twisted it with relish. And I guess if I had been in their position, I'd have done the same thing."

I think Trump routinely hands his opponents a sword.

Birkel said...

I have to say that the new format makes the trolls much less capable.
If the above is any indication, neither the fake conservatives nor the adrenaline junky spammers will get their fixes.

Ok, Althouse.
I might be a convert before long.

Rusty said...


Blogger Michael said...
"How many white nationalists do our dim lefty commenter(s) believe exist in the US?"
Everyone who owns a gun.

buwaya said...

Re the mass media, as a propaganda system.I don’t see why one should be disgusted with an open enemy.
They fight for their side, their interests, and being mercenaries,their paymasters.

One needs to understand the conflict correctly for what it is.
This is not some part of “you” that is behaving badly, but a component of “them”.
It’s quite obvious that they don’t see you as part of their society or culture, you all exist beyond their boundaries, and their institutions are directed accordingly.

As for those people in NZ, I don’t think they are insane. Evil, ruthless, fundamentally mistaken, misunderstanding the strategic picture, whatever you like, but they had a rational plan and a rational purpose.

As for the strategic picture, it’s a bad mistake to assume the political stability of the US.

doctrev said...

Blogger walter said...
doctrev said...(oh Ben Shapiro, if you must tell lies, tell plausible ones)
-
Oh..do give examples to support your smear.
(Just pressing you to bring out your best.)

3/19/19, 12:50 AM

There is a point where aggression gets in the way of communication. If you mean "cite the court-approved evidence that Ben Shapiro is goosing the rankings so that the DailyWire appears much more influential on Quantcast than always-linked sites like The Federalist?" Call it a hunch, friend. When mid-ranked writers goose their way to the top of the NYT bestsellers list, despite having very little cultural pull otherwise, it's because they know how to manipulate the few New York bookshops that the NYT derives its bestsellers from.

But! If you're that angry, you've clearly come to defend Ben Shapiro's honah, which is fine by me. Bring it up in the Kamala Harris thread if you're still mad about it, I don't intend to hover in yesterday's threads all day.

Jim at said...

Again, it's really quite the trick the left has been able to pull off.

White, American citizens who love their country first are being blamed for an Australian shooting up a mosque in New Zealand.

And they're proud of it.

Tom said...

Democrat Primary debate question: “Candiates, on a scale of 1-10, where 5 is Hitler, how Racist is Donald Trump? Answers of greater than 10 are perfectly acceptable.”

Chuck said...

What I am seeing here, in response to my query as to whether there was evidence of a "weaponized" news media, is the news media offering up a considerable number of opinion columnists and commentators, offering their opinions that Donald Trump is a racist and/or race-baiter and/or racial exploiter and/or racially insensitive, possibly Islamophobic, et cetera.

Of course the news media is reflective of a large number of people who really do feel that way. And those commentators have an audience.

As for news reporting, no one has come up with any good examples (much less examples that indicate a broad trend for all of the mainstream media) of false or erroneous "weaponized" news reporting about any link between the NZ shooter and Trump.

I think that I had very different expectations for the presumption that the media had been "weaponized" against Trump. So far, the allegation seems to boil down to there being a whole lot of opinion columnists who really dislike Trump, Trump's style, Trump's messaging, and Trump's apparent political instincts. Wow, what a surprise.

Douglas B. Levene said...

It's not your fault, Mr. President. But if you had said something about how awful it is that Moslems are being attacked for their faith, that would have been kind, empathetic, even presidential. Just saying.