1. The Mueller investigation has concluded, and though we can't read it yet, we know that it means that there will be no charges against Trump or any of his people that have to do with colluding with Russians to affect the election. Though some Russians were charged and some of Trump's people were charged with lying to investigators, the whole reason for the special investigation seems to have been a phantom. After 2 years of uncertainty and anxiety, this is an immense relief and vindication for Trump. Fantastic, upbeat news. Now, here's how the NYT is presenting the story on the top, left corner of its front page:
As Mueller Report Lands, Prosecutorial Focus Moves to New York2. Under Trump, the Islamic State has been ousted entirely from the territory it had taken over. This is a distinct, satisfying military victory in what has been a long and difficult war. It is the second story on the NYT front page right now, where it looks like this:
The work by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, may be done, but prosecutors in Manhattan and elsewhere are pursuing about a dozen other investigations.
It all but ensures that a legal threat will continue to loom over the Trump presidency.
THE ISLAMIC STATESo watch for it. The rule is: When something good for Trump happens, find the nearest bad thing and make that the focus of the news report.
Its Territory May Be Gone, but the U.S. Fight Against ISIS Is Far From Over
• Thousands of Islamic State fighters are still at large in Iraq and Syria, rearming and regrouping.
• The U.S. and its partners still face significant battles against the group elsewhere, in Afghanistan, West Africa and the Philippines.
AND: At WaPo, it's "Trump’s legal troubles are far from over even as Mueller probe ends" and — though it's crowded with many headlines — there's nothing about ISIS on the front page at all. The closest thing is:
Looking for news of the victory against ISIS, I went to the page for Middle East news. There were 15 headlines, and only one, the 9th, related to ISIS. It was: "Iraqi and Kurdish authorities are torturing children to confess ISIS membership, report says."
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123 comments:
They're letting us know that Putin hasn't taken over the NYT.
It's the audience that drives the insanity, not the paper. Give them what they'll click on.
It's been that way since Jessica in the Well.
Hey it’s better than straight reporting and having what’s left of their readership choke on their popcorn and kill themselves.
On second thought...
Matt Taibbi of the Rolling Stone puts paid to that.
https://taibbi.substack.com/p/russiagate-is-wmd-times-a-million
Trump haters are still in the denial phase. Maybe stuck there forever.
Thanks for this Althouse, but this has been going on for years, starting with election night. Remember election night? It was clear to the media that having won, Trump didn't really want to win. He wasn't supposed to win, and winning spoiled all his plans for building his brand. And then there is Russian influence. Some Russian somewhere fed some of those nonsense stories to Christopher Steele, unless he completely made them up. There was a Russian plan to influence the election all right, but it was aimed at destroying Trump or at a minimum, sowing confusion--the kind of thing the Soviet Union did routinely. But to the media, a plan to disrupt things and embarrass Trump turned into a plan to get Trump elected.
These people are pure anti-Trump propagandists. Everything good is bad.
NY Times headline, November 8, 2020
"Trump Wins Re-Election - Yet Peril and Discord Still Plague Divided Country."
This has been going on forever.
Not sure why some have the impression the media is neutral. It has never been so. History is quite a eye opener. Media moguls didn't get rich selling ink on cheap paper. They made their money first. You can only buy so many toys, then you use your money to amass power.
The old News Papers were openly partisan. I grew up with the Times Republican out of the Quad Cities.
Different today, from back then, is the news reporting worked hard to be fact based, neutral. Someone related a story about speaking in front of Journalism students, and asked what their goal was. Almost all of them wanted to influence the direction of history. Not report the news, but make the news.
Now the media just lies.
Yes, The AP on the Mueller investigation: [It has] painted the Trump campaign as eager to exploit the release of hacked Democratic emails to hurt Democrat Hillary Clinton
Umm, yeah. That’s why I like Trump, he fights to win. I mean, cripes!, the Clinton campaign was having out of context intercepts of Trump campaign conversations, captured by the Brits, or the NSA, or whoever, printed in their house organ, the Washington Post multiple times.
"....We do not care for the Bible, but we do care for the newspaper. At any meeting of politicians- like that at Concord the other evening, for instance- how impertinent it would be to quote from the Bible! how pertinent to quote from a newspaper or from the Constitution! The newspaper is a Bible which we read every morning and every afternoon, standing and sitting, riding and walking. It is a Bible which every man carries in his pocket, which lies on every table and counter, and which the mail, and thousands of missionaries, are continually dispersing. It is, in short, the only book which America has printed and which America reads. So wide is its influence. The editor is a preacher whom you voluntarily support. Your tax is commonly one cent daily, and it costs nothing for pew hire. But how many of these preachers preach the truth? I repeat the testimony of many an intelligent foreigner, as well as my own convictions, when I say, that probably no country was ever ruled by so mean a class of tyrants as, with a few noble exceptions, are the editors of the periodical press in this country. And as they live and rule only by their servility, and appealing to the worse, and not the better, nature of man, the people who read them are in the condition of the dog that returns to his vomit....
"Is there any dust which their conduct does not lick, and make fouler still with its slime?....When I have taken up this paper with my cuffs turned up, I have heard the gurgling of the sewer through every column. I have felt that I was handling a paper picked out of the public gutters...."
Thoreau, 1854
He is the president. There's leeway for him.
“Could be bullshit, I mean it’s mostly bullshit right now. We don’t have any big, giant proof.” CNN Producer John Boniifield on hidden camera.
....
“So why is CNN constantly like, ‘Russia this, Russia that?’” the journalist asks, to which Bonifield responds, “Because it’s ratings.”
It’s almost as if rhhardin has a point.
So watch for it. The rule is: When something good for Trump happens, find the nearest bad thing and make that the focus of the news report."
So boring and predictable. When even an avid reader of the NYT notices it to the point of mocking the NYT then maybe the NYT has finally jumped the shark for many of its readers.
Saturday Night Live cast members singing “All I Want for Christmas is You” to him featuring the rhymey line: “Mueller please come through, because the only option is a coup.”. - From HA’s link.
Remember when a corporation, you know, like NBC is a corporation, made a film criticizing Hillary and the Federal Elections Commission, which was all mixed up in the IRS Tea Party tamp down, banned the release of the movie? Good times, good times!
It’s almost as if there is one set of rules for Democrats and another for Republicans.... Naah! ThaTs cRazY tALk!
The American press is not free. It is hostage to the lies it printed yesterday to keep from exposing the lies it printed the day before.
That’s what must happen when the media becomes driven by ideology rather than truth.
The NYT don’t need no stinkin’ Putin to sow division and discontent!
It's a script.
Ann must have found the WaPo and NYT Trump style book.
The MSM and Dem's are so invested in the "Russia, Russia, Russia" and "Orange man Bad!" narrative, they have to continue it or look like fools(too late, right?). They sure as hell won't say "We were wrong".
Following up on Bay above, plenty of the Dems running say they will unite the country. Both Booker and Bernie said it in Iowa. That’s nuts. If any Dem wins and starts doing what they say, the other half of the country will be mad as hell.
The U.S. and its partners still face significant battles against the group elsewhere, in Afghanistan, West Africa and the Philippines.
There may be Islamist fighters in those countries, but they are not ISIS. And these papers call Trump racist?
As for the continued witch hunt to find a crime that Trump committed; we've spent $30 million so far and found nothing. Far less was spent to find out that Hillary broke the law, and they didn't even prosecute her. How about we start with the crimes we are aware of and start prosecuting Hillary; then I might be interested in spending more money to find something on Trump. Otherwise; I'm convinced this is just an effort to pay Democrat lawyers with taxpayer dollars, while they wait and hope for a Democrat President.
Not sure why some have the impression the media is neutral. It has never been so. History is quite a eye opener. Media moguls didn't get rich selling ink on cheap paper. They made their money first. You can only buy so many toys, then you use your money to amass power.
I could never figure out why people though Citizen Kane was such a great movie until it occurred to me that the movie was the template for just what you describe.
"Trump wins, NYT readers hardest hit"
Parsing every word and punctuation mark of the quoted news stories, they are correct. Althouse just doesn’t find them sufficiently celebratory.
My suggestion for Althouse might be to write her own celebratory op-eds.
That went down like the malabar front:
https://mobile.twitter.com/38NorthNK/status/1105949280257363968
“It's really embarrassing for them“ It should be, but it’s not.
This is all a variation on an old news business trope called a black cat story. In effect some meaningless thing happens--"a black cat walked in front of Bob Dole today, an ominous portent for the Senate leader..." that turns into a chance for the reporter or commentator to spew their personal analysis of some transient nonsense.
I’d bet there’s going to be quite a few “THEY GOT TO MUELLER TOO” people out there as well.
Who cares about NewYourk State? Unless Trump literally stabbed someone in the street, I can’t see them coming up with anything. It all sounds like a town judge in Springfield handing down a jaywalking ticket.
I really wish people wouldn't read my posts and imagine that I am just noticing this for the first time, that I've never thought anything like this before, that I'm surprised to see this, or that if I'm criticizing the journalism in the NYT/WaPo/whatever, it means that up until today I trusted them.
Ann, this is a nice observation. It's not as universally applicable as your Althouse Rule, since it will go away in a few years. Perhaps it will become the Althouse Corollary?
Just become a Democrat already Chuck, you know you want to. People would respect you more for your honesty, you certainly seem smarter than most if not all of the Democrats/Lefties who post here. Come out of the closet already! Or you could start a new political party, the name “The Whigs” is already taken, maybe you could call it the "Bulwark Party."
The left-wing media thrived on coverage of the Mueller probe. In fact, in 2017, Project Veritas released undercover video of a CNN producer admitting that the Russian collusion story was “mostly bulls---,” but the story was good for ratings. Deep down, liberals convinced themselves that collusion was real. Even in the media. I think to say they were emotionally invested in this narrative is not a stretch.
The democrat media industrial complex pimped endless false narratives to their seal-clapping hive-minders.
rhhardin has a good point, but there's more to it than that, I think.
These "journalists" are basically not too bright, and very poorly educated. There were too dumb and too lazy for math, physics, engineering, medicine, or law, even sociology, and certainly didn't want have to read all those thick, square books in the History or English Departments.
So Journalism calls: A chance to crusade for the forgotten man, change the course of history, Make A Difference. And all without having to lift anything heavy or get your hands dirty.
And there's a supportive Guild for you to be a member of, as tight as that of the Physicians or Lawyers.
Self-regard; group acceptance; minimal intellectual and physical effort; even, for a lucky few, a chance at the big time: What's not to like for a mediocre human with an inflated sense of self-worth?
Trump brought the "ho hum" reaction to ISIS losing all their territory on himself. He has been promising that they were finished for the past three months. He really should read "The Boy Who Cried Wolf". And it would be bad journalism to pretend that just because ISIS no longer controls territory, they are eliminated (and note that Trump himself has subtly changed his claim from the "destruction of ISIS" to the "destruction of the Caliphate"). What territory did Al Qaeda ever control before 9/11?
As for the Mueller report, if anyone is jumping the gun, it is the right. You and I, and none of the people who comment on this blog, has the foggiest idea what is in the report. I have kept my mouth shut because I don't want to look like and idiot when we do actually learn what is in the report. You would be well advised to do likewise. Even with the end of the Mueller probe, Trump and his associates legal woes continue.
It’s the lack of introspection that is most galling. It has been obvious for a long time that the whole narrative was nonsense. It’s also difficult for me to avoid strolling onto the battlefield to shoot the wounded.
The left have turned themselves into old Russian Soviets in their attempts to overturn an election that didn't go their way.
I really wish people wouldn't read my posts and imagine that I am just noticing this for the first time, that I've never thought anything like this before, that I'm surprised to see this, or that if I'm criticizing the journalism in the NYT/WaPo/whatever, it means that up until today I trusted them.
They're not morons, they're servicing a market. The rules you come up with are about their market's tastes in entertainment.
Entertainment, as in thoughts and prayers for this or that tragedy are entertainment for the thinker and prayer.
I always go with soap opera women as the test market. What do women want?
I agree Althouse that you have been skeptical of press covering politicians for as long as I can remember. They have their favorites and their enemies and the coverage is always colored with regard to their likes and dislikes.
I think the MSM has gone so far down the rabbit hole with the Russia Collusion theme that they will find it very hard now to reverse themselves.
Their credibility is gone and nothing can restore it. Backing off now will only lose them subscribers.
It's basically widowed wife tied to railroad tracks my mortgage holder, and can anything be done about the situation.
Then there's the sawmill problem, widow tied to log advancing towards saw.
Trump is behind it. How is the solution developing.
Even with the end of the Mueller probe, Trump and his associates legal woes continue.
Justice demands that a crime be found! Regrettably, due to our antiquated constitution, defeating Hillary was not, in and of itself, a crime, but it does violate the spirit of our laws, and he needs to be punished.
Freder: "I have kept my mouth shut because I don't want to look like and idiot when we do actually learn what is in the report."
Having the actual results of an investigation and court proceedings fully and easily available to you did not keep you from blatantly lying and twisting the results of the Bundy case where every outcome you claimed materialized was literally 180 degrees out from the truth.
That was, how shall I say.., "idiotic".
The good news is that it surprised absolutely no one and we already see the lefties and their lefty billionaire funded LLR hoax "conservatives" miving their goalposts out of the stadium, across the river, onto a barge and headed to the south pacific....so to speak.
So butthurt and desperate - the collective corrupt left want to shut down the Electoral College, a system applauded by JFK that gives smaller populated states their own voice - and make sure everyone is given the same vote as CA and NY. The left want to remove fairness and install the Russian system. Then, they want to then pack the US Supreme court by stuffing it with huge quantities of leftists. Leftwing Fascism is the answer to Hillary losing. She really is the shit cake that keeps on giving.
Parsing every word and punctuation mark of the quoted news stories, they are correct.
And yet in their entirety they are false.
This country had a Special Counsel investigation into whether the Trump Administration colluded with the Russians to influence the elections and the answer is "no".
It's not correct that the news about the Trump investigations is that they will continue.
This country was resigned to ISIS holding territory in Syria and Iraq until this President changed the focus of the Pentagon to attacking and killing them.
It's not correct that the new about ISIS is that scattered elements of ISIS still survive.
Both those stories are no more "correct" than reporting people see the horizon as a straight line, therefore the Earth is flat.
The large media generators exist for one reason alone. Profit. They sell your eyeballs - your few seconds of attention - to advertisers. That is their motive, their objective, their focus.
Now...... how to get your eyeballs? Your attention? How to get the most number of eyeballs? Like all advanced consumer groups, the candidate pool for eyeballs has fractured into subsections, and with online media and the ability to track your every click; they know precisely what will garner Ann’s and Mead’s and Quayle’s click. So what drives content is whatever generates clicks with their target audience; Not what really happened or what is truth or what is balanced or what is logical or rational. And as the CFOs and CEOs put more pressure on the “reporters” to generate eyeballs, the standards keengoing lower and the journalistic ethics get more and more bothersome. And as long as their target audience keeps eating up unsubstantiated and unbalanced divisive crap, that’s what we’ll all get.
I agree Althouse that you have been skeptical of press covering politicians for as long as I can remember. They have their favorites and their enemies and the coverage is always colored with regard to their likes and dislikes.
The question is not whether Althouse sees what's happening around her. She does.
The question is whether she finds it amusing, odd, frustrating, or damaging to the country.
And to follow, whether voting for even a boring Democrat serves to addresses the problem or exacerbate it.
It'll be interesting to see what the viewership/distribution numbers will look like for these media outlets in the coming months. For two years they were the go-to place for all things Mueller and Russia. Being misled as bad as they were, I can imagine the far-left really tuning them out now. Maybe thats why Maddow was crying?
Its not money, its certainly not ratings-based for CNN anyway, and arguably not any of them, even Fox.
Nor is it ratings-based for their advertisers either.
This is not the old business model of selling something to the public and providing a channel for making the sale.
If it were, ad rates would reliably match circulation or views, but they don't.
In that sense one could say the market is broken, but that isnt true. Its just that the commodity being sold, the value being provided, is not the traditional direct business one of selling advertising space. In that old, pure business sense all of them would be losing money.
All of these networks and newspapers are political tools above all, and that is what they are selling, and thats why they are being supported.
And consideration for their viewers/readers does not explain anything either. They created the hysteria in the first place, and they could easily un-create it.
And then there is the matter of coordination. One can observe that every day. It is blatant. Its not a matter of monkey-see monkey-do, because headlines and editorial-coverage priorities created in-house overnight or through the day match closely those of other organizations. There is no opportunity to copy what the other prints or broadcasts. They are in coordination upon release, effectively simultaneous.
Parsing every word and punctuation mark of the quoted news stories, they are correct.
And yet in their entirety they are false.
It’s the difference between reading comprehension and critical thinking. Omission is one of the most powerful tools of propaganda. As Einstein said, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” The reason he said this is that if you leave stuff out, you get the wrong answer. Of course they know that, and are exploiting it, because they want to give you just the facts that will lead you to believe that you have come to the correct conclusion all on your own.
I think that Machiavelli said “Give me the power to nominate, I will care little for your power to elect.” Well, give me the power to control what you know, and I will care little for your power to think.
The large media generators exist for one reason alone. Profit. They sell your eyeballs - your few seconds of attention - to advertisers. That is their motive, their objective, their focus
If that were true, they would all be copying the Fox News model.
I really wish people wouldn't read my posts and imagine that I am just noticing this for the first time, that I've never thought anything like this before
Well, stop acting so surprised, then!
"Trump innocent, Chuck and Freder hardest hit"
It is no surprise when admitted smear merchants aligned fully with the left support MSM liars on the left.
Obviously.
Omaha1: "Their credibility is gone and nothing can restore it."
The LLR's voluntarily boarded the SS Lefty Smear and join their MSM/dem/lefty allies on their voyage to nowhere.
I wouldn't be surprised to see this headline:
"With unemployment down, businesses struggle to find new hires"
rhhardin said...
It's basically widowed wife tied to railroad tracks my mortgage holder, and can anything be done about the situation.
Then there's the sawmill problem, widow tied to log advancing towards saw.
"And then along came Jones (Trump)", right?
https://youtu.be/eFyr49TwuiI
John Henry
Even with the end of the Mueller probe, Trump and his associates legal woes continue.
More accurately: Even with the end of the Mueller probe, the left will continue to harass Trump with frivolous investigations.
Trump's actual "crime"? Beating Hillary fair and square in the 2016 election.
“I really wish people wouldn't read my posts and imagine that I am just noticing this for the first time, that I've never thought anything like this before, that I'm surprised to see this, or that if I'm criticizing the journalism in the NYT/WaPo/whatever, it means that up until today I trusted them.”
I really wish you had taken it seriously before. If you had I bet fewer commenters would have made these observations that vex you so. I pointed out in an earlier comment that while you usually have seen the trees of bullshit from the media you have not always — to me at least — seemed like you saw the forest. I think you now see the forest. Sorry if that too vexes you. Perhaps I am mistaken, or perhaps you are not entirely correct in your understanding of how you come across.
A normal headline, if we had an honest newspaper:
"Mueller Clears Trump of Russian Collusion Accusations - Declines to Prosecute"
Democratics apparently believe never ending investigations by lower and less powerful agencies will uncover what could not be discovered by the most unlimited power available under law(?) by main Justice.
Now, the inability to find a crime was likeliest a result of the absence of a crime. But don't let Occam's Razor affect things.
New Democratic slogan suggestion:
Stay Calm and Carry Impeachment.
Hmmm... maybe not snappy enough.
Stay Calm and Carry Water.
“Parsing every word and punctuation mark of the quoted news stories, they are correct.”
A Southern actor was injured on stage and howled at by the Northern audience last night at Ford's Theater. Neither the President nor his wife applauded. Indeed they did not even protest when the famous actor was chased from the stage by the angry Unionist crowd.
For ever silver lining, there's a grey cloud.
Plus, never let a good deed go unpunished.
Let me try, "Trump is innocent, but the WaPo and NYTimes still exist."
If Trump was President in 1945 on V-E day, the NYT headline would be "Hitler wins by passing torch to protege."
Phidippus@8:39 hits it square in the nuts. Journalism majors have long been in the lowest quintile of SAT scorers of entering college freshmen by class year..
Three years ago ISIS seemed like a horrible intractable problem with no solution in sight. The same with slow economic growth, China, and North Korea. They may not be as big a success story as the ISIS defeat, but at least we feel like there is a chance now to fix those too. Nobody felt that way before Trump.
This is what the Democrats call a crisis, which for them, I guess it is.
We all know that in their hearts, many of our fellow Americans are actually hoping for economic collapse as well as failure with China, NorKo, and maybe even a return of ISIS. It sure sounds like the NYT is. I'm positive that Bill Maher feels that, and he's not an outlier.
Freder Frederson: "What territory did Al Qaeda ever control before 9/11?"
Pick me. Pick me!
In conjunction with the Taliban, they controlled most of Afghanistan, supported by Pakistan, Iran, and others.
The memory swipe is a tricky tool.
Heartless Aztec at 7:08 AM
Matt Taibbi of the Rolling Stone puts paid to that.
https://taibbi.substack.com/p/russiagate-is-wmd-times-a-million
Thanks to the link to that very good article.
Sometimes it is hard to tell what Althouse is really thinking due to her policy of "cruel neutrality". In my opinion she is contemptuous of the media for picking favorites and adjusting their coverage accordingly.
I think she finds the issue all of the above: amusing, odd, frustrating, and damaging to the country.
But again this is just my opinion.
"When something good for Trump happens, find the nearest bad thing and make that the focus of the news report."
Umm, yeah. You're right, though a little late to the party. (But we appreciate the accumulation of evidence subtly provided on this blog--he hastened to add, sucking up to the moderators.)
Anyway, one day they lie, the next they perpetrate obvious evil, then they just "mislead" or "misrepresent" or find find the bad in good news for Trump, alternating with yet another betrayal of secrets, yet another Dem talking point, yet another gratuitous attack on yet another GOPer. It's almost like there's a pattern or something.
The question is, going one step beyond Kevin, what evidence would persuade the Althouses that fiskings are now beside the point and that the occasional empirical generalization does not suffice--that the MSM are intrinsically evil, that BS is their MO, that they despise her and her standards and the culture she wants to live in, that they are progs doing battle, against her and all the other deplorables.
To repeat myself, always my weakness here, this is an organized, centrally managed propaganda system. This is not a bunch of editors or first-line corporate management making independent decisions daily.
And as for the creators, the writers, the "journalists", the talking heads - these people aren't idiots. They are the public-facing end of a very large complex system.
You are not hearing from a gang of miseducated fools, though they may often seem so, and in some sense they may indeed be miseducated, but that is irrelevant for the functions they were hired to perform. They are professionals given a job to do, and are well trained and well qualified for that. Its not the job you may think they should be doing, but it is the work their employers value.
To analogize, some here expect plumbers to be philosophers. But plumbers can do their jobs without bothering with philosophy.
that gives smaller populated states their own voice - and make sure everyone is given the same vote as CA and NY.
That is not correct. The electoral college gives the residents of Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska, and a bunch of other low population states a larger vote than New York, California, Florida or Texas (poor Texas-the second most populous state- always gets left out when conservatives defend the electoral college).
I highly doubt that when the founders established the electoral college, they anticipated a situation where the most populous state would have a population almost 80 times larger than the least.
Maybe when Dust Bunny Queen gets her way and California is split into four or five states (and I am aware that she only wants her tiny chunk of California to secede), California residents will be closer to having the same vote as Wyoming residents.
Nadler and Schiff are desperately trying to spin the Mueller Report on the morning talk shows.
It is not working. Indeed, it is pathetic.
Endless investigations!
Emoluments!
Inauguration Committee!
Manafort!
Roger Stone's hard-drive! Roger Stone's hard-on!
Southern District of NY! (Who works for AG Barr)
NY AG - Letitia James! (dumb as a rock, could barely indict a ham sandwich)
Manhattan District Attorney - Cyrus Vance!
The investigation must go on!
Justice demands that a crime be found!
In the case of Trump, his problem is by running for president, he has drawn scrutiny on his string of potential white collar crimes. Because he is rich and famous, he and his family, was allowed to get away with a string of crimes.
I will mention two that are now well documented. His father almost certainly broke the law by managing to transfer almost all his fortune (north of $400 million) to Trump without it being taxed. That fact also makes Trump's claim that he started his business with a million dollar loan from his father, an outright lie.
Secondly, it is indisputable (except maybe by the most stubborn of you) that he used his supposedly charitable foundation as a personal piggy bank to pay business expenses and purchase art for his properties. He also accepted donations to the foundation by outsiders, which was prohibited by the structure of the foundation (it was only supposed to receive money from his immediate family).
The real test is how the same outlets reported on President Obama’s killing of bin Laden. Did they put the focus on MISSION ACCOMPLISHED, or did they quickly pivot to how much remained to be done in the war on terror?
I've been doing regular updates on the war against the Islamic State, and it always shocks me how little attention most of the American media pays to important events like the fall of Baghuz or the long, hard battles for Raqqa or Mosul. Most American MSM outlets don't even seem to have anyone in theater to cover it (Rukmini Callimachi excepted).
In conjunction with the Taliban, they controlled most of Afghanistan, supported by Pakistan, Iran, and others.
Iran never recognized the Taliban as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan. In fact they are sworn enemies.
To say that Al Qaeda controlled Afghanistan in conjunction with the Taliban is like saying that the U.S. controls Japan, Germany, the UK, or South Korea, because we have troops based there.
So put your hand down and sit down until you actually do your homework instead of just spouting the wrong answer.
When hating Trump is literally your religion, your mind demands this kind of catechism.
Althouse has had posts in the past few days on Trump Derangement Syndrome,including whether it will ever break. The answer is no. They will simply move to the next, never admitting they were wrong or off-base in way. THey moved seamlessly from Russia collusion to obstruction to campaign finance when a fantasy theory is exposed as nonsense. This is religious fanaticism, not politics.
Rush Limbaugh has a great phrase: the Drive-by media. I understood it to mean killing someone's reputation or career with false or flimsy allegations, leaving them in tatters and never looking back at the carnage they left behind, while the media drives off as fast as it can to the next hit.
"I really wish people wouldn't read my posts and imagine that I am just noticing this for the first time,..."
Prof A, are you fishing for compliments? Or trying to bring new readers up to speed? IMHO your cruel neutrality, and Olympian acuity, have been plenty clear all along. That's the fun of it. You skewer one idiot after another. Your dispassionate dissection is a kind of negative satire. There's an implicit "Do you *believe* this?!?" comment running under your posts.
The investigations are never going to end. They will continue until either the left is either soundly defeated or they succeed in destroying the republic. It doesn't matter which Republican is in office the results will always be the same, smear, investigate, lie. whatever it takes to drive them out of office.
Bay Area Guy@ 10:23 AM/
I see you're TV seems to have magically tuned itself to the same channels I've been watching this AM. :)
Imagine belonging to a political party sad to discover the President is not a traitor. Think on that a bit.
https://taibbi.substack.com/p/russiagate-is-wmd-times-a-million
I am on the fly so sorry the link is not hot. Outstanding piece by Taibbi on the failure of “journalists” in the matter of Russiagate.
In a way and if they chose to look at it through such a lens, the Mueller report showing no successful Russian collusion should be considered good news for those in the Obama administration and its supporters. If Trump had successfully colluded with the Russians to "steal" the election, those illegal acts took place when it was Obama people in charge of the Justice system, the NSA, the CIA, the FBI. What a super colossal fail on their part to let a cartoon figure like Trump run circles around them while committing traitorous crimes. I think this spin should be a GOP talking point...that the dems are lucky that there was no collusion...otherwise, they'd be the ones who were pathetically incompetent.
***But plumbers can do their jobs without bothering with philosophy***
The job To keep a Republic.
My question ...
Can citizens?
Can President? Etc.
Freder:
"Because he is rich and famous, he and his family, was allowed to get away with a string of crimes.
"His father almost certainly broke the law..."
"Secondly, it is indisputable (except maybe by the most stubborn of you) that he used his supposedly charitable foundation as a personal piggy bank to pay business expenses and purchase art for his properties."
"He also accepted donations to the foundation by outsiders,..."
LOL
Its classic Freder Bundy-trial "analysis" again!
As for the Mueller report, if anyone is jumping the gun, it is the right. You and I, and none of the people who comment on this blog, has the foggiest idea what is in the report.
But we do know something that is not in it: Not a single indictment of any American for colluding with Russians to influence the 2016 election. Justice Department guidelines say that a sitting President can not be indicted, but if Trump had colluded with anyone, that person or persons could have been indicted, and no one has been. Collusion was supposed to be the entire point of the investigation, and it didn't find any.
What we have found out from the investigation is that the leadership of the FBI and CIA appointed by the previous administration consists largely of corrupt partisan hacks. As does the mainstream media.
John Althouse Cohen said...
The real test is how the same outlets reported on President Obama’s killing of bin Laden. Did they put the focus on MISSION ACCOMPLISHED, or did they quickly pivot to how much remained to be done in the war on terror?
Well that is certainly one test, and we all know the answer pretty much automatically. ("Bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive..." Even though the Obama Administration put GM the exact sort of managed bankruptcy reorganization that Mitt Romney suggested in a NYT op-ed almost a year earlier.)
But another test is whether those same outlets gave the same lack of respect and appreciation to Prsident Bush 43, or Bush 41, or Reagan. And I think the consensus answer would be "yes." And that it is a general NYT chauvinism against Republicans first of all, and perhaps Trump especially because, well, Trump.
I don't think I am offering up anything that is particularly insightful on this topic. Only that Republicans who loathe Trump, as well as Trump fans whose memories are as honest as they are good, must recall all of that.
And that criticism of the mainstream media by Movement Conservatives predates the Trump presidency by about 30 or 40 years.
They have a bias in favor of ratings, but that is trumped by their bias in reporting certain stories and suppressing others. The SPLC story gets perfunctory coverage if any at all. If a similar scandal had occurred at the Manhattan Institute, you can bet that you would have already seen several tear stained women telling their harrowing stories on network television. Several major movies would be in the works. They tell soap opera stories, but only the villains from central casting, i.e. the Republican Party, get to twirl their mustaches in prime time.....I put it to the liberals here: who over the course of a lifetime was guilty of more acts of sexual harassment: John Conyers or Clarence Thomas? Can you name a single one of Conyers' victims? Do you even remember who Conyers was?......Trump never actually shot anyone on Fifth Ave, but Ted Kennedy killed a woman and walked away from her mortal struggle.
PackerBronco said...
I wouldn't be surprised to see this headline:
"With unemployment down, businesses struggle to find new hires"
3/24/19, 9:21 AM
This is a legitimate problem for businesses but means we get rising middle class wages (3.4%) well ahead of inflation. But as somebody familiar with hiring, businesses are hiring dregs at this point.
The best thing about the Electoral College is that it contains the effect of organized fraud to one state. Something else rarely discussed in the media.
A certain smear merchant just typed "because Trump" as the not-at-all-ironic reason for treating Trump poorly and indeed worse than other Republicans.
Copied for posterity:
Chuck:
But another test is whether those same outlets gave the same lack of respect and appreciation to Prsident Bush 43, or Bush 41, or Reagan. And I think the consensus answer would be "yes." And that it is a general NYT chauvinism against Republicans first of all, and perhaps Trump especially because, well, Trump.
3/24/19, 11:57 AM
"Secondly, it is indisputable (except maybe by the most stubborn of you) that he used his supposedly charitable foundation as a personal piggy bank to pay business expenses and purchase art for his properties."
You guys keep pretending that the alternative you offered to Trump was worse on just about every count. Here in the real world, we had a choice to make. We made the right choice.
"He also accepted donations to the foundation by outsiders,..."
But the alternative choice the Democrats offered to Trump only took hundreds of millions of dollars donations to her foundation, 150 million by Putin cronies alone.
But I would be very interested in Freder’s definition of the “emoluments” clause that wouldn’t include Hillary “Tallyrand” Clintons depredations on the treasuries of nations with business before her State Department. Oh, and the fact that the alternative the Democrats offered us deleted thousands of emails from the time she was taking those hundreds of millions of dollars should raise no suspicions.
Trump was not elected in a vacuum, and you can’t erase the fact that you guys chose Hillary because you don’t like hearing about it.
But I would be very interested in Freder’s definition of the “emoluments” clause that wouldn’t include Hillary “Tallyrand” Clintons depredations on the treasuries of nations with business before her State Department.
If you can show any instances of self dealing by, or illegal contributions to, the Clinton Foundation, then we can discuss who managed their foundation more fraudulently.
The Clinton Global Foundation was closed immediately after the election.
But hey, Trump.
Freder Frederson said...
"As for the Mueller report, if anyone is jumping the gun, it is the right. You and I, and none of the people who comment on this blog, has the foggiest idea what is in the report. I have kept my mouth shut because I don't want to look like and idiot when we do actually learn what is in the report. You would be well advised to do likewise. Even with the end of the Mueller probe, Trump and his associates legal woes continue."
******************
The takeaway is that Mueller himself says there will be no more indictments. That's a fog-cutter.
In one way, it's good the press is so in the tank for the left. It keeps conservatives more skeptical, sharper and articulate in our arguments. We're forced to push back against the collective narrative.
Keeps us from being dumb and lazy, too.
The question is not whether Althouse sees what's happening around her. She does.
The question is whether she finds it amusing, odd, frustrating, or damaging to the country.
And to follow, whether voting for even a boring Democrat serves to addresses the problem or exacerbate it.
This is the clarity of thought that repeats often in the comments.
So, yea its happening, wish it wasn't. Now, am I going to reward the Democrats by giving them more power????
Iowa took Tennessee to overtime, came from 20 points down, but could not sustain the intensity in OT. Big 10 representing well.
If you can show any instances of self dealing by, or illegal contributions to, the Clinton Foundation, then we can discuss who managed their foundation more fraudulently.
We already know from testimony, the DOJ ordered the FBI to step down from investigations because the DOJ would not prosecute.
California = 55 electoral votes
Wyoming = three electoral votes.
Poor, poor California.
f you can show any instances of self dealing by, or illegal contributions to, the Clinton Foundation, then we can discuss who managed their foundation more fraudulently.
The Clinton Foundation was paying Sid Blumenthal, Hillary’s political advisor, $10K a month. He’s the one who thought that overthrowing Kaddaffy was a great idea and talked her into it, he is the one who advised her to put her stamp on it, which she did with the statement: “We came! We saw! He died! (chortle guffaw.)"
If you want to call BS, I will be happy to provide a link, if your Google machine does not work.
Oh, BTW, that little debacle of hers probably has made a deal with the Norks impossible. Why should they trust us? Kaddaffy died. with a machine gun barrel up his ass. Just like Richard III of England, except that was a sword. That’s what you get for trusting the United States that puts people like Hillary in important places of power.
The investigation into her getting paid for campaigning, using foundation resources for her wedding and life for a decade, taxes on money from her parents…,” Band wrote to John Podesta, now Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman.
“I hope that you will speak to her and end this. Once we go down this road…”
Band’s message is contained in a chain of emails that were hacked from Podesta’s Gmail account. WikiLeaks has released more than 50,000 of the stolen emails over the past 32 days.
https://nypost.com/2016/11/06/chelsea-clinton-used-foundation-to-help-pay-for-wedding-emails/
I know that you are completely incurious when it comes to these matters, and since it has been alledged without proof that the Russians hacked these emails, we are not supposed to read them, but nobody disputes their authenticity.
So tell me again about Hillary and the emoluments clause. Why doesn’t it apply to the person you have defended here and whom your party chose to be its candidate for POTUS, just a short time ago who was the only realistic alternative to Trump.
Freder: "none of the people who comment on this blog, has the foggiest idea what is in the report."
Oh shut your fucking marxist twat mouth.
1) For 2 years your fellow Leftist have predicted DOOOOOM from Mueller AND YOU DIDN'T SAY A DAMN THING ABOUT IT. You fricken hyporite.
2) Foggy? We know with certainty that NO ONE in the Trump administration is getting indicted by Mueller for collusion with Russia. If you want to press the point I would be happy to place a wager.
THIS is why I despise, detest, and distrust everything in the NYT and WaPoo. (And the Dems, too.)
BTW, Freder, I think we have been through this many times before, and I am pretty certain that you will simply ignore the evidence that the Clintons misused their “charitable” foundation and continue to believe your pretty little story about that poor defrauded woman.
Meanwhile she is probably on her third pallet of gin since the election and laughing about useful idiots like yourself.
Chuck: "But another test is whether those same outlets gave the same lack of respect and appreciation to Prsident Bush 43, or Bush 41, or Reagan. And I think the consensus answer would be "yes."
WRONG again. And golly, there you are defending the Left-wing media. Benecuck Arnold.
At no time in our history has the MSM ever justified negative coverage by saying "We believe in being fair, but as Trump is dangerous/insane/Hitler we are making an exception". Not until Trump. They didn't cross that line with Reagan or any Bush.
They have essentially justified ignoring their own ethics because Orange Man Bad. It's the most disgraceful thing I've seen from them since Dan Rather.
Just look at yourself. You have abandoned all intellectual integrity and honor, Ahab, in pursuit of your Orange Moby Dick. To the extent that everyone here regards you as a treacherous weasel. And funniest part - you did it for nothing, because none of your "sick burns" can reach his ears. It's kinda tragic when you think it through. What a waste.
Freder: "none of the people who comment on this blog, has the foggiest idea what is in the report."
For two years we woke every day to the media broadcasting to us all the terrible thing Trump was going to be convicted of without having the foggiest idea of what was in the report.
And if there was any hint that the report was sure to be detrimental to Trump they'd still be spouting off about it.
But hey, today -- one day only -- prudence from team blue.
Because tomorrow the speculation by the media about what may or may not be in the report from the SDNY begins in earnest.
It’s the difference between reading comprehension and critical thinking. Omission is one of the most powerful tools of propaganda. As Einstein said, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” The reason he said this is that if you leave stuff out, you get the wrong answer. Of course they know that, and are exploiting it, because they want to give you just the facts that will lead you to believe that you have come to the correct conclusion all on your own.
I think that Machiavelli said “Give me the power to nominate, I will care little for your power to elect.” Well, give me the power to control what you know, and I will care little for your power to think.
Very well written, thanks.
Birkel: I wouldn't be surprised to see this headline:
"With unemployment down, businesses struggle to find new hires"
NYTs: Crime at record lows, yet Police refuse to cut staff.
"Freder, I think we have been through this many times before, and I am pretty certain that you will simply ignore the evidence"
He's a Marxist. They are like Jihadists in their belief that it's permissible to lie to the "infidels" in service to their cause. Waste of your time.
Freder
Having read Barr's letter I have some idea of what is in the report. So does everyone else here. Do you?
It all but ensures that a legal threat will continue to loom over the Trump presidency.
The left's purpose in controlling the institutions is ensuring there's always another person willing to trade his credibility for a political payoff.
"Failure to capture fleeing Jefferson Davis casts pall as the President announces fall of Richmond."
Well surprise, Freder had no answer for the examples I gave him of abuse of the Clinton foundation. Because to answer it, he would have to admit that Hillary violated the emoluments clause. That we had no choice that would have been better than Trump on that issue. It’s true for many many issues, BTW. The Clintons were dirtbags and Democrats should be wearing hairshirts for letting them take over your party.
The left's purpose in controlling the institutions is ensuring there's always another person willing to trade his credibility for a political payoff.
A lot of times its a cushy sinecure at the Clinton Foundation, which is what Lois Lerner wanted.
buwaya @10:10 AM: buwaya, I love ya man, I really do, but where's the evidence?
You're smart enough to know that lack of evidence, is not itself evidence, right?
So where's the evidence, man? Where's it hiding?
You remember Carl Sagan, right? He was wrong about his share of things, like the rest of us, but when he discovered that he was wrong, he acknowledged it and moved on, in the main. He said: "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."
So....? We're waiting.
It's all neat and tidy, in its way, but it has a whiff of the crank in it, in that it seems not to be falsifiable in your mind. You know about falsifiable, right?
So: Tell me what it would take for your theory of a vast, intentional, purpose-driven organization that directs the hundreds of low-IQ news dweebles to repeat this claptrap in public every day, to be seen as an error? Is it just possible that you may have been mistaken about how the world is working in this particular connection?
There is no disgrace in such an admission, inasmuch it is no more than an admission to being a human. (Well... but that topic would take us much too far afield.)
Such stupidity in our media/political class must be voluntary, in my opinion. Frankly, it doesn't seem that much of a stretch that it might be so, and nothing more than that. They have been marinated in this world view since first grade!
I await your refutation, modification, or correction.
In 1790 the largest state was about 13 times as populous as the smallest (and had nearly 20% of the total US population.
And how much territory did ISIS (have we quit saying ISIL entirely now?) prior to January 2009?
A lot of times its a cushy sinecure at the Clinton Foundation, which is what Lois Lerner wanted.
The Clinton Foundation was for Clintonites. The education system is the retirement plan for left wing activists. Why fund your allies retirement when you can force your enemies to do it? Institutional control matters.
"To analogize, some here expect plumbers to be philosophers. But plumbers can do their jobs without bothering with philosophy."
I believe Laslo is, or was, a plumber. I'm not sure if he's exactly a philosopher, but he's something like one, and more entertaining than most. He certainly knows how to talk shit.
Yeah, buwaya is surely wrong.
Everybody on the Journ-O-Liat says so.
Falsifiability when the collusion of MSMers was already shown, definitively?
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