Some Seem to Have Forgotten What America is All About

On the Dirty Media Complex

“I’ve been wanting to write about the unseen influences on the media by coordinated, paid factions, whether they’re from political, corporate or other special interests, the tactics they use to manipulate the images we see, not just in the news but on Facebook, Wikipedia, or fake Twitter accounts. It’s become a way of life and I don’t think the public is aware of how much nearly everything you see today may be influenced, in some fashion, by a paid interest that wants you to think something.”  - former CBS News Reporter Sharyl Attkisson

Democratic Panic Has Set In.

Dems in Distress

Mo Dowd

 NYT - With the health care sign-up period coming to an end this month, Democrats in Congress are looking over at the White House and realizing that the president is not only incapable of saving them, but he looks like a big anchor tied around their necks.


The state of relations between congressional Democrats and the administration has been deteriorating every week, but now it’s hitting a new bottom — and not only with the extraordinary open feud between the C.I.A. and the Senate intelligence committee. Hill Democrats are seething at Obama, fearing that the onetime messiah is putting them in a slough that will last until — or through — 2016.  Top Democrats who were fans of the president and prone to giving him the benefit of the doubt now say they’ve completely lost confidence in the White House’s ability to advance an agenda and work with them in a way that’s going to give Democrats a fighting chance in November.

Obama’s approval ratings will shape the midterms, and some  Hill observers compare

his crumpling numbers to an illness. The president didn’t do the basic things to take care of himself, and now he’s gone terminal and contagious. The closest the president came to getting a leg up on mounting a defense was on Friday when he told Ryan Seacrest in a radio interview that he had been unfairly maligned for his mom jeans: “Generally, I look very sharp in jeans.” 

Due to the inability of the president and congressional Democrats to move their agenda through Congress, the president is having to govern through executive order and revising federal regulations.  Republicans have latched on to this to make the case around the country that Obama is a dictator and an imperial president. But governing through executive order isn’t a sign of strength. It’s a sign of weakness.

And it’s that weakness that has Democrats scared to death.

Well, A Lot of People Do Laugh at Him.......

ABC Reporter Worries Whether Constitution Allows President To Be Interviewed By Comedians

ABC News Professional Journalist Jim Avila had some very serious questions for White House Press Secretary Jay Carney today about Barack Obama’s brief interview with comedy (?) human Zach Galifianakis. Avila seemed really worried about it, if none too lucid: 

“How much discussion was there in the White House about the dignity of the office and whether or not, in order to reach these people who don’t watch us at 6:30, or who don’t watch this briefing … how much the dignity of the office might be lost? This is an interview like no other probably ever done by a president.”

Good question! After all, the website is called “Funny or Die,” and if people didn’t laugh, might not Obama die? But Carney simply noted that the webcast appearance was a chance to “reach Americans who don’t necessarily get information about HealthCare.gov from evening news broadcasts or from the newspapers.” 

As for the  the dignity of the office, you gotta be kidding, right? This is Barack Obama your talking about here. Still, Avila was not reassured, and asked again, “I understand the purpose, but was the presidency in any way damaged?”

But this is a serious question from a serious journalist,
and deserves a completely serious answer.

 

I Just Love It When Leftist Elite Eat Its Own

Reporters in Semi-Open Revolt’ Against NYT Editor

It's well known that the liberal-leaning reporters at The Wall Street Journal resent the conservative-leaning editorial page of The Wall Street Journal. What’s less well known, and about to break into the open is how deeply the liberal-leaning reporters at The New York Times resent the liberal-leaning editorial page at the NYT.

"The New York Observer has learned over the course of interviews with more than two-dozen current and former Times staffers that the situation has “reached the boiling point” in the words of one current Times reporter."

Why do the reporters hate the editorial page?  According to the reporters themselves, the editorial page editor, Andrew Rosenthal, is arrogant, petty and vindictive. The news room has suffered deep cuts, while the editorial page is lavishly staffed, and yet turns out a lousy product.  And most interesting, their belief the poor quality of the paper’s editorials is embarrassing: “they’re completely reflexively liberal, utterly predictable, usually poorly written and totally ineffectual.”

Well, they aren’t totally without value. We have fun laughing at them.

It also galls the Times news room that the paper’s columnists are “tired and irrelevant.” The ever boring Thomas Friedman comes in for special abuse. These are quotes from reporters at the Times: 

“Tom Friedman is an embarrassment. I mean there are multiple blogs and Tumblrs and Twitter feeds that exist solely to make fun of his sort of blowhardy bullshit.” 

“Nobody is acknowledging that they suck, but everybody in the newsroom knows it, and we really are embarrassed by what goes on with Friedman. I mean anybody who knows anything about most of what he’s writing about understands that he’s, like, literally mailing it in from wherever he is on the globe. He’s a travel reporter. A joke.”

“As for the columnists, Friedman is the worst. He hasn’t had an original thought in 20 years; he’s an embarrassment. He’s perceived as an idiot who has been wrong about every major issue for 20 years….”

Then there's Ms. Congeniality herself, Maureen Dowd: 

“Then there’s Maureen Dowd, who has been writing the same column since George H. W. Bush was president.”

Surprisingly, no one mentioned of two time winner of DMF's "AssHat of the Year" Award Winner, Paul Krugman, who it is said "doesn’t work any harder on his columns than Friedman does, and is an obnoxious jerk to boot".  Maybe they are saving him for a follow-up article.

In any event, it is highly entertaining to see Times reporters telling us the same things about the paper’s editorial pages that most us have been saying for years. 

To America: A Letter from the Mainstream Media

Dear Mr.& Mrs. America,

We in the mainstream media complex would respectfully inform you that we will retreat from tradition and will not be doing our usual yearly whooping it up in celebration the anniversary of the final days of Watergate and the House Judiciary Committee's approval and sending to the whole House of Representatives three articles of impeachment against President Richard M. Nixon.

The reason we in the vaulted media are dialing back an episode that confirmed our place as the fourth estate and an indispensable player in governing this country is that some feel the charges the Democrats lodged against Richard Nixon are just too damn close to how our great leader (that we helped you choose thank you) President Barack Obama and his White House does business.

Democrats once charged the president with using his office to personally, and through his staff delay, impede and obstruct the investigation into wrong doing.  His staff were accused of giving false or misleading statements in congressional and judicial testimony and to investigators.

Democrats accused the presidents men of accessing private tax records from the IRS and directing the IRS to audit, investigate and otherwise harass political opponents.  Democrats accused the Nixon administration of using the electronic surveillance to spy on Americans without national security or law enforcement justification.

On four occasions, the Nixon White House failed to comply with subpoenas from the Judiciary Committee.

“In refusing to produce these papers and things Richard M. Nixon, substituting his judgment as to what materials were necessary for the inquiry, interposed the powers of the Presidency against the lawful subpoenas of the House of Representatives........"

We in the main stream media recognize enough similarities between the behavior of the Obama White House and what Democrats claimed in 1974 was so egregious that Nixon had to be removed from office.

But these are trying times in America and we should overlook simple things. Besides, he's our man, we help put him there, and despite the fact he picks on some of us from time to time (mostly those penis heads at Fox News) and listens in on our conversations, for the most part we agree with his progressive agenda. And he gives many more fabulous rides on Air Force One then either Bush or Clinton did. And takin' bout White House shindigs!

So all in all, this will give us much more time in coming days to bring you reports on trips to Martha's Vineyard, the wonderful free health care he has given to all Americans, an expanding economy and Kim Kardashian's spawn.

Somewhat Respectfully,

The Vintage Media Complex

P.S.
We apologize for the commonly used English honorific for women (Mrs.) in the opening greeting to this letter. It is in no way, shape or form meant to degrade any women single by choice, unmarried women, widows, lesbians, a divorcée, spinster, feminist or anyone of the bovine persuasion.

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inspired by an artical@CFP 

James Rosen: Criminal Suspect

Fox News Reporter James Rosen

We have officially crossed the line, America. The Obama/Holder Justice Department snooped through the private emails of a Fox News employee because he (shock!) reported the news. What’s worse, the search warrant allowing the emails actually lists James Rosen as a criminal suspect, and their justification for doing so is absolutely chilling.
 

Business Insider - 

"The Department of Justice heavily tracked Fox News reporter James Rosen during a 2009 leak probe, according to a report from Ann E. Marimow in the Washington Post. For many in the media world, this case seems even more troubling. It involves the prosecution of Stephen J. Kim, who revealed classified information to Rosen. According to the report, Kim told Rosen that the U.S. believed North Korea would react to new United Nations sanctions by employing more nuclear tests."

"What makes this case different from the AP probe is that Rosen is a possible target. In addition to tracking his trips to and from the State Department as well as personal calls and emails, FBI agent Reginald Reyes suggested in court documents obtained by the Post that Rosen had broken the law."  

And this from the Washington Post Story:

"They used security badge access records to track the reporter’s comings and goings from the State Department, according to a newly obtained court affidavit. They traced the timing of his calls with a State Department security adviser suspected of sharing the classified report. They obtained a search warrant for the reporter’s personal e-mails.

"Court documents in the Kim case reveal how deeply investigators explored the private communications of a working journalist — and raise the question of how often journalists have been investigated as closely as Rosen was in 2010. The case also raises new concerns among critics of government secrecy about the possible stifling effect of these investigations on a critical element of press freedom: the exchange of information between reporters and their sources."

Now take a look at the summary page of the DOJ’s warrant:

 via Poor Richards News

The reporter played to a government employee’s vanity? Well, that officially makes him no better than a foreign spy!

Let me reiterate here: NOTHING described in this document is illegal activity for a reporter. This is an investigative reporter doing his job, and the Obama administration is treating journalism as a crime.  This should set off massive alarm bells for anyone who cares about the Constitution and the 1st Amendment. The issue here is not that the White House pursued its own internal leaks; it’s that they’re punishing reporters and officially regarding them as criminals.
 

It's Colonel Mustard, in the Study, with . . . the Trajectory

The super sleuths at The New York Times have cracked the Boston bombing case wide open.

Conducting "dozens of interviews with friends, acquaintances and relatives" in Cambridge and Dagestan, the team of team of three reporters examining the life of Tamerlan Tsarnaev concluded that a "trajectory" was responsible for the murder.

Here's the quote from the fifth paragraph of the story:

"His trajectory eventually led the frustrated athlete and his loyal younger brother . . . to bomb one of the most famous athletic events in the country, killing three and wounding more than 200 at the Boston Marathon.' 

Okay, so it's not exactly clear whether the trajectory was a motive or simply some mysterious force of the universe. But whatever it was, this trajectory was so powerful it ended up propelling not only Tamerlan but also his loyal younger brother to slaughter innocent people.

And it appears that the police have bought into this trajectory theory of the case:

"The authorities say it led Mr. Tsarnaev, his application for citizenship stalled, and his brother, a new citizen and a seemingly well-adjusted college student, to attack their American hometown on Patriots' Day, April 15 ."

The "it" in the quotation refers to the very same "trajectory" referred to in the previous sentence.

By the way, in case you're wondering,  this evil and mysterious trajectory had nothing to do with radical Islam. Instead, the Times believes the trajectory appears to have its origins in Tamerlan's failure to make it as a boxer.  *cough*

Source 

Forward Into the Past: CNN Becomes "CNN Classic"

After CNN's disastrous coverage of the the Boston terror attack and in danger of falling  in the ratings behind "The Truth is Overrated Network", better known as MSNBC, the pioneering  cable news network makes a bold move for the future.

The New Yorker - In a sweeping format change that marks the end of an era for the nation's first cable news outlet, CNN announced today that it would no longer air breaking news and would instead re-run news stories of the past “that we know we got right.”

The rebranded network, to début nationwide on Monday, will be called “CNN Classic.

“Breaking news is hard,” said the newly installed CNN chief, Jeff Zucker. “You have to talk to sources, make sure their stories check out O.K., and then get on the air and not say anything stupid. I, for one, am thrilled to be getting out of that horrible business.”

CNN Classic will begin its broadcast day on Monday, Mr. Zucker said, “with round-the-clock coverage of Operation Desert Storm.”

Mr. Zucker did not indicate what impact the new format would have on such CNN stars as Wolf Blitzer, saying only, “I can’t promise that Wolf will be a part of CNN’s future, but he will continue to be a big part of our past.”

The CNN chief scoffed at reports that other cable news outlets had eclipsed his network once and for all, throwing down this gauntlet: “We are going to win May sweeps with Hurricane Katrina......” 

_________________________

Media research organizations and journalism departments from two well known universities gathered last week and spent forty-eight hours watching and combing CNN in the hopes of finding any information whatsoever called off their search early they confirmed today.

“After monitoring every minute of CNN’s broadcast for two whole days, all we  found was hearsay, rumors, falsehoods, and a steady stream of inane commentary, as well a one very obnoxious British chap” one participant said. “Everything but information.” The announcement was the second black eye for CNN, which earlier in the week recanted all of its reporting dating back to mid-2009.

The new CNN chief Jeff Zucker acknowledged that the network had experienced “a rough patch” since he took over earlier this year, but added, “At least no one was watching.”

_______________________________________

DAILY MAIL has Tavon White's picture

Tavon likes his money
He makes a lot they say

The World's Most Interesting Newspaper, the Daily Mail, comes through again, posting a picture of Tavon White.

Tavon is the head of the Black Guerilla Family prison gang inside a Baltimore jail, where he fathered five babies by four lady prison guards. Thirteen female corrections officers essentially handed over control of a Baltimore jail to gang leaders. The officers were charged Tuesday in a federal racketeering indictment.

I'm not sure why the Washington Post and other American media  outlets hadn't posted Tavon's picture. Perhaps they were trying to battle racial stereotypes. After all, without pictorial evidence, how could anyone have guessed that Tavon White is black? Or maybe they couldn't find a picture of Tavon at age 12 like they found of Trayvon?

Hold the Laughter: MSNBC President Claims Network Has Never Been The Voice Of Obama.

Yeah, Right.....

In an interview with the Huffington Post, MSNBC president Phil Griffin tries to push back against the notion that his channel has become a mouth-piece for President Barack Obama.

“This channel has never been the voice of Obama. Ever,” Griffin tells Michael Calderone of the Huffington Post. But, Calderone writes, “Griffin acknowledges that his hosts are more likely to agree with Obama on policy matters than with Republicans, but rejects comparisons to Fox News.” Griffin does, however, acknowledge to the left-leaningHuffington Post that many folks working at MSNBC have a “progressive sensibility.”

Read More Tripe....... 

h/t WZ

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About Richard Nixon...

Matthew - 6/16

"Woodward and Bernstein, themselves, have created a cottage industry of their own -- the political scandal “insider” book, the myth that because they once had fortune dump the half-story of a lifetime into their laps that they're some kind of exalted defender of the universe -- that has made them filthy rich men. Don’t buy this “fighting to tell the truth” crap either has spouted since the ‘70’s:  they’re in it for the money and the accolades they get from their even-lazier compatriots. They always were. And they got lucky...."

Matthew's Week End Commentary

The Lunatic's Asylum 

I read this today, a defense of Richard Milhous Nixon, a.k.a. Tricky Dick of Watergate Fame.

It was written by Conrad Black, who himself knows a thing or two about being railroaded by his enemies, especially the political kind.

I found this article interesting because Black uses the phrase "criminalization of policy and partisan differences", and means that to say that both ends of the political spectrum routinely accuse the other of being the absolute worst people born since Hitler and Genghis Khan had identical triplets. According to this sort of mindset, anything the other side has to say on any subject is reflexively responded to by it's counterpart as the grossest crime, or the most egregious abuse of human rights, and probably an indication that one side or the other would like to run a conveyor belt full of kittens through industrial wood chippers and sell the resulting mess as luncheon meat in your kid's school cafeteria.

No one gets the benefit of the doubt, anymore, no serious question ever gets the fair hearing it deserves.

 Undoubtedly Black is correct in his assertion that most political exchange since the days of Watergate has been tinged with this hyper-partisanship, and one side does, indeed, engage in this sort of constipated thinking more often than the other, but then again, they're at the vanguard of a political philosophy which, on the one hand, believes there is no such thing as human nature, and then on the other, regulates the hell out of human nature just as soon as it rears it's ugly head, but then never admits it made an incorrect assumption in the first place.

 But, let's put the truism that most Leftists are petty little dictators with really poor potty training in their backgrounds, who could never be elected to anything if they ever told the truth aside for a second because there's another issue that Black brings up in his column, which intrigues me more, and that is the supposed heroes of Watergate, the so-called intrepid reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the reporters who broke the story and began the process of destroying a president.

Now, I'm too young to remember Watergate as little more than a word heard coming out of the television, so don't expect me to wax poetic with fond memories of the Nixon Administration, I was all of five or six years old at the time. However, I have studied the scandal in my adult years, and have come to a conclusion that didn't really require a shitload of historical research:

Anderson Cooper Gets His Journalist On

A.C. takes the tie wearing lefty to task....

I didn't think you had it in ya!

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Thank You IOTW for the Linkage