Showing posts with label nbc. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nbc. Show all posts

Saturday, July 4, 2015

Trump Dump: "Who's Doing the Raping?" Latinos of course!

photo 32dd1fcb-5df6-4c2a-94a4-32c03d40fc6b.jpg

Previous Related Posts:
Macy's to Trump: You're Fired
NBC Shows Trump the Door
Trump Dumped by Univision
Trump Announces Another Failed Presidential Run
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Donald is the Energizer Bunny of Bigotry, and keeps going and going and going. Or maybe he's more like a broken record, or a squeaky windmill, or a repetitious dog whistle. He just cannot back down on remarks he made last week accusing nearly all Mexican Immigrants of being criminals and rapists. On the contrary, he is doubling down. In his mind, he is absolutely correct and therefore cannot see why he should back down, especially when he is appealing to so many Tea Partiers who feel the same way.

Please proceed, Mr. Trump.

From CNN
On Wednesday, Trump, who is a Republican presidential candidate, told Lemon he was pulling his facts from a Fusion article.
. . . "If you go to Fusion, you will see a story: About 80% of the women coming in, you know who owns Fusion? Univision! Go to Fusion and pick up the stories on rape. It's unbelievable when you look at what's going on. So all I'm doing is telling the truth," Trump said.
Lemon replied that the press stories are about women being raped, but not about criminals coming across the border.
"Well, somebody's doing the raping, Don! I mean somebody's doing it! Who's doing the raping? Who's doing the raping?" he asked.



Jon Stewart mocked him on Comedy Central:

...Our good friend Donald Trump reminding us that as much as a "handful of people" coming across our southern border are not rapists. He assumes. He’s sure about the rapist part. But feels that, I guess, by pure law of averages, there are probably some non rapists caught up in that tide, whether they’re unable to rape for medical reasons, or whether they are just all raped out.
As you can imagine, this statement from a Republican Presidential Candidate was noticed.
I believe we have our campaign slogan, Trump 2016: "Somebody's doing the raping!"


Trump on the Down Escalator to Nowhere





Meanwhile, even more business associates are dumping the Donald:

NASCAR joins a growing list of companies who have found Trump’s recent statements on Mexican immigrants offensive enough to cut ties with the mogul.
According to USA Today, this came after the urging of Camping World CEO Marcus Lemonis, who sent a letter to NASCAR stating that he would not attend the Camping World Truck Series postseason banquet at the usual Trump resort. An excerpt from the letter quoted in USA Today reads:
Our company will not stand to support any person or organization that associates with such beliefs and we feel strongly about distancing ourselves from any negative and discriminatory comments made against any gender, ethnicity, age group or so forth. I would hope that the entire NASCAR organization would agree with my sentiments.
Camping World is the title sponsor of NASCAR’s truck racing series, and Lemonis himself even appeared on two episodes of Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice television show.








Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Macy's to Trump: "You're Fired"

photo macys.jpg

Previous Related Posts:
NBC Shows Trump the Door
Trump Dumped by Univision
Trump Announces Another Failed Presidential Run
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The karma keeps coming for The Donald Trump. After saying that Mexican immigrants were criminals and rapists, he was dumped by the hispanic-language channel Univision, then by the NBC network.

Yesterday, Trump filed a $500 million lawsuit against Univision.

From NPR
NPR's Andrew Limbong reports that Trump is seeking $500 million, and that in the suit, Trump claims Univision is attempting to suppress his freedom of speech.

Here's an excerpt from The Trump Organization's statement:

"Under the contract, Univision is required to broadcast the pageant live on television in Spanish. While Univision claims its decision came solely in response to comments by Mr. Trump during a June 16 campaign speech announcing his candidacy for President of the United States, the decision was, in reality, a politically motivated attempt to suppress Mr. Trump's freedom of speech under the First Amendment as he begins to campaign for the nation's presidency."

In an email to Politico, Univision spokesperson Monica Talan called the complaint "both factually false and legally ridiculous." She adds:

"We will not only vigorously defend the case, but will continue to fight against Mr. Trump's ongoing efforts to run away from the derogatory comments he made on June 16th about Mexican immigrants. Our decision to end our business relationship with Mr. Trump was influenced solely by our responsibility to speak up for the community we serve."

Today, Macy's department store told him "You're fired."



Trump was NOT amused







But most other people were amused:



















Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Monday, June 29, 2015

You're Fired ~ NBC Shows Trump the Door

photo trump-youre-fired-ap.jpg

Previous Related Posts:
Trump Dumped by Univision Over Mexican Remarks
Trump Announces Another Failed Presidential Run

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just a few weeks ago, Donald Trump announced he was running for the GOP Presidential nomination. Last week the Donald was shocked that Univision broke off with his beauty pageant over racist remarks he made about immigrants from Mexico. On Thursday of last week, when all the other GOP candidates were tweeting about Obamacare being upheld by the Supreme Court, Trump was busy bragging about the lawsuits he was going to throw at Univision (see my previous post listed above).

Today, the NBC network, home of Trump's show "The Apprentice" also showed him the door.







But instead of bloviating this time, he tried for a few hours to pretend they only distanced themselves because he stopped doing "The Apprentice" while running for President, but that's not what they said.

Via USA Today
The network, which has been under pressure to fire Trump since last week when Univision announced it would not air Trump's Miss USA pageant in Spanish, said in a statement that "respect and dignity for all people are cornerstones of our values."
"Due to the recent derogatory statements by Donald Trump regarding immigrants, NBCUniversal is ending its business relationship with Mr. Trump," the statement said.
"To that end, the annual Miss USA and Miss Universe Pageants, which are part of a joint venture between NBC and Trump, will no longer air on NBC. In addition, as Mr. Trump has already indicated, he will not be participating in The Apprentice on NBC," because he is an announced Republican candidate for president.
"Celebrity Apprentice is licensed from Mark Burnett's United Artists Media Group and that relationship will continue," the network added.

Trump later produced this message via Instagram: which calls NBC "weak" and "foolish" and says he stands by his "accurate" statements in which he called Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals.

photo TrumpStatementNBC.png

The hashtag #YoureFired has been really popular today! :)















Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Trump Dumped By Univision Over Mexican Remarks - UPDATE: Trump Sues Univision

photo cf80b01b-6891-4bda-8a3a-cab6d2893133.jpg

Donald Trump keeps going on the record about how much he hates these immigrants from Mexico whom he says are bringing drugs and crime across the border. This past week he was so unhinged in his comments that the Hispanic TV network Univision decided to drop Trump's Miss USA Pageant.

From CNN Money
. . . Univision says it is severing all other business ties to Trump. Univision is the biggest Spanish-language broadcaster in the United States, so its decision is a blow to the Miss Universe Organization, a joint venture of Trump and Comcast's NBCUniversal division.
Last week, in his speech announcing a run for president, Trump deplored immigrants from Mexico who "have lots of problems" and are "bringing those problems to us."
"They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists," he said, adding, "and some, I assume, are good people."
Trump went on Fox News Thursday to say, "Of course I'm standing by the statement." He added, "I love Mexico, I love the Mexican people."
Trump also said he intends to sue Univision for refusing to carry the Miss USA pageant.
"I'm going to have to sue Univision now... They have a signed contract," he said. At another point Trump said, "They'll have to pay me a lot of money."

Trump says Univision apologized to him, but he is going to sue them anyway.

UPDATE: On 5/30/15, Trump filed a $500 million lawsuit against Univision.

From NPR
NPR's Andrew Limbong reports that Trump is seeking $500 million, and that in the suit, Trump claims Univision is attempting to suppress his freedom of speech.

Here's an excerpt from The Trump Organization's statement:

"Under the contract, Univision is required to broadcast the pageant live on television in Spanish. While Univision claims its decision came solely in response to comments by Mr. Trump during a June 16 campaign speech announcing his candidacy for President of the United States, the decision was, in reality, a politically motivated attempt to suppress Mr. Trump's freedom of speech under the First Amendment as he begins to campaign for the nation's presidency."

In an email to Politico, Univision spokesperson Monica Talan called the complaint "both factually false and legally ridiculous." She adds:

 "We will not only vigorously defend the case, but will continue to fight against Mr. Trump's ongoing efforts to run away from the derogatory comments he made on June 16th about Mexican immigrants. Our decision to end our business relationship with Mr. Trump was influenced solely by our responsibility to speak up for the community we serve."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Meanwhile in Mexico, they are making Pinatas in the image of The Donald. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy! Swing away!














From Business Insider
A Mexican artist named Dalton Avalos Ramirez has responded by creating a Trump-inspired piñata. It’s almost as big-mouthed and wild-haired as the living version.
It’s not just a single piece either.
Avalos Rameriz plans to produce the Trumpatas which will come in various sizes and allow offended Mexicans to take out some of their anger about Trump’s xenophobic comments peacefully.







Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Rachel Dolezal Does the Talk Shows - Says She is "Not White"

photo Dolezal-black.gif

Previous Related Posts:
Melissa Harris-Perry Loses Her Mind Over Rachel Dolezal
Twitter Mocks Rachel Dolezal
Rachel Dolezal: Con Artist Passing as Black Causes Confusion

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rachel Dolezal resigned from the Spokane NAACP yesterday:

Dolezal's Complete Statement from Facebook
Dear Executive Committee and NAACP Members, It is a true honor to serve in the racial and social justice movement here...
Posted by Spokane NAACP on Monday, June 15, 2015

Dolezal expressed no remorse, nor did she apologize for any deception on her part:

. . . Police brutality, biased curriculum in schools, economic disenfranchisement, health inequities, and a lack of pro-justice political representation are among the concerns at the forefront of the current administration of the Spokane NAACP.
And yet, the dialogue has unexpectedly shifted internationally to my personal identity in the context of defining race and ethnicity.
I have waited in deference while others expressed their feelings, beliefs, confusions and even conclusions - absent the full story.

So she is viewing herself as the victim of the press.


In the last 24 hours Dolezal has also drawn scrutiny to her other activities as a student, artist, college instructor and even columnist for a local Spokane newspaper. And there is probably more where all this came from!


Dolezal has been let go from Eastern Washington University where she was an African Studies Professor (or adjunct instructor - there's some disagreement).

From CBS News
Her biography has also been removed from Eastern Washington University's website. The university said her contract to teach ended this month.

The material below was captured before her biography was scrubbed from the college's website.



While a student at the traditionally black Howard University, Dolezal for discrimination - because she was white!


From the Daily Beast
The Smoking Gun reported Monday.... Dolezal accused the historically black college of improperly blocking her job as a teaching assistant, rejecting her application to be a post-graduate instructor, and denying her scholarship aid. Dolezal also claimed the university removed some of her artwork from a student exhibition because it was “motivated by a discriminatory purpose to favor African-American students over” her. An appeals court dismissed the complaint in 2004 because it found there was no evidence of discrimination.

The details are rather fascinating, via Smoking Gun
Dolezal, then known as Rachel Moore, named the university and Professor Alfred Smith as defendants in a lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C.’s Superior Court. During the pendency of the civil case, Smith was chairman of Howard’s Department of Art.

According to a Court of Appeals opinion, Dolezal's lawsuit “claimed discrimination based on race, pregnancy, family responsibilities and gender.” She alleged that Smith and other school officials improperly blocked her appointment to a teaching assistant post, rejected her application for a post-graduate instructorship, and denied her scholarship aid while she was a student.
The court opinion also noted that Dolezal claimed that the university’s decision to remove some of her artworks from a February 2001 student exhibition was “motivated by a discriminatory purpose to favor African-American students over” her.
As detailed in the court opinion, Dolezal’s lawsuit contended that Howard was “permeated with discriminatory intimidation, ridicule, and insult.”

Judge Zoe Bush dismissed Dolezal’s complaint in February 2004, 18 months after the lawsuit was filed and Dolezal was deposed on several occasions. Bush found no evidence that Dolezal was discriminated on the basis of race or other factors. The D.C. Court of Appeals subsequently affirmed Bush’s decision.
Following the dismissal of Dolezal’s lawsuit (and the Court of Appeals decision), she was ordered to reimburse Howard for a “Bill of Costs” totaling $2728.50. During the case, she was also ordered to pay the university nearly $1000 in connection with an “obstructive and vexatious” court filing that sought to improperly delay her examination by an independent doctor.

It's fascinating that Dolezal's art was the sticking point. It has now come to light that Dolezal copied (try plagiarized) a famous painting by British artist J.M.W. Turner called "The Slave Ship" and called it her own original work. In her catalog only speaks of her own interpretation of the scene. It's audacious!



This photo of Dolezal in front of the plagiarized painting as published in TheEasternerOnline bears the caption:
Rachel Dolezal, an EWU Professor, sits on a couch at her home in front of an original painting she created. Dolezal obtained her master's in fine arts at Howard University.

photo b55a8b89-0a3a-46d5-93fc-243b3d109d25.jpg

Dolezal tried to fill in some of the blanks in her "full story" by giving an interview to NBC's TODAY Show with Matt Lauer. But again there are more questions than answers as Dolezal dodged the basic question of why she has lied about her racial identity.
From TODAY
"I was drawing self-portraits with the brown crayon instead of the peach crayon, and black curly hair," she told Lauer. But she insisted she never deceived anyone as numerous critics have suggested.
"I do take exception to that because it's a little more complex than me identifying as black or answering a question of, are you black or white?" she said.
. . . "As much as this discussion has somewhat been at my expense recently, and in a very sort of viciously inhumane way come out of the woodwork, the discussion is really about what it is to be human," she said.





From Washington Post
“I definitely am not white,” Dolezal told NBC News’ Savannah Guthrie in an excerpt of the interview which will air on “Nightly News.” “Nothing about being white describes who I am.”
. . . “I identify as black,” Dolezal told NBC’s “Today” show on Tuesday morning. “I did feel that, at some point, I would need to address the complexity of my identity.”
In a series of interviews with the network — a first since she was thrust into the national spotlight — the 37-year-old Dolezal was challenged about her race and the accusations that she had been deceptive for years.
Dolezal told Guthrie: “I am more black than I am white.”
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Monday, February 23, 2015

Falklands Drama ~ Cornered Narcissist Bill O'Reilly Lashes Out

photo 59405624.jpg

Previous Related Posts:
Bill O'Reilly on 50s America: "Unified" and "Innocent" like Mickey Mouse Club
Bill O'Reilly White-Old-Man-Splains Asians

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Recently, talking-head Brian Williams of NBC News was suspended for six months after embellishing past journalistic experiences.

After it happened, Fox News and Bill O'Reilly were quick to gloat about how Williams was a symptom of the Left-Wing Liberal Media they love to hate.

From Mediaite
O’Reilly spoke of how the Founders believed in a free and honest press and bemoaned how the current American press isn’t “half as responsible as the men who forged the nation.”
But O’Reilly didn’t just go after Williams, he said this is about a culture of deception in the liberal media. They need to, he said, “stop the corruption and begin telling the truth without an agenda,” otherwise the public’s trust in them will continue to plummet.
. . . he ended by telling his viewers, “Think about other news agencies that are distorting the facts.”

But it turns out, Bill O has been spinning lies for some time about his reporting in Argentina during the War in the Falklands, making it sound as if he was in the midst of combat when he never even set foot on the islands. At the time, he was covering the remote war for CBS News, a fact he has written about in his best-selling books and discussed on his show many times, saying he was in "fire fights" and "war zones" in Argentina.

But neither he nor any of his CBS colleagues were in the Falklands because the Argentine government wouldn't allow them there.

An article in Mother Jones magazine is calling out O'Reilly for his lies.

Read the Original Article:
Mother Jones: Bill O'Reilly Has His Own Brian Williams Problem with the Falklands War






Here's just one quote from O'Reilly about the Falklands Via Media Matters

O'REILLY: I -- I was in a combat situation in Argentina during the Falklands War, OK?

KEVIN: Mm-hmm.

O'REILLY: And I can tell you when the Kool-Aid hits the fan, OK, nobody is locking in on anybody else. Nobody.

KEVIN: And you're right.

O'REILLY: OK, ad --

KEVIN: I know (inaudible; overlapping dialogue)

O'REILLY: -- adrenaline -- adrenaline surges and you veterans out there listening right now, you know exactly what I'm talking about here. Adrenaline surges, your senses become very attune, much sharper than they are ordinarily, and you are locked in, focused in, on your survival and achieving the means of staying alive.


From Mother Jones, the Day After
O'Reilly responded to the story by launching a slew of personal invective. He did not respond to the details of the story. Instead, he called me a "liar," a "left-wing assassin," and a "despicable guttersnipe." He said that I deserve "to be in the kill zone." (You can read one of my responses here.) And in his show-opening "Talking Points memo" monologue on Friday evening, he continued the name-calling.
In a way, it's impossible to win a debate with O'Reilly because he is not bound by reality. In response to the article, he told Fox News' media reporter, Howard Kurtz, "Nobody was on the Falklands and I never said I was on the island, ever." Yet our article included video of O'Reilly saying in 2013, "I was in a situation one time, in a war zone in Argentina, in the Falklands, where my photographer got run down and then hit his head and was bleeding from the ear on the concrete. And the army was chasing us." Note the words "war zone" and "in the Falklands."

UPDATE: CBS News has released their Falklands Coverage:



As Mother Jones points out, this video doesn't support O'Reilly's claims:

. . . rather than bolstering O'Reilly's description of the anti-government protest he says he covered as a "combat situation," the tape corroborates the accounts of other journalists who were there and who have described it as simply a chaotic, violent protest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Other correspondents with CBS who were in Buenos Aires with O'Reilly refuted his claims, only to be slammed by Bill-O.

From CNN
Eric Engberg, a CBS correspondent who was also in Buenos Aires at the time, defended Corn in a Facebook post on Friday and said, "It was not a war zone or even close. It was an 'expense account zone.'"
Longtime NBC News correspondent George Lewis, who was also there at the time, agreed with Engberg, writing on Facebook, "Cushiest war I ever covered."
Did O'Reilly's photographer get "run down" and bloodied?
CNN has interviewed seven people who were there for CBS, and none of them recall anyone from the network being injured.
"If somebody got hurt, we all would have known," Alvarez said.
. . . O'Reilly has repeatedly defended his claims, including on Fox News on Sunday morning. "I don't know if he was there," O'Reilly said, implying that Engberg may not have witnessed the riot. He called Engberg "Room Service Eric," alleging he often stayed in his hotel during unfolding news events.

Eric Engberg pushed back in an interview with Huff Post



(My transcript)

Eric Engberg: He's completely nutty. There were five correspondents working that story for CBS. Four of them had been on that remote site for weeks because the Argentine government would not allow us to go to the Falkland Islands. We were hoping we could get in, but when we couldn't we had to stay in Buenos Aires and file stories... When the riot happened, and actually it was a slow-developing riot - O'Reilly has said in one of his books that the "crowd stormed the Presidential Palace." That is not what happened. What happened was the stupid government of Argentina, which was run by a collection - a junta - of murderous generals - they announced that they were going to hold a speech that evening at the Presidential Palace and that the public should come and watch the speech.

In the meantime, the British released the information about how the Argentines surrendered. And as people learned of the fact that the war was over, and that they had lost, they became increasingly angry and more and more of them started coming to the palace. So you had a large assembly of people, 4 or 5 thousand, who were angry at the government. I was one of those who was there. The other three correspondents were there. I frankly don't know where O'Reilly was. But the people who were there for our company will assert that 'yes, Engberg was there with his camera crew.' Does anybody believe that a reporter who is covering a war from 1200 miles away, hearing that there was a riot at the National Palace, would sit in his hotel room?

Engberg: It's ludicrous. It's nutty - He's Nutty! ... Nutty about me - he says I was hiding in my hotel room, which is another one of those classic O'Reilly responses to any kind of criticism of him. It's always to fire back some personal slur at whoever made the criticism, instead of to respond to the criticism.

Next, Bill O'Reilly attacked Bob Schieffer, veteran journalist and moderator of the Sunday news show, Face the Nation, accusing him of stealing and plagiarizing his stories in Argentina. Yeah, that's really going to turn out well . . .

From a Fox interview with Howard Kurtz, Via Crooks and Liars
BillO then blasted CBS's Bob Schieffer for "big footing" his story which happens all the time in the news business.

O'Reilly: If you write an article and send it in and another reporter put there name on the article, what's that called? it begins with a "p."

 Kurtz: I've always called it "big footing" and you're not happy if that happens.

 O'Reilly: What is it called in print? it begins with a "p."

 Kurtz: I'll let you tell me.

 O'Reilly: Plagiarism.

Kurtz: Oh, if it's your colleague and you're working together
O'Reilly:I wasn't working together with these guys.

Hmmm, but he WAS working with both Engberg and Schieffer, because they all worked for CBS News.His lying knows no bounds.






















Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Monday, December 1, 2014

President and Malia Obama: Chuck Todd's Book is "Sad"

photo ObamaGirls-Bookstore.png

Previous Related Post:
The Uppity Stranger: Chuck Todd's Book Slams President Obama
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The President and his daughters were shopping in a Washington Bookstore called "Politics and Prose" when he starting joking about how sad he looked on the book cover of NBC pundit Chuck Todd's book, The Stranger.

President Obama: “Oh, Chuck Todd! Let’s see what Chuck has to say here ... The Stranger, Barack Obama-- looking lonely"

Malia Obama: “How is he already writing a book? Sad.”

Bookstore Checker: "They tried to find the saddest photo."

Pres. Obama: "He’s just sad."

Malia Obama: "It's a sad book."



photo 51hXYRee5LL.jpg
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sunday, November 9, 2014

The Uppity Stranger ~ Chuck Todd's Book Slams President Obama

photo ChuckToddBook.png


Previous Related Posts:
Chuck Todd Admits That Truth Isn't Part of His Job Description
Chuck Todd Shills for Mitch McConnell after Slamming Alison Grimes
Jealous Clown Todd Wonders Why Obama Isn't an Alpha Dog

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chuckles the Todd, who was recently chosen as the new host of NBC's flagship "Meet the Press," has written a poison-pen screed against President Obama. The so-called journalist who famously said it "wasn't his job" to truth-check the GOP on Obamacare now thinks it IS his job to 'splain all of the Obama-fail.

It's enough to make a Tea Partier weep with joy. And those are Chuck Todd's people. He has done them proud.

Let him tell you something about The Negro, just like Cliven Bundy.

photo 51hXYRee5LL.jpg


. . . if The Stranger is revelatory, it’s not in the way Todd intended. For all his strengths (and they are myriad), Todd has written a disappointing book, a slab of pedestrian punditry marbled with occasional insight. The Stranger purports to tell the story of a president who couldn’t transcend his environment. The story it ultimately—and unwittingly—tells is of the perceptive political geek who couldn’t escape Beltway groupthink.
~ Elbert Ventura, Columbia Journalism Review

Six years in, our 44th president remains a cipher, someone “everyone is still trying to get to know,” as Mr. Todd writes. Particularly vexing is a basic irony that this book seeks to address: “How does one of the most successful politicians in American history . . . appear to be so bad at practicing the basics of politics in the backrooms of Washington, whether on Capitol Hill, on K Street, or at the Pentagon?”
. . . To that nagging question about how someone so intellectually advanced could be so politically stunted, the author’s final answer is that Barack Obama’s “arrogance got the better of him.” As a novel twist on this familiar theme, Mr. Todd theorizes that Mr. Obama’s happy experience as editor of the Harvard Law Review “gave him a false self-confidence that burns in him—and burns him—to this day.”
~ via Wall Street Journal Book Review

Todd’s attempts to peer deep inside Obama as an individual don’t take us far. “As is the case for many Americans, the president’s unusual upbringing shaped him to be the person he is today,” is not an encouraging start. Todd makes much of the fact that Obama’s mother was an anthropologist, which somehow transmitted to her only son “instinctive observational skills that allowed him to read and understand folks better than most politicians.” At the same time, being biracial “infused in him the temperament and patience that have marked his presidency both positively and negatively.” As a politician, Obama is described as “passive and arrogant,” and at times he is “all telescope and zero microscope.”
. . . As befitting a political junkie chronicle, the book is generous with political cliches. Throughout “The Stranger,” field days are had, rocky shoals are navigated, skies pose limits, writing appears on walls, fuel is added to fires, dies are cast, and collective sighs of relief are breathed. And there are sentences like this one: “Early on, there were signs the Republicans wouldn’t follow the presidential Pied Piper to postpartisanship.”
~ Washington Post Review of The Stranger
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~













Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

NBC's Chuck Todd Shills for Mitch McConnell Against Alison Grimes

photo a8a7e062-5c7c-4488-9bfa-31099a3f804f.png

Previous Related Posts:
Chuck Todd Admits that Truth Isn't Part of His Job Description
Jealous Clowns Brooks and Todd Question Obama's Manhood as the Alpha Dog
John Stewart Invents #McConnelling
Kentucky Zingerfest: Grimes Vs. McConnell at Fancy Farm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NBC recently decided to replace the dreadful David Gregory as host of their Sunday "Meet the Press" show. Lo and behold, they chose Chuck Todd, who is so much like Gregory that news watchers everywhere predicted instant failure. Just a few weeks later, Todd is caught up in a political web that fulfills the expectations of his non-fans (including myself).

He has always been negative towards Democrats and especially President Obama, saying it "wasn't his job to sell Obamacare" and implying that the President failed when ACA was actually a roaring success. But this time he went on Morning Joe and said that Dem candidate Alison Grimes had "disqualified herself" from the job of Kentucky Senator by downplaying the fact that she voted for the President, as if he suddenly thinks the world of Pres. Obama - yeah, right. Of course, he doesn't explain how it would HELP Grimes to admit close ties to Obama in a state where she is vying for every crossover GOP vote. Every Democrat in a Red State has to do this at times to survive, so Todd put way too much emphasis on what she said.

The cringeworthy crew on Morning Joe discuss Alison Grimes as cringeworthy.



Now to be fair, many Dems also criticized Grimes for her position on that day, and even agreed with Todd - at first. But when it became clear that Grimes was just speaking like a careful politician, while Todd seemed to be shilling for McConnell, the picture was clear.

And believe me, the Mitch McConnell team saw a golden opportunity in Todd's dismissal of Grimes (almost as if it was planned, cough, cough), and immediately used the clip in one of his campaign ads.

From Washington Post
. . . the harshest critique probably came from "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd, who appeared on "Morning Joe" on Friday to discuss Grimes's weird reply. "I think she disqualified herself," Todd told host Joe Scarborough — an extremely strong statement.
Miss that segment? Well, don't worry, Kentucky. The campaign of Grimes's opponent, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R), will be putting it into heavy rotation with its new ad, titled "Disqualified."



Todd, meanwhile, denies that any of it matters, he's not partisan, he's not helping the GOP. And anyone who thinks so is not living in reality, apparently - or as Todd defines reality, whatever the Beltway pundits are saying at the moment. You gotta hand it to Todd - he is a consistent toady. But once again he is insulting our collective intelligence if he thinks he can at once be a "fair" judge of politics while bashing a major candidate trying to overturn a GOP leader in a Red State. He pounced on that one line and ignored how well Grimes is doing in every major poll (except on Fox News, of course, where they are always right - oh wait).

From Facebook via politicusUSA
photo Todd-political-reality-485x111.jpg

Right - if people choose to vote for Grimes they are "cheerleading," but if Todd sends a great quote to McConnell he is being "realistic." Riiiight.







And he went even further, blaming Grimes herself and taking no responsibility for what he said:

Via Daily Kos
How does Chuck Todd respond to this journalistic mistake? He blames the candidate. "I think that is one of those situations where she invited this on herself," Chuck Todd said. "It feels like she had a lot of consultants whispering in her ear, 'Whatever you do don't give Mitch McConnell a line for a TV ad.'" Alison Lundergan Grimes did her part. Chuck Todd failed as a journalist. He became the news. He gave Mitch McConnell a line for a TV ad.

And a disclaimer: I'm not here to be "fair" to Todd. I think he is an ambitious warped individual who started out as a numbers guy and he's risen to a nice level of incompetence due to the Groupthink at MSNBC, where they routinely let go of any talented person who questions the GOP (Martin Bashir, Goldie Taylor, etc). I have been a critic of Todd on Twitter, and was recently blocked from retweeting or responding on his account right after having this conversation, which seems legit considering some of us saw Gregory as a loser for YEARS before NBC gave his job to Todd. Maybe they should listen to us now.



It seems as if Alison Lundergan Grimes is going to get the last laugh on both Todd and McConnell, as she is leading in the polls now. Which I'm sure he will say is incorrect, or just more cheerleading. Whatever!







Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Thursday, May 29, 2014

#Snowden Jumps the Shark With NBC Interview - Updated

photo 1ce2d5f3-0268-47c4-87af-aa5a74395f9b.png

Brian Williams of NBC is the first major network news person to interview Edward Snowden in Moscow. Reviews are mixed so far, but I think it's safe to say that a wider audience isn't going to work out too well for the ultra-spy-in-exile. The more he talks the deeper the hole, so to speak. As this interview was obviously timed to coincide with the release of Glenn Greenwald's book about Snowden, it may not have the boost in sales that they were looking for.

Snowden seems to be jumping the shark, although I'm sure the Libertarian Wikileaks Anonymous crowd will swoon over his sexy snake-oil voice and geek-martyr persona.

Previous Related Posts:
Snowden Can Make Himself "Unrecognizable"
Critics Go To War Over Sourpuss Glenn Greenwald's Book
All Hail the Snowden Pulitzer
Crime or Punishment? Snowden Remains Stuck in Moscow Airport
Snowden: Messages from Moscow
Edward Snowden Releases NSA Secrets
Edward Snowden: Hero or Villain

~~~~~~~

Selected Quotes from #InsideSnowden
. . . when they say I’m a low-level systems administrator, that I don’t know what I’m talking about, I’d say it’s somewhat misleading.
~~~~~~~
I was trained as a spy in sort of the traditional sense of the word, in that I lived and worked undercover overseas, pretending to work in a job that I'm not, and even being assigned a name that was not mine.
But I am a technical specialist. I am a technical expert. I don't work with people. I don't recruit agents. What I do is I put systems to work for the United States. And I've done that at all levels from, from the bottom on the ground all the way to the top. Now, the government might deny these things, they might frame it in certain ways and say, "Oh well, you know, he's -- he's a low level analyst."
~~~~~~~
I think it's important to remember that people don't set their lives on fire. They don't walk away from their extraordinarily, extraordinarily comfortable lives for no reason.
~~~~~~~
I think the most important idea is to remember that there are times throughout American history where what is right is not the same as what is legal. Sometimes to do the right thing you have to break the law.
~~~~~~~
I have no relationship with the Russian government at all. I've never met the Russian President. I'm not supported by the Russian government. I'm not taking money from the Russian government. I'm not a spy.
I personally am surprised that I ended up here. The reality is I never intended to end up in Russia. I had a flight booked to Cuba onwards to Latin America, and I was stopped because the United States government decided to revoke my passport and trap me in the Moscow airport.
~~~~~~~
If I could go anywhere in the world, that place would be home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

UPDATE: One part of the interview has been debunked today by the NSA:

From the Interview:
Snowden: I actually did go through channels, and that is documented. The NSA has records, they have copies of emails right now to their Office of General Counsel, to their oversight and compliance folks from me raising concerns about the NSA’s interpretations of it – legal authorities. I reported that there were real problems with the way the NSA was interpreting its legal authorities. And I went even further in this, to say that they could be unconstitutional, that they were sort of abrogating our model of government in a way that empowered presidents to override our statutory laws. And this was made very clear. And the response was, more or less, in bureaucratic language, was, ‘You should stop asking questions.’

The U.S. Government Replied today by releasing one email exchange from Snowden, which they say is the only one received asking questions of the General Counsel to the NSA:
Read Snowden's Email and NSA Reply Here

From ABC News:
The NSA said in statement that Snowden’s email “did not raise allegations or concerns about wrongdoing or abuse, but posed a legal question that the Office of General Counsel addressed.”
“There was no additional follow-up noted,” the NSA said. “There are numerous avenues that Mr. Snowden could have used to raise other concerns or whistleblower allegations. We have searched for additional indications of outreach from him in those areas and to date have not discovered any engagements related to his claims.”
Snowden told NBC News that he also raised his concerns with his co-workers and superiors, many of whom he said were “shocked” at the programs he described. In December 2013, Snowden similarly told The Washington Post he brought his misgivings to four supervisors in two departments.
“I asked these people, ‘What do you think the public would do if this was on the front page?’” Snowden told the Post. “How is that not reporting it? How is that not raising it?”
In the Washington Post report, an NSA spokesperson said the agency had not found “any evidence” to support Snowden’s claims about raising concerns internally. Then, the NSA did not note the email it published online today.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Responses to #InsideSnowden













~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Snowden's Persona







































~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From Russia, With Love













~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Snowden Has Fans - "He's a Patriot!"













~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He's a Spy, Dammit!

























~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What about Glenn Greenwald?





















~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

John Kerry's Opinion



















~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What Does Snowden Watch on TV?
 











Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)