Events

From the Guardian 8/31/22.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/31/ron-desantis-republican-party-fascism

“Fascism . . . includes hatred of “them” (people considered different by race or religion, or outside the mainstream, or who were born abroad), control over what people learn and what books they are allowed to read, control over what had been independent government units (school boards, medical boards, universities and so on), control over women and the most intimate and difficult decisions they’ll ever make, and demands that the private sector support the regime.”

From an article in the Washington Post by Eric Wemple. “Just goes to show you: It’s a lot easier to practice fearless journalism when the courts have your back.” Another pathetic attempt to suppress the free press.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/25/lachlan-murdoch-australian-site-defamation/

. . . you can say what you want with impunity, no matter how outrageous,

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” – Joseph Goebbels

“A former Fox News political editor reveals how news organizations have succumbed to the temptation of “rage revenue” through slanted coverage that drives political division and rewards outrageous conduct.“

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/broken-news-chris-stirewalt/1140658080

“Rage revenue-addicted news companies are plagued by shoddy reporting, sensationalism, groupthink, and brain-dead partisan tribalism. Newsrooms rely on emotion-driven blabber to entrance conflict-addled super users.”

“In Stirewalt’s view, the network (Fox) has played a leading role in the coarsening of American democracy and the radicalization of the right. At one point in the book, he accuses Fox of inciting “black-helicopter-level paranoia and hatred.”

From the James Rozoff Blog

https://jamesrozoffsolutionist.blogspot.com/2022/08/corporate-media-uses-hyperlinks-to.html

Thanks to Fred Whitehead for this. Anybody else waiting for That Headline?

My obsession with the news can be explained by this old Russian joke (which is another way to describe Trump too).

“A man in Moscow goes up to a newsstand and buys a newspaper…He then glances at the front page, then turns aside and tosses the whole newspaper straight into the trash.Next day, he turns up, and does the same thing. Buys it, glances at the front page, throws it in the trash. Next day, same thing.

The newsstand worker is increasingly puzzled, but doesn’t say anything. But eventually, after a couple of weeks of this, he can’t take it. “I’m sorry, friend, but I must ask: why do you buy the paper every day and then just look at the front page and throw it out?”

“Oh, I’m just checking for something.”

“OK, but: what are you checking for?”

“I’m checking for a particular obituary.”

“But sir, you don’t even open the newspaper! The obituaries aren’t even on the front page!”

“Oh, believe me, the one I’m waiting for will be.”

From the Washington Post 8/12/22 by Ryan Zickgraf – “As local outlets have disappeared, many have been replaced by algorithmically managed pink-slime outlets that use the good will earned by news institutions of yore to help push political agendas from outside those communities.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/08/12/pink-slime-jounrnalism-local-news/

An article in the 8/13/22 New York Times by Jeremy Peters in the Business Media section about the Dominion voting machines lawsuit. This could have major implications for what the First Amendment really means in the age of phony claims by the media.

“The case threatens a huge financial and reputational blow to Fox, by far the most powerful conservative media company in the country. But legal scholars say it also has the potential to deliver a powerful verdict on the kind of pervasive and pernicious falsehoods — and the people who spread them — that are undermining the country’s faith in democracy.”

In the Caribbean, a maga-dog is a creature that attacks: “What is Maga Dog? 1. Jamaican word for mongrel dog 2. someone who bites the hand that feeds them, from meagre (skinny) dog sorry fi Maga Dog im a go turn around and bite you an’ if you jump out out a frying pan i know you jump inna fire”

Rupert is turning and biting!

From CNN Business – WSJ and NY Post now flipping on Trump!

https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/23/media/murdoch-trump-jan-6-new-york-post-wall-street-journal/index.html

Don’t like your leadership, or even Kim Jong Un? How do you communicate.

Interesting article in a journal shows how people get around censorship.

“Avoiding online censorship through ‘fatty’ memes: How Chinese social media users talk about North Korea”

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/17427665221100596