Posts Tagged ‘Fox News’

Heil & Farewell, Tucker Carlson

April 25, 2023

Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson, the preppy, petulant, Putin-loving prevaricator who dominated Fox News (or “News”) ratings for the past 6 years, was unceremoniously dumped by the right-wing network early on Monday. Fox stocks took an immediate $700 million nosedive.

There was a temptation to attribute the dissmissal to Mr. Carlson’s cynical lies that helped precipitate the $787.5 million Fox Corp. settlement in the Dominion Voting Systems case. But Tucker Carlson wasn’t fired because he’s a liar, a White Nationalist, or a fascist, or a Proud Boys provocateur. It was because he was a bullying, sexist pig.

Mr. Carlson may return to broadcasting on Russian state media or Dancing With the Stars. Who will replace him on Fox?  The New Yorker‘s Andy Borowitz has a view:”Fox Replaces Tucker Carlson with Lying Chatbot.”

_______________
Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-Dq4

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Tech Companies Profit From Your Anger

March 21, 2023

Sarah Silverman discusses how the business model of social media and cable TV is stoking American’s anger, outrage, and division, one person at a time. She does it on cable TV, of course.

______________
Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-DbT

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

The Feds Are Coming For Your Gas Stove!

January 18, 2023

The Feds Are Coming For Your Gas Stove!

Panic raced thorough Fox News like a white-hot flame: Big Government is coming for your gas stove! The simmering discontent on the MAGA menu boiled over after U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) member Richard Trumka Jr. told Bloomberg the agency was conducting a review of gas stove safety after studies indicated their use constributes to indoor air pollution, and disease, including childhood asthma.

So the CSPS is studying the matter. Nobody is talking about a gas stove ban, and safety measures are as simple as turning on the exhaust fan when you cook, but that didn’t stop Fox fearmongers and their outraged audience. Gas-happy MAGAheads will continue to stoke stove-ban outrage until they cook up their next spurious rage-and-resentment recipe.

More:

“Republicans turn up the heat on a new culture war target: gas stoves,” Alaina Demopoulos, The Guardian

“How the humble gas stove became the latest flash point in the culture wars,” Maxine Joselow, Washington Post

“Republicans Mocked Over Outraged Claims Government ‘Coming for’ Gas Stoves,”Aila Slisco, Newsweek

“5 myths about gas stoves, the latest culture war clash,” Rebecca Leber, Vox

Related:

“How the Fossil Fuel Industry Convinced Americans to Love Gas Stoves,” Rebecca Leber, Mother Jones

________________________
Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-CUs

Photo (Toy stove with pots and pans, left on the sidewalk for young aspiring chefs) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht,NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

GOP State Politicos Push Quack COVID Cures

January 31, 2022

GOP State Politicos Push Quack COVID Cures

Republican state lawmakers in Colorado, Florida, Idaho, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Mississippi, Indiana, Virginia, and West Virginia have proposed legislation that allows quack doctors to prescribe ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine to prevent and treat Covid-19 which, despite pronouncements on Fox News and right-wing podcasts, they do not do. North Dakota and Tennessee have already passed such laws, even though:

” … those treatments have not proven effective at preventing or treating Covid and infectious disease experts see the bills as examples of right-wing lawmakers politicizing medicine – a trend that is increasing as the pandemic wears on in America in to its third year amid an increasingly fraught political atmosphere.

And so it goes with the latest suspect Covid-19 treatment that has become about more than just a drug, but rather about whether to trust established public health organizations or doctors who stray from their guidelines, and podcast and cable news hosts.”

— “Concern as Republicans push to make dubious Covid cure prescriptions easier,” Eric Berger, The Guardian

More:

“Republicans Are Changing State Medical Board Rules So It’s Easier For Doctors To Prescribe Hydroxychloroquine And Ivermectin,” Kadia Goba, BuzzFeed News

_______________
Short Link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-yIy

Top image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht,NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

The warning signs before the Capitol riot

January 5, 2022

Logan Jaffe of ProPublica and Robert Evans of Bellingcat describe the warning signs they observed weeks, months, and even years before a mob of violent Trump supporters broke into the Capitol. A Vox video by Liz Scheltens.

__________________
Short Link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-ysO

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

 

Arsonist Torches Fox Fake Christmas Tree

December 13, 2021

A homeless man with a Bic lighter set the Fox News Christmas tree on fire last week. Fox is the HQ of fake news, so of course it was a fake tree. The 50-foot-tall tree-shaped object was really a graduated series of metal hoops festooned with green fringe, glass ornaments, and lights. God takes decades to make a 50-foot tree, but Fox put theirs together in 21 hours. Fox faked up a second “tree” 24 hours after the incineration.

Update:

Comedy Central claims Fox News covered the tree torching as “Pine-Eleven.”

_____________
Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-yf7

Music: “Christmas Tree On Fire,” written and recorded by Tom Heinl, 2003.

Comments are welcome ifhttps://wp.me/p6sb6-xn6 they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Ivermectin Cannot De-Worm Anti-Vax Brains

September 7, 2021

Ivermectin Cannot De-Worm Anti-Vax Brains
In the latest outbreak of Red State meme medicine, anti-vaxxers are visiting the Feed & Seed for the horse de-wormer Invermectin and gulping it down, trying to prevent or treat COVID-19, a viral infection for which there are proven preventative measures, i.e., vaccines. Result: over-taxed emergency health services are crowded with Invermectin OD cases.

Ivermectin has been found useless for treating Coronavirus, but that hasn’t stopped Fox pundits, wingnut politicos, and others who sow doubt for a living from proposing gobbling livestock de-wormer instead of getting vaccinated to survive the pandemic. Even Rand Paul, who risks his medical license by spouting Ivermectin nonsense, can’t resist running with the herd.

More:

“A human is not a horse. So why is a livestock drug sweeping America?” Arwa Mahdawi, The Guardian

“What the ivermectin debacle reveals about the hypocrisy of the anti-vaxxer crowd,” Chris Cillizza, CNN

“What is ivermectin, and how did people get the idea it can treat covid?” Allyson Chiu, Washington Post

(more…)

Twitter’s Insurrection Night Massacre

January 13, 2021


After it became clear that Donald Trump had used Twitter to organize and incite the murderous mob attack on the U.S. Capitol, Twitter finally suspended his disinformation-spewing account permanently.

Twitter also disabled 70,000 QAnon-linked accounts used to propagate the conspiracy theories behind the MAGA Capitol insurrection. People those conspirators followed were unhappy.
(more…)

Fox News Mission to the United Nations

December 10, 2018

Fox News Mission to the United Nations

Heather Nauert, a former Fox News personality and current State Department PR flack, has been tapped by President Trump as Nikki Haley‘s replacement as U.N. Ambassador. Ms. Nauert has shown a fine grasp of diplomacy in her current position at State:

She also accompanied Secretary of State Pompeo to Saudia Arabia for a grim discussion about the torture and murder of journalist Jamal Kashoggi, marking the solemn occasion by posting a grinning tourist self-portrait on Instagram.

Heather Nauert has been at the State Department for 19 months. That’s her first and only government experience.

“Ms. Nauert is one of numerous television personalities with roles in Mr. Trump’s as-seen-on-TV administration. Mr. Bolton was a Fox contributor, and Bill Shine, a former Fox co-president, serves as deputy chief of staff. Larry Kudlow, a longtime CNBC host, stars as the president’s chief economic adviser.”

— “Heather Nauert’s Pick as U.N. Envoy Hints at Reshaping of the Role,” Peter Baker and Michael M. Grynbaum, New York Times

More:

“Three Takeaways as Trump Picks Former Fox Anchor for UN Envoy Post,” John T. Bennett, Roll Call

“Who is Heather Nauert? The new UN ambassador with little experience,” Julian Borger, The Guardian

“What do most U.N. ambassadors have in common? Decades of experience.” Adam Taylor, Washington Post

“Heather Nauert Says Visit to ‘It’s a Small World’ Ride Qualifies Her For U.N. Job,” Andy Borowitz, The New Yorker

_______________

Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-suP

Top Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine

The New Northern Border

June 14, 2018

The New Northern Border

“The United States and Canada are in a fight, obviously,” said Fox News commentator Shepard Smith on Monday afternoon:

“President Trump accusing the country’s prime minister of making false statements, and the president’s trade adviser saying there’s ‘a special place in hell’ for the leader of Canada, our biggest trading partner in all of the world, our best friend from way back in World War II and every time in between. Canada. Maybe we need a northern wall.”

(more…)