MSNBC's self-styled liberals sounding unhinged and anti-American
Just to be clear at the outset: Our choice in 2016 was surreal, but so is the idea of Biff Tannen in the White House. I have no desire to defend or protect Trump. I just want to know what is going on.
Forgive me if I first review some stuff: Olberman and Shultz have chilling MSNBC stories, but, for this blog entry, let's focus on Cenk:* Cenk was told that an NBC official had gone to the White House (summoned), where some unnamed official complained that Cenk, a political commentator, should take it easier on Obama, the President of the United States! That sound you just heard was Peter Zenger turning over in his grave! (As we know, the Constitutional Lecturer in Chief has shown his contempt for the First Amendment in other ways. Two examples of several--that we know of--were (a) tapping a journalist's phone in an attempt to identify the journalist's source and (b) getting Difi to push an unconstitutional bill defining "publisher.")
In response to the complaint from the White House, MSNBC took away Cenk's show and offered him either the opportunity to begin building a second brand new show from scratch or to be a MSNBC correspondent (think Howard Fineman) for more money. (Also known as getting kicked upstairs. (Links to Cenk videos telling the story : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x7o0sNrulg
MSNBC's response was an act of such abject journalistic cowardice that my brain throbbed. At the time, Cenk's show was relatively new, but his ratings were second only to Maddow's. The remark of the MSNBC official? "You know we're establishment." So, IMO, MSBNC is in not only in cahoots with, but digustingly servile to, the Democratic Party establishment. I'm guessing that means Democrats both feed MSNBC lots of info and use it like the tool it's repeatedly proven itself to be. So, last night...
Lawrence O'Donnell. At the White House yesterday, Trump told media something to the effect of, "I've been listening to President Obama and I have great respect." (Those may not be exact words, but close enough to convey the gist.) Throughout that same interview, Trump of course, said nice things about Obama and showed Obama a great deal of deference, little to none of which Obama reciprocated. However, none of the above sated LOD.
First, LOD claimed that Trump had not completed his sentence. However, IMO, this is untrue. Trump's voice did not trail off. Then, LOD claimed Trump had nor finished the sentence because Trump's saying he respected Obama would have alienated Trump's base. What bs! Trust me: Trump uttered a complete thought in a complete sentence. Even if he had not, no one could have mistaken Trump's meaning or intent. If anything was going to rile his base, it would have been the other complimentary things he said about Obama and his deferential attitude throughout the interview. (Just a wild guess: Obama did not show anywhere near that deference to Bush the Lesser; and Bush the Lesser said nothing about Obama that was like what Obama said about Trump while stumping for Hillary.) Besides, Trump now has over four years to win back his base from LOD's fabricated slight.
So why is LOD playing junior grammar police? To make sure no one viewed a perfectly respectful, deferential event as a perfectly respectful, deferential event? Not to mention how all the MSNBC hosts are telling us how upset people are over Trump's victory. Guess what? About half the nation has been very upset after an election since St. Ronnie stopped running. We're that divided because that's how the Demlicans and the Republicrats and MSNBC want and need us to be. Stop pretending this is so different from 2008.
Next, Chris Hayes strongly implied to Jeff Merkley and again in recap to Maddow, that Democrats in Congress should do to Trump what Republicans did to Obama, stonewall him. Because, when Democrats help Trump by not blocking, say an infrastructure bill (America, of course, desperately needing infrastucture and Americans desperately needing infrastucture jobs), Democrats would only give Trump political capital that will help Trump pass bad bills!
w.t.f. To deny Trump capital, Democrats should stonewall ever-decaying infratructure that could easily kill people? So what if more families arrive at already empty food pantries instead of getting jobs? Hayes displayed the same tone deaf privilege to which the Clinton have accustomed us. I haven't watched Chris Hayes a lot, but I am risk guessing that he's probably condemned Republicans for doing exactly what Hayes seemed to be instigating last night. So, we can add massive hypocrisy to our list of his Clintonian traits. Maybe a waft of enemies' list, too. How about, oh, I don't know? Just using the newer and, oh, so easy, filibuster on any bad bills? Figuring out other ways to diminish Trump's capital besides withholding possibly lifesaving repairs and desperately needed jobs?
For her part, Maddow, who will tell anyone who will listen that she is "a liberal," (whatever that may mean to a Clinton acolyte) agreed with Hayes! Maddow interviewed Elizabeth Warren, who said of the demonstrations that Americans were rightfully upset. Rightfully upset about the results of an election with no allegations of rigging? From those who never encourage demonstrators for any other reason? Again, folks, w.t.f. Then, Maddow treated She us to her own nonsense, to wit: Be very afraid: Starting today, Trump will be getting briefings about a bunch of horrible hypotheticals Maddow pulled out of ear, one after the other. Stuff that, if shared with Putin, would be the disastrous downfall of the country, the very clear implication being that Trump cannot be trusted with classified, secret or above top secret information. Wait. Wut? Isn't the campaign over?
Reader, stop laughing! Forget the irony of Hillary's recklessness with government information. Just forget it and top laughing this minute! Don't make me stop the car. Also forget that 1934 called and demanded its Red Scare back. What is Maddow's purpose in using bs hypotheticals about Putin and Russia to try to scare Americans about Trump being treated like every other President-Elect? Less than two full freaking days after we learned he won the election?
The above doesn't even capture a tenth of the nonsense from those three programs alone. What is going on? What are they up to? What do they really want us do and why? And when did Rachel Maddow morph into Victoria Jackson, anyway?
Comments
I'm hoping people reach the point
that the Fear Machine will start to produce diminishing returns. And I hope more ask the question, If Trump is so apocalyptically bad, then why did you actively support such a crummy candidate to run against him? Either your fear is phony, or your judgment is wack, Rachel. Either way, I've cut cable and miss it not a whit.
As angry as people are now if the 'Democrats' would do
do something so petty and obstructionist as block an infrastructure bill, something we begged old Hopey-Changey for 8 years to propose, there won't be a 'Democrat' left in either the House or the Senate after the next two elections.
So let 'em try it.
I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks
Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa
Agreed, but we would need to get the word out.
If it happens, media will downplay it.
Unfortunately
history tends to show that the fear machine only winds down after a massive war.
I think the PTB WANTED Hillary or a Republican, no one else.
The Neocons who operate the permanent government
...at the very highest levels — they wanted an easily-groomed Neocon in the White House. Hillary was a finely finished Neocon operative. (Or they wanted someone deeply stupid with a Neocon VP.)
IMAGINE if you woke up the day after a US Presidential Election and headlines around the the world blared, "The Majority of Americans Refused to Vote in US Presidential Election! What Does this Mean?"
they are in a bind.
trump can not possibly be as bad as they made him out to be.
but for them be right , trump must fail.
so they are talking about opposing bills which might help people. boy, oh boy.
a big 2016 takeaway for me is just how useless these people are. ugh. (2x)
stein baraka
2020
CNN is doing it to.
They were going on about the historic election.
Wtf is historic about another old while republican male winning the presidency? How is this different than w, or Reagan, or Nixon?
And at the press conference thing after the reporters were asking questions like how can obama do this? Trump is the opposite of everthing he campaigned on. That's par for the course when the other party wins. The outgoing president doesn't get to sulk & obstruct.
Thanks.
"Historic" because the nominee of one of the two largest political parties was, for the first time, both a woman and the spouse of a former President. Neither of those two things have happened before.
Also, this may be the first time that a man who has not been in the military or held any public office before has been elected President, but don't hold me to that.
Historic because the media went all in
blatantly favoring Clinton and attacking Trump, and the voters told them to shove it.
Our well-paid pundits, official wise men,
and media stars don't like being told to shove it - and particularly not by a basket of uneducated deplorables. They are understandably outraged that so many stupid voters failed to appreciate their erudite analyses, or heed their dire warnings, or in fact even listen to a word they were saying. No wonder they're pissed!
native
"attacking Trump"???
If you call giving him $ 2 BILLION dollars of free exposure "attack"!
Sheesh! Short memories? I know I would switch on CNN hoping to catch some of Bernie's speech and CNN would have their cameras on a tarmac or half filled arena waiting for Trump. This would go on for 10-15", longer, then they'd cover the whole friggin stream of consciousness that would come out of his mouth -- certainly not a "speech".
The media totally "normalized" Trump and never challenged his continual spewing of lies -- sometimes in the same sentence.
I do think MSNBC in particular was rather blatant in favoring Clinton.
Maybe if Podesta and the gang
Had not pushed for that it would not have happened.
http://www.salon.com/2016/11/09/the-hillary-clinton-campaign-intentional...
Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur.
Hey, everyone who helped
You taught me yesterday and here is my first blockquote!
Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur.
Congrats!
Live by manipulation, lose by manipulation.
Live by manipulation, lose by manipulation.
Media favored Clinton for years, not starting with the primary.
I think her anointing took place in 2008 and media knew that. That's just my theory, tho'.
They gave Trump a lot of attention during the primary, especially Joe and Mika. As soon as he had a lock on it, though--which happened relatively quickly--they started attacking him.
The prior two sentences are the product of my almost daily observation of Joe and Mike and others. They are not theory or speculation. However, if one does want to have a theory: The vulgar, crass, insensitive Trump should have been the easiest candidate in the large Republican field to defeat. Making sure, first, that he was the Republican nominee, then hammering him after that handed Hillary someone she should have been able to defeat easily, and then helping her defeat him. But she failed, anyway.
An electoral vote failure in the face of a popular vote victory, is, to me, a sign that a campaign was not watch the electoral map carefully and adjusting strategy accordingly. The Obama campaign was masterful at that, both during the primary and the general. It had to be, both because Hillary was "inevitable" at first because of bigoty against their client. She had a lot of Obama people on her team, but not Axelrod or Plouffe.
In her shoes, I would have promised either of them anything he wanted to be on my team. Maybe she did, and they refused. Or maybe, being Nixonian, Hillary and Bill didn't trust anyone but long time Clintonites. Either way, she and her team blew what should have been a cakewalk.
Media attempting to influence elections is same old, same old.
They used to be a tad more subtle about it than they have been in recent years. I guess they deciding we're so willing to be led around by the nose, they don't need to pretend objectivity or rationality anymore.
Rachel and MSNBC...
are and have been a joke, a corporate mouth piece, and propaganda machine. I have no respect for either and don't waste my time with their broadcasts. Now if the rest of the country will wake up, get off the corporate news spin, and move over to Democracy Now, the real news, TYT, Jimmy Dore, etc.
Try this site for a variety views...
http://www.newsanewtv.com/
presents you with free access to the world's most watched English language news live TV channels streaming online round-the-clock 24 hours a day.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Thank you. However, I really would love
to know what they are trying to foment and why.
I am thinking some in power
I am thinking some in power want a conflagration over identity politics, which is why I believe, the multi city protests are being allowed. I understand refugee, trans, gay, etc. concerns but I am more concerned about hearing that Trump may bring more Wall Street elite to his cabinet. Where's the outrage about that? I wonder if this is about fomenting more distract and divide tactics so that TPTB can go along unscathed. I am concerned that good principled and scared folks who want their voices heard are still being played.
Who is paying for this?
Simultaneous multi-city coordinated protests do not start spontaneously on Twitter. They don't.
Who is paying for this? Cui bono?
I haven't even seen them promoted anywhere. I read Reddit a lot. How are they recruiting?
Good questions.
Good questions.
Yesterday on two or three different news items
I read "spontaneous protests" and it made me cringe. Why the stress on spontaneous? It looked like the media is still getting their daily memo from the DNC.
I don't know how it's done nowadays but during my time as an activist back in the stone age we did it via student and community organizers and word of mouth. You didn't need that many people to start a demonstration. It can start with a few dozen and if people are scared/angry they will join you along the way. This part I never approved of, but after people are worked up into a lather it does not take much for the flag burning and window bashings to start. And if they don't there are always "professional agitators" in charge who would throw the first stone/brick. Sadly for us, sometimes it would be the police so they would have an excuse to start cracking heads.
Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur.
You stress "spontaneous" and "organic" when your overlords
tell you to stress them. One talking head after another stressing those words yesterday is what made me suspicious
I said listen!
I did not say pay attention. Now practice that.
I have no idea who's calling the shots.
But the nature of these "protests" sure do have a flavor of the anarchists at work. It's no more 'organic' than a flash mob. It's planned, I agree. My first guess (and only a guess) would be anarchists. Seattle WTO-style. Could be almost anything except what we're told it is...a spontaneous uprising of the people.
"Just call me Hillbilly Dem(exit)."
-H/T to Wavey Davey
Thank you. This morning, Joy Reid, who, IMO, is as smart as they
come, had a panel. One of her questions was: What are your worst fears about a Trump admnistration? OMG!
Not only did Hillary and Bill did Hillary and Bill wear mourning colors when Hillary gave her concession speech (more like her last anti-Trump campaign speech , but the entire Obama White House staff* dressed in black when Trump made his visit. LOD commented on Hillary (but not Bill) the night of her speech) and MSNBC showed a photo of staff That's not spontaneous, either. Yet, all media can say is how gracious they both have been.
Actually, listen to Trump: He's the one who's been gracious since he got elected and Obama, Hillary and Bill said about Trump things that were as ugly as the things he said about them. (Ugliest campaigns of my life have been Hillary's 2008 racist, Islamophobic primary campaign and her general campaign against Trump. If she had thought Sanders had a shot, her campaign against him would have been uglier. As it was, there were religious, ethnic and ageist dog whistles.)
As an aside, Joy Reid was one of the most consistent and skillful attackers of Sanders. Her reports were slanted and abounded in dog whistles. Yet, this morning, she said, you cannot separate economics from race. I used to be a huge fan of her, but with that kind of cynical, weathervane shilling, not so much anymore.
Paying for it?
Have you ever been to a protest? Few that I have been to have been planned more than a few days in advance and I was never "paid".. Sounding like Breitbart here...
They will for sure try to play us. Scratch that.
They have already begun trying to play us. That's why we need to be vigilant.
Fear, moah fear
Good for the ratings doncha know.
"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott
I truly don't think ratings matter much at MSNBC.
When the networks were stand alone operations, ratings mattered. NBC lived and died on ad revenues and advertisers wanted the most eyeballs for their ad dollars. So NBC lived and died on how many viewers it attracted.
MSNBC is different from an entertainment network and now is different. Now, most media is owned, at any given time, by 7 or fewer huge conglomerates (fewer all the time) that are rolling in money. IMO, it is perfectly acceptable to those conglomerates to lose money on an MSNBC and use it as a propaganda arm for the establishment. In the end, protecting the pro-corporate establishment will be more beneficial to the conglomerate than a few additional ad dollars from MSNBC.
On primarily entertainment networks, it doesn't make sense to keep on a sitcom that no one is watching. But, it probably does make sense to keep news and semi news programming (TODAY show, for example) on message.
Actually, the media went south
when the network news shows became profit centers. Before then, the integrity of a news team was paramount. Now, their hair stylists and makeup artists are the most important components of the news team. I believe they still must make a profit.
They are trying...
to foment more profit because they are greedy. My take anyway.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
They don't want
to admit they fucked up, on purpose, and was complicit in electing President Trump. They've got a branch with no leaves, walking backwards, frantically scratching trying to cover their tracks. Throwing bullshit in the pool of information in order to cloud it enough so as not to expose the fact that they can't swim.
Or they're just fucking worthless hacks whoring for a paycheck.
I hope our new president is a yuuge success!! I hope the all the people of this country prosper under his leadership. I hope these next four years are the best this country has ever had. For everyone. To wish for anything less is beyond despicable.
Well they are making sure to say periodically that,
if he couldn't beat Hillary, how could he have beat Trump. I answered that in another post.
But my sense is that they are affirmatively trying to start new trouble. Since when has MSNBC or a Senator encouraged demonstrations? Four about four weeks, they acted like Occupy didn't even exist. You know if demonstrations go on long enough, the likelihood of, at a minimum, property damage will ensue and it already has.
I hope we are successful, too. Time will tell.
You're absolutely right.
I listened to some of that for a while yesterday and was amazed. It made me so paranoid that when I turned on O'Donnell halfway through his show, he was talking about the Electoral College, and I thought for a while he was using Hamilton to argue for a campaign to make enough electors unfaithful to throw it to Clinton. "Hamilton never wanted them to be robots! Robot electors are anti-democratic." Wow.
After listening a while longer, it became clear that he was advocating abolishing the Electoral College instead. I think. But then again, why is it one message but not the other? Throw it up on the wall and see what sticks.
If MSDNC is trying to pull this, then that's obviously a decision made above network level. Those who interpret politics as not much more than the actions of elites have been arguing that a faction of the Billionaire's Club began to get nervous about HRC and succeeded in pulling the plug on her. Staying in that kind of analysis, it would seem that the Ds still have some elites backing them. Then the Ds are just faking an acceptance of the election, biding time until their non-vote-based rationale for a coup is firmed up. Maybe we're going to keep playing the FBI/CIA/NSA game with a focus on Russia.
And if that strategy doesn't work--and remember, "Democratic strategist" is an oxymoron--then Rachel et al. will tell us cannon fodder that it's time for:
[video:https://youtu.be/1_I4WgBfETc]
There's a petition urging electors not to be "robotic."
So, that smells of coordination, too.
We're heading into waters that make 1876 look like a cool,
languid stream.
WTF is at stake for these people? This isn't about HRC's ego or Democratic Party patronage or Bill's Foundation commitments. And it sure isn't about protecting Muslims or women or POC.
Is this coordinated with the stories about uncounted ballots
That could flip the electoral college to a tie if Clinton is "discovered" to have more votes than projected?
First narrow the gap, then ramp up the pressure on the College or the House to jump across it?
And contrast that with...
...the idiotic freakout about how Trump had better accept the results of the election!!! and not say it's rigged!!! or he's un-American!!! The hypocrisy, it burns!
The left cheered when Al Gore challenged and screamed when
Kerry did not challenge. Suddenly, someone who says he will challenge if the election seems to have been rigged is evil? And politicians and MSNBC alike somehow forget to include the bolded language when they accuse him of being un-American and treasonous? It's sick, scary and disgusting, IMO.
What do you count as success under a Trump Admin?
Gutting the EPA?
Teaching creationism in schools?
Turning national forests and parks into frack and oil fields?
Do you really think he has any intention of making life easier for the 99%?
Fear mongering much?
I consider Trump a sucess if he appoints Elon Musk to Secretary of Energy and keeps us out of a war with Russia and any other country on the planet.
"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." - Groucho
Are you crazy?
Elon Mush for Energy?
Are you aware that Trump is a proud climate denier? It's all a "hoax".. He has a Exxon/Koch guy in mind for the EPA.
Palin for Sec of Interior... Is she one of your heroes too?
Wow.. didn't know that this was a pro-proto fascist site. Incredible.
You know
That's not how we roll here. Have you read enough essays and comments to notice how respectful and rational almost everyone is even when engaged a heated debate?
Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur.
Thanks, HW. Fine essay.
One point I'd like to make, not in contradiction of what you wrote but of what seems accepted wisdom, is that these cable outlets are not about profit. As you point out so well, it's about spreading the Establishment message. It's about propaganda. That's why MSDNC happily cancels Donahue, Cenk, Ed, etc. even though the ratings are good That's why I'm sure there are plans afoot to clone the grating Joy Reid along with Rachel so that they can cover 4 hours a day with those two.
It's true that the credibility of the media is so low that it's of limited value, but there are still plenty of gullible people out there.
Thank you so much! Huge conglomerates now own media.
IMO, it's more profitable for them to use media to brainwash us and to prop up the plutocratic establishment than to worry about whether their media outlets get good ratings.
But, MSNBC and Warren and others seem to be up to something I've never seen before. I cannot help but wonder what it is. Be sure media, the wealthy and the Democrats are up to something. Their "electable" DNC ice queen lost and people are starting to say Sanders should have been the nominee. None of that unholy Trinity (media, government and the wealthy) are going to tolerate that!
I agree this feels scripted,
and that we don't know the plot.
If past experience is to guide us, the swine are up to no good.
The Owners give up nothing - they adapt to the situation.
I think you are right on this one. Thanks for the "rotten eggs" alert.
stein - baraka
2020
I would guess that their goal is to try to shore up the
fractured Democratic Party by doing the exact same thing that lost them the election, focusing on themselves and their own loss of power by stoking fear and divisiveness.
The Cenk story shows how insincere Obama was when he said "Make me" do whatever it is that we cared about, presumably through communication and advocacy and criticism, but in reality he just wanted to be left alone and yet revered for at the same time for his "legacy". I can't wait for his after office bio to read what he would say his legacy is aside from achieving the office. He was probably the most supremely capable person for the potential to use the bully pulpit for good ends and yet he rarely if ever used it. My personal opinion is that the things he was working for behind the scenes, like entitlement reform and trade pacts, don't really lend themselves to soaring rhetoric.
Rachel will be much better pointing out Trumps real life flaws than she was when she was in the tank and part of the Hillary obfuscation team in regard to HRC's flaws. So what? She no longer has credibility because we all saw her promote the Bernie Bro lies and sell nothingburgers in regards to the emails. People work for years to build a level of trust with the public and then they allow themselves to be used as Party mockingbirds and it goes away in a flash.
I have a little more respect for Laurence O'Donnell because he didn't go all the way down the rabbit hole with the emails, because I think he has too much self-respect for his own intellect and his audience. He still views things through his own prism though and I'm sure that he thinks Trump is a horrible person who will make a horrible President.
On the obstructionism, I'm sure the Republicans will offer up things daily that should and need to be obstructed, but they'll find a way to achieve their means stealthily through the budget if not openly through legislation. In some ways, I think Dems might strategically think about allowing them to pass some horrific laws along party lines just in order to preserve the evidence of their fingerprints in order to martial forces against them (Rs) in 2016 and have a complete dossier for their (Republicans) destruction. But, if for instance an infrastructure bill came up that would employ people, they should work to pass it, so that they will have their fingerprints on whatever rare good legislation is offered up which is guaranteed to be one out of a thousand.
In case anyone thinks like I have no skin in the game, which is not a game, I do have skin. I will be one of the 22 million that will be left without health insurance if Obamacare goes down. I think it was a terrible program, because the co-pays and deductibles made it useless for many, but I happened to be able to cover the co-pays and deductibles and the premiums were doable as well. But, I also happen to be over 50 and also not to have employer provided healthcare so I was forced into Obamacare for coverage and grateful to get it. If prior conditions gets scrapped, I will be toast like many others or offered a policy which is completely unaffordable.
I think that in 2016 and after healthcare will once again rise to the top tier of citizens issues and this time we have to insist on single payer.
" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "
Be proactive now. .After you run up bills, it is too late.
If you own a home, see if your state has a homestead act, See what else, if anything, you can do to protect your assets to keep them out of reach in the event you get a catastrophic illness. I'm not sure what a spendthrift trust is, but you might look into that under your state's law.
MSNBC Are Dem Propaganists!? OMFG!!!
why isn't this story marked BREAKING NEWS! Hahaha. Sorry, I couldn't resist.
That's interesting about how Cenk's show was taken away. Didn't know that. But of course after shilling for Hellery for the past year, he's now destroyed his own brand -- all by his lonesome.
Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.
Keep on keeping us divided.
That's their motto, now. They learn nothing from what just happened. I cut the cable cord back in June. They get no more of my money! If more people cut the cord, they would disappear. Of course, that's like asking people to cut off one of their legs - ain't gonna happen on purpose!
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
I don't think it matters if they operate at a loss. They will
still be there. Look how long MSNBC has survived with crappy ratings. That is an old model, where say NBC was a stand alone company. Now, media are owned by massive conglomerates that can afford to use a cable station for propaganda. Besides, getting rid of MSNBC doesn't make a problem go away. They are mouthpieces for the Democratic Party and the sestablishment. What they talk about is what the Party and the Establishment want them to talk about. I'd rather know.
"keeping us divided."
It may be that simple.
I have just been wondering about all this msnbc "messaging". What's the idea behind it? Why?
For sure they are creating a context, an atmosphere which increases fear. Nice.
"We have met the enemy, and they is us. "- Pogo
It's a control mechanism.
I work for a large university that does not want the staff and faculty united, so they work hard to divide us. We are a microcosm of what's happening, IMHO.
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
No apology necessary. However, in fairness to me,
that bit about how far in the tank MSNBC is was labeled "review." This blog entry is me trying to figure out why MSNBC seems to be fomenting uprisings. The preface was only to show people who do not already know that, whatever MSNBC is doing now, the Party is probably behind it.
I did not realize posters here were not aware of the Cenk story. I probably should have posted his video in the blog entry that starts this thread. I will look for it and edit if I find it quickly enough to suit me.
It's really easy
They're trying to get people stirred up at Trump to distract from their failings. More specifically to distract from those who want to oust them because of those failings.
I'm sure that's part of it, but trying
to make it seem okay for Democrats to block an infrastructure bill? To pull the same stuff they've been railing at the the Republicans for since January 2011? And the demonstrations had already turned ugly by last night, while MSNBC's talking heads and Warren were talking about how justified demonstrating is.
It all seems really dark to me. Will we just let it happen? If not what do we do? Shouldn't we be bombarding MSNBC now to "cut it out?"
I'm completely out of fucks to give regarding MSNBC
What makes you think they'd listen? They've been in full propaganda mode for a long time now. They've already purged anyone internally who didn't go along.
I would not dream of asking anyone to care about MSNBC.
It's Americans I care about. However, I agree that they probably won't listen. Most likely, the sponsors won't care either. I wish I could think of something to do.
I have seen the NY demonstration tied to Soros.
showed craigslist hiring ad. not clear how that was linked to soros.
interesting if true. caveat emptor.
Re: why MSNBC seems to be fomenting uprisings.
Here's my take.
I think they're still shilling for HRC by focusing all their news coverage on Trump. They aren't really reporting anything about Clinton, about how she failed, about Wikileaks, etc. It's almost like they're trying (really hard) to report on frightened Americans by covering the violence, protests and mayhem. I think they're trying to stoke the public's fears about a Trump presidency so they don't have to focus on Clinton's failures. I think it's also a way to send a message to the Electors. (If you Electors don't change your vote from Trump to HRC, you will be responsible for the resulting violence and bloodshed.)
Everyone knows she and Bill have an "enemies list" and I'm sure Trump is at the top of it. I think she's trying to pull out all the stops so she can convince the Electors to vote for her instead of him in December. I mean, after all, she's got donors (including the media) to reward and she can't do that if she's not in power, and has no influence. I think it's all part of Hillary's desperate "Plan B"
As for the violence and mayhem, that's not something I would personally condone or participate in myself. But there's nothing the press loves more than conflict and controversy. It gets them ratings. And God knows the Clintons - especially Hillary are scandal magnets.
While they might not care about ratings so they can be profitable, they still need good ratings. It's kind of hard to be the mouthpiece for the Democratic Party if no one is watching/listening to what you have to say.
My hope is that Wilileaks continue to drip, drip, drip, and that all of us continue to find things and report, report, report via social media and alternative news sites. 'm hoping that the scandals turn out to be so juicy that the press will finally throw her - and her accomplices under the bus - especially if/when Trump takes office and her last hope of sitting in the big chair at the big desk in the White House is finally dead.
And if/when that happens, I hope Bernie is the one driving the bus.
And if more even stuff comes out about the press being in collusion with the Clinton campaign, we can all throw the
mainstreamcorporate press under the bus with her ( or after she's gone) - via social media and alternative news sites.And it should be in February or May during the network "sweeps" - not at Christmas or on weekends during the football season when no one will see it - like the Democratic Primary Debates were.
kos was saying the same bullshit about infrastructure
It's anti-progressive and heartless. I get it if they stuff it with poison pills, but to come out and say we won't even support a clean infrastructure bill? Cruel.
I, for one, and happy the TPP is dead. I would be happy with an infrastructure bill. Fight the shit that's actually damaging, like a climate denier heading the EPA.
That confirms that this is being orchestrated, the
demonstrations, the trying pave the way for Democrats to kill even good legislation--the whole nine yards.
It seems really stupid to me, which shouldn't surprise
All they have to do is wait and the republicans will add some poison to otherwise good bills. Then they'd have.. gasp... as REASON to oppose it. No, they're intentionally trying to stir up the partisans right now. Otherwise they might have a chance to think about why they just took a historic loss.
Bad policies, bad candidate, coronation.
What are they up to? It's easy, really
They're finally starting to wake up to the well-deserved, tanking RATINGS.
They are oh-so-desperately waving RIOTERS and HATE and KKK and all this other SHIT, trying to get people riled up and keep them that way, so they come back and get all skeert and listen to them again.
Every last one of the Pundit Class can go fuck themselves, repeatedly. A LOT of people blame them for this goddamned mess, with their lies and their propaganda, from all points on the spectrum, and they are absolutely right. And in particular, Rachel Maddow? Shut up. Just shut the fuck up. You're the biggest sellout of all...
I doubt MSNBC gives a fig about ratings. And I don't think
this stuff originated with MSNBC. I think it's coming from the Democratic Party. They had Warren there last night, egging on the demonstrations to make this crap seem okay to liberals. I was never that hopped up about Warren in the first place, but I know a lot of liberals who were. They still assume she is a liberal goddess, even though she signed that letter urging Hillary to run, did not run herself, did not endorse Sanders in the primary, but did endorse Hillary i the general. And, if all that weren't enough, they still don't get that we are not about personalities. We didn't vote for Hillary because Sanders endorsed her and I like Sanders better than Warren. However, if all they want to do is prop up the Democratic Party.....
They are already talking her up for 2020. Sanders, who endorsed Hillary 75, Warren, who endorsed Hillary, 71. Geez! They really want to tell Millennials to piss off, don't they?
They're all about egging on the demonstrations
and planting all kinds of wild-ass trial balloons about 2020.
They can't possibly care about ratings. If they did, they'd still have Keith Olbermann.
And Schultz and Cenk.
♪ ♫ All we are saying
Is, give Trump a chance
But seriously, the Deep State's Plan B is, destabilize the Trump administration before it even begins — as one would a Chavez, Mossadegh, or Allende? Uncharted waters, indeed.
"Uncharted waters in the US itself"
this is exactly the kind of shit the Deep State has been doing in places around the world where actual humane government dares rear its head.
Meanwhile, the Tea "Party" plots in the background in America, waiting for President-Elect Trump to have an unfortunate accident, or something...
Why would they want to destablize his admin?
Overseas markets dipped overnight on election night, but the American markets went up later in the morning. At this point, they all seem post-coital.
I complained about Tea-GOP economic sabotage
I complained about Tea-GOP economic sabotage for years. Dem economic sabotage would be just as bad for the country. With both major political parties devoted to making our lives miserable, do you think there could be a downside to that?
"We've done the impossible, and that makes us mighty."
Their goal is to make their lives better. They do that by making
the income of their patrons better. Hurting us is not the goal. We're merely collateral damage.
Could there be a downside? This has been going on since the East India company. So far, so good. If an uprising seems imminent, they throw us a bone like Social Security or Medicare. It's been a while since the last bone, unless you count Part D, which Big PHRMA liked, or the two outstanding features of Obamacare (for which premiums are tripling). 1917 taught them never to let many of us get this desperate:
And now, things like NSA and Homeland Security enable them to sleep better at night, even without bone-throwing.
"So far, so good."
lol! nice one!
Of course, I meant it was good from their perspective.
I always assume everyone will know what I mean, but some readers might take me literally.
Last night dreamed this site was infiltrated by paid DNC shills
It almost seemed real.
"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." - Groucho
Stopped watching MSLSD
a couple years ago after it was fairly clear they were Faux News Lite.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.