Tag: fake news

Even the NY Times Finally Admits the Truth About COVID

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Five years after the height of the COVID masquerade the New York Times finally allows at least the outlines of the true story to show up in its opinion page.  Even in this article the author bends over backward to pretend that the liars had the best intentions.  But it’s so blatantly clear by the actions of the authorities that they were hiding a disgusting truth.  Wuhan was the source of the virus and the United States funded the research that created it.

We Were Badly Misled About the Event That Changed Our Lives

If for no other reason I hope RFK Jr has the foresight to shut down the funding on all these types of frankensteinian experiments.  Creating pathogens that have the potential to infect billions and then depending on the fail safe protocols of a third rate research laboratory to save you from a mishap is worse than stupid.  It’s war crime grade irresponsible.

But let’s face facts, this is not health research.  These are CIA bio-weapons labs.  And for all we’ll ever know they released it on purpose to take advantage politically of the ensuing chaos.  Our own government is full of sociopaths that have no qualms about wreaking havoc on our lives through fear and violence.  And they wonder why we fear and hate them more than the Russians and the Chinese.

DOGE, cut off their cash.  It may save all our lives.

Joy Reid Relegated to Ash Heap of Journalistic History

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Oh no!  What can we do now when we need a race hustler with a bad wig?  Who can we go to when we need something stupider than even the Reverend Al Sharpton can express?  How will Rachel Maddow know what new anti-white talking point is in vogue.  Oh Joy, we hardly knew ye!

Let the Joyous word be spread.  The wicked dumb witch now is dead.

 

NY Post Headline: MSNBC cancels Joy Reid’s lefty show as network makes major shakeup

USAID and Other Agencies Shut Down and Suddenly Politico Can’t Make Payroll

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Has the US federal government been propping up left-wing media operations like Politico?  Maybe it is.

According to Zero-Hedge:

“So 90% of “subscribers” to left-wing publications like Politico are fake and “taxpayer funded”. And then using fake subs to artificially pump up revenue, Politico gets to sell itself to German propaganda giant Axel Springer for $1 billion.”

It’s far from clear if this is exactly what’s going on.  But at the very least the feds have been throwing resources at these sites through advertising money and very large “subscription” checks.

It looks like Trump has declared war on all facets of the Left.

Good.

Zero

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This week we saw the last of Jim Acosta and Chuck Todd.  Now each of them made farewell statements on air promising that they would be back bigger and better in some self-branded sub-stack-like-blog avatar sometime soon.  Well, sure.  So, did Don Lemon but when was the last time anyone remembers seeing him since his exit from CNN?  Exactly.

So, this got me thinking.  NBC’s parent company is kicking MSNBC to the curb (technically spinning it off) and at the same time lightening the boat of such flotsam and jetsam as Chuck Todd that isn’t bringing in cash anymore.  And CNN is likewise giving the boot to someone as partisan and rancorous as Jim Acosta and plenty of other dead wood that is cluttering up their studio and tanking their ratings with the majority of American viewers.

Could this be the beginning of a new template for media companies?  Could they be thinking of telling the truth?  Well, not the whole truth of course.  But maybe something close to the truth, or truth adjacent, or a reasonable facsimile of the truth?  Well, probably not.  But maybe they are picking up on the fact that about 70% of the country know they’ve been lying about everything from Russia gate, to COVID, to how the war in Ukraine is going, to what puberty blockers do to children, to how many illegal aliens are in the country, to how much crime is happening around us, to how senile Joe Biden was, to how stupid Kamala Harris is, etc., etc., etc.

Has the loss of credibility gone so far that these companies can’t make enough money to keep dolts like Acosta and Todd on the payroll anymore?  I think the answer is a resounding yes.  After all these people make millions of dollars a year.  Think about that.  Not only does Rachel Maddow make 25 million dollars a year but even Joy Reid (Joy Reid!) makes millions of dollars a year.  If your company is losing money and you’re paying Joy Reid more than minimum wage you’re doing something terribly wrong.

It seems clear that in the new media landscape we are going to see things dry up for talentless hacks who think they’re actual reporters.  CNN realized that news is being made by Donald Trump and his cabinet.  The chances of Jim Acosta getting an interview with Donald Trump are precisely zero.  Therefore, his value to CNN is the same; zero.  And that goes for Chuck Todd.  During his tenure on Meet the Press he was one of the most partisan and mendacious talking heads on television.  None of the incoming administration will bother talking with him.  He’s just a short, balding guy with a beard who no one wants anything to do with.  So, he’s gone.

But who’s next?  Well, if I were guessing I’d say anyone who makes an eight-figure salary has a bullseye on his back for sure.  As seen recently with Maddow, taking a pay cut may be one of the ways to stick around for a while.  But honestly, I think most of the suits running the networks are going to be looking to remove a zero from the paychecks of the media darlings they’ve been paying all these years.  And even that isn’t going to be enough.  We’re used to ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, CNN and MSNBC.  I think that’s a temporary situation.  I think in another year or two the number of those networks will be half.  Maybe ABC, Fox and pick one more.

And a similar thing may be going on with the print media.  The New York Times seems to have stabilized its revenue.  But the Washington Post is tanking.  So is the Los Angeles Times.  And so are many of the daily papers.  Let’s face it, most liberals can probably get along just reading the New York Times.  Maybe the right will adopt the Wall Street Journal (that is, if it stops leaning so far left as it has lately).  But for the most part people get their news from the internet; YouTube and X.  Small shops are able to make a living by providing factual coverage.  Sure, they still slant it for their niche customers.  But at least it still has some semblance of reality to it.  So where does that leave the Acostas and Todds of the world?  Unemployed.

You know this is a perfect time for Fox News to make a conscious effort to separate their opinion and news once and for all.  And also develop a policy on the news side to report it right down the middle with no slant at all.  I’d actually be willing to pay a small fee to get that kind of news coverage.  But let’s face it.  What’s the chance of something like that happening?  Zero.

Joy Reid Gets a Haircut

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Alright the above title is a figure of speech.  Obviously, physically, Joy Reid’s hair could not possibly be any shorter.  So, what I’m saying is the management at MSNBC, her employer, is telling Joy that if she wants to continue working there, she’s going to have to agree to a lower salary (see first video clip below for details).  Now this isn’t just Joy being targeted due to her awfulness.  Rachel Maddow, the reigning star of MSNBC had to take a $5 million dollar cut from her present $30 million-dollar annual salary too.  Apparently, Comcast is trying to make the soon to be cast off cable station slightly less doomed.  So, let’s assume everyone will get the Maddow treatment.  Doing the math, Comcast is asking for one sixth of the salary they pay to be relinquished by their “stars.”  I’ve seen estimates that say Joy Reid currently makes three million dollars a year.

Wow.  I think they’re being ripped off.  But anyway, assuming she is currently receiving that amount under the Maddow reduction model, Joy would be left earning $2.5 million a year.

Wow.  That’s still way too much money to pay a talentless, unlikeable hatemonger like Reid.

And for that reason, I am advising Comcast to search around in their hearts for a different number.  I think the correct number is $660 a week.  That’s based on a forty-hour week, so it can be adjusted if she’s taking long lunches.  But that represents the minimum wage that will be in effect as of January 1, 2025 in New York City.  And that’s a very fair rate for someone providing the level of craftsmanship that can be expected from her.  And assuming that she will base her salary on a fifty-two-week year, that $34,320.

Wow.  That still seems like too much money to pay a lying sack of crap like Joy.

Come to think of it, forty hours a week seems excessive.  Maybe she could show up on Tuesday for four hours and that way she’ll scare off fewer viewers and the cable channel might have an even chance of surviving a few more months before Comcast or anyone stupid enough to purchase it finally puts it out of its misery.  So where am I?  Okay so let’s see.  $16.50 X 4 X 52 = $3,432 a year.

Wow.  No, I’m sorry.  There’s just no way to justify that large an outlay for something so useless and toxic (see second video clip below for a sample of this dreck).

But you know what she could do instead?  She would make the perfect speech writer for Kamala Harris.  Yes, that makes sense.  I remember Joy said that Kamala ran a flawless campaign.  It’s obvious that Joy would be happiest working hand in glove with the flawlessness that is Kamala.  In fact, they could spend most of the time talking about how racism and misogyny were responsible for why neither of them was rewarded by this racist, misogynistic country with the positions they deserve.  For it is obvious to both of them that in a fair and just world Kamala would have Trump’s upcoming spot in the White House and Joy would have Rachel Maddow’s office.  But, as the poet said, you’re down when you’re riding the train that’s taking the long way.

Oh well.

 

 

Ho, Ho, Ho

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I was trying to think what could be the most fortunate unexpected outcome from the Trump victory.  Well, we may have already seen some hints of what could be a larger reaction.  Comcast is laying off employees, reducing salaries and otherwise preparing MSNBC for its upcoming ejection from the corporation.  Rachel Maddow had her annual salary slashed by $5 million and there are several other senior staff who will either be let go or given a haircut.  And I have to imagine that Morning Schmoe’s pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago with Lycra Spandexy in tow had to be motivated by fear of the network deep-sixing them in the new environment of a dominant Trump presidency.  And think about it.  What are the chances that MSNBC (or whatever they’re going to call it) can survive on its own with its decimated viewership and falling advertising dollars?  Oh, think of the howling if it shuts its doors!

Rumblings at CNN’s parent company are also ominous and plenty of multimillion dollar salaries are most probably hanging in the balance as ratings have cratered and executives are at a loss as to how they can justify paying that much money to talking heads who are only talking to themselves.

And the same thing is going on at the network news front offices.  George Stephanopoulos just cost ABC (Disney) $16 million for calling Donald Trump a rapist.  I can’t imagine that’s endeared him to the bean counters who have to pay his huge salary.  And several other entities are currently wrestling with libel lawsuits from the incoming president.

So, with all this as the backdrop I had a wonderful holiday dream.  Imagine if during the New Year, or even in late December, all of these media conglomerates simultaneously dumped all of these partisan hacks on the unemployment line.  What a wonderful present it would be to the whole right-wing world.  Couldn’t you just see Anderson Cooper, Joe Scarborough, George Stephanopoulos, Chris Hayes and Jake Tapper meeting in the waiting room of NPR headquarters as they all interview for some rinky-dink position on public television?  They’d be glaring at each other and checking their makeup in the mirror of their man-purses.

But why stop there?  How about all the newspapers and on-line publications?  I’m sure the Bulwark must be running a little low on billionaire funding right about now and I know the LA Times is looking to balance out their staff with more conservatives so since they’re not making any money over there it would make perfect sense to lighten the ship a bit.  And the same goes for the Washington Post, Vox, Slate, Politico and a host of others.  Thinking of all those Never-Trumpers in knife fights with the other flavors of commies in order to get a spot at the fryolator in Mickey Dee’s just does my heart good.

Now you may think I’m out of line here.  Okay, maybe all of this won’t happen by New Year’s.  But all of the indications are that left-wing journalism is already going through an enormous contraction.  YouTube, TikTok and X are dominating the market for news and entertainment and after their horrendous performance handicapping the 2024 presidential election even the devotees of the lefty news sources feel like they’ve been had.  There is a real sense that they were lied to about the credibility of Kamala Harris’s chances of winning.  Even late into election night they made pathetic attempts at describing the race as “close.”  And as soon as the last glimmers of hope had been extinguished, the intrepid reporters immediately switched over to their flipside; “She ran a flawless campaign and lost because of racism and misogyny.”  Okay, everyone but the most hopeless losers could see that women and black men voting for Trump couldn’t be construed as misogyny and racism.  Saying it over and over just makes you sound nuts.

So, I’m pretty hopeful that over the next few months we’ll be saying goodbye to a lot of old friends from tv and print news.  And just like when we lost Fredo and Don Lemon it will bring back memories of exactly why we detest them so much.  Well, anyway that’s the present I want Santa to leave me under the tree.  Ho, ho, ho!

LA Times Owner Attempts to Quantify Liberal Bias in His Paper

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This is a wonderful development:

“The Los Angeles Times could roll out an artificial intelligence-powered “bias meter” as soon as January, in the latest shakeup as the paper’s owner tries to reshape the outlet.

LA Times owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong announced the upcoming AI feature on Wednesday in an interview with conservative commentator and newly appointed Times editorial board member Scott Jennings on The Mike Gallagher Show, which Jennings was guest-hosting.”

 

If this is what Trump’s re-election sparks, it’s a long awaited reaction.  This would drive the “journalists” on the LA Times insane.  Imagine if Californians actually started to get both sides of the story.  Unheard of!

This guy Soon-Shiong sounds like he wants to get rid of most of his employees.  Kudos to him.

The New Media Landscape

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Long, long ago in a reality far, far happier, there were things called newspapers and something called radio and something else called television.  Each of these was part of mass communication.  And each had its own mode of operation.  One of the most important considerations in all these media companies was the business model.  In other words, how did the newspaper or radio station or television network earn enough money to pay for all of the costs incurred in publishing a newspaper or running a radio or television station and also produce a profit.

And for the most part, advertising was the principal source of income.  For the most part, businesses paid money for ads in the newspaper or commercials during the air time of broadcasts.  And this system worked remarkably well to keep these media businesses profitable and stable.

But in the 1990s the internet started growing from humble beginnings to its present ubiquitous position.  And one thing its existence did was divert all of the advertising revenue that the newspapers and other media companies formerly collected, into the hands of a few large internet companies.  Specifically, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and X currently capture the lion’s share of this revenue.  And the result of this shift has been the impoverishment of most of the newspapers in the United States.  Even the ones that aren’t teetering on the verge of bankruptcy are just pale ghosts of their former selves.  The network television companies, ABC, NBC and CBS are slightly better off but aren’t looking very healthy either.

And the second way that the internet is endangering these media companies (including the cable television stations) is by providing competition for their viewers.  Netflix and Amazon and others provide streaming services that compete with both the news and entertainment programming that these stations provide.  And with respect to the news programming, the dishonesty and bias of the media news shows over the last few decades has alienated about half of the viewing public.

Throw this loss of audience due to distrust on top of the loss of advertising revenues due to the internet and what you get are companies like CNN and MSNBC that no longer have a viable business model.  When customers cut the cable because they don’t want the cable revenues going to people they hate, then the paying audience shrinks.  And if the shrinking audience scares off the little advertising they have left, then what you’re looking at is a death spiral for these cable news companies.

They’ve tried to mimic the streaming services and fill the gap with subscriptions.  But even delusional cable news executives have learned that no one is paying a monthly fee to see more Joy Reid and Andrea Mitchell.  That’s just not in the cards.  So, if you are Comcast or Warner Brothers-Discover what would you do with these dying companies?  Currently they say they are looking for buyers to unload them on.  To me that seems far-fetched.  Only an idiot would look at MSNBC and say, “Yes, I want to own this.  I know I can make lots of money by putting these people on tv.”

So, what they will do is set up a subsidiary that is made up entirely of these unwatchable channels.  And then they’ll let them sink or swim on their own revenue.  And they will sink.  And that will be the end of it.  The big question is will there be any cable news channels left at all.  Even though Fox News is doing better than their leftist competition they’re not as healthy as they once were.  It may be that cable news is no longer a viable product.  And we’ll find that out too.  Personally, I’d prefer to pay for subscriptions to sources that I like; whether they’re individuals or companies.  And it seems that the shake-out will soon clarify who and what will survive the current media meltdown.  One thing is for sure.  The next presidential election will have to happen without the help of Joy Reid and Dana Bash.  They’ll be working in the retail food industry and too busy at the fryolator to opine on politics.

Going, Going, Gone

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As I noted today, Morning Schmoe is kneeling in the snow outside the Pope’s window begging for clemency.  And he’s just the first.  There isn’t enough money at CNN and MSNBC to employ 20% of the talentless hacks that are currently on the payroll.  I can’t imagine that Warner Bros. Discovery wants to continue paying Anderson Cooper $20 million a year for doing whatever it is he does.  And there’s no way on Earth that NBC Universal is going to pay Joy Reid anything at all for the toxic sideshow that she puts on over there.  But the question mark is who gets to stay?

Will they keep some of the marquee players to maintain the pretense that these cable channels are “serious” journalism?  Or will they keep the cheapest talent and try to turn a profit that way?  If they’re smart, I think they should follow the latter course.  Their ratings have already reached the bottom so quality is no longer a consideration.  Cutting costs might extend the viability of these companies for a little longer.  But what’s going to happen to all of these unemployed “journalists?”  In a way CNN did a favor to Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon by letting them go first.  They got the first chance to find jobs before the glut of their peers.  Both of those guys probably lined up some sweet assignments with Uber and Papa Gino’s.

And things aren’t going to be much better for the Fox News guys.  Cable News is a dying industry.  For the foreseeable future it will be like a giant game of musical chairs with fewer and fewer chairs to go around.  Think of all the amazing characters that will disappear from your tv screen (well, that is if you regularly watch MSNBC and CNN.  Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough.  Jonathan Capehart, Chris Hayes, Rachel Maddow, Andrea Mitchell, Lawrence O’Donnell, Jen Psaki, Joy Reid, Al Sharpton, Chuck Todd, Dana Bash, Anderson Cooper, Van Jones and Jake Tapper.

Look at those names.  Irreplaceable talent.  Almost like friends; like really, really annoying friends.  The kind who says inappropriate things and borrow money.  The kind who won’t leave at the end of a party.  And suddenly they’ll all be gone.

Well maybe I can cope with the sadness of their loss by making a game of it.  Maybe I can start a betting pool on who goes first.  Who cries on screen?  Who takes the largest voluntary pay cut?  Who has to share an office with the security staff (my money is on Lawrence O’Donnell, he looks reasonable)?  Who goes postal (Mika)?

But most interesting is which if any will make the ultimate compromise and become a conservative to try and get a job at Fox News?  I’d say the early money is on our good friend Joe Scarborough.  After all he was a Republican congressman before having the lobotomy.  It wouldn’t take hardly any makeup to turn him into a rabid MAGA attack dog.  And I’m sure Mika could make the same transition with no real difficulty at all.  Boy, it’s good that the fourth estate is there to take care of us.