Stupid media tricks

https://earloftaint.com/

Thomas Lifson   "One of the classic leftist media tricks is back. This one is among my favorites because it relies on the stupidity of the readers, and obviously this outlet knows its audience.

"Let’s all play “Guess the political party!”

"A Texas correspondent sends in this classic example:

From Texas Monthly’s daily news summary: 

"State Senator Carlos Uresti had a bad day on Thursday, when the FBI and IRS raided his law office in San Antonio, confiscating documents and other stuff. According to the San Antonio Express-News, the raid was in connection to a now-bankrupt fracking sand company that has been accused of fraud." . . . More here.

Kurtz: New Poll Shows Voters Have 'So Much Distrust' of the Media "Howard Kurtz says that the latest Fox News Poll shows that Americans are "so polarized" and that there is "so much distrust" of the media.
"The poll, released Friday evening, reflected that 45 percent of voters trust President Trump more than the media, while 42 percent say the media are more trustworthy.
"On "The First 100 Days" tonight, Kurtz said the poll should elicit some "soul-searching for our [journalistic] professionals.' " . . .

Face the Nation host: Media has to take ownership for its own credibility issues

Hot Air  "John Dickerson provided this prescient comment early this morning to Hugh Hewitt, hardly knowing that national media outlets would only take a few hours to prove him right. The host of CBS’ Face the Nation discussed Donald Trump’s press conference yesterday, in which the president gave full vent to his frustration with the media — and the frustration of tens of millions of voters, too. Dickerson tells Hewitt that we can’t throw out our standards on how presidents handle the media, but that “the press did all that good work ruining its reputation on its own.”

"Dickerson specifically pointed out the tendency of the media to provide “hysterical coverage to every little thing”:

Dem State Leaders Think Obama’s New Organizing Army is ‘Grade A Bulls--t’

The Daily Beast

Organizing for Action was supposed to complement the Democratic National Committee. Instead, Democratic leaders say, it nearly killed the Democrats.

"It is difficult to overstate just how enraged state Democratic activists and leaders are with Organizing for Action (OFA), the political and community-organizing army that grew out of Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns.

"The nonprofit, which functions as a sort of parallel-Democratic National Committee, was founded to mobilize Democratic voters and supporters in defense of President Obama’s, and the Democratic Party’s, agenda. Instead, the organization has drawn the intense ire, both public and private, of grassroots organizers and state parties that are convinced that OFA inadvertently helped decimate Democrats at the state and local level, while Republicans cemented historic levels of power and Donald J. Trump actually became leader of the free world.
. . .

“It also to me seems TONE DEAF—we have lost over 1,000 seats in the past 8 years… all because of this crap,” Handwerk continued. “Let’s get through the next two weeks—but then we gotta figure this out and keep the pressure on. WOW.”

CNN Chief: Antagonism Toward Trump ‘Boosting Morale’ Of Network Employees

Weasel Zippers

Via Breitbart:   "CNN is viewing its antagonism toward President Donald J. Trump as a “badge of honor” — and according to CNN president Jeff Zucker the network’s daily aggression aimed at Trump is “boosting” employee morale.

"President Trump renewed his assault on the veracity of the “fake media” by jousting with CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta at a Thursday press conference. During the back and forth, Trump joked that he was downgrading CNN from merely “fake news,” to “very fake news.” He also poked at the network over its ratings.

"Only five months ago, CNN’s ratings were so bad that it slipped into third place — even behind little-watched MSNBC. And just this week Medialife Magazine reported that Fox News took all the top spots in the most viewed cable news programs. The magazine also reported that Fox and MSNBC came in first and second respectively, with CNN showing in at third place." . . .

The most trusted name in news tweets out mocking video Of Trump…
"CNN tweeted out a video on Thursday night mocking President Donald Trump, editing clips of his press briefing earlier that day to make him look like the conductor of a symphony.
“Turn your sound up and watch President Trump conduct an amazing symphony — er, press conference,” CNN tweeted from it’s official account.
The video, reported Friday by Mediaite, shows Trump’s words being muted and music playing in the background as a way to mock him for his hand gestures when he speaks in public settings." . . .  More here

"Cornell University Students Vote Against Intellectual Diversity, on Grounds It Would Harm Diversity"

Althouse  "A funny headline on a piece over at Reason.com by Robby Soave. At Cornell, the Student Assembly voted down a resolution that called for a committee to look into the lack of political diversity in the Cornell faculty. The arguments against the resolution were summarized as:

(1) conservatives have not been historically oppressed as have other groups; (2) spending resources on intellectual diversity diverts resources from promoting other forms of diversity; and (3) conservative students are free to speak out in class if they find something disagreeable or wish to argue their own point of view....

"The headline isn't very fair to that 3-point objection to having this committee. It focuses on #2 and distorts even that. I rather doubt that the cute, clickable headline was written by Soave, because he disapproves of campus conservatives acting like leftist students by "playing the victim" and inviting speakers who are "provocateurs" and not serious experts in "philosophy and policy.' "  . . .

Cartoons added by TD

Watch the entire Trump-Media press conference

RedState  "He brought up his electoral college victory. He talked about the Congressional Black conference. He discussed executive orders, immigration, pipelines, the media, and his yuge crowds. This was in ONE press conference.
"And here it is. Watch if you dare."

Why we must vet Middle East refugees: 'Islam is taking over' Farage stunned as caller tells him fears for Britain

"Speaking about the Imam, Paul claimed: “He said - 'Allah has given us this country and every knee will bow at the name of Allah'." 

Weasel Zippers

UK: Express   "A caller phoned Nigel Farage on his LBC show as the host debated whether Europeans would support an immigration ban on citizens from majority-Muslim countries.
"Similar to Donald Trump’s controversial ban on people from majority-Muslim countries, Farage claimed Europe is in favour of a similar policy. 
"The former Ukip leader, speaking from Strasburg, revealed how a recent poll conducted by Chatham House said over half of people living in Europe questioned would be in favour of a similar ban. 
"A survey of 10,000 Europeans showed that 56 per cent would support an immigration ban on citizens from majority-Muslim countries, while a caller then suggested that Muslims were already taking over the UK." . . .
. . . "Speaking on LBC, Paul, from Liverpool, revealed how he had entered a Mosque and was shocked at what he heard from the Imam as he tried to get a grasp of the religion.

"Speaking about the Imam, Paul claimed: “He said – ‘Allah has given us this country and every knee will bow at the name of Allah’.

 '“Islam is a takeover movement, it believes that Allah has given them this country, they’ll just take it over." . . .

The world will see:

Philippians 2:10 King James Version (KJV)
 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

Historic Trump presser signals mortal combat between MSM and president now a two-way fight

So far, I guess the Times would say. That CNN report, by the way, was authored in part by Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame. His son, Jacob, now works for the Times. The other night, at a fashion show in NYC, the younger Bernstein called First Lady Melania Trump a “hooker.”

Thomas Lifson  "Yesterday’s utterly compelling news conference by President Trump, held on short notice, signaled an entirely new era in relationships between a president and the major media. For decades, the ability of mainstream media to bully presidents has been part of the accepted landscape.  In 2004, then-influential Newsweek journalist Evan Thomas admitted that media bias was  “going to be worth maybe 15 points" to the Kerry-Edwards ticket, an estimate he alter scaled back to 5 points -- enough to swing most presidential elections.

President Trump does not accept that status quo. He fights back. And he and the media both know that if he continues to succeed in undermining the media’s power to sway pubic opinion, a permanent shift in the political balance of power will be accomplished. It would be a structural change, in effect." . . . Read more.

Chuck Todd Doesn’t Get it — Media Delegitimized Itself Before Trump
. . . "Todd is aghast. The Hill reports:

Chuck Todd: Trump’s treatment of the press is un-American
“Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd on Thursday slammed President Trump’s efforts to “delegitimize” the media as “un-American.”

“This not a laughing matter. I’m sorry, delegitimizing the press is unAmerican,” Todd tweeted. . .

The media misses Obama:

The Left's Once Mighty Echo Chamber Is Losing Power  . . . "Of course you’re now saying, “Look at what they did to General Flynn, and what they’re doing to the Trump reputation!  They’re just as powerful as ever!” 

"I would counsel a little patience here.". . .

CNN Reporter Compares Trump To Hitler While Her Boss Buys Obama Photos

. . . "You may think Trump is too harsh on CNN.

"But take a look at how the network treated Trump back in November." . . .

MSNBC: Donald Trump Is A “Fake President”…

thefederalistpapers

"An idealogical Jim Crow" now rules in America

The Left Silences Debate    "This week the nation’s top debate coaches released their recognition of the top collegiate policy debate teams. This exceptional group of sixteen teams receives pre-bids to the National Debate Tournament at the end of March and will have strong potential toward winning the national title in debate at the tournament to be held at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. Two of the nation’s top teams that made this elite selection are from Berkeley, a campus recently racked by violent demands for the suppression of free speech. Incredibly, Berkeley’s teams and one other team from California who made the cut, will not attend the National Debate Tournament. That is because the state of California has banned all university related personnel from traveling to four states around the nation: Kansas, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Mississippi, on the specious grounds that these states have all passed “anti-LGBT legislation.” All debate teams from California state schools are practically banned from attending the national debate tournaments being held in the state of Kansas in March. 

"As California continues upon a path of ideological ricochet that in many quarters seeks complete separation from the nation, the prospects for freedom of speech have declined to incomprehensible limits. America’s college campuses -- especially those in California -- are not simply victims of this trend, they are also important agitators for this breach of our most important civil rights. " . . .

Former Obama Officials, Loyalists Waged Secret Campaign to Oust Flynn

Washington Free Beacon  "The abrupt resignation Monday evening of White House national security adviser Michael Flynn is the culmination of a secret, months-long campaign by former Obama administration confidantes to handicap President Donald Trump's national security apparatus and preserve the nuclear deal with Iran, according to multiple sources in and out of the White House who described to the Washington Free Beacon a behind-the-scenes effort by these officials to plant a series of damaging stories about Flynn in the national media.

"The effort, said to include former Obama administration adviser Ben Rhodes—the architect of a separate White House effort to create what he described as a pro-Iran echo chamber—included a small task force of Obama loyalists who deluged media outlets with stories aimed at eroding Flynn's credibility, multiple sources revealed.

"The operation primarily focused on discrediting Flynn, an opponent of the Iran nuclear deal, in order to handicap the Trump administration's efforts to disclose secret details of the nuclear deal with Iran that had been long hidden by the Obama administration.

"Insiders familiar with the anti-Flynn campaign told the Free Beacon that these Obama loyalists plotted in the months before Trump's inauguration to establish a set of roadblocks before Trump's national security team, which includes several prominent opponents of diplomacy with Iran. The Free Beacon first reported on this effort in January.

"Sources who spoke to the Free Beacon requested anonymity in order to speak freely about the situation and avoid interfering with the White House's official narrative about Flynn, which centers on his failure to adequately inform the president about a series of phone calls with Russian officials." . . .

It’s time for the duplicitous “day without immigrants”

Hot Air  "If you happen to be in Washington DC, New York City or a few other major metropolitan areas today you may find some of your favorite restaurants and watering holes closed. No, it’s not a national holiday that you forgot about which is causing either the doors to be closed or the facilities to be on reduced service schedules. Activists who oppose the president have started yet another online “movement” in an attempt to disrupt normal services. In a highly dishonest and misleading campaign, they have declared today to be “a day without immigrants.” (New York Times)" . . .

. . .

"I have yet to meet a single person among the ranks of conservatives concerned about border security who is opposed to legal immigration or fails to value the contributions of those who come to our country following well-defined rules to make a new life."

. . .

"The truly nauseating portion of this is the fact that the entire concept is an insult to those who followed the rules, came to America and made a new life for themselves. This so-called protest is encouraging them to lose a day’s pay on behalf of those who refused to follow the rules and continue to break the laws set forth under the Constitution which naturalized citizens have sworn to defend." . . .

And if all that were not enough. there will be this:

Women’s March calls for General Strike and Day Without A Women

"Jezebel, however, is really excited, noting that there is no date on the calendar yet, though some activists are focusing on March 8:"

[a] women’s strike on March 8 that would be positioned “against male violence and in defense of reproductive rights” ….
Stay tuned, comrades!

Political Consensus Is Splintering Into Class Wars

Charles Hugh-Smith via OfTwoMinds blog

"Understanding how these many wars will be waged is critical to surviving them intact."

In years past, we spoke of class war between the haves and the have-nots. It's no longer that simple. Now the traditional political consensus is splintering into multiple class wars between overlapping camps of the protected and the unprotected, those who've been promised entitlements and privileges that are no longer affordable and those expected to pay more taxes.