Faux "News" 2: U.S. State TV?

[Cartmann99]

20 hours ago, Howl said:

Good grief, is this woman related to Keyrock, the Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer?  Your world frightens and confuses me!

and in a larger context, 

Money! How does it work? 

Texas salon owner travels to Michigan to back defiant barber

Quote

OWOSSO, Mich. (AP) — A Texas salon owner who was sent to jail for opening her business during the coronavirus outbreak called Michigan’s governor a “tyrant” on Monday as she stood next to a barber whose license was suspended for cutting hair.

“Gretchen, the state of Michigan will vote you out,” Shelley Luther declared, referring to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Luther traveled to Owosso, a small Michigan town, to express support for Karl Manke, a 77-year-old barber who reopened his shop for more than a week before state regulators suspended his license.

Luther, the owner of Salon a la Mode in Dallas, was sentenced to a week in jail for flouting public health orders intended to slow the spread of the coronavirus. She was released less than 48 hours later when Gov. Greg Abbott dropped jail as a possible punishment for violations.

One of her first customers after jail was U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Luther told the crowd that she reopened to pay bills, support her employees and offer much-needed services in a clean salon.

“Why does your governor think that it’s OK to open up for marijuana, liquor sales?” said Luther, whose boyfriend grew up an hour away in Frankenmuth. “Can’t you get an abortion? But you cannot get your hair cut. What is wrong?

“Stop being a tyrant,” Luther said of the governor. ”Open up. You don’t get this control. We control you. We have the power.”

Whitmer has defended the business restrictions as an important way to stop the virus. She relented a bit Monday by announcing plans to reopen bars and restaurants Friday in the Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Peninsula, which haven’t been hit as hard as the rest of Michigan.

Protesters, some bearing guns, have repeatedly traveled to the Capitol to demand the governor loosen a one-size-fits-all strategy. Republican lawmakers are suing Whitmer over her emergency declarations.

Since March, Michigan has confirmed nearly 52,000 virus cases, although more than 28,000 people have recovered. There have been at least 4,900 deaths from COVID-19 — the fourth-highest total in the nation — including 20 in Shiawassee County where Manke cuts hair.

Michigan is among many states that have enacted stay-home orders and imposed an array of restrictions on salons, bars and restaurants. Abbott on Monday lifted most restrictions in Texas as that state continues one of the nation’s fastest reboots.

 

[JMarie]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/elections-2020/chris-wallace-debunks-trump-no-record-of-massive-or-serious-fraud-from-mail-in-voting/ar-BB14tbWI?ocid=spartanntp

 

[JMarie]

CNN and MSNBC are discussing the 100K deaths from COVID-19. Fox News is whining about censoring by Facebook and Twitter.  I am so not surprised.

[AmericanRose]

Government trying to control a private business?
Hmmm... I dunno, that smells like communism to me!

[47of74]

Someone must've told him it's me or Bunker Bitch....

 

[Howl]

Apparently Hannity and his wife have been separated for a long time; this is just making it official.  Considering the amount of wealth involved, it could have taken quite awhile to sort out who gets what.  Supposedly an amicable divorce, but is there ever such a thing.  I wonder if there's an NDA that she can't speak out against Hannity's relentless Trump ball washing and blatant lies. 

Moving right along, Dan Patrick, Texas' Lieutenant Governor, was on Fox Wednesday night telling Laura Ingram and everybody else that the real problem causing all the protests and everything that's wrong in this country is that the Left hates god and hasn't accepted Jesus.  

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick: Racism Won’t Stop Until We ‘Accept Jesus Christ’   Elected official says laws won’t solve the problem, only God.

To clarify, for non Texans, the Lieutenant Governor's position in Texas is a very powerful position in our state's government structure. Patrick started out as a radio host. He's not an Evangelical, but is (IIRC) conservative Catholic.  Obviously, loving god has not made Dan Patrick a more compassionate person and insightful representative for all Texans.  He still has a radio show. 

[JMarie]

Gross and heartless, even for Fox News

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/george-floyd-martin-luther-king-stock-market-fox-news_n_5edb0338c5b6a80a46d43ff9

[JMarie]

https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2020/06/tucker-carlson-is-shocked-shocked-that-janelle-monae-chrissy-teigan-seth-rogen-and-more-are-fighting-racism

I've highlighted in blue the awesome descriptions of Carlson. There's a video in the article.

Quote

Tucker Carlson Is Shocked, Shocked That Janelle Monae, Chrissy Teigen, Seth Rogen and More Are Fighting Racism

The frowny Fox News anchor did some PR work for a group of celebs, and he didn’t even charge them.

Fox News sourpuss Tucker Carlson went on another strange rant Friday night, in which he misrepresented the current uprising against endemic racism in American society as the work of “looters and rioters.”

After sneering at “cynical, soulless, craven corporations” that have donated money to organizational efforts, Carlson hilariously called out celebrities who have also cut a check. With his grouchy, faux-alarmed face in one rectangle and an image of flames in another, names like Steve Carell, Don Cheadle, Harry Styles, Seth Rogen, Patton Oswalt, Cynthia Nixon, Rob Delaney, Kehlani, Nick Kroll and others scrolled by alongside their pictures.

Surely those watching at home must have dropped their monocles in their soup to learn that Janelle Monae and Colin Kaepernick are donating money. I hope they had a defibrillator on hand.

Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds got a shout-out (though no pic!) for giving $200,000 to the NAACP’s legal defense fund, and Lil Nas X was chastised for urging his followers to give to bail funds after Carlson stated that the rapper was culpable for inciting riots.

Best, though, was seeing Chrissy Teigen’s name fly by twice, misspelled both times.

You can watch for yourself below.

Many people who give money have misgivings about trumpeting the act too widely. There is a certain nobility in making a donation and keeping it anonymous. There is, however, the added dimension with celebrities. If the cast of Brooklyn 99 acts, it may cause fans of that show to think differently about police tactics and institutional injustice. It may even inspire them to cough up a few bucks themselves, despite Carlson’s to-the-fainting-couch suggestion that the new incarcerated are “people who may very well have attacked those [that Brooklyn 99 cast members] portray on TV!”

To that end, the celebs in this weird-looking, greatest hits record-style clip owe Tucker and Fox News a big thank you.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Tucker Carlson says protests are ‘definitely not about black lives,’ prompting backlash"

Spoiler

Fox News host Tucker Carlson faced intense backlash Monday night after he argued that the nationwide unrest over racism and police brutality sparked by the death of George Floyd “is definitely not about black lives.”

Carlson’s comments came during a fiery monologue that kicked off his prime-time show Monday, following another day of large demonstrations in the wake of last month’s fatal incident in which Floyd, an unarmed black man, died after a white police officer in Minneapolis knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes. For roughly 25 minutes, Carlson criticized the Black Lives Matter movement and growing calls for cities to defund police departments or completely get rid of them.

“This may be a lot of things, this moment we’re living through, but it is definitely not about black lives,” Carlson said. “Remember that when they come for you, and at this rate, they will.

“Anyone who has ever been subjected to the rage of the mob knows the feeling,” he continued. “It’s like being swarmed by hornets. You cannot think clearly. And the temptation is to panic. But you can’t panic. You’ve got to keep your head and tell the truth. … If you show weakness of any kind, they will crush you.”

Carlson did not make clear who he was referring to when he said “they,” leading critics online to suggest that the host was, as one person put it, telling his audience “black people are coming to get you, white people.” A short clip of Carlson’s segment quickly went viral Monday night, prompting some to again urge advertisers to boycott his show.

Fox News did not respond to a request for comment from The Washington Post early Tuesday.

On Monday, following a tumultuous weekend that saw more violent clashes between law enforcement and mostly peaceful demonstrators, Carlson launched into a recap of current events.

“America went insane over the weekend, that’s barely an overstatement,” he said.

The host was particularly irked by news that many local leaders nationwide are facing mounting pressure from protesters to slash funding for police departments or abolish them entirely. On Sunday, nine Minneapolis City Council members — a majority of the 12-person council — announced plans to disband the city’s police department. While they did not offer a timeline or specific actions, the council members said they are “taking intermediate steps toward ending” the force.

Carlson, who referred to the protests as the “Black Lives Matter riots,” expressed disbelief at the idea of dismantling entire police departments, telling viewers, “All of this probably strikes you as wild-eyed craziness, flat-earth stuff.”

He then argued that the effort is largely supported by liberals who want to do away with traditional police forces because many officers are supportive of President Trump.

“Defund the police is a move toward authoritarian social control cloaked in the language of identity politics,” said Carlson, noting that if activists are successful it would likely result in a “woke militia policing our cities enforcing Democratic Party orthodoxy.”

“Imagine if the diversity and inclusion department at Brown University had the power to arrest you,” he added.

Carlson also denounced what he observed as fierce backlash targeting people who criticize or don’t overtly support the Black Lives Matter movement.

“You’re not allowed to question Black Lives Matter in any way. Full stop,” he said. “That rule has been enforced without mercy everywhere.”

The host went on to make his eyebrow-raising claim that the discontent consuming the country isn’t about black lives before issuing the warning to his viewers that “the mob” is likely coming for them.

“Truth is a defense, no matter what they’re telling you at this moment,” he said. “This moment will pass. … When it does, we will look back at what we just saw in horror and disbelief, but if you’re honest now, you will keep your dignity, and ultimately you will be very glad about that. Life is not worth living without it.”

Though Carlson’s Monday show was praised by some conservatives, a number of prominent public figures, including some celebrities, slammed the host for his inflammatory rhetoric.

“Tucker Carlson is a dangerous racist,” tweeted actor George Takei.

“Top Chef” host Padma Lakshmi accused Carlson of “race-baiting.”

“In these uncertain times, we can always count on human bowtie @TuckerCarlson to take a quick break from sailboating in Maine to broadcast race-baiting filth into peoples’ parents’ living rooms, inciting fear and hatred of a civil rights movement,” Lakshmi tweeted.

Meanwhile, “Guardians of the Galaxy” star Dave Bautista called Carlson out for “preaching division.” The truth, Bautista argued on Twitter, is that “the mob” referenced by Carlson “is the MAJORITY of Americans who don’t want to be divided, don’t want racism, don’t want you.”

 

 

[fraurosena]

In 2016 the GOP campaign revolved around blue collar victimism. They played into the anger and  Woe is me, I'm such a victim of circumstances sentiments and promised Trump was one of them and would fight for them. Because of the success of that message they believe it will work again this time around.

That they think that they only need to stir up the anger and victimism again in order to win just goes to show how truly tone deaf and disconnected from society they are.

 

[fraurosena]

I was unaware Carlson was one of the founders, but I can't say I'm surprised.

Tucker Carlson leaving The Daily Caller

Quote

Fox News host Tucker Carlson is selling his stake in The Daily Caller, the conservative publication he co-founded a decade ago, as he focuses more time on his prime-time show.

“I’m just too absorbed in what I’m doing,” Carlson told The Wall Street Journal. “I wasn’t helping in any way, because I’ve got an hour to do every night [on Fox News].”

Neil Patel, the publisher of The Daily Caller who founded the site with Carlson, told the Journal he bought out Carlson’s roughly one-third stake in the company.

Patel, who is of Indian heritage, said the growing venture is now the largest minority-owned and -run digital media company in America.

“America needs independent news outlets alongside the huge corporate media conglomerates,” Patel said in a statement. 

Patel and Carlson were roommates at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., and began publishing The Daily Caller in 2010 as a conservative counter to The Huffington Post.

Carlson was editor-in-chief of the site until 2016. He became the host of "Tucker Carlson Tonight" on Fox News in 2017.

Patel, who ran the business side of the news organization, was a White House policy adviser for former Vice President Dick Cheney.

“The only reason the Daily Caller still exists is because the guy running it is one of the very rare conservative intellectuals who understands business,” Carlson said of Patel. “There’s no magic secret, as far as I know, other than he keeps costs in line with revenue.”

The publication, which has faced past controversies over writers who were found to have white nationalist ties, has over the years moved toward original reporting as opposed to primarily opinion writing.

“Our mission is to do high quality news reporting,” Patel said. “We will couple that serious reporting with entertainment. More than anything though, we will be a place committed to civil debate. Not enough people in our country are talking openly with those outside their bubbles. I sincerely want us to be a place where that happens.”

 

[fraurosena]

Well how about that...

... especially now this happened:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Poor Laura, crying tears over the fact that many of us don't cherish the confederacy.

 

[JMarie]

Yuck! Hannity and RBF Ainsley Earhardt

https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/celebrity/sean-hannity-linked-to-fox-and-friends-host-after-secret-divorce/ar-BB15m71Q?ocid=spartanntp

 

[GreyhoundFan]

I agree with Lalo -- sounds good to me:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

I'm picturing tucker curing up in a fetal position, sucking his thumb. That image makes me laugh. "Forgive Tucker Carlson for his panicky desperation. His world is collapsing."

Spoiler

Two nights after George Floyd died under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer, Fox News host Tucker Carlson turned his attention to a certain city in Minnesota. “We’ll have the latest on those riots in Minneapolis last night,” Carlson said at the top of his show on Wednesday, May 27. “And yes, they were in fact riots, no matter what they’re telling you on the other channels — that’s a fact and we have the tape.”

Again: This was how Carlson launched the first show in which he addressed Floyd’s death.

So many questions merited answers on that edition of “Tucker Carlson Tonight”: How does the Floyd case align with the Minneapolis police department’s record on the use of force? What justification could there possibly be for the treatment of Floyd?

But, no, Carlson went right to broken windows. “Rioters cut a path of destruction through Minneapolis last night after a video went viral that showed a man dying in police custody,” he said. Then came a live shot from Fox News correspondent Mike Tobin, who was in the midst of a confrontation between protesters and police. There were flash-bangs and pepper spray from the police, and Tobin began coughing. Carlson pulled away, saying, “We’re getting reports that there’s looting in other parts of the city. So, I think we’re going to come back to you a little bit from now.”

Credit Carlson for honesty: He wants riot footage, and that’s about it. As for the footage that touched off the protests, well, the Erik Wemple Blog reviewed transcripts and could find no record that Carlson showed the video of Floyd’s death. Media Matters for America, an organization that scours Fox News coverage, told us it found nothing. We’ve asked Fox News about editorial decisions on the Floyd footage and will update with any response.

The unrest in Minneapolis over the killing of an unarmed black man, however, provided Carlson a safe space for a lecture on political freedom: “The indiscriminate use of violence by mobs is a threat to every American of all colors and backgrounds and political beliefs,” he roared. “Democracy cannot exist when people are rioting. Rioting is a form of tyranny.”

Just before that self-righteous proclamation, Carlson issued his patented giveaway: “We want to be clear, we’re not showing you these pictures to defend the behavior of individuals on the Minneapolis Police Department — we’re not.” (Boldface added to highlight classic Carlsonian misdirection.)

In November 2017, the Erik Wemple Blog documented this staple of Carlson’s misleading cable-news wizardry. The sequence routinely goes like this: A scandal of some sort breaks in Trump World or some organization that’s part of the Fox News ideological constellation; a backlash among liberals kicks up; instead of addressing the scandal itself, Carlson feasts on the most extreme fringes of that backlash. In the process, he apprises the audience that he’s “not defending” Trump or the police or whomever.

This framing explains all of the rhetorical jujitsu that Carlson has rolled out since Floyd’s killing. At the top of his May 28 program, for instance, he bemoaned the reaction: “Anarchy grips parts of Minnesota at this hour, rioters are burning cars and looting stores in neighborhoods across the Twin Cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul.”

May 29: “Remarkable scenes of violence and destruction and chaos from across the country now and we’re going to spend much of the hour keeping you abreast of what’s happening.”

June 1: “The nation went up in flames this weekend. No one in charge stood up to save America. Our leaders dithered. They cowered. They openly sided with the destroyers.”

As long as there was violence associated with the protests, there was a segment for “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” By last weekend, however, the clashes and violence had diminished.

A change of gears, accordingly, was in store for “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” On Monday, he denounced the growing cultural influence of the Black Lives Matter movement: “America went insane over the weekend. ... This was without precedent in the modern era, a small group of highly aggressive, emotionally charged activists took over our culture. They forced the entire country to obey their will. It all happened so fast and with such ferocity that virtually no one resisted it.”

As the host decried this new and “insane” America, he himself sounded more and more unhinged. Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah had taken part in a D.C. protest and declared that we need to find "a way to end violence and brutality and to make sure that people understand that black lives matter.” Carlson couldn’t handle it: “Mitt just wants to make sure that Americans understand, get through their thick heads that black lives matter, as if Americans didn’t know that.”

Still irate, the host apparently couldn’t fathom that D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) named a park Black Lives Matter Plaza — and, Carlson said, “nobody criticized her for it!”

Where was Carlson heading with all this? Toward this ugly conclusion:

If Democratic leaders cared about saving the lives of black people, and they should, they wouldn’t ignore the murder of thousands of young black men in their cities every year. They wouldn’t put abortion clinics in black neighborhoods. They would instead do their very best to improve the public schools and to encourage intact families, which we know beyond a shadow of a doubt is central to life prospects of children.

If they tried to make black neighborhoods as safe as their own neighborhoods, they would close the payday lenders that add so much misery to the lives of poor people of all colors. But they don’t even consider doing any of this, they don’t even try.

Instead they encourage theft and mayhem as if that will help, it will not help.

This may be a lot of things, this moment we’re living through, but it is definitely not about black lives, and remember that when they come for you, and at this rate, they will.

Who are these people coming for you? A Fox News spokesperson said it was a reference to Democratic leaders, not to protesters — a distinction that may have been lost on millions of Fox News viewers. In any case, Carlson himself was a registered Democrat the last time we checked (in January).

What sort of organization would want to be associated with Carlson’s commentary? Well, not Walt Disney Co., Papa John’s, Poshmark or T-Mobile, advertisers that this week took steps to disassociate themselves from “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” T-Mobile CEO Michael Sievert, whose company stopped advertising on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” in early May, drove home the desertion with this tweet:

A network spokesperson told the Erik Wemple Blog that the national ad revenue was moved to other programs, with the result that no “national money” has been lost.

Angelo Carusone, president and CEO of Media Matters, told the Erik Wemple Blog: “So, Fox News is saying that if advertisers really want to stop financially supporting Tucker Carlson’s white power hour, they need to drop Fox News entirely? I agree with Fox News here — advertisers should remove their ads from all of Fox News if they really want to disassociate from bigotry.”

The companies are a bit late to their Tucker Carlson awakening. Last year, the host called white nationalism a “hoax,” though he had previously declared, “I’m not defending white supremacy.” In December 2018, he said that immigration makes the United States “dirtier,” triggering an advertiser defection; in August of that year, he stirred a flimsily premised racial furor over white South African farmers. Years ago, he made racist remarks on a radio show, as later exposed by Madeline Peltz of Media Matters. And while the top editor of the Daily Caller, where he worked before becoming a prime-time host at Fox News in late 2016, Carlson hired writers with archives of racist material.

All that activity may explain why Carlson has sounded so desperate and panicky over the past week. It’s the timbre of a guy who’s trying to glue back together a world that’s falling to pieces in between segments. Particularly revelatory have been Carlson’s feeble attacks on conservatives he has judged pusillanimous against the protest movement. Only Tucker Carlson withstands the Tucker Carlson purity test.

Even Carlson’s employer is drifting from his worldview. In a memo to colleagues, Fox Corp. Executive Chairman and CEO Lachlan Murdoch struck a Romney-esque note, counseling Fox folks to “grieve with the Floyd family, closely listen to the voices of peaceful protest and fundamentally understand that black lives matter.” He tucked in this thought: “The FOX culture embraces and fosters diversity and inclusion."

Contrast that sentiment with a famous Carlson rant from 2018: “How, precisely, is diversity our strength?” These days Carlson is finding an answer — and that’s freaking him out.

 

[onekidanddone]

On 6/3/2020 at 3:30 PM, 47of74 said:

Someone must've told him it's me or Bunker Bitch....

 

Trump, Trump Jr. , Gingrich, Thrush Limbaugh and now Hannity  God’s fine example of family values and traditional marriage  

Said no one ever 

 

 

[Cartmann99]

20 hours ago, onekidanddone said:

Trump, Trump Jr. , Gingrich, Thrush Limbaugh and now Hannity  God’s fine example of family values and traditional marriage  

Said no one ever

Ainsley Earhardt, the co-worker that Hannity is supposedly dating, has been divorced twice.

[JMarie]

On 6/11/2020 at 9:26 AM, fraurosena said:

Well how about that...

... especially now this happened:

 

I've been seeing the MyPillow guy more often on many stations.  I realized this when today, I passed a car with Michigan plates (I'm on the East Coast so this isn't an everyday occurrence). I realized I haven't seen any Michigan tourism commercials, narrated by Tim Allen. There also haven't been commercials for clothes (Macy's, Old Navy, etc.) or restaurants (Olive Garden, all the yummy "fests" at Red Lobster). All tv shows still have commercial time built into their programs, and someone has to fill those spots. My question is, who is still buying MyPillows? Doesn't everyone who wants one already have one?

[GreyhoundFan]

10 hours ago, JMarie said:

I've been seeing the MyPillow guy more often on many stations.  I realized this when today, I passed a car with Michigan plates (I'm on the East Coast so this isn't an everyday occurrence). I realized I haven't seen any Michigan tourism commercials, narrated by Tim Allen. There also haven't been commercials for clothes (Macy's, Old Navy, etc.) or restaurants (Olive Garden, all the yummy "fests" at Red Lobster). All tv shows still have commercial time built into their programs, and someone has to fill those spots. My question is, who is still buying MyPillows? Doesn't everyone who wants one already have one?

I've seen a ton of Macy's commercials during the COVID crisis. I've also seen plenty of Olive Garden. There are also tons for other chain restaurants (McDonald's, Burger King, Outback, etc.) I don't watch Faux, so this is on other cable networks. Unfortunately, there are also a zillion MyPillow commercials.

 

[Cartmann99]

6 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Unfortunately, there are also a zillion MyPillow commercials.

At this point, I think the only customers the MyPillow guy has is Trump supporters buying them to "trigger the libs!" or some such.

[fraurosena]

After hearing so much about this MyPillow guy, I finally had to go look up what these wondrous pillows are all about; we don't have them over here. And... good grief, you guys! Lindell cuts up memory foam and stuffs pillows with it? Seriously? People buy that stuff? 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

4 hours ago, fraurosena said:

After hearing so much about this MyPillow guy, I finally had to go look up what these wondrous pillows are all about; we don't have them over here. And... good grief, you guys! Lindell cuts up memory foam and stuffs pillows with it? Seriously? People buy that stuff? 

 

My aunt bought one (before she knew about his love for the mango moron). She returned it because it was expensive and not very good.  I think at least some people buy them because he is vocal about manufacturing them in the US.

 

[JMarie]

3 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

My aunt bought one (before she knew about his love for the mango moron). She returned it because it was expensive and not very good.  I think at least some people buy them because he is vocal about manufacturing them in the US.

 

Or because he has a cross necklace peeking out from the neckline of his shirt, so he must be a Good Christian Man.

[danvillebelle]

I'll just leave this here....

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/fox-news-monty-python-joke-seattle-protests-a9565506.html?fbclid=IwAR1aLVqyh5oIn7yntDaUQxPMAvKrbKCuXH4DwecZty3ts1DNDts88tnY41k