Liars #230
By Hank Silverberg
"They run in by the hundreds, and they’re running out carrying refrigerators and carrying air conditioners and big stuff ― big, little, everything, fur coats, non-fur coats, everything they’re carrying. They empty out the stores.”
Those words from Donald Trump as he addressed an NRA gathering this past Friday. It's utter nonsense of course, the kind of dumb uninformed comment we have heard from him ad-nauseum since he first went down that escalator in 2015 to announce he was running for president.
Normally I don't quote Trump. I have made a strong attempt to ignore him totally in this blog over the last two years.
But I mention this quote now as an illustration. Everyone with a brain knows that the type of snatch-and-grab by mob robberies he's talking about occur from time to time. But there's no epidemic of them. And it's usually clothing or jewelry, not refrigerators that are the target. But it's typical Trump. He sees a video or hears one person mention such crimes and to him, it's "CARNAGE!!"
Bottom line: he's a liar. He always has been. But it took the media a very long time to start acknowledging that and to call him out on it.
Dominion Systems, which makes software for voting machines, was one of Trump's targets in his conspiracy theory of the "rigged" election nonsense, and Fox News ran with the concept for months. Inside the newsroom, they, like most informed people across the country, knew the whole election fraud story itself was a fraud and a lie, but Fox News never doubted or reported it on the air. They ran with the lie, supported it, promoted it, and helped perpetuate it, and kept Dominion Systems as the major boogey man in the bogus conspiracy.
So, the company counterattacked with a huge $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox, which has shown us the underbelly of a poorly run, politically motivated group of broadcasters who wanted high ratings, big profits and their kind of man in the White House. There were a few at Fox News who resisted, and we are finding out now they were at fist pressured and finally forced to leave.
This gets me to my main point. Fox's defense of their coverage of the "Big Lie" is that it was "newsworthy," and they had to report it.
That, to some extent, was true. At first, right after the election when Trump was challenging the results, everybody reported it. It WAS newsworthy. But quickly the evidence stacked up that the charges of election fraud were bogus. Most responsible news organizations aired or quoted people who challenged the "Big Lie," and before long most in the media started to label it "false." (For some reason they balked at using the word "lie" for a while.)
But Fox's defense that it was "newsworthy" is, excuse the expression, bull ---!
Fox kept reporting the "Lie" and attacking Dominion Systems because it fit their narrative and bolstered their ratings. And they were worried about the other two right-wing networks, OANN and Newsmax, who were doing the same thing and cutting a bit into Fox's ratings.
You might think that the First Amendment would protect Fox. But in this case, it may not.
Libel laws are clear. You can't be sued for just reporting something that is wrong. But you can be sued for reporting something that you know in advance is a lie or wrong. It's called "actual malice" and from everything that's come out so far in this case, appears to fit the definition.
I am rooting for Dominion to win this suit. Normally I would side with the news organization and cite the First Amendment. Not this time. Fox went too far. You simply don't report as true something you know is a lie. The result here is more Trump, more lies, and an increased threat to our Democracy.
Trump Puts Refrigerator Theft On Blast In Bizarre NRA Forum Remarks (yahoo.com)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fox-news-dominion-defamation-lawsuit-cbs-explains/
Whatever the result of the lawsuit, it's going to send shivers up the spines of every broadcaster and newspaper editor across the country, from the network executives right on over to the street reporters. Every journalist and journalism student in the United States should watch this case closely.
I hope the lesson here is clear. The first rule of journalism is "seek the truth." You just can NOT REPORT what you know is wrong or inaccurate and not pay a price. I hope the jury gets that.
Dateline: Mars!
Ingenuity, the helicopter NASA landed on Mars back in April 2021 is apparently having a ball. The chopper took its 50th flight last week, traveling over 1,057 feet in 145.7 seconds at an altitude of 59 feet. That's a new record. NASA originally thought the helicopter was good for about 5 flights, so it has surpassed expectations.
The vehicle survived the chill of the Martian winter
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| (50th flight, courtesy, NASA) |
Ingenuity has flown over unchartered Martian terrain filled with sand dunes, boulders and rocks, but it can't go too far because it has to stay within the range of the Perserverance Rover in order to send back signals and get flight instructions. The Rover can only drive a few hundred meters each day, so the two vehicles have only charted a small part of the Martian surface. What are they searching for? The Rover has been looking for a warmer, wetter Martian environment that may show signs of life from billions of years ago.
The copter has sent back data which can help NASA build a more complex flying machine in the future and could play a role in returning samples to Earth that were collected by Perserverance.
All of this is part of the preparation for a possible human mission to Mars in the 2030's.
Under The Rainbow!
Dolly Parton is an icon in country music. And she is known worldwide for her philanthropy, which she carries on without much glitz or publicity. But it seems one school district in Wisconsin doesn't want students to sing one of Dolly's songs at school events.
And a first-grade teacher, a 23-year veteran of the Waukesha School District, who simply complained about that decision to ban the song from a recent school production at Heyer Elementary, has now been put on administrative leave by the Superintendent. Why?
The song, which Parton sings with her God- daughter, Miley Cyrus, is called "Rainbowland," has been around since 2017. It appears the school leaders apparently think it's theme of love, understanding and tolerance for everyone is a bit "controversial." Here is part of the lyrics:
Where everything goes as planned and I smile
'Cause I know if we tried, we could really make a difference in this world
Living in a rainbowland
I won't give up or sleep a wink
It's the only thought I think
You know where I stand
I believe we can start living in a rainbowland
Where you and I go hand in hand
Oh, I'd be lying (I'd be lying), if I said this was fine
All the hurt and the hate going on here
We are rainbows, me and you
Every color, every hue
Let's shine through
Together we can start living in a rainbowland
Where skies are blue and things are grand
Wouldn't it be nice to live in paradise?
Where we're free to be exactly who we are
Let's all dig down deep inside
Brush the judgment and fear aside
Make wrong things right (all things right), and end the fight
'Cause I promise ain't nobody gonna win
(Come on)
Dumbest Quote of The Week!
There must be something wrong with the water in the Dakotas. Last week's dumbest quote came from a North Dakota state senator. This week's dumb quote comes from South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem. It came during a speech she made to that same NRA lobbying forum in Indiana where Trump spoke. Noem told the audience her toddler grandchildren already have multiple guns.
She was speaking about the need for guns and her two-year-old Grandaughter Addie, when she said:
“Now Addie, who you know – soon will need them, I wanna reassure you, she already has a shotgun and she already has a rifle and she’s got a little pony named Sparkles too. So the girl is set up.”
While at the forum, Noem signed an executive order that would prohibit any South Dakota state agency from signing a contract with any business that discriminates against a "firearm-related entity."
It got me wondering if little Addie's guns were real or just toys. It also got me wondering who is watching little Addie when she plays with her shotgun and rifle. Maybe the state should open a child neglect case?
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