Monday, October 26, 2020

Fox News Lies About Biden Campaign Events

Donald Trump branded opposition candidate Joe Biden as "sleepy" and his allies in conservative media have been quick to follow. Folks like Sean Hannity push real hard to popularize the term "lid" - a word used by campaigns to indicate no more scheduled events - to outlets like Rush Limbaugh or Fox News that outright lie.

Today, Fox News made the claim that Joe Biden was holding no events in Monday.

The odd thing is that in the article directly above where Fox News declares Biden is in hiding they have another article about Biden taking questions at an event... on Monday.


Hmm.

Friday, October 2, 2020

Did Trump and Melania have Covid-19 at the Debates?

News had broke that the President Trump and the First Lady had tested positive for Coronavirus.

During the debate, it was heavily reported that the first family abstained from the mandatory mask mandate condition established by both campaigns for the debate... except for Melania.

While the First Family took masked selfies prior to the debate...

Melania was oddly seated in the middle during the debate with a mask on.

Did the first family know something more?

We had also learned recently that Hope Hicks had tested positive prior to the disclosure that the Trump's tested positive - that Hicks was symptomatic and had previously been around the president for a few days. Is this timeline correct? Was Hick's a cover for the president? 

While these questions are conspiratorial, these behaviors are... suspicious, especially with revelations that since the Trump family arrived late to the debates they did not have their temperature checks, instead there was trust that each campaign had taken the necessary precautions.

Think about that - the Trump campaign was held to the honor system...

And as we have also just learned from the doctors treating Trump, he was actually diagnosed on Wednesday - not Friday. As a reminder, the debate was Tuesday. This would not only demonstrate that the president continued with activities while knowing he was positive with Coronavirus, the lack of delay in public disclosure may point to the president and his team either not being totally forthcoming in regards to when the president was officially diagnosed or that the president and his wife were feeling the symptoms on Tuesday and knowingly participated in the debate while potentially sick.

News has also revealed that one of the people responsible for debate preparations with the president, Chris Christie, had also tested positive.

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Republicans Attack DNC Speaker while RNC Celebrates Felon!

Last week the Democratic National Convention was under criticism from Republicans for featuring a criminal reform activist, Donna Hylton. She was trafficked as a child and was later involved in the torture and murder of a man as a young adult but after serving 27 years she has been freed and working on criminal justice reform.  

So imagine to my surprise when the Republican National Convention featured an ex-felon, Jon Ponder, who robbed a bank while fueled by drugs and alcohol.  He has also been reformed after serving 5 years and set up a program to help re-integrate former prisoners into society.

From Fox News:





And from the Daily Caller:

Trump decided to pardon Ponder for political gamesmanship during a video clip at the convention.  Republicans celebrated this act.  

Also from Fox News:


I guess the "law and order" party only cares about who they deem worthy of their approval...


Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Find Something New


Just when you thought things couldn't sink much lower, the First Family has done it again.  While the Trumps have been skimming off the top enriching themselves with government jobs and taxpayer-funded vacations, during record unemployment tone-deaf Ivanka released a campaign that was supposed to be inspiring titled "Find Something New."

In the ad Ivanka encourages the unemployed to simply change careers and reinvent themselves during these trying times.

Yeah...

Remember when Trump and his industry-aligned supporters attacked Clinton for proposing the retraining of coal miners before we even had an economic downturn?

“We do not want federal money to fund training for new jobs that pay half of our current salaries,” John Stilley, the president of Amerikohl Mining, said at the time.

Well now that Trump had crashed the economy with his plan to just sit on his hands and wait for an upswing, Trump wants the unemployed masses to just do something else because as we all know, it is never Trump's fault.

Well Ivanka also provided a double whammy of deafness this week after the president of Goya Foods CEO praised the president, calling Trump a "builder," praying for continued prosperity and growth.  Ivanka decided to use her offical capacity as a government employee to pitch the product, posting an image of her holding a Goya can while using their slogan in both Spanish and English.

There is no doubt that Goya has been sitting high on the hog these last few months.  Since the start of the pandemic and the economic shut downs, retail food sales have skyrocketed, so when CEO Robert Unanue says all is good, he is probably referring to Goya's coffers... which are privately owned by the Unanue family.

And as we learned from when Kellyann Conway violated ethics rules to promote Ivanka's businesses and faced no disciplinary actions, Ivanka is free to reward those who lay praise on her father.

So here is a better fit for her Find Something New Campaign and Goya...


Sunday, June 14, 2020

Malheur Autonomous Zone?


A couple years ago the infamous and traitorous Bundys led an armed occupation of a federal park in Oregon. They were inspired to occupy the property managed by the Bureau of Land Management (not to be confused with a different BLM), United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and the United States Forest Service over the conviction of Dwight and Steven Hammond for federal land arson, who were recently pardoned by President Trump for some unknown reason.

Conservative media promoted the group of anti-government militias as fighting an injustice and and defended them as protectors of the constitution and federal overreach.

What is interesting is in recent news, protesters in Seattle recently occupied a couple blocks, naming it the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, or CHAZ. Conservative media, as can be expected, jumped on the story painting the Black Lives Matter protesters and others as a criminal anarchist movement.

Fox News even went to the extent of poorly editing two images together to give the appearance of a violent occupation much like the Bundy gang.


Why not the same outrage?

Monday, June 8, 2020

Bill Barr's Lafayette Lie


On June 1st, President Trump gave a short speech in the Rose Garden and then inexplicably walked to a church down the street to hold up a bible, take a picture, and then walk away.  All of this occurred while peaceful protesters were violently cleared.  The administration had claimed that the protesters were removed because they were not peaceful, throwing water bottles and rumors they were building a supply of rocks to also use against police but none of those claims had been verified by any reputable news source.

When questioned about the removal on Friday, June 5th, Attorney General Bill Barr had this to say:

“I’m not involved in giving tactical commands like that. I was frustrated and I was also worried that as the crowd grew, it was going to be harder and harder to do. So my attitude was get it done, but I didn’t say, ‘Go do it.’ ”

“They had the Park Police mounted unit ready, so it was just a matter of execution. So, I didn’t just say to them, ‘Go.'”

This is contrary to what one justice department official said, recounting that Barr essentially said ‘This needs to be done. Get it done.’ ”

This was also confirmed by White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany insisting that Barr said "that we needed to get going with moving that perimeter. He told the officers that out there."

As Bloomberg also reported, Trump was angry about the unrest and the damage caused and so aides set forth to help facilitate his walk.

So according to Barr on Friday, he did not give the command for officers to attack protesters but if you were to ask Barr two days later, on Sunday, you might have gotten a different response.

"When I came in Monday, it was clear to me that we did have to increase the perimeter on that side of Lafayette Park and push it out one block. That decision was made by me in the morning. It was communicated to all the police agencies, including the Metropolitan Police at 2:00 p.m. that day. The effort was to move the perimeter one block, and it had to be done when we had enough people in place to achieve that. And that decision, as I say, was communicated to the police at 2:00 p.m.."

So in a couple days Barr went from "I didn't say, "Go do it" to "that decision was made by me."

So now you can see why there is question about other accounts by Barr, such as the volatility of the crowd or even the relationship between the clearing and the president's walk, but when has the president ever walked to somewhere from the White House?  And it just happened to be at the same time the Attorney General ordered police to clear protesters? 

I guess Barr got his denial for the 24-hour news cycle hoping the story would change come Monday.

Friday, June 5, 2020

Government Seizes Protesters' Mail. Ballots Next?

A recent story had shown that the government had used the post office to seize the mail of protesters, which contained branded face masks for the prevention of Covid-19. In light of the president's letter calling peaceful protesters "terrorists," what will stop the government from escalating their actions?


If the government can seize masks in the mail, just imagine what Trump could do with mail-in ballots. They will seize them in the name of fraud and try to steal this election.

Monday, June 1, 2020

Trump, Biden, and the Protesters

With protests erupting all across the nation you can see two different presidential candidates (one of them currently serving as president) behave differently towards the situations that have spread to many major cities.

Donald Trump called the protesters "thugs" and referenced a saying from a racist Miami sheriff about shooting.  He had rebuffed calls from his aides to deliver a national address and was briefly brought to a secure bunker when protests formed at the Whitehouse. And while he had spoken with the family, the victim's brother had said Trump wouldn't listen and kept talking. And when Trump visited NASA for a monumental rocket launch, Trump complained about the protesters some more.


He had also tweeted this yesterday:


So what did Joe Biden do?


He spoke with the family, made a national address calling for peaceful protests and action, and then left his home to speak directly with the protesters in Wilmington, Delaware.

Which sounds more presidential?

Just a reminder - it took one day after Trump was fact checked on Twitter for him to issue an executive order attacking social media companies but has yet to address this situation apart from calling for even more violence.

Remember when Trump and his allies would use every opportunity they had to talk about how great he was for black people?

Friday, May 29, 2020

Libertarian Campaign Hypocrisy

A friend of mine had recently posted an article attacking Vice President Joe Biden's presidential campaign for registering a domain that shared with it the slogan for the libertarian candidate Jo Jorgensen.

I thought it interesting because not only was the Biden camp capable of making this purchase in late May, but that Jorgensen's camp did not think to secure the domain first. But what leads to the title of this post is the fact that the article at The Libertarian Republic praised Jorgensen for "cleverly [repurposing]" Hillary Clinton's slogan for her own use while attacking Biden from essentially repurposing her Twitter handle into a domain name for himself (since he is also named Joe, but with an "E").

I do agree that Jorgensen's use was clever and a great way to increase exposure to an audience that might not have been as open to her campaign, like former Clinton voters. But you could argue that Biden's be use of her slogan could achieve the same goal - reach Libertarian voters in an effort to grow his tent.

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Is Trey Gowdy Ellen DeGeneres?

Is Trey Gowdy transforming into Ellen DeGeneres?

Trey:


And Ellen:


Monday, May 18, 2020

Trump and Hydroxychloroquine

Trump's most recent claim that he is taking the anti-malarial, lupus, and arthritis drug Hydroxychloroquine proves one thing - his doctor is not above medical ethical norms and draws into questions his other high profile interactions with the public, like his odd bill of good health for the president a couple years back.

If the president can demand a drug not approved for the treatment of Coronavirus by the FDA and that studies have found dangerous in certain populations, what is to prevent another drug manufacturer from seeding news stories on Fox News or Jared Kushner's Facebook page to drum up sales of their medicines? Imagine if Martin Shkreli got his request for temporary release from prison and used his connections to further enrich himself with fraudulent claims?

And let's not forget the numerous people whose lives will be at risk because they are following the president's example. We already saw a couple drink pool chemicals because the ingredients sounded like what Trump was pushing. Now imagine how many MAGA hat-wearing folks will go to their family doctors requesting these drugs for their own safety (while protesting about their right to dine out and not wear a mask).

Monday, May 4, 2020

DHS In On Trump Blame Game

A May 1st Department of Homeland Security report has blamed China for "intentionally conceal[ing] the severity” of the Coronavirus epidemic for the sake of hoarding personal protective equipment, like face masks, potentially changing imports and exports for national benefit.

This is odd considering the federal government encouraged American companies, like 3M, to ship millions of masks to China in late January.

This is doubly odd considering Trump was reportedly getting routine updates regarding the Coronavirus pandemic in his daily intelligence briefings... that he tends to ignore. Count his multiple public announcements downplaying the virus or blaming Democrats for blowing it out of proportion (even when we have now surpassed Trump's death predictions) and you have a pretty good picture the administration isn't painting the whole picture.

Tuesday, April 21, 2020

The Judy Kudlow Hypocrisy...

Top Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow recently promoted the new Small Business Administration loan program for small businesses touting the application process as easy because his self-employed artist wife, Judy Kudlow, applied for a loan from a local bank using a single piece of paper and got it.  Kudlow, a high-ranking government official worth multi-millions didn't disclose how much his wife had received from the SBA and there had not been any indication (so far) that Kudlow's wife had any preferential treatment but his comments did raise eyebrows because of the stated ease to apply, which many have stated dissatisfaction with in the disorganized roll-out using private banks as middlemen, as well as the fact that as someone of wealth and means was seemingly able to receive a loan in record time.

What makes this story more outrageous is that the Trump had looked to make it harder for liberal arts students to obtain loans under the rational that artists are harder to employ and should understand their employment risks in their chosen career path.

Shouldn't Judy Kudlow have understood the risks of unemployment in the career she took as an artist?

How did she obtain a loan so quickly while other less prominent applicants have been waiting for weeks?

If she is a self-employed artist worth multi-millions, what exactly was her loan going towards?  

Thursday, March 19, 2020

Patriot Grocers!

Ever since audio of former New York City mayor and Democratic presidential candidate referencing farmers gained traction during his campaign, right wing media like Sean Hannity jumped on Bloomberg's comments and used it to highlight a new class of patriot Americans placed on a pedestal along with veterans and first responders. Hannity and company spent weeks talking to God-fearing Trump-loving farmers painting them as heroes of the soil despite the folks interviewed typically represented multimillion operations.

And when news of the Coronavirus pandemic started months ago those same media personalities dismissed the virus as a Democrat-concocted hoax. 

So what have the right moved onto?

Celebrating Donald Trump as a tremendously great "wartime president."

Since farmers seemed to lean conservative and Trump needs those voters in vital states for reelection, Republicans laid it on thick when they talked about them but some states are starting to recognize another set of workers that are on the front lines of this pandemic along with healthcare workers - grocers!

Minnesota and Vermont have designated grocery clerks as an emergency responder since they are out their risking their health tirelessly stocking shelves for people to purchase essential goods.

But since Hannity, Limbaugh, Dobbs, and folks of that sort have spent years vilifying these very same people as lazy people undeserving of a living wage, I am sure mention of these workers will be conveniently absent from their broadcasts.

Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Mike Pence Seeks Mask Handouts

It is sad when our federal government's Coronavirus task force head, Vice President Mike Pence, asked construction companies to donate their masks to hospitals.

You would think as head of the task force and second in command of the federal government Pence would have been able to secure a source of supply for these masks, or with all that winning President Trump has been bragging about regarding manufacturing, he would have had a factory set up by now.

If only the administration took this seriously from the start instead of blaming the Obama administration and crying about news coverage.

Thursday, March 12, 2020

Trump Properties Exempt From Trump Coronavirus Travel Ban?

Here is a nifty map that details Trump properties around the globe:



And here is a map of countries not affected by the new travel ban due to the Coronavirus pandemic:


Is it a coincidence that Trump excluded the nation's that hold his resorts from his travel ban?

Remember that other coincidence when Trump placed a ban on Muslim-majority nation's that coincidentally had no business relationships with Trump?


Suspicious?

Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Manipulated Media on Facebook!

There has been recent news when President Trump retweeted a doctored video that was tweeted out by his own campaign (by Dan Scavino) that seemed to show presumptive Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden endorsing a reelection for Donald Trump.  Twitter was quick to utilize their new policy labeling the video "manipulated media" but Facebook had not seemed to follow suit, believing deceptively editing audio or video, such as rearranging the recording to alter the context, does not classify as "manipulated media" and thus a violation of their community standards.

But then there is something that seemed much more subversive on the social media platform - posts that seemed to promote the lie and that are linked to actual news articles that once you click the post leads to a completely different headline.

This article from Newsweek that seems to support the lie that Biden endorsed Trump appeared on Facebook:


But when the link was followed, it led to this article:

And in this article it included the full quote that was taken out of context by the Trump team.

Vice President Biden rightfully protested the deceptive tweet and in response Facebook had started labeling the doctored video "partly false."

Despite this update, it seems that somehow people have either found a workaround to to the social networks policies or are manipulating posts to give the appearance that more reputable news organizations support these doctored recordings.