If Republican sabotage of efforts to respond responsibly to Covid with a couple hundred thousand avoidable deaths can’t get the mainstream to quit their fealty to promoting the GOP, nothing will.
Today the media is harping on the bad jobs number. Austin Goolsbee just on was on Andrea Mitchell’s show explaining this is “a tale of two numbers”. The number being reported comes from the survey of businesses which shows weak growth; the second number comes from an unemployment survey of individuals. That number shows “a blockbuster month, one of the best in a very long time”. That survey shows almost a million jobs were added to the economy; the survey of businesses showed only 200,000 jobs added.
Goolsbee explained that the discrepancy is likely because there is a record number of people starting new businesses and that doesn’t show up yet in the survey of businesses but does in the unemployment survey. He expects there will be a major upward revision of the lower-than-expected jobs numbers just as there was the last time. The media mostly ignored that revision too.
So there are three indicators — unemployment rate, number of new jobs and a record number of new businesses — that indicate the economy is really strong but the media chooses to focus just on the one indicator that shows weaker job growth.
I am really starting to believe most people int the mainstream media are consciously trying to weaken, if not destroy Biden for some sick reason.
I have the same question. Most people in the media are clearly afraid Trump and his allies are destroying our democracy. All I can think of is that their decades of buying into faux balance as good journalistic practice is so ingrained they have no awareness of how they are helping rightwingers in their quest for autocracy.
It might be as simple as the media trying to write "incisive" stories as opposed to seeming too biased toward Biden. But do they realize how much they are damaging his presidency? Or do they care? After all, they'll keep their jobs regardless of who's in the WH in 2025.
I try and draw a map from who is pulling the strings of the camera and print media we are so used to seeing to their bosses and the owners of the mass media conglomerates and then to the conspiracy laden unknowns who are really controlling the whole thing.
We just can't have had has a mass unconsciousness event where millions upon millions lose their common sense, moral compass and patriotism. Most likely a gradual erosion over time and the toxic spill from the dam breaking is what we are left with.
I assume you mean the “mainstream media”. It hasn’t made a difference so far, they are still trying to bring Biden’s approval numbers down to Trump levels by ignoring his accomplishments and hyping the problems he hasn’t solved, even problems it isn’t in his power to solve. It’s clearly working.
In more than 30 states it's a felony to hide your positive HIV status with a consensual sex partner. Seems to me, a positive covid test, a subsequent series of lies about it, then continuing to attend and host super spreader events and blatant disregard for masking and distancing should be, at the very least grounds for very serious sanctions, if not a rug dance in front of a judge and jury.
I am surprised that no one has been sued for recklessly exposing others to covid. That happened to a couple I know but the person who infected them was her Trump-loving father-in-law. They were working from home so it was clear he was the source of their infections. He came to their house knowing he felt ill and had been around someone with covid and exposed them and their kids. This was a couple of weeks after his best friend had died from it but he still refused to take it seriously. He later told them he had done them a favor. Needless to say the relationship is not good.
This is astounding behavior. It's one thing when it comes from a gasbag like Tucker Carlson, but when sitting Congressmen and state legislators claim the government has literally no power to deal with a pandemic, the entire premise of "to promote the general welfare" is destroyed. It was odd, to say the least, when Republicans were willing to disqualify some of their own voters in order to screw the Dems, but to literally kill people for political gain is obscene, and must be called out. Media....it's up to YOU.
If the report had shown no difference between places with & without mask mandates Parsons would have been killing himself to get in front of every reporter and camera he could.
On the night of Barack Obama's inauguration, 15 leading republicans met and agreed to lead the party in opposing anything he proposed. Anything. Among those present was pollster Frank Luntz and two future House GOP leaders.
Today, The Washington Post's congressional correspondent has a story about how hard it is going to be for Biden and Democrats because republicans have decided not to help them govern.
The greatest threat to this country is not the republican party. The greatest threat to this country is the political media.
McConnell is praised for his hardball politics rather than justly criticized for being an obstructionist tool who has no interest in actually governing.
McConnell loves power for power's sake. Everything is either win or lose. He is gloating now because his right wing Supreme Court is likely to destroy Rowe v Wade.
That strategy started back in the 90s when Bill Kristol told Republicans to deny Clinton any win on healthcare because it would ensure they would win the midterms. Back then they weren’t bold enough to oppose everything Clinton proposed. The fact that the media not only gave them a pass on their obstruction, but also aided and abetted them by helping spread the lies they and Big Pharma told about Clinton’s proposals led Republicans to believe —rightly — that they wouldn’t pay a price for being even more blatant in their obstruction of Democrats.
CNN reported a John’s Hopkins report that stated citizens in red states, with republican governors, are 50% more likely to die from Covid-19 than people living in blue states. These republican legislators are killing their own while being safely vaccinated themselves. When does this become a crime against humanity
Our Failed Political Press ™ has so normalized bad-faith Republicans that none of the GOP’s intransigent behavior is never commented upon. But what is commented upon by the press is the Democrats failure to stop them.
One thing that's obvious, yet nobody mentions it, is that it seems most of the only writing describing the GOP playbook on weaponizing covid to harm the Democrats is done in the op-eds. As long as it is published as commentary/opinion, many news consumers will not get the message.
Notice how just as case numbers were rising last month, Ron DeSantis went to court and banned Florida's children from wearing masks at school. How much more psychopathic can it get? Here in NY, Gov. Hochul is mobilizing the National Guard to help staff hospitals affected by employee resignations due to the vaccine mandate. The destruction the GOP is doing just gets worse and worse, yet even in this blue state the media is silent.
I was struck that none of the reports I have seen criticizing Logan’s unhinged rant didn’t mention the shockingly bogus Benghazi investigative report she did for 60 Minutes. Her report did a lot to legitimize that ridiculous pseudo scandal. It makes me wonder if other media outlets have a policy which forbids criticizing competitors like the Washington Post has, or at least had under Marty Baron. (The article is about the double standard the Post had under Baron when it came to protecting their reporters. )
This strikes me as the correct framing for anyone reporting on our state of affairs yet it's a jolt to read it fleshed out so bluntly. Chris Hayes opened his Thurs program with similar thoughts. Bullseye.
The GOP are not just "pro-Covid," they are sociopaths. Every single one of them. I can think of a couple of Democrats who also fill the bill, but that's another story.
Paul Krugman took up the argument that Eric made today. Krugman does not pursue the role of media in the apparent nihilism of the republican party, but he certainly thinks republicans are out to ruin things without any burden of conscience about the harm done to people.
The Dems need to get the votes needed to pass the "For the People Act" so the country can move forward.
In it [the FTPA] are [national] laws against gerrymandering and extensive voter protections that once established as law, will nullify all these voter restrictions and the illegal district map drawing in the states that plainly give one [certain] party an unfair advantage.
This Act is needed so districts are drawn fairly so that no candidate will have an unfair advantage. The voter protections in this bill would do the same thing and ensure our democracy will thrive, no matter how much the Republicans wish it would go away.
I know they have been paid off and that is troubling but there are many members in the DCCC that also are taking money from big business. The only answer I believe that will change this and give the power back to the people is the demise of the Citizens United corporate dark money law.
You have a great voice for radio and I'll try to come back later and listen more but ur points about how the GOP partisan dicks everything around is spot on, but it's not deliberate they do it as a right or rule of the game therefore dehumanizing its consequences, I try to help them arrive at decisions in a tracheal way as possible
If Republican sabotage of efforts to respond responsibly to Covid with a couple hundred thousand avoidable deaths can’t get the mainstream to quit their fealty to promoting the GOP, nothing will.
ha, they won’t even acknowledge it
Today the media is harping on the bad jobs number. Austin Goolsbee just on was on Andrea Mitchell’s show explaining this is “a tale of two numbers”. The number being reported comes from the survey of businesses which shows weak growth; the second number comes from an unemployment survey of individuals. That number shows “a blockbuster month, one of the best in a very long time”. That survey shows almost a million jobs were added to the economy; the survey of businesses showed only 200,000 jobs added.
Goolsbee explained that the discrepancy is likely because there is a record number of people starting new businesses and that doesn’t show up yet in the survey of businesses but does in the unemployment survey. He expects there will be a major upward revision of the lower-than-expected jobs numbers just as there was the last time. The media mostly ignored that revision too.
So there are three indicators — unemployment rate, number of new jobs and a record number of new businesses — that indicate the economy is really strong but the media chooses to focus just on the one indicator that shows weaker job growth.
I am really starting to believe most people int the mainstream media are consciously trying to weaken, if not destroy Biden for some sick reason.
I 100% agree with your last sentence. My question is what do they have to gain from this?
More tax cuts.
Shiny black jack boots!
2024?
I have the same question. Most people in the media are clearly afraid Trump and his allies are destroying our democracy. All I can think of is that their decades of buying into faux balance as good journalistic practice is so ingrained they have no awareness of how they are helping rightwingers in their quest for autocracy.
It might be as simple as the media trying to write "incisive" stories as opposed to seeming too biased toward Biden. But do they realize how much they are damaging his presidency? Or do they care? After all, they'll keep their jobs regardless of who's in the WH in 2025.
I try and draw a map from who is pulling the strings of the camera and print media we are so used to seeing to their bosses and the owners of the mass media conglomerates and then to the conspiracy laden unknowns who are really controlling the whole thing.
We just can't have had has a mass unconsciousness event where millions upon millions lose their common sense, moral compass and patriotism. Most likely a gradual erosion over time and the toxic spill from the dam breaking is what we are left with.
I assume you mean the “mainstream media”. It hasn’t made a difference so far, they are still trying to bring Biden’s approval numbers down to Trump levels by ignoring his accomplishments and hyping the problems he hasn’t solved, even problems it isn’t in his power to solve. It’s clearly working.
Good catch, T. Yup, dropped the word :(
And yes, the mainstream media are so toxic they’re actually part of the problem, making things worse.
In more than 30 states it's a felony to hide your positive HIV status with a consensual sex partner. Seems to me, a positive covid test, a subsequent series of lies about it, then continuing to attend and host super spreader events and blatant disregard for masking and distancing should be, at the very least grounds for very serious sanctions, if not a rug dance in front of a judge and jury.
I am surprised that no one has been sued for recklessly exposing others to covid. That happened to a couple I know but the person who infected them was her Trump-loving father-in-law. They were working from home so it was clear he was the source of their infections. He came to their house knowing he felt ill and had been around someone with covid and exposed them and their kids. This was a couple of weeks after his best friend had died from it but he still refused to take it seriously. He later told them he had done them a favor. Needless to say the relationship is not good.
This is astounding behavior. It's one thing when it comes from a gasbag like Tucker Carlson, but when sitting Congressmen and state legislators claim the government has literally no power to deal with a pandemic, the entire premise of "to promote the general welfare" is destroyed. It was odd, to say the least, when Republicans were willing to disqualify some of their own voters in order to screw the Dems, but to literally kill people for political gain is obscene, and must be called out. Media....it's up to YOU.
yeah, the kill-Republican-voters was the twist most people didn’t see coming
Thanks to a Sunshine Law request in Missouri, we now know the state did a study to determine the effectiveness of mask mandates - but then hid the results of the study because it didn't go along with the Republican agenda. https://news.stlpublicradio.org/coronavirus/2021-12-01/missouri-health-department-found-mask-mandates-work-but-didnt-make-findings-public
yep! Include that to the list of GOP’s pro-Covid behavior
If the report had shown no difference between places with & without mask mandates Parsons would have been killing himself to get in front of every reporter and camera he could.
On the night of Barack Obama's inauguration, 15 leading republicans met and agreed to lead the party in opposing anything he proposed. Anything. Among those present was pollster Frank Luntz and two future House GOP leaders.
Today, The Washington Post's congressional correspondent has a story about how hard it is going to be for Biden and Democrats because republicans have decided not to help them govern.
The greatest threat to this country is not the republican party. The greatest threat to this country is the political media.
McConnell is praised for his hardball politics rather than justly criticized for being an obstructionist tool who has no interest in actually governing.
McConnell loves power for power's sake. Everything is either win or lose. He is gloating now because his right wing Supreme Court is likely to destroy Rowe v Wade.
That strategy started back in the 90s when Bill Kristol told Republicans to deny Clinton any win on healthcare because it would ensure they would win the midterms. Back then they weren’t bold enough to oppose everything Clinton proposed. The fact that the media not only gave them a pass on their obstruction, but also aided and abetted them by helping spread the lies they and Big Pharma told about Clinton’s proposals led Republicans to believe —rightly — that they wouldn’t pay a price for being even more blatant in their obstruction of Democrats.
CNN reported a John’s Hopkins report that stated citizens in red states, with republican governors, are 50% more likely to die from Covid-19 than people living in blue states. These republican legislators are killing their own while being safely vaccinated themselves. When does this become a crime against humanity
Never. Republicans are above the law.
Our Failed Political Press ™ has so normalized bad-faith Republicans that none of the GOP’s intransigent behavior is never commented upon. But what is commented upon by the press is the Democrats failure to stop them.
One thing that's obvious, yet nobody mentions it, is that it seems most of the only writing describing the GOP playbook on weaponizing covid to harm the Democrats is done in the op-eds. As long as it is published as commentary/opinion, many news consumers will not get the message.
Notice how just as case numbers were rising last month, Ron DeSantis went to court and banned Florida's children from wearing masks at school. How much more psychopathic can it get? Here in NY, Gov. Hochul is mobilizing the National Guard to help staff hospitals affected by employee resignations due to the vaccine mandate. The destruction the GOP is doing just gets worse and worse, yet even in this blue state the media is silent.
I was struck that none of the reports I have seen criticizing Logan’s unhinged rant didn’t mention the shockingly bogus Benghazi investigative report she did for 60 Minutes. Her report did a lot to legitimize that ridiculous pseudo scandal. It makes me wonder if other media outlets have a policy which forbids criticizing competitors like the Washington Post has, or at least had under Marty Baron. (The article is about the double standard the Post had under Baron when it came to protecting their reporters. )
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/11/inside-felicia-sonmezs-war-against-the-washington-post.html
This strikes me as the correct framing for anyone reporting on our state of affairs yet it's a jolt to read it fleshed out so bluntly. Chris Hayes opened his Thurs program with similar thoughts. Bullseye.
it’s the lack of blunt language that’s hurting all of us
The GOP are not just "pro-Covid," they are sociopaths. Every single one of them. I can think of a couple of Democrats who also fill the bill, but that's another story.
Paul Krugman took up the argument that Eric made today. Krugman does not pursue the role of media in the apparent nihilism of the republican party, but he certainly thinks republicans are out to ruin things without any burden of conscience about the harm done to people.
they’ve been doing it, actively, since Obama. it’s just on steroids now
Oh it goes further back then that. Look at how the Republicans demonized Jimmy Carter and forced him to sell his farm!
*See R Reich’s Pinned Tweet re: media
“Despite mounting evidence…”
*That is one helluva paragraph (mic drop)-
🌟🌟🌟
The Dems need to get the votes needed to pass the "For the People Act" so the country can move forward.
In it [the FTPA] are [national] laws against gerrymandering and extensive voter protections that once established as law, will nullify all these voter restrictions and the illegal district map drawing in the states that plainly give one [certain] party an unfair advantage.
This Act is needed so districts are drawn fairly so that no candidate will have an unfair advantage. The voter protections in this bill would do the same thing and ensure our democracy will thrive, no matter how much the Republicans wish it would go away.
You have to kill the filibuster to pass it which Boris and Natasha won't do because they have been bought off.
I know they have been paid off and that is troubling but there are many members in the DCCC that also are taking money from big business. The only answer I believe that will change this and give the power back to the people is the demise of the Citizens United corporate dark money law.
Our SCOTUS really fu**ed-up with that boner.
You have a great voice for radio and I'll try to come back later and listen more but ur points about how the GOP partisan dicks everything around is spot on, but it's not deliberate they do it as a right or rule of the game therefore dehumanizing its consequences, I try to help them arrive at decisions in a tracheal way as possible
One brief correction: Kansas has a Democrat for governor: Laura Kelly: https://governor.kansas.gov/