First, but hopelessly off-topic; your “bete noir”, Chris Cillizza, had a video post last Thursday that hit Trump about as hard as I’ve seen anywhere.
There was a point when Fox demanded the vaccine be named after Trump. There are pictures of Ivanka getting vaccinated. There are Trump quotes claiming ownership of the vaccine.
So, at some time, Trump & Fox turned against the vaccines. When & why? This 180 turn ought have raised more interest.
Finally, it is darkly humorous to see the “pro-life” party oppose vaccination. Those who deny the existence of natural selection are about to see it in action.
Newsmax host Rob Schmitt recently acknowledged evolution when he said this:
“...I feel like a vaccination in a weird way is just generally kind of going against nature. Like, I mean, if there is some disease out there—maybe there's just an ebb and flow to life where something's supposed to wipe out a certain amount of people, and that's just kind of the way evolution goes.”
You know they are grasping for straws to justify their insanity when they actually use evolution as their excuse.
As David Corn pointed out in his newsletter you can play that game ad nauseum. As he put by that logic we should treat any disease because diseases are natures way of telling you “your ride is here”.
Dr. Fauci already spoke of mandatory vaccinations for polio. The Army had mandatory vacations. But it was for smallpox & ordered by General Washington in 1778, I think.
NONE OF THIS IS NEW.
So why? Or if we can find “when” perhaps that will provide a clue as to “why”.
My only idea is that the Republican Party’s lurch to the right has carried cut into lunacy. Trump sees only that they support him.
But if I had five minutes of Trump’s time, & I got a question in, it would be to ask him when & why he quit supporting the “Trump Vaccine”.
I was? From what I gathered from those links is that they experimented with injecting people with a spores of smallpox Which basically was not an actual vaccine— the first vaccine that was a real vaccine was the polio vaccine in 1951 or 52 so don’t tell me I’m wrong—
Nihilism. Had to go to the dictionary for an accurate definition. Eric, that’s the word that truly characterizes the total lack of empathy, sympathy, compassion, integrity, humanity on the side of Murdoch, Fox, et. al. I’m not a religious person, but if there is a hell, they should start planning for their trip. For now, they are the purveyors of hell on earth. Shameful.
My only possible explanation of Rupert Murdoch’s psychology is that he’s inherently damaged.
As Alfred said to Batman: “Some men just want to watch the world burn.”
There’s no explaining him, he’s not making a buck off of this, his aged viewers are dying fast and not being replaced by younger, more affluent advertising targets. He’s a psycho.
Actually he is making money in the short term. Given his age maybe he doesn’t care about the long term but that doesn’t explain his son Lachlan’s doubling down on the crazy. His other son James seems to be a lot more sane. He has excoriated Fox for being climate deniers — a fact which his father denied which makes Rupert a climate denier denier?
What I keep asking and no one has ever tried to explain is why would Fox News and other right wing outlets promote beliefs that will literally kill off their own audience. Why do Trump and other right wingers want to kill of their base?
The other question that I want answered is why isn’t the mainstream media reporting on how many of those spreading the anti-vax message been vaccinated? We know Trump got the vaccine even though he was likely already immune since he had COVID. That should be a major talking point if the mainstream media wants to make it clear that anti-vaxxers are liars.
If we told the media (both Fox and "Librul") that Hunter Biden emails found on Hillary's email server revealed that entire Fox crew, TFG, and all GOP senators and representatives who are telling people not to get the shots had been vaccinated and JOE BIDEN KNEW IT AND DID NOTHING BECAUSE HE WAS ON HIS PELATON we'd have 24x7 coverage.
Not to mention they are going to kill others who are unable to get vaccinated. I know several people who have immune system issues that prevent them from getting any kind of vaccines.
I'm hardly one to promote government regulation of the media. But "there ought to be a law" comes to mind after reading the "Merchant of death." Or at least a mountain of lawsuits.
Ridiculous, unproven and dangerous conspiracy theories against vaccination against a deadly disease are being taught every single day in the classroom that is the fox cable channel. Seems to me, every new death of someone who has uttered any of the fox talking points in public as reason to have not protected themselves (and by extension, the rest of us) is a legal cause of action. A few hundred thousand counts of manslaughter in a court filing ought to get someones' attention. Fox is the definition of evil.
I don't think there is any chance of even a single count of manslaughter, or even criminal negligence, succeeding, or even getting passed the hypothetical fantasy stage. But a class action suit for the wrongful death of people who watched the Fake News Cabal, and harm to viewers who got COVID but survived, is quite possible. You can't put a corporation in prison, anyway, but a multi-billion dollar judgement could cause them to amend their ways or dissolve altogether.
Yeah, that's the idea, however it could be made to work out that fox is held accountable for the gross and dangerous irresponsibility they spew for profit. Like the "leader" of Fla profiting from the anti Fauci merch he's selling just to own the libs...
At some level, Rupert Murdoch must enjoy the idea that he has the power to convince people to do things that will kill them. There’s no other way to explain what he does.
It’s not just about the money and the sex he has at his disposal, the people of power who bend their knees to him - it’s that people are dying because of the grip he has on them. If that isn’t power, what is?
While the pandemic issue is bad enough, the climate denial from the Murdoch empire is wreaking havoc on a global scale. That Murdoch legacy will be felt for centuries.
When all else fails, my go-to explanation for things is always money. It is the great motivator for evil acts. However, there seems to be a lot more going on with Fox News (and the lesser right wing outlets) than simply raking in the bucks.
Rather than go into a long build up, I simply think it is a case where people for whom being dickish and an egoist self-promoter is a religion. Owning the libs is a secret club. It reminds me of the characters in Trading Places, Mortimer and Randolph, who ruin a man's life and promote another's for a dollar bet. People are dying for real but to Tucker Carlson and the other fools on Fox News, they're worth the sacrifice simply because they are of a lower class and fodder for their fun.
Getting COVID and possible dying because you refuse to get a vaccination is a bizarre way to own the libs. It seems more likely to give more power to them by thinning the herd of fools.
Their mentality reminds me a bit of a suicide bomber. The latter imagine they are going to some mythical paradise while the former imagine themselves invincible and impervious to all danger.
Bob Somerby said it years ago about Sean Hannity: "When a guy with 3 million viewers is lying to them every night, THAT's NEWS, and it should be reported as such by actual journalists." Fox BS is not a challenge to Dems to come up with better arguments, it's an assault on honesty and decency and the country's ability to have a fact-based discussion. Goebbels is laughing in hell, and eagerly awaiting Rupert's arrival. (PS - "The Murdoch Variant" is brilliant branding!)
NYT had an infuriating article Sunday abt Covid surging in Ark, quoted lots of people why they won’t get vaccine…never addressed Fox’s anti-vaccine crusade
I've never understood why Trump -- of all people -- passed up such a slam-dunk opportunity for self-promotion. He could have gone on TV live from the Oval Office in December or January and said, "I want everyone in our Great Country to go get the TRUMP VACCINE as soon as possible. The BIG, BEAUTIFUL TRUMP VACCINE, that's what people are calling it. There's never been anything like it in the history of the world, and it was brought to you by your favorite president." Even now he could do it, though it wouldn't have nearly the same impact.
Does Murdoch have the same power in his homeland of Australia when it comes to the media?
I am disgustedly shocked that one political party in this country would work to sabotage a WORLD wide pandemic instead of working with Federal and State governments to get as many people vaccinated as possible. This is where we are in 2020-21. It’s absolutely horrendous. Where is my America and what have the Republicans done to her.
That is why former PMs Malcolm Turnbull and Kevin Rudd have expressed deep concern about media concentration in Australia, and about Murdoch’s destructive influence on democracy not only in Australia but also the UK and the US. Murdoch owns the UK tabloid The Sun as well as the Times. He recently started an new “news” network there, too. He was one of the propagandists pushing the idiotic and disastrous Brexit along with Steve Bannon and the Mercers’ Cambridge Analytic as well as Putin, according to some sources.
How Fox News gets away with this is mind boggling. But then again, we are seeing very little justice in the wake of the assault on our democracy for over four years culminating with the insurrection on the Capitol. Really, what incentive do the bad actors, including Fox News, have in stopping from this lunatic behavior? Maybe the path to justice is slow and I've lost my patience but as every day goes by it seems more and more like we are just simply lost as a nation. I mean here we have a major news outlet hyping that a vaccine that will save your life, get us out of the pandemic and get the US and its economy back to normal is a really bad thing. If that doesn't tell you that the Republicans only crave power for itself at all costs and everything else be damned, I don't know what does.
Wouldn't it be nice if some medical professionals thought, hm, we're ethically obligated to protect patient privacy, but it's more important to protect patients generally, so let's release the vaccination records of all of the Fux Noise traitors?
Mr. Boehlert:
First, but hopelessly off-topic; your “bete noir”, Chris Cillizza, had a video post last Thursday that hit Trump about as hard as I’ve seen anywhere.
There was a point when Fox demanded the vaccine be named after Trump. There are pictures of Ivanka getting vaccinated. There are Trump quotes claiming ownership of the vaccine.
So, at some time, Trump & Fox turned against the vaccines. When & why? This 180 turn ought have raised more interest.
Finally, it is darkly humorous to see the “pro-life” party oppose vaccination. Those who deny the existence of natural selection are about to see it in action.
Yep! last winter Trump/GOP/Fox **loved** the vaccine. amazing
Cillizza can’t make up for the fact that his obsession about and misreporting of the Hillary email pseudo scandal helped Trump win in the first place.
I don't give him enough credit for having the emotional intelligence to realize, much less acknowledge, his complicity.
Newsmax host Rob Schmitt recently acknowledged evolution when he said this:
“...I feel like a vaccination in a weird way is just generally kind of going against nature. Like, I mean, if there is some disease out there—maybe there's just an ebb and flow to life where something's supposed to wipe out a certain amount of people, and that's just kind of the way evolution goes.”
You know they are grasping for straws to justify their insanity when they actually use evolution as their excuse.
As David Corn pointed out in his newsletter you can play that game ad nauseum. As he put by that logic we should treat any disease because diseases are natures way of telling you “your ride is here”.
Polio anyone?
Dr. Fauci already spoke of mandatory vaccinations for polio. The Army had mandatory vacations. But it was for smallpox & ordered by General Washington in 1778, I think.
NONE OF THIS IS NEW.
So why? Or if we can find “when” perhaps that will provide a clue as to “why”.
My only idea is that the Republican Party’s lurch to the right has carried cut into lunacy. Trump sees only that they support him.
But if I had five minutes of Trump’s time, & I got a question in, it would be to ask him when & why he quit supporting the “Trump Vaccine”.
Really?
Copied from Wikipedia citing other sources:
“ In 1721, Cotton Mather and colleagues provoked controversy in Boston by inoculating hundreds.”
Troll.
https://www.cdc.gov/smallpox/history/history.html
Do you trust the CDC? Skip to "Early Control Efforts."
https://www.cdc.gov/smallpox/history/history.html
I trust the CDC way more than anything from the GOP (GQP) or any Trumpidiot. :-)
You were mistaken about the smallpox vaccine timeline.
I was? From what I gathered from those links is that they experimented with injecting people with a spores of smallpox Which basically was not an actual vaccine— the first vaccine that was a real vaccine was the polio vaccine in 1951 or 52 so don’t tell me I’m wrong—
Nihilism. Had to go to the dictionary for an accurate definition. Eric, that’s the word that truly characterizes the total lack of empathy, sympathy, compassion, integrity, humanity on the side of Murdoch, Fox, et. al. I’m not a religious person, but if there is a hell, they should start planning for their trip. For now, they are the purveyors of hell on earth. Shameful.
100%. and as i keep stressing we've never seen this from a "mainstream" political party in US history
My only possible explanation of Rupert Murdoch’s psychology is that he’s inherently damaged.
As Alfred said to Batman: “Some men just want to watch the world burn.”
There’s no explaining him, he’s not making a buck off of this, his aged viewers are dying fast and not being replaced by younger, more affluent advertising targets. He’s a psycho.
yes, i think like Trump Murdoch is a deeply damaged person
Actually he is making money in the short term. Given his age maybe he doesn’t care about the long term but that doesn’t explain his son Lachlan’s doubling down on the crazy. His other son James seems to be a lot more sane. He has excoriated Fox for being climate deniers — a fact which his father denied which makes Rupert a climate denier denier?
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/we-are-not-climate-change-deniers-rupert-murdoch-addresses-son-s-exit-from-board-20201119-p56fy3.html
Good morning Eric. I'm sorry but I have reached the point where 'you can't fix stupid' and I see Darwin at work as the Rs kill off their voters.
What I keep asking and no one has ever tried to explain is why would Fox News and other right wing outlets promote beliefs that will literally kill off their own audience. Why do Trump and other right wingers want to kill of their base?
The other question that I want answered is why isn’t the mainstream media reporting on how many of those spreading the anti-vax message been vaccinated? We know Trump got the vaccine even though he was likely already immune since he had COVID. That should be a major talking point if the mainstream media wants to make it clear that anti-vaxxers are liars.
If we told the media (both Fox and "Librul") that Hunter Biden emails found on Hillary's email server revealed that entire Fox crew, TFG, and all GOP senators and representatives who are telling people not to get the shots had been vaccinated and JOE BIDEN KNEW IT AND DID NOTHING BECAUSE HE WAS ON HIS PELATON we'd have 24x7 coverage.
Dina, true, but I can’t cheer the deaths of thousands more Americans. We have to find a way to reach them.
Not to mention they are going to kill others who are unable to get vaccinated. I know several people who have immune system issues that prevent them from getting any kind of vaccines.
Excellent! I have been saying that for years. Darwin is not just about natural selection of the physical but of the mental too.
In fact mental ability/creativity that is the major reason that humans have been able to survive. We aren’t close to the strongest or fastest.
I'm hardly one to promote government regulation of the media. But "there ought to be a law" comes to mind after reading the "Merchant of death." Or at least a mountain of lawsuits.
if only....
Ridiculous, unproven and dangerous conspiracy theories against vaccination against a deadly disease are being taught every single day in the classroom that is the fox cable channel. Seems to me, every new death of someone who has uttered any of the fox talking points in public as reason to have not protected themselves (and by extension, the rest of us) is a legal cause of action. A few hundred thousand counts of manslaughter in a court filing ought to get someones' attention. Fox is the definition of evil.
I don't think there is any chance of even a single count of manslaughter, or even criminal negligence, succeeding, or even getting passed the hypothetical fantasy stage. But a class action suit for the wrongful death of people who watched the Fake News Cabal, and harm to viewers who got COVID but survived, is quite possible. You can't put a corporation in prison, anyway, but a multi-billion dollar judgement could cause them to amend their ways or dissolve altogether.
Yeah, that's the idea, however it could be made to work out that fox is held accountable for the gross and dangerous irresponsibility they spew for profit. Like the "leader" of Fla profiting from the anti Fauci merch he's selling just to own the libs...
How a court case hasn't tested the "fire" in a crowded theater paradigm for press freedom is beyond me.
At some level, Rupert Murdoch must enjoy the idea that he has the power to convince people to do things that will kill them. There’s no other way to explain what he does.
It’s not just about the money and the sex he has at his disposal, the people of power who bend their knees to him - it’s that people are dying because of the grip he has on them. If that isn’t power, what is?
While the pandemic issue is bad enough, the climate denial from the Murdoch empire is wreaking havoc on a global scale. That Murdoch legacy will be felt for centuries.
Monster is such an inadequate word.
agreed. it can’t just be abt the money. he’s been awful his whole life
When all else fails, my go-to explanation for things is always money. It is the great motivator for evil acts. However, there seems to be a lot more going on with Fox News (and the lesser right wing outlets) than simply raking in the bucks.
Rather than go into a long build up, I simply think it is a case where people for whom being dickish and an egoist self-promoter is a religion. Owning the libs is a secret club. It reminds me of the characters in Trading Places, Mortimer and Randolph, who ruin a man's life and promote another's for a dollar bet. People are dying for real but to Tucker Carlson and the other fools on Fox News, they're worth the sacrifice simply because they are of a lower class and fodder for their fun.
and, of course, nobody should be surpassed Fox now 100% anti-vaccine
Getting COVID and possible dying because you refuse to get a vaccination is a bizarre way to own the libs. It seems more likely to give more power to them by thinning the herd of fools.
Their mentality reminds me a bit of a suicide bomber. The latter imagine they are going to some mythical paradise while the former imagine themselves invincible and impervious to all danger.
Bob Somerby said it years ago about Sean Hannity: "When a guy with 3 million viewers is lying to them every night, THAT's NEWS, and it should be reported as such by actual journalists." Fox BS is not a challenge to Dems to come up with better arguments, it's an assault on honesty and decency and the country's ability to have a fact-based discussion. Goebbels is laughing in hell, and eagerly awaiting Rupert's arrival. (PS - "The Murdoch Variant" is brilliant branding!)
NYT had an infuriating article Sunday abt Covid surging in Ark, quoted lots of people why they won’t get vaccine…never addressed Fox’s anti-vaccine crusade
I've never understood why Trump -- of all people -- passed up such a slam-dunk opportunity for self-promotion. He could have gone on TV live from the Oval Office in December or January and said, "I want everyone in our Great Country to go get the TRUMP VACCINE as soon as possible. The BIG, BEAUTIFUL TRUMP VACCINE, that's what people are calling it. There's never been anything like it in the history of the world, and it was brought to you by your favorite president." Even now he could do it, though it wouldn't have nearly the same impact.
You’re assuming that he’s not a psychopath and actually has a modicum of empathy in his being…
Does Murdoch have the same power in his homeland of Australia when it comes to the media?
I am disgustedly shocked that one political party in this country would work to sabotage a WORLD wide pandemic instead of working with Federal and State governments to get as many people vaccinated as possible. This is where we are in 2020-21. It’s absolutely horrendous. Where is my America and what have the Republicans done to her.
If I’m getting my facts right, I think Murdoch’s Australian paper has gone belly up. If only ....
No. In fact Murdoch still has the largest readership. News Corp also owns Sky News in Australia. In addition it dominates online news.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2020/nov/13/australia-newspaper-ownership-is-among-the-most-concentrated-in-the-world
That is why former PMs Malcolm Turnbull and Kevin Rudd have expressed deep concern about media concentration in Australia, and about Murdoch’s destructive influence on democracy not only in Australia but also the UK and the US. Murdoch owns the UK tabloid The Sun as well as the Times. He recently started an new “news” network there, too. He was one of the propagandists pushing the idiotic and disastrous Brexit along with Steve Bannon and the Mercers’ Cambridge Analytic as well as Putin, according to some sources.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/murdoch-wanted-him-out-because-he-was-his-own-man-turnbull-claims-20200416-p54kbc.html
How Fox News gets away with this is mind boggling. But then again, we are seeing very little justice in the wake of the assault on our democracy for over four years culminating with the insurrection on the Capitol. Really, what incentive do the bad actors, including Fox News, have in stopping from this lunatic behavior? Maybe the path to justice is slow and I've lost my patience but as every day goes by it seems more and more like we are just simply lost as a nation. I mean here we have a major news outlet hyping that a vaccine that will save your life, get us out of the pandemic and get the US and its economy back to normal is a really bad thing. If that doesn't tell you that the Republicans only crave power for itself at all costs and everything else be damned, I don't know what does.
and folks like Disney advertise!!!
"Own" the libs? A telling turn of phrase! But how can these would-be Legrees own anyone, when they don't even own themselves?
I'll bring a case of beer to the Press Run picnic for every one of the Fox Noise talking herd that HASN'T been vaccinated.
I expect to be traveling light...
Wouldn't it be nice if some medical professionals thought, hm, we're ethically obligated to protect patient privacy, but it's more important to protect patients generally, so let's release the vaccination records of all of the Fux Noise traitors?