Major news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and BuzzFeed were banned from a recent White House press briefing with Donald Trump press secretary Sean Spicer. While most people are focusing on the fact that these outlets were banned for publishing things that displeased the White House, what about the fact that these guys shouldn’t be attending such events in the first place? Whatever happened to real reporting?
OMG Now We’ll Have to Report on Actual News?
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication and WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a contributor to Centerclip and co-host of "The Final Countdown" talk show on Radio Sputnik. He is a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "2024: Revisited."
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«CNN, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times … real reporting ?» What are you smoking, Ted ?…
Henri
These stenographers to power, if deprived of access, will have to find “newsish” things to publish in order to “sell eyes” to other corporatist interests.
No problem, so long as Minitru has given these «newsish» things – e g, that a US senator has exchanged words with a Russian ambassador to the US – the Good Housekeeping seal of approval. Everything else – i e, that the senator in question is a racist – is «Fake News», or irrelevant….
Henri
“Trump … is not eligible to be president.”
That statement is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing else but the truth. (insofar as ‘eligible’ is a synonym for ‘qualified’) Unfortunately – due to shortsightedness on the part of the four fathers – being qualified for the office is not a prerequisite.for occupying the office.
When Obama and Bush, jr were president, the MSM went to the briefings and said they’d gotten the TRVTH.
Ex 1. Saddam sent the second largest number of 9/11 jihadists and the US had irrefutable proof that he was planning a second attack with WMD that would make 9/11 seem like a garden party.
E.g. 2, Obama micro-managed the killing of Osama, who was located by ‘enhanced interrogation’. Osama was living in a multi-million dollar fortress with a team of heavily armed crack jihadists, but, thanks to Obama’s brilliant leadership, not a single Seal was harmed, and they found plans that, had they gotten out to al-Qaeda, they could not have been stopped, and the attack would make 9/11 seem like a fender-bender.
Firefights being what they are, that version is implausible in the extreme, but the MSM reported it as Gospel, filed their stories, and went home with kudos from their bosses.
Eg 3) The Russians hacked the election, and the proof is irrefutable but classified, so you must believe us that Trump did NOT win and is not eligible to be president.
Now the press has to work to find out what really happened.
(Cf the Walters cartoon for 9 Feb comicskingdom.com/kirk-walters/2017-02-09 ; also read The Burden of the Desert by Justin Huggler: reporters who were embedded, who lived in the Green Zone, who got all their stories from US briefings told nothing but lies; only the reporters who risked their lives to check things out found out what really happened.)
crud – post above is meant to be a reply to michaelwme’s post.
Osama bin Laden is still alive, and the American public has been duped. 🙁
Politics is magic, a distracting diversion away from the real game.
Whatever is said must be true if it’s repeated often enough, and if the self-serving authorities say it’s true, it gets repeated.
Osama paid Obama to say he is dead so he could live in peace on his inheritance money, in the style of the Saudi family plutocracy he was born into.
Osama’s body is lying on a poolside deckchair, breathing deeply and soaking up the sun and drinks with umbrellas in them. Not on the bottom of the ocean.
Bush let the bin Ladens fly home after the 911 attack because Bush W. is closer to the bin Ladens than Trump is to Russia.
And this is the Blessing/Curse regarding the last choice of the ballot-box blues … lesser-evil voting. EVERYTHING Trump does will be sifted through a needle’s eye for legitimacy. Had Kankles prevailed? That demon-slut would have already finished her deal by now with China to own all our souls.
Trump has some hard-core 001%ers on his team, all looking to promote their brand. Hillary would have had a gaggle of 1%/01% suckups on a GSoros-for-_od extravaganza paving its way to eternity. In the end, the meek will inherit the Earth, but most of us will be lucky to inherit an urn. Aw hell, NWO politics is just an urban legend though, ain’t it?
DanD
«That demon-slut would have already finished her deal by now with China to own all our souls.» And I who thought, DanD, that the Chinese had more than enough pollution on their hands as it is and were doing their best to fight it – whatever would they do with your soul ? Unlike dear Mr Trump, of course, who realises that what you can’t see, can’t hurt you (until, perhaps, it forces itself upon you)…..
Henri
henri ~
You’re operating under the assumption that the Chinese government is any more sane or competent than is our own. And T-rump? Fuck, he’s going to sell us out too … he just has a different buyer in mind.
Right now it’s a battle between New Money and Old Money. Old Money is institutionally more entrenched, but New Money is populist-supported by a rabble of desperation. Either way, those significantly without money are poop-shute scewed from the get-go.
DanD
«You’re operating under the assumption that the Chinese government is any more sane or competent than is our own.» No, DanD, I’m not labouring under the assumption that the Chinese government is any more competent than your own ; I just find it difficult to see why they would want to own your soul. After all, under the assumption that humans possess souls – or perhaps it’s the other way ’round ; I’m not trained as a theologian – surely souls are not in short supply in China ? But perhaps not all souls are created equal….
Henri
The “soul” is a metaphor equivalent of the “id.” Both are intangible. Either is as all-encompassing as is needed. The soul encompasses a person’s very “being,” both tangible and illusory. Tell me mh, is this your primary duty at TRall’s website, to distract readers from the primary focus of other peoples comments?
DanD
«Tell me mh, is this your primary duty at TRall’s website, to distract readers from the primary focus of other peoples comments?» Given that your comment on «souls» did not – and does not – make a great deal of sense, DanD, you will have to forgive me if I request clarification. Whether or not you provide such, is, of course, up to you…. 😉
Henri
This open letter to Trump from The Media is heartening, at least.
Trump threw down the gauntlet, and I’ll bet there are a few reporters still out there with spine enough to pick it up. The White House Press Corps thrives on access – by denying it to them, Duh Donald has removed the one incentive they had to say nice things about him. Now they’ve nothing to lose by pissing him off.
Moreover, news is a business. During the campaign, the media were full of “Trump said THIS stupid thing” because it was good for sales. They’re not about to stop now. (Nor is His ass-Holiness about to stop saying stupid things.)
Back when tRump was merely a celebrity blowhard, Toto felt no need to pull back the curtain.
Best part of the cartoon? The “Nixon Resigns” headline in the background. When the last credible thing your organization did was 40 years in the past, it’s time to admit you’ve lost your way.
I like the Kennedy and Connally shot in Dallas headline from back in the day when fake news was done with panache.
«I like the Kennedy and Connally shot in Dallas headline from back in the day when fake news was done with panache.» The important thing, Glenn (and Alex) is to be able to demonstrate that one has never talked to a Russian – or anybody who could reasonably be mistaken for one….
There is, after all, a distinction between venial and mortal sins….
Henri
I think Ted is a little harsh on such newsish outlets as the New York Times and CNN ; in reporting on the indiscretions committed by Messrs Sessions and Flynn (and no doubt others as well, like Mr Schumer and Ms Pelosi), they merely have in mind the unfortunately little-known 10½ Amendment to the US Constitution, otherwise known as Amendment XS (don’t ask !) : «No Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under the United States, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, engage in speech or writing with any Person holding any such Office under the Empire of Russia.»), which, upon diligent searching, is to be found between Amendment X : «The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.») and Amendment XI : «The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.») to the US Constitution….
The people calling this a witch hunt simply have forgotten all they learned about the US Constitution in elementary school. Besides, the fact that Mr Sessions is a racist son of a bitch doesn’t disqualify him from serving as US Attorney General – that certainly isn’t unconstitutional, as a quick perusal of the document will suffice to show – so if one wants to get rid of him, one has to come up with something, like talking to the Russian ambassador, that demonstrably is….
Henri
> the fact that Mr Sessions is a racist son of a bitch doesn’t disqualify him from serving as US Attorney General
One wonders whether Komrade Sessioninski should be disqualified for lying under oath. After all, he did vote to remove William Jefferson Clinton from office for lying about a purely private affair. Two wonder whether lying about conspiring with the historical enemies of one’s country
isn’t just a teensy bit naughtier. Three wonder whether the act of conspiracy itself should be considered high treason …
Strange that you should approach the question from that viewpoint.
Elsewhere on the internet, I have been holding back for the right moment to introduce the “lies” of WJC about the Lewinski affair to compare with Sessions’ “lies” about communicating with Russians.
Well, WJC — thinking like a lawyer — equated “sexual relations” with “coitus” and said (in his mind), “I did not have coitus with that woman.” True.
Sessions says, “I did not have communications during that time frame with Russians.” (That’s a paraphrase.)
So, thinking like a lawyer, he states truthfully that there were no communications with “Russians” since there was only one, the ambassador — or, perhaps, they didn’t communicate at all since they were behind closed doors and nobody can prove otherwise.
😀
eh, it’s part of my decades-old rant about the supposed GOP “Values.”
They have no values, for every time they’ve taken a hard stand based on ‘values’ I can point to a time when they took a hard stand on the exact opposite. The single, solitary, issue on which they’ve never wavered is “the rich get richer while the rest of us pay for it.”
«One wonders whether Komrade Sessioninski should be disqualified for lying under oath.» You seem to read Amendment XS to the US Constitution in the same manner as I do, CrazyH. I’m not sure, however, that the charge of lying under oath (aka the John Owen Brennan manoeuvre, but that apostle of truth, Barack Hussein Obama didn’t remove Mr Brennan for that) is valid. As I understand it the exchange between US Senator Franken and Mr Sessions (as he is otherwise known) went as follows :
Franken : «If there is any evidence that anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign communicated with the Russian government in the course of this campaign, what will you do?»
Sessions : «Senator Franken, I’m not aware of any of those activities. I have been called a «surrogate» at a time or two in that campaign, and I didn’t have communication with the Russians and I’m unable to comment on it»
Then there is also the written question from another US Senator, Patrick Joseph Leahy, to Mr Sessions : «Several of the president-elect’s nominees or senior advisers have Russian ties. Have you been in contact with anyone connected to any part of the Russian government about the 2016 election, either before or after election day?», to which Mr Sessions, according to the Washington Post, responded «No».
As I see it, Mr Sessions could reasonably have interpreted both questions as queries regarding contacts with Russians (gasp !) in connexion with Mr Trump’s presidential campaign….
But I agree – while Mr Sessions’ being a racist son of a bitch is utterly irrelevant to the question of his fitness for the post of US Attorney General, his cavalier violation of Article XS of the US Constitution is not. Indeed, impeaching and removing him from that post is hardly sufficient ; he should obviously be sentenced to death for treason….
I also agree with you with regard to the GOP not having «values». Alas, the same thing can be said, as the latest Washington witch hunt suffices to show, of (most of ?) their colleagues on the other side of the aisle, as well as the corporate press in North America and Europe….
Henri
Just think, in an alternate reality, where HRC had one fraction of a second of awareness that wasn’t governed totally by her self-interest, Bernie Sanders won the election and we all have universal health care.
Add to the Hillary campaign’s attacks on Sanders, this:
“The Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee called for using far-right candidates ‘as a cudgel to move the more established candidates further to the right.’ Clinton’s camp insisted that Trump and other extremists should be ‘elevated’ to ‘leaders of the pack’ and media outlets should be told to ‘take them seriously.’
The strategy backfired — royally.”
https://www.salon.com/2016/11/09/the-hillary-clinton-campaign-intentionally-created-donald-trump-with-its-pied-piper-strategy/
@ alex_the_tired –
I’m still pissed that Wasserman-Schultz and her organization took deliberate action to undermine Sanders.
I’m still pissed that Sanders chose to run as a Democrat instead of an Independent.
I’m still pissed that Sanders didn’t accept Stein’s offer to run as a Green Party candidate as top of the ticket.
I’m still pissed that, failing all of the above, Sanders reneged on his promise to let the delegates at the convention make the final decision on the candidate for the Democrat Party.
I want my “alternate reality” where things should have gone my way.
🙁
Were I permitted to choose one «alternative reality», mein verehrter Lerher, it would be one in which that man of Peace, Barack Hussein Obama, did not determine that the US would, in the next three decades, spend a million million (10¹²) USD on a href=”http://thediplomat.com/2014/01/us-to-spend-1-trillion-on-nukes/”>«upgrading» its nuclear weapons. As far as I can see, there has been little discussion among non-specialists as to what specifically this upgrade means and the strategic consequences thereof, but this analysis by Hans M Kristensen, Matthew McKinzie, and Theodore A Postol at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is more than enough to give one pause….
If H sapiens sapiens manages to make it through the next three decades, it will be, I suspect, more the result of luck than skill….
Henri
«Just think, in an alternate reality, where HRC had one fraction of a second of awareness that wasn’t governed totally by her self-interest, Bernie Sanders won the election and we all have universal health care.» I certainly think that all you people in the United States deserve and should have universal health care, Alex, but I also hope that in that alternative reality of yours, that one of the first things Mr Sanders, as US president did after taking office, was to cancel his predecessor’s decision to upgrade US nuclear-weapon capabilities….
Even universal health care will not avail if we are all wiped out in a thermonuclear cataclysm….
Henri
> Even universal health care will not avail if we are all wiped out in a thermonuclear cataclysm….
… but it will most assuredly be cheaper. Everybody wins!
«… but it will most assuredly be cheaper. Everybody wins!» Excellent point, CrazyH ; that takes austerity (i e, for the poor ; other and vastly different policies are adopted for the rich), which is so popular (among fiscal authorities) here in Europe, to new heights !…
Henri