Why is Conservative Media Crumbling?

Trump supporters and progressives (ah but I repeat myself) are all gleefully reporting that Glenn Beck's media empire is crumbling. He's had some layoffs and those eager to see him go away and stop making them feel guilty and stupid are celebrating.

I think Beck will probably be alright. Like any businessman, he has had to respond to changes in the market and in the political climate - particularly so in his case. Beck had the audacity to speak out against the agenda of the progressive socialist movement in America. Beck is a victim of the same phenomenon that took down PJTV, is damaging FOX News and threatening other conservative media outlets.

And the threat is named Donald J. Trump!

And I'm typical of the kind of people who are seen as threatening conservatism. I'm one of those crazy #NeverTrump guys who won't ever vote for the Donald under any circumstances. As I've repeated ad nauseum, the lesser of two evils is sometimes neither. The only problem is that as the fear of a loss of power and a rise of influence of the conservative wing of the party gripped died in the wool Republicans, many leading Republicans came over to the Donald. Even Newt Gingrich called Trump our best hope. People like me responded, "If he's our best hope, we have no hope." One by one I've canceled my subscriptions to conservative media newsletters from Gingrich, Breitbart and Drudge, all of whom seem to have gone over to the dark side. Breitbart's Trump support, however seems to be waning as it's subscriber list falls to cancellation after cancellation by disgusted conservatives. Breitbart must be spinning in his grave at his namesake website's earlier near-endorsement of Trump. Now Glenn Beck, the once great uniter of the conservative wing of the Republican Party is feeling the wrath of the Trump herd.

Glenn Beck chose sides in the Republican primary and Trump supporters are angry about that. They've projected their anger and frustration onto a hero figure who has been willing to say or do anything to pander to them in order to get their votes. These people are so frightened and angry that they are stampeding and in a stampede, the herd looks for a big noisy bull to follow. Sadly, if that bull runs off a cliff, the herd will probably follow. It's all about emotion and momentum once the stampede has begun. Anyone who gets in the way of the charging herd, either has to move fast or get trampled. More than a few conservative leaders have hoof prints on their backs right now - at least the honest ones who care more about what happens to this country than they do about how much political power the Republican Party possesses at the moment.

A friend and Trump supporter told me that "Sometimes you just have to choose a herd." For the reasons above, I don't believe that's true. I'm more of a flock kind of guy. I like to know my Shepherd is someone I can trust. If I can't trust him, I'm out of the flock. It's a Christian thing. I don't expect those for whom faith in God is "silly religious stuff" as one Trump supporter described Glenn Beck's approach to media to even begin to understand taking a stand on principle.  So here we stand in the breach and we will not be moved. We may be overwhelmed and defeated, but we will never surrender. We will never give up.

You have chosen the form of the Destructor!

Trump has done exactly what his Democrat allies like George Soros and the Clintons had hoped he would do. He's torn the conservative movement in two and probably will bring down the Republican Party to boot - ushering in the United Socialist States of America or the People's Republic of America or maybe the People's Democratic Republic of American - any version of which will being neither democratic, nor a republic, nor, for that matter will it be "of the People". Trump will likely be nominated with a minority of the votes and with 30-40% of Republicans vowing to never vote for him under any circumstances - a sure recipe for a Clinton/Sanders victory. We have chosen the form of the destructor and he is Trump!

We're seeing the rise of a new National Socialism in America, manifest in the form of so-called Progressivism. Progressivism is a deadly dangerous idea that has led to much misery and death over the past century or so. The idea of a powerful nationalist America first movement has been tried before both here and more successfully in Europe. The 2016 election looks like 1933 all over again only here in America instead of Germany.  In a bit of eerie deja vu, this year's election looks like it's going to be between Communist socialists and National socialists with the Republic being consigned to the ash heap of history as was Germany's Weimar Republic.

Over the past century, we in America were tempted to leave our constitutionally limited government model in order to create great governmental power. We created this ever more centralized power in response to real external threats. We were told we needed to centralize power, ostensibly to protect the peace, health, liberty and safety of the American People. Sadly power attracts the corruptible and in the end, neither our peace, our health, our safety and above all, our liberty will be safe from those to whom power is everything in the world worth having.

God protect us from those who want to save us.

© 2016 by Tom King

Fox News and the Liberal Agenda

Fox News' Megyn Kelly - The Left's Enemy #1

Fox News is pretty much the only broadcast media outlet that currently gives fair play to conservatives. It's only equal time to be sure, but that's far more than anyone else does and it makes progressive socialists apoplectic. To them equal time is favoritism.  Fox News actually works out to be more fair and balanced than virtually anyone else. On Fox you can actually hear both sides of an argument. They don't overly favor anybody and they hire reporters that will take a shot at a pompous pundit or a windbag politician if there's one to be taken. That's what journalists should do. 

It's what Megyn Kelly did to Trump and that pompous, self-important windbag deserved everything he got in my opinion. But honest questions come at a cost, especially when you are up against a well-funded liberal propaganda machine.

The recent so-called "conservative" backlash against Fox is being orchestrated by left wing operatives following Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals to the letter.  

1. Pick the target - Fox News the only news media outlet that is not openly anti-conservative.
2. Freeze it - Sew doubt and mistrust among supporters
3. Personalize it - Pick on Megyn Kelly
4. Polarize it - Get lots of divisive hate speech going among your enemies (conservatives)

By "fixing, freezing, personalizing and polarizing, the Media Matters, Young Turks and other Soros-funded operatives are attempting to turn conservatives against Fox News (the only real support they have from major news media). In doings so, they hope Fox News will be fickle and become more sympathetic with liberals and perhaps even come over to their side. And they've salted conservative dialogue with clever sniping and false accusations in order to undercut Fox News' influence as much as possible and reduce their viewership. 

Fox right now beats out every other mainstream media including the vaunted CNN and NBC. George Soros and his operatives hate that. They want nothing less than to cut Fox down to size and reduce it's influence on mainstream Americans (who prefer Fox by huge numbers). The pitiful thing is that low-information conservatives are falling for it.

Please don't!

I'm just sayin'.


Tom King, © 2016

Democrat NY Assembly Speaker Arrested - Press Shrugs

Contrast this photo of Speaker Silver on his way to his arrest looking vaguely
like Boss Tweed with the pics in most of the mainstream press this morning.

(1-22-2015) Both Winston Churchill and Ronald Reagan both described attempts to appease your enemy as "Feeding the crocodile, hoping it will eat you last." It may have been "alligator". I've heard it both ways. At any rate, New York State Assembly Speaker, Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) was arrested in New York City, adding some credence to that notion. The crocodiles definitely smell blood in the water, though some of them are holding back a little, apparently hoping not to damage him too much in case he hasn't run out of croc-o-treats quite yet.

I first got news of the Speaker's arrest in an email flash from Fox News. I can't say I was surprised, but I got to wondering if anyone else had it. My first sweep didn't find much besides Fox's report. Around 10:00 am PST the reporting went like this: 

Fox Business News had a pretty straightforward report, predictably without a lot of puffy praise for the Speaker's past accomplishments. The story didn't dwell on his being a Democrat in the headalines, but did indicate in the lead picture that Silver was (D-Manhattan).

Fox News didn't lead with the story but it gave the link to the Fox Business News Story at the top of it's "Latest News" ticker.
 
CNN didn't have a story at all when I searched the site this morning, the day after the arrest. Perhaps they're holding back to see whether this is a "real" story or not.

ABC News never directly said that Silver was a Democrat, but talked about how Democrats reacted to the arrest, obliquely suggesting that Silver was their leader. ABC talked about the Democrats needing to change leadership and then quoted a prominent Democrat, Daniel O'Donnell as saying there was "no chance of that." The article ended with praise for Silver's work over the years, making him sound like a warrior in a noble cause, then admitted there had been signs of scandal in the past that the Speaker had dismissed as "...having been handled by the ethics committee."

NBC News didn't have the story listed as a leading story and a search turned up nothing this morning.

CBS News, one of the better "which way the wind is blowing" members of the media did post the story with the headline - Sheldon Silver, powerful New York Democrat, arrested by FBI. The link was well down toward the bottom of the page, but at least they covered it. They also posted a recent picture showing Silver looking like a craggy old white guy in the back of a limo - the sort of perp walk picture you'd expect under a headline like the one above. The reporter did use the same text clip that ABC used about the Dems contemplating no changes in leadership by Assemblyman Daniel O'Donnell (D-Manhattan) though they did add this extra line from O'Donnell's quote - "It's "a sad day considering" all the work Silver and the conference have done protecting New York's poor and others."

MSNBC, perhaps hoping to avoid charges of one-sided reporting, listed the story well down at number nine in its top ten stories. The story is surprisingly up-front about the charges and the fact that Silver is a Democrat. Then, it waxes poetical....

"Silver, 70, was elected in 1976 and named Speaker in 1994, where he took a key role negotiating bills and hammering out budgets with the Senate majority leader and governor in back rooms. He earned a reputation as an unmovable force in the capital, while governors came and went and other legislators were felled by political blunders.  Silver’s office has not yet commented on details of the arrest. Investigators declined to comment on proceedings to NBC News. State lawmakers are legally allowed to serve during investigation and even after an arrest, but if they are convicted of felony charges they must leave office."

Good news that. Silver won't have to leave office till they actually convict him, huh? Also MSNBC's picture of the Speaker was of him when he was younger and less "old craggy white guy".

The Huffington Post to its credit placed the story third down on both it's front page and politics page and included a very nice picture of him (though the picture was probably a few years old). The headlines were Sheldon Silver Arrested By FBI On Corruption Charges and Top NY Lawmaker Arrested By FBI On Corruption Charges. The story was quick and straightforward without a lot of puff. It ended by quoting Silver, as he was quoted by the NY Times, saying, "I hope I'll be vindicated," as he entered the FBI building in New York to surrender. The story was surrounded by Huff-Po's usual collection of gleefully anti-Republican front-pagers.

Imagine if Silver had been a Republican. Given that he's also an Orthodox Jew, I really doubt the liberal press would have granted him as much of a "by" on this one, especially given the anti-semitic tone of reporting coming from the left of late. The headline in all the news media certainly would NOT have been about under-inflated footballs.

© 2014 by Tom King

I Aim to Misbehave: The Myth of the Unbiased Media

I kind of went off on an old friend today. A Ph.D. who apparently took the left path at some point, he posted the poem about "you tired, your poor and your huddled masses" and basically indicated that the concern of the right over the whole immigration issue wasn't "American". In a follow up comment he expressed a desire for a return to the days when reporters were taught, "...that a good reporter never showed his/her personal bias."  Sadly, he said, those days are gone.

Sadly, my friend, those days were never here. Every reporter, even good old Walter Cronkite came to the task with his own personal druthers. Cronkite was an old leftie and everybody knew it. I used to watch him. I liked him, but I was never in doubt about his slant on the story. My friend pointed out that 28% of Fox News viewers also watched MSNBC as though that somehow diluted Fox's influence.

The reason people watch both Fox and MSNBC is because they are pretty much the only two news outlets that are clear as to what their reporters biases are. Fox is at least honest about it. With MSNBC, it's just so blatant you can't miss it, whatever they claim about being unbiased. What I like about Fox is that when a reporter is a conservative, you know it. When he's a liberal you know it. And Fox has both varieties of reporter. More importantly and the reason for their dominance of the news market is that Fox gives conservative viewers the chance to hear a reporter ask the questions that they would like to ask for themselves.

I, for one, do NOT long for the good old days when we got fed whatever the top 1 or 2 newspapers, television or radio stations thought we ought to hear. There was no conservative media, then, except possibly for William F. Buckley whom the stations kept around and trotted out once in a while when they wanted us to know they were being fair or when some politicians on the left weren't living up to their potential and they wanted Buckley to spank 'em. They crucified Barry Goldwater in the media and they had no shame about doing it. The only way Reagan got himself elected was because he was able to bypass the news media and appeal directly to heartland America.

I actually studied journalism back in them good old days and what the books were teaching was how to diddle stories to reflect a Marxist agenda. It was that open. Marxism was what the cool guys believed. The assumption was that if you were a journalist, you were a liberal. I withdrew from graduate school psychology because my professors demanded that I not only not believe in God and stop being a Christian, but also that I give up on all this silly monogamy stuff. The three top department heads had all wound up divorced during grad school and thought that if you didn't get a divorce while in grad school, that you weren't working hard enough. Not wishing to abandon my marriage in order to collect my degree, I left higher academia.

I am left with a deep and abiding mistrust of the motives of the left. I have good reason. I have seen them in action and however much most claim to be altruistic and want peace, love, sex, drugs and rock n' roll, underneath it all, the most ardent of leftists have a profound lust to exercise power over those they consider beneath them - the fabled teeming masses. The self-appointed great thinkers of our country think they are superior intellectually and that we cannot manage our lives without them. They think of us in nice statistical groups that, if only they have enough data, they could manipulate us like so many puppets - for our own good, of course.

Since the Garden of Eden it's been all about "being like God" for these people. The only real reason the progressive left has for feeding the starving, clothing the naked or housing the homeless is to relieve their own guilt and to pacify the rabble so they don't rise up and murder the privileged classes in their beds.

Progressivism is nothing less than the ancient idea of the divine right of kings morphed into the divine right of the smug and self-serving pseudo-intellectual wealthy upper classes. America undercut the notion of inherited nobility. The new would-be nobility must undermine America to restore what they see as their right to rule, to look down on a passive motley rabble and order them about as it suits them.

I know that sounds harsh, but every time I bore down into the progressive argument, I find the same creepy smug sense of entitled superiority. I could get along with these people. My IQ is in the top 2%. All I'd have to do is buy into the idea of the elite class and adopt the same ideas they all share for managing the ignorant proletariat and I'm in.  Trouble is, I've thrown my hat in with the proletariat. I'd rather be free with regular decent people than one of the cool guys who think they ought to run things because, according to Marx and Darwin, smart people can make us all better and happy.

Once in a while the proletariat does rise up and reassert its right to not be meddled with - like in the 80's. Trouble is, then we all go back to work and the meddlers start it all back up again. They think that somehow if they pass enough law, hand out enough bread and circuses, they can make people..................better. By better, they seem to mean more submissive.

Maslow was wrong about the whole hierarchy of needs thing. Altruism and productivity doesn't inevitably come as a result of being fed, clothed and housed adequately. Sometimes altruistic is just who you choose to be.  People often stand by their principles even while the priests are piling up wood about their feet and waving torches.

The progressive left believes we smart people can somehow make people better. 

As my favorite spaceship captain, Malcolm Reynolds once said, "I do not hold to that. So no more runnin'.  I aim to misbehave."

© 2014 by Tom King

There You Go Again.....The Paulestinians Stretch Another Conspiracy Theory to Ludicrous Lengths

The rumors of Judge Napolitano's banishment from
FOX News have been greatly exaggerated.

The Paulestinians are at it again. Apparently, Judge Napolitan's show on Fox Business will be cancelled, although the judge will remain a Fox contributor. A recent bit of political conspiracy spam has popped up saying a specific speech more than 8 months earlier was the reason he was fired.

This is because someone found a Napolitano piece that mentioned Ron Paul favorably and tried to connect it to the cancellation of his show.  Never mind that Napolitano did this piece two years ago. Never mind that Fox was already planning a program shuffle before Napolitano did this report. Never mind that the Judge did a major piece on Fox News just last week. Never let a little thing like the truth get in the way of a good conspiracy theory.

The Paulestinian, conspiracy junkies, every ready to stretch a suspicion to ludicrous lengths, call an unrelated Freedom Watch segment the so-called "speech that got him fired" and run it as a breaking news story.  Since Napolitano was "fired", the Judge has been on Fox as a commentator and reporter so often most people didn't realize his regular show was gone.  It really seems unlikely that Fox would keep giving him feature stories for almost two years after they "fired" him for mentioning the almighty Ron Paul with suitable (for Libertarians anyway) reverence. And he's done some even more controversial pieces since then.

It looks like the Paulistas would get tired of this nonsense after a while. They really are starting to make conservatives look bad. Let me say this one more time and since the forces de' Paul seem to prefer to write in all caps let me as one of the Bible's minor prophets put it, "Write it with large letters so that he who runs may read it":

LYING DOES NOT HELP THE CAUSE. IT ONLY MAKES US LOOK LIKE..........LIARS!

Stop it, please.

Just sayin'

Tom King © 2013

Poetic Justice - Helen Thomas Vacates - Fox Movin' on Up!

According to "The Hill" today, the press corps has formally decided who gets Helen Thomas' old seat on the front row in the White House press room.  NPR wanted it. Liberal lobbyists pressed their support for NPR. Bloomberg wanted it, but FOX got the seat taking AP's old front row seat when AP shifted over.  The Associated Press moves to the center I suppose in deference to its being a traditional newswire service that's probably as near to expiring as Helen Thomas herself.

We'll all miss the lovable Ms. Thomas who has represented UPI till it was bought by the Reverend Myung Sung Moon. She quit UPI and became a columnist for the Hearst newspaper syndicate. She joined the White House press corps in 1961 when she followed John Kennedy all the way into the White House as a UPI reporter. From there, she put down roots and moved to the center seat by virtue of outliving all the competition. When asked about who should take her place front and center, Thomas said it would be "unfortunate" if Fox News got her old spot.

With Fox burying the competition for news ratings, liberal lobbyists and Journolist hacks calling it a "facist propaganda bureau", I was a bit surprised the press corps voted to move Fox up to the hallowed front row at all.  I can only think of a couple of reasons why they would have voted Fox to the front row.

1. Their own media organizations are dying and they're hoping they can get a job with Fox like Mike Wallace did.
2. They are hoping Fox will send Meghan Kelly over to take Helen Thomas' old UPI seat on the front row in case AP sends someone really unpleasant looking to take Helen's spot. That way the back row news boys can watch from behind as Meghan slowly stands up and walks away after the press conferences. 

The Hill got the story a bit wrong.  What happened was this.  Apparently, AP gets Thomas' old center front row seat (they always get the first question at press conferences by tradition - no one is sure why).

The reporters gave Helen Thomas' old front row seat to Fox News.  So AP moves to the center seat Thomas held by dint of long service and Fox moves up to the front, giving its second row seat to NPR. The libs are very unhappy. If Fox sends Meghan Kelly to the White House even just once in a while, however, the male reporters at least are likely to be quite comfortable with the new enhanced Fox presence.

And I promise you, Meghan Kelly will look way less scary when she's 89.

Whatever happens, with Fox finally acknowledged as one of the big boys, press conferences should be even more fun.

I'm just sayin' that's all.

Tom
*I actually do hope they send Meghan Kelly. After the smackdown last week of Kirsten Powers, I'd love to see her pitch a few hard balls to the prez!