Chris Rabideau: Video: HBO’s The Newsroom: Gun Control

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This post was originally posted at The New Democrat on WordPress

Don’t get me wrong, I’m in favor of what I call and others on the center-left call common sense gun control. And no that doesn’t mean gun prohibition and outlawing the second amendment. It means prohibiting stupid and crazy people and criminals who might be both, or even highly intelligent from owning or possessing firearms in America. And I’m not talking about preventing your average serial jaywalker from having a gun. Or even above average or below average serial jaywalker. For example since I qualify as a serial jaywalker and damn proud of my illegal walking across the streets, I wouldn’t be banned under common sense gun control from owning or possessing a firearm. As long as I don’t go stupid or nuts or become a real criminal that actually hurts innocent people. Which is who I’m talking about.

But gun control is like putting out a burning house with a baby’s spit, to try to solve a much larger problem and to put it simply. And if that is still not simple enough for you, you might be on my list of people who shouldn’t own or possess firearms in America. We need to go much further than that and if you are seriously interested in passing a constitutional amendment and are concern about gun violence, I might have an idea for you. How about we pass a constitutional amendment that prohibits idiots and mental patients from owning or possessing firearms in America. We’ll call it the mentally handicapped violence prevention amendment, or HVPA for all of you acronym junkies. Who obviously have way too much free time, or you wouldn’t be an acronym junkie.

I know what you are thinking, the politically correct crazy Left (MSNBC) would go nuts over this, because for one their gun rights would be taken away. But they would have a problem with Americans being denied rights simply for being stupid or crazy and claim discrimination towards stupid and crazy people. And perhaps invent new terms like nutism, which would be like racism for crazy people. And perhaps idiotism, which would be like racism for, well for idiots, if you’re keeping score at home. And if you are, similar to the acronym junkie, get a life.

I’m not trying to make fun of a very serious subject here. Strike that, of course I am, but hopefully doing it in a way that makes a serious solid point. Which is as long as we have stupid and crazy people with access to firearms in America, legal or illegal they’ll find ways to get guns and then take out their frustrations on people that they see as threats, who are completely innocent. If you don’t believe me and perhaps see me as a reporter for The Onion or something, (I wish) just look at the mental condition’s of our shooters the last what four years now and the people they’ve hurt or killed as a result.

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Kittens McTavish: HBO’s The Newsroom- Spreading Lies, Right-Wing Propaganda at it’s Worst

Megyn Kelly

This post was originally posted at The New Democrat on WordPress

I’m going to start this post off with a few expressions that may sound cheesy today, but explain what I’m getting at perfectly. “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. And the other one being, “every good reporters gets at least two sources on their story before they run with it”. The second is definitely true, but since we are now in a twenty-four hour news cycle with the first to report on something considered to be the winner in the Super Bowl of ratings war, even if they are inaccurate with their reporting, that rule is not followed very much anymore. It’s about being first and figuring out what actually happened later.

My point is about Fox News and her’s another expression, take everything that Fox News reports, especially about Democrats, people on the Left or even Republicans and people on the Right that the Tea Party and Far-Right views as RINOS or fake Republicans with at least a jar of salt. Forget about the grain of salt cliché, I mean seriously what can you do with a grain of salt anyway, it probably won’t even make you thirsty. Fox News in name only and they are only there as the official mouthpiece for the Tea Party and Far-Right in America. And perhaps the only cable network that take Representative Michelle Bachmann seriously and doesn’t see her as an escaped mental patient.

Everything you saw in this video actually happened. The Newsroom just took from what Fox News and other right-wing media sources reported on air. They just used their own lips, mouths and pieces against them. What’s the quickest way to defeat your opponent in an election or any other political battle? Use their own words against them, but make sure you inform people who are awake, competent and listening to you. Anytime Fox News claims to report something and you’re someone who is actually interested in news, well if that’s the case you’re probably not watching Fox News, but if you are, check at least three or four real news sources to make sure what FNC is reporting is actually accurate.

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HBO: The Newsroom- The Idealist vs. The Realist: News vs. Opinion

Source:HBO– Jeff Daniels as Will McEvoy.

Source:The New Democrat 

“Key scene in Episode 1 of HBO’s ‘Newsroom’, in which there ensues a heated argument between Will McAvoy, the anchor and star of the newscast, and his new Executive Producer, MacKenzie McHale. This argument essentially poses the question ‘what is the news?”

From The Newsroom

I could write a whole piece about the idealist vs. the realist and idealism vs. realism and how the realist lives on planet Earth. And that the idealist lives on planet Zodar or whatever, so far away that you couldn’t find that person with a made-up spaceship. Or is so high on pot or something that they could take a nap on cloud nine.

Which I gotta admit, that would be a hell of a lot more fun to write about. The person who lives in realty and believes in facts and makes the best of that world that they can. And the person who sees the world that they want and tries to force it on everyone else.

But what the two actors in this show were talking about was essentially news and facts vs. half-truths or even commentary. To put it simply, real news hard news vs. FOX News and MSNBC.

Not putting down NBC News, which I believe is still a fine news organization. But their so-called news network isn’t and instead is a twenty-hour a day five-days a week talking head for the Far-Left in America telling them what they want to here. Brought to you by the people who live on planet Zodar or high up in clouds looking at the world from the way they want to see it. Not the way it actually is.

And to be fair and balanced which FOX News isn’t and there’s my lead in about FOX News, they simply aren’t a news organization. You take Shepard Smith and Chris Wallace away from them and they don’t have one real news anchor in their so-called news division. And are left with a bunch of talking heads for the Tea Party and Far-Right in America.

And that is essentially where we are as a country politically. Where the fringes from both wings now look like the mainstream. And it is to the point the fringes have their own networks to represent their messages.

We live in a country where way too many Americans are not interested in the news. But for someone to represent what they want to hear and represent their political points of view. Not interested in facts, but information, even if you want to call it that which backs up their political points of view. And anything that contradicts their ideological and partisan viewpoints is treated as nothing more than bias media coverage from the opposition. Even if that information is actually true.

You want to know why Americans get stereotyped as dumb, I’ll tell you anyway: its because too many Americans the hyper-partisans on the Right and Left aren’t interested in facts and information. Especially when that information hurts them politically. They want half-truths so that so they can say: “See I told, they are really as bad as I’ve been saying all along”. While ignoring the evidence that perhaps completely contradicts their partisan or ideological argument.

And mainstream America as a result is turning off the news including cable and instead watching so-called reality TV, or finding other better things to do with their time.

 

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The Young Turks: Cenk Uygur: ‘President Obama Sets Bear Trap, Republicans Walk Right Into It’

Source:FOX News– Fox News, talking about President Barack Obama.

Source:The New Democrat

“Following President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday, where he called on Congress to end discriminatory workplace practices that “belong in a Mad Men episode” Fox News host Martha MacCallum proclaimed on the program American’s Newsroom that women did not want special laws ensuring equal for equal work because they already were compensated “exactly what they’re worth.” On the Fox program, two men, liberal radio host Alan Colmes and Fox News host Tucker Carlson, debated equal pay for women. Carlson assertedthat women actually made more than men if the time they “voluntarily” took off work to raise children was factored in. “The numbers don’t lie,” he insisted…”.* The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down.”

From The Young Turks

The current Republican governing policy is, “if Democrats are for it, we are against it, even if we are for it, or were once in favor of it”. And even offered it in health care reform a perfect example of that where the Affordable Care Act actually has a lot of good conservative ideas like the health care mandate and the health care market place in it. Which is the main reason why there hasn’t been much compromise in Congress between the House and Senate because when Democrats say okay we’ll agree to that, the House GOP just moves the ball further to get more compromises.

Then instead of Republicans saying okay let’s do that, Republicans just move the ball and say well, “if Democrats are willing to give us this, we can get them to give us this as well and hold off on a deal”. The deficit reduction negotiations are a perfect example of this where Democrats have put entitlement reform on the table and what Republicans is do is to say well, “if they will do that, then they’ll take exactly what type of entitlement reform we are interested in”. Like cutting Social Security benefits to future retirees or cutting benefits to current beneficiaries.

The only goal Republicans have right now is absolute power. And to accomplish this, they need to hold onto the House and 2014 and retake the Senate in 2014. To give them a united Republican Congress and to win back the White House in 2016 as well. While hanging onto Congress and the hard right partisan Republicans in the House and Senate have one clear strategy. “If Democrats are for it, it must be a bad idea even if it is our idea. So we are only going to put policies that are as far to the right as possible to get our partisan right-wing base behind us to avoid primary challenges”.

Which leaves us with gridlock when you have the Republican Leadership saying no to anything that the Democratic Leadership especially in the Senate and White House say yes to. Because now Democrats are in a position where they are only negotiating with themselves. Trying to find more moderate members in Congress to go along with some of these more conservative ideas in broader packages, while not losing any of their more, well lets say progressive members. Instead of negotiating with their own caucus’ in the House and Senate, along with Congressional Republicans.

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Salon: Opinion: Fred Jerome: “Lets Nationalize Fox News, Imagining a Very Different Media”: Imagine a State-Owned National Media in America, What a Nightmare For Democracy

This post was originally posted at The New Democrat on Blogger

Salon: Opinion: Fred Jerome: Let’s Nationalize Fox News, Imagining a Very Different Media

Imagine a country where the state meaning the central government controlled all the news and media. I know in the 21st Century that is very hard to imagine with so much of the world moving in a least in a Democratic direction if not a liberal democratic direction. And even countries in the Middle East and not just Turkey and Israel can people there get access to non-state-owned media and Saudi Arabia is one of them thanks to satellite TV, the internet and smart phones.

So this is really not possible anymore, but let’s say somehow the United States nationalized the media here at least the domestic media. And now you have the Federal Government with the National Security Agency and everything else now in control of even more information. And who get’s to see it and when. Even if you can forget about the fact that this would be unconstitutional because of our first amendment. Meaning this could and would never happen.

All of that power and information inside of the hands of the people with the power in the country getting to decide for the most part what we can read and listen to or watch. And when we could do those things. Now if you are going to imagine these things, you might as well imagine living in jail because the same thing happens there. You can’t have a Democracy especially a liberal democracy something that is covered a lot on this blog, without Freedom of the Press and the ability for people to get the information they need to be able to managed their own lives. It is really this simple, you put the power of media in the hands of government, you get what they want you to hear, when they want you to hear it.

What I just asked you to do, was to imagine a nightmare. Unless you are a fascist and statist who is so power-hungry that you can’t imagine anyone especially not with your government and political faction having any real power of their own affairs. That you see people as stupid, who can’t control things like information and how they get it and can’t manage their own affairs. What Fred Jerome is proposing here, especially to nationalize Fox News simply because it is kicking MSNBC’s butt in ratings, is nothing more than pure leftist statism and fascism. That the Far-Left likes to accuse the Right of all the time.
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The Young Turks: Cenk Uygur- Bill O’Reilly: ‘The Truth About Martin Luther King Jr.’

Source:The Young Turks– Bill giving The O’Reilly Finger to Dr. Martin L. King.

Source:FreeState MD

“Bill O’Reilly used the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr’s I Have A Dream speech to attack African Americans and claim that MLK was pro-right wing. The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down.”

From The Young Turks

So I guess you couldn’t have your own cable talk show, if you weren’t also a psychic and mindreader. Because apparently Bill O’Reilly has some super ability to go into dead people’s minds and read what they would think 45 years after their death. Which is apparently that Bill O’Reilly was doing about Dr. Martin Luther King. A man by the way, that Mr. O’Reilly never even met, let was able to ever talk too.

I don’t know where Bill O’Reilly gets the 75% of African-American babies being born out-of-wedlock. But he does have a point about the state of the current African-American community. And would have problems with it and disagreements with the community. And would want to see more done so this community doesn’t have more poverty, less education, fewer fathers in the households, more crime and murders and people in prison than the rest of the country as a whole.

But I guess it wouldn’t be The O’Reilly Finger, I mean Factor, if Billy wasn’t just stating the obvious and emphasizing the negative. Fifty-years after the I Have a Dream speech, fewer African-Americans now live in poverty, more go to school and finish school, graduate from college, live in the middle class. African-Americans. Still not doing as well as Caucasians, as well as Asians, regardless of ethnicity, and perhaps Latinos, again regardless of race or ethnicity. And that is still the challenge for this community to come to par with the rest of the country and not have negative statistics that are twice the average of the entire country.

To accomplish this, more African-Americans and Americans in general in poverty, need to go to good schools, finish school, further their education, not have kids until they’re personally and financially ready to take care of them and then actually raise their kids. And this get to men in the community that are man enough to create babies and life, but not man enough to raise their own kids. And leave that to the mother who isn’t doing very well herself, yet ready to raise kids all by herself.

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FOX News: John Fugelsang Talking Politics (2011)

Source:FOX News– talking about Newt Gingrich For President (2012)

Source:FreeState MD

“Comedian, actor, radio and television personality John Fugelsang appears on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” to discuss politics and The Stephanie Miller Sexy Liberal Comedy Tour.”

From Shanem FO

This is just about John Fugelang talking about American politics in 2011 and who was up and down that year. They talked about Newt Gingrich for President, who ran for President in 2011/12. And you get to hear what John Fugelsang and the rest of the panel thinks about what was going on in American politics late that year.

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The Daily Beast: This Week In Punditry- February 3rd, 2013

Source:The Daily Beast– Hardball With Chris Matthews. According to Chris Matthews.

Source:The Daily Journal

“Rush Limbaugh was his typical incendiary self, Chris Matthews got heated about Hillary, and Bill O’Reilly pushed Colin Powell’s buttons about race. See those clips and more in our roundup of the week’s most controversial news talk show moments.”

From The Daily Beast

I’m not sure there are three better examples of what’s wrong with so-called cable news (which is really just partisan talk TV) then Sean Hannity, Chris Matthews, and Bill O’Reilly. You want to know why the mainstream media is about as unpopular as the U.S. Congress or your average trial lawyer or insurance salesman, or used car salesman, listen to any of these three guys.

Source:The Daily Beast– Sean Hannity, Chris Matthews, and Bill O’Reilly: The Three Stooges of American politics?

This week in punditry. Let’s see, where should I start? Well, we just had a week with plenty of punditry in it, oh you want more than that, not sure why, but here it is if you want it, you’ve been warned.

Well, we had a Secretary of State step down, because she has better things to do than manage our foreign policy. I know right, what’s more important than that. Well she has another book to write and needs to decide if she wants to be President of the United States, or not. Wait, that’s more important, but of course it’s her decision. And I wish Secretary Hillary Clinton well with her new Gabby Giffords look in how she where’s her glasses. And I congratulate her with her service to the country the last four years by leaving Congress and not running for President and taking on President Obama. And the Democratic Party thanks her for that as well.

Let’s see what else happened, oh yeah we had a Secretary of Defense confirmation hearing, as if it’s not interesting enough that we would have a Progressive Democrat nominate a Conservative Republican for Secretary of Defense. But the fact that Chuck Hagel forgot to put caffeine in his morning coffee, or forgot to go to bed the night before and forgot to bring his memory, because not all of Chuck Hagel was at that hearing.

Did I also mention that Fox News claimed to be a serious news organization. No, seriously, I know when have they ever reported any news at all and that Fox News still remains the most trusted name in news. Well for the Republican Party anyway, but don’t take that very seriously. Because they also believe that it’s still 1955 and that President Ronald Reagan never raised any taxes. And that homosexuality was invented ten years ago and that Barack Obama is an African Muslim Socialist from Kenya. So take all of that for what it’s worth, borrow a dollar if you have too. Or use that money to actually buy something of value.

Fox News is as much of a news organization as Pat Robertson is a supporter of gay rights in America. And to be fair MSNBC is not much of a news organization either, but two cable networks that serve as mouthpieces for the two major political party’s in America.

What else happened this week? Oh yes, Rush Limbaugh who apparently still hasn’t died from a heart attack yet, declared that since the mainstream media won’t cover the real news in America, ( you know, anything negative towards Barack Obama and other Democrats) that if the mainstream media doesn’t do a job on Democrats, that Rush and his allies will. Perhaps force Democrats to listen to Rush’s radio show 24 hours a day and smoke his cigars till they get heart attacks.

Rush Limbaugh is about as much of a reporter as Ron Paul is a Socialist, it’s simply not believable. But the good thing for Rush is that as much as he may hate it, as well as the rest of the country may hate having Rush living in America, he lives in a liberal democracy with freedom of speech and beliefs.

That’s the way it is as Walter Cronkite the famous CBS News anchor always said to close the Evening News. A big week for a lot of people and more evidence of why we need to fully fund mental health care in America. And have a better public education system with all of the nutty and ignorant people we have on both sides of the aisle.

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The Daily Beast: Howard Kurtz & Bill Hemmer- ‘The Next Four Years at Fox News’

Source:The Daily Beast– Howard Kurtz and Bill Hemmer talking about the future of Fox News.

Source:The Daily Journal 

“President Obama’s re-election might seem as nothing has changed, but that doesn’t mean it will be boring, says Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer. He talks with Spin Cycle’s Howard Kurtz about Megyn Kelly’s ‘awkward’ election night moment with Karl Rove, and why the astute viewer will watch all the news channels.”

From The Daily Beast

The next four years at Fox News will hopefully start with a revaluation of how the report the news. Because how they’re doing it now, is not helping and informing the people who they speak for which are right-wing Tea Party Republicans and the Far-Right in America.

Even if because Republicans actually believe a lot of the, lets call it spin that comes from FNC and take it seriously and many times it’s just half-truths if that, which leaves a lot of Republicans, especially the professionals who either are politicians themselves or work for politicians, with at best half of the news. As we saw with the polling of the Romney-Obama election.

In the last few days only FNC thought that Mitt Romney was going to win (or that’s what they were saying publicly) or even had a good shot at winning. Where the rest of the mainstream media saw a clear bounce or bump in the favor of President Obama. Especially in states like Florida and Virginia, over the weekend with Ohio never moving towards Governor Romney either.

It’s fine and I’m even for a news organization having their commentary that clearly leans in one direction or the other, I’m not getting on FNC for that. But what they need to do if they want to get taken seriously and be considered a credible source for news outside of the Republican Party, is separate news from commentary, which is what The Wall Street Journal does.

It’s fine a way to separate the news from the commentary. Take Sheppard Smith’s lead on this who actually has a real newscast, the FOX Report. Just report the news no matter who it hurts, or helps and then have your commentators explain what they think it means. As well as bringing in more inform commentators. Not relying so much on the Dick Morris’s and Karl Rove’s of the world who are really just there to speak for their side of the aisle, but bring in people who actually know what they are talking about. When you bring them in to talk about the issues. Which CNN does with Republicans consultant Alex Castollanos.

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Thom Hartmann: Mike Papantonio- ‘The Decline of Broadcast News in America’

Source:Thom Hartmann– left-wing talk radio show host Mike Papantonio.

Source:The Daily Journal 

“Thom Hartmann talks with Mike Papantonio, attorney and Host of Ring of Fire Radio about the decline of broadcast news since Ronald Reagan did a way with the Fairness Doctrine and Bill Clinton signed the Telecommunications Act.
If you liked this clip of The Thom Hartmann Program, please do us a big favor and share it with your friends… and hit that “like” button!”

From Thom Hartmann

If as a country, we want to have strong broadcast news divisions, then Americans have to actually watch network news. Instead of just getting all of their info from cable or online.

We live in a liberal democracy, meaning people get to see what they watch. Rather than programming being forced on them. You can’t force people to do what is in their best interest and make the best decisions for themselves in a free society. Which is what a liberal democracy is.

We have a First Amendment which includes our free press (meaning not controlled by the government) and that means our private media is owned privately. Which means our broadcast networks, including their news divisions have to make money in order to stay in business. Unlike big government propaganda agencies that you see in communist countries that are literally owned and operated by the party in power and the government.

So for hard news to be seen and read in America, Americans actually have to watch and read that news coverage, otherwise it won’t make money and put the operating budgets of news companies, including news divisions, at risk. We get all the soft news and partisan news coverage in this country, because that’s what American watch, listen to and read and what makes money in this country.

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