08.16.23
1st Amendment Strike Force – FOX NEWS
- Shutting down the press is only going to add to the conspiracy speculation.
The Maui wildfire catastrophe has been one enduring frustration on a number of levels; President Biden’s displayed apathy is just one component. Reports coming out of the area detail the lack of preparation and warnings, services being cut off for no reason, and hobbled relief efforts.
That is, of those scant reports coming out, which mostly come from resident reports on social media. There has been quite little in the way of sweeping media coverage, and Will Cain from Fox News explains why.
As he has been sharing some personal stories from Maui on his Xitter account, Will found a curious detail while on the island. He was attempting to deliver some remote dispatches when he was told by local officials that the press is barred barred from the area. He was only able to get in because he is an actual resident.
We believe we are the only national media in West Maui. I haven’t see any other crews. And they tried to censor us and shut us down. “West Maui is a media free zone.” We only got through the checkpoints because I’m a property owner in West Maui. They have this place on info…
— Will Cain (@willcain) August 15, 2023
Gilded Reframe – NBC NEWS
- Sounds like Trump needs to save the press from themselves.
Jon Allen details that Donald Trump might have an out regarding next week’s GOP debate, which he has been saying he will not attend. The speculation is that, regarding his fourth indictment proceedings – this time in Georgia regarding alleged election interference – the former president could time his surrender with the debate, giving him an excuse as to why he would not be in Milwaukee to square off with the other candidates.
In the explanation, though, Allen seems to want to blame Trump for the promised madhouse that will ensue when Trump arrives at the Atlanta courthouse. See, the press which was incapable of controlling themselves during the previous indictments this year (staking out his plane at the airport, following his motorcade by chopper, having live footage of his front gate for half an hour while nothing happened) is not blamed for their own behavior regarding the man they are rabidly obsessing over.
Put another way, it's not at all hard to imagine Trump turning his jailhouse arrival into an O.J.-Simpson-in-the-Bronco-level spectacle at the same time Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is telling the debate audience about how he lowered the state's pension assumptions.
Grand Old Party debate or Trump party @ the county jail?
— Jonathan Allen (@jonallendc) August 16, 2023
It’s not hard to imagine Trump turning his jailhouse arrival into an O.J.-Simpson-in-the-Bronco-level spectacle at the same time DeSantis uses debate stage to show he lowered FL pension assumptions https://t.co/UENfiffs4Q
Anti-Social Media – TMZ
- There is a reason this is not the outlet to turn to for political insight.
Regarding the Trump indictment, they were discussing it and its coverage over at a television show on TMZ. You read that correctly. The topic was how this was being covered on TikTok, and for the discussion, they brought in an online expert from The Washington Post: Taylor Lorenz.
Taylor was gushing about how TikTok is the primary mover of information. Then she and the co-hosts were all agreeing that television is a dying medium and that those on television are not willing to admit that it is in fact a dying medium. This is where I feel the need to jump and remind everyone (particularly these three) that they were staging this discussion ON A TELEVISION PROGRAM!
(For the record, we are still at a loss if this segment was more embarrassing for Lorenz to be appearing on TMZ, or for TMZ to bring on Lorenz.)
Donald Trump has been indicted in Georgia and the proceedings will likely be televised. @TaylorLorenz came on @TMZLive to talk about how this will be covered on social media, especially on TikTok: pic.twitter.com/8oRpxYP341
— TMZ (@TMZ) August 16, 2023
Low Octane Gas Lighting – ROLLING STONE
Another week, another insipid post from this rag about what those on the right are supposedly up to that aggravates the staff. Two weeks ago, they were barking about Jason Aldean and the backward conservatives who liked his song. Last week, they were in a knot over Oliver Anthony and his sudden rise to fame for daring to sing about poor workers oppressed by the government. (Fight the Powerless, Rolling Stone!)
This week, the newest carping over conservatives is about Tiffany Gomas, the woman who went viral last month for her bizarre ranting on an airplane about someone on board who was "not real," or some such thing. Writer E.J. Dickson is on the case, though. The viral plane lady has become a “hero” to the far-right.
Tiffany Gomas's viral plane meltdown made her a hero of the far right. She came forward — but why did she need to?https://t.co/7AWGMbpA7B
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) August 15, 2023
There is no discernible way anyone made Gomas into a hero, given that, despite her coming forward, we still do not have a clue as to what in the living hell she was ranting about on that plane.
News Avoidance Syndrome – VARIOUS OUTLETS
- Annnnnnd...once again Biden delivers all manner of content for the on-vacation fact-checkers.
At a stop in Milwaukee, just ahead of his taking a week off in Lake Tahoe (following a beach weekend, to recover from his two-week vacation days earlier), Joe Biden gave a speech on ‘Bidenomics,’ and delivered quite a string of falsehoods to get the fact-checkers busy...looking for things conservatives may have said to distract away from Biden speaking in hand grenades.
While in Brew Town, Biden delivered the worn-out fable of his Amtrak conductor friend (a lie), claimed to be the first president to lower the deficit by $1.7 trillion (pure fantasy), and he declared he witnessed a bridge collapsing in Pittsburgh (just embarrassing).
Nothing to see here gang, I’m sure Ted Cruz has said something objectionable today...
WATCH: ‘Fact Checkers’ Nowhere to Be Found After Biden Tells Whopper on Pittsburgh Bridge Collapse https://t.co/pOkZNlnebZ
— RedState (@RedState) August 15, 2023
Blue Anon – FLORIDA POLITICS
- Telling you to bugger off about the kids is now “dodging the question.”
It used to be that the underaged children of politicians were "off-limits" to politically-motivated hit jobs.
[A pause, as an editor steps into the office.]
Ah yes, of course – we forgot for a moment. That standard only applies to one party. Forgive us on this lapse of memory.
As a result, Ron DeSantis was challenged with a question from his home state news outlet, Florida Politics. The governor was asked, pointedly, about what he and his wife might do if one of his children were to come out as gay or transgender. DeSantis, rather un-pointedly, told the reporter the politically-friendly equivalent of “Keep your damned beak out of my kids’ business, you creeper.”
'We'll leave that — we’ll leave that between my wife and I.'@RonDeSantis dodges reporter's question about what happens if his kids turn out to be 'gay or trans.'
— Florida Politics (@Fla_Pol) August 16, 2023
Reporting by @AGGancarskihttps://t.co/sZmn5JwIVw#FlaPol pic.twitter.com/3f2aalYYVe
