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09.06.23

Presentation Paradox – THE DAILY BEAST

We are not even a full week into the month, and already, The Daily Beast will want to forget this September took place. Following immediately on the heels of the sheer embarrassment of being fooled by a fake interview to accuse another outlet of falling prey to a fake interview comes this lamentable effort to shame the right.

Jared Holt penned a daft measurement of the Nazis recently filmed in Florida. He claims that people on the right "deny reality" by suggesting these cosplay dolts were fake or even feds:

The reflex to declare any assembling of right-wing extremists or violence committed by them a “false flag” has seemed to strengthen among conservative social media figures in recent years, which in turn has molded their audiences to do the same.

First off, none of them committed any violence that could be declared false, so that is the first lie. The second is the lie of omission because, in the desperate effort to position these stunted idiots as deriving from the right, Holt ignores two words throughout his screed: Joe Biden.

What can be said when he writes about "the unhinged reality denial" from the right while these Nazis were cursing Ron DeSantis and declaring they supported President Biden over Trump?

Low Octane Gas Lighting – POLITICO

  • Taking this evidence-denial stance right after Philip Bump shamed himself is a bad look, to be sure.

It is becoming rather clear that the press has backed themselves into a corner regarding Joe Biden and the mounting evidence showing his involvement in his son Hunter's financial escapades.

Oh wait, did we say "evidence"?!?! Oh, heck, we have just become one of those right-wing media outlets funded by billionaires dispensing with misinformation because, as Heidi Przybyla informs us, there is ZERO evidence that Joe Biden has done anything, anywhere, involving anyone connected to any money given to any member of his family!

The delusion is so thick here that in this thread, Przybyla tries in vain to deflect from the evidence uncovered by the congressional investigation to suggest that some ethics people say Jared Kushner appearing to have the potential of possibly doing something questionable is far more serious.

Legalized Press-titution – MSNBC

  • They make this annual occurrence seen across hundreds of campuses every year sound like a historic event.

In the latest example of common sense being shredded in the name of trans-sympathy, a sorority has seen its lawsuit tossed by a judge because it resisted being forced to keep a trans individual as a member. The controversy surrounds Artemis Langford, who was in the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority at the University of Wyoming. The members filed the lawsuit claiming Langford was acting inappropriately around members and was seen with an erection after peeping on the sisters in the house. 

In this gushing interview, MSNBC raves about Langford's bravery while never once exploring the other side of the accusations or even speaking with any of the members of the sorority opposing this ruling. 

DNC PR Firm – ABC NEWS

In a glowing profile about teenagers who have brought suit in Montana against climate deniers, ABC News does a deep exploration profile on the Busse brothers, two of the teens who helped provoke what we are told is a deeply trenchant ruling:

The Busse brothers, not yet old enough to vote, joined 14 other young Montanans in suing their government for failing to protect them from the impacts of climate change. Last month, a judge ruled in their favor in a landmark decision that also found the state was complicit in the problem.

It might strike one as curious why out of 16 students these two brothers are focused on, as well as what forces and/or influences might be behind high-schoolers going to such legal lengths, but reporters Devin Dwyer and Sarah Herndon see this as barely a trivial detail worth mentioning. After numerous dramatic photographs and about 1,500 words of sympathetic profiling, we get this toss-away detail mentioned in the final five sentences:

Sara Busse, the boys' mom, says she and her husband Ryan, who's running for governor, see a bigger lesson for teens everywhere.

You would have to be a conspirational cynic to think that their father, who is a gun-control advocate running for governor on the Democratic ticket, has anything at all to do with this effort by these magnificent citizens…who cannot even vote.

News Avoidance Syndrome – VARIOUS OUTLETS

  • Considering that we have not heard much from Florida, it must be a sign the recovery is going wonderfully.

It has been rather quiet in the media universe regarding the recovery efforts in Florida following the impact of Hurricane Idalia. You can be assured, considering Governor Ron DeSantis is on the scene, that there would be blaring headlines if there were massive controversy or severe problems found. Or even minor problems. But the self-imposed radio silence from the major outlets and networks tells us things are going about as well as hoped for, so none of that positive coverage can be broadcast loudly.

Reporting on the Mirror – THE ATLANTIC

The continued misrepresentation of Florida school curriculums by the press is so consummate that you begin to think that the actual content of classroom teachings is inconsequential. In fact, the way the press lies about Florida schools so comprehensively, you'd think the only subject taught in J-school is creative/fictional writing.

The latest sees The Atlantic discussing Florida's 'Stop WOKE Act," and to describe the content of the legislation, they cite a segment from the Miami Herald. That is, there was not a pull quote delivering the wording from the actual law, but instead, delivering what the Miami paper interprets the law to intend:

One of those laws is the Stop WOKE Act, which prohibits any instruction that, as the Miami Herald reported, “could prompt students to feel discomfort about a historical event because of their race, ethnicity, sex or national origin.” In fact, one could argue that Florida law now prohibits DeSantis’s speech itself from being discussed in Florida schools.

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