"the inevitable disaster that will be the Trump Administration"

[Wabash]

I like both of them.

[John Q. Public]

Given the ratings of FNC, wouldn't they also be considered part of the MSM?

Are you blonde, by any chance?

[Bick]

Two people I blame more than any others are Karl Rove and Roger Ailes. Both are/were brilliant men but both took divisiveness to new levels and exploited it for all it's worth. Ailes invented "the mainstream media" ferchrissakes!

Somewhere along the line, we consumers of news got really lazy, and demanded the news media supply us with entertainment and opinions instead of objective facts to draw our own conclusions. Remember car chases pre-empting a show you were watching on TV? A slow moving white Bronco on a good portion of the screen during the NBA finals?

WE were somehow interested in some no-talent (PG Rated anyway) gal, and now her entire family because she taped and publicly distributed herself having sex with someone.

[not4u13]

It's popular to blame the consumers of news for the swing and I can see that argument. Follow the money. News programs received higher ratings if they provides something entertaining, and that isn't always news. While that is TV news primarily, it's spread to other forms.

I think a more likely culprit is the Internet "news" blog and all the supposed news sources that have one "reporter" swinging his/her smartphone around recording sound bites, that's if they even have ANY original content. More likely there will be a re-posting of the same news stories but this time with different ads.

A whole lot of people started seeing what they thought were independent news stories all saying the same thing. BAM. Facts corroborated. Except they were not. They were all from the same, often questionable, news source.

People still haven't learned how to consume all the data thrown at them and turn it into information that is usable. I know a whole lot of people who don't even believe some of the most credible fact checking sites out there (e.g. SNOPES). Sites that actually cite their sources for drawing their conclusions that you can actually click on and read for yourself.

What we're left with is a something that is further dividing not only our nation, but our communities.

[Wabash]

I think I have said this on these forums before now. From the start of TV till about the late 80's the news was read to us by graying white men in grey or dark suits. News divisions weren't required to turn a profit. At some point in time that changed. Now the news has become more tabloidish.

Which is to our detriment.

[Bick]

I think I have said this on these forums before now. From the start of TV till about the late 80's the news was read to us by graying white men in grey or dark suits. News divisions weren't required to turn a profit. At some point in time that changed. Now the news has become more tabloidish.

Which is to our detriment.

Don't fall over...I agree.

When those guys were reading the news, they would clearly differentiate their opinion with a "in this reporter's opinion..."

[Omar Bongo]

But during all that time, the disagreements were not personal. All that seemed to change some time during the Bush II administration.

I trace it back further to the 1992 election when Rush Limbaugh's daily drumbeat on national radio - that a decent, honorable war hero anointed by Reagan himself was denied his rightful 2nd term by a lying, draft-dodging adulterer weaponized political mass media. Fox News put it on steroids by taking it to TV in '96 and the rest is history. People like to talk about the liberal mainstream media but those are/were the number 1 rated programs on radio and TV, and there was nothing like their format previously.

[Wabash]

Trump is a lying, draft dodging, womanizer. Limbaugh is one of his biggest cheerleaders. Can someone explain what would make him change his mind? Why was it wrong for Clinton but okay for Trump?

[Wabash]

Putin's a great guy. Nothing to see here. Where is Joe McCarthy when you need him?

White House says there’s no need for new Russia sanctions

The Trump administration, under fire from lawmakers for not punishing Moscow over election meddling, said Monday it will not implement Russia-related sanctions mandated by Congress last year because the threat itself is acting as a “deterrent.”

The decision was made public after nightfall on deadline day for implementing sanctions against those who do business with Russian defense and intelligence firms, as required under a 2017 law.
Since the law took effect six months ago, said State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, “We estimate that foreign governments have abandoned planned or announced purchases of several billion dollars in Russian defense acquisitions.”

The decision was less concrete than some lawmakers envisioned when the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act passed last summer. Though also mentioning Iran and North Korea, the law was billed as a U.S. response to Moscow’s interference in the 2016 presidential election.

The combined vote in congress was 517-5.

[Wabash]

Oh the irony.

Fox News Host Whines That ‘It’s Just So Anti-American’ to Criticize Trump

Kilmeade: Isn’t it amazing, the timing, something comes up about the Russia investigation, like for example, a story that could have broken in June comes out in January after the president goes to Davos and is treated like a rock star.

Spicer: Somebody will dig something up from when he was, like, 8 years old about how he didn’t clean his tray and try to take away the momentum from another great speech.

Doocy: Well, that’s what they’ve done in the past. It’s a formula that worked.

Earhardt: It’s just so anti-American. Where is the unity?

[John Q. Public]

Train carrying Republican members of Congress to a retreat hits trash truck.

Symbolic?

No word on if the truck was on fire at the time or on any injuries.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/ ... uck-380228

[Wabash]

That's terrible. I hope no one is seriously injured.

[John Q. Public]

Now they're reporting that the driver was killed and there were no serious injuries on the train.

[Omar Bongo]

Where is the unity?

It followed Hope out the door last January

[John Q. Public]

Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump 2 hours ago
Just won the lawsuit on leadership of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, CFPB. A big win for the Consumer!

Not so fast, there, big fella.

From the DC Circuit Court ruling:

PILLARD, Circuit Judge:
We granted en banc review to consider whether the federal
statute providing the Director of the Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau (CFPB) with a five-year term in office,
subject to removal by the President only for “inefficiency,
neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office,” 12 U.S.C.
§ 5491(c)(3), is consistent with Article II of the Constitution,
which vests executive power “in a President of the United
States of America” charged to “take Care that the Laws be
faithfully executed,” U.S. Const. art. II, § 1, cl. 1; id. § 3.
Congress established the independent CFPB to curb fraud and
promote transparency in consumer loans, home mortgages,
personal credit cards, and retail banking. See 12 U.S.C. §
5481(12). The Supreme Court eighty years ago sustained the
constitutionality of the independent Federal Trade
Commission, a consumer-protection financial regulator with
powers analogous to those of the CFPB. Humphrey’s Executor
v. United States, 295 U.S. 602 (1935). In doing so, the Court
approved the very means of independence Congress used here:
protection of agency leadership from at-will removal by the
President. The Court has since reaffirmed and built on that
precedent, and Congress has embraced and relied on it in
designing independent agencies. We follow that precedent
here to hold that the parallel provision of the Dodd-Frank Wall
Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act shielding the
Director of the CFPB from removal without cause is consistent
with Article II.

https://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/ ... 5-1177.pdf

He can only be fired for "inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office," not because Obama appointed him or because Don wants one of his stooges running it. The case will likely be appealed but the "FTC" argument is a damned strong one.

[Professor Fate]

Even if it is appealed, it most likely won't affect the current acting directors, because that term vacated by Richard Cordray, expires in July.

[Wabash]

The attacks on the FBI only prove the Blue Lives Matter movement was a façade.

[John Q. Public]

OMG! I caught Donald being honest!

"The Democrats just aren’t calling about DACA. Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer have to get moving fast, or they’ll disappoint you again. We have a great chance to make a deal or, blame the Dems! March 5th is coming up fast."

Ya know, in the past, the president would be the one making that call. I guess Don doesn't understand that.

[Omar Bongo]

Just part of his attempts to blame his scrapping of DACA on the Dems...only the dumbest of the dumb will buy it

[Omar Bongo]

OMG! I caught Donald being honest!

You deserve a medal

In 365 days President Trump Has Made 2,140 False Or Misleading Claims



https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics ... ddf3da4ef8