Can this really be true: CNN Quietly Releases Updated Pic Showing Trump’s Inaugural Crowd Size Greater than Obama’s 2009 Inaugural Crowd. It comes via Lucianne.com so someone thinks its true.
If it is, it’s the end of the line for the MSM. I know they lie, but it still seems inconceivable that they would really do this.
Seriously, is this the best they’ve got? It’s from The Financial Times and it’s title is, “Truth, lies and the Trump administration”. Its opening paras:
The man from the BBC was laughing as he reported the White House’s false claims about the size of the crowd at Donald Trump’s inauguration. He should have been crying. What we are witnessing is the destruction of the credibility of the American government.
This spectacle of obvious lies being peddled by the White House is a tragedy for US democracy. But the rest of the world — and, in particular, America’s allies — should also be frightened. A Trump administration that is addicted to the “big lie” has very dangerous implications for global security.
It is clear whose credibility is being destroyed. Is the left truly impervious to its own lies and deceit or do they just think that they can pile on and no one will ever catch on? : This is not unrelated:
The major media have warned that Donald Trump would wage a war on the First Amendment. His quick draw to call out bad reporting, boot disruptive journalists, and mock fake news were obvious signs that the freedom of the press would hang by a squib during the Trump administration.
And, lo, it came to pass Monday that all their fears were realized. Did the new President sent red-hatted mobs to smash printing presses and hijack the cable news to run non-stop ads for Trump Steaks? Even worse. In his first official White House press briefing, Sean Spicer called on reporters from the wrong side of the tracks.
If you read it in the MSM you have to get an authoritative confirmation from somewhere else.
POST-BREAKFAST FOLLOW-ON: It is still yesterday’s paper, but have gone through The New York Times and the front page of The Financial Times. Being in Poland is a reminder of what real Fascism is all about, not to mention socialism as it really is. Anyone who confuses any of this with Donald Trump is not merely ignorant but is suffering from some kind of mental disorder. I will stick to the NYT here but the FT headlines, “Trump sets tone for presidency with attack on ‘dishonest’ media”. But let us turn to The NYT.
The NYT has its entire opinion page devoted to an article by some novelist on “The America we lost when Trump won”. It took until the start of the third column to get to the only specifics about what he doesn’t like about the new world order, the disappearance of Obamacare and the choice of “far-right justices” for the Supreme Court. The rest is non-specific along the usual racist, sexist, homophobic and xenophobic lines. That Trump is none of these is irrelevant to the narrative. His conclusion:
What we have done is desecration, a foolish and vindictive act of vandalism, by which they betrayed all the best and most valiant labours of our ancestors. We don’t want to accept this because we cannot accept that the people, at least in the long run of things, can be wrong in our American democracy. But they can be wrong, just like the people anywhere. And until we accept this abject failure of both our system and ourselves, there is no hope for our redemption.”
If the problems of the past eight years are that invisible, these people are in no position to judge anyone else.
It is how many days since the inauguration and we have just turned on the set here in Warsaw and find CNN going on about whether or not the number of people who watched the ceremony was greater for Trump than it was for Obama in 2009.* This was literally described as “a clear and defining moment” in the new White House’s dealings with the press. Meantime, in the news, but clearly not as important as this, we have the following on Drudge:
BIGGEST CAMPAIGN PROMISES FACE ‘DAY 1’ TEST…
HE MOVES ON TRADE…
GOODBYE, TPP!
HIRING FREEZE ON FEDERAL WORKERS…
Reinstates ban on foreign money promoting abortion…
Meetings with execs, labor leaders…
Set to battle Republicans on spending cuts…
Wants to slash regs by 75% — or ‘maybe more’…
Discusses fighting terrorism in phone call with Sisi…
GREAT AGAIN: FOXCONN investment for USA plant would exceed $7 billion…
KROGER to fill 10,000 permanent jobs…
If you depend on the news media, you are not just ignorant of what is going on, you are misled in both content and balance about almost everything of any importance in the world.
* I might mention that we watched the inauguration on my phone as we travelled from Aarhus to Copenhagen. Do we get counted into the tally? How would we even be included? But there we were and what a pleasure it was. As for showing up on the day, since 96% [!] of DC votes were for Clinton, it’s a safe bet that there were fewer locals interested in coming along this time than last time.
If the insight of the media into all things is as penetrating as their insight into Trump’s attitude to the traditional media, these people are as stupid a bunch as I have ever seen. This is from The New York Times even: Trump Team Considers Moving Press Corps, Alarming Reporters. He is not thinking of excluding these left-wing clowns, but increasing the competition.
Sean Spicer, the incoming White House press secretary, issued a statement on Sunday that did not address the issue of a dedicated work space. “While no decisions have been made, there is enormous interest in covering Donald Trump,” he wrote. “The current briefing room only has 49 seats, so we have looked at rooms within the White House to conduct briefings that have additional capacity.”
Do they really think they are the soul of objectivity, that there is no other perspective on events other than their own? Do they really think that Trump feels he can trust them to report accurately and without bias? I only go to the traditional media to find out what the left thinks about policy and events, and thus to find out the sensation de jour. I go to everyone else to find out what is actually going on and for a proper perspective on policy. It is to everyone else that Trump intends to provide room for them to report.
The Deep State – what I have called the progressive internationalists – are doing all they can to hobble and destroy Trump even before he enters the White House. This article on The Deep State Strikes Back: The Permanent Campaign Against Donald Trump gets right to the heart of the issue.
Getting most of what I know from the net, and being used to the relatively balanced Australian press, the above front page has been quite a revelation. It is not just that the story is discussed, but driven towards the reader. It is from The Daily Mail as well, which is towards the right of the spectrum and yet, there you are. If you are just someone who takes the news, and the balance of what matters and what does not from the paper you go to if you want to know the football scores, you cannot but be affected. The “sex scandal” is assumed to be true, it is presented as having come from a reputable source that being an “Ex-MI6 officer”, and it is something that must inevitably tend to diminish Trump’s credibility since whatever you might think of the story, you know it is now part of the mythology.
The process is depraved. But when I think that half of Americans are sorry to see Obama leave, it is hard to see Trump prevailing into the long-term. He is of a different cut, he is personally disgusted by the values his enemies display, and he has been warned that these enemies exist, which are all positive. But we will have four years of relentless negativity about Trump, some of which will stick and some of which will not, but all of it will take its toll.
Then there was The New York Times this morning (although yesterday’s paper). Not as sensationalist as The Daily Mail but even more one dimensional. The story on the front page is titled “Blackmail in Russia didn’t die with Soviets” and comes with the sub-head “Kremlin has long history of using compromising material to discredit foes”. I suppose that’s true, but the presumption throughout the paper is that there is something to the story even though there is nothing in it other than some insane fantasy. So we continue inside with “From salacious dossier to political crisis””, “President-elect concedes Russia’s interference in American election”, “A Manchurian candidate” (with the highlight quote “The onus is on the president-elect to prove he’s not Putin’s puppet”) and “Trump takes aim at news media”. There is also “Ode to Obama” with its highlight quote, “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone”. Truly only a Donald Trump has any chance to maintain his balance in such an environment, but it will be very hard going on the evidence I have just seen.
If you are not spooked by all of this then you are made of tougher stuff than I am.
MEDIA AND CIA FALL FOR ‘GOLDEN SHOWER’ HOAX…
TAPPER, BLITZER RATTLED…
YOU’RE ACTING LIKE NAZIS, TRUMP TELLS SPY CHIEFS…
Russian tech expert named in report never even contacted!
GREENWALD: ‘Deep State’ Sabotage…
The last of these comes with the title, “The Deep State Goes to War with President-Elect, Using Unverified Claims, as Democrats Cheer”. Here is the opening text, but I have to say this is terrifying and in no sense politics as usual, unless this really is politics as usual, although we have never actually seen it revealed so openly.
IN JANUARY, 1961, Dwight Eisenhower delivered his farewell address after serving two terms as U.S. president; the five-star general chose to warn Americans of this specific threat to democracy: “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.” That warning was issued prior to the decadelong escalation of the Vietnam War, three more decades of Cold War mania, and the post-9/11 era, all of which radically expanded that unelected faction’s power even further.
This is the faction that is now engaged in open warfare against the duly elected and already widely disliked president-elect, Donald Trump. They are using classic Cold War dirty tactics and the defining ingredients of what has until recently been denounced as “Fake News.”
Their most valuable instrument is the U.S. media, much of which reflexively reveres, serves, believes, and sides with hidden intelligence officials. And Democrats, still reeling from their unexpected and traumatic election loss as well as a systemic collapse of their party, seemingly divorced further and further from reason with each passing day, are willing — eager — to embrace any claim, cheer any tactic, align with any villain, regardless of how unsupported, tawdry and damaging those behaviors might be.
The serious dangers posed by a Trump presidency are numerous and manifest. There are a wide array of legitimate and effective tactics for combatting those threats: from bipartisan congressional coalitions and constitutional legal challenges to citizen uprisings and sustained and aggressive civil disobedience. All of those strategies have periodically proven themselves effective in times of political crisis or authoritarian overreach.
But cheering for the CIA and its shadowy allies to unilaterally subvert the U.S. election and impose its own policy dictates on the elected president is both warped and self-destructive. Empowering the very entities that have produced the most shameful atrocities and systemic deceit over the last six decades is desperation of the worst kind. Demanding that evidence-free, anonymous assertions be instantly venerated as Truth — despite emanating from the very precincts designed to propagandize and lie — is an assault on journalism, democracy, and basic human rationality. And casually branding domestic adversaries who refuse to go along as traitors and disloyal foreign operatives is morally bankrupt and certain to backfire on those doing it.
Morally bankrupt it most certainly is. Certain to backfire on those doing it is very optimistic. If this is how things really are, Nazi is not going too far at all in describing what is going on. If the evidence were not before our eyes of the way in which the media and the CIA have worked with the Democrats to undermine Trump’s authority you would think all of this is impossible.
First, for your holiday pleasure, Stefan Molyneux interviews Paul Joseph Watson. Two of the greats in breaking down the MSM monopoly on the news.
But the MSM has retains an astoniishing level of power in spite of the fact that everyone on our side will tell you that the are operatives of the left. That anyone takes the Russia hacked the election seriously does truly make me see how Donald Trump’s presidency will be battered by one stupid meme after another. These people must think conservatives, or the right in general with nitwits like Paul Ryan to the front, are ridiculous. Putin certainly thinks they’re idiots. From Drudge:
Which comes along with these:
Take it seriously and there will be another scandal along just as stupid at the next turn of the news cycle. It really is bizarre, but it also makes me think that no matter what, we are going to lose because our side has no idea of what they are up against or how to fight for keeps. But with Watson and Molyneux on the beat, and many others like them, there is still hope.
You want to see the full story that comes with the chart, you have to go to the intrepid Diana West: Schweizer: From Russian with Money — to Podesta, Inc.. I will give you the start, but if you are curious about how deep the corruption is, and how the media will lie to you without the slightest hesitation, continue from here:
From “From Russia with Money” by Peter Schweizer –“The Flow of Rusnano Money”
Few Washington officials are tighter to the Clintons than John Podesta. As The New Republic puts it, John Podesta is “extremely close,” to Hillary Clinton.81
Indeed, it was John Podesta (among others) who advanced the idea to Obama of appointing Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, according to New York Times correspondent Mark Landler.82During the Bill Clinton Administration, Podesta served as White House Chief of Staff.
Beginning in 2003, Podesta served as the President of the Center for America Progress (CAP), which has been described as an “administration-in-waiting” for the Democratic Party.83 Podesta later became Counselor to President Barack Obama in the White House.84
More recently, in January, 2015, Podesta became the campaign chairman of Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the 2016 presidential bid.85 During Hillary Clinton’s tenure as Secretary of State, he was in regular contact with her and played an important role in shaping U.S. policy. For one thing, he sat on the State Department’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board, appointed by Hillary. (The board was established in December 2011.)86
…
In June and July 2011, during the time period that he was advising Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, John Podesta joined the board of three related entities: Joule Unlimited, a small Massachusetts-based energy company; its holding company, Joule Global Holdings, N.V., which was based in the Netherlands; and Joule Global Stichting, which appears to be the ultimate controlling entity.93
According to corporate records, Podesta served on the “executive board.” Joule was a new company, founded in 2007, and claimed to pioneer a technology they called “Liquid Fuel from the Sun,” a technology based on harnessing solar energy.94
Podesta consulted for a foundation run by one of the investors in Joule Energy, Hans-Jorg Wyss, a major Clinton Foundation donor.95
Cosy!
The Wyss Charitable Foundation has given between $1 million to $5 million to the Clinton Foundation.96 Podesta was paid $87,000 by the Wyss Foundation in 2013, according to federal tax records.97 Podesta’s compensation by Joule cannot be fully determined. In his 2014 federal government disclosure filing, Podesta lists that he divested stock options from Joule. However, the disclosure does not cover the years 2011-2012.
…Although John Podesta is listed on the corporate records, he failed to disclose his membership on the board of Joule Stichting in his federal financial disclosure forms when he joined the Obama White House as a senior advisor.100
Oops?
…
After Schweizer’s report appeared, Wikileaks published emails revealing that John Podesta also held 75,000 shares in Joule common stock.
Now things get interesting.
And how interesting did it get? This interesting:
Podesta was not the only board member on Joule with strong Clinton ties. Also on the board was Graham Allison, a Harvard academic who served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for President Bill Clinton.102
Two months after Podesta joined the board, Vladimir Putin’s Rusnano announced that it would invest up to one billion rubles into Joule Unlimited, which amounts to $35 million.103
That represents one fifth of the entire amount of investment dollars Joule collected from 2007 to 2013.104 As we’ve seen, it is hard to underestimate how close Rusnano is to the political-military elite in Russia. Indeed, in February 2012, Anatoly Chubais, the Chairman of Rusnano, joined the Joule board of directors.105 Podesta was not the only board member on Joule with strong Clinton ties. Also on the board was Graham Allison, a Harvard academic who served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for President Bill Clinton.102
Chummy!
According to some reports, the Rusnano investment in Joule was in part money to build a research center in Russia.106
John Podesta recounted in 2014 the first time he met with Vladimir Putin. It was in 2000, when then-President Bill Clinton was visiting Moscow. Podesta joined Clinton for an evening with the new Prime Minister of Russia. As Podesta put it, “We saw Putin and then we had the evening free. We went to the Café Pushkin in Moscow, and as is habit in Moscow, we started drinking vodka shots….I don’t know how I managed to get out of bed [the next morning]. I wouldn’t even describe myself as hungover; alcohol was still pouring out of my pores.”107
Podesta and Putin — drinking buddies!
The billion ruble investment in Joule energy was a large part of Joule’s funds raised at the time. In 2012 they raised another $70 million, for a total of about $110 million.108
Joule is a controversial company.
Want more? Just go to the link. There’s plenty there.
The left gets its news from Comedy Central. Jon Stewart was the central font of knowledge for an entire generation. You can watch the whole fourteen minutes and never hear a single political point from Stewart. What we have is a not very funny “professional comic” lecturing the others on their “moral inferiority”. It is my first experience watching this guy for more than a minute at a time, and thankfully it will be my last. But listening to Stewart’s empty superiority is another reminder of how out of their depth the left is in dealing with every issue we need to face.
Actually, I have now watched the follow-up interview with Chris Wallace. As hard to imagine as it is, Stewart is even more insufferable – he explicitly and repeatedly denies that the MSM is relentlessly partisan which he has no hesitation in stating outright as if to think otherwise is an impossibility based on no facts. This is the gist of what he says, although not verbatim. He is totally and without any doubt as deluded as it is possible to be.
He doesn’t think there is a liberal bias in the MSM. I am a comedian first. But the thing you will never understand is that I am a comedian and while my comedy is informed by my ideology, I’m not personally an ideologue. What I do is much harder. Comedy is much harder. It is comedy first. Best bit is where Wallace asks him if he wants to do “a re-make of Amos and Andy” after he had pretended to do a dialogue in dialect?
Wallace calmly and comprehensively takes Stewart apart. Shallow, bombastic, and utterly unconvincing. Listening to this after the just-ended election, he sounds even more idiotic than when he was a media star. As Stewart says at the end when being questioned by Wallace, “I don’t even know what you are talking about”. He certainly did not know what Wallace was talking about. He really is out of his depth, and it is only because his fan base is equally out of its depth that they don’t notice. If this were chess, he’d have been checkmated in about eight moves.
Law of Markets 