What passes for news in the postmodern era

Well, kids, it is time for some postmodern sentence deconstruction to understand what it really means.  The sentence below is taken from a real news story posted today by an internet journalistic endeavor, The Hill.  I gotta confess I did not do the deconstruction but found it on the Ace of Spades blog.  It is pretty good:

The revelation has shaken the White House, which for months has struggled to contain the fallout from a wide-ranging investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Now there’s an interesting series of words, full of all kinds of insinuation intended to lead unaware readers to particular conclusions. Let’s break this down.

The revelation has shaken the White House

It has? How? In what way? Who told you? Wait, you don’t have a source for this? Not even an unnamed one?

Okay. So the writer just threw that in there. Good journalism.

which for months has struggled to contain the fallout from a wide-ranging investigation

What fallout? Was someone indicted? Convicted?

Oh, by fallout you mean all the stories journalists have written about this based on a pee party dossier ginned up by Russian operatives working for Hillary Clinton?

And this “wide ranging investigation,” what does that cover, exactly? What leads are investigators chasing?

Oh, no details? I see. So, wide ranging is in there just to imply that this is super serious stuff and there’s gotta be something to all of this.

into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election

What kind of meddling? What did they do? Can you prove it or shouldn’t this read alleged meddling? Meddling is kind of an imprecise word, isn’t it? It covers an awful lot of ground, most of it not necessarily illegal. Without further detail, and there is none, the word literally has no concrete meaning.

And so there you have it. A series of vague, non-sourced, non-evidenced statements mashed together into one stinking pile of obliquely implied wrongdoing.

This is #FakeNews from top to bottom. This is how they do it.

End of deconstruction.  I’m hoping that the Left pursues this line of inquiry for several more years.  It seems to be very fruitful.  But I am also hoping Chelsea Clinton runs for office….

I gotta go…

 

Oh, those stupid Republicans

The other day the blogosphere was all giddy about those stupid Republicans.  There is proof!  Look at these poll results!  Republicans want to bomb Agrabah.  Here it is:

Poll: 30% of Republicans Want to Bomb a Fictional Disney Country

But look what happens when the question is rephrased.  Oh those stupid Democrats!  They want to accept refugees from Agrabah

http://www.redstate.com/2015/12/24/poll-says-democrats-are-stupid/

The real question (at least the question that occurred to me as I was washing up the New Year’s party dishes this morning) is why is there so much rhetoric of division in today’s discourse?  What is the profit in keeping America divided?  This is seen in Washington DC constantly.

A lot of effort and political capital is being spent to maintain this divide.  Real progress could be made to improve the human condition if the knives were put away and we shook hands in the spirit of compromise and consensus.

Just my two cents…you get what you pay for.  I gotta go…

 

Free Speech Has Died

The leaders of the Free Speech Movement (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Speech_Movement) have got to be shaking their heads and thinking “this is what we have become?!?”:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/04/23/attack_of_the_leftist_snowflakes_126363.html

Just another sign of the end of the world as we know it. I gotta go…

So let me get this straight

Bush lied…and ISIS has seized chemical weapons depots http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/does-isis-have-access-chemical-weapons-iraq-syria-n234871

Bush lied…and there is photographic evidence of truck convoys ferrying something to Syria and Syria now has chemical weapons.

Bush lied…and one can read horrific accounts of Saddam using chemical weapons on his own citizens.

There can only be one conclusion drawn from this…EVERYBODY KNOWS Bush lied.

Sheesh…I gotta go…

National Insecurity

From foreignpolicy.com come a very interesting analysis:

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/09/09/national_insecurity_obama_foreign_policy

This just in from…

…an alternative universe:

“Since I have come into office, there’s almost no economic metric by which you couldn’t say that the U.S. economy is better and that corporate bottom lines are better,” saidObama. “None.”

Labor force participation has also plunged under Obama. According to CNS News, in July 92,001,000 people were no longer in the U.S. labor force, an increase of 11,472,000 since Obama took office in January 2009.

Food stamp enrollments have also soared, going from 31.9 million when Obama took office all the way up to 46,247,450 in April 2014 (the most recent date for which data are available).

Moreover, for 49 out of the last 50 months, more people have given up looking for work than found it, reports economist Ben Casselman of Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight.

Still, Obama said his economic record of achievements includes a vast array of accomplishments.

“In fact, our policies have produced a record stock market, record corporate profits, 52 months of consecutive job growth, 10 million new jobs, the deficit being cut by more than half, an energy sector that’s booming, a clean-energy sector that’s booming, a reduction of carbon pollution greater than the Europeans or any other country, a housing market that has bounced back, and an unemployment rate that is now lower than it was pre-Lehman,” said Obama.

Obama added: “I think you’d have to say that we’ve managed the economy pretty well and business has done okay.”

Under Obama, U.S. debt has skyrocketed $6,666,142,606,010.53.

From an interview in The Economist.

I gotta go…I gotta start spending the benefits of this booming economy.

 

Hahahahahaha, this story has to be from The Onion!

http://dailycaller.com/2014/06/27/obama-feels-your-pain-because-he-and-michelle-once-lost-their-nanny/

 

Oh wait…nevermind…it’s a true story…I gotta go….

Is this really the Hope and Change people voted for?

Twice.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/washington-d-c-area-now-richest-nation-191806412.html

In the midst of the greatest depression since the Great Depression, no less.

This link came from some interesting analysis from…the Daily Beast:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/07/watch-what-you-say-the-new-liberal-power-elite-won-t-tolerate-dissent.html

I gotta go…

 

 

 

Me, me, me!

I love a humble public servant…

http://hotair.com/archives/2014/06/07/obama-on-bergdahl-a-unanimous-decision-among-my-principals-in-my-government/

I gotta go…

Bruce Braley makes a courageous stand against “Dark Money”

Well, I was pretty excited…Bruce Braley sent me an email with the subject “Dark Money in Iowa”.  I thought this is great…Bruce is finally denouncing dark money that evilly buys votes in the Senate.  Here is the text of the letter:

Dear Richard,

The Supreme Court’s decisions in Citizens United and McCutcheon punched a hole in our campaign finance system a mile wide.

Over the last four years, dark money groups have poured roughly $460 million into our election system.

But according to the Center for Responsive Politics, this could be the darkest money election ever.

Tomorrow is the last day to hit $50,000 before our deadline, which means we have to make today count. Give $5 or more to get us to our goal by tomorrow at midnight

Rats, no mention of the rascally Tom Steyer throwing money to buy Iowa votes.  So I got another email from the Braley camp.  This has to be the one where he takes a stand!

Dear Richard,

Special interests backed by the Kochs are investing millions in this year’s elections to take control of the Senate. Americans for Prosperity alone plans to spend $125 million.

I know you probably don’t have $125 million squirreled away under your mattress, but all we’re asking for is $5 to help us hit our goal this month.

Here’s where we’re at now:

Will you pitch in $5 or whatever you can to make sure we reach our goal before tomorrow’s deadline at midnight?

Dang, nothing.  So I did a simple google search and found this:

Senate Majority PAC, a Super PAC that aims to maintain a Democratic majority in the Senate and is run by former staffers for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.), has spent almost $550,000 in support of Braley, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

The New York Times reported on Saturday that Tom Steyer, a billionaire climate activist and former hedge fund manager, recently contributed $5 million to the Senate Majority PAC—making him the single largest contributor to the Super PAC this year.

Steyer has pledged to spend $100 million ahead of the midterm elections on climate issues, including efforts to block construction of the pipeline. He also has his own Super PAC, NextGen Climate Action.

Here is a link to the whole article:

Bruce Braley Flip-Flops on Keystone Pipeline

Kud sez “Huh?!?” Nevermind… Bruce Braley thinks I’m stupid…I gotta go.