Our rights do not originate with government, but they are to be "secured" by government.
Showing posts with label Press. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Press. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

The Hubris of Legacy Media

By Tom Rhodes, 10/2/2013

This morning I read a fluff piece about Dean Baquet, Pulitzer Prize winner and managing editor of The New York Times, who last night spoke at the Foster-Foreman Conference of Distinguished Writers about the changing world of journalism. I choked and coffee spewed out my nose as I read, “It is not my fear that newspapers will die, my only fear is that the craft of witnessing and reporting on the truth will die.” I didn’t believe he had the balls to spout such dribble.

Such hubris and hypocrisy can only come from the New York Times (NYT). The NYT has a long history of covering up the truth and only in their minds are they the “newspaper of record.” The one thing you can count on from the NYT is that they will cover and obfuscate the truth. Here are a few examples of the NYT “exercising the craft of witnessing and reporting on the truth.”

Over a half century ago, while millions of Russians were being purposefully starved to death in the USSR, Holodomor denier and NYT reporter Walter Duranty wrote in the pages of The New York Times that "any report of a famine in Russia is today an exaggeration or malignant propaganda", and that "there is no actual starvation or deaths from starvation.

NYT is synonymous with Jayson Blair who is infamous for both plagiarism and simply making it up

NYT routinely gets caught lying about Iran:

NYT caught lying about Tesla Test Drive.

NY Times Tale of US Soldier Intervention Against Torture is a Lie

NY Times headline reverses chronology, story leaves out important information

NYT's Lies About SF Renters & Housing Construction

New York Times has a history of being caught doctoring quotes.

NYT's admits it's not its job to verify the truth.

The NYT is now the mouth piece for the Whitehouse while WikiLeaks and individuals like Snowden expose corruption in our government.

It was the Drudge Report not the NTY that exposed Clinton for being a philandering womanizer. Since then it is clear that Drudge is now more important and more widely read than the NYT.

Contrary to what the NTY and old guard media would have you believe, Youtube, blogs, and the independent internet press routinely expose more government corruption and more actual news and truth. It is the common non-professional with her phone camera, blog, or independent web site that exercise the craft of witnessing and reporting the truth, not the old grey lady. Want the truth, lookup CopWatch, or read Drudge, or search Fourth Amendment Abuse on Youtube, but don’t bother with the NYT; the old grey lady is a senile old bat who doesn’t realize or understand the truth, she’s already been replaced.

The NYT and legacy media actively try to protect advertisers, big business, and the government. Consider what it means when Reuters, News Corp., The Washington Post and The San Francisco Chronicle all ignored emails from the tipster, an "Internet activist" known as "Weev," about innocuous data exposing a security breach concerning Apple, which affected 114,000 iPad owners (including White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel!). The all ignored it, so Ryan Tate of Gawker, not the “newspaper of record” got the scoop and the story went viral far exceeding the reach of the NYT. LINK

Legacy media and specifically printed newspapers are dinosaurs, their complicity with the government and general lack of credibility make the words of NYT managing editor Dean Baquet ring both hollow and shallow, carrying absolutely no gravitas. Dean Baquet fearing “that the craft of witnessing and reporting on the truth will die,” is reminiscent of Sophocles’ King Creon.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Politically Incorrect Version of Headlines

Politically Incorrect Version of Headlines
By Tom Rhodes, 9/12/13

Here are a couple of Politically Correct Headlines, and how they could read and the contents be addressed if not for the invasive PC practices of the lame stream press.



Politically Correct Washington Post Headline

Children suffer from growing economic inequality among families since recession

More Accurate but not PC version

Recession Exacerbates Poverty of Children Living in Non-Traditional Families

The article is clear, Children raised in traditional families with two parents are less likely to be poor regardless of race. What the article implies is that it isn't fair that rich people make wise decisions, so we must take money from the rich and give it to those who make poor life choices. What cannot be said is that if you're a high school dropout who chooses to have children when you are poor and single the chances are that your child will be raised in poverty. The author suffers from the emotional desire to never see people suffer poor life choices. So to meet the emotional desire seeks to force those who make wise life decisions to support those who don't. It ignores the simple fact that in today's world having a child is a choice, period. So choosing to have a child in a non-traditional living environment is in fact choosing to raise that child in poverty. The author wants security regardless of how individuals choose to live.

The article makes it clear saying the evidence shows "men and women with high levels of education were more likely to be married. They were more likely to stay married. There were fewer instances of cohabitation or divorce than those with lower levels of education. And their children were much less likely to live in poverty and instead more likely to benefit from family stability, increased parent time and higher economic resources."

WOW - the advice and example lived by the Leave it to Beaver Generation was right. Finish School, Get a Job, Get Married, then Have Children, Choosing to live your life in any other way dramatically increases you and your children's chances of being poor. Add in choosing to make it a habit to save and live a thrifty life and you will be wealthy.


Politically Correct CBS Atlanta Headline

Study: Men With Smaller Testicles Are Better Fathers

More Accurate but not PC version

Men w/ Smaller Balls act like Women

The article is clear, Men with Balls "show a tendency for them to be less involved in things like changing diapers, bathing children, preparing meals, taking them to the doctor." The clearly female centric article works under the delusion that men acting like women make better fathers.

The article offers an interesting conundrum for women it states clearly that "'The correlation is stronger between sperm count and sperm quality and testicle size,' Rilling explained. 'Bigger size, better, healthier sperm.'" So the obvious is backed up with research, healthier sperm is associated with Men with Big Balls. Women are left with the choice, a man who will produce better healthier sperm, implying better healthier children, or men who will help with nurturing duties but produce less healthy sperm implying inferior children. The politically incorrect but obvious fact is that the alpha male get's the woman, her biology overrides her heart, he body knows the testosterone laden man with balls offers her a better breeding opportunity; we are still animals after all. This offers an explanation of why women are hypergamous.

What's a woman to do?

Monday, December 24, 2012

NBC Newsman Violates Law on TV

Washington DC Law states, “No person in the District shall possess, sell, or transfer any large capacity ammunition feeding device regardless of whether the device is attached to a firearm. A ‘large capacity ammunition feeding device’ means a magazine, belt, drum, feed strip, or similar device that has a capacity of, or that can be readily restored or converted to accept, more than 10 rounds of ammunition,” and carries a $1000 fine and/or 1 year in prison.

In the Washington Studios during “Meet the Press”, David Gregory held and was in possession of a 30 round AR magazine, in clear violation of the law. When are the DC police going to arrest David Gregory? Did some NBC producer give it to him at the studio and transfer it to Mr. Gregory? Obviously the law was broken at least once but probably many times? Why is there no outcry from the loony hoplophobes on the left for the arrest of Mr. Gregory? Or is the law only meant for the “little people.”


Wednesday, June 27, 2012

The Fast and Furious Death of Newspapers

By Tom Rhodes 6/27/2012

Fast and Furious are the last dying struggles of newspapers suffering from self inflicted wounds. Across the nation we see the downsizing and death of newspapers. They have lost and continue to lose their audience and influence. The steady decline of newspapers is not because people don't want in-depth reporting, want ads, or the comics. It's because the newspapers have abandoned their historic past of bringing all the news that's fit to print, to being outlets for the press releases of the government and big business.

The decline in influence and the no longer blind trust of the old guard press has been a long time coming. I remember when I first noticed the blatantly obvious bias in the media. It was the reporting in the newspaper and evening news that didn't match what I saw live from broadcasts of General Swartzkoff during the Gulf War. The reporting on what Swartzkoff said was different that what was actually said. To mitigate that, the press took to editing actual quotes and tapes to fit their bias. Unfortunately with the new media, it is easy to expose the press as biased liars; like the exposure of NBC's repeated and purposefully editing quotes and tapes to dramatically change the meaning of what actually was said or happened. NBC and MSNBC as a news source cannot be trusted to tell the unbiased truth, their diminishing influence reflects this simple fact. In general, the old guard press because of its own actions is losing influence and credibility.

Newspapers would have retained their circulation and power had they displayed skepticism of authority (the government), published, and pursued truth. Instead for decades they have presented one-sided narrative promoting statism and denigrating the values most Americans hold. Like the Gutenberg press dramatically decreased costs and brought newspapers and books to the masses and diminished the power of the Church and State, the digital age has made it so cost effective that anybody who wants can report on what they see. Publishing news is no longer limited to those with the money to afford a press or broadcast facilities. The old guard press, specifically newspapers, are no longer gatekeepers to the news. Virtually everyone carries the ability to video actual events and share them with their neighbors and the world. No longer are the actions of the city council whitewashed and cleaned up by their friends in the press, as the actual truth is now broadcast for all to see. The self evident bias of the news as reported by the old guard has resulted in their death. Their monopoly on the news is dead.

Hillary Clinton said we have too much free press and there should be "gate keepers" to the news. She longs for the days when the press and government were buddy-buddy and determined what the masses were told. Technology, Matt Drudge, and YouTube killed that.

Fast and Furious is the most prominent recent example, and why the main stream media is no longer trusted by the people, and why it is losing its audience and influence. The main stream media tried to ignore Fast and Furious, but the people and non-traditional media exposed it. It's been in the news for years, but when a US House of Representatives Committee votes to hold a cabinet member in contempt, an event that is huge, rare, and important, the old guard press now have to explain to their readers and viewers why they didn't think it was news worthy. Let's face it, in all of US history you can count on your fingers the number of times Congress has held in contempt a member of the president's cabinet. The facts, and truth of Fast and Furious, including the death a of Federal Border Patrol Agent with guns that the BATF and DOJ purposefully allowed to be sold to straw purchasers acting on behave of Mexican drug lords, should have been main stream news for years. The failure of the press to cover this and the DOJ cover-up, confirms to the public that the press is in support of liberal politicians, and is not an unbiased purveyor of truth whose duty is to hold the government accountable.

The old guard press insists that it, not mere everyday people, is the only proper purveyor of "news". Of course all who get their news from the old guard press have been completely ignorant of the deadly scandal, Fast and Furious (kudos to CBS for being the only old guard press to even attempt to cover Fast and Furious, but this is an exception not the norm). Blogs, and news aggregators like Drudge, have proven to be better reports of facts and details of extraordinary events like Fast and Furious than the old guard press.

The old guard press is aghast at the fact that people actually pay attention and believes the "new media". They shouldn't be, as new media has proven over the past 20 years to be better at exposing the misdeeds of government and politicians than the main stream press. The best photos and coverage of the damage to Tampa Bay area caused by Tropical Storm Debby have come from citizen journalists. The old guard press vilifies bloggers, and citizen journalists, but fails to report the truth, and actively works with government to determine what they think the people should be allowed to know. Thus the "new media" is growing and newspapers are dying. Clinton was impeached because "new media" not the old guard press, exposed his philandering ways. Clinton was not impeached because he cheated on his wife screwing around with an intern in the Oval Office; he was impeached for lying to Congress after he was caught and exposed by the new media. If not for the "new media" he would have never been caught. Matt Drudge destroyed the monopoly control the old guard media and the government had on "the news".

The old guard press, specifically news papers, are unconscious of their leftist bias to important events. Fast and Furious is the perfect example, but the bias is in a lot of other stories the press chooses to cover or not cover. Violent racist attacks are now becoming common place in our big cities, the old guard press not only chooses not to cover this, but to deny the obvious facts. Large groups of blacks in our big cities are attacking other races for no other reason than their race. If groups of Asians or whites were doing the same it would be wall to wall coverage every day on every news cast. Even when their own white reporters were drug out of their car and beat by a gang of blacks, an old school newspaper, refused to cover it; and the old school press wonders why they are losing audience and influence. Hundreds of thousands of times every year regular citizens legally and successfully use guns to defend themselves; this is rarely newsworthy to the old guard press. This bias not only in what is covered but how it is covered is blatant, but even when the readers of old guard newspapers say that they no longer read or trust the it because of its bias, the old guard media dismiss it, as the ravings of unenlightened rubes.

Like the good book says "the truth shall set you free", and the main stream press has been exposed and demonstrated that they can no longer be trusted to be the purveyor of the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. The old school press has lost its monopoly on news, and the trust of the people. Because we have Freedom of the Press, the Drudge Report, YouTube, a zillion blogs, are proof that in a free society it is the people, not the government nor the "press", who determine "all the news that's fit to print."

Because we still have a nominally free society, the people can and do get to choose what press they purchase, read, watch, listen, and believe. The people have spoken loudly and clearly; the result is the slow death of old school newspapers and the loss of influence of the old school media due to self inflicted wounds. Old guard media blaming the new media and society for the loss of readership and influence is like a man who gets caught cheating and lying to his wife blaming his Facebook and her because of what she saw on his mistresses FaceBook page rather than her trusting him to filter the information she sees. Like the cheating spouse who has been caught the consequences to old guard main stream press are the same, and even if forgiven and not divorced; the liar and cheat may be listened to but his word will always be suspect and have to be verified, because he has proven to be untrustworthy. Only the elimination of bias, true scrutiny of the government, and honest reporting for a long time can return the reputation of the main stream media, it will however never again be taken at its word without independent verification by the we the people.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Statist Rags


By Tom Rhodes 10/11/2011

The St. Pete Times Tuesday October 11, 2011 editorial was based on a recent Philadelphia Inquirer editorial, even though the times treats it as a news article. The basis is: if the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania won't issue a person a carry concealed weapons (CCW) permit then Florida shouldn't be allowed to issue such a permit to the same person. Florida issues concealed weapons permits to all applicants who hold a valid driver’s license in their state of residency, are mentally sound, have never been convicted of a felony, and have had firearms training. Philly won’t issue CCW’s to anybody they don’t like.

Because the government in Philadelphia either cannot or will not convict a person of some crimes, but that person is “known” to be a criminal, they think that is justifiable reason to restrict a person’s rights. The Times laments that the State of Florida may grant a CCW permit to a person whom the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has denied. They seem to think the Florida standard of guilty until PROVEN innocent is extreme. They want to Florida to accept Pennsylvania’s standard of guilt by association. The Times tries to make this out to be a State’s Rights argument. They blame the agreement Florida has with Pennsylvania honoring the CCW permits issued from each other.

It is not a State’s Rights issue; Pennsylvania is free to change its laws, and/or modify its agreement to only honor Florida CCW permits from Florida residents or not honor Florida CCW permits at all. The Times fails to even recognize that people are Innocent until Proven Guilty, and accepts the standards of guilt by association, and guilty until proven innocent. Not one time to they think about the rights of individuals, nor consider that a person should be treated as innocent until proven guilty. Yes, by the standard of treating people innocent until PROVEN guilty, some guilty people will get through the cracks, but as a society we long ago determined that it is better for some guilty people to go free, than infringe upon the basic rights of all people.

So what is the point in noting that the Philadelphia Inquirer and St. Petersburg Times have a bias against citizens having guns? Both of these newspapers have proven and long standing “liberal” bias, and have consistently held anti-gun positions. The point is not to further expose known truths about them, but to note that they are in fact not liberal newspapers. A liberal, by definition, is someone who is favorable to or in accord with concepts of maximum individual freedom possible, especially as guaranteed by law and secured by governmental protection of civil liberties. The articles from both papers lament the fact that Florida honors and protects civil rights over the interest of the State. They conclude that the State should have the authority to restrict an individual’s civil liberties without due process or having to actually prove a person is guilty of something. They want to allow the State to instill a penalty for merely being suspect of committing a crime. They in fact are not “liberal” newspapers but “statist” rags. They actively promote principles and policies of concentrating extensive economic, political, and related controls in the state at the cost of individual liberty. This is the very definition of Statism.

My open question to the Philadelphia Inquirer is why don’t you condemn the City of Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for restricting fundamental rights of its citizens without due process?

My open question to the St. Petersburg Times is why do you consider Florida’s belief and protection of the concept that all individuals are “Innocent Until Proven Guilty” and as such should be treated as innocent unless actually convicted of a crime do you find radical or extreme?