Tag: Corporate Media

Why Are ‘Boomers’ So Gullible?

I am a ‘Baby Boomer’ born in 1947 and I grew up in a time that history, if it is allowed to be taught in the future, will tell the tale of a country coming to terms with itself.

Across the board people seem to be losing their confidence in Donny with the exception of one group…..Boomers.

A new poll shows a slight uptick in President Donald Trump‘s approval rating among Baby Boomers following a significant dip earlier this summer.

What Happened: The InsiderAdvantage polling data revealed that Trump’s approval rating among voters aged 65 and above was at 45% in May and fell to 38% in June. However, the August survey indicates a slight recovery, with his approval rating climbing back to 40%.

The poll analysis notes that Boomers were instrumental in Trump’s 2024 election win, with 51% of voters in this age group casting their votes for him.

The recent uptick in approval seems to align with Trump’s attempts to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

Despite these efforts, Trump’s approval ratings on foreign policy have seen a dip in several recent polls. However, his net approval rating on foreign policy among baby boomers has remained relatively stable.

https://www.benzinga.com/news/politics/25/08/47297826/trumps-approval-rating-rises-among-baby-boomers-after-dip-in-june

The very people that being hurt the most by Donny’s tragic decisions still support what he is doing…..why is that?

A couple of years ago with all the chaos in our politics I wrote an apology for my generation….

Apologies From A Boomer

As I stated many of the people I know that are my age voted for Donny and I still have a hard time grasping what made Boomers turn against the very things that made us a great generation.

They all seem to believe all the misinformation that is spread by MSM and all those social media sites….but why has this come about?

We will have to do one of my favorite things….take a look at history….

Boomers seem to not be capable of fact checking the outrageous BS spread by politicians….why is that?

They never had to learn to fact check, thanks to the Mayflower and Fairness Doctrine. Not only did they not need to fact check news sources, they didn’t have to critically think about the information that was presented to them when it came from places of authority. This isn’t because they were blindly trusting. It’s because the information provided by news stations or radio broadcasts no matter how controversial were not allowed to contain any bias or misinformation. They could literally trust everything a newscaster said.

That type of fair and unbiased news reporting was the result of an FCC ruling called the Mayflower Decision (also known as the Mayflower Doctrine) that preceded the Fairness Doctrine. In 1938 a former Yankee’s employee Lawrence J. Flynn accused two radio stations of airing one-sided political views, editorials and attacks against politicians the owner of the network didn’t like.

According to the 1948 Columbia Law Review, due to this kerfuffle, the FCC announced a rule in 1941 that “the radio broadcaster and his station should be allowed neither to editorialize nor take a stand on any controversial matter. This policy appeared as a concomitant to the previously announced position of the Commission that whenever controversial issues were presented they were to be treated impartially and objectively.”

In 1949, three years after the first boomers were born, The Fairness Doctrine was passed building from the FCC’s guidance on the Mayflower Doctrine. This legislation was meant to break up the monopoly of audience control by ABC, NBC, and CBS with concerns that the news stations could promote extreme bias. It required news outlets, which included radio stations, to provide equal airtime to opposing views. The information needed to be factual in nature without editorializing.

Doesn’t that sound lovely? In a world where every other headline is written to scare the bejesus out of you and news pieces feel more editorialized than factual, having policy in place to tamper it would probably be beneficial. So what happened? Boomers spent all of their childhood, teen years and early adult years never having to question the factuality rating of their news. Then after more than 40 years of television and radio stations having guardrails in place, Ronald Reagan’s administration started rolling it back.

https://www.upworthy.com/why-boomers-are-easy-misinformation-targets

So we can blame Reagan for the beginning of the laziness in politics.

Then it became more lazy with Bubba Clinton….and his Telecommunications Act of 1996….which allowed corporations to own the news….and the stage is set for the dolt in the White House today.

The negative impact of the law cannot be overstated. The law, which was the first major reform of telecommunications policy since 1934, according to media scholar Robert McChesney, “is widely considered to be one of the three or four most important federal laws of this generation.” The act dramatically reduced important Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations on cross ownership, and allowed giant corporations to buy up thousands of media outlets across the country, increasing their monopoly on the flow of information in the United States and around the world.

Democracy in Peril: Twenty Years of Media Consolidation Under the Telecommunications Act

I can say without flinching that I have held true to my ideals from the 1960s….I have not wavered and I am sorry that my generation is leading the pack on the destruction of a system that worked well for years.

I am ashamed and embarrassed of my generation.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Mainstream Media Dropped The Ball

The corporate media cannot be trusted to report the true meaning of the reports they present/publish. Why?

They are solely owned by corporate America and report just what these companies want us to know….usually it is a bastardization of what is truly happening in this country.

Take for instance what is happening in this country as I type.built approval from the public.

I give you the mash-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003….and the lies that the MSM help to spread that won public approval for the invasion.

George W Bush told Tony Blair he did not know who would replace Saddam Hussein in Iraq when they toppled him and that he “did not much care”, according to an explosive top secret account of the meeting seen by Middle East Eye.

The former US president was blithe about the consequences of launching an invasion at a crucial meeting with the British prime minister at his Texas ranch in 2002, almost a year before the war was launched.

“He didn’t know who would take Saddam’s place if and when we toppled him. But he didn’t much care. He was working on the assumption that anyone would be an improvement,” the British memo, written by Blair’s top foreign policy adviser at the time, reads.

Bush believed – but the memo says he would not say publicly – that a “moderate secular regime” in post-Saddam Iraq would have a favourable impact both on Saudi Arabia – a close US ally – and Iran.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/iraq-war-bush-blair-secret-memo-reveal-plans-topple-saddam

This is the full text of the memo between Bush and Blair….

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/iraq-war-full-secret-memo-how-bush-blair-plotted

I offer that up because of the announcement from the State Department on the Russian presence on the Ukrainian border…..

The US says Russia is so bent on invading Ukraine that it’s cooking up a phony reason to justify it. In other words, Moscow is allegedly working on a “false-flag” mission. “We have information that indicates Russia has already prepositioned a group of operatives to conduct a false-flag operation in eastern Ukraine,” an anonymous US official tells the Washington Post. “The operatives are trained in urban warfare and in using explosives to carry out acts of sabotage against Russia’s own proxy-forces.” All of which could lead to a Russian invasion later this month or in February. Other big outlets, including the AP, are quoting the same official. The development comes amid high tensions: Russian troops are massed on the Ukraine border, and talks between Russia and the West to defuse the situation have gone nowhere. More:

  • ‘Dead end’ talks: “The drumbeat of war is sounding loud and the rhetoric has gotten rather shrill,” says Michael Carpenter, the US ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The organization held talks in Vienna on Thursday, but Russian diplomats later declared them to be at a “dead end,” per Axios. “It seems the risk of war in the OSCE area is now greater than ever before in the last 30 years,” agreed Zbigniew Rau, the Polish chairman of the group.
  • US role: If Russia does invade, the New York Times reports that the US might fund an insurgency, essentially a “guerrilla war against Russian military occupation.” After such an invasion, “US and NATO military assistance—intelligence, cyber, anti-armor and anti-air weapons, offensive naval missiles—would ratchet up significantly,” James Stavridis, a retired Navy admiral and former supreme allied commander at NATO, tells the newspaper. “And if it turned into a Ukrainian insurgency, Putin should realize that after fighting insurgencies ourselves for two decades, we know how to arm, train, and energize them.”
  • Familiar: White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters that Russia similarly conducted a false-flag operation before its annexation of Crimea, reports the AP. “We saw this playbook in 2014,” says Sullivan. “They are preparing this playbook again.” The US also says Moscow is infiltrating Ukrainian social media to “fabricate Ukrainian provocations,” another tactic used in 2014.

Keep in mind the some of the most successful war profiteers are the corporations that own our news outlets.

Do Not Buy Everything The MSM Feeds You!

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–24Dec21

Since it is the day before Christmas and my posting schedule has been slight….I close out the week with a few thoughts on local journalism.

Most of the reading public knows that the state of local journalism is dying…..thanx in part to the internet and social media.

Personally I weep for journalism for quality work has been replaced with sensationalism….

My local paper has shuddered their offices and it is up for sale…..the operation was moved to a site some 60 miles away and the paper is a shadow of its former self.

If only there was a way to save local journalism…….there is an opinion on just how we could do this…..

Under our plan—the foundation of the new Local Journalism Initiative—policymakers in Washington would provide a lump sum to every county in the nation annually based on the county’s population to pay for nonprofit journalism within that county.

Readers of the Columbia Journalism Review are well aware of the importance of local news media; they have been the foundation of the American free press, and political democracy, since 1776. Daily newspapers have traditionally constituted the heart and soul of local news media, and they have provided the lion’s share of original reporting upon which all other news media depend. That remains the case in the digital era as much of newspapering has transitioned online.

CJR readers are also aware that local journalism as it has been known for 200 years has all but disappeared in most places in the United States over the past two decades. The business model for commercial journalism, based on advertising providing most of the income, is dead. Thanks to the internet, it will never return. All efforts to find a viable new business model for local journalism have failed, and investors have abandoned the field, except for private-equity funds on the lookout for distressed properties they can strip for parts.

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021/12/01/only-public-funding-can-save-local-journalism-and-thus-democracy

I like the idea…..non-profit journalism could be the answer to the problem of ‘fair and balanced’ news.

Thanx to the Clinton admin of the 90s news became a profit making enterprise at the expense of accuracy and neutrality….

This country needs local journalism to survive…..sadly without some sort of plan it will slowly die and be replaced with lies and disinformation…today is the perfect example of the trouble journalism is in…..it needs our help.

Thoughts?

Have a great evening and be safe and smart…..

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

“Citizen United” On The Ropes?

Now that the impeachment debacle is over the House has returned to trying to do the work of the people…..

Most Americans know and despise the “Citizen United” ruling by the SCOTUS that gave corporations unlimited power in our elections. But now the House is finally trying to change that damage….

Most Americans agree on background checks for gun purchases, lower prescription drug prices, and the need to take on climate change. But for years, an army of lobbyists and unrestricted outside political spending by corporations have blocked nearly every attempt to make these things happen.

A big reason for this, argues Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), is the the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling, which he says has resulted in “the corrosion of our democracy.” The Supreme Court’s ruling notably allowed corporations to create super political action committees (PACs), which are not required to disclose their donors, and spend billions of dollars in US elections.

A growing number of Americans want to get money out of politics. Nearly seven in 10 Americans support a constitutional amendment that overturns Citizens United, according to a 2018 study by the University of Maryland School of Public Policy’s Program for Public Consultation. Now that almost 20 states and more than 800 local governments have called for a constitutional amendment that places reasonable limits on corporate campaign contributions, some members of Congress appear to be listening.

Congress (Finally) Considers Amendment to Overturn Citizens United

I like that idea…..but the House can pass all they want…it will be up to the Senate to come on board…..and I do not see that part of the Congress that is mostly controlled by corporations going against their masters.

In other House news……they have signed on to a pro-labor bill…..

Union leaders and labor rights advocates applauded the Democrat-controlled U.S. House for passing landmark legislation Thursday night that supporters have called one of the most notable efforts to expand workers’ rights in several decades.

House lawmakers voted mostly along party lines to approve the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act (H.R.2474), which passed 224–194 with 12 members not voting. See the roll call vote here.

“This is a watershed moment for the labor movement and shows what working people can accomplish when we come together to demand a voice on the job and a seat at the table,” said Lee Saunders, president of AFSCME, the nation’s largest trade union of public employees.

“Make no mistake, this is the most significant step Congress has taken to strengthen labor laws in the United States in 85 years and a win for workers everywhere,” said AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka, declaring the measure “the labor movement’s number one legislative priority this year.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/07/victory-workers-house-praised-passing-landmark-pro-act-strengthen-unions-and-labor

Another bill that will die a death in the Senate……

“The Senate where good bills go to die!”

Then there is a waning support for that abortion that Trump calls a “peace plan” for the Middle East…..

Over 100 House Democrats signed a letter, released on Friday, critical of President Donald Trump‘s peace plan for the Middle East.

The two-page letter, with seven pagers of signatures, was led by Rep. Alan Lowenthal, D-Calif., and warns that a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine would be impossible under the plan. At a White House ceremony on Jan. 27 unveiling Trump’s 200-page peace plan, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to move forward on establishing additional settlements and exercising Israeli control of the disputed West Bank area.

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2020/02/07/Over-100-House-Democrats-sign-letter-rejecting-Trumps-Middle-East-peace-plan/6031581102952/

I agree with these Reps but I need to add….their concern is way too late….the damage is being done…..

I Read, I Write, You KNow

“lego ergo scribo”

How Could This Be?

That is the question so many people and pundits alike are asking about the state of our democracy…..so many reasons and so little time to correct the discrepancies…..

I guess we can blame the Dems or the GOP or the nation as a whole or fear or a wealth of other reasons but to me there is only one reason…..

Ever heard of the Telecommunications Act of 1996?

Of course you have not…..for it is too mundane for your attention as long as Swamp People is renewed to care.

President Bill Clinton signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The act, signed into law on February 8, 1996, was “essentially bought and paid for by corporate media lobbies,” as Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) described it, and radically “opened the floodgates on mergers.”

The negative impact of the law cannot be overstated. The law, which was the first major reform of telecommunications policy since 1934, according to media scholar Robert McChesney, “is widely considered to be one of the three or four most important federal laws of this generation.” The act dramatically reduced important Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations on cross ownership, and allowed giant corporations to buy up thousands of media outlets across the country, increasing their monopoly on the flow of information in the United States and around the world.

“Never have so many been held incommunicado by so few,” said Eduardo Galeano, the Latin American journalist, in response to the act.

Democracy in Peril: Twenty Years of Media Consolidation Under the Telecommunications Act

To me all this division has been fed by the corporate media to drive the news cycle to what they want the reports to be.

But do not take my word for it….this is the summary offered by the Clinton White House of what the act contains….

…this legislation will lead all Americans into a more prosperous future by preparing our economy for the 21st Century and opening wide the door to the Information Age.

Universal Service

The President and Vice President want to ensure that all Americans have access to the benefits of the information superhighway. The Act ensures that schools, libraries, hospitals and clinics have access to advanced telecommunications services, and calls for them to be connected to the information superhighway by the year 2000. It will help connect every school child in every classroom in America to the information superhighway — opening up worlds of knowledge and opportunities in rural and low-income areas.

The V-Chip

Because President Clinton and Vice President Gore believe strongly that families should be able to exercise control over how the media influences their children, the Act includes a provision calling for a computer chip, called the V-Chip, to be installed in every new television set. This provision is critical to give parents control of the television programming that comes into their homes by allowing them to block electronically violent or other objectional material.

Media Ownership

Because President Clinton and Vice President Gore believe that diversity of voices and viewpoints is critical to our democracy, the Act will prevent undue concentration of television and radio ownership. The Act limits the number of stations one entity can own to stations that reach up to 35 percent of all national TV viewers, and keeps existing rules that forbid one

company from owning two TV stations in a local market, or a newspaper and TV station in the same market, or a newspaper and cable in the same market. The Act also maintains the ownership ban of a cable company and a broadcast company in the same market.

Phone Service

The President and Vice President believe that when the walls of regulations are brought down, prices come down for American consumers. This Act breaks down the Berlin Walls of regulation that previously kept local Bell Telephone companies and long-distance telephone companies from competing with one another, while keeping safeguards in place to ensure competition and serve the public interest.

Fancy words….that shows the ends that the MSM will go to own the news and the news cycle…..as well as making certain candidates proper for the American voter…

Is it any wonder that the nation’s “liberal” cable news stations CNN and MSNBC can barely contain their disdain for Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign and even (to a lesser degree) for that of Elizabeth Warren while they promote the nauseating center-right candidacies of the bewildered racist and corporatist Joe Biden, the sinister neoliberal corporate-militarist Pete Butiggieg and even the marginal Wall Street “moderates” Amy Klobuchar and Kamala Harris? Next time you click on these stations, keep a pen and paper handy to write down the names of the corporations that pay for their broadcast content with big money commercial purchases.

Money Talks, Bullshit Walks on Cable News

I Read. I Wrote, You Know

“Lego Ergo Scribo”