Why the Media Is No Longer Credible

Oh yea, she's a "Rock Star" now!

Why do you believe the media is no longer credible? Have you noticed what has changed in the media's coverage of almost everything? What do you feel is the reason why there's so much fake news these days? Is it any wonder that so many no longer watch their reports?

I was pleased to see the interview Sheryll Attkisson did recently with Frank Sesno titled, "The Big Ask" centered around his new book with the same title. Why? Because it confirmed something I have believed as to why the media has shifted from centrist oriented in the decades when I was a child and young adult, to leftist and liberal. Mr. Sesno points out how today's journalists who clearly lean to the left, are ask questions which are oriented in a confrontational manner, rather than phrased, or posed, in a manner which is neutral, but digs for information which is factual, rather than challenging the person being asked in an accusatory way. The most notorious example would be the CNN reporter - Jim Accosta - who went out of control with a barrage of stupid questions and wouldn't shut up. Trump gave him a "smack down" and it became it's own story for days.

What he explains is the driving force of media behind why this has developed into what it is today, and I've long known that this reality was why we've now become inundated with what appears to be an all out "fake news" assault on our current President; sensationalism drives ratings! Of course, it's already understood that a large share of today's media war against Trump is because they are furious that he managed to outfox them from the start of his campaign by manipulating them to give him press coverage and ultimately beating their "crowned princess" Hillary. They're still incensed about this and are character assassinating Trump in every conceivable way they can; even to the extent of having liberal members of Congress make absurd claims... can you spell Wilson?

Consider the fact that today we have hundreds of news outlets with the Internet compared to the 1960s when Walter Cronkite, David & Chet Brinkley, and Eric Sevaried were the only three news sources of that era. The competition today is all the more fierce, and in order to get any attention, stations such as MSNBC (MSLSD as Mark Levin calls it.) are going to extremes when reporting that, say, the President sneezed and claim it set off one of "Rocket Man's" missiles in North Korea, or some ridiculous thing like it.

You want a perfect example of just how dishonest, the New York Times for instance, as part of the leftist media can be? Check these two stories here:

Bill O'Reilly - Part 1 (Oct 21, 2017 5:40 pm)

Bill O'Reilly - Part 2 (Oct 22, 2017 10:40 am)

Footnote:

I can't help but wonder what Eric Sevaried is thinking about his press from up in heaven, now. It seems that, as he said in his farewell address (see link above) that he can no longer "... comfort ones' self in times of error with the knowledge of the saving grace that the press, print, or broadcast, is its self correcting nature...", with Cronkite signing off at the end.

I Have A Theory About Immigration

For years now I've been trying to understand why our elected officials have basically ignored our immigration problem. We all know from watching what's happened over the last 20 years how politicians have done nothing to address the porous border between the U.S. and Mexico. Why?

I figured there had to be a reason behind it, but I just couldn't put a logical, reasonable finger on it. I thought they were attempting to bolster their voter base, or bring in more from other countries who would tend to support their leftist revolutionary ideology. While there may be something to this, I seriously doubt it's the main driving force behind it all.

Allow me to explain... I'll start by asking a question: What do you think is the most critical commodity to any nation's economic viability? I suspect most of you are naming off something like precious metals, water, oil, land, food, etc. Well, while most of those are important to our modern economy, none of them are it. Very few have ever learned, or studied about cycles. Most of us are somewhat aware of them as a natural phenomenon of nature such as the seasons, or the tides of the ocean and such, but how many have studied the cycles of national populations. When correlated with birth booms due to, say wars, or famines, and the resulting rebound of the particular region, or country affected, a delayed effect takes place over decades as those new children grow up and become working, productive members of society.

So, if people impact a country's economy, whether it's growing up and contributing to an economic boom, or that boom population growing old and no longer spending as much due to going into retirement, it's not difficult to see how there's a connection between our own baby boomers - of which I'm one of hundreds of millions - and the fact that they are now reaching those lesser spending years at a rate of 10,000/day right now; and have been for several years now if one examines the stats related to them.

How does this relate to immigration, you ask? I suspect some of you may have already made the logical and obvious mental leap to what I'm going state as my basis of my theory of why our immigration situation has been ignored by our government. It's my understanding that the various committees in Congress have commissioned a plethora of studies by bean counters on future trends for the nation. I suspect that, because they've become aware of the reality of what I've cited above regarding the baby boomers going into retirement at such a high rate, coupled with the reality that Congress is addicted to spending beyond its tax revenue income stream, it's not that far of a stretch to speculate that the only solution to propping up the taxes needed to sustain a level even close to what the nation enjoyed during the 25 year period of 1975 - 2000, would be to allow a massive number of immigrants into the country; even illegally.

Think for a second... it's a known fact that our nation's immigration policy was ended in the 1920s to allow all those European groups who'd entered through Ellis Island and other points to assimilate into our culture. Then, in 1965 or so, Congress passed a new immigration policy which reopened foreigners to come into the country once again. And, it's been climbing ever since. Why? I contend that it was, in part, to address what projects indicated was to be the inevitable decline of our nation's own baby boomer spending trends which one, or more of their commissioned studies about future population trends for the country would be in the decades ahead.

What sparked this theory? An online presentation by one Harry Dent. Instead of taking the effort to provide information about who he is here, I invite you to simply use this link to his most recent page on the Internet to watch and listen to his presentation about his own research on this topic. I must warn you, it's pretty long, but it also has some very interesting and hard to argue against points which he covers over the duration of the presentation. But be patient, while it may be long, it's also difficult to discount much of what he's saying about his discovery of economic cycles.

"They tell me the budget's just a piece of toilet paper."

Senator Rand Paul, (R) Kentucky, was interviewed this morning on Glenn Beck's radio show about the tax cut package that's being debated in both the media and Congress for an intended passage some time before the Christmas holiday. What Sen. Paul is all worked up about is the actual lack of fiscal conservatism being encountered by nearly every Republican Senator regarding the tax cut package and the spending that's happening beyond limits already set in the budget.

It's a classic case of what's wrong in "the swamp" when it comes to our growing national debt; spending beyond our means which will some day bite us in the rear with very painful consequences. However, establishment Republicans, the majority in both the House and the Senate, are acting as though that's not anything to be concerned about.

I urge my readers to use the link to this page about this interview and listen to this fairly short interview. Sen. Rand Paul speaks so fast that Glenn has to slow him down a few times to clarify what he's said, but I believe you'll find this rather amazing to hear how he explains what he's up against regarding upholding any sense of fiscal responsibility by his fellow Senators.

Footnote: For those who've missed the debate held on CNN between Sen. Sanders (D) and Sen. Cruz (R) on the proposed tax cut package now before Congress, I provide the link to it here. (I believe one of the best points made occurs at the 10:00 point.)

DeVos Visits WA - State's A.G. Protests

Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson speaks at the Tom Foley Dinner in Spokane earlier this year.

Here's a "pull quote" from the Washington Policy Center's article, "Why We Invited Betsy DeVos to Speak" about her recent visit to our state to share her views about Charter schools. The state's A.G., Bob Ferguson* (a.k.a. "Sideshow Bob") was among those who were outside protesting her presence in the state and her stance on Charter schools, despite the fact that it became law in 2016.

Naturally, the people most upset about Secretary DeVos’ visit are those who gain most under the current system.

The primary obstacle to improving public education in our state are executives at the WEA union.  They are fearful and angry.  They want to maintain their power, to keep mandatory dues money flowing to their bank accounts, and to keep children and families trapped in a monopoly system that is failing them.

They see Secretary DeVos as someone who is disruptive, asks too many questions, listens too much to parents, and poses a threat to their position of power.

As a retired public schools educator of 35 years, I am passionately keen on this issue; I support Charter schools because I believe competition is best for our future generations. As things are now, the entrenched interests - NEA, WEA, and AFT - are quaking in their boots that there's a rising resistance against them. The tax payers are finally seeing right through their empty promises of improving education. Common Core, the brainchild of state's governors who obviously don't understand what education is about, is now fading away only to be replaced by an ever increasing bureaucratic oriented set of curricula that is all the more nonsensical.

How do I know this even though I'm no longer teaching full-time? I have a close source who provides me input on a regular basis about what is going in the classroom and am appalled at what I'm told. The overarching theme in education today seems to be "change for the sake of change". Not that it's better, or more effective. In fact, much of it has totally ignored the basic psychological research of many well known education researchers; like Piage'. Much of the lessons involve having the students working on lessons which are way above their cognitive abilities to comprehend; all in the name of making education look like they're really buckling down on getting these students prepared for middle and high school.

The typical public school teacher today is overburdened with a mountain of data collection in order to show that their students are learning, while all the while, most 4th graders haven't even mastered simple math facts of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division! Yet they're given lessons which require them to formulate an algebraic equation after getting an answer to a word problem that they have difficulty deciphering because they're only at a 1st - 3rd grade reading level.

I've written in past posts here on my blog about the sociological reasons behind why we so many children in this situation in our public schools, so I won't go into those points here. Suffice it to say that, until and unless we get this country on a path of making a stable family environment for the nuclear family to thrive, rather than flounder, we're just spinning our wheels and getting nowhere, no matter how much money our state Supreme Court demands the state legislature should spend to meet is responsibility of "paramount duty".

* 
In addition to politically motivated lawsuits, AG Bob also spent last week protesting alongside the WEA… you know, instead of actually doing his job. Liv Finne with the Washington Policy Center was rightfully shocked that he would participate. “You should be shocked because the attorney general is required to defend the law of the State of Washington, and one of the laws of the State of Washington is the charter school law that was passed in 2016 … and that law has been challenged by the WEA union in court,” Finne said. “He’s calling into question his impartiality, which he is supposed to have.” (MyNorthwest)

AND...

Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson is suing Secretary DeVos and the U.S. Department of Education. The lawsuit is aimed at protecting an Obama era rule related to assessing the quality of degrees. Readers wondering if this is nothing more than a stunt to advance Bob’s political career would be right in doing so. (The Seattle Times)

Hey Hillary! Here's What Happened!

There are a few of these kinds of messages going around right now. In fact, this may well be a revised version of an original like it. No matter, the point is crystal clear as to why Trump won and Hillary lost. But does she have the brains to comprehend why? Apparently not! Oh, and BTW, Sen. McConnell, you'd do well to heed these points as well. (See my earlier post titled, "Ditch Mitch")

Just today I was going through all my junk mail and shredding things. These very thoughts went through my mind, so I decided to pass this on via my blog... for those few who even read it.

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Donald R. “Dick” Ivey, PhD, is a minister, educator, technology executive, entrepreneur,  Marine Corp Veteran, and straight shooting Republican Patriot from Celina, Texas, who is Fed up!  Here’s what he has to say today.

I am now in my 80's.

Recently I received a questionnaire and request for money from the Republican Party and strongly agree with every question, as I have ever since Obama was elected.

Unfortunately, the one question that was missing is: What have the  Republicans done for the American people?

We gave you a majority in the House and Senate, and you never listened to us.  Now you want our money, my money, more money.  You should be more concerned about our votes, not our money.

You are the establishment which means all you want is to save your jobs and line your pockets. [If it's not obvious to you that the establishment Republicans are not concerned about those who work their butts off just to keep our bills paid from paycheck to paycheck, then you're either not in the middle-income level of society, or you are living in your own bubble.]

Well guess what?  It's not going to happen.

So far, TRUMP hasn't asked for a dime.

You might think we are fools because you feel Trump is on a self-destruct course, but look beyond Washington and listen to the masses.  Nobody has achieved what he has, especially in the state of New York.

Here's why I wanted Trump.  Yes, he's a bit of an ass; yes, he's an  egomaniac; but I don't care.

      The country is a mess because politicians suck.

      The Republican Party is two-faced and gutless, and illegals are

      everywhere.  I want it all fixed!

      I don't care that Trump is crude.

      I don't care that he insults people.

      I don't care that he has changed positions.

      I don't care that he's been married 3 times.

      I don't care that he fights with Megan Kelly and Rosie O’Donnell.

      I don't care that he doesn't know the name of some Muslim terrorist.

Our country has become weak, and bankrupt.  Our enemies are making fun of us.  We are being invaded by illegals.  We are becoming a nation of victims where every Tom, Ricardo and Hassid is a special group with special rights to a point where we don't even recognize the country we were born and raised in, [not to mention those NFL gladiators who, for some weird reason, think it's now their job to make political statements during the National Anthem] "AND I JUST WANT IT FIXED."

And Trump is the only guy who seems to understand what We The People want and need.

I'm sick of politicians, sick of the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, and sick of illegals.  I just want this thing fixed!

Trump may not be a saint, but he doesn't have lobbyist money controlling him; he doesn't have political correctness restraining him; all you know is that he has been very successful; a good negotiator; he has built a lot of things; and, he's also not a politician.

And, he says he'll fix it.  And, I believe him because he is too much of an egotist to be proven wrong or looked at and called a liar.

I don't care if the guy has bad hair.

Oh, and by the way, I don’t care if Sheriff Joe didn’t obey a zealot judge, he upheld the law on illegal immigration.  So I’m glad Trump pardoned him.

You are welcome to pass this on, or not.

Thought for the Day "No country can sustain, in idleness, more than a small percentage of its numbers.  The great majority must labor at something productive!"

WA State Attorney General Must Testify Under Oath

The following story - in email form - is what was sent out by Tim Eyman; WA state's initiative leader who's been keeping state government in check for decades on raising taxes. (He has graciously given permission to reproduce that email here.)

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By Glen Morgan, October 17, 2017, www.wethegoverned.com
 

Last Friday morning, in Thurston County Superior Court, a courtroom drama played out which may signal the beginning of some serious legal problems for Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson in the near future. Ferguson brought this legal jeopardy upon himself. It is exceptionally rare that a sitting Attorney General can be legally forced to submit to questioning under oath – the legal hurdle is exceptionally high – but this judge, after hearing about Ferguson’s actions in this case, has decided that that hurdle has been cleared.  Friday’s ruling will result in Ferguson’s deposition (out-of-court testimony made under oath and recorded by an authorized officer for later use in court).

Ferguson vs. Eyman – in Friday’s hearing, three attorneys appeared. On the Left is Mark Lamb for Tim Eyman, on the Right is Linda Dalton and Todd Sipe for the AG’s office.

I was running late to get to Judge Dixon’s courtroom in Thurston County. I expected to see a full courtroom, and I was surprised to find it nearly empty with only two attorneys and a guy with a video camera set-up in the jury box. Other than the camera guy, I was the only unpaid witness to the drama in the room. I also brought my camera. 

 

The significance of this hearing was not why I attended. My intention was to watch Tim Eyman’s attorney, Mark Lamb, in action because I was considering retaining him on other legal cases (I prefer to see how an attorney performs before I hire them).

 

Ferguson vs. Eyman – Background on the drama

Tim Eyman is the well-known “initiative guy” in Washington State, famous for qualifying numerous successful initiatives to the Washington state ballot over the last 20 years. These initiatives mostly involve reducing taxes or improving accountability in government. He doesn’t win every time, but his successes have earned him great enmity and exceptional hatred and vitriol mostly from the Left. He is known for dressing up in a gorilla suit and a Darth Vader costume, and pulling other publicity stunts to promote his initiative efforts. His stunts and successes have infuriated his opponents, earning him an impressive amount of hatred and fury from his detractors.

 

 

 

One of them is Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who narrowly won his “Hunger Games” reelection to the King County Council in 2005 after Eyman helped pass a local initiative (Initiative 18) reducing the size of the King County Council from 13 to 9 members. Ferguson has been channeling the anger of his political allies against Eyman very effectively in his role as Attorney General, a position he first won in 2012.

 

 

Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson speaks at the Tom Foley Dinner in Spokane earlier this year.

Last March, Ferguson launched a major headline grabbing lawsuit against Eyman for campaign finance violations dating back to 2012. He held a splashy press conference in Olympia with full attendance by the political press corps (Watch Ferguson’s statements on KIRO TV (he had a lot to say to the media that day):

Not only is Ferguson asking for a $2.1 million judgment against Eyman, he’s also trying to get Eyman permanently barred from participating in politics for the rest of his life.

A Seattle PI columnist referred to Ferguson’s attempt to bar Eyman from politics as “the nuclear option.” — from the article: If the “nuclear option” succeeds, “Eyman will have to find something else to do with his life,” said Andrew Villeneuve, founder of the Northwest Progressive Institute, an obsessive Eyman critic.).  Ferguson’s promotion of the lawsuit that day resulted in numerous articles about the case (see here and here). 

 

During his press conference, Ferguson talked about “silencing Tim Eyman” and “removing” Eyman from the political process, promising never to settle the case. Ferguson’s public statements were strangely personal and vindictive.  Consider this, the State of Washington settled with Gary Ridgeway.

The State will settle with the Green River Killer but not Tim Eyman?  This was a strange thing to say, but it was political catnip to Ferguson’s political supporters. 

During this case, Ferguson relishes every opportunity to schedule a press conference and issue a press releases (like the 9 linked below) at every legal step in the lawsuit against Eyman (see this video as just one example).

Cartoons about Eyman are easy to find. In this one, he is featured as Satan (the snake in the garden)

Mark Lamb, representing Tim Eyman in Thurston County Superior Court on Friday

Eyman’s attorney Mark Lamb responded to Ferguson’s lawsuit against Eyman by filing what are called counterclaims against Ferguson, accusing the AG of violating Eyman’s free speech and civil rights and highlighted how Ferguson was personally profiting from his lawsuit against Eyman (when running for reelection, Ferguson featured his prosecution of Eyman prominently as a campaign theme, and he promoted this lawsuit at Democratic Party functions where he often speaks throughout the state).

Assistant Attorney General Todd Sipe argued that Tim Eyman deserved no Constitutional legal defense

Friday’s hearing involved the AG’s office asking the judge to quash (throw-out) all of Eyman’s counterclaims and affirmative constitutional defenses and sanction Lamb for even asking for such relief.  If you watch the 28 minute video of the hearing (link here) you can see that the AG was represented by Senior Assistant Attorney General Linda Dalton (who arrived about 8 minutes late and had delayed the start of the hearing – lucky for me, but annoying to everyone else), and Assistant Attorney General Todd Sipe (who made the oral arguments for the State). Eyman was represented by Mark Lamb.

 

Attorneys Linda Dalton and Todd Sipe represented the Washington State Attorney General’s office on Friday and were understandably not happy with the outcome.

Significance of Judge Dixon’s ruling

Watching the video, you won’t hear dramatic music or witty verbal interaction.  However, I was struck by several actions taken by the court.  The first is that Judge Dixon denied the AG’s effort to quash and sanction (fine and penalize) Mr. Lamb – Eyman’s counterclaims and affirmative defenses against Ferguson were affirmed.  The second is that the judge said he had come to court planning to rule one way but based on Mr. Lamb’s oral argument that “his client deserves to be heard”, he was persuaded to rule the way he did.  Judging from the body language of the AG attorneys after the case, this was not the result they expected. They appeared to not only be surprised, but also were not relishing the discussion with Ferguson about how soon his legal ethics in this case will be scrutinized and he’ll have to answer questions about his actions under oath.  This is a big deal.

 

Freedom isn’t easy to maintain, and everyone should be concerned when the government makes a priority to suppress it, even for Mr. Eyman.

Eyman’s attorney Lamb made an impactful statement which should also be noted. Mr. Lamb identified the very real effort by the AG’s office to invalidate all constitutional defenses of Mr. Eyman, which should concern everyone. In theory, even though this fact gets lost in the repetitive drama of high-profile posturing press conference litigation from this Attorney General, he is supposed to be defending the constitutional rights of its citizens, not striving to destroy the constitutional protections for those on his political enemy list.

 

The Washington State Attorney General has the ability to crush anyone…

As indicated at the end of this hearing, there is great concern by the attorneys for the AG’s office that they may not be able to prevent Ferguson from being compelled, under oath to submit to questioning by Eyman’s attorney. Based on the interchange in the courtroom, it appears that this will include Ferguson’s attempt to personally profit and make money from his prosecution of Tim Eyman. This is ugly stuff, and it looks likely to get messier the more layers are removed to get to the truth of this case. Ferguson may be the first Attorney General in Washington State history to put himself in this position. I am unable to find any other examples that compare.

 

Eyman might dress up in an orange jumpsuit to make a political point, but he probably has no desire to make this his future uniform.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson has been emphasizing in his many repetitive, hyped lawsuits against President Trump that nobody is above the law. He is absolutely right, and Ferguson may become another example of this truth very soon himself.

Not surprisingly, the Attorney General’s office didn’t issue a press release after Friday’s hearing…

 

Mexican Drug Trade's Innovation - A Real Eye Openner!

Want to see innovation in the Mexican Drug Trade? Watch this 2+ minute video. You will not believe your eyes.

On August 1st President Trump told the Southern border patrol to carefully screen every truck coming into the U.S. from Mexico. The Obama administration had our border patrol only sporadically checking. The border officials said they felt like a welcoming committee. Watch the attached video to see what President Trump's new policy is doing to the Mexican drug trade.

 

The media has not reported a word about this terrific policy of President Trump's.