Skip to main content

November Is Full Of Holidays Focused On Giving Thanks

 In November we think about giving thanks, but there are other important days on the calendar. November is election month. Our local election was on the 7th, and Republicans in Virginia took a trouncing.  I will give thanks that our governor, now without any legislative support, will not get to track women’s menstrual cycles. Nor will he get his abortion ban. Democrats now control our legislature, and that is a fine thing. Voters across America realize that this election was between the party that wants to take away our rights and the party who wants all citizens to have the right to control their -own lives without governmental interference.  Most Americans know that we, the people, should be in charge of what we do with our bodies and who we love, not politicians. Another - often overshadowed by the others - holiday in the November calendar is Veteran’s Day.  It used to be called Armistice Day, to celebrate the end of WWI and pay homage to the many who gave their lives in that war. W
Post a Comment

Fox News Continues To Lie To Its Viewers

 When I started writing this column for The News Virginian, my first column was about insurrection — what it is, how it works, and why it’s a federal crime. This was just after the attack on Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.

I never dreamed that I would still be writing about that same treasonous insurrection two years later, but I am.

The Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Congress began months earlier, with former President Donald Trump constantly telling the public that if he were to lose the upcoming election, it meant the election “was rigged.” Egged on by Fox News, this became his rallying cry for months, hoodwinking many people. The culmination came on Jan. 6, after a speech by Trump telling his supporters to fight, claiming he’d be with them at the Capitol. His supporters went; he did not. His supporters killed six and wounded 114 police officers.

I’m writing about it again because many Republicans persist in stating President Joe Biden is not the “real” president, and they keep pushing this false narrative, despite knowing better.

Republicans — including our Congressman, Rep. Ben Cline — continue to lie to the American public and skew facts to favor their extreme and false agenda.

How do I know they know better? Case in point: Fox Network. If you are a Fox viewer exclusively, you missed an important news story last week:

Many at Fox News knew Trump lost the election. They knew the 2020 election was not rigged in favor of President Biden, yet they kept lying about it. As a result, Fox Network is now being sued for defamation by Dominion Voting Systems. The definition of defamation is the action of damaging the good reputation of someone, slander, or libel. Dominion is an election tech company in charge of voting machines in many states.

For months after the November 2020 presidential election, Fox Network owner Rupert Murdoch has admitted (under oath) that hosts on his network “endorsed” Donald Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election for financial, not political, reasons, stating, “It is not red or blue, it is green.”

For money.

From Rupert Murdoch down to the show producers, they knew what they were promoting was a lie.

Fox trotted out Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell to make continual false claims that Dominion voting machines were flawed or deliberately changing votes from Biden to Trump. None of that happened. Last week, it was revealed Fox News hosts knew none of it was true, but they kept at it anyway.

Fox lied to its millions of viewers and continues to do so, and their presenters, particularly Tucker Carlson, keep at it. He is still trying to rewrite what happened in Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.

The American public witnessed, live and in action, as Trump supporters murdered Capitol police officers and stormed the building. We saw it with our own eyes, but Carlson tells his viewers that none of that happened. Surprisingly, some Republican lawmakers have eschewed Fox News’ lies, including Mitch McConnell and Mitt Romney.

This week’s Fox Network bombshell was again about Tucker Carlson (and again, Fox viewers won’t know about this), who, behind the scenes with other Fox staff, admitted how much he detests Donald Trump. Everything that Fox News has reported over the past years — about a rigged election, COVID, and their love of supporting the disgraced, twice-impeached former president has been a lie. They were swallowed by millions of people and touted so they could keep their audience.

We can only hope Dominion wins its defamation case against Fox.

Hopefully, a chastened and diminished network will chastise its on-air talent and think twice about whether they want to support the truth or murder-causing lies.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Republican politicians refuse to help Americans

  J ust when you think the Republican leadership can’t get any more vile, it does. On July 28 the Senate passed a reconciliation package to make drugs cheaper, plug tax loopholes for corporations and the extremely wealthy, and invest in switching the economy away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy. In other words, a bill that would go a long way toward addressing the systemic inequalities in this country and toward tackling the climate catastrophe caused by fossil fuel corporations. If this bill wins in the House, it’s a Biden Administration victory, and a big win for us, the American people. Shortly after, the Senate passed the CHIPS bill (Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors) which appropriates $280 billion to speed up the manufacturing of semiconductors in the U.S. and to invest in scientific research and development in computers and artificial intelligence. Also a big win for President Joe Biden and a boost to the American industrial sector. However, min
2 comments
Read more

Democracy Protects Us From Mayhem

 You know the commercial for home insurance where Mayhem (in the guise of actor Dean Winter) comes to call, wrecking garages, cars, and houses. Have no fear, the insurance company says, “We’ve got you covered.” I’ve been wondering: What insurance coverage do Americans have to protect ourselves against the mayhem and chaos caused by the MAGA Republican Party?  We have a lot. We have the ballot box, for one thing. Democrats have proven their ability to defeat the MAGA Mayhem threatening democracy. Earlier this month, there was an election to fill a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and the Democrat won by a wide margin. Previously, because of Republican gerrymandering, Wisconsin Democrats have been unable to control their General Assembly, but voters elected a Democrat who will help cease that anti-democratic practice in their Supreme Court. She is also a supporter of women’s reproductive rights. The political orientation of the Wisconsin Supreme Court has been in Republican hands for
1 comment
Read more

Instead of Censoring Shakespeare, the GOP Should Learn From Him

 The Shenandoah Valley is blessed to be home to The American Shakespeare Center (ASC) in Staunton. As a retired English teacher, I delight in having access to Shakespeare’s plays produced by consummate professionals. The ASC players can be hilarious, profound, and wise, and their performances are a conduit for some of the most beautiful language ever spoken. Or written. But make no mistake, there is raunchiness in the plays, and man, when the ASC encounters it, they milk it for all it’s worth. Because it’s FUNNY. Bad puns, physical comedy, slapstick, and double entendre are funny. It’s partly why the plays have been popular for centuries. Enlightened people recognize the mirror they hold up to life’s bawdiness, beauty, miracles, and foolishness. However, through the centuries, Shakespeare’s plays have been banned, outlawed, and censored by people who fear them. Just this month, Republican-led Hillsborough County in Florida has decreed that the plays, particularly Romeo and Juliet, must
Post a Comment
Read more