Here it is…
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True.
As a source for news, opinions, misinformation and manipulation - what could go wrong?
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Well, leave it to Fox news for shedding light on what T’s request for a Wall is all about. It is only a rallying cry - It’s about politics, his 2020 re-election and nothing to do with Immigration.
Thanks for clearing that up…and glad they can state the truth. We already knew what it was…an easy meme for T to get to his base.
Fox contributor Dan Bongino explicitly said that Trump’s insistence on building a wall is about giving him a "political victory,” stating, "This is not about immigration. I think everybody at this table knows this.” Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy claimed Trump needs a wall “because he needs to start running for re-election.” Fox’s Tomi Lahren argued, “When President Trump listens to his instincts on this, he is right, which is why he won the election in 2016. He will win on it again in 2020. But he has to hold firm on this. The American people want a wall.”
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Dragonfly - thanks!
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Yeah, that’s rich…but Chris Wallace (Fox Sunday) has enough _____ to call the R’s out on this.
From Brian Stelter’s Reliable Sources (CNN) Newsletter.
Chris Wallace calls out ‘outraged’ Republicans
Oliver Darcy emails: It was another one of those moments in which an actual journalist at Fox broke from the chorus to offer the audience valuable context. “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace said he found it “rich that Republicans are so outraged” over the Whitaker hearing, given that the GOP held many, many hearings on things like the IRS, Benghazi and Fast & Furious. Mediaite has the full clip here…
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Total spin…Qatar walks back it’s thoughtless? investments in Kushner properties, will have to get some oversight on it…hmmmm
Big WTF meter just went off…
When news emerged that Qatar may have unwittingly helped bail out a New York skyscraper owned by the family of Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, eyebrows were raised in Doha.
The bailout, in which Doha played no part and first learned about in the media, has prompted a rethink of how the gas-rich kingdom invests money abroad via its giant sovereign wealth fund, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
The country has decided that the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) will aim to avoid putting money in funds or other investment vehicles it does not have full control over, according to the sources, who are familiar with the QIA’s strategy.
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@dragonfly9 Wow – I’m so glad you posted this. Last night I was on the verge of posting similar thoughts. This phrase in particular that you quoted jumped out at me as well:
The bailout, in which Doha played no part and first learned about in the media…
How can Reuters just flat out make this claim with absolutely no substantiation? This sounds more like a pay-for-publication press release issued by Qatar and the U.S. company involved (Brookfield), than a responsible piece of journalism. And what’s more distressing is that it was picked up without any apparent vetting by major news outlets such as the NYT – they reprinted it in its entirety without taking the time to question it in any way.
Ah, but at least Vanity Fair was doing its job. Here’s a take on the Reuters’ piece by Bess Levin:
And Levin is in a position to know. Here’s an earlier report from her exposing the web of connections between Qatar, Brookfield, and the Kushners (both Jared and his felony-convicted father, Charles). An intriguing read.
And here’s something that’s really telling from that piece. Levin quotes an NYT article from the same time period (May, 2018) that makes it clear the talks on financing were ongoing at that time and had not been finalized.
The company controlled by the family of the White House adviser Jared Kushner is close to receiving a bailout of its troubled flagship building by a company with financial ties to the government of Qatar, according to executives briefed on the deal.
The highly spun Reuters “press release” makes it sound like Qatar only found out about its participation in the bailout after the fact, but here is in-your-face proof that their involvement in the bailout was well known before it was finalized. Why didn’t Qatar try to stop it by taking a public stand back then? Qatar’s and Reuters’ lies are there for everyone to see.
BTW, I normally respect Reuters’ reporting, but this incident has damaged their reputation IMHO. I’ll be scrutinizing their work more closely in the future.
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You are right @Keaton_James …this Reuters article is outrageous on so many levels, but at some point Qatar had to say something, as all of these middle east contacts are being scrutinized. The Hive/VF article says that Qatar could stick out it’s neck once the sale of the 666 building had been finalized to Brookfield Asset Management. And that happened 3 weeks ago.
If Reuters can be blamed for issuing the Qatar PR piece, then so be in. Those of us who read the news and are aware of what kind of massaging the message this is, then we can continue looking at the Qatari’s with greater scrutiny.
And none of it passes the smell test, btw.
I suppose similarly the net effect of learning of Kashoggi’s murder at the hands of the Saudi and oked by MBS 'n Co, was NIL and the US took no stand against it, is that the most mediocre ‘explainer’ opinion of such a heinous crime can be normalized given the position those in power want to take.
Oh, it goes deep this one…who’s going to spin it so Qatar does not take too big of a hit.
And these little tiny pieces of information keep replaying in my hear.
Jared of guilty for using every government connection to bail out his Kushner property, particularly this albatross. Pundits are suggesting that many in the international government arena did/have complained that Jared is hustling for business. He’s acting like a princeling, and convorting way above his pay grade. (He works for free, except for all the profits he is experiencing as a result of the Grifter clan and all their operations.)
And Qatar Investment Authority is under scrutiny of some kind and perhaps potentially “Company A” or something else. Another stinking situation…
We are close to a final explanation, but far enough away to feel really vexxed at hearing this nonsense coming from Qatar.
And P.S. Can’t verify, except by tweet that the FBI was interviewing Charles Kushner last week. So there’s that.
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From Brian Stelter’s Reliable Sources newsletter quoting from Philip Bump’s WaPo article
The speech turned into a presser…
Friday in the Rose Garden, “everything fell into place" to keep Trump on task: The president opened the floor to reporters and stayed predictably on topic, trotting out "the same frequently disproved data,” Philip Bump wrote Friday. Still, we saw why real-time fact-checking of Trump “is often an unrewarding enterprise.”
Bump: "The combination of the power imbalance between the president and reporters, his willingness to ignore the decorum that has usually guided such interactions, and his aggressive lack of interest in engaging in legitimate debate all made the day’s incursions broadly unsuccessful."
Same presser…more reviews of it…
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Thanks to both of you on these posts. Does anyone recall Rex Tillerson waving a flag on the regional issues with Qatar a country with what I believe has a 30K troop placement and Jared looking like he was ready to blow-up the Middle East with his great expertise? Further investigiations and reportings in the last 2 years to include Cohen/Wieselberg (sp?) Trump’s real money man, were introducted to the NY Federal attorneys I have often wondered if Trumps/Kushners will end up avoiding a RICO indictment in the future? Maybe a fever dream…
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CNN, WTF is this all about? Not only is Sarah Isgur a Jeff Sessions apologist, she also has zero background in leading a news team. If they wanted to broaden the viewpoints expressed in their programs, CNN could have brought her on as a panelist or as an author of editorial content for their web site, but how can they justify installing her as the coordinator of their political coverage for the 2020 election? Depending on how much clout she’s given, that could be one of the most influential media positions in the nation over the next two years – and she’s coming into it from the incumbent’s camp and without any discernible qualifications! 
President Donald Trump has derided CNN as a leading purveyor of “fake news,” and now, a recently departed administration official is joining the network in a senior role.
Sarah Isgur, who served as the Justice Department’s lead spokeswoman under Attorney General Jeff Sessions, is joining the network as a political editor next month, where she will coordinate political coverage for the 2020 campaign. …
While it is common for departing administration officials to join cable news networks as analysts or contributors, it is less common for them to oversee news coverage. Isgur has no experience in news but a long history as a political operative, most recently with the Trump administration and the Fiorina campaign. Before that, she worked for the Republican National Committee and on Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign…
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NY Times publisher Sulzberger gets out his message (again) to reprimand T’s cavalier and bullying remark that press is ‘enemy of the people.’
The Fourth Estate - press, freedom of speech and the thought that the press can/will challenge the facts, and challenge what has been enacted by the government. Keeping a watchful eye on power is the main purpose of the press.
Of course, there will be bias and varying points of view, BUT in essence, no one is above being scrutinized. No one.
And no one is above the law…and the press is protected by the 1st amendment - free speech.
February 20, 2019
New York Times Publisher A.G. Sulzberger responded to President Trump’s continued attacks on a free pressAmerica’s founders believed that a free press was essential to democracy because it is the foundation of an informed, engaged citizenry. That conviction, enshrined in the First Amendment, has been embraced by nearly every American president. Thomas Jefferson declared, “The only security of all is in a free press.” John F. Kennedy warned about the risks to “free society without a very, very active press.” Ronald Reagan said, “There is no more essential ingredient than a free, strong and independent press to our continued success.”
All these presidents had complaints about their coverage and at times took advantage of the freedom every American has to criticize journalists. But in demonizing the free press as the enemy, simply for performing its role of asking difficult questions and bringing uncomfortable information to light, President Trump is retreating from a distinctly American principle. It’s a principle that previous occupants of the Oval Office fiercely defended regardless of their politics, party affiliation, or complaints about how they were covered.
The phrase “enemy of the people” is not just false, it’s dangerous. It has an ugly history of being wielded by dictators and tyrants who sought to control public information. And it is particularly reckless coming from someone whose office gives him broad powers to fight or imprison the nation’s enemies. As I have repeatedly told President Trump face to face, there are mounting signs that this incendiary rhetoric is encouraging threats and violence against journalists at home and abroad.
Through 33 presidential administrations, across 167 years, The New York Times has worked to serve the public by fulfilling the fundamental role of the free press. To help people, regardless of their backgrounds or politics, understand their country and the world. To report independently, fairly and accurately. To ask hard questions. To pursue the truth wherever it leads. That will not change.
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No American President has ever branded a newspaper the “ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE” (all caps are Trump’s). Just a few months ago Trump was claiming that technically he never called the media the “enemy of the people,” saying he only called “fake news” the enemy of the people" – a typical weaselly defense. However, he can no longer make that claim since he has now been very specific with his attack and his use of that phrase. His rationalization from last October:
As Trump amps up his use of the slur “enemy of the people,” it’s interesting to consider its sinister history:
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Clearly the US Press is not being accommodated to be present at the same hotel where T and Kim Jong-Un will be staying and having their meetings. CNN reporter Jim Acosta reports that they are being moved.
Of course that would work for T, and Kim Jong-Un. And it comes with the territory, press is not particularly welcome. 
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T and Kim keeping a tight leash on press at the Kim Jong-Un/T meeting in Vietnam.
After loud pushback, including from photojournalists who protested, Sanders allowed a single reporter in the pool for the dinner: Vivian Salama of the Wall Street Journal, who was serving as the print pooler and did not ask a question at the dinner. In addition, at least two members of the North Korean media contingent, a photographer and cameraman, were seen covering the dinner.
Reporters for the three wire services, as well as a second print pooler, were excluded. They included two journalists who had asked Trump questions in the earlier appearances: Jonathan Lemire of the AP and Jeff Mason of Reuters. Also excluded were Justin Sink of Bloomberg and Eli Stokols of the Los Angeles Times.
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From the perspective of a political news reporter for NBC Garrett Haake.
Every day and particularly Wednesday, with Cohen’s testimony and the N. Korean Summit makes it difficult to get any real perspective.
Chaos results because of multitudes of jaw-dropping facts. 
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From Jane Mayer, of The New Yorker who has done great investigative journalism on Kavanaugh and others writes on Fox News, the T Admin and where the Fox messaging starts and ends. And “It’s the closest we’ve come to having state TV.”
From T’s pre-occupation with mimicking the Fox messages, daily discussions with Sean Hannity, the appointment of Bill Shine, formerly of Fox and now Head of Communications, it is a WH driven by an Conservative, Alternative Facts news source, not to mention heavy on conspiracies with regard to the ‘deep state,’ and Mueller’s work.
In fairness, some Fox reporters Chris Wallace and Shep Smith will question the T Admin’s premises, and will grill the T Administration over what really is the truth. However, these are reporters are the exception.
Long article, read on.
… Nicole Hemmer, an assistant professor of Presidential studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center and the author of “Messengers of the Right,” a history of the conservative media’s impact on American politics, says of Fox, “It’s the closest we’ve come to having state TV.”
Hemmer argues that Fox—which, as the most watched cable news network, generates about $2.7 billion a year for its parent company, 21st Century Fox—acts as a force multiplier for Trump, solidifying his hold over the Republican Party and intensifying his support. “Fox is not just taking the temperature of the base—it’s raising the temperature,” she says. “It’s a radicalization model.” For both Trump and Fox, “fear is a business strategy—it keeps people watching.” As the President has been beset by scandals, congressional hearings, and even talk of impeachment, Fox has been both his shield and his sword. The White House and Fox interact so seamlessly that it can be hard to determine, during a particular news cycle, which one is following the other’s lead. All day long, Trump retweets claims made on the network; his press secretary, Sarah Sanders, has largely stopped holding press conferences, but she has made some thirty appearances on such shows as “Fox & Friends” and “Hannity.” Trump, Hemmer says, has “almost become a programmer.”
Fox’s defenders view such criticism as unfounded and politically biased. Ken LaCorte, who was in senior management at Fox News for nearly twenty years, until 2016, and recently started his own news service, told me, “The people at Fox said the same thing about the press and Obama.” Fox’s public-relations department offers numerous examples of its reporters and talk-show hosts challenging the Administration. Chris Wallace, a tough-minded and ecumenical interviewer, recently grilled Stephen Miller, a senior Trump adviser, on the need for a border wall, given that virtually all drugs seized at the border are discovered at checkpoints. Trump is not the first President to have a favorite media organization; James Madison and Andrew Jackson were each boosted by partisan newspapers. But many people who have watched and worked with Fox over the years, including some leading conservatives, regard Fox’s deepening Trump orthodoxy with alarm. Bill Kristol, who was a paid contributor to Fox News until 2012 and is a prominent Never Trumper, said of the network, “It’s changed a lot. Before, it was conservative, but it wasn’t crazy. Now it’s just propaganda.” Joe Peyronnin, a professor of journalism at N.Y.U., was an early president of Fox News, in the mid-nineties. “I’ve never seen anything like it before,” he says of Fox. “It’s as if the President had his own press organization. It’s not healthy.”
This article appears in the print edition of the March 11, 2019, issue, with the headline “Trump TV.”
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It’s well worth the time to read it. My conclusion is that FOX has become the National Enquirer of cable. With any luck they will start having stories about alien babies…
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I am including this here…and will make a link for the Immigration section.
It is about the fact that journalists, lawyers and ‘instigators’ names are being collected at the San Diego border to do a ‘secondary screening.’ Obviously, to control the story, make sure what’s being said publicly can or will be curtails that story is definitely a form of hampering the free press and creates more autocracy.
It sends a deep chill to know that those who want to defend incoming immigrants or who want to report on how the influx of asylum seekers are being handled. (answer: badly)
The list, dated Jan. 9, 2019, is titled “San Diego Sector Foreign Operations Branch: Migrant Caravan FY-2019 Suspected Organizers, Coordinators, Instigators, and Media” and includes pictures of the 59 individuals who are to be stopped. The people on the list were to be pulled aside by Customs and Border Protection agents for questioning when they crossed the U.S.-Mexico border to meet with or aid migrants from the Honduran caravan waiting on the Mexican side of the border.
The list includes 10 journalists, seven of them U.S. citizens, a U.S.-based attorney and others labeled as organizers and "instigators," 31 of whom are American. Symbols on the list show that by the time it was compiled 12 of the individuals had already been through additional questioning during border crossings and nine had been arrested.
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this is the thing that blows my mind on a regular basis; self-described informed, lucid citizens of the united states presenting the idea that cooperating with and enabling russian foreign policy is somehow good.
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