Alekzander
Alekzander's JournalI agree 100% with The Nation Mag on this article about fake news:
Fake News Is Not the Real Media Threat We’re Facing - What the conservative media machine does is much more dangerous.
By David A. BellDECEMBER 22, 2016
From all the recent hand-wringing about “fake news,” you would think that the hand-wringers had never stood in a supermarket checkout line, surrounded by 72-point headlines about alien abductions and miracle cures. Fake news has been around as long as real news, as any historian of early modern Europe can tell you (Renaissance readers gobbled up stories about women giving birth to rabbits, and men from Africa with faces in their chests). Social media has certainly transformed how fake news circulates, speeding up its circulation and extending its reach and impact. The temptation to blame many of our current ills on it—and by extension, on Mark Zuckerberg—is understandable. But the hand-wringing has in fact distracted attention from a much more important problem involving the American media. That problem is not fake news but the continuing delegitimization of real news by American conservatives. This delegitimization has been taking place for a long time (as The Nation’s Eric Alterman has meticulously reported, and as even some conservative media figures have admitted), but during the past year it has taken a frightening new turn. If the mainstream American news media are to have any hope of avoiding potentially catastrophic results—both for themselves and for American democracy—they need to change how they report on American politics, and on the ideological apparatchiks they continue to describe, misleadingly, as “journalists.”
Entire Article @ Link: https://www.thenation.com/article/fake-news-is-not-the-real-media-threat-were-facing/
Here's Why Jennifer Lopez Passed on a Million Dollar Performance
On top of dominating the television game in her new series, Shades of Blue, helping campaign for Hillary Clinton, turning 47 and becoming pregnant with her third child, Jennifer Lopez has proven to be as unstoppable as ever this year.
While the triple threat's 2016 has been as successful as it has been busy, J.Lo is making it clear she's not just about stacking the Benjamins. In a bold but incredibly boss move, the singer has recently turned down a million dollar gig and we can't help but applaud the reason why.
http://www.bet.com/music/2016/12/20/here-s-why-jennifer-lopez-passed-on-a-million-dollar-performance.html
Tom Arnold claims he has footage of Trump saying 'every dirty, every offensive, racist thing ever'
LOS ANGELES - Actor Tom Arnold is making waves with recent claims that he has outtakes from "The Apprentice" that feature President-elect Donald Trump using inflammatory language.
Arnold, who rose to prominence in the 1990s after his highly publicized marriage to Roseanne Barr and a breakthrough role in "True Lies," appeared on Seattle radio program "The Dori Monson Show" on Friday and said he had footage of Trump "saying every dirty, every offensive, racist thing ever."
In this Dec. 17, 2016, photo, President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a rally at the Ladd–Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Ala. Trump will be the first U.S. president to have ever owned a casino, and the gambling industry is wondering how he will handle three major issues: internet gambling, sports betting and daily fantasy sports. The industry has sent its wish list to the president-elect.
Monson inquired why he hadn't leaked the tape, given the response to the "Access Hollywood" footage that resulted in the firing of Billy Bush.
"When the people sent it to me, it was funny," Arnold said, explaining that hundreds of people have seen the footage that was sent around years ago as a Christmas video.
"He wasn't going to be president of the United States. It was him sitting in that chair using the N-word, using the C-word, calling his son (intellectually disabled)," Arnold said.
Arnold then went on to recount the Sunday before the election, allegedly being called by good friend Arnold Schwarzenegger's CAA agent and Hillary Clinton, asking for him to release the tapes.
But at that point, Arnold asserted that the people originally responsible for the distribution of the footage, two editors and an associate producer, were "scared to death."
"They were scared of his people. They're scared they'll never work again," said Arnold. "There's a $5 million confidentiality agreement."
"If that had gotten released, it absolutely would have finished him," Monson told Arnold.
Arnold disagreed.
"I think if the people that like him saw him saying the N-word, matter-of-factly saying this stuff, I think they would have liked him more for being politically incorrect," said Arnold.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/ent-columns-blogs/stargazing/article122008529.html#storylink=cpy
Live With Thomas Roberts Quietly Axed at MSNBC as Anchor Teases Stay Tuned in Response
MSNBC has quietly gutted “Live with Thomas Roberts,” its weekday 1 p.m. news show. Page Six first reported that “Live” was quietly cancelled by the network on Friday after two years on the air with anchor Thomas Roberts.
A source told Page Six, “Thomas was taken off of his [show] quietly. They’re not going to announce it, but he’s gone. His last day was Friday.”
Roberts himself did not wait long after Page Six first broke the story Saturday night to respond, taking to his Facebook page to thank the staff behind the Emmy-winning show for the hard work and success.
“Also, a BIG thanks to the viewers who’ve been supporters of our coverage at MSNBC,” Roberts wrote in the caption above a photo with his husband Patrick Abner. “Hearing from you (whether positive or negative) is always an important thing for me.”
It seems as if Roberts will still stick with the Peacock in some capacity, writing simply, “Stay tuned!” for what comes next. Roberts’ Twitter bio reads, “@msnbc.”
We have reached out to MSNBC for comment on the story.
http://www.mediaite.com/online/live-with-thomas-roberts-quietly-axed-at-msnbc-as-anchor-teases-stay-tuned-in-response/
A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR RESISTING THE TRUMP AGENDA
Last week, these two dozen or so former Democratic congressional staffers released their vision for a similar Democratic resistance to Donald Trump in a 23-page document titled “Indivisible: A Practical Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda.” The document offers “a step-by-step guide for individuals, groups, and organizations looking to replicate the Tea Party’s success in getting Congress to listen to a small, vocal, dedicated group of constituents.”
https://www.indivisibleguide.com/
Entire Read: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/12/the_tea_party_taught_us_how_to_resist_donald_trump.html
West Virginia: How the Bluest State Became the Reddest
CHARLESTON W.V. - The American political landscape has changed a lot over the past 25 years but there is no more dramatic shift that the one that has pushed this state from deep blue to ruby red.
In the 1992 presidential election, Democrat Bill Clinton won West Virginia by a solid 13 percentage points. In November, Republican President-elect Donald Trump captured the state in a walk, winning it by more than 40.
The forces behind that turnaround are complex. The decline of the coal industry and the changing demographics of the political parties explain part of it. But laying underneath that are the peaks and valleys of the Appalachian Mountains that make West Virginia what it is:
read:http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/west-virginia-how-bluest-state-became-reddest-n697491
Conservative Sites Leading Uproar Over Facebooks New Fake News Warning Labels
With news that Facebook has introduced fake news labels to warn users that articles have been disputed by third-party fact-checkers, there is already a loud uproar coming from websites. And it appears to be led by conservative sites such as Breitbart, Drudge and InfoWars.
Per CNN’s Brian Stelter, there is a fear that attempts to stop false info from being spread could be used to block political opinion. And even while Facebook has stated they won’t allow the labels to be misused, this hasn’t stopped Alex Jones and others from complaining.
Rest of article @link: http://www.mediaite.com/online/conservative-sites-leading-uproar-over-facebooks-new-fake-news-warning-labels/
Not surprised at this at all: Trump finds an unlikely partner: Chuck Schumer
The two New Yorkers have spoken at length about legislation and appointments in a series of phone calls.
Hours after Sen. Chuck Schumer delivered a hopeful speech to anxious Democrats gathered at the Javits Center on Election Night, the dealmaker was already recalibrating to his new, less powerful reality.
Schumer was not displaying any signs of shock, like many of the Democrats around him, who looked like they had been shot in the shoulder when it became clear Hillary Clinton was going to lose the race of her life. The man who long dreamed of ascending to Senate majority leader — and presiding over bill signings with the former junior senator from New York installed as a partner in the Oval Office — was already thinking about how he could shoehorn his grandiose plans into a world where Donald Trump would be president.
Democrats who spoke with Schumer that night and in the following days described him as making an immediate shift to strategizing about how to work with Trump while also identifying where he would oppose him — and trying to talk himself into the idea that the president-elect isn’t really a Republican, but a pragmatist with no apparent ideological mooring.
Privately, the soon-to-be Senate minority leader has opened up a back channel of communication with Trump and, according to Democrats who have spoken with Schumer since the election, he views Trump as someone he can try to maneuver.
Multiple sources said the two have spoken at length about legislation and appointments, in a series of phone calls that began with Trump phoning Schumer the morning after Election Day, to express hope that the two could work together.
Since then, according to a source in Trump Tower, they have spoken directly a “handful” of times, discussing policy, appointments, logistics and sometimes even just bantering about New York.
Now, as the debate within the Democratic Party rages about whether to seek common ground with Trump, or to steal a page from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s playbook and act as an obstructionist, Schumer seems to be leaning toward the former.
Entire Article: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/donald-trump-chuck-schumer-232738
This is what we are up against:.....Broadcast News Ignores NC GOP's Unprecedented Power Grab
Broadcast news completely ignored an unprecedented move by North Carolina Republicans to limit the power of the state’s incoming Democratic governor. A series of measures put forth by the Republican-controlled legislature have been criticized as a way to “subvert the will of the voters,” and an elections law expert noted that they could spur legal challenges.
Republicans in the North Carolina General Assembly held a special session on December 14 in which they proposed a series of laws to strip away power from the state’s incoming Democratic governor, Roy Cooper, including a bill that “removes partisan control of the state and county election boards from the governor,” according to The New York Times. Instead, the Times noted, “a Republican will lead the state board during election years and a Democrat in nonelection years.” A CNN.com report outlined other proposed legislation from the “unprecedented power grab,” including bills to slow the judicial process for the governor to bring legal battles to the state Supreme Court, to block Cooper from appointing members to the state Board of Education and the board of trustees for the University of North Carolina, and to reduce the number of appointments in the Cooper administration from 1,200 to 300.
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2016/12/16/broadcast-news-ignores-nc-gops-unprecedented-power-grab/214842
Employers nationwide gave raises to avoid paying overtime. Now they're taking them back.
arrett Hutcheson, a supervisor at a catering supply company in the southwest, was told he was getting an enormous raise: a $7,000 bump to his salary of around $40,000. The extra cash meant he could move his young family out of his girlfriend's parents' house. Instead, he'll be staying there, working long night shifts without overtime pay.
"This would've gotten us on our feet," Hutcheson said. "I've still got hope, but I'm not optimistic."
Pay increases like the one Hutcheson got, the result of a regulatory rule change by the Obama administration, were set to help more than 4 million workers. Just the expectation of the new rule triggered raises for workers across the country, including managers at Walmart, Nationwide Health Insurance and at least half a dozen universities. Now, as a result of the ongoing tussle between the administration and federal courts regarding overtime pay that began in 2014, an injunction against the rule means a victory for big business interests — and rescinding of raises for Hutcheson and an unclear number of fellow workers.
https://mic.com/articles/162196/employers-nationwide-gave-raises-to-avoid-paying-overtime-now-they-re-taking-them-back#.mKB2UC6q3
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