Caitlin Johnstone — Nikki Haley To Be Replaced By Blonde Version Of Nikki Haley

Is this becoming an American tradition?

Caitlin Johnstone — Rogue Journalist
Nikki Haley To Be Replaced By Blonde Version Of Nikki Haley
Caitlin Johnstone

John Timmer — New analysis suggests Fox News is working, shifting votes to R column

In the past, we've witnessed Fox News take an editorial position against basic facts, but has it really influenced anyone's vote/

While it has presented itself as "balanced" over the years, there's little doubt that Fox News has consistently supported Republican candidates and positions even when that required taking an editorial position against basic facts. On some level, this has worked, as surveys have indicated Fox viewers are more likely to get those same facts wrong. But is it working in terms of the larger goal of supporting Republican causes?

According to a new study, the answer is yes. Two researchers, Gregory Martin and Ali Yurukoglu, have taken advantage of huge amounts of public data, some inadvertent experiments, and a lot of previous research to look into the influence of Fox News on people's votes. They conclude that, in recent elections, the mere availability of Fox could shift nationwide votes by over a percentage point....

One percentage point doesn't sound like that much, but it could make the difference in a close election. Most US elections are closely contested.

So fake new works as propaganda. Bugt inquiring minds want to know if it is the Russians doing it, or….

It addition, it pays, since it confirms confirmation bias.

Ars Technica
New analysis suggests Fox News is working, shifting votes to R column

John Timmer

Fox News host, Brenda Buttner has died. So sad. She was a good friend.

Brenda Buttner has died at the age of 55 after a battle with cancer.

In my 12 years at Fox News there was probably nobody I felt closer to than Brenda Buttner. She was the host of Bulls & Bears, the Saturday show where I appeared so many times.



Brenda was not just a great host--smart, witty and always in control--she was not afraid to comment and editorialize outside the ideological "party line" of Fox News. So many times she let me loose on the many clueless, ideological, gold-bug morons on these shows' panels. It was fun.

She was a wonderful person. Gone way too soon.

Judith Miller — The scary truth about what Putin really wants (and Obama’s willful ignorance)

She's baaack. Remember her lobbying for the Iraq war at the New York Times. Now she is lobbying for war with Russia at Faux Noise.

The title should be "the scary truth about what the people paying Judith Miller want."

FoxNews | Opinion
The scary truth about what Putin really wants (and Obama’s willful ignorance)
Judith Miller

Nut just Jingo Judy. It's getting thick. The propaganda machine is in full swing.

The Hill: Ariel Cohen, What Clinton and Trump need to know about Putin’s Russia

Washington Post: George Will, Vladimir Putin is bringing back the 1930s

Washington Post: Masha Gessen, Five myths about Russia

Lucas Shaw — Rupert Murdoch to Succeed Ailes as Head of Fox News Channel

The devil's henchman replaced by the devil himself?

Bloomberg
Rupert Murdoch to Succeed Ailes as Head of Fox News Channel

Lucas Shaw

Fox News implodes. I called this one, too!

No, I was not sexually harassed. Hahaha!

However, back in 2012 when I resigned from Fox News, after having been there for 10 years as a contributor, I saw what was going on at least in the area of "news." It was phony. It was ridiculous. It was made up. It was pure crap.

There were instances when producers would just make stuff up and when I gave them economic data or facts to show them what they were saying was wrong, they'd just brush it off and tell me, "we don't want to say it that way."

When Fox Business was launched in 2007 it only got worse, much worse. I asked for a show. I asked for a segment. Nothing.

Okay, no problem I thought, I still liked being there. But when they started bringing over the poseurs and clowns--in droves--who were totally clueless when it came to economics and trading, well, let's just say it crossed the line for me. The network became a cesspool. It was full of shit and I couldn't stand arguing with fucking morons anymore.

I emailed Neil Cavuto to tell him I was leaving. I thought we had a close, friendly relationship over all that time. Never heard a word. Like, don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

Neil defended Ailes recently. I've lost all respect for the guy.

Fox is done.

I know what you're going to say: they're all the same. You're right. They are all the same. Some even worse, but every once in a while it's nice to see a big scumbag taken down.

Trump is leading a revolution, not just against a broken and elitist government, but now against an elitist and dictatorial media, too.

It's becoming more clear to me now thanks to Tom's link to this story, although I don't agree  with everything the author says, particularly his nonstop mention of Mike Bloomberg as an agent of change? Mike Bloomberg?

Whatever.

Anyway, people who see Trump's exit from the Fox News Republican debate as weak, crybaby-ish, petulant, etc, just don't get it. Trump is leading a revolution. It's a revolution against the status quo of our broken, elitist-driven government, and now against the media, too, which is similarly elitist, anti-democratic, arrogant, dishonest and dictatorial.  

I would not be surprised to see his poll numbers go to 50% now on this.

EVERYONE with a brain and a desire for Democracy should APPRECIATE what he is doing and I seriously mean that.

Trump shows who's boss...pulls out of Fox News debate

Just announced that Trump has pulled out of the Fox News debate. Good for him. He probably got inside information that he was walking into a trap. A setup. Roger Ailes would not pull Megyn Kelly as per Trump's demand. My guess is that Eric Bolling, who's very close with Trump, probably tipped him off to an ambush. When Ailes didn't pull Kelly, Trump decided to walk.

Good move. Not necessary to walk into a trap when you don't have to.

 FYI...Megyn Kelly is a c--t. I knew people who worked for her at Fox (makeup, hair, bookers, etc) and she treated them all like garbage. She also stiffed my friend out of a commission after my friend busted her as to find Kelly and her husband--millionaires, both--a primo apartment in NYC. What for? Why stiff my friend? Because that is the nature of a bully.

Trump didn't fall into their trap. Good for him. Fox News made enemies with the wrong dude.

Surely it's not their policies. U.K. government declares unemployed to have a mental health disorder.

Further disgusting stigmatization of the unemployed happening in the U.K. as the government tries to brand those who are out of work as having a mental health disorder. This will undoubtedly lead to further difficulties in finding a job.

“Psychology now plays a central and formative role in stigmatising the existence and behaviour of various categories of poor citizens and in legitimating the measures taken to transform and activate them,” the authors note. Read more.

Surely it's not their destructive austerity and systematic looting of an entire class of citizens. It's just a lot easier to call those who they have robbed as mentally ill losers. Now they can condemn them to institutions or prison with clear consciences.

By the way, this would be a great meme for Fox News. I am surprised they haven't picked up on it yet.

I'm gonna miss Wayne Rogers. He was a good guy.

Sadly, I just heard of the passing of Wayne Rogers due to complications from pneumonia. Many of you might remember Rogers as "Trapper" on the wildly popular 70s TV show, M.A.S.H.

I got be friends with Rogers when I worked at Fox. He was a regular on the "Cashin' In" and I had the pleasure of arguing with him many times. Rogers was a reasonable and thoughtful guy, though, not like the usual brain-dead, blind, ideologues that Fox likes to populate its shows with so I enjoyed trading wits with him.

I will miss him.

Blast from the past. My interview with David Walker, lying sack of shit.

Just thought I'd post this again.

David Walker, former Controller General and Chief Propagandist in the effort to "reform" Social Security (he's a self-proclaimed, fiscal responsibility expert). Also, an all-around lying sack of shit. This was from an interview I did with him on my radio show back in 2008, where he admitted that the Social Security checks would NEVER bounce. He admitted it. Listen.



I am the only person, EVER to get Walker to admit this publicly and I have no job in the media.

By the way, when I worked at Fox News I offered this audio clip numerous times to the producers and Neil Cavuto, but they didn't have any interest at all even though they had Walker on numerous times. Why not confront him on this comment, especially when he's been leading a billion dollar crusade to strip seniors of Social Security even though he's lying about its solvency.

Matt Taibbi — Rupert Murdoch Is Deviant Scum

Matt doesn't pull any punches.

Donald Trump is the fallen angel in the Fox story, a traitor who's trying to tempt away Murdoch's lovingly nurtured stable of idiot viewers by denouncing their favorite "news" network as a false conservative God.

The fact that Trump is succeeding with this message on some level has to be a source of terrible stress to Murdoch. He must be petrified at the prospect of losing his hard-won viewership at the end of his life.

This, in turn, might explain last week. Otherwise: what was Rupert Murdoch doing tweeting?

Murdoch owns or controls print, cable and film outlets in so many places that his cultural and political views are fast becoming a feature of global geography. The sun never sets on his broadcast empire, a giant hovering Death Star that's been firing laser cannons of "Rupert Murdoch's Many Repellent Thoughts About Stuff" at planet Earth for decades now.

Yet Murdoch apparently still doesn't feel like he's getting his point across. At 8:59 p.m. last Wednesday night, the 84 year-old scandal-sheet merchant had to turn to Twitter to offer his personal opinion on Ben Carson and the American presidential race.

Trump is really whupping some ass!

Rolling Stone

Rupert Murdoch Is Deviant Scum
Matt Taibbi

National Review's Rich Lowry is a useless idiot.

Conservative pundit and editor of the National Review, Rich Lowry, is a useless idiot. The other night on Fox News he said that Carly Fiorina "cut Trump's balls off" in the debate.

Lowry should check down between his own legs, the little twerp.

I've had conversations with Lowry in the past. He's another one of these conservative ideological morons who's all for endless war and the protection and enrichment of the billionaire class. Seems like Lowry's new macho chick, Fiorina, is into the same thing, which is why the GOP elite are suddenly falling in love with her.

I'm not surprised that Trump is ditching Fox News. My only question is what took him so long? It's insidious over there. A fortress mentality. I should know, I worked there for 10 years. You spout Roger Ailes' "party line" and you go far, just look at my former friend, Charles Payne, such a dope, but a huge career on Fox.

Working on a new podcast interview with David Walker

Hi folks. I am working on a new podcast interview with David Walker, former Comptroller General of the USA and self proclaimed, "Deficit Ranger." ( https://twitter.com/DeficitRanger)

It's been a while. Many of you might recall this: Interview with David Walker on my radio show.

Or this: bumping into him at Fox News several years ago where he insisted that he was not pushing for ending Social Security and that he NEVER said it would go bankrupt. Remember?

Well, hopefully I will get him. (And I will be nice.) Give me questions to ask.

He said possibly late next week. (Tweet to him!)

Cool how Mike Norman Economics is starting to get some pull. (I think.)

Wall Street "star" Meredith Whitney blows up and is back giving interviews to Fox News.

"Famed" Wall Street, "star" Meredith Whitney is back to where she started--with nothing, and doing interviews with Fox Business after she swore she'd never go on Fox again. (She considered Fox to be too lowly a network for her highly important stature.)

Say what you want, but I guess this proves what I said right from the very start: that this woman's fame always befuddled me. I worked alongside her for years at Fox News, where she was a business contributor, like me, and never found anything she said to be all that insightful or intelligent. For sure I don't think she had much of a grasp on the markets or, the economy.

I remember back in 2009 when the fiscal stimulus was announced, she said it wouldn't do much because it was a "hodgepodge." (A fucking hodgepodge? Seriously? And she was already big-time famous by then.)

Even the whole, Citi "call," seemed like a sham to me, too. Fadel Gheit, who is an Oppenheimer (where Whitney worked) Managing Director and senior oil and gas analyst once told me that Whitney ripped off that call from her former boss.

Anyway, the media went crazy over her and that made her a star and rich, but then she proceeded to fall flat on her face with a series of blunderous calls. (More hodgepodges, I guess.)

It wasn't long before her research firm had to close its doors because of client defections. At one point she even had John Paulson as a client. Remember Paulson? The obscure money manager who nobody knew for years, but then he rocketed to massive fame and fortune with that rigged, subprime trade that Goldman structured, which was ultimately deemed an exercise in fraud?

Did Whitney also advise Paulson to buy gold? Remember that one, too? Paulson thought that ZIRP and QE would lead to hyperinflation. The "genius" was just another Schiff. Only richer.

There were other terrible calls, too. Like the one where she said that hundreds of municipalities were going to go bankrupt.

When her research firm closed, she moved to Bermuda and started a hedge fund and got some other hedge fund clown to "gift her" $50 million in seed capital, which she proceeded to blow out. Finally the guy couldn't take it anymore and sued to get his money back, but only after she refused to return it.

Wow. You can't make this shit up even if you were writing a script for some crappy Hollywood B movie.

The funniest thing about Whitney, though, is how she married this gung-ho 'murica, cowboy-wrestler, John Layfield, who still, I think, is a regular on Fox's Saturday morning business block. As an aside, you gotta love that about Fox News...they don't give a shit who they put up there as long as it helps ratings. Do you believe anyone would take investment advice from this dude?

And now she, too, is back giving interviews at Fox. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. (Some of them, anyway.)

P.S. There's a lot more about Whitney that we posted up over the years right here on MNE. Check it out.

Johanna Rothkopf — Fox News more trusted than any other network, according to Quinnipiac poll

A new poll conducted by Quinnipiac University found that Fox News is the most trusted news network in the country. The survey, which asked respondents to compare the trustworthiness of major network and cable news networks, found that 29 percent ranked Fox News first. CNN came in second at 22 percent, followed by CBS News and ABC News (both at 10 percent). ABC News and MSNBC received eight and seven percent of the vote, respectively.

These results are tempered when analyzed across party lines — 58 percent of Republicans said they trusted Fox News the most, along with 25 percent of independent voters. The Democratic vote, however, was split. 32 percent trust CNN, 15 percent trust NBC News, while only 14 percent turn to CBS News or MSNBC.

To be sure, Fox News has conquered the ratings game, at least for now, coming in first overall in 2014, as well as in the first quarter of 2015, with “The O’Reilly Factor” demolishing other cable news shows....

Couple this with evidence that American chiefly use increased leisure from productivity increases to watch TV, and, well, you get the picture.

Salon
Fox News more trusted than any other network, according to Quinnipiac poll

Johanna Rothkopf

Also

Bill O’Reilly is the “head of the cult”: Former Fox News host sounds off

Meredith Whitney’s Hedge Fund Said to Be in Turmoil

Well, she had a damn good run on one call--Citigroup--which supposedly wasn't even her call to begin with, but her boss's call when she was an analyst at Oppenheimer.

Since then she predicted 100's of municipal defaults (municipalities did phenomenal and muni bonds soared), she said the 2009 fiscal stimulus was a "mish mash" and wouldn't work; she supposedly advised John Paulson (maybe to buy gold?), then she closed down her advisory, now her hedge fund is failing...

Oh boy.

Perhaps she can go back to being a contributor for Fox.

Here's the Bloomberg story.

Too bad this is not Schiff.

Today's podcast: Interview with Justin Santopietro.

My interview with Justin Santopietro. Great conversation. We cover politics, economics and the strength and failings of MMT. Justin is a contributor here and specializes in political commentary.

Dec 16. Interview with Justin Santopietro.

My podcast for Thursday, Dec 11

Today I talk about a possible government shutdown. How any Continuing Resolution does not solve the debt ceiling issue and why that's the "doomsday" scenario. Also, why you can only get this info here on this blog. Not the mainstream media, not CNBC, not the WSJ, not Fox Business, NOWHERE but here, folks.

Thurs Dec 11

My friend and former colleague at Fox News, Terry Keenan, dies.

I was really saddened to hear that my friend and former colleague at Fox News, Terry Keenan, died suddenly last week of a brain hemorrhage.

Terry was a pioneer in financial journalism. She was smart and insightful, but most of all she was an empathetic, caring person who wasn't one of these robotic Fox ideologues. Like myself she quit Fox, probably because she couldn't stand dealing with the morons over there anymore.

I had a special connection with Terry. We used to talk and laugh privately about dopes like Jonathan Hoenig and fired penny stock pusher, blowhard, Tobin Smith.

Terry will be missed. Like Billy Joel said, "Only the Good Die Young."

RIP Terry Keenan.