“The Most Trusted Name in News”: LOL

Folks, it’s getting so that I have to pinch myself every morning when I get up. I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that The Trumpster defeated Mdme Clinton. Or that he’s turning things around so fast that heads are spinning (or exploding).

It’s like Christmas every day as far as I’m concerned. The Executive Orders alone are like manna from heaven.

And the hits just keep on coming: the other day, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Trump’s favor regarding the so-called Travel Ban. That means all four liberals were on board for that one! They’re also going to take up the Gay Wedding Cake kerfuffle in October. That bodes well for religious freedom.

And the Neocons are still being shut out of Trump’s cabinet. (I still worry about McMaster but Syria still hasn’t gone the way of Libya.) That’s not nothing. Sometimes the things that don’t happen are just as good as the things that do happen. Think of it this way: not getting almost hit by a car as you’re crossing the street as opposed to winning the lottery. Either way it’s a good day. What has not happened since Trump was elected? Illegal aliens crossing the borders in massive numbers. Good things? Consumer confidence and the stock market going up.

Moreover, it’s clear that Trump doesn’t –in his heart of hearts–want to antagonize Putin. Mostly it’s kabuki theater at this point (here’s to hoping it stays that way). As for Putin, he’s clearly in on the joke. Last week he offered political asylum to former FBI Director James Comey. Ah, the irony.

As for Comey, that narrative failed in a spectacular way. Special Counsel Robert Mueller looks to be next on the chopping block. Why, even Sen Bernie Sanders and his wife are being investigated for bank fraud. Interesting times. And then the Democrats are losing one special election after another. Some of their more sober eminences are starting to wake up; they realize that anti-Trump hysteria can only go so far.

But the Big Kahuna that ties all of anti-Trump hysteria together –Russian collusion–is now crumbling before our very eyes. And it’s taking down CNN with it.

I’ll write more about this at a future date but for now all I can say is “Toldja so! There was nothing there!”

CNN is toast. It’s been in Trump’s cross-hairs ever since the Golden Showers dossier. In a fit of revenge, he appropriated the Fake News meme and turned it against them, driving down their stock prices. Word on the street is that he’s doing this so that some of his buddies can gobble CNN up at pennies on the dollar and turn it into a more conservative news outlet. In any event, their ratings are in the toilet and there’s open talk about “revamping” the entire prime time news slot. Panic has probably set in.

News is now a commodity. I wish it wasn’t but the line between entertainment and information has been blurred beyond recognition. Haven’t you ever wondered why so many television journalists are in so many movies now? Christianne Amanpour, Brett Bair, Bill O’Reilley (and so many more) have all appeared in (take your pick) Iron Man, Man of Steel, The Avengers and so on.

Profitability matters and it’s no longer possible to bamboozle the rubes in the hinterlands. Because news is a commodity, it’s now subject to the iron laws of supply and demand. In the old days of ABC, CBS and NBC, we had no choice but to believe the old guys who told us that “that’s the way it is” but in the age of the internet and the smartphone, anybody can be a journalist now. We don’t have to take their word for it. When Hillary stumbled at the 9/11 memorial and was shoved into a van, a Czech tourist caught it all on smartphone. No matter how much the Corporate Media types tried to tell us it was a broken heel, we knew what we saw.

Regardless, it couldn’t happen to a better bunch of people. Say hello to Megyn Kelly on your way down.

Comments

  1. Priceless

    • “It’s like Christmas every day as far as I’m concerned. The Executive Orders alone are like manna from heaven” .. belly cackles .. the wall should also be not only solar but have wind propellers ..

  2. Megan should learn how to spell her own name.

  3. I’m not surprised Trumped beat Clinton. What surprises me is that he hasn’t been given the Vince Foster treatment.

  4. Nate Trost says

    George Michalopulos wrote
    the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Trump’s favor regarding the so-called Travel Ban. That means all four liberals were on board for that one!

    You are like an Olympic gold medalist in consistently managing to get the simplest facts wrong. The Court agreed to hear the case, but won’t actually hear it until the fall, and won’t rule on it likely until next year. Now, the Court lifted part of the injunction against the ban, allowing it to partially proceed, just not in the form the Trump Administration wanted. But that’s an intra-court compromise, as the opinions and instructions were unsigned. Although Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch have already tipped their hands in a separate opinion, it’s pretty clear they would have seen the injunction entirely lifted pending the Court hearing the case, hence a compromise.

    At any rate, when the Court does actually rule, it will almost certainly come down to Roberts and Kennedy as to which way it goes.

    Now, one can obviously state that after a long string of failures in court, getting part of the injunction lifted is clearly a positive for the Trump Administration. But, it does not mean it the Court will ultimately find wholly or even partially in its favor when it actually rules.

    But yeah, given the nonstop flood of failures, incompetence and stupidity emanating from the Trump White House, I can see why you want to trumpet this in a Win column. Except, you can’t help but misrepresent it because you are perpetually and inevitably misinformed and apparently incapable of accurately reporting basic facts. Which is pretty rich for guy who seems to think that a news organization which acknowledges when it makes an error and corrects it with accountability is therefore untrustworthy.

    George Michalopulos wrote
    It’s like Christmas every day as far as I’m concerned. The Executive Orders alone are like manna from heaven.

    You are P.T. Barnums dream, because the TV shots of your Glorious Leader signing stuff clearly impress to you that manna is falling from heaven. Except, of course, in reality, Trump is signing a lot of Executive Orders that don’t actually implement anything or make meaningful changes. One can only wonder which Orders you feel are divine nutrition, and how many calories they really contain.

    Frankly, of the, thankfully, most surprising things to date is how little the Trump Administration has managed to accomplish. Small favors and all that.

    George Michalopulos wrote
    And the Neocons are still being shut out of Trump’s cabinet. (I still worry about McMaster but Syria still hasn’t gone the way of Libya.)

    If escalation in Syria is your concern, you shouldn’t be worried about Neocons, you should be worried about how many people on TV praised Trump and said he looked presidential the last time he attacked Assad over the Syrian government’s use of chemical weapons. And also about just how much the White House is delegating and handing over control of operational decisions to the military on levels that are normally handled in the higher civilian sphere.

    George Michalopulos wrote
    As for Comey, that narrative failed in a spectacular way. Special Counsel Robert Mueller looks to be next on the chopping block.

    The deep irony is how Trump handled Comey has likely led to Trump himself now being under direct investigation for obstruction of justice. That’s certainly a failure of something! It remains to be seen if Trump is actually stupid enough to effectively declare himself above the law and any accountability and try to fire Mueller. But if he does, I think we know George Michalopulos will love it!

    George Michalopulos wrote
    And then the Democrats are losing one special election after another.

    George Michalopulos has absolutely no concerns at all that formerly safe seats had closer results than would have been imagined pre-Trump. I think every Democratic strategist on the planet is hoping everyone with your sense of complacency maintains it through the midterms.

    George Michalopulos wrote
    Word on the street is that he’s doing this so that some of his buddies can gobble CNN up at pennies on the dollar and turn it into a more conservative news outlet.

    Rephrased George Michalopulos: I believe the head of the government is using the power of the executive branch to drive down the stock price of a private corporation in order to allow his cronies to buy it and turn it into a propaganda mouthpiece, and I approve! I am now a huge fan of banana republics, authoritarian kleptocracy and crony capitalism.

  5. I shudder at the thought of a President who thinks of destroying media outlets as a victory for America. In fact, no matter the editorial slant, it’s profoundly un-American. Otherwise I expect the next Democrat to shut you down, George.

    Not like Fox is doing much better – they had to retract their Seth Rich story.

    • I bet you still believe in a Free Press and the Tooth Fairy. The propaganda being put out by the likes of CNN and MSNBC shown to be anything but news.

      • Pat Reardon says

        I bet you still believe in a Free Press and the Tooth Fairy. The propaganda being put out by the likes of CNN and MSNBC shown to be anything but news.

        On behalf of the Tooth Fairy, I object to this gratuitous association.

        • True, the Tooth Fairy still has a leg or…wing to stand on.*

          *I make no claim to being an expert in Fey Anatomy.

  6. Ronda Wintheiser says

    So then, George, what do you have to say about this?

    http://orthochristian.com/104742.html

    On Facebook, John Novick wrote:

    To the OCA bishops, Anaxios!!

    The wicked men who run the OCA just defrocked the only kind and decent bishop in their entire cabal! Bishop Irineu is a man of steadfast devotion to the Mother of God and Christ’s Holy Church. A man who stood up to the OCA’s so-called “Gay Mafia”

    Bishop Irineu knows the OCA is run by a cabal of men who support the unofficially accepted homosexual progressive movement, including Archbishop Nathaniel, who BTW is recovering from a massive car accident he suffered on the Great Feast of the Ascension, which “ironically” is also the name of the monastery Bishop Irineu is abbot of in Michigan! (This sign should be heeded by the OCA, but it won’t be).

    The reason Bishop Irineu was defrocked is this……he openly said that all Romanian parishes in North America should be under the Romanian Patriarchate. And when he succeeds Archbishop Nathaniel, he will begin the process of unifying the OCA Romanian diocese with the Church of Romania. This was unacceptable to the OCA, so they canned him. I’m sure an appeal to the Romanian Patriarchate is forthcoming, and if not, to the Ecumenical Patriarch himself.

    The OCA keeps getting itself into more and more trouble. Too young to be autocephalous. Moscow should remove it with haste.

    They persecute poor bishop Ireneu, and at the same time let Archbishop Mark of Philadelphia walk around unscathed. This is just incredible! Archbishop Mark who is leading his diocese into financial ruin. Already 6 parishes have left with another 9 leaving soon. Archbishop Mark is also part of that cabal. Ask his friend, Stokoe.

    Spread this post, far and wide!! The truth must come out!

    Bishop Irineu is a walking Saint and great defender of Orthodoxy!

    The people must defend him! Let your voices be heard!!

    • I know you are transmitting a post but what parishes have left the diocese of Eastern PA? I haven’t heard or seen anything about this. Seems like this would be big news.

      • Estonian Slovak says

        I know only of one, St. Nicholas in Philadelphia. They went to the uncanonical Ukrainian “Patriarchate”. I think this occurred because agreement among the North American bishops doesn’t allow the jurisdiction hopping which used to be common. Hopefully, St. Nicholas will eventually unite with a Canonical Church.

        • They were the only parish I could find too and it’s pretty apparent in diocesan assembly records. Funny thing about their website, though, a jurisdiction and bishop are not listed. Perhaps the KP didn’t work out. Sad really.

          • Estonian Slovak says

            The parish website says that “we are NOT part of the OCA and Fr. So and So is NOT our priest. Then they name their priest, who may be KP; his name doesn’t appear on the list of UOCA clergy.
            But you’re right, it’s a sad situation. One gets the feeling that the OCA bishop is abusing his authority. But what to do? We have no Byzantine Emperor nor Russian Tsar to help the church enforce the Canons. I used to believe in deeding church property to the diocese, but no more. The times are just too uncertain.

            • I don’t have a dog in this race but it seems to me that without more information it’s all speculation. The diocese of Eastern PA has been in decline for years and +Mark seems to have made significant changes judging by diocesan minutes and reports. If someone leaves because of change is that an indictment on the change?

    • I’m interested in hearing about the departed parishes as well. Also, appealing to the Romanian Patriarchate may not work out the way you think it will. We may be talking about the Romanian Diocese, but the RP doesn’t have any control over it so what’s the point? I

      I cant blame the OCA for wanting to put the kibosh on one of their hierarchs taking a whole Diocese away from the OCA to merge with another jurisdiction. Defrocking may not be the answer though.

  7. Wayne Matthew Syvinski says

    It’s even worse for the mainstream media than you indicate, Γεώργιος.

    To further go down the road of economic theory, the rapidity and freedom with which information can be exchanged means the media industry is probably the market which most closely comes to the condition of perfect information (which, roughly, means that all participants in the market have simultaneous access to the same information), and complete information (all information knowable about the market is known).

    In addition, given that information is now very cheaply communicated, means that the media market is very close to perfect elasticity (demand decreases in proportion to price increase), and also perfect competition. Remember that price or cost in economics does not always mean currency. Example: if a news outlet keeps pushing out horse droppings for news stories, the price is wasted time and effort; therefore, your demand for their product will vanish in this market, because you can easily get news from somewhere else.

    This nearly “perfect storm” in the media market means that when a media outlet messes up, they have about as much time to get in front of it and do damage control as it takes me to eat a ham sandwich. President Trump is displaying this in spades (pun intended). When a mainstream media outlet publishes something, President Trump is right there to rebut it on Twitter. If that isn’t nearly perfect information (remember, perfect information in economics does not imply completeness or truth), I don’t know what is.

    • George Michalopulos says

      Wayne, thanks for your considered response. In reality, it’s even worse than I thought –that is the nexus between information (i.e. news) and entertainment.

      What passes for news these days proves it to be a commodity. In the old days of the legacy media, the news divisions were run and staffed by boring old white men, many of whom were actually journalists. There was no razzmatazz and being only 30 minutes on the air, they gobbled up only a miniscule portion of the company’s budget. If they didn’t make money, they were considered a public service. In the business model we’d call such divisions of the corporation a “loss leader”. (Think of Wal-Mart which charges only $4.00 per generic Rx. They make money on the 20 other things the customer buys while he waits the 2 hrs for his Rx to be filled.) CBS recouped any losses on the news side with The Beverly Hillbillies or The Ed Sullivan Show.

      Unfortunately, with 24 hours cable news outfits, it’s not possible to recoup any possible losses from the actual news division. Try as they might, Morning Joe or Greg Gutfield can’t supplement with any real entertainment. At best, they’re infotainment. No matter how many pretty girls you get to wear mini-skirts and stilletos on the show, it’s not entertainment unless they all get up and do a Rockettes-style dance routine.

      It’s possible that with Trump’s attacks on CNN and now MSNBC, we are witnessing the ebbing of the cable news business model. Their high point was I’d say 2016. Ratings for all have fallen, usually for different reasons. FOX for example shot itself in the foot when it became obvious that they were part of the GOP Establishment and they were ordered to take out Trump. CNN is failing because it’s now obvious that they are beholden to taking out Trump at all costs, even if they have to outright lie.

      MSNBC is currently enjoying an ebb in ratings at the expense of FOX and CNN but in the end, they’re business model will only attract a niche of anti-Trump hysterics. That’s a limited pool and at the end of the day, you can’t burning your journalistic credentials by being consistently negative or fraudulent. In any event, they are probably going to fail because they are enraging the left by hiring never-Trump cuckservatives like George Will and Nicole Wallace and are pushing aside bona fide leftists out of the spotlight to make way for these never-Trump Republicans.

      It’s possible that within a year or two, we’ll actually see a cable news outfit that plays it straight –just news with little to no glitz. Kind of like CNN was back when it started. I’d suggest that in order to fill in content that would be enlightening as opposed to entertaining, that it produce documentaries, perhaps two hours long and on a news topic of international or regional importance. Say the differences between Sunni and Shia Islam or the opioid epidemic in Appalachia. This would fill in the void that The History Channel has left since it’s now gone to reality TV that have nothing to do with history (like Ice Road Truckers, or Pawn Stars.)

      Anyway, if somebody does come up with this new business model, I’ll demand a royalty.

  8. Probably the only thing that will stick, after President Trump leaves office, is fulling exposing CNN, MSNBC, and the original big three news outlets. For those who before were on the fence, there is nothing left to dispute. No one will ever watch these stations again without questioning their motives. Of course this can be a very dangerous game of always questioning what is true, and what is fake news. Great way to start a war! No doubt The Deep State will also use this new media confusion to their advantage. God help us!

    What is interesting to me, now after six months of Trump, is that the only time all(Media, Dems, Repubs, and Deep State) were in union with one another, and Trump, was when the President bombed Syria! What a beautiful country we have become. Putin would be laughing his ass off, if he was not terrified how unstable and dangerous we have become, in our splintered state. Might be time to buy a good food storage system at home.