Disclaimers in Journalism, Part Two

       While Estase eschews the O.B. term "fake news," it remains clear that journalists seek an agenda other than the truth.  On last night's CBS Evening News, a segment entitled "Sexual Misconduct Alllegations" telescoped the cases of Bill O'Reilly, Harvey Weinstein, and a third man into one story.  The segment only actually discussed O'Reilly.  So the point of the segment was nothing other than an attempt to malign Fox News.
      So what about the fans of Peace & Love Inc., who claimed that Monica Lewinsky and suborning perjury was at bottom "just sex?"  So why is "just sex" a problem for Bill O'Reilly, but not Bill Clinton?
      What is even more outrageous is the fact that CBS presented the O'Reilly segment before their story on the Tampa serial killer!  Since when is sexual harassment a higher priority than an active serial killer?
       Another example is the difference in treatment between environmentalists and pro-lifers.  Unabomber Ted Kacynski was never described as an environmentalist.  Earth Liberation Force and its acts of eco-terrorism are never mentioned.  In contrast, journalists make sure to try to associate abortion clinic bombers with the millions of peaceful pro-lifers.
      These are prime examples of how settling scores with ideological enemies is the top priority for broadcast journalists.  Much overheated rhetoric has suggested Orange Blatherskite is an enemy of the free press.  O.B. may have a poor way of communicating it, but the problem of political advocacy in journalism is real, a problem journalists created themselves and refuse to address.

Does H-> Remind Anyone Else of Norma Desmond?

      The 1950 film noir classic Sunset Boulevard told the story of a young, penniless writer who ends up trapped writing a script for meglomaniacal has-been Norma Desmond.  Desmond lives in a fantasy world where people long to see the silent star on the big screen again.  Her decaying mansion becomes the place where the young writer dies, murdered by the delusional Desmond.
       One starts to assume that Hillary Clinton actually thinks Peace & Love Inc. will make a comeback, and that her rapist husband and repellent self will one day occupy the White House again.  Hey H->, everybody is getting really sick of your pity party, your endless litany of people other than yourself who are supposedly responsible for Orange Blatherskite's victory.  We thought you were a pandering old fool, claiming to carry hot sauce in your purse, and speaking pidgin English on the campaign trail.  You're as popular as the plague.  Go away, while you still have some scintilla of dignity.

Three Odious Phrases

       Broken records are never fun to listen to.  The supporters of Orange Blatherskite sound like broken records all the time.  Here are some of their greatest hits.

1)  Snowflakes A term that is used indiscriminately against everyone who doesn't like O.B.  The implication is that snowflakes are lazy, spoiled, etc.  Of course, you are supposed to ignore all the times that O.B. supporters act lazy, spoiled, etc., or the way that O.B. himself seems to have an affinity for blaming everybody for his problems except himself.  It must suck to be Jeff Sessions.

2) Drain the Swamp Trump supporters sure have a short memory.  This dreamy little phrase was coined by Bela Pelosi when she became speaker during George W. Bush's second term.  The implication was that Hastert's reign as speaker was marked by an unusual amount of corruption.  It beggars the mind how Paul Ryan (a Republican) and Mitch McConnell (also a Republican) deserve to be abused for their supposed corruption by a man with no political experience who made his money off of strip clubs and casinos.  Orange Blatherskite is the swamp!

3) Would you like Hillary better?  Now this one is just stupid.  It's like saying that a sucking chest wound is better than liver cancer.  The primary season of 2016 had many alternatives to O.B.  The idea that because Hillary Clinton is a dishonest harridan, literally anything is better is an insult to our intelligence.  The Republican primary voter was either unspeakably stupid, or starstruck by a TV celebrity.  Estase wonders whether the fact that two alternatives to O.B. had Hispanic names, and a third was married to a Hispanic woman was the real reason people fell for O.B.

  Perhaps it's asking too much for the apologists for Trump to ask if they would come up with some new catch-phrases.  These three have really worn out their welcome.

Conservatives Without Chests, Part Two

     It is astounding to Estase how many people act as though there is something conservative about Orange Blatherskite.  O.B. is the Republican Bill Clinton:  an oversexed demagogue with no coherent foreign policy.  During the campaign, O.B. acted as though he would avoid enmeshing us with the attempt to remove Bashar al-Assad from power.  The Syrian civil war is a quagmire that even Oh Blah Blah was smart enough to only talk about engaging us in.  But now, before his first one hundred days have even elapsed, O.B.'s dubiously qualified Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is talking regime change!  
       Despite promising a pro-life Supreme Court justice, O.B. named a milquetoast Anthony Kennedy clone to replace Justice Scalia.  Unfortunately, the Republican voter is a fool who was gulled into choosing a candidate for his image rather than for substance.  O.B. talked a big game, and that made up for his lack of fluency on actual policy.  The ignorant red state voter is himself a conservative without a chest;  this is why they fell for someone who was all talk and no emotion.  "Make America Great Again" means being eighty percent identical to Peace and Love Incorporated (AKA the Clinton mafia).  Wesley Clark may as well be our head of the JCS.  Merritt Garland may as well be our newest Supreme Court justice.