Spare the Rod, Spoil the Country

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In playing my part here as the part-time pithy political poster, you've heard me rail against the Fourth Estate once or twice.  Not to be too didactic, but that's the public press as a group with influence.  In medieval England, that was either a mob or some other group that had an unofficial, but often great influence on public affairs.  As long ago as 1787, a British Minister of Parliament Edmund Burke stated that the press was vital as a member of the Fourth Estate, in that this institution was powerful due to it's absolute independence from politics, an independence we should all demand and defend.*  In the 19th century, the Fourth Estate became almost exclusively a term for the press.  Now, due to the nearly defunct printed press and newspaper reporters, it's our internet and TV media (or Main Stream Media- the MSM).  Whatever form our news comes in, the Fourth Estate has long since abandoned its role and responsibility to unbiasedly report truthfully on the news, and thus it's ability to justly influence public affairs and properly defend freedom of speech.

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Why that responsibility is so vital to our Nation is that it keeps bad behavior by politicians and prominent members of the public in check.  If politicians or or other high profile individuals aren't called out in the media for corruption, unethical behavior, or just being weak and ineffectual, then those individuals have nothing to fear and will continue to operate contrary to the standard of behavior the public expects of them.  The media is sparing the rod and spoiling the country because it has grown complicit in the bad behavior.

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Probably since the first Bush administration, and continuing with a heavy drum beat during the Trump administration through today, the media seems to show little concern with regular news stories- current events, crime, natural disasters, and is primarily interested in stories that can be spun so as to blame the right for some sort of blame or infraction.  It spends significant amount of airtime deeply analyzing what some GOP politician or Fox News pundit recently said or did.  When news does come to light that looks bad for the left, they either refuse to cover it, only touch upon it momentarily, or attempt to spin it back to the GOP, gaslighting us claiming it's something completely different.  They are also very adept at red-herrings- using other issues to deflect blame or distract us from the bad news that can be pointed at the left.  This is done by leftist leaders as well, with Pelosi, AOC, Schumer, Psaki, and others carrying the water for the Administration to absurd lengths.

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If you watch any of the press conferences at the White House, you rarely if ever hear anyone from the media asking tough questions, putting the administration on their heels about certain decisions or policies, or asking about what's going on in the country.  The only reporter doing it is Peter Doocy, a Fox News reporter, who regularly attempts ask questions about policies and decisions, questions that challenge the narrative coming from the left.  There seems to be no journalistic curiosity anymore and news outlets only care about fluff pieces or the surface layer of a story.  There is seemingly no interest whatsoever in digging deep into a story and finding out all the angles, the 5 W's, and how that story affects us.  If a semi-tough question is asked, it's often previously submitted, the reporter is told they will be called upon, and likely cautioned not to ask follow up questions as they rarely seem too.  Psaki is always prepared for these questions, but the reporters are either not intelligent enough to ask a follow up, or they accept the given answer, even when the response is weak or clearly doesn't even answer the question.  Through that that weak journalism, they blindly accept anything that fits the democratic narratives and become complicit in the weakening of our democracy.  

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Meanwhile, the rest of the MSM spouts their drivel and ignores the deeper truths of everything, so we slowly become inured to not having the full picture, that there's no trouble at all right here in River City, and that our elected officials are completely altruistic and acting in our best interests.  They tell a tame version of a story that barely feeds us, while we become more ignorant of real truths.  When they do report, it's basic surface level reporting that is copied from some news aggregating source.  When it comes to political reporting, their left-leaning bias is not only showing, it's blatantly on display, and they rarely make any attempt to hide it.  I'm old enough to remember Walter Cronkite telling us "That's the way it was."  After he had retired I found out he was fairly liberal, but you wouldn't know it from his reporting.  It was fair, tough, and informative.  Today, the MSM is only tough on the right.

A week or so ago when the New York times reported that the Hunter Biden laptop was real, the rest of the media backpedaled.  This included MSNBC's Morning Joe.  I thought this was hilarious because I clearly remember video from before the election, of Joe Scarborough slamming the New York Post for promulgating "Russian Disinformation."  The NY Post was the only outlet to report truthfully on what that laptop contained, including some disgusting imagery of drug use, and likely pedophilia and/or ties to sex trafficking.  It also reported on the corruption behind Hunter Biden and the Ukrainian company, Burisma.  

Today though, Joe calls the media malpractice "horrific," and he absolves himself from any wrongdoing, gaslighting us while denying he had any part in it.

Next is a bit of  agnostic reporting taken from the video linked above,  yet that still lends credence to the idea that Russia was behind it.  Nobody interviewed the computer repair guy except Fox, while he was clear that Hunter Biden dropped the laptop off.  They could have interviewed the FBI who had possession of it, but nope, no interest from the MSM.

The MSM obviously was acting as Biden's Protective Detail, shielding him from any negative consequences by blatantly censoring a huge story and refusing to cover it.  60 Minutes, arguably the best investigative journalism ever on TV, wouldn't go near it.  During an interview with President Trump, CBS Anchor Leslie Stahl repeated her one line she was taught - "It can't be verified."

This is the most important issue in the country right now?” Stahl asks about two-thirds of the way into the interview.

“It’s a very important issue to find out whether a man’s corrupt who’s running for president, who’s accepted money from China, and Ukraine, and from Russia,” Trump responds. “Take a look at what’s going on, Leslie, and you say that shouldn’t be discussed?…I think it’s one of the biggest scandals I’ve ever seen, and you don’t cover it.”

“Well because it can’t be verified,” Stahl says. “I’m telling you—”

“Of course it can be verified,” Trump interjects. “Excuse me, Leslie, they found a laptop—”

“It can’t be verified,” Stahl repeats.                                                    Source

And while they clearly lied about Russian involvement with the Steele Dossier, Hillary used the same tired old saw when it came to her own election loss.

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And recently, CNN's Codpiece mouthpiece Brian Stelter was destroyed by a kid, calling him and his network out for their bias.  But he denied it was CNN.

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And Twitter censors those on the right:

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Now with all that being said, the Administration and the powerful elites on the left- both politicians and in the media, continue to promote every single leftist narrative, no matter how absurd they are.  They now seem to be the pro-pedophile and grooming party, also clearly supporting racism, corruption, and the like.  These are not the mainstream Democratic Party ideals, but the far fringe left seems to have captured control of it.  I'm sure there are Democrats that don't believe we should be teaching our kindergarteners about sexuality, or pushing trans-rights for little kids, or that pushing LGBT themes should be on the Disney channel.  There are Dems who believe that black history does not have to be defined by racism today or tomorrow, that Critical Race Theory should be taught in schools, denying that it says that Blacks today are forever incapable of succeeding.  Or that we must support pulling a baby from the womb and killing it after birth in the name of reproductive rights.  But those Dems are also complicit in it by staying silent.

Each instance of the media denying it's role in maintaining our republic, in upholding democratic ideals through freedom of speech and the freedom of the press, are undermining the foundation of our country, cracking the pillars of our democracy.  They spare the rod from our politicians, not because they particularly like them, but in order to maintain power on the left.  And as they spare the rod, they show that they don't love our country, the actually hate it, and us.

*Edmund Burke Source