Tuesday, March 05, 2019

The Fake Scandal and the Con Media Disconnect



I'm having trouble trying to characterize the feverish dance of the Con media around the blazing bonfire of the fake scandal.

Is it something out of Lord of the Flies where the shabby stooges dance stagger around demanding the head of Justin Trudeau?

Or is it some kind of horrible mental condition you can contract in the incestuous village of Ottawa at the end of a very long winter?

I don't know, I'm not a psychiatrist, but one thing is for sure; the disconnect between the media and the people they are supposed to serve has never been greater.



For as you can see according to the latest Nano poll, despite that orgy of biased coverage the dial has hardly moved.

And Justin Trudeau remains by far the leader most Canadians prefer as prime minister.



Which was also made only too clear to me by the sight of all these people lining up last night to attend a Trudeau rally in Toronto in -15 degrees weather.


People who like most decent Canadians don't give a damn about that fake scandal.

So why is the Con media spitting in their faces, and trying to bite off the head of the decent leader they most admire?



The leader who has stood up for the rights of women, LGBT people, and other oppressed minorities more than any other in the history of Canada.

The one who has reduced unemployment to a 40-year low, and has taken our country to the number one position on this health and happiness chart. 

And made it the envy of the world.

What are the grubby hacks from the Con media going on about, and where is that scandalous media disconnect coming from?

Jeffrey Dworkin offers up some possible reasons for what might be causing this journalistic failure 

When newsrooms have been hollowed out by economic downsizing and digital technology, there are fewer journalists around who are able to take the time to flesh out the story. The fear of being scooped by another news organization results in a lot of two-dimensional reporting.

From shrinking newsrooms to schadenfreude.

The German concept of taking delight in the misfortune of others. It’s a particularly journalistic attitude. It also takes revenge on a prime minister who has constantly pointed out Canadians’ moral deficiencies.

And although I believe Dworkin left out the most important one, where the Con media get down on all fours, and do everything they can to pleasure their corporate bosses.

I particularly like the schadenfreude one. 

It's so Canadian to try to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, or go after the tall poppy, even if we end up wallowing in mediocrity, in the big land of the little people.

And it's so obvious to me that a lot of those angry old men, and other toxic Trudeau haters, hate him more for who he is or what he represents, than what he has ever done.



For he is the living symbol of a new generation telling them that a new day has dawned and that their day is over.

But whether you agree with that or not, nobody can deny this:

This is a particularly Canadian scandal: not much happened, but whatever happened must be reported. Repeatedly.

It’s time for a pause in this story. Getting it first is fine. But getting it in context is even better. The breathless headlines and relentless repeating what has already been reported has created a depressing environment of hysterical journalism.


The journalism is hysterical, it is a grotesque feeding frenzy, and on the eve of an election campaign it threatens our democracy.

It’s not too late to get this story right. If we don’t, we should be prepared for an increasingly breathless style of reporting for the next several months, leading up to the election. And that kind of journalism, as we are seeing from the U.S., does not serve either the public or the democracy.

Andrew Scheer with the help of the stooge media is trying to turn this fake scandal into a power grab. A way to steal the election.

So he can turn this country over to religious fanatics and powerful far-right American interests, and change it into a living nightmare.

So the choice couldn't be simpler or starker...



Stand with the only Canadian leader who can defeat Andrew Scheer. 

Don't let Scheer and his traitor Trumplings win.

Don't let the bonfires their Con media stooges started, consume our Canada...



27 comments:

e.a.f. said...

Finished reading Monday's post and then went to Empty Wheel an American blog which currently is dealing with all things Mueller. Its written by Marcy Wheeler. So why is this relevant to all things Canadian? The blog has an article up dated, 4 March 2019, titled: Conspiracy Theorist Jerome Corsi Finally meets a Conspiracy theory he's Not Willing To Face Legal Jeopardy Over.

The post begins by stating, "Jerome Corsi retracted a piece published in (and still available on line) InfoWars last year accusing Seth Rich of leaking DNC e-mails to WikiLeaks.".

Seth Rich was an IT worker at the DNC during the Clinton campaign and was murdered while walking home in Washington, D.C. The case has not been solved.

Read the article and then the comments. The first comment by a "Jaycee" was of most interest. "....I've found articles that link Levant and his former collegues from Rebel Media with election tampering in France. It seems to me that Levant has a lot in common with Stone".......

The following commenter had a humorous question, would Levant learn to go to jail like Stone will.

Now that was news, Levant linked with Stone. leaves one wonder about a lot in Canada, including the trial of the former naval officer, leaking documents....The naval officer has pled not guilty and will be going to trial.

Now given Hamish Marshal was one of Levant's colleges at The Rebel, and is currently Scheer's campaign manager, it makes inquiring minds really wonder what is going on in the country and some of us are wondering what is driving the media with this SNC thing. Perhaps it just is a huge set up for the Liberals.

Steve said...

Global news was showing a poll with cons 41% to Libs 31% Fake news.

Jackie Blue said...

Oh, I'm sure the vultures will be all out in droves tomorrow for Gerald's testimony. What a fucking scam. Schadenfreude indeed and yes it does sound better in the original German. The US hedge funders behind Grossmedia (wasn't one of them Trump's friend at the National Enquirer?) sure took copious notes about HER EMAILS!!!! and repeated the plan to torque the coverage and spread FUD as though there was absolutely nothing going on in the country or the rest of the world. They're all funded by O&G interests, so no surprise they don't give a damn about the existential crisis of climate change threatening all of us within a decade. And, um, if we're going to talk about "interfering with the rule of law," how about Dougie Donuts turning the provincial police into his own personal Praetorian Guard? Firing an ACTUAL whistleblower who told THE truth and not "his" truth? Calling the Five-O on parents of autistic children? Who the fuck does that besides Bull Connor unleashing water cannons on the marchers at Selma? You down with O.P.P.? Yeah, you know me!

How about running with this story instead? Kim Ding Dong is building another nuclear reactor after bamboozling the best and bigliest dealmaker to end all dealmakers. If he blows up B.C. or makes the Alberta tar sands glow neon, is the Canadian circlejerk media going to say we didn't see it coming? Or just blame Trudeau for not coming to Trump's aid, blame Trudeau for eating arugula on his nothingburger, blame Trudeau for not letting Ivanka speak "her truth" on Hamberder Hill or whatever the hell else they can pull out of their collective asses. Can -- DOES -- anyone REALLY want to contemplate what PM Scheer would do in that situation? Besides have Hamish shitpost memes calling Kim a dopey failing loser. The punditry class should think about THAT instead of wanking until their palms bleed over Jody/Jane slashfic and their sick S&M-Lavalife fantasy of le petit prince de la belle province in handcuffs. Stupid, stupid tunnel-vision fixation on this one horse that's been beat into glue at this point!

Meanwhile south of the border, I'm pleased to report (and by pleased I mean disgusted) that: there's an ongoing measles epidemic spurred on by "viral" social media campaigns, Amazon's bestseller list is populated by QAnon bullshit, and Trump has a higher approval rating than Trudeau in his own country because humans are absolutely fucktarded and probably shouldn't have left the primordial ooze. Well, clearly some haven't. In Canada they go by names like "Fife," "Coyne," "Kinsella," "Kapelos," "Barton," "Lilley," "Corbella," "Levant," "Kenney," "Scheer," and of course "Fordzilla." Is Canada still going to the moon? J.T., phone home! There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of intelligent lifeforms around here these days.

Jackie Blue said...

Ipsos and Forum tend to oversample the Cons. I don't doubt that Trudeau has taken a massive hit and this is going to impact for some time. And if it does end up bringing him down well, we'll know who to blame.

Lisa said...

Sandy Garrasino had an excellent article about that in the Observer.
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2017/05/09/opinion/french-election-scandal-traced-canadas-rebel-media

Jackie Blue said...

Thanks for the link. I left them some information for them to dig into about what the Rebel scum stormtroopers are doing.

It absolutely is a setup for the Liberals. There's a lot more to this story that needs to be reported, but that would require Canada to have actual investigative journalists instead of Con hacks and juvenile tabloid-quality bullies obsessively fixated upon taking down Justin Trudeau.

The comment left on Monday's blog post here by a user "KM" speaks volumes about the direction the coverage is taking. The sadistic attitudes and rhetoric by the pathetic M$M says it all. It is 100% a coordinated attack by what Hillary Clinton in 1998 called a "vast right-wing conspiracy," this time against the Liberal Party of Canada and, specifically, Trudeau himself.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vast_right-wing_conspiracy

If Trudeau doesn't come out of this mess and ends up having to resign, then someone should alert him to the original report by Chris Lehane. Might be useful for a follow-up book.

Anonymous said...

You forgot to mention how Trudeau is fighting for thousands of jerbs for "hard-working Canadians." How thousands of engineers and other professionals would never find work again if we lay a finger on dear old SNC-Lavalin. How SNC-Lavalin is already preparing to leave for London, because lord knows the UK doesn't have enough troubles with Brexit. How Trudeau and the rest of the cabinet and PMO had no option but to entertain 50+ visits from their lobbyists, take their "donations" and pressure prosecutors to lay off. After all, this is a company that's now clean as a whistle, yessir. Not even a hint of the old SNC bribery, threats and corruption left. Not even glimpse of the old Liberal pay to play!

Anonymous said...

Don't be so stupid. The issues with SNC were between 2006-2011. The executives involved are long gone. A remediation agreement is not a get out of jail free card. There are conditions attached as well as hefty fines. You forgot to note in your diatribe that Andrew Scheer also net with SNC about a DPA. The salient point being there were LEGAL alternatives to dealing with SNC that did not involve destroying a Canadian company that provides thousands of well paying jobs.

e.a.f. said...

Lisa, thank you for the information.

Anonymous said...

Did you read what you wrote before posting? A DFA is by definition a get-out-of-jail free card. The US developed the concept precisely for that reason - to sidetrack criminal prosecutions that would see responsible executives jailed! DFAs are what ensured that not a single bankster went to jail over the wholesale fraud that led to the 2008 global recession. Compare that to the smaller 1980s S&L crisis that saw thousands of bankers convicted and hundreds of banks closed. Some have even argued that the lack of justice against the banksters and Hillary's closeness to them gave us the Trump presidency.

If SNC is guilty of the crimes alleged, it absolutely should be destroyed for the health of the economy. You need to prune back the rotten parts to allow fresh competitors to grow. Wiping out accounting giant Arthur Andersen only killed the corrupt company. Its former accountants are now with other firms. The same would be true with SNC. You're eating SNC's PR slop without checking to see if it's even true!

Anonymous said...

It’s another useless internet poll.

Also, I’m surprised at Eric Grenier at CBC with his poll aggregator. They show a “margin of error” for NET polls yet in the footnotes they state that NET polls have no “margin of error”. They should not be given the weighting they are in the aggregator. In fact, they should probably be ignored as internet/NET polls have proven to be extremely inaccurate.

UU

Anonymous said...

Anon 9:56 - federal prosecutors have already lost 7 of 7 cases against SNC. So, we should try for 8 when we can basically put them in handcuffs with a DPA and save a lot of court time and money. After all, you want lower taxes, right.

Anonymous said...

Trudeau is not fit for office. I will be voting Green along with many others out here on the West Coast.

Jackie Blue said...

We'll see what Gerald's testimony brings later today. My guess is that it's not going to change a whole lot of minds. Especially not the Trudeau haters -- particularly those in the Con media cabal. The "schadenfreude" mentioned in that article and the Trudeau Derangement Syndrome in this country is very real and only going to get worse as the months wear on.

Based on the perfect-storm environment that is so very similar to 2016 in the States, and wanting to avoid a "What Happened" in Canada, I more and more am leaning towards, "the only leader who can defeat Andrew Scheer" is Freeland, not Trudeau. This is playing out quite differently in Québec, where he's viewed as a martyr (and JWR the backstabber), versus the ROC, but he's not campaigning for the Bloc or the premier of Québec. Plus, a leadership change would crash the headlines and push SNCL to the back pages. Biggest "cabinet shuffle" of the past 4 years. Right now he's an easy target. Too easy. Out of the direct spotlight he might still have a chance to regroup. See what I posted above about the Clintons and the vast right-wing conspiracy. And that doesn't bode well for him, for the Liberals or for anyone, really, except the Cons and their feeding-frenzy acolytes in the press.

Maybe he can hold on until the budget announcement in two weeks and then step aside. But I really do think there's going to have to be some changing of the guard. And like I said I just don't want him to have to wear the blame for this obvious setup job that people aren't seeing as such.

He'd still have his seat in Papineau and the position as Youth Minister (?) if I'm correct. But he's got to take one for the team. Heck, let Andy yell at Chrystia and reveal himself for the woman-hating brute he is, takes heat off Trudeau and brings back some of his "feminist cred." Especially if he stands up to defend her and looks chivalrous once more. It's unfair what all the propaganda has done, but doesn't change the fact that he's despised as much as Hillary is and that's not good for the party. With the NDP being relegated to a nonentity (especially in Quebec) and the Greens not going to form government anytime soon, what's bad for the Liberals is good for the Cons and therefore bad for Canada.

I'm rooting for the good guys. The red team. But I think their slogan going in should be "O Canada, Freeland Strong... and Tru'."

Anonymous said...

Enjoy Andrew Scheer as Prime Minister.

Jackie Blue said...

UU:

The way I see it, subtract the enormous gap in the prairies and look at who the pollster company is (like I said, Ipsos/Reid and Forum tend to oversample the Cons) and that should give you an idea of the average pulse of the country. And you're probably right about Internet polls, as this article points out here:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2378023118791080

My concern, like Simon's and that journalism professor who wrote the op-ed for the Star, is that the media coverage will actually have an effect, subtle or not, because that's what propaganda is designed to do. Polls themselves can be voter suppression tactics. Push an issue enough and see if enough people respond to it. The media-metrics complex. Pavlovian conditioning.

Trudeau Derangement Syndrome is real and has a lot of powerful backers behind it. See my link about the Clintons. A lot of people are angry at him, and a lot of it is undeservedly so. I'm leaning towards a quarterback change if only for his own sake, because the TDS is only going to get worse, and people's irrational spite has consequences like it did in Ontario. Now, the same model doesn't really exist in the USA, whereby a Hillary could step aside as Democratic nominee in favor of Biden or someone less polarizing, but I think that's what ought to happen here.

He doesn't deserve this venom and I don't want to see him fail.

Jackie Blue said...

@Anon 5:17 -- You really want to go there with that one? As though Trump wasn't connected to those same bankers, give me a break. Bannon the shit disturber worked for Goldman Sachs and so did Wilbur Ross and a bunch of other cabinet cronies. All he's done is fill the swamp with more swamp, and an even worse swamp that now includes the Russian mob and PRC crooks who pay Jarvanka millions of dollars to bail out their stupid devil-numbered apartment complex in exchange for a fast track to citizenship. You can guarantee 100% of the time that whatever a RepubliCon is accusing a liberal of, the RepubliCon is the one doing it or doing it far worse. And all to put atrocious fascist social policies in place that harm everything from the environment to immigrants, women, LGBTQ people -- there is nothing, NOTHING whatsoever defensible about ANYTHING a RepubliCon does or says. NOTHING.

No, the only comparison between Hillary/Trump and what's happening in Canada is how the media is putting their thumb on the scale for the bigoted right-wing crook, while igniting or turning a blind eye to the absolute raw and undeserved hatred aimed squarely at the liberal candidate. The misogyny that took down Hillary Clinton is roughly equivalent to the homophobia targeting Justin Trudeau. I would say even more so than the racism against Barack Obama.

Other than that, don't even get me started on "what happened" to give us Trump's presidency. Been there, done that, read the book. And I don't want to see a Canadian equivalent.

Anonymous said...

Well at least we know one thing.. crime bosses only appoint proven lieutenants that have earned their patches to key positions such as Attorney General... therefore Trudeau did not start out as a crime boss. Does our political system demand he has to change in order to survive or does the system have to change?
Trump and to a much lesser extent his Canadian cousins Harper and Ford have demonstrated how susceptible democratic systems are to the crime boss mentality. Similar to a safe cracker they just need enough time manipulating the tumblers to unlock the door with the techie ones using bot enhanced social media auto dialers to speed up the process.

RT

Jackie Blue said...

For all the flak he gets for that out-of-context statement about China's "basic dictatorship," I think Trudeau was probably right. The people are too damn stupid and easily manipulated to govern themselves. The Enlightenment has failed.

Harper gets away with giving aid to Orbán, who is best known for coining the phrase "illiberal democracy." Why can't we have the inverse alternative? Why can't an Obama or a Trudeau be our own benevolent despots?

Jackie Blue said...

Lotta people said that about HRC and voted for Jill Stein too. Hm.

https://twitter.com/SethMacFarlane/status/871964391826087936

You know you can tell the stupidity of the electorate when the "Family Guy" guy makes more sense than a lot of voters. That goes for the US and that goes for Canada too.

Anonymous said...

Butts testimony essentially described the stages of an executive whistle blower. Stage 1 : strong dedicated executive in key position with a fair amount of ego performing in a job they love Stage 2: Changes in the external environment brings new demands to the work that are perceived as political in nature Stage 3: incumbent subtly resists but to no avail Stage 4: Incumbent despises the new direction, perceived interference and gathers evidence to support his/her view of rampant injustice. Stage 5: Showdown with four typical options a) accept a "we need you"sponsored promotion to Abu Dhabi b) management caves c) management pretends to cave and launches credibility destroying preemptive sneak attack d)Refuse the compromise and BLOW the whistle loud and clear!
There are typically no winners, no heroes and usually the whistle blower has a back up strategy which typically involves taking their expertise to the competition ( Green, NDP, Native Associations). Very experienced leaders or personnel departments can head this type of thing off at the pass but in the early stages its hard to identify and hindsight is 20/20.
Norman is another whistle blower that likely had time to build a convincing case, hopefully the Liberals are better prepared.
RT

Jackie Blue said...

Uh, so... I've been in TV blackout mode all day and am avoiding social media altogether. What does this mean going forward, election-wise? Does the Liberals still have a chance with Trudeau at the helm? Do they have a better chance without him? How can this be fixed before it's too late?

I just want to ensure that 1) Scheer doesn't become PM24 and 2) Trudeau and his colleagues are able to clear their names. This is all very frightening to me and it's making me sick. It really is a copy of "But her emails" and it's triggering "political PTSD."

Steve said...

I think after the Testimony today Canadians will see more Butts than GWR/

ottlib said...

It is true that there is a major disconnect between the political class of Western countries and their citizens. That includes a disconnect between the media and the consumers of their products. It has been a problem for some time and it is a threat to democracy.

I have not been paying too much attention to this "scandal" because I find political scandals to be frightfully boring. What I have seen of it though has lead to my conclusion that it will not have a major impact on the political fortunes of any of the parties. Those who hate the Liberals already will hate them more. It will not change the minds of Liberals and for ordinary people who have ordinary problems it will barely register. The reason is simple. Judicial independence is not an issue that will register at a vicseral level for most people and for any scandal to have a lasting impact it must register at that level.

After all is said and done the Liberals are still the prohibitive favourates to win the next election and the most probable outcome is a Liberal majority. If you want to know my reasoning google my blog name, I wrote a rather lenghthy explanation on it that I will not repeat here.

Jackie Blue said...

Your lips to God(dess)'s ears, OttLib. Make it so.

This paragraph wins the Internet for today:

The media should be ignored when it comes to whether a government is in trouble. They will only look at what is in front of them and they will not look at the big picture. They will focus on a knot in a tree, shaped like the Virgin Mary, while ignoring Scarlett Johannson making out with Sasquach two trees over and completely ignoring the sun shining down on the forest as a whole.

Haha, that brought a much-needed smile to my face after all this!

Also, clicked on your profile. You have a new fan based on our shared fondness of "Dead Poets Society" alone!

Carpe diem :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Jackie

Typical high profile whistle blower right down to the veiled threats when forced to change jobs. By then its too late unless the boss is into a heavy duty double cross. During the disgruntled phase a trove of one sided information is collected which is very difficult to refute as the other side still thought they were part of the team. Both Butts and Wernick pushed back today but the harder the push the more of the treasure trove will be released. Push back is not a good strategy.... the best is to pull a Trump type distraction and let it die a slow death at which time the whistle blower will pull the ripcord and execute plan B. Letting it die is difficult to do with Fox News North controlling over 50% of the media content and the well oiled Con / Rebel connection running full throttle but it tends to be a captive audience of already decided voters so unlikely to significantly move the needle this far ahead of the election unless she has one or two real (out of context?) nuggets squirreled away. A lot to be said for verifying the applicant has earned their patch or at least belonged to a 100 keg fraternity club before being appointed to a key position.

Take some time off and recharge, the mini Canadian soap opera will be around for a while yet. Media saturation is a disease and we need to look after ourselves first.

RT

ottlib said...

Glad I could make you smile Jackie.