He corrupts the press by obsessing it

I felt well enough yesterday that I participated in the concert by my performance group. I kept a mask on. They were glad to see me and the performance went well. I think I did a good job with my part. Alas, though the symptoms are no longer strong they continue today. I now keep a cough drop in my pocket in case I get a coughing fit, a tickle in my throat that coughing won’t clear. I had one today in the grocery store and popped in the drop – then bought more. A story that broke while I was ill is that Rep. George Santos was booted out of Congress. Once the booting was complete Santos started his retaliation. I saw a cartoon (alas, I didn’t save the link) of Santos on social media saying he couldn’t possibly be the most corrupt member of Congress. Aldous Pennyfarthing of Daily Kos reported Santos’ goodbye rants saying he would be referring several of his former colleagues to the Office of Congressional Ethics. He named names and implied the type of their corruption. Mark Sumner of Kos reported:

Republicans have no passed or even pending legislation to tout. There’s no health care plan. There’s no education plan. There’s no plan at all. Other than endless hearings in a wasted effort to find something they can pin on President Joe Biden, the only thing they have to show for their control of the House are vicious interparty [intraparty?] fights. Republicans went 15 rounds of voting to make Kevin McCarthy speaker, then kicked out McCarthy and spent 22 days without a speaker before selecting someone whose only credentials are that no one knew who he was. So what are they running on? Claims that without them, illegal immigrants will overrun the national parks. Even though that has never happened. And there are really good reasons why it can’t.

Sumner included an AI image of a valley (the image claims it’s Yellowstone, but doesn’t look right for that) in which the valley floor is filled with tents (and, presumably, migrants). It can’t happen because places like Yellowstone have strict rules on where one might camp. Also, these places are wild – if you didn’t pack in the food you don’t have food. “But then, Republicans aren’t interested in reality.” Last week, well after the nasty guy used the Nazi term “vermin” to explain what he would do to his opponents, Laura Clawson of Kos wrote the media is skewed towards him.

The nationally syndicated broadcast news shows—“Good Morning America,” “This Week,” and “World News Tonight” on ABC; “This Morning,” “Mornings,” “Face the Nation,” and “Evening News” on CBC; and “Today,” “Nightly News,” and “Meet the Press” on NBC—spent a combined 54 minutes on Clinton’s deplorables comment in the first week after she said it. Those same shows spent a combined three minutes on Trump’s vermin rant. In that same one-week window after each comment, CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News mentioned “deplorable” or “deplorables” a combined 1,662 times as compared with 191 mentions of “vermin.” The discrepancy wasn’t all Fox News. CNN talked about “deplorable” 553 times and “vermin” just 70. On MSNBC it was 596 to 112.

Of the five biggest newspapers only the Washington Post mentioned the “vermin” comment and did so on an inside page. In a pundit roundup for Kos Chitown Kev quoted George Packer of The Atlantic. Here’s an excerpt:

If half the country believes most of what the mainstream media report and the other half thinks it’s mostly lies, this isn’t a partial win for journalists, whose purpose isn’t to strengthen the opposition but to give the public information it needs to exercise democratic power. Trump’s purpose is to destroy the very notion of objective truth. The match was rigged in his favor, and being compelled to fight it has not been good for journalism. Though reporters did excellent work covering Trump’s presidency, his effect was to make the American media a little more like him: solipsistic (foreign reporting nearly disappeared), divisive, and self-righteous. Trump corrupts everyone who gets near him—spouses, children, followers, accomplices, flunkies. He corrupts the press by obsessing it; by flooding it with so much s--- that news becomes almost indistinguishable from fluff and lies; by baiting it into abandoning independence for activism; by demoralizing it with the recognition that much of the public doesn’t care.

Yesterday Sumner reported that the media might be showing signs of waking up to the nasty guy’s intentions. The New York Times reported his “plan for moving the country into authoritarian control is now more sophisticated, and the systems that are supposed to safeguard democracy have all been weakened.” WaPo talked about the probability of a nasty guy dictatorship. Sumner concluded:

Right now, a strong majority of voters say they are worried about democracy. No one should assume that just because Republicans are the problem, they will pay the cost. And The Washington Post op-ed points out a critical piece of the puzzle: If Trump wins the election, it will be because he has already shown the justice system holds no power over him. Why should he ever fear the law—any law—again? Maybe it wouldn’t help if The New York Times and The Washington Post ran such articles every day. Maybe it wouldn’t help if all the rest of the media joined in. But it certainly wouldn’t hurt.

Rep. James Comer is the one who wanted Hunter Biden to testify – until Hunter demanded the testimony be done in public. Walter Einenkel of Kos reported Comer dropped another bombshell of evidence – that was quickly debunked (of course it was). Comer declared Hunter paid Papa Joe three payments of $1,380! Sheesh, Comer thinks bribes are that small? But no, Dad covered a few car payments and son was paying him back. Nothing at all like the pandemic prince and princess walking away with $2 billion from the Saudis when their Papa left office. Clawson reported that Rep. Troy Nehls explained why the House Republicans are so eager to impeach Biden. It’s so the nasty guy, impeached twice and facing 91 felony counts, can say Biden was also impeached. And in another article Clawson reported this last attempt at found “corruption” appears to have backfired and able to demonstrate the whole impeachment effort is a sham. Both WaPo and the Wall Street Journal (owned by the Murdochs) called out Comer for his misleading claims. All that means if impeachment comes up for a vote these baseless and nasty attacks will increase public sympathy for Biden. All Republicans will do is show Biden is being a good dad. Andy Kroll, in an article for ProPublica posted on Kos, reported the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to authorize subpoenas for Supreme Court sugar daddy Harlan Crow and conservative legal architect Leonard Leo as part of their efforts to investigate Supreme Court lapses in ethics. Republicans on the committee staged a noisy objection to issuing the subpoenas, then most walked out. Which means the final vote, along party lines, passed easily. Crow and Leo have said they will defy the subpoenas. Democrats in the Senate don’t have a large enough majority to enforce them. Joan McCarter of Kos reported the Supremes held oral arguments on a case that could upend the tax system. The particular case is over a tiny tax bill of under $15,000 (tiny for someone who is rich).

The onetime tax, which investors can pay out over eight years, is expected to raise $340 billion by 2027. That’s the first budget-busting potential problem if the Supreme Court finds the law unconstitutional. Another problem is that a broad ruling could open up tax law on partnerships, multinational companies, and bond investors for litigation. Even former House Speaker Paul Ryan, the guy who helped pass the 2017 GOP tax scam, has warned that as much as a third of the tax code could be upended if the court rules broadly for the plaintiffs.

It could also declare the possibility of a wealth tax to be unconstitutional. That’s a tax Sen. Elizabeth Warren has been promoting for many years and Biden has said is needed. Also, this is a clear conflict of interest for Justice Samuel Alito (McCarter has details). And Alito has refused to recuse. What ethics problem?