CNN issues retraction after using digitally altered photos of Trump & Loomer

Cnn logo red png 3.It’s interesting that you can find articles all over the media, & X about it.

But looking for “CNN Retraction” will not present you with a link to CNN.COM wherein you could actually read what they said. Nor does “CNN Correction” present you with what CNN actually did or said.

Rather than continue to fuck around with CNN’s obfuscation I’ll simply read the hearsay from other journalists.

The short story: Anderson Cooper and other CNN anchors used fake photos on Friday and Saturday presenting them as real in some sort of negative report on Trump and Laura Loomer.

Absolutely nothing new there! I don’t really give a shit CNN has become a televised “National Enquirer”. Although, that might be an insult to National Enquirer.

My train of thought went in a completely different direction. 

Regardless of CNN’s correction, retraction, misspeaking, or whatever. The damage is done. There are a shit ton of people who will never see or hear that CNN was wrong, again, and they will run off believing whatever smear CNN painted Trump & Loomer with.

Even if Loomer sues, as she’s threatening to do, it won’t matter. CNN will lose some money, Loomer will get some money but her reputation will still be sullied.

Anderson Cooper and the other anchors will still get their 6 digit paychecks, and they’ll blame the CNN staff for the mistake. The Anchors and Production Managers will say, “We can’t check everything prior to going on air in this competitive market…

I might even believe it… Except that it rarely happens, and when I say rarely, I mean 98.9999999999% of the time, when they’re talking about their favored Party, People, or Subjects. They don’t make mistakes, they check everything and are very quick to “Fact Check” anyone who speaks ill of their preferred narratives.

So with demonstrable bias, CNN and other news outlets blithely spew misinformation.

Wait

Haven’t people gone to jail for misinformation? Why yes… Douglass Mackey was sentenced to 7 months in prison for posting memes on Twitter encouraging Clinton supporters to vote via text message.

Hillary Clinton recently suggested that aside from indictments against Russians for direct election interference, that perhaps civil or criminal charges should be levied against Americans for parroting “Russian propaganda”. 

Oh, like the Hunter Biden Laptop? That Russian Propaganda? Where we had the news media and 51 Intelligence officers tell us the laptop was fake, just before the last election. We’ve since learned that had that information been widely presented instead of suppressed people might have voted for Trump instead of Biden.

Under Hillary’s suggestion, should we be charging and / or imprisoning members of the media or those 51 intelligence officers. One could argue they engaged in election interference and that the Russians had profited from the wide spread misinformation in the form of tipping the election toward Biden.

Hillary Clinton really hates Russians doesn’t she? She’s been going on about Russians one way or another, for almost a decade now…

CNN and other new outlets might be forgiven for their spewing of misinformation during COVID with regard to efficacy of vaccines, alternative treatments, etc. Generally speaking, they were acting in good faith based on the available information, much of it from government sources.

But, and this is just my opinion, they didn’t have to go the extra mile to ridicule and discredit scientists and doctors who expressed dissenting opinions.

These news outlets, to this day have never apologized for the damage they did to scientists and doctors who not only dissented, but as time moves on, appear to have been correct. The government apologizing to these same individuals for their part in harming the scientists careers,  would herald the apocalypse.

All of which begs the question. Can CNN and the legacy media be trusted anymore? If not, then where are we to get our information? It’s a foregone conclusion that our government cannot be trusted.

If I were conspiracy minded, I’d say this was part of an overarching plan to destroy all non government news organizations and once they’re throughly discredited they’ll be replaced with some form of State News Agency

American News NetworkANNNews from your government who is Father and Mother, protecting us all from threats internal & external.

That would certainly make control of the, what’s the word, proletariat, easier wouldn’t it?

Oddly, I seem to recall Kamala Harris speaking in favor of some kind of misinformation laws applied nationally.

However entering a search in google or duck duck go. Returns everything about misinformation as it’s been applied to Harris but not her actual stance on the matter.

“is kamala harris in favor of misinformation laws?” Or “has kamala harris proposed misinformation laws?” Presents ZERO information pertaining to the question.

As I’ve mentioned before, our search engine technology is becoming more useless every day. Why can’t the search engines present the most direct answer to the query then present other related materials.

They used to do this with ease. Now, it seems that even our search engines are purposely obfuscating information.

The problem might be that Harris routinely changes her mind and that might be confusing the search engines. Much as her stance on gun control and virtually every other thing she says is subject to change based on the direction the wind is blowing.

The point I was trying to make is, if Harris is in favor of misinformation laws nationally that are similar to those signed into law by Gavin Newsom, then it’s possible something like the ANN as I described above is closer than we think.

AOC, Ilhan Omar, Bernie Sanders, Dan Goldman, Nancy Pelosi, and many other Democrats in Congress have on occasion expressed approval of, or desire for, abridgments of freedom of speech. With presidential backing misinformation laws and in fact an office of misinformation such as was proposed early in the Biden administration could easily become reality.

The justification used to “Sell” abridgment of The First Amendment to the American People could even be pointing to the permanent harm misinformation does to someone like Laura Loomer, Donald Trump, Doctors, and Scientists. 

That would be the ultimate slap in the face wouldn’t it?

The people harmed by institutionalized, approved misinformation who spoke out in defense of Freedom of Speech and demanded responsibility of the news media, having the harm done to them, used to curtail The First Amendment.

We might come full circle…

Western Electric Rotary TelephoneI was having a text conversation with my Sister and our Aunt, this morning. In the course of the conversation, I realized my Sister was using dictation to compose her text messages.

Shortly after the conversation, I thought to myself, if she was dictating her text messages, then why didn’t she just call me? I mean, if you’re speaking out loud, why not actually have a telephone conversation?

I realize that she was including my aunt and myself in the text message.That being said, she could just simply have conference called us. We all have FaceTime, she could have turned it into a video chat.

I keep thinking to myself we’re gonna come full circle anytime now. People are gonna realize that actual voice communication between two individuals might be a lot more productive than going through the sterility of a text message.

Once that happens then we’ll figure out that the nuance of the human voice is far more precise than just getting a text message and wondering whether or not the person was angry or sad or depressed or happy or just simply distracted. All of those things we can instinctively determine by hearing a person’s voice.

It’ll probably take another 20 years and I won’t be around to see it. But wherever I am, whatever I am, I’m probably gonna be laughing my ass off, when the kids discover this new thing called a telephone conversation.

Okay, that’s better, the evacuation warnings have been lifted.

Cloud clouds blue sky.Thanks to a lot of firemen who’ve worked their asses off to get the Bridge fire under control, the evacuation warning has ben cancelled for Wrightwood.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that the west end of town took a hit. I’m not sure yet how many homes were damaged or destroyed.

It’s easy to say it could have been worse. That’s a true statement, but for those folks who lost their homes, it is worse. Much Worse.

I know, I’ve been through it. You feel disconnected. Your place in the world is gone, and you’re faced with a million tiny decisions all of which feel like you’re making the wrong choice. Loved ones look to you for strength and guidance. It’s easy to forget that this is one of those burdens that is best shared and that together you’ll all get through it.

There are some things that you’ll never fully get over. To this day, a roaring smoky fire in a fireplace can freak me out. That’s something I don’t think I’ll ever get past. But a lot of the other stuff is eventually left by the side of the road you travel.

There was brief rain yesterday that helped was some of the smoky smell out of the air. We could have done with a lot more gentle rain, but I’m not going to complain. For me it’s the sound of rain the roof thats soothing.

Yesterday, I felt pretty crappy most of the day so I appreciated the sound for as long as it lasted. I’m feeling better this morning, which is a good thing because I’ve got chores to do.

The sky is clear and blue this morning. It’s going to be a good day & now I’m off to walk the dog.

A couple of days ago Governor Newsom signed some free speech bills

These two bills are not the end of the First Amendment. But if they’re allowed to stand, they could begin the erosion of the First Amendment.

I believe these two bills will have a chilling effect on political memes within California and I’m not sure how these will play out in situations where the host servers are not located in California.

The problem I see is that if California is allowed to prosecute memes regardless of where the creator lives, then defacto censorship is likely to extend across the entire nation. I honestly wonder about the longevity of this blog.

I’ve expressed some pretty strong opinions about our political candidates and even created one or two memes that are very unflattering to several presidents, vice presidents, and governors.

Will I be arrested? Will I have my First Amendment rights stripped from me? I’m a little guy, I can’t afford to mount a legal defense against the deep pockets of the State of California.

So until I understand the ramifications of the new laws, I think I’ll not be posting anything of a political nature.

Let’s think about this for a moment.

Due to uncertainty, and fear of unfair prosecution, I’m self censoring. This is exactly what these laws seek to do.

I’ll be reading these laws very carefully and looking at the details of what precisely they’ll prohibit. After I understand the law I’ll return to making political comments. I’m willing to bet there will be other people that just stop talking.

I happen to believe that if people aren’t allowed to speak… okay, bitch, and complain. Then like the boiler with a broken pressure relief valve, the pressure will just build until until what would have been unflattering speech will become something far worse.

The first read of these bills looks like they’re targeting memes, and videos that appear to have the subject political figure saying something they didn’t say. A.K.A. disinformation.

The “Very Fine People Hoax” for example is the one that pops to mind instantly. Biden and Harris have both kept that hoax alive even though it’s been throughly debunked, and disproven. The news media cut the video of Trump in such a way that it appears he said Nazis were very fine people. He didn’t. A shit ton of people still believe he said it.

Mark Twain said, “No amount of evidence will ever convince an Idiot.”

Turns out if the TV says it, It’s gotta be true.

Under these new laws, would California seek to prosecute Joe Biden or Kamala Harris?

Who decides what is dis-information anyway? The Nazi Party had quite a division to make this determination and sent authorities to arrest those believed guilty of creating or spreading dis-information.

Is this the America we want to live in? Do we want to have a Nazi-esq group of jack booted enforcers kicking down doors because some of us forwarded a picture of a dog looking up at the camera with a concerned face., and a caption, “I know we’re visiting family in Springfield, don’t let me out of your sight,” because it was funny.

It doesn’t matter if Haitians are literally eating cats & dogs or if it’s meant as a slur. The humor is visual, and conveyed by the dog’s expression. We as a people, used to be able to see humor without being so sensitive that it traumatized us.

I loved the Washington Post fact check on Trump when he said, “we had hamburgers piled a mile high.” They said, “at 2 inches high, 700 hamburgers wouldn’t be a mile high”

Duh! Really? You don’t say. It was an exaggeration. A figure of speech, no-one in their right mind actually thought Trump had stacked hamburgers 1 mile high.

We used to not have a problem with these sorts of exaggerations either. We as a people used to recognize that our leaders were human. We used to give them a pass on some silliness. We became concerned if the leader repeated the error. Then we’d ask, “Excuse me? What did you say, and what did you actually mean by what you said?” When we asked that question, we expected an answer, plain & simple. We didn’t want or expect a bunch of BS language that said nothing and never provided an answer.

This was back in the day when Americans had a sense of humor.

When was the last time you saw a good comedy routine?

I loved Netflix for their standup comedy. When there were fewer and fewer actually funny programs, I stopped watching Netflix, then I cancelled the subscription.

I digress, well, maybe not. As cancel culture became prevalent, comedians began self censoring. That might have been why the stand-up routines seemed so flat, or stale. If you can’t say what you want without someone being offended and harming your career then you start censoring yourself too.

I’m not sure I like this dark road we’re apparently on.

I don’t appreciate political parties supporting censorship because I look to the history of not only the Nazi party, but other dictators, kings, and potentates.

This is something I believe should concern us all.

it’s a super nice day in Orange County.

I’m enjoying the cool overcast from an on-shore flow. Sitting out on the porch with Jesse napping is very pleasant. Knowing the most anything I might want to go get, is literally a few minutes away could really spoil me.

I’ll admit it, I like being in civilization. 

Don’t get me wrong, I liked living in the mountains. I liked my life and my other half and there was joy in our home. There were rough times to be sure, but any issues were offset by having silence, room, and a safe home. Those perks outweighed the inconvenience of having to drive a minimum of 30 minutes or more to get to a shopping center for stuff like clothes or a Costco. There were times when It felt like I needed a sherpa and we were planning an expedition to deepest Africa.

When I was working off the hill, stopping by one of those places, or as Jerry & I often did, meeting at a mall or whatever to take care of necessary shopping on our way home from our respective jobs, wasn’t a problem. We’d have a date night, have dinner, do our shopping and head home after most of the traffic was past.

Now that I’m alone and not working off the hill, being on the mountain is a bit more of a problem. I have little reason to leave and less reason to want to deal with nightmarish traffic getting to and from the various shopping centers.

Staying here in Orange County, with friends. I’m reminded of the advantage of being closer to a real city. In this case, an interconnected web of sprawling cities where the shelves are full and not every item is locked up behind plexiglass.

Over the past couple of days I’ve been struck by the difference in rite aid here versus home. Grocery stores, four within blocks of each other versus home where there’s only 1 or 2 within 20 miles.

Yesterday for example, was interesting. I dropped the dog off for a grooming appointment, drove 1/2 mile to a car wash, drove back to the plaza where I’d left the dog. Noticed there was a SportClips, got my hair cut, walked through a Trader Joes (hadn’t done that for years), compared prices at a Smart & Final, then got a message that the dog was ready.

Out where I live, that would have been an all day affair, possibly 2 days. The local SportClips closed during COVID. The groomer is 45 minutes away. The grocery stores and pharmacy are 20 to 30 minutes. There are 3 grocery stores within 35 miles, 4 if you include the Super Target and Walmart.

It’s funny. Before I settled down with Jerry, I was an Orange County boy. I knew my way around and  literally could lay my hands on just about anything I needed, anytime of the day and night.

Living in Escondido for the time I did, I was still out of the main urban areas of San Diego and honestly, I was glad of it.

This fire may have given me some direction. (Provided it doesn’t just burn everything down.)

I begin to remember what I liked about living here in OC and can directly contrast that with mountain life.

I know that I have too much stuff.

Being evacuated, I’m traveling uncomfortably light. The house on the other hand is uncomfortably heavy. There should be some nice balance in the middle.

Likewise much as I appreciate the convenience of OC, I don’t want to deal with the dense urban environment, the excessive noise and not enough open spaces.

This isn’t a criticism, it’s simply observing that moving back into a dense urban environment probably wouldn’t be the best thing for me personally. 

I think I need to search for a happy medium between the absolute rural out in the sticks places, and easy access to the niceties of modern life.