Category: Utrumpia

Maddow is back, she’s at her best, and now we all need to learn the phrase “Eliminationist Rhetoric”

~ jlpagano

Rachel Maddow has been on hiatus for quite a while now, working on other projects which is a good thing for her because while her 5-nights-a-week MSNBC show is must watch TV, the “corporate Democrat” nature of the network clearly holds her back.

What makes her presentations so compelling, for me anyway, is that whatever the topical news subject might be covering, she not only goes back several steps in the timeline while researching it, she also seems to bring you through her own process of learning as well. So while she might open her show talking about something like the presidency of Boris Yelstin, her verbal corkboard shows takes you from there to the Q Anon conspiracy.

But far be it from me to provide anything else that might act as a “spoiler” for the classic Maddow experience contained within the following two videos, all that is left is for me to strongly recommend just watch them, enjoy and learn. JLP

Some thoughts on…The Big Lie

~ jlpagano
Republicans and right wing media normally do soundbites and branding better than anyone but this might one of the best of them all.

#IANWAE

The Fake News Media, working in close conjunction with Big Tech and the Radical Left Democrats, is doing everything they can to perpetuate the term “The Big Lie” when speaking of 2020 Presidential Election Fraud. They are right in that the 2020 Presidential Election was a Big Lie, but not in the way they mean. The 2020 Election, which didn’t even have Legislative approvals from many States (which is required under the U.S. Constitution), and was also otherwise corrupt, was indeed The Big Lie. So when they try to sell the American people the term The Big Lie, which they do in unison and coordination, think of it instead as the greatest Fraud in the history of our Country! An even greater Hoax than Russia, Russia, Russia, Mueller, Mueller, Mueller, Impeachment Hoax #1, Impeachment Hoax #2, or any of the other many scams the Democrats pulled!

“From The Desk of Donald J Trump”, May 6, 2021

Also available as podcast

What Trump actually said about disinfectant curing #COVID19 and why it’s important whatever the context

~ jlpagano
View this post on Instagram

… whatever the context.

A post shared by First Person Plural (@fppblog) on

Supposing we hit the body with a tremendous, whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful, light and I think you said that hasn’t been checked and you’re going to test it.  and then I said suppose you bring the light inside the body which you can do either through the skin or in some other way and I think you said you’re going to test that too. sounds interesting (doctor says something). then I see the disinfectant knocks out in a minute and there is a way we can do something like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning because as you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs it would be interesting to check that use medical doctors but it sounds interesting to me….

… I once mentioned that maybe it does go away with heat and light and people don’t like that statement very much because the fake news didn’t like it at all I just threw it out as a suggestion and it seems like that’s the case

President Donald Trump

Trump’ hypocrisy (and Fox News’ effectiveness) exposed in one of his shortest tweets of 2019

~ jlpagano

We returned to blogging yesterday as part of a New Year’s Resolution to post more often about Irish politics, but of course that doesn’t mean we’re just going to ignore the US President altogether!

Even the fleas on the dogs in the street know that when the US Senate eventually gets around to having a trial on Trump’s Impeachment, he’s going to be “acquitted”, mostly because of the extremely high bar of 67 out of 100 votes required to do so.

Another thing we all know is that Trump is going to Lord it over everyone once that happens. He will see himself to have moved on, to be fully exonerated, and if anyone should bring up the subject again, they are nothing but sore losers. Anyone who has followed his twitter account over the past few years will know this will be his way of thinking.

With that inevitability being established, let us consider his way of thinking in the above tweet. It was originally posted as a follow-up to one where he essentially praised himself for the way the storming of the American Embassy in Baghdad was handled by the US troops. This message was a little sting in the tail to serve as “red meat for his base”, so let’s explore his premise shall we.

There were a total of TEN investigations into the 2012 terrorist attack on the US government facility in Benghazi, Libya, but by far the most significant was Trey Gowdy’s one for the House Select Committee, which ran for two years and included over 8 hours of tesitmony by then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. All suspicions that the investigation was a political exercise (witch hunt???) were confirmed by Republican congressman (and current House Minority Leader) Kevin McCarthy when he said on Fox :

 “Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? Because she’s untrustable. But no one would have known any of that had happened, had we not fought.”

Investigation into the 2012 Benghazi attack

Although the exhaustive investigations did find areas where the government departments could have performed better, there were no conclusive findings of serious wrongdoings against anyone, including Clinton. Or to put it another way, she was EXONERATED.

Yet here we have the President still referring to it (sidenote – on his first attempt at the tweet he spelled Benghazi wrong) and thanks to years of Fox News constantly finding infinite different ways to brainwash their viewers into believing “Benghazi > Death of US soldiers > Hillary’s fault” regardless of the actual findings, it still proves an effective weapon for him today.

Since he is so keen to invoke the Benghazi situation, perhaps that means he himself is willing to testify about Ukraine before the Senate? And since his current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was also a leading figure in Gowdy’s committee, he should be more than willing to do the same?

I won’t hold my breath. And while Trump’s ability to get away with blatant hypocrisy is indeed scary, I’d be much more worried about the role of Fox News in this narrative.

Is Trump the “sharpiest” knife in the drawer?

~ jlpagano

TROLLWATCH : AOC = Awesome, Oppressed Congresswoman

~ jlpagano

PD IS BACK!!!! The Angry Trump-Loving Irishman who follows me on Facebook has jumped in with his combative commentary once more.

All I did was say how much I enjoyed the Knocking Down The House documentary on Netflix and while it took him a few days to respond, once he did he was back with a series of tropes straight out of the Trump playbook. Just to be clear, my original post was published before the POTUS’s racist tirade against ‘The Squad’, while PD’s response came after.

My policy with him is simple…when he made his original attack on a different post a while ago, he questioned the validity of my sources for my opinions, despite the lack of evidence thereof, and what’s more, when I asked him to reveal his own, he declined to answer several times.

This is now the second time he commented on a post that has a theme that involved watching a broadcast – before it was a Democratic debate, this time the doc on Netflix. He has admitted to watching neither.

Here’s how the exchange went, if you could call it that…

ORIGINAL POST [attached to link to Netflix documentary] : How did I not know about this before now? Awesome. #AOC

PD : Omg Jeff.. come out of clown world… please man.. I’m worried about ye.. the world is going to end in twelve years?? Green new deal?? Will cost over 90 trillion dollars.. AOC? Concentration camps?? Won’t condemn ANTIFA terrorist attacks on an ICE facility? You must be kiddin… a stooge for the justice democrats? Cenk the young Turk? Is there any logic left out there? Wake up Jeff… pllleeeaasse.. 🙈

ME : OK

PD : No argument… as usual…. poor Jeff.. I’ve tried to save you from your cognitive dissonance… there must be some one in your group with a little common sense? Come down to Google hq and stand up for freedom of speech guys.. it’s really important 👍🇨🇮🇺🇸🇺🇸💪

ME : Happy to discuss the topic of the thread… What did you think of the Netflix show?

PD : Jeff.. please stop tryin to control conversation.. AOC as you proclaim…. is awesome? Haven’t watched it yet.. but would love to.. I won’t let you away with just stickin to discussing your threads alone.. I’m calling you out on your philosophy…Why don’t you tell me and your friends what is so awesome about AOC?

ME : But it is my conversation. My page my topic my thread. Surely even you can’t argue that? This is about a Netflix show I watched. You admit you didn’t, yet you still chose to comment. So maybe I’m calling you out? Especially when your first angry comment on a previous post way back when questioned the validity of MY sources? But you know that and clearly don’t care. So if you want to continue this chat, watch the show. Of course you won’t because you’re afraid you might learn something that contradicts your Trump talking points.

Thursday, July 18, 2019 on JL Pagano Facebook page

AT TIME OF POSTING THERE HAVE BEEN OVER 15 HOURS WITHOUT A REPLY

…so I posted this extra comment for ‘divilment’…

ME : Interesting…you say you want an argument yet when I offer one, not a word. What’s up with that, Phil? Even if you were busy for the last 15 hours it takes less than a minute to post “I’ll respond tomorrow”. You seem to be good at starting ‘debates’ but when it comes to finishing them or even staying on topic, not so much – which of course makes it clear why Trump is your guy! 😉

Friday, July 19, 2019

UPDATE : Eventually he did respond…

PD : Hi Jeff… again… what is so awesome about AOC? Or any Democrats for that matter… I have Netflix here but I haven’t got a chance to see it yet.. been busy workin…. only to humour you… but see a lot of left wing liberal propaganda on it… something tells me this could be more brainwashing and feelings rather than facts and evidence…. you’re a funny guy Jeff… it’s been a struggle to get you past Ok… so we can debate… You haven’t addressed any of my criticisms of your idea’s…. yes.. trump is my man alright 🇺🇸🇺🇸💪💪 and AOC the bar tender/Actress who auditioned for the Justice Democrats to run for congress.. who keeps makin a fool of herself on a daily basis is your gal 😉🙈 great choice Jeff 👍🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

ME : Hi Phil thanks for eventually getting back. Just to be clear, any discussion of politics between us will not be what I call a debate. For me that means a discussion with mutual respect that leads to a conclusion. For you that clearly means name calling, straw men and false premises that leads to a row. But since you have put so much time and effort into getting my attention, I have decided to humour you by doing things your way.

For the umpteenth time in this thread, I’m telling you my original post, and thus the word ‘awesome’, was about the documentary, not AOC herself. I know I use the hashtag but that is because of the four candidates featured (don’t worry I’ll relieve you of the torture of watching it) she was the only one who won her primary against an establishment Democrat.

When it comes to her policies and those of progressives, I think your hero has made a big mistake by elevating them to world recognition with his racist provocation (sorry if the r word offends you but housing in NY, birtherism, Central Park 5, Charlottesville, Mexican judge, sh*t-hole countries and now this…..he’s a racist. End of.).

The reason it’s a mistake is that they actually agree with him on a lot of his 2016 policy promises; healthcare for all with pre existing conditions and lower prescription drugs, draining the swamp with no more corporate-owned politicians, and not necessarily doing things the Washington way, to name but three. The only difference is that when THEY say it, they actually WANT to do all of that for their voters as opposed to using them like he does. He thinks he’s being clever by stirring hatred among his base and sees 95% approval among Republicans as validation, but that doesn’t account for those fleeing the party and for every one 2016 vote he retains in 2020, his divisiveness is more than likely to create another 3 votes against him.

And that’s just on policy…when it comes to personality, he has more scandal on his plate than all four of the ‘Squad’ will see in their collective lifetimes. He’s a disgrace to the White House and as far as I’m concerned those who support him can only either be profiting from his presidency personally or are just brainwashed into hating so-called ‘liberals’.

Hopefully that has given you enough to find the ‘right’ comebacks on Fox News and all those YouTube channels from which you keep sharing clips with me on Messenger 😉

Friday, July 19, 2019

#IANWAE

Trollwatch : ‘So did you actually watch the debate?’

~ jlpagano

A new series where we share political trollery from about the internet, particularly ones we responded to. You’ll probably find most of these will come from Journal.ie but to kick things off we’re going to share with you the latest offerings from an Irish pro-Trump troll I’ve picked up on my personal Facebook account. I’ve been driving him crazy lately by simply replying ‘OK’ over and over again but eventually this time I did him the courtesy of a lengthy reply. At time of writing it has been 9 hours since the comment was sent and he has not replied, even though he was leading comments himself up to about ten minutes before my message.

“… and I will ensure that the microphone that the President of the United States holds in her hand….”

Nobody has my vote yet but I have to say Harris totally crushed it last night.

Original post on JL Pagano Facebook page

Good man Jeff.. you and your looney left mates never cease to amaze me.. Harris?? A big fan of Jussie Smollet.. She wants to give illegal immigrants free healthcare… amazin… come on in every one… open borders.. what idiots… build tbat wall.. and MAGA Trump 2020🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸💪

And please you looney left SJW be the signalling identity politics numb nuts.. do some research.. on how America is really doin under Trump.. don’t be so lazy.. 🇺🇸🇺🇸💪💪

Good man Jeff.. typical looney left.. no argument… no facts or evidence to back up your virtue signalling.. love calling you out on your nonsense… 😁🇺🇸🇺🇸🇨🇮🇨🇮

Any footage of Islamaphobia on buses goin on lately? Just recalling your virtuos outraged at the horrific new Zealand mosque murders… and funnily enough you didn’t whimper a word about the 120 Christians that were murdered the same month while at church…. by Islamic terrorists… hmmm….. so noble of you.. some day you might come out from behind you virtuosity and try to debate me.. surely all your virtual friends can’t be as fake news as you? OK 👍🤣😂

Jeff… you are a coward I’m afraid… and I hope some of your pals are seein this cowardice… but keep your commie SJW virtue signalling bullshit comin… lovin callin you out…. 👍🤣😂🇺🇸🇺🇸

Ahh…. you can’t answer a deplorable Trump supporter Jeff? Intellect has deserted you? Ahh poor Jeff…

Ahh Jeff… your so tolerant and diverse… always willin to engage in discourse and intellectual debate… I should be easy for you to destroy with your wisdom…

Ahh…. lovely… every time your friends see you’re lack of balls Jeff…. it brings a smile to my face… keep spurtin your nonsense… can’t wait for the next bout…. night night xx

all comments from a troll I’ll call ‘PD’ here. After each one I replied with “OK”.

Hi PD I hope you are well.

Sorry I didn’t ‘debate’ you last night but I didn’t for two reasons (1) I was out with friends so I didn’t have time to write long replies, and (2) going by your words from the very first sentence of your very first comment in this thread, and by your other contributions to my page for that matter, you don’t want to debate, you want to bait.

However, since you have clearly devoted a lot of time & effort to get my attention, I guess I really should offer some response and I would be willing to discuss this topic with you here if you like.

Just to be remind you, the topic under discussion here is Night 2 of the First Democratic Debate on NBC, and before we proceed I have one simple yes or no question for you – did you watch it all?

My reply the following morning.

#IANWAE

In case you hadn’t noticed, Trump is making up his foreign policy as he goes along

~ jlpagano
THE ISSUE

The current crisis between the US and Iran was created by Trump so no matter what he does about it, the whole situation was totally unnecessary and it’s clear that his is in way over his head when it comes to foreign policy.

THE MEDIA

Article by Makini Brice in Reuters.com on Monday, June 24, 2019

‘Trump says other countries should do more to protect oil tankers‘

Trump made the comments amid an escalation in tensions with Iran, as Washington has blamed Tehran for attacks on two oil tankers

THE COMMENT

I’m certainly not going to pretend to be anything of a foreign policy expert, but the situation regarding Iran and it’s capacity to make nuclear weapons appears to be very simple.

Few agreements are perfect, even fewer international treaties are.  This is because thrashing them out involves compromise.

Whether or not Trump appreciates this, his viewpoint has always been that the JPCOA, negotiated by Obama and the international community was a ‘disaster’, mostly because he doesn’t trust them to hold up their side of the bargain.

So he pulled the US out of the agreement and increased sanctions not only on Iran, but also on anyone doing business with them, yet all the while still holding them to their side of the agreement he ripped up???

Before any of the events of the past week, the situation was already absurd, all due to Trump’s own actions.

Now as he makes the sanctions even tighter, it comes at no surprise that the Iranian equivalent of John Bolton is going to have an itchy trigger finger and thus we have seen an attack on a Japanese vessel as well as the shooting down of an unmanned US drone.

Now we’re expected to think the POTUS is some kind of hero because he pulls out of planned retaliation at the last minute???  Then he tells Chuck Todd that the only thing he wants from Iran is ‘No Nuclear Weapons’ only to add ‘Stop terror campaigns’ in a tweet a couple of days later?

Now a whole week after the attack on the Japanese vessel all of a sudden he’s whining about having to protect the shipping lanes????

I know I’m no expert on foreign policy, but I didn’t seek election and I certainly didn’t do so by telling everyone I could make the situation better.  He has made it abundantly clear that he hasn’t a clue.

#IANWAE

Corporate media pats itself on the back for ‘solidarity’ in White House press briefing yet ignores progressive question

~ jlpagano

THE ISSUE

The majority of the corporate media may well be ‘anti-Trump’ but they also take care to make sure progressive issues are at best, ignored or at worst, belittled.

THE MEDIA

Clip by Lawrence O’Donnell in YouTube on Wednesday, July 18, 2018

“…the most perfect of White House press corps teamwork unfolded…”

THE COMMENT

It’s hard to disagree with Lawrence O’Donnell and for the most part I enjoy his MSNBC show The Last Word, particularly in the Trump era.  But much like news coverage by the Irish national broadcaster RTÉ, you often have to ask yourself if they are always covering a given topic to its fullest and consider what is being left out.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ press briefings are always contentious occasions, but yesterday’s was always going to be even more so given all that happened surrounding Trump’s Monday meeting with Russian despot/president Vladimir Putin in Helsinki and its aftermath.

Of course Lawrence is right when he points out in the above clip that it was nice to see NBC’s Halle Jackson and The Hill’s Jordan Fabian working together to prevent ‘SHuckS’ (why isn’t everybody calling her that????) from dodging important questions, having seen the entire briefing I think it would have been prudent for him to also mention what happened regarding April Ryan from the American Urban Radio Network.

Ryan and SHuckS have had several heated exchanges in the past and on this occasion, I thought her question was not only relevant but also one that was unlikely to have been asked by her fellow journalists in this session.

In her defence of the president’s approach to election security, SHuckS listed a range of measures she claims has been taken by the Trump administration.  Ryan wanted to know if voter suppression, in other words actions taken by mostly Republican state legislatures around the country, was also on the list.

At first, her question was completely ignored.  To be fair, Ryan was eventually allowed to ask it, yet while SHuckS offered some words in reply, none of them could really be considered a ‘straight answer’.

But this post is not about SHuckS, rather O’Donnell and the corporate media for which he works.  If there really was a general sense of teamwork among the White House press corps, then Ryan would have received the same help from her colleagues that Jackson did.

Ryan’s experience wasn’t completely ignored by the wider media.  Josh Feldman of Mediaite wrote of it in his piece : “April Ryan Confronts Sarah Sanders For Not Calling on Her in Briefing: ‘I’ll Keep Asking the Question’” while a more conservative slant was put on it in “April Ryan keeps interrupting Sarah Sanders – Sarah finally loses it” by the Daily Caller’s Benny johnson.

But with Trump finding new creative ways to shoe horn himself into the headlines every day, I can’t see the very real issue of voter suppression coming even close to the mainstream again any time soon.  JLP

#IANWAE