While the media has been feeding America a steady diet of circuses, clowns and Roman Arena entertainment..

[Fred Sanders]

Last edited Sat Jan 24, 2015, 12:07 PM - Edit history (2)

These things happened: (not an exhaustive list)

- decades of diplomatic protocol regarding addresses to Congress were changed. Unilaterally. With malice.
- climate warming was admitted by Congress but humans contributing a single BTU was denied.
- a Congressional sub-committee dropped "human rights" from its decades old title. Unilaterally.
- the American President to pay respects to the most oppressive human rights violator on the planet.
- Fox apologized for manufacturing and spreading lies to incite violence - and then started it again
- ABC is embedding it's chief WH correspondent with the Koch Brothers
- 6000 ISIS fighters have been killed, mostly by Kurd and Iraqi forces, that part was left out.
- the leaders who met in Paris for a "free speech" march returned home to suppress speech some more.

Bonus stuff you may have missed:

- laws were passed or proposed by Congress to:

* destroy the National Park system and replace it with strip mining, also to internally rip open the Earth's bowels by internal insertion of foreign and toxic fluids under pressure
* sending women rights back to the 1950's
* the barren campaign money law landscape left nuked by an illegal SCTOUS decision is about to be nuked again to remove all trace of life
* a full frontal assault on the remaining tatters of American privacy rights..because Sony was hacked.
* a broken promise by Mitch McConnel made in perceived good faith negotiations to allow debate on XL was broken at the last minute, another slap in the face to democracy.


That is just in 2 weeks...2 years to go.

"Shall I go on?"

....................
<Media Response>

That is all - please return to your regularily scheduled distractions.

Do not adjust the horizontal or the vertical.

[yeoman6987]

1. Oh but Tom Brady is known by all

Obviously the most important thing to happen in the United States this week. Priorities of the media are out of wack! Most of those other REALLY important stories are given a blip if that in the media. Keep the deflated balls front and center though. Obviously very crucial to our country. Ugh!!!!

[Fred Sanders]

3. I think the Twilight Zone quote was actually "We control the horizontal and the vertical"? Not sure.

Same difference I guess...

The media landscape is a barren desert of mendacity, fear, outrage, distraction and boobies.

The French and British and Germans sure taught the media in America a lesson, but who is going to report on it and what it was the lesson?

They DO control the horizontal and the vertical and when net neutrality is choked they will control all the dimensions.

[First Speaker]

5. A point of pedantry--it was "The Outer Limits", not "Twilight Zone"...

...and at its best, TOL was better than TTZ...

[Fred Sanders]

6. My partner watched that stuff a lot, great television, me not so much. Thanks.

[Bluenorthwest]

7. That's from 'The Outer Limits' not 'Twilight Zone'

"There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We can reduce the focus to a soft blur, or sharpen it to crystal clarity. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to... The Outer Limits."

Twilight Zone Intro:
"There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone."

Mr Serling had no illusions of control, he was in it with us trapped between science and superstition....

[Fred Sanders]

8. "Trapped between science and superstition" is a keeper. The whole quote is Gold.

[malaise]

2. Get thee to the greatest page

for truth

[Fred Sanders]

4. Folks are outraged and very afraid of......something.....must be the football.

[smirkymonkey]

20. +1000

[malaise]

28. Sport is the second opiate of the sheeple

and it is no accident. Men (and some women) can reel off every statistic known to humanity about some game and are clueless about the gap between rich and poor, the gap between male and female incomes, the real state of our schools, libraries, universities.

They are even less informed about the role of special interests in the official fucking up of our collective lives.

[Fred Sanders]

31. The fact that so many have become better educated about the science of inflation is a positive

development.

Quit your grumpiness and enjoy the sheer theaterics of it all.

[2naSalit]

9. K&R

[alterfurz]

10. still plenty of circuses...

...but no bread now, just bread bags.

[malaise]

29. That's hilarious

[oldandhappy]

11. yep!!!

I guess real digging and research costs money. I often have the TV on in the background as I am doing early evening stuff and it seems all the shows carry the same stories -- nothing distinctive from show to show. I am so tired of the deflated footballs!! Some content but nothing to justify having the TV on! I try to remember to click over to the music channels. I get more actual info here on DU.

This post is a perfect example. Lots of real info. My niece is working on the national park thing.

Thank you, Fred.

[mountain grammy]

12. Then there's Boko Haram and Nigeria's fight

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30950628

But 5 minutes on the national "news" about the inflation of footballs.

[Fred Sanders]

13. We should all be throwing a yellow penalty flag for "unsportsmanlike behavior."

For starters.

[hunter]

14. This is why I don't watch television...

... and it disturbs me to see these tidal waves of television propaganda and distractions sloshing through DU.

[G_j]

15. K&R!!

[world wide wally]

16. You would think that being such a capitalistic society, some rich person would come up with

the idea of an actual news show on TV.
It would probably catch on and make some money. The only thing we have at all right now is Jon Stewart.

[cheapdate]

17. Good post. n/t.

[ND-Dem]

18. "destroy the National Park system and replace it with strip mining" = could you post a link?

[Fred Sanders]

19. .................................

[ND-Dem]

21. I hadn't heard of what you're talking about; I'd hoped for a link with some information, not a

cartoon. Thank you anyway.

[Fred Sanders]

22. This is when it began:

http://www.politicususa.com/2014/03/24/house-republicans-declare-american-people-national-parks.html

I think this is about the latest:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/16/1358321/-Republicans-Act-to-Prevent-the-Scourge-of-MORE-National-Parks

[ND-Dem]

23. thank you.

[Fred Sanders]

24. Sorry, been grumpy lately.

[ND-Dem]

25. me too. sign of the times. i appreciate the links.

[joeglow3]

26. I pity you

Apparently, you can only handle one thing at a time. Must make life extremely difficult.

[Fred Sanders]

27. Ditto.

[joeglow3]

30. Don't worry. I can think about and monitor multiple things at once.

[LiberalAndProud]

33. I don't think that's the complaint.

My complaint, at least, is the infotainment value. World events are scroll text while literally hours are wasted on the latest celebrity scandal. Janet's nipples or deflated balls -- shiny and fun -- and equally frivolous.

Too many truly important issues get no air time at all. There is more than one reason most of us get our news from the Internet.

[Fred Sanders]

34. But I like cats, and old lady heroes. Purrrrfect pair.

[Cha]

35. "Obama has Swagger".. yeah, he does. Which really pisses off the rw idiots who are trying to take

away our National Parks.