Media Matters

[Legacy]

The point is that the founding fathers gave the press the freedom to seek the truth and represent accordingly.

When the press is openly, and acknowledging, one sided, how is that illuminating the truth?

Evening News Virtually Ignores Paul Ryan’s Medicare Privatization Plan
MSNBC Only Outlet To Vet Ryan's Scheme To Gut The Social Safety Net

Weekday evening programming on the largest cable and broadcast news outlets almost completely ignored a long-standing Medicare privatization scheme favored by Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) in the days since he first resurrected the idea of radically reshaping the American health care system toward for-profit interests.

During a November 10 interview with Fox News host Bret Baier, Ryan misleadingly claimed that due to mounting “fiscal pressures” created by the Affordable Care Act, the Republican-led Congress would be forced to engage with what Baier called “entitlement reform” sometime next year. Ryan falsely claimed that “because of Obamacare, Medicare is going broke” and that the popular health insurance system for American seniors will have to be changed as part of any legislation to “repeal and replace” President Obama’s health care reform legacy. From Special Report with Bret Baier:..

According to a Media Matters analysis of broadcast and cable evening news coverage from November 10 to November 27, Ryan’s plan to privatize the nationwide, single-payer health care coverage currently enjoyed by millions of seniors has gone unmentioned on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and Fox News. Ryan’s so-called “premium support” plan was briefly mentioned on the November 22 edition of PBS NewsHour when co-host Judy Woodruff pressed President-elect Donald Trump's former campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, as to whether Trump would accept Ryan’s privatization proposal. By comparison, during the same time period, MSNBC ran six prime-time segments exposing Ryan’s privatization agenda

...

According to a July 19 issue brief from the Kaiser Family Foundation, conservative lawmakers are likely to pursue “a proposal to gradually transform Medicare into a system of premium supports, building on proposals” adopted by Ryan when he served as chairman of the House Budget Committee. These so-called “premium supports” would provide each Medicare beneficiary with a “voucher” that can be used for the purchase of private health insurance; they represent “a significant change from the current system” that pays health care providers directly for services rendered.

In essence, Ryan’s plan would privatize Medicare and redirect hundreds of billions of tax dollars that currently go to doctors, hospitals, and other medical service providers through the costly private health insurance market.

 

[Rizzophil]

It’s a new record: Americans not participating in the labor force nears 100 million – TheBlaze

I thought Obama was the job producing president?!

 

[phgreek]

Evening News Virtually Ignores Paul Ryan’s Medicare Privatization Plan
MSNBC Only Outlet To Vet Ryan's Scheme To Gut The Social Safety Net




...

...can't even have an honest discussion about this until you price in the cost of civil servants running the medicare program, and what their future costs are (pensions and retirement). If you use ALL the cost data associated with government run programs as the benchmark to establish overhead limits to the private market, and use congress as oversight, you approach a solution. Certainly more to do, but at least we have the basis for setting a market place.

The other issues would be service level agreements and coverage agreements (doctor availability), which should be the focus of people who actually care about this shit.

 

[Legacy]

...can't even have an honest discussion about this until you price in the cost of civil servants running the medicare program, and what their future costs are (pensions and retirement). If you use ALL the cost data associated with government run programs as the benchmark to establish overhead limits to the private market, and use congress as oversight, you approach a solution. Certainly more to do, but at least we have the basis for setting a market place.

The other issues would be service level agreements and coverage agreements (doctor availability), which should be the focus of people who actually care about this shit.

What did you think about the lack of media coverage of privatizing Medicare so that this discussion can progress? If you have any of these stats on secondary costs, feel free to post them, though perhaps you would prefer the Healthcare thread?

I posted this link in that thread. (Ryan has been introducing this since 2010-11)
Medicare in Ryan's 2015 Budget

As you are aware, I am doing some of this in the Foreign Policy thread with the military and have appreciated your insight there, too.

 

[Buster Bluth]

It’s a new record: Americans not participating in the labor force nears 100 million – TheBlaze

I thought Obama was the job producing president?!

We can write down the Labor Force Participation Rate as yet another economic measurement Americans don't understand and so Conservative propaganda gladly uses it to poison the minds of middle aged white dudes.

As you can see, the Participation Rate peaked before the 2001 recession and never recovered. One would think Bush deserves some blame if Obama is being criticized:

But the real problem shows up when you divide the graph by sexes, specifically for men:

You'll notice that the Rate hasn't recovered from any recession since the 1950s. Where is Eisenhower to blame? Oh that's right, the President doesn't have that much impact on the economy.

The jobs men primarily take have been disproportionately automated: manufacturing and labor. They've also had to compete with women for jobs, they also stay in school longer, become stay-at-home dads for the first time in human history, and a sizeable increase in disabilities excusing them from work.

When you add women to the picture you can see that they too saturated the market and have begun to lose job participation for many of the same reasons as men now. It is this change, women beginning the slow decline men saw sixty years ago, that makes the combined graph look like it's falling off a cliff when in reality only the decades-long entrance of women into the work force has buoyed the combined rate for so long.

What your pathetic article doesn't to is tie it to Obama, because it's not a Presidential problem. Wake me up when Trump reverses 60+ years of men withdrawing from the work force.

 

[Booslum31]

We can write down the Labor Force Participation Rate as yet another economic measurement Americans don't understand and so Conservative propaganda gladly uses it to poison the minds of middle aged white dudes.

As you can see, the Participation Rate peaked before the 2001 recession and never recovered. One would think Bush deserves some blame if Obama is being criticized:

But the real problem shows up when you divide the graph by sexes, specifically for men:

You'll notice that the Rate hasn't recovered from any recession since the 1950s. Where is Eisenhower to blame? Oh that's right, the President doesn't have that much impact on the economy.

The jobs men primarily take have been disproportionately automated: manufacturing and labor. They've also had to compete with women for jobs, they also stay in school longer, become stay-at-home dads for the first time in human history, and a sizeable increase in disabilities excusing them from work.

When you add women to the picture you can see that they too saturated the market and have begun to lose job participation for many of the same reasons as men now. It is this change, women beginning the slow decline men saw sixty years ago, that makes the combined graph look like its falling off a cliff when in reality only the decades-long entrance of women into the work force has buoyed the combined rate for so long.

What your pathetic article doesn't to is tie it to Obama, because it's not a Presidential problem. Wake me up when Trump reverses 60+ years of men withdrawing from the work force.

This trend only reverses when people "have" to work. I think our safety-net is so broad that many who could work...don't. Why would they...with everything they get for not working. To your point, this trend has continued under both parties. Taking away (or even to mention limiting) all of these entitlements is political suicide because we now eclipsed the point where more people are getting than are giving.

 

[Buster Bluth]

[/B]

This trend only reverses when people "have" to work. I think our safety-net is so broad that many who could work...don't. Why would they...with everything they get for not working. To your point, this trend has continued under both parties. Taking away (or even to mention limiting) all of these entitlements is political suicide because we now eclipsed the point where more people are getting than are giving.

The fact that the Rate for women went up for decades despite welfare being available to them really shoots a hole in that theory. In fact the welfare available to them is probably greater than men, considering the payments mothers can get.

And in case you missed it, most on welfare programs already do work:

Get a Job? Most Welfare Recipients Already Have One - Real Time Economics - WSJ

 

[phgreek]

What did you think about the lack of media coverage of privatizing Medicare so that this discussion can progress? If you have any of these stats on secondary costs, feel free to post them, though perhaps you would prefer the Healthcare thread?

I posted this link in that thread. (Ryan has been introducing this since 2010-11)
Medicare in Ryan's 2015 Budget

As you are aware, I am doing some of this in the Foreign Policy thread with the military and have appreciated your insight there, too.

sorry that part got cut off, I got distracted or I fat fingered it...

How do you cover it unless you know what is real...the media can do a pre-emptive strike on Ryan to try and influence Trump, but that clearly shows their bias, and puts them way out of their purpose, IMHO.

What is Trump actually going to propose? Can media cover this without first having an honest accounting of all costs in the current system?

I think you have to not care about your journalistic integrity, and have an agenda to go running out in front of this w/o Trump at least saying, yea we'll just dust off Ryan's shit...JMHO.

 

[Legacy]

TV news executives are not seeing a bidding war for Fox News star Megyn Kelly (LA Times)

Possibly CNN, the liberal rag. Meanwhile, on the book tour.

 

[Legacy]

FCC should retain net neutrality for sake of consumers (The Hill)

Not even a week after being named the new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pai introduced a plan to remove transparency rules for Internet service providers with fewer than 250,000 subscribers and begin to reverse net neutrality. These moves should send a clear message to Americans: the battle for a “free and open Internet” is back on.

Trump's new FCC boss has already set the stage for a less-open internet (Business Insider)

 

[Legacy]

Two Headlines on same news

Two Headlines on same news

Two articles on 1/18/2017

Catholic bishops urge Congress to preserve health care coverage (NCR)

WASHINGTON The U.S. Catholic hierarchy was one of the staunchest foes of President Obama’s signature health care law, nearly derailing its passage in 2010 over concerns about abortion funding and exacting a political toll that helped doom abortion-opposing Democrats who backed Obamacare while boosting Republican efforts to take control of Congress.
But faced with the prospect of the GOP following through on pledges to repeal health care reform, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops seems to be changing its tune.

On Jan. 18 the USCCB released a letter warning Congress not to overturn the law without providing an immediate replacement to provide continuing coverage for the millions who have been insured under the Affordable Care Act.

"We recognize that the law has brought about important gains in coverage, and those gains should be protected," Bishop Frank Dewane of Venice, Fla., chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, wrote to House and Senate members.

He said the bishops will examine proposals to amend or replace Obamacare but said that "for now that a repeal of key provisions of the Affordable Care Act ought not be undertaken without the concurrent passage of a replacement plan that ensures access to adequate health care for the millions of people who now rely upon it for their wellbeing."For those on the lower rungs of the economic ladder, he said, a repeal "would prove particularly devastating."...

U.S. Bishops Urge Congress to Replace Obamacare (Breitbart)

The U.S. Bishops have written to all members of Congress “urging members of the House and Senate to provide a replacement plan” to the Affordable Care Act.

The Chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, Bishop Frank J. Dewane, sent a letter Wednesday to members of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate that “underscores the importance of creating a replacement plan that will safeguard human life from conception to natural death.”

The replacement plan should also “protect conscience rights and adequate healthcare services for the poor including healthcare for immigrants,” according to a press release from the Bishops’ conference.

Dewane said that Obamacare should not be repealed until Congress had prepared a suitable substitute plan that will “continue healthcare access for those who rely on it for their well-being.”...

 

[connor_in]

BURIED LEDE: Here’s what you need to know about the ‘undocumented transgender woman’ arrested by ICE – twitchy.com

 

[Guest]

Walter Cronkite, In His Own Words

Walter Cronkite, In His Own Words

Who was Walter Cronkite? He was a journalist and news anchor at CBS News for many years. He was hailed as one of the most trusted, if not the most trusted, news anchor on television. Here are some quotes:

“Walter’s career curve and the curve of network television absolutely dovetailed. And, and he held that position for so long under such vastly changing circumstances … that it seemed to most people that as they got their first television set, Walter and CBS NEWS had joined their family.”

— Historian and journalist David Halberstam

PBS American Masters

The NY Times credited him with being 'the most trusted man in America'.

Walter Cronkite, who pioneered and then mastered the role of television news anchorman with such plain-spoken grace that he was called the most trusted man in America, died Friday at his home in New York. He was 92.

But was he the most trustworthy man in America? Did he truly represent the American viewers or the American ideal?

I can think of no better way than to hear the man himself, and to see whom he associated himself with.

Walter Cronkite, In His Own Words

Walter Cronkite received an award from the World Federalist Association (WFA) for world governance. Here are some quotes from his speech.

Pat Robertson has said that we should have a world government, but only when the Messiah arrives. He wrote ‘any attempt to achieve world order before that time must be the work of the devil.’ Well join me, I’m glad to sit here at the right hand of Satan.”

The only way we can do it, is to organize a strong educational counter offensive, stretching from the most publicly visible people in all fields, to the humblest individuals in our communities. That’s the vision and the program of the World Federalist Association. It begins with education, and it ends with success and hope.

He also went on to say, moments later in his speech, the following:

Those advocates who work for world peace, by urging a system of world law and order, world government if you please, are called impractical dreamers. First we Americans are going to have to yield up some of our sovereignty. That’s going to be to many, a bitter pill.

Some 200 sovereigns in our global village, all of which are going to have to be convinced to give up some of their sovereignty to the better, greater Union.

So it would seem Cronkite is advocating world government, the end of American sovereignty, which would mean the end of the US Constitution. That is, by his own words.

Here is the video of the speech:
(A backup can be found here, with additional adulation from Hillary Clinton on his new award: https://vimeo.com/154651683)

<iframe width="854" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OfgFvdSPF70" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

So who was this World Federalist Association? Their old website is no longer in service. Thankfully, archive.org, through their Wayback machine, has been taking snapshots of millions of websites and archiving them online. Here is what the WFA was (and is, see below).

According to their website, here is what the WFA stood for (be patient for the loading):
World Federalist Association - 1-800-WFA-0123 - United World Federalists

As steps toward achieving our goal, World Federalists support efforts to reform and strengthen the UN system and/or to hold a convention to draft a world federal constitution, and also efforts to create new global institutions such as the International Seabed Authority and a World Disarmament Authority.

Cronkite is listed as one of their key supporters.
Confirm Cronkite is a supporter
World Federalist Association - 1-800-WFA-0123 - United World Federalists

I randomly selected a single newsletter from 2002 and found the following articles:
Newsletter on World Federalism
http://web.archive.org/web/20030510080607/http://www.wfa.org/resources/newsletters/winter2002.pdf

An interview with a member of the WFA states the following:

I am very much behind the spirit of world federalism, but it is important that we remain innovative, fresh and open to new ideas in our thinking. For example, a global parliament could easily become an unwieldy and ineffective institution that wields powers to bureaucrats, as has happened to an extent with the European Parliament. At the same time, a global parliament could have great symbolic value. In some ways though, confederalism might be a better model of organization than federalism for the international community. Confederation could offer a better chance of representing regions of the world and the views of citizens. It may make more sense if a world parliament served as the top echelon of a confederation with several layers in between that protected the autonomy of member states.

This issue of the WFA also had an article on flying the UN flag over American campuses.

Flying High: Raise the UN Flag at Your Campus!

“One way students and faculty can open the floor for discussion is to petition for the school to fly the UN flag on campus. But how does a group accomplish that feat?”

Another story in this issue discusses how students can participate in working towards a world global parliament.

Students Working Toward Global Parliament

This spring, students from across the country will participate in taking the next steps in discussing solutions to the economic and environmental concerns plaguing globalization. Participants in the 2002 Youth For Global Change Spring Forum will simulate the questions, debates and possible solutions foreseeable in a Preparatory Commission to Establish a Global Parliament. (Technical problems prevented an online version of this simulation from occurring as previously announced.) The simulation is open to high school juniors through college seniors. A top prize to be awarded is a trip to the 2002 World Federalist Movement Congress in London, England. There may be one official entrant per delegation. Participation is not limited to WFA student members, so...

So what happened to the WFA? It morphed a couple of times but finally turned into the World Federalist Movement, and still lives on.

Walter Cronkite was a member of, and received an award from, a group advocating for the abolition of nation states and a world federal government. He would 'stand at the right hand of Satan' in order to make it happen.

So was Walter Cronkite the must trusted man in America? Was he the most trustworthy in admittedly hiding his ideals (see video) from his audience ? You decide!

 

[Bluto]

Who was Walter Cronkite? He was a journalist and news anchor at CBS News for many years. He was hailed as one of the most trusted, if not the most trusted, news anchor on television. Here are some quotes:


PBS American Masters

The NY Times credited him with being 'the most trusted man in America'.



But was he the most trustworthy man in America? Did he truly represent the American viewers or the American ideal?

I can think of no better way than to hear the man himself, and to see whom he associated himself with.

Walter Cronkite, In His Own Words

Walter Cronkite received an award from the World Federalist Association (WFA) for world governance. Here are some quotes from his speech.



He also went on to say, moments later in his speech, the following:



So it would seem Cronkite is advocating world government, the end of American sovereignty, which would mean the end of the US Constitution. That is, by his own words.

Here is the video of the speech:
(A backup can be found here, with additional adulation from Hillary Clinton on his new award: https://vimeo.com/154651683)

<iframe width="854" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OfgFvdSPF70" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

So who was this World Federalist Association? Their old website is no longer in service. Thankfully, archive.org, through their Wayback machine, has been taking snapshots of millions of websites and archiving them online. Here is what the WFA was (and is, see below).

According to their website, here is what the WFA stood for (be patient for the loading):
World Federalist Association - 1-800-WFA-0123 - United World Federalists



Cronkite is listed as one of their key supporters.
Confirm Cronkite is a supporter
World Federalist Association - 1-800-WFA-0123 - United World Federalists

I randomly selected a single newsletter from 2002 and found the following articles:
Newsletter on World Federalism
http://web.archive.org/web/20030510080607/http://www.wfa.org/resources/newsletters/winter2002.pdf

An interview with a member of the WFA states the following:



This issue of the WFA also had an article on flying the UN flag over American campuses.



Another story in this issue discusses how students can participate in working towards a world global parliament.



So what happened to the WFA? It morphed a couple of times but finally turned into the World Federalist Movement, and still lives on.

Walter Cronkite was a member of, and received an award from, a group advocating for the abolition of nation states and a world federal government. He would 'stand at the right hand of Satan' in order to make it happen.

So was Walter Cronkite the must trusted man in America? Was he the most trustworthy in admittedly hiding his ideals (see video) from his audience ? You decide!

Do you have any thoughts on Bigfoot?

 

[Armyirish47]

Do you have any thoughts on Bigfoot?

No thoughts, just FACTS.

For instance, did you know there was a STATE park called Big Foot Beach in Wisconsin. Government recognition USED to mean something in this country. #foundingfathers

Big Foot Beach State Park - Wisconsin DNR

Not convinced yet? The private market has also spoken, Minnesota has a little place called Big Foot Resort, AND we ALL know what happened in Minnesota last night!!! #wereportyoudecide

Minnesota Resorts RV parks fishing vacations : Minnesota Family Resorts

AND this video will probably be deleted soon, but I present this documentary footage without comment.

<iframe src="//giphy.com/embed/oDrclD1DIxzR6" width="480" height="260" frameBorder="0" class="giphy-embed" allowFullScreen></iframe><p><a href="http://giphy.com/gifs/funny-big-foot-oDrclD1DIxzR6">via GIPHY</a></p>

So is Big Foot real? You decide!

 

[Guest]

Do you have any thoughts on Bigfoot?

Did you watch the ceremony and listen to his words? Or did you skip it and go right to attack mode?

 

[Guest]

No thoughts, just FACTS.

So is Big Foot real? You decide!

I don't believe in Bigfoot for the reason I can find no evidence and I have never seen an actual creature dancing in the woods.

But the evidence that Walter Cronkite admitted to being a globalist in favor of world government came right from his own mouth, not mine. He admits in the video to withholding his philosophy from the public on purpose, but was very candid in this video on purpose. He even SAYS THAT very thing in the video. I don't think he thought someone would post it online and felt free to speak his true mind. And the website of WFA, of which he was listed as a major supporter, is clear on his allegiance to their ideology. That's real and indisputable evidence and not hearsay.

 

[Guest]

MSNBC Anchor 'slip' on controlling what people think

SCARBOROUGH: "Exactly. That is exactly what I hear. What Yamiche said is what I hear from all the Trump supporters that I talk to who were Trump voters and are still Trump supporters. They go, 'Yeah you guys are going crazy. He's doing -- what are you so surprised about? He is doing exactly what he said he is going to do.'"

BRZEZINSKI: "Well, I think that the dangerous, you know, edges here are that he is trying to undermine the media and trying to make up his own facts. And it could be that while unemployment and the economy worsens, he could have undermined the messaging so much that he can actually control exactly what people think. And that, that is our job."

Now did she mean what she actually said? Or did she mean simply that the media should be 'the collective voice of the people' or something similar to that, and not to actually control what people think? Hard to tell, but it was a funny comment nonetheless. Either way, I don't need her or any media member to tell me what to think, but just report the news and I will decide for myself.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NoXGV4Vw-VA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[dshans]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lQ6akiGRcL8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Can't you hear your momma call?

 

[Bluto]

No thoughts, just FACTS.

For instance, did you know there was a STATE park called Big Foot Beach in Wisconsin. Government recognition USED to mean something in this country. #foundingfathers

Big Foot Beach State Park - Wisconsin DNR

Not convinced yet? The private market has also spoken, Minnesota has a little place called Big Foot Resort, AND we ALL know what happened in Minnesota last night!!! #wereportyoudecide

Minnesota Resorts RV parks fishing vacations : Minnesota Family Resorts

AND this video will probably be deleted soon, but I present this documentary footage without comment.

<iframe src="//giphy.com/embed/oDrclD1DIxzR6" width="480" height="260" frameBorder="0" class="giphy-embed" allowFullScreen></iframe><p><a href="http://giphy.com/gifs/funny-big-foot-oDrclD1DIxzR6">via GIPHY</a></p>

So is Big Foot real? You decide!

Dude, I grew up 8 hours for the cradle of modern Squatching, aka Bluff Creek, California. My big concern is that the NWO recently switched positions from "finding bigfoot" to "killing bigfoot".

 

[connor_in]

People keep photoshopping new mottos for the Washington Post and it’s HILARIOUS – twitchy.com

 

[wizards8507]

Is James O'Keefe About To Smoke CNN? Tells Hannity He's Set To Release "Hundreds of Hours" Of Newsroom Footage "Wikileaks Style" | Zero Hedge

 

[connor_in]

Is James O'Keefe About To Smoke CNN? Tells Hannity He's Set To Release "Hundreds of Hours" Of Newsroom Footage "Wikileaks Style" | Zero Hedge

James O'Keefe, conservative provocateur, targets CNN with secret recordings - Feb. 22, 2017

 

[ulukinatme]

People keep photoshopping new mottos for the Washington Post and it’s HILARIOUS – twitchy.com

Some of those are pretty funny, including the legit motto they're now going with.

 

[ACamp1900]

Some of those are pretty funny, including the legit motto they're now going with.

"Like Brietbart, but for the other side."

"Finally back after an eight year break."

lol

 

[connor_in]

BRZEZINSKI: ‘OUR JOB’ IS TO CONTROL ‘EXACTLY WHAT PEOPLE THINK’

 

[Circa]

People keep photoshopping new mottos for the Washington Post and it’s HILARIOUS – twitchy.com

I read the W. post quite a bit and they seem to stay on the upswing of things and they don't try to persuade the readers like CNN. They say what Is happening in a way that doesn't seem to contrite the readers.

 

[wizards8507]

O'Keefe Drops "Bombshell" Undercover Video Footage From Within CNN | Zero Hedge

 

[Bluto]

This is not fake news....

Where to Find America's Best Spaghetti and Meatballs

 

[Guest]

James O'Keefe, conservative provocateur, targets CNN with secret recordings - Feb. 22, 2017

Here is the website with released data from inside CNN, released today. I have not reviewed any of this yet, just providing the link.

Project Veritas Releases Over 100 Hours of Audio From Inside CNN

Project Veritas | Project Veritas Releases Over 100 Hours of Audio From Inside CNN

edit: sorry Wizards beat me to it