Cocaine, Ronald Reagan, and Lies about The U.S. Economy - It was almost the 1980's Again on Fox News
A condensed overview of 20 hours of Fox News for the week ending 7/9/23
Last week while capturing and analyzing 20 hours of Fox News, lyrics from a 1977 song written by J. J. Cale sung by Eric Clapton kept bouncing in my skull.
“If you want to hang out, you've gotta take her out, cocaine
If you want to get down, down on the ground, cocaineShe don't lie, she don't lie, she don't lie cocaine.”
The song is awful. It was basically an excuse for Eric Clapton to growl about his favorite drug and play an extended guitar solo.
As bad as the song “Cocaine” is the coverage on Fox News last week was worse. It was a wonky week to begin with as Independence Day was celebrated last Tuesday.
What could have been a slow news week turned into nonstop coverage about a small baggie filled with cocaine that was found at the White House. Even through a few Fox News hosts dissented most just implied the cocaine belonged to Hunter Biden even though he wasn’t at the White House when it was found.
After two weeks of obsessive coverage on the president’s son, Fox News ran with the cocaine story as if it was another scandal involving Hunter Biden and the most important story in the country.
Strangely former President Ronald Reagan got brought up eight times during segments about July 4th and there was a lot of disinformation regarding the U.S. economy which gave the week a very nostalgic 1980’s vibe.
Meanwhile while the earth experienced the hottest days ever recorded Fox News anchors shrugged it off and trotted out some fake experts who declared that summer was hot.
A Trump appointed federal judge issued an injunction that blocked several Biden administration agencies from meeting with or contacting social media companies. Although this story was discussed quite a bit last week no one on the network seemed to understand the ruling or what it meant.
Stories I covered last week
Fox & Friends
The Five
Jesse Watters Primetime
Fox News Tonight
Kayleigh McEnany Goes Rogue
On Thursday on “Fox & Friends” In a rare moment of candor Kayleigh McEnany insisted that the cocaine in the White House could not have been left by Hunter Biden since he was in Camp David with the rest of the Biden family when the bag of drugs was discovered.
“It is a heavily trafficked area. There are cubbies there. I've got to believe this was discovered rather quickly because there's a Secret Service office sitting right there. Right there. So it couldn't have been there for days and days. It had to have been there for, I would say, minutes before someone took notice,” said McEnany.
Her co-host Steve Doocy pushed back a bit.
“But unfortunately, because it's cocaine, people are thinking Hunter Biden, thinking about the president and the weird situation,” said Doocy.
McEnany doubled down.
“I don't see how that's possible. Look, Karine Jean-Pierre gave us gave us no information whatsoever. I would have gone to secret Service saying, guys, I cannot go to the press without some sort of information. Give me one more. Well, so to speak. She says I've got something to share. The president and the first lady in the family were not here this weekend. That's not news. We all knew that. Right. And for it to be Hunter Biden, he left on Friday. He was at Camp David. There is no way. It is inconceivable to think cocaine could sit for a 72-hour period. So, I would rule him out at this point,” said McEnany.
Charlie Hurt has a Terrible Memory about the 2016 Election and Said Some Awful Things About President Biden
Charlie Hurt, of the Washington Times, had some fairly harsh observations about President Biden when he co-hosted on “The Five,” on Wednesday.
“He’s less of a family man and more just willing to exploit his family when it served to benefit him. If you remember in 2016 when after basically after President Obama decided to support Hillary Clinton, which foreclosed Biden's ability to run in 2016, he blamed his decision to not run on the death of his son. Right. And then, of course, you know, he has exploited his by the biography of his first wife, who died 50 years ago with his daughter,” said Hurt.
Beau Biden had a long and brutal battle with a cancerous brain tumor. From the time he was diagnosed he endured surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments for nearly two years before he died at the age of 46 in June 2015.
Joe Biden declared he wouldn’t run for president in October 2015, four months after the death of his son. Barack Obama officially endorsed Hillary Clinton for president on June 10, 2016.
Charlie Hurt’s claim that Biden waited to say he wasn’t running for president until after Obama endorsed Hillary Clinton is patently false.
But the Cocaine HAS to be Hunter Biden’s!
On Friday while a guest on “Jesse Watters Primetime,” Charlie Hurt also had some odd assumptions about how the Biden administration was handling the cocaine found in the White House.
“And quite frankly, I was sort of half joking when I said that. I thought that the White House press office planted the cocaine just so they wouldn't have to talk about like the economy and everything else. But they would rather talk about Hunter Biden, the crackhead. Do you think that they would much rather talk about that? Then they would rather defend his record?” said Hurt.
Lies and More Lies about The U.S. Economy
Speaking of that economic data more than one Fox News host promoted the idea that the U.S. economy is doing terribly.
On Friday on “Fox & Friends,” Steve Doocy introduced a segment from Thursday night’s episode of “Kudlow” hosted by Larry Kudlow on Fox Business.
“Joe Biden's Bidenomics is really a lot of Biden baloney. I don't mean to be personally disrespectful, but the man's incapable of telling the truth about the poor state of the American economy. Now, to quote my hero, President Abe Lincoln, quote, ‘You can fool all people some of the time and some people all the time, but you can never for all people all the time.’ He keeps making the case that we're in some kind of manufacturing boom. But the numbers show we're in a manufacturing recession,” said Kudlow.
It took me a while to find it but I remembered a segment from April 2023 on “Fox & Friends,” when an expert said the exact opposite about the U.S. economy. Steve Doocy introduced the story.
“With supply chains still impacting our global economy America is now shifting its manufacturing focus where it should be to building plants here in the United States with a record surge of new factories, manufacturing related construction spending reached $108 billion last year. That's more than the amount spent on schools, health care centers or office buildings,” said Doocy.
Another Strong Jobs Report!
During a segment on “The Five,” that was meant to disparage President Biden, Jessica Tarlov, the liberal co-host managed to include information about the latest jobs report.
“But you have that juxtaposed with the fact that Joe Biden is out there today. We got this jobs report. We have the longest streak of unemployment under 4% in American history. And people are talking about how, oh, they're not good jobs or it's, you know, people not in prime age. The prime age employment is 81%. That's the highest since April of 2001,” said Tarlov.
Her co-host Judge Jeanine Pirro abruptly cut her off.
“And tell me why people don't feel that way?” asked Pirro.
If Judge Jeanine watched the network, she worked for she might figure out why many Americans had inaccurate information about the state of the U.S. economy.
Red States Don’t Pay Taxes.
On Friday Fox News hosts wanted to make a lot out of a recent report that showed an economic boom in six Republican controlled states.
This uptick reverses a much longer trend of Democratic led states generating far more economic activity and federal tax revenue than their Republican led counterparts.
According to MoneyGeek.com seven of the 10 states most dependent on the federal government were Republican-voting, with the average red state receiving $1.05 per dollar spent.
Jessica Tarlov, the liberal voice on “The Five,” expressed her views on the study.
“I think it's wonderful that there are new boom towns and boom states, and I think that that should be celebrated. I also think that it would be great if there are these Southern Republican controlled states that they start paying their fair share and take care of Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Kentucky, because I'm sick of taking care of them from up here in New York or in California, because blue states pay the highest taxes and then those federal dollars get shipped down south to make sure that they have decent schools, they have health care, they have good roads, etc..
So, by all means. South Carolina. Rep. Nancy Mace, who wants to take credit for things she voted against. Please give some money to Kentucky. Help them out. Tommy Tuberville, talk about you all the time. You should be paying more and taking care of your own people instead of feeding off of Democrats who pay higher taxes,” said Tarlov.
Fox Finds Something to Complain About with July 4th
On Monday the cast of “The Five,” discussed fireworks alternatives suggested by the National Forest Service.
The agency merely some non-flammable options. The Fox News anchors acted as if it was some type of government decree to ban fireworks. It was not.
Comedian Tom Shillue somehow confused actual bombs with fireworks.
“Do you remember the rockets’ red glare, bombs bursting in air? But what happens then? The smoke clears and we can see the flag. That's part of the whole thing. The smoke will clear. All right. The earth is not going to end because we blew off a couple of fireworks,” said Shillue.
Kellyanne Conway also seemed deeply concerned about the National Forest Service’s suggestions.
“This is a time-honored tradition of all the things people are trying to cancel and go woke on. This is one I think the way we celebrate Independence Day will continue,” said Conway.
Johnny Joey Jones also weighed in.
“There's a reason why it's the same reason People love guns. They have the awesome power of something that can blow up in your hand and and know that part of freedom is the danger of freedom,” said Jones.
Then Judge Jeanine Pirro made an odd pivot that had nothing to do with fireworks.
“But there are some people who are so disgusted with the 4th of July, some Americans said they are going to other countries so that they don't have to be here to celebrate it,” said Pirro.
Bogus Experts of the Week
Douglas Murray - He was invited on to talk about climate change on Jesse Watters Primetime hosted by Pete Hegseth. Murray is best known for writing books about how Europe should remain European. He has no training in climate science.
“It is part of this strange fever on part of the left. There are serious concerns about the planet. We all concerned about the climate. We're all concerned about the environment. But one of the things you see is that this hysteria actually does whip people of Barack Obama's daughters age into this extraordinary doom mongering, this idea that the prophets of doom from Scandinavia, Greta Thunberg, the world's most famous school truant, keeps putting around, actually does terrify a lot of young people into the idea that not going to survive into adulthood,” said Murray.
Murray’s statement says nothing more than he thinks people are overreacting.
Marc Morano - got his start working for Rush Limbaugh. He has a BA in political science and no training in climate science. He runs a website that promotes junk science called ClimateDepot. He’s best known for harassing actual scientists including publicly posting their email addresses.
Morano appeared on “Fox News Tonight,” on Friday to share his non-expert opinion.
“When you mention the CNN headline, they're saying the hottest year ever. First of all, we had thermometers since, you know, the 1870s or so. And that was the end of the little ice age. So and also, Biden's EPA has a heat wave chart up that shows heat waves in the United States. The heat index, the 1930s, were probably ten times hotter than any records we're looking at now in terms of state records and city records,” said Morano.
I’m not sure Morano means that a heat index would be ten times higher than current heat indexes in the hottest parts of the country last week as that would be over 1000 degrees Fahrenheit.
“And 75% of all U.S. states had their heat records before 1940,” said Morano.
I have no idea where Morano was getting this as there was a spike in temperatures in the 1940’s but according to data on climate.gov average global surface temperatures have been much higher since the 1980s.
Morano continued.
“So this is a situation where every little 10th of a degree, some cases hundreds of a degree, they start declaring the hottest day, the hottest month, the hottest year. And even NASA's own scientists once said these are not important scientific declarations, but they are important political declarations. And they're, of course, ignoring the satellite data, which shows that we're on an almost nine year, no change in temperature going back to about 2014-2015,” said Morano.
According to a Reuters fact check it takes several decade’s worth of data to show trend in global warming. Global surface temperatures are affected by annual Pacific Ocean patterns known as El Nino and La Nina. El Niño patterns bring hotter temperatures while La Niña tend to result in cooler-than-average temperatures.
“Temperature data for the past eight years do not reflect long-term trends, experts say, and longer-term data clearly show a continuing rise in overall global temperatures. Cumulative effects of CO2 emissions would not be reflected in yearly temperature variations,” according to reporting by Reuters.
Stories Fox News Ignored
Every week I compare the shows I watch on Fox News to five hours of the PBS NewsHour. The following list are stories that PBS covered that Fox News did not.
The U.S. State Department issued a travel advisory for Americans in China due to the arbitrary enforcement of local laws, including in relation to exit bans, and the risk of wrongful detentions.
According to a study that appeared in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association), evidence suggests that maternal mortality has been increasing in the U.S. from 1999-2019. Black women are far more likely to die during or soon after childbirth than any other demographic.
Hotel workers in Los Angeles staged a brief strike last week. They returned to work after three days but vowed to return to the picket line in a demand for higher wages.
Yusef Salaam, a newcomer to politics who is best known as one of the wrongly imprisoned Central Park Five, officially won the Democratic primary for a New York City Council seat in Harlem. Salaam spent nearly seven years in prison until DNA evidence linked another man to the crime.
Supporters of abortion rights in Ohio got enough signatures to ask voters to establish a right to abortion in the state’s constitution. The Ohio legislature is trying to pass a bill that would raise the threshold from a simple majority to 60% for any new ballot measures to become law.
PBS featured an extended segment on the crisis in Lebanon. The country has been in an economic free fall since 2019 as inflation as skyrocketed and banks have failed. The financial collapse is due to corruption, poor leadership and mis-management.
Last week marked the anniversary of the Crown Act, (Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair Act). The legislation is meant to protect Black workers from any rules or regulations that might ban or discriminate against natural hairstyles such as braids, cornrows, dreadlocks, afros or other natural hairstyles. So far it’s been enacted in 22 states.
The White House had a BBQ for military families on July 4th
At the Asian Security Summit Putin reassured Asian allies that the Russian government has remained stable after the attempted rebellion by The Wagner Group.
PBS produced a segment about the Wagner Group’s role in Africa where thousands of Wagner soldiers have been stationed since 2017. For the moment Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wagner troops could remain in the continent.
PBS also spent a lot of time on the Ukraine War including threats to a nuclear plant inside Ukraine, the shelling of civilian areas, the use of cluster ammunition supplied by the United States the the counter-offensive staged by the Ukrainian military. The network also included two extended segments about Ukrainian children who have been taken from their families and housed in Russian occupied areas. The segment included parents making the perilous journey to retrieve their children.
There was a series of events that led to massive violence in the occupied West Bank last week including an Israeli raid that killed twelve Palestinians and one Israeli soldier. Fox dedicated exactly one thirty second news story to the instability in the area whereas PBS had several segments about the crisis. It is the worst violence the area has seen in nearly two decades.
China declared it will pursue eight pro-democracy activists from Hong Kong for life even after they have escaped to the West.
China has imposed limits on exports of two types of metals used in semiconductor chips and solar panels.
The U.S. continues to grapple with shortages of certain kinds of prescription medications including medication used to treat some types of cancer.
The SCOTUS ruled on a case involving habeas corpus claims. Some legal experts were concerned with the ruling as was Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. She wrote a lengthy dissent which she alone signed. The ruling has to do with the definition of ‘legal innocence’ not being enough to overturning a conviction.
The FDA approved a blood test for preeclampsia a dangerous pregnancy complication. The agency also approved a new drug that can slow the progress of Alzheimer’s.
The man who killed 23 at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas in a racially motivated attack, was sentenced to 90 life sentences by a federal judge after he pleaded guilty to the crime.
Four countries: Canada, U.K., Sweden and Ukraine are seeking damages in the International Criminal Court for 176 families of people who were killed on Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 which was accidentally shot down by Iran in January 2020. The Iranian military admitted it mistook the plane for a U.S. missile.
At least 17 people died after a gas leak involved with illegal gold processing in South Africa.
Donald J. Trump’s valet, Walt Nauta, pleaded not guilty of moving classified documents. Nauta was indicted on charges including conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements to the FBI.
Senator Tommy Tubberville (R-AL) has single-handedly held up the promotions of 250 military personnel over the Pentagon’s decision to pay for travel for service members to get an elective abortion if there's not one available where they are based.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announced actions to protect consumers from junk health plans, surprise medical bills, and excess costs that lead to medical debt. These actions are part of the Inflation Reduction Act.
The United Nations’ International Telecommunication Union conference included the A.I. for Good Global Summit, A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) robots staged a press conference where they promised they work for the betterment of mankind.
PBS produced a segment about the conservation of North Atlantic right whales a critically endangered species. There are only 340, or fewer, alive today, down from 481 in 2011
By the Numbers
Coming up…
This week I’ll be covering “Fox & Friends,” “The Five,” “Fox News Tonight,” and “Hannity.” The final installment of “Who is Hunter Biden Part 3” should also be available for paid subscribers. I will also have a podcast appearance on Aaron Rupar’s show, and I’ll be sub-hosting for Ron Filipkowski on MAGA Uncovered with Anthony Davis.
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