Fox News: A Flurry of Town Halls Before Iowa, Taylor Swift is a Defense PSYOP and DEI will Kill You
A condensed overview of 21 hours of Fox News for the week ending 1/14/24
Last week things took a surprising turn when multiple Fox personalities promoted the idea that diversity, equity, and inclusion programs could cause death and mass destruction. They also hyped up the Iowa caucus and insinuated that the pop star Taylor Swift was a PSYOP working for the Department of Defense.
Fox News also featured hour-long town halls for three of the Republican presidential candidates and Greg Gutfeld decided to give Vivek Ramaswamy a boost on Thursday and Friday last week. The network seemingly added these at the last minute and provided no advanced promotion that they were part of the schedule.
Meanwhile Hunter Biden decided to show up unannounced to a House Oversight Committee hearing that was supposed to be a resolution to hold him in contempt of Congress. He offered to testify publicly but the Republican members refused to vote on it.
Fox News barely mentioned the Israel-Hamas war or the ever-worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Last week in the 21 hours I covered on Fox News Hunter Biden was mentioned 108 times while the word Israel only showed up 49 times in the transcripts.
The PBS NewsHour dedicated 11% in its airtime to the conflict while Fox included three 30-second segments about the war or 0.18% of the total programming that I covered last week.
The network also spent a lot of time on the border crisis and an incident in Brooklyn where high school students were told go back to remote learning for a day while migrant families were sheltered in classrooms during a violent winter storm.
Anyone who was watching Fox News exclusively last week would have missed out on stories about flooding in Central Africa, an upcoming election in Taiwan and South Africa’s attempt to charge Israel with acts of genocide in The Hague.
Shows I covered last week:
Fox & Friends
The Five
The Ingraham Angle
Jesse Watters Primetime - Tuesday only
Town Halls - Monday - Friday
DEI (Diversity Equity and Inclusion) Will Kill You!
On Friday January 5th a door plug blew out of Alaska Airlines flight 1282 at 16,000 feet as the plane was flying out of Portland, Oregon. Miraculously no one was killed as the closest seats to the gaping hole in the plane were empty.
Some passengers had injuries that required medical attention but were cleared soon after they sought treatment.
Alaska Airlines and United Airlines both immediately grounded most of the Boeing 737 Max 9 planes in their fleet - the same model involved with the accident.
United Airlines also found problems with some of their 737 Max 9 planes that involved bolts on the door plug that needed tightening. Boeing doesn’t have the greatest reputation as the company has had problems before with other types of planes.
On Tuesday on “The Ingraham Angle,” Laura Ingraham was the first Fox News personality in the shows I covered last week who made the assumption that the accident was somehow caused by Boeing’s diversity equity and inclusion hiring policy.
The Fox host had absolutely no evidence to support her theory but that wasn’t gong to stop her from promoting it.
“But Boeing, you know, they have the doors have fallen off the planes, but at least, you know, they're meeting their diversity goals, I guess, in Boeing, because they say our goal was to achieve diverse interview slates for at least 90% of managers and executives in their openings. And they bragged that they exceeded that target with 92% of interview slates being diverse, resulting in 47% diverse hires at the management and executive levels. Now, Horace, we can't link the diversity efforts to what happened. You know, that would take an exhaustive investigation. But it's worth asking at this point is excellence what we need in the airline operation or is diversity the goal here?” asked Ingraham.
On Thursday on “The Five,” both Dana Perino and Greg Gutfeld expressed similar concerns. Neither one of them had any evidence that supported their theories.
Dana Perino started the discussion
“Questions has to be not just from FAA, but from Boeing's board of directors. Has the company been distracted by other priorities that don't have to do with safety? And if the answer is yes, then we're going to have a bigger problem on our hands. On air travel for the foreseeable future could be very difficult,” said Perino.
Greg Gutfeld assumed a drive for higher profits would prevent accidents.
“I think every industry is saddled with a new priority. And that new priority came from above and told them that this had to be done. So, what happened is you have a you have a company that's based on a profit, that's that should be the leading thing. You need to be a successful, effective company. Then you create this parallel mission that has no profit motive whatsoever. And then people like, well, we just have to do it anyway. So this suffers.”
The obvious flaw in Gutfeld’s argument is that many corporations have cut corners including reducing safety measures in the drive for higher profits.
In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s one of the most notorious examples of companies ignoring safety over profits involved Ford Motor Company and The Pinto, an inexpensive subcompact car that sometimes burst into flames even at low speed rear end collisions.
Ford conducted crash tests on the Pinto and knew that there were safety concerns about rear end collisions. The estimated price for safety improvement for the Pinto might have cost the company around $5-8 per vehicle but Ford reasoned the cost-increase outweighed the benefits.
The company continued to produce the less safe version of the car for six years.
An internal report “Fatalities Associated with Crash-Induced Fuel Leakage and Fires,” revealed the cost-benefit reasoning Ford used to not make changes to the Pinto design. The report was not specifically focused on the Pinto, but it did apply to all of Ford’s cars.
Gutfeld’s basic argument that companies that pursue profits above all else produce safer products is as flawed as the gas tanks on a 1968 Pinto.
By Friday Laura Ingraham had worked herself up to a fever pitch about the incident. She looked directly into the camera and declared,
“What's more important, DEI or your life? I'm going to explain how the country's obsession with diversity is becoming life threatening.”
She continued.
“The left slavish obsession with forcing this so-called diversity inclusion standards on America. It's shredding the standards of excellence in everything from business to academia, even to the military. Now, in some settings, when DEI comes first and merit second, this may mean needless American deaths and a lot of them. Boeing recently bragged not about being the best in the business, but about surpassing its diversity quotas. With 92% of interviewees, they say, being diverse. Oh goody. But then not so good. A door flying off one of Boeing 737 Super Maxes.”
Again, Ingraham had no evidence that could show a DEI policy led to the accident.
Diversity, equity and inclusion policies are not rare or unusual in corporate America.
According to a Pew Research Center survey of American workers about 61% said that their company or organization has policies that ensure fairness in hiring, pay or promotions, and 52% say they have trainings or meetings on DEI at work.
According to Corporate Compliance Insights an estimated 80% of U.S. employers have implemented DEI initiatives.
Migrant Children and $45,000
Last Tuesday students at a public high school in Brooklyn were told at the last minute that they would need to switch to remote learning for at a day as their school was used as an emergency shelter for migrants.
The migrants had been staying in a sprawling tent complex on a former airport in a remote area of Brooklyn. A severe winter storm was expected in the region and officials worried that the tents wouldn’t be able to handle the wind and rain so the decision was made to move the migrants to the high school.
Elected officials from both parties were outraged over as were many parents of students and local residents.
Fox News pushed the story for more than one day on the network. On Wednesday on “Fox & Friends,” Steve Doocy and Ainsley Earhardt took a dark turn with story.
Earhardt started out using it to promote Republican candidates.
“That's a crisis. So, when you're going to the polls, just remember this is this crisis. And you didn't know much about the crisis before, probably because you didn't live in Texas. But now the rest of the country is discovering what his crisis looks like because many of these migrants are moving into your community. They get free housing, they get free food. Everything's for free. They don't pay for anything. And then when you look at what we're paying per student to go to school in New York City, more than $45,000 a student, and they're being kicked out and someone else is moving in that didn't come here the right way. And I love that sound bite of the man who said, I'm from Israel. It took me more than a decade to get here. We did it the right way. Why do you think you can jump the line?” said Earhardt.
Then Steve Doocy took things to a sad place.
“Well, those migrant kids are winding up with an education that cost taxpayers $45,000 per kid. When you when you look at the Rio Grande River and we see the migrants coming across with the children, your heart breaks for it. But the number of kids who wound up in New York City schools just remember to see an invisible 45 K on each one of those kids,” said Doocy.
Taxpayers benefits when children get an education in a safe environment regardless of their parent’s immigration status. Children cannot control their own destiny and shouldn’t be punished for the actions their parents make.
Undocumented immigrant and asylum seekers only receive support and services for a limited time after they’ve arrived in a city like New York.
The only service that is provided for an indefinite amount of time is an education in New York City public schools. Students between the ages of 5 and 21 have a right to a free public school education in New York State. Students in New York State may also qualify for free breakfast and lunches.
Jesse Watters is NOT a Lawyer
On Tuesday, on “The Five,” Jesse Watters had some strong opinions about Trump’s recent appeal for immunity on charges that he plotted to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
“I did a deep dive on this law. The Supreme Court. Please back me up,” Watters said as he turned to Judge Jeanine. “I’m begging you.”
He continued.
“In 82, the Supreme Court says the presidents have immunity for what they do when they take official acts as president. And so if the president's the chief executive offer officer, he has the sole authority to execute and enforce the law of the land. Donald Trump will just argue that I was enforcing election fraud. I was pursuing allegations of election fraud. I was pursuing recounts. I was pursuing election challenges. I was pursuing alternate slates of electors.
If you say that any other president, once they leave office, the following president is can come in with lawyers and indict the former guy. That's crazy. That means Joe Biden can be indicted after he leaves in a year for child trafficking. That means you can indict Joe Biden for cocaine possession. That means you can indict Joe Biden for financial fraud. It's insane under this theory that the Democrats are pushing. You can charge Abe Lincoln with murder for prosecuting the Civil War. It doesn't make any sense. No one's going to buy it. I cannot wait till it gets to the high court.”
Jesse Watters isn’t a lawyer. He should probably avoid making broad statements about laws or court rulings.
It also hadn’t occurred to him that if Trump could argue that he could not be charged with a crime while he was president the same rule could be applied to President Biden. Watters misses this completely.
It’s also a terrible idea to argue that Trump’s role in the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol had anything to do with election integrity or his attempts to stay in office. Arguing that the riot was part of Trump’s plan to delay the election certification or cast doubt on the election makes him look guiltier.
The stronger argument is that Trump had little to no influence over the crowd and that the incident was completely spontaneous and unrelated to his many claims of election fraud.
Jessica Tarlov Crushes the Hunter Biden Nonsense
On Wednesday Hunter Biden showed up unexpectedly to a hearing of the House Oversight Committee on a vote to hold him in contempt of Congress after he ignored a subpoena.
The president’s son has agreed to testify publicly but the committee has insisted on a non-public deposition as part of their impeachment inquiry.
Hunter and his legal team showed up and then promptly left the chaotic event that included insults and Representatives yelling over each while the press hounded Biden.
Jessica Tarlov, the liberal on “The Five,” had some strong opinions about the fiasco.
“The Republicans came off as completely unprepared to even deviate one sentence or one word from their prepared talking points. So, James Cromer is on video. He was giving an interview to Benny Johnson and was talking about when people come before the committee and he made it clear, as he did to Hunter Biden, that you can do that behind closed doors.
Have a deposition like Devon Archer did, not in public, or you can come out in public and do it. And that's what Hunter Biden and opted to do. And then Comer flipped out and he tried to take it back.”
She was briefly interrupted by her co-host Jesse Watters who didn’t seem to know much about the situation.
“No, He was supposed to be able to do it publicly. And what Hunter Biden didn't want was for the Republicans to continue to twist his words or to do what they did to Devon Archer, who testified the exact opposite of what Republicans said in public.”
She was interrupted again by Judge Jeanine Pirro, “It’s in the transcript.”
Tarlov began her response to Pirro directly.
“You know as well as anyone the power of television, right? You walk out from a closed-door deposition, and you say, like Jim Jordan did, Devon Archer implicated Joe Biden in this big corruption ring. And then guess what? The transcript doesn't add up to that at all. Devon Archer completely undermined the Republicans, but it's out there and there are millions of people that believe this.”
Tarlov was interrupted again but continued.
“There were three incredibly embarrassing moments for Republicans or my top three, Nancy Mace in general, just embarrassing screaming about white privilege, saying he's afraid of me. He showed up. He's sitting there, swear him in, let him talk. Then people like Scott Perry, Jim Jordan, people who are in the midst of defying subpoenas themselves, just sitting there railing about how important it is. And then you said Hunter Biden got bored and he left. He intentionally embarrassed Marjorie Taylor Greene, who held up again, another poster of his genitals. The woman is obsessed.”
Taylor Swift vs. Kid Rock Who is the Better PSYOP?
On Tuesday, Jesse Watters made some outrageous claims about Taylor Swift, one of the most popular pop stars in the world.
Watters found an old clip from a 2019 conference sponsored by NATO where a presenter showed an image of Taylor Swift during a presentation. In the heavily edited clip, a woman stands in front of a screen that includes a couple of visual slides. In one image there’s a photo of Taylor Swift. The presenter says,
“I’ve included Taylor Swift in here because she’s a fairly influential online person, I don’t know if you’ve heard of her.”
Although the presentation was cut up and taken out of context it seemed clear that the mega pop star was being used as an example of an influential person. It also wouldn’t make much sense to reveal a secret PYSOP (Psychological Operations) in a semi-public meeting that was being filmed.
Watters took the edited clip as evidence that Taylor Swift had been hired by the government as some type of Pentagon asset.
“So, is Swift a front for a covert political agenda? Primetime obviously has no evidence. If we did, we share it. But we're curious because the pop star who endorsed Biden is urging millions of her followers to vote.”
According to Watters encouraging young people to vote is some sort of covert political agenda.
I was reminded of far more alarming confluence of a pop star and a powerful political figure. On March 21, 2022, Tucker Carlson featured an interview with Kid Rock, an older less popular pop star, from his compound in Nashville.
Rock bragged about socializing with Donald J. Trump while he was president.
“Where do you meet Trump?” asked Carlson.
“Meet Trump? at the White House. . .We become a buddies and spent a lot of time on the golf course now and really we get phone calls from and stuff is just kind of mind-blowing . . .we're looking at maps and I'm like, like, (expletive) am I supposed to be like, you know, (expletive) be in on this?. . .He (Trump) asks, what should do about North Korea?”
Then Rock mimed holding a rifle and made sound effects as if he was firing a weapon.
“I'm like, what do two, two, two, two bullets coming at you, you know, from every angle?” said Rock as Carlson laughed.
Jesse Watters Says What We’ve All Been Thinking
On Friday on “The Five,” during a discussion with Greg Gutfeld about podcasts, Jesse Watters said what a lot of folks have been thinking about him.
“Because that podcast 2 hours long, 3 hours long, you're dealing now in the real world,” said Gutfeld.
“That's why I don't go on podcasts, because I'm exposed as an idiot after two minutes,” said Watters.
“Exactly,” said Gutfeld.
At least he has some self-awareness.
Stories Fox News Ignored
Every week I compare the hours I’ve analyzed on Fox News to five hours of the PBS NewsHour. The following list are stories PBS covered that Fox News did not.
Climate disasters
The Congo River has reached its highest level in 60 years causing flooding in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo as well as neighboring Republic of Congo. At least 300 people have died due to the flooding.
Last year was the hottest on record with temperatures much higher than any previous year according to measurements by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA. The European Union released similar findings. The overwhelming scientific consensus is that the burning of fossil fuels and the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere is warming the planet.
Updates in the Ukraine War
Russia fired its largest barrage of hypersonic and cruise missiles during a winter assault on Ukraine. More than 50 missiles and drones targeted urban areas. The attacks killed at least four civilians and injured 30 more.
More than 1000 towns in Ukraine lost power due an extreme winter storm and Russian attacks on the electrical grid.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to the Baltic states to ask for support to help with Ukraine’s air defenses. Russia pummeled Ukraine with over 500 drones and missiles over the New Year’s weekend.
The U.K. promised $3.2 billion in new military aid for Ukraine and signed a 10-year security deal with the country. The package will include air defense equipment, anti-tank weapons, long-range missiles, ammunition and artillery shells, along with training for the Ukrainian military.
Starting next year, the college football playoffs will expand allowing a dozen teams to compete for the title. A new proposal will allow NCAA division I schools to pay student athletes. Schools have direct agreements with athletes over their name, image, and likeness.
Pope Francis called for a worldwide ban on surrogate motherhood. He called it a threat to human dignity and a uterus for rent.
A new law in South Korea will ban raising and selling dogs for food. Parliament voted today to ban the production and sale of dog meat. The bill received bipartisan support.
The NCAA announced a broadcasting deal with ESPN that is worth over $900 million over 8 years. The deal with heavily feature women’s college sports. The NCAA women's basketball tournament, softball and women's volleyball championships all drew record-breaking television ratings last season.
A grand jury in Ohio decided that Brittany Watts, 34, will not face criminal charges for abuse of a corpse after she suffered a miscarriage at home. She had sought help at a hospital after her water broke and she experienced bleeding when she was 21 weeks pregnant. After a few trips back and forth from hospital she told the staff she’d miscarried at home. The hospital contacted the police even though they had told Watts days earlier that her pregnancy was non-viable. A pathologist testified that the fetus died in the womb.
PBS produced a story about a pauper’s grave outside a jail in Jackson, Mississippi. Families were not notified about the death of loved ones where were buried there. In the past 8 years 215 bodies have been buried on the site. The families of some of the deceased are calling for a federal investigation into the burials.
Alexei Navalny, a Russian political dissident, appeared in court via a video link. He disappeared last month as his supporters said they had lost contact with him for weeks. He is currently in a penal colony in the Arctic. He’s serving a 19-year sentence after being convicted of extremism.
Ralph Yarl, a teenager in Kansas City, Missouri has made the All-State Band nine months after he was shot in the head. Yarl was shot after he accidentally knocked on the wrong door when he went to pick up his two younger brothers. An elderly white homeowner shot the un-armed teen. Yarl is a gifted bass clarinet player.
South Africa is accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza in the international court in The Hague. The trial will most likely take years before the case is resolved. Israel dismissed the case as “absurd blood libel.” Israeli President Isaac Herzog said the country would make the case that the war was one of self-defense, and would show that Israel is doing its “utmost” under “extremely complicated circumstances” to avert civilian casualties.
Roman Catholic bishops across Africa rebuked Pope Francis over his ruling to allow priests to bless same-sex couples. . The bishops said in a statement"Unions of person's of the same-sex are contrary to the will of God and therefore cannot receive the blessing of the church.”
The United Negro College Fund received $100 million from the Lilly Endowment to help historically Black colleges and universities. It’s the largest unrestricted donation to the fund since its founding 80 years ago. The funds should help support 37 institutions.
In Gaza the southern city of Kha was rocked with explosions last week. Officials from the Gaza Health ministry estimate that nearly 24,000 have died in Gaza with an additional 60,000 who are injured since the Israel-Hamas war started.
Federal prosecutors in Buffalo, New York will seek the death penalty against a gunman in the racially motivated shooting that killed 10 Black victims at a supermarket. Payton Gendron, a white supremacist, pleaded guilty to state murder charges and is serving a life sentence. The Justice Department is seeking the death penalty if he is convicted of federal hate crimes.
China helped broker a cease-fire in Northeastern Myanmar. Beijing helped mediate the agreement between Myanmar’s military and guerrillas that have seized towns near the border with China.
Voters headed to the polls this weekend for presidential and parliamentary elections in Taiwan. The ruling Democratic Progressive Party pulled off a historic third consecutive presidential victory.
PBS produced a segment about Bob Vander Plaats an evangelical leader in Iowa that has been called the kingmaker in Iowa politics. Vander Plaats has successfully picked the winner in the Iowa caucus every year since 2008. He endorsed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in November.
A new variant of COVID-19 is spreading across the United States and other parts of the world. Infections and hospitalizations are on the rise.