Fox News Loves Selective Vigilante Justice and Mysterious Drones

A condensed overview of 15 hours of Fox News for the week ending 12/15/24

Dec 19, 2024

Last week on Fox News the subject of vigilante violence was center focus as the network lionized Daniel Penny, a former Marine who was acquitted of criminally negligent homicide for killing a homeless man, while lambasting the public reaction towards the cold-blooded assassination of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare.

The folks at Fox also seemed disappointed that Black Lives Matter protesters weren’t rioting across the country over Penny’s acquittal. When Fox News hosts weren’t twisting themselves into knots to justify and decry violence in the same breath, they were obsessing over unmanned drones that mysteriously hovered over New Jersey and parts of the New York City metro area for days.

Some Fox personalities even advocated for everyday citizens to grab their guns and shoot down the drones which could result in an accidental death if someone mistook a small plane for an UAVS (Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle System). They might also destroy a playground, a car or a home if a bullet-damaged drone crashed to earth.

Sean Hannity and Dr. Drew Pinsky both weaved fairy tales about the healthcare system in the United States, Jessica Tarlov schooled her co-hosts on Biden’s economic accomplishments and Tom Homan said he would prosecute governors if they got in the way of his plans for mass deportations.

Anyone watching Fox News exclusively last week might not know that scientists have found even more alarming signs of human-caused climate change, that a brutal dictatorship was overthrown in Syria or that Benjamin Netanyahu testified in his own corruption trial in Israel.

Fox News did report on the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, but the network only spent a short amount of time on the story and gave its viewers very little information or context about the beleaguered country.

Shows I covered last week:

Fox & Friends
The Five
Hannity

Daniel Penny the Hero of the F Train - According to Fox

As far as the folks on Fox News were concerned Daniel Penny, a former Marine, was a knight in shining armor who saved a subway car full of strangers from a dangerous deranged man who was capable of murder. Penny’s case was adjudicated in a court of law and a jury of his peers acquitted him of any wrongdoing.

According to Penny’s lawyers and other witnesses a man who appeared high on drugs entered the subway car, ranted about being hungry and thirsty and then said that he wanted to return to jail and didn’t care if he lived or died.

Penny, 26, a native of Long Island, a suburban area near New York City, placed Neely in a chokehold that prosecutors said lasted almost six minutes.

After his death the New York City medical examiner ruled that Neely died due to a neck compression caused by the chokehold. An expert witness called by Penny’s defense team said that Neely’s death was caused by a combination of his schizophrenia, synthetic marijuana, sickle cell trait and the struggle from being in Penny’s restraint.

According to reporting by NBC News, Dr. Cynthia Harris, the medical examiner who performed Neely’s autopsy said, “that there are no alternative reasonable explanations” for his death and that those proposed by the defense were “so improbable — that it stands shoulder to shoulder with impossibility.”

It was a blurry case in many ways as Penny received $2.9 million worth of donations for his legal defense from citizens across the country. Jordan Neely was a long-troubled man with a sad personal history who suffered from untreated mental illness. He was also desperate and homeless at the time of his death.

Neely had a criminal history that included violent attacks against others. Penny wouldn’t have known this though at the time he restrained Neely.

Neely also was unarmed and despite his threats hadn’t harmed anyone on the train before he was held down by Penny. Another layer to the story is that Penny is white, and Neely was Black. Like most New York City subway cars, the group of witnesses who testified in the trial of Daniel Penny were ethnically diverse.

Fox predictably ignored the layers of nuance to the story and portrayed Penny as a brave hero who stepped up to help his fellow straphangers. Although the case was discussed during several segments on “The Five,” last week they had nothing but praise for the former Marine on Monday.

“It was a good day for New York. It's a good day for America,” said Judge Jeanine Pirro.

“But I am an American. That and a New Yorker who is pleased. That Daniel Penny, is walking free today,” said Harold Ford Jr.

“There almost seems, Jesse to be a little bit of frustration from some in the media that there aren't more riots and angst over this verdict,” said Dana Perino.

“There used to be years ago, five, six, seven years ago, we would expect riots . . . Daniel Penny was defending the public and Donald Trump was defending his reputation. Thank God. Now, I think Donald Trump is probably going to find a good way to commemorate Penny. Maybe we'll see him walk out at the next UFC fight. Maybe he'll put him in the cabinet. I don't know,” said Jesse Watters.

“You remember some of the people holding Jordan kneeling down were African American and Hispanic. Some of the people on the jury were African American and Hispanic. This isn't about race,” said Pirro.

Brian Kilmeade suggested that the governor should remove Alvin Bragg, an elected official, from his role of District Attorney of Manhattan.

“Robert Holden, Democrat from Ohio. From, Queens, who stood up and said, New York has got to straighten out, got to get rid of these illegal immigrants. We got to start cracking down on crime. And Richie Torres, he wants to be mayor or governor in New York. If you would take the next step and say, I call on the governor to remove Alvin Bragg, I know he was elected to office, but he's been an embarrassment. He's wasting tons of money. He's destroying the reputation of New York City. If you want it. You said crime can't be helped in many cases, but it can be enforced, and it can be stopped when it is enforced. And we're not seeing that. I think people are fed up. And I believe this is the beginning of the end of the woke D.A.'s,” said Kilmeade.

More Praise of Penny

The next day on “The Five,” Judge Jeanine Pirro described Penny as if he was a living saint. She was also promoting her exclusive interview of Penny for Fox Nation.

“But today, what I saw was one of the most amazing human beings I have ever met. And I think America will fall in love with this man. He is not just a hero. He is the kind of guy that every mother, every husband, wants on a subway when their kid or their wife is on that train. He was compassionate. He was firm. He was someone who said it didn't matter what they threw at him, because he kept going back in his mind to the thanks of those people who are on the subway car. And you heard him say it himself. He could never forgive himself,” said Pirro.

Pirro was referring to Penny’s statement that he could never forgive himself if Neely harmed another passenger while he did nothing to stop it.

Rachel Campos-Duffy Referred to Neely as If He was a Wild Animal

On Wednesday on “Fox & Friends,” Rachel Campos-Duffy made a flippant comment about the case.

“New Yorkers are mad at AOC because there have been videos of this resurfaced of AOC saying the subway is more dangerous because of men like this. No, the subway is more dangerous because of people like Jordan Neely, who are city has basically allowed to run free,” said Campos-Duffy.

Her choice of words, “allowed to run free,” made me think of a wild animal rather than a human being.

The Public Reaction to the Murder of a Healthcare CEO Shocks Fox News Hosts

Around the same time that Daniel Penny was acquitted Luigi Mangione, a person of interest in the murder of Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was captured by police at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s.

In the case of Thompson’s murder, a masked man calmly walked up behind him as he was walking down the streets of midtown Manhattan and shot him in the back. The assassin jumped on a bike and managed to ride off through Central Park without being captured.

Police later found the words “Deny, Defend and Depose” written on shell casings left at the crime scene. The words are similar to the phrase "delay, deny, defend," which is commonly used to describe how insurers deny services and payment.

The most chilling aspect of Thompson’s murder was not the cold-blooded manner in which he was killed but the public reaction to his death. Many Americans either showed indifference or openly celebrated his murder by mocking the cruelty of the health insurance industry.

Since Thompson’s murder countless pundits have scolded those who have lauded his killer. Many have also expressed outrage over the public’s lack of compassion or empathy towards the CEO of a health insurance company that has the highest rate of denied claims in the industry.

The ghoulish reaction of many towards the murder was macabre. It really shouldn’t be that surprising though in a country that has more guns than people and more mass shootings than days on the calendar.

Americans Have Become Desensitized to Gun Violence

So far in 2024 the United States has experienced 488 mass shootings. For the past four years there have been more than 600 mass shootings with a dramatic spike at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mass shootings and even school shootings have become so commonplace they are no longer major news stories.

According the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2023 46,728 people died from gun violence in the United States, which is the third-highest number of gun-related deaths ever recorded.

As many Americans have called for some type of gun control some elected officials have pushed for more guns in schools and other public spaces. A recent ruling by the Supreme Court weakened gun control laws in New York State and the rest of the country.

When 20 children, mostly six-year-olds were gunned down in a first grade classroom many elected officials did little more than call for thoughts and prayers. All of this has added up to a populace that has grown numb to the horrors of random shootings.

Americans Are Disillusioned With the U.S. Healthcare System

A profit driven industry that incentivizes denying healthcare to the sick and desperate is a soul-crushing endeavor that strips everyone involved of their humanity.

Medical debt is the number one cause of bankruptcy in the United States while health insurance companies made $45.3 billion in net income in 2023, a 6.8% increase from 2022.

The Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) suggests people in the United States owe at least $220 billion in medical debt. Approximately 14 million people (6% of adults) in the U.S. owe over $1,000 in medical debt and about 3 million people (1% of adults) owe medical debt of more than $10,000.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation Health System Tracker 41% of adults have health care debt according to a broader definition, which includes health care debt on credit cards or owed to family members.

Even though the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) reduced the amount of uninsured Americans from just shy of 50 million in 2010 to 27.1 million in 2024, the lowest number on record, Americans still pay more for healthcare than any other industrialized nation.

The solution to the many problems with the healthcare system in the United States will not come from an assassin’s bullet. Mangione, the alleged shooter, will likely spend the rest of his life in prison. Healthcare CEO’s will beef up their security and the industry will go right back to bleeding every dime out of a tragic situation.

The highly paid personalities on Fox with generous healthcare plans didn’t even mention gun violence or the health insurance industry when discussing the capture of Mangione.

Judge Jeanine Pirro scolded the entire country for not capturing Mangione sooner.

“But what I want to know is everybody in America saw that picture. Everybody saw this, and then everybody saw more than that when he was in the cab. Why didn't somebody who's, like, related to him went to school with him? He's got a cousin who's a delegate somewhere in Maryland. Somewhere. You know, why aren't they saying something? But it's a good day for America. And I started by saying that Danny Penny was acquitted. This guy is arrested. But I really believe that he was too smart for his own good,” said Pirro.

Harold Ford Jr., a moderate voice on the program suggested that the suspect should get the death penalty if convicted of Thompson’s murder.

“We live in a really, really perverse and dangerous and awful place. When people are willing to say the things that people are saying online. And then for this person at the Taylor Lorenz, celebrating CEOs, what kind of society do we live in? I can understand you disagreeing with the company's policies, but that doesn't mean that you have the right that anyone has the right to go and kill somebody. Now, this young, this young guy right here, if indeed he's the person and they prosecute him, I hope he is. I hope he gets a death penalty. I hope he's prosecuted to the fullest extent,” said Harold Ford Jr.

“They don’t have the death penalty in New York,” said Pirro.

“Well, maybe you can get him to get in there. You and you and Trump can figure something out where you go,” said Ford.

“I did it the first time in New York,” said Pirro.

Jesse Watters discussed how other prisoners might treat the alleged shooter.

“Because you go into a McDonald's, you go into a Starbucks, you know, they have cameras, you got to go to get a hotdog on the side of the street. If you're that hungry, get a water bottle from the guys that sell these things. This guy was obviously looking for notoriety, right? And good. He's got it now. He's a prep school kid. He's politically connected,” said Watters.

“He's ready for prison?” asked Brian Kilmeade.

“I don't think anyone's ready. Brian. Maybe you are Brian in a different way, but this guy's not ready. He's way too soft. He's going to get annihilated on the inside and good. If he's not going to get the death penalty, maybe someone will do him justice behind bars,” said Watters.

In 2003 then District Attorney Jeanine Pirro, sought the death penalty for Dennis Salvador Alvarez-Hernandez who was charged with First Degree Capital Murder in Westchester County.

Alvarez-Hernandez was convicted of killing his girlfriend and two of her young children. At his sentencing the jury could not unanimously agree on the death penalty he received life in prison.

Sean Hannity Has No Idea How Much Health Insurance Costs

On Wednesday Sean Hannity invited Dr. Drew Pinsky on “Hannity” to discuss the murder of Brian Thompson and the healthcare industry.

“Years ago, the Cato Institute put out a book called Patient Power. Healthcare savings accounts. This is guy I know in Wichita, Kansas. He built out a concierge service, 50 bucks a month. You put that with catastrophic care that that would take care of the, God forbid, heart attack, stroke, cancer, bad accident. Well, with a high deductible as high as you can afford. And guess what? You're fully covered. There are ways to have better health care. Nobody ever wants to talk about it. Obamacare. Millions lost their doctors, their plans, and 40 plus percent of the country has one Obamacare exchange option that's not working either. And I predicted that at the time, but that again, that's a separate argument for another day,” said Hannity.

Then Dr. Pinsky shared his opinion about the role of health insurance.

“Last word. Yes. But let's remember, though, insurance was supposed to be insurance against financial catastrophe, not an entitlement, not entitlement. You could pay the $35 for the doctor visit or the $70 most people couldn't afford that,” said Pinsky.

I’m not sure what decade Pinsky thinks doctor visits only cost $35-70. Most insurance co-pays are higher than that even for doctors in network.

Sean Hannity makes $35 million a year. He would never need insurance as he could easily to afford to pay retail prices which are often much lower than what doctors and hospitals charge insurance companies.

One of the many frustrating things about the healthcare system in the United States is the lack of transparency for the cost of most medical procedures. If a patient is able to pay cash up front they usually get a steep discount.

The rates insurance companies pay are often negotiated in advance at the start of a contract. Insurance companies also can take several months or even years to pay claims which is why healthcare providers will offer large discounts for immediate cash payments.

According to NerdWallet.com the average cost of concierge healthcare is between $1,800 and $2,200 per year (or between $150 and $183 per month. Concierge medicine is an arrangement in which a patient pays a membership fee to gain access to a doctor’s practice.

The monthly fee helps patients have a more personal experience with their doctors, but it wouldn’t cover the costs all of their services.

For catastrophic healthcare plans the cost of premiums increase depending on the patient’s age. Catastrophic plans are supposed to pay for emergency care or a major illness.

According to reporting by Forbes the average cost of a catastrophic healthcare plan for man the same age as Sean Hannity (62) would be approx. $673 per month and that’s with a high deductible. If a 62-year-old man followed Hannity’s advice and purchased concierge care along with a catastrophic plan he would pay $823 a month on low end.

If this same man lived in an area with a higher cost of living, he would likely pay more as concierge plans in New York City would certainly cost more than they would in Wichita, Kansas.

Tom Homan Said He Would Prosecute Governors

On Friday on “Fox & Friends,” Tom Homan, Trump’s pick for "border czar," and former acting director for ICE suggested he would criminally prosecute a governor or mayor.

“I know you were in Chicago on Monday, and you said that your deportation plan is going to start in a big way in Chicago. And you said the the governor and the mayor can either help you or get out of the way. But you also said if he meaning the mayor, if he impedes us, if he knowingly harbors or conceals an illegal alien, I will prosecute him. So you will not only go after the illegal migrants, you may go after some mayors who aren't helping?” asked Steve Doocy.

“If they step over that line. They can sit back and watch us, which again, I find incredible you don't want to take public safety threats out of your community to help us. But there are laws on the books that we will. We will prosecute. It's, 18 U.S.C. 111, impeding a federal law enforcement officer, a felony. Title eight, United States Code, 1324 III. If you knowingly conceal or harbor an illegal alien from ICE, that is a felony. When I was an agent a long time ago. I've arrested U.S. citizens for harboring an alien, their home or a place of employment. If I can do it to a citizen, why can't I do it to a politician who's going actively getting our way to prevent us from doing our job?” said Homan.

The same day on “The Five,” the show’s producers featured a media clip of Homan speaking at a Republican event in Chicago on Monday.

“Chicago is in trouble because your mayor sucks and the governor sucks. And we're going to start right here in Chicago, Illinois. Now, if you're Chicago mayor, doesn't want to help. He can step aside. Well, if he impedes us. If he knowingly any harbors and conceals an illegal alien, I will prosecute him,” said Homan.

Later during the rest of the segment Jesse Watters suggested that arresting Democratic elected officials might backfire for the Trump administration.

“These Democrats might want to be arrested by the Trump administration. Might make him a martyr,” said Watters.

Martha MacCallum mentioned that Homan has changed his tone.

“Yeah, He walked that back a little bit, on the story about an hour ago, he said, maybe prosecute is the wrong word. That's not really my department. That'll be coming from the Department of Justice,” said MacCallum.

Jessica Tarlov Drops Some Truth About Biden’s Record with the Economy

On Tuesday on “The Five,” Jessica Tarlov managed to include some information about Biden’s record with the economy without her co-hosts shouting over her.

“The legacy of Joe Biden will be obviously complicated by how this ended. And with Kamala losing. But he oversaw the best recovery in the G7 by far and away. Inflation in this country is lower. Unemployment in this country is lower. He expanded the number of people who got access to affordable healthcare, Medicaid expansion. We are producing more oil than any other time in world history. Under Joe Biden, the stock market. It was generous of you to give it. Donald Trump is out there trying to pretend that it's because he's coming back, that that's why everyone is so hyped about this. We have been hitting record after record after record under Joe Biden. In terms of the jobs that you say are mirages, we can talk about all the revisions that happened under other presidents as well. But even if you removed all of the jobs that we lost during Covid, the snap back jobs, I think what you call them under the Biden-Harris administration, we still got more jobs at a faster clip than we did under the Trump administration. It's just a fact. Look it up,” said Tarlov.

Stories Fox News Ignored

Every week I compare the stories I’ve watched on Fox News to five hours of the PBS News Hour. The following list are important stories that PBS covered that Fox did not.

Climate disasters
- According to a recent UN report of the Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Scientists found that 3/4 (77.6%) of the land on earth became permanently drier in the past three decades.
- According to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) in 2024 the earth had its second warmest November on record.
The U.S. military has grounded the V-22 Osprey fleet after it found weakened metal component parts may have played a role in another near crash. The aircraft has faced countless problems including fatal crashes since the military started flying it three decades ago, 64 service personnel have been killed with 93 injures.
In South Korea the parliament voted to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol after he declared martial law which the governing body overturned. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, the country’s second highest ranking government official, took over presidential powers later on Saturday. The impeached president is banned from leaving the country. The foreign defense minister, Kim Yong Hyun, attempted to commit suicide while he was in detention. Kim was arrested after a Seoul court approved a warrant for him on allegations of playing a key role in a rebellion and committing abuse of power as part of the martial law declaration.
Researchers at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) have documented a stunning rise in misogynistic rhetoric and attacks on social media platforms after the election. PBS spoke to Cynthia Miller-Idriss from ISD about what is behind the surge of hate directed at women.
François Bayrou, was appointed as the new prime minister of France after the last prime minister faced a vote of no confidence in parliament. The new prime minister is a veteran centrist and ally of president Emmanuel Macro.
Merriam Webster selected polarization as the word of the year for 2024. The company defines polarization as “division into two sharply distinct opposites; especially, a state in which the opinions, beliefs, or interests of a group or society no longer range along a continuum but become concentrated at opposing extremes.”
New data from the CDC shows a dramatic drop in drug overdose deaths across the United States. Deaths from overdoes have fallen 17% compared year-over-year. The decrease is due to a number of different factors including more access to naloxone a drug used to stop overdoses and policies by the Biden administration’s efforts to curb drug cartel’s global networks.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu testified in his own criminal corruption trial. Netanyahu vowed he would beat the charges against him. The prime minister is charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate cases.
McKinsey & Company, a consulting firm, will pay $650 million to settle a federal investigation into its role in helping Purdue Pharma recklessly promote its dangerous opioid pain killers. Purdue was one of the main drivers of the opioid epidemic that has ravaged the country for decades.
The pop star Taylor Swift ended her Eras Tour. Swift performed in a record breaking 149 shows in 50 cities for 10 million people. The tour had $2.2 billion in ticket sales. At the end of the tour Swift paid out bonuses of nearly $200 million to production crew, dancers, choreographers, and staff members involved with logistics, merchandise, and other roles.
A Department of Justice report found that undercover FBI agents didn’t start or participate in the riots on the U.S. Capitol on January 6th. Dozens of undercover agents were in the crowd but there’s no evidence that any of them stormed the capitol building. Right-wing conspiracy theorists have promoted the idea that FBI agents prompted the riot.
After an investigation by the Department of Justice into the fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor and police treatment of protesters, the city of Louisville reached an agreement with the DOJ to reform the city’s police force.
Bill Hennessy Jr., a court sketch artist, died at the age of 67. For the past four decades Hennessy worked on some of the most high profile cases at the Supreme Court.
Nikki Giovanni, poet, writer, and activist died at the age of 81 from complications related to lung cancer. Throughout her career she received numerous awards and was the recipient of 27 honorary degrees. She wrote 13 children's poetry books, a dozen essays and conversations, and 20 poetry books. Giovanni was also a professor at Virginia Tech for the past three decades.