My latest piece at @mmfa:

Fox
News keeps trying to justify GOP efforts to object to the Electoral College vote by pointing to the number of people who think the election was stolen (after spending 2 months telling their audiences that it was

This is Fox, basically: https://t.co/dkc0J8Dviw
Another comparison to the role Fox is playing here via one of my favorite Onion articles: https://t.co/7R5PsQ8xvT
Or maybe a human centipede, but with the front connected back to the end for a loop of shit-eating. Yeah, that's it. That's the role Fox is playing here.
But seriously, check out the *more than 2 months* of Fox-enabled conspiracy theories (a partial list): https://t.co/STD1vheqU4
https://t.co/ZfqbWncekD
https://t.co/haivFSEztO
https://t.co/51fYDdcxet
https://t.co/ZBGDh2IkZs
https://t.co/ElP1TxOl8j
https://t.co/F9BZrLL53m
https://t.co/0kppjxyPLs
https://t.co/C8ZdCa1RLQ
https://t.co/WRc4zEdfXT
https://t.co/tC1VgFTdnw
https://t.co/Lt5hwatqi3
https://t.co/MKTYbrFlIc
https://t.co/Lc819P581T
https://t.co/isMAsmSSi0
https://t.co/Q5PehkHPZj
https://t.co/tZN0CzH9sg
https://t.co/rru2ZBAP5M
https://t.co/QI1lHwM2AU
https://t.co/M70PxE141Q
https://t.co/B4euDlyeJN
Fox is the dad in the "I learned it by watching you!" anti-drug PSA https://t.co/4MML4lM056
But check out this example from last month:

* Fox promotes the false "Georgia suitcase" conspiracy theory

* Fox reports that it wasn't true...

* And then Fox promotes the story again https://t.co/IUs7shC9pA
It doesn't help their case or Trump's case that they have spent *years* scaremongering about widespread voter fraud that didn't exist. https://t.co/D4uYQWE9k2
And it certainly doesn't help their case that when Trump got angry that he didn't win the popular vote in 2016, he devoted government resources to create a "voting integrity commission" run by Trump toadies who couldn't find any evidence of fraud https://t.co/epGfcl2yuq
The problem with all of this has been that mainstream news organizations and tech companies are way, way, way too afraid of upsetting Trump or Republicans.
"But I FEEL like social media is biased against conservatives!" was enough of an argument to actually get Facebook to bend over backwards to specifically boost right wing content. Working the refs works.
And it's been Trump's go-to move throughout his presidency. "This is the greatest economy ever," he'd say when it objectively was not. "I built the wall!" he'd say when he didn't. "Mexico is paying for it," when we were paying for his goofy pet project.
For the most part, news organizations took him at his work and would just print what he said. Worst case scenario is that they'd run some sort of mealy mouthed "both sides" piece.
(This is exactly what Josh Hawley did when he *lied* about "antifa thugs" attacking his house or whatever... it's on tape! It didn't happen that way! Still, WaPo ran a story giving him the benefit of the doubt.)
So really, why *wouldn't* they try this? These clowns haven't come up with a single bit of evidence to support any of their insane claims. Look at how relatively chill mainstream media is about all of this, treating it like a totally normal thing to do.
Republicans face zero consequences for their actions. Zero. Chuck Todd still invites them on Meet the Press, lobs them softballs for a few minutes, and then *thanks them* for coming on the show.
So while this is a Fox News problem (and an OAN/Newsmax/etc. problem), it's also a CNN problem, an NBC problem, a CBS problem, an ABC problem, an AP problem, a New York Times problem.

It's the mainstream outlets that created the conditions for all of this.
And what have they taken away from this? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. So while we watch as more than 100 House Republicans try to overturn the election results tomorrow, let's all remember that it goes back beyond right-wing media.
And just like that... another headline that shows just how much mainstream media have failed. “Political calculus?” Give me a break.

More from Parker Molloy

2017 https://t.co/kiqQoWR57e


https://t.co/W18nqFlLru


The GOP got rid of the SCOTUS filibuster so they could jam through three fringy right-wing Alito clones, including one right before the election, but sure thing, bud.

“Uh, actually, they got rid of the SCOTUS filibuster because Harry Reid did it first for something totally different! I am very smart!”

No. Knock it off.

Here’s the thing about the “But Harry Reid...” excuse:

1. McConnell was holding up Obama nominees, some *for literal years* without a vote.

2. Had he *not* done that, Trump would have inherited *even more* vacant seats.
There are a number of reasons bills like these are wrongheaded. One is that it tries to implement the same kind of one-size-fits-all solution that opponents of trans inclusion claim to oppose.

But let’s get nuanced for a minute...


Do trans women and girls have an advantage in sports over other women and girls?

I’m here to provide a very unsatisfying answer: It depends.

What sport are we talking about?

How old are people competing in it?

What sort of hormone treatment has the person in question had and for how long?

Those are all factors that play into the fairness question.

Trying to implement broad policies in the name of ensuring fairness can actually have the opposite of the intended effect.

Take the case of Mack Beggs.

A few years back, Beggs was a high school student in Texas. He was a wrestler, and wanted to do it at the college level.

Beggs is a trans man, meaning his birth certificate said female on it. Like many trans guys, he takes testosterone as part of his medical transition.

He wanted to wrestle. Specifically, he wanted a spot on his school’s boys team.

He wasn’t allowed.
If you're curious what Trump's defense will look like, all you have to do is turn on Fox News. My latest at @mmfa

The tl;dr is that for years right-wing media have been excusing Trump's violent rhetoric by going, "Yes, but THE DEMOCRATS..." and then bending themselves into knots to pretend that Dems were calling for violence when they very, very clearly weren't.

And in fact, this predates Trump.

In 2008, Obama was talking about not backing down in the face of an ugly campaign. He said "If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun."

https://t.co/i5YaQJsKop


That quote was from the movie The Untouchables. And there's no way anybody reading that quote in good faith could conclude that he was talking about actual guns and knives. But it became a big talking point on the

In 2018, Obama-era Attorney General Eric Holder was speaking to a group of Georgia Democrats about GOP voter suppression. He riffed on Michelle Obama's "When they go low, we go high" line from the 2016 DNC.
When Biden talked about unity, he was very specific about what he meant, and the insistence of right-wing tools like @Kredo0 to try to frame stuff like this as “betraying his own ‘unity agenda’” (what is that even a quote from?) shows how pointless it is to try to work with Rs.


Guys like @Kredo0 want to a.) put the onus of unifying the country entirely on Biden and Dems, b.) pretend that “unity” is the same as capitulation, while c.) not giving an inch on their end.

No. No, no, no. Nice try.

Really, get all the way the fuck out of here with that take. “Biden didn’t keep Trump’s POLITICAL APPOINTEES in their position, therefore Biden isn’t unifying the country.” Fuuuuuuck off with that bullshit.

When Biden said “unity,” he was talking about trying to help ALL Americans, not just the ones who voted for him. This, sadly, needed to be said after the Trump administration repeatedly tried to screw over people who didn’t support him.

Remember when the Trump administration INTENTIONALLY let the virus rage out of control (really should have been a bigger scandal, but 🤷🏻‍♀️) because it was mostly hitting states that voted for Dems?

More from News

Durham County Council has upheld my complaint that Councillor David Boyes breached its Code of Conduct for communications in respect of Travellers. This would appear to be the first time in England that a councillor has been so held to account for such communications. [1/16]


The grounds for the complaint are already set out by me: https://t.co/0MDqO6dyja. In summary: on 7 May 2020, Cllr Boyes posted on a Facebook site he shared with another councillor a video of scorch damage from barbeque trays and littering on and around a picnic table.
[2/16]


The table was in a picnic area in a nature reserve in the Easington constituency which Cllr Boyes represents. The video was accompanied by a comment from Cllr Boyes linking the ‘state’ of the tables with Travellers. That post attracted a number of comments which he liked.
[3/16]

Those liked comments included:

▪️ ‘scum should be f**k*ng shot oxygen thieves’ [edited]

▪️ ‘And they wonder why many people do not welcome them’.

[4/16]

Cllr Boyes accepted at the hearing that he did not have proof that Travellers caused the damage and that it was wrong for him to so implicate Travellers.
[5/16]

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