#Ole Miss thought it would be a good idea to invite #Tom Brokaw to be the commencement speaker this year. I think it was to show kids that huffing too much smug is bad for your brain.
For years now on my show, on my blog, in my public speeches, and TV appearances, I’ve pointed out that the media often bares large responsibility for #violence in the United States. Every time they peddle false reports of discrimination, police abuse, hate crimes, and even threats of death, they cause fear, animosity, and hatred.
[Tweet theme=”basic-full”]Every time media peddles false reports of discrimination, & hate, they cause fear, & hatred. http://snip.ly/o18sd[/Tweet]
The media is largely responsible for anti-police violence by peddling a proven false narrative that police are systematically killing young black boys. The media’s lies led to the violence and rioting in Baltimore and Ferguson. As well as several police ambush murders.
The media’s insistence that there is common anti-LGBT hatred and abuse has led to people’s livelihoods being taken away from them for no reason. Might that lead to some negative feelings Tom?
The media peddling another false narrative that Americans hate Muslims, and are bigots against them leads to radicalization of young impressionable Muslims. This is gang recruitment 101.
[Tweet theme=”basic-full”]Media peddling false narrative that Americans hate Muslims leads to radicalization of Muslims. http://snip.ly/o18sd[/Tweet]
When the media constantly puts down a group of people, paints them as evil, violent, and dangerous … people treat them as such. Those people then respond in kind, and become radicalized themselves. All because of media sensationalism based on lies.
I saw news anchors in my own community post on social media that Michigan’s RFRA bill would literally lead to gay people being allowed to die in the streets because paramedics don’t want to treat homosexuals. The fear and anger that caused in the gay community led to them lashing out at religious people minding their own business. One side thinks they are defending themselves while attacking innocent people who are then forced to defend themselves. Now we have escalation. All because some asshat in the media legitimized a proven lie to their audience.
You can’t hammer into people on a daily basis that white Americans are racist, and not expect minorities to respond with things like the knockout game. Which in turn leads whites to be on edge about becoming the victim of a violent crime. Here’s one for ya … the largest #study ever done on the subject found that Americans are among the least racist people in the entire world. You wouldn’t know it from watching the news every day.
He’s a member of the media. He’s one of the media’s elites. Yet he just peddled a debunked, proven lie that more #guns leads to more crime. In fact, he doubled down on his baseless fear-mongering and said more guns lead to more #terrorism. Inanimate objects don’t cause terrorism Tom Brokaw, ideology does. People don’t become terrorists because they have access to guns. Nor do they decide not to become terrorists because they don’t have access to them. What a monumentally stupid statement. Only the worst kind of idiot would ever give that statement credence. Besides, I thought not having jobs was why we have terrorists. Someone should also tell Tom Brokaw that 81% of all weapons used in terrorist attacks are explosives or incendiary weapons. Not guns. An elite member of the media should be well versed in tracking down this #research, don’t you think?
[Tweet theme=”basic-full”]Inanimate objects don’t cause terrorism Tom Brokaw, ideology does. http://snip.ly/o18sd Via @CaseyTheHost[/Tweet]
[Tweet theme=”basic-full”]81% of all weapons used in terrorist attacks are explosives or incendiary weapons. Not guns. http://snip.ly/o18sd[/Tweet]
So let’s look at the media’s influence on #extremism shall we?
The study, published in July the journal PLOS ONE, found evidence that school shootings and mass killings — defined as four or more deaths — spread “contagiously,” and 20% to 30% of such killings appear to be the result of “infection.” The contagion period lasts about 13 days, researchers found.
[Tweet theme=”basic-full”]Study: 20-30% of mass shootings caused by media sensationalizing mass shootings. http://snip.ly/o18sd @CaseyTheHost[/Tweet]
Hmm … no mention of guns causing #homegrownviolence. Just the media’s sensationalist coverage.
Violence, so the saying goes, begets violence. Now evidence is emerging that suggests even the reporting of violence can trigger further attacks. Research has found that sensationalist media coverage of acts of terrorism results in more such acts being committed.
[Tweet theme=”basic-full”]Study: Media’s sensationalist coverage of terrorist attacks leads to more terrorist attacks. http://snip.ly/o18sd[/Tweet]
Well, well, well … media’s coverage of mass shootings leads to more mass shootings. Who’d have thought? More media coverage of acts of terror will lead to more acts of terror Tom Brokaw.
The report, Mixed Messages: How the Media Covers “Violent Extremism” and What You Can Do About It, reviewed more than 600 news items from 20 major U.S. news outlets. Articles were sampled during April-June 2015 from 15 national media outlets such as the New York Times and NPR, and five “influencer” outlets such as Politico and CQ Weekly that reach audiences of policymakers and government staff.
While that last study left some things out about terrorism, it still makes the valid point that sensationalist MEDIA coverage leads to more extremism. Something that is undeniably true.
Tom Brokaw says more guns leads to more violent extremism. Research shows more sensationalist media coverage leads to more extremism. It’s the media fueling hate Tom Brokaw, not inanimate objects like guns. The media whips people into a frenzy. The media radicalizes people. The media gives them the fame they seek. Then, and only then, do they choose to pick up a gun and use it. If they choose a gun at all.
[Tweet theme=”basic-full”]It’s the media fueling hate Tom Brokaw, not inanimate objects like guns. http://snip.ly/o18sd Via @CaseyTheHost[/Tweet]
[Tweet theme=”basic-full”]Media gives them the fame they seek. Then, & only then, do they pick up a gun and use it. http://snip.ly/o18sd[/Tweet]
Remember when commencement speeches were about encouraging and inspiring the graduating class? You know, the good old days when being a speaker wasn’t an excuse to hop on your soap box after a few drinks, and lecture a captive audience.
A 20-year-old Indiana man who spent 75 days in jail after pleading guilty to misdemeanor criminal sexual conduct for having consensual sex with a 14-year-old Michigan girl who lied about her age is scheduled to be resentenced.
Hungary said Monday its shutdown of the border with Croatia had put a stop to the influx of migrants and refugees. Only 41 people crossed into the EU member state on Sunday, the government said. “The border closure is working, it has effectively stopped illegal border-crossing,” government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs told reporters in Nagykanizsa, close to the Croatian border. “The Hungarian government is determined to keep the measures in place as long as is needed,” he said.
The craven statement was made by Brady Campaign President Daniel Gross to The Hill. In the article, Gross criticized two Democratic presidential candidates, the NRA D- rated Bernie Sanders and F rated Lincoln Chafee, for not sufficiently conforming to the group’s radical gun control agenda. In taking particular issue with Chafee’s debate performance, in which the candidate stated he would try to negotiate with NRA, Gross stated, “[t]his is not a negotiation with the NRA… We don’t negotiate with terrorists.”
At the beginning of this month Comcast added a small wrinkle to its slowly expanding usage cap “trials,” forcing users in these markets to pay a $30 premium if they want to avoid usage caps (300GB, $10 per 50 GB overages). Initially, this option was only available in Florida test markets, but users in our forums indicate that Comcast has now extended the idea into Atlanta.
I tried telling Net Neutrality proponents that this wasn’t going to stop.
There’s a bit of controversy surrounding student elections at a San Francisco middle school after the results were immediately withheld by the principal because they weren’t diverse enough.
Federal officials have a secret list of 11 Obamacare health insurance co-ops they fear are on the verge of failure, but they refuse to disclose them to the public or to Congress, a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation has learned.
Nearly a third of the innovative health insurance plans created under the Affordable Care Act will be out of business at the end of 2015, following announcements Friday that plans in Oregon and Colorado are folding.
A Fort Waynedoctor is under fire after patients died while in his care. The state attorney general is trying to get an emergency suspension of Dr. William Hedrick’s medical license. That hearing is set for Friday afternoon.
NewsChannel 15’s Megan Reust spoke with a former and a current patient of Dr. Hedrick. Both of these patients said they had very different experiences at his office. In one case, a man claims he was able to re-gain quality of life. A woman said the drugs he prescribed her led to a terrible addiction problem.
Toward the end of his 19 years in the National Football League, offensive tackle Lomas Brown noticed something that startled even a hardened veteran. It seemed as if almost every player he knew in the N.F.L. owned a gun. Brown said he saw guns everywhere. On team flights. In locker rooms. In players’ cars. In training camp dormitory rooms.
This will give you an idea of how gun control laws worked. Following the firebombing of his house in 1956, Dr. Martin Luther King, who was, among other things, a Christian minister, applied for a gun permit, but the Alabama authorities found him unsuitable. A decade later, he won a Nobel Peace Prize.
How’s that “may issue” gun permit policy working for you?
The NRA opposed these discretionary gun permit laws and proceeded to grant NRA charters to blacks who sought to defend themselves from Klan violence — including the great civil rights hero Robert F. Williams.
A World War II Marine veteran, Williams returned home to Monroe, N.C., to find the Klan riding high — beating, lynching and murdering blacks at will. No one would join the NAACP for fear of Klan reprisals. Williams became president of the local chapter and increased membership from six to more than 200.
CNN’s Roland Martin featured Fox Sports writer Jason Whitlock on his podcast this week. Whitlock, the writer Bob Costas credited for his revelation that America’s “gun culture” was responsible for Kansas City Chiefs player Jovan Belcher’s murder-suicide, likened the National Rifle Association to the Ku Klux Klan.
House Republicans’ “fiscal cliff” counteroffer to President Barack Obama hints at billions of dollars in military cuts on top of the nearly $500 billion that the White House and Congress backed last year, and even the fiercest defense hawks acknowledge the Pentagon faces another financial hit.
President Obama’s lead negotiator in the “fiscal cliff” talks said the administration is “absolutely” willing to allow the package of deep automatic spending cuts and across-the-board tax hikes to take effect Jan. 1, unless Republicans drop their opposition to higher income tax rates on the wealthy.
I’ve been critical of Republican tactics and messaging this week, so let’s give credit where it’s due: Moments ago, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell took to the floor and offered an immediate vote on President Obama’s fiscal cliff plan, which shocked the Beltway late last week. (In case you’re keeping score at home, this was the surreal proposal that induced McConnell to laugh out loud as it was outlined by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner). Harry Reid quickly objected and shut the whole thing down, labeling the suggestion a “stunt.” Think about that.
