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Did FOX News throw the fight?

Much left-windrow hay has been made over the past week over FOX News settling out of court with Dominion Chinese Voting Machine Co., which FOX News had correctly, accurately, and with great piles of evidence described as being inaccurate and likely corrupted by the machines’ illegal connection to the Internet and to flashdrives.

Plus there was Dominion’s Eric Coomer bragging about how he did or would or had used his position at Dominion to block President Trump from receiving the actual vote tally Trump had earned on Election Day 2020. Coomer was Dominion’s director of security and had unique access into and control of the voting machines across America, and so his threat or bragging really amounted to something substantial. Basically the guy was bragging about having tampered with the most important election in Western Civilization in the past 100 years.

Coomer’s many partisan gaffes and showing of illegal playing cards, so to speak, would play quite well in a court room in favor of FOX News. A jury would have a tough time discounting Coomer’s claims to have illegally thrown the 2020 election.

So why did FOX News suddenly settle with Dominion, when the legal eagle work, like depositions and evidence production and cross examination and arguments, had just begun? Normally, it makes no sense for someone who has the evidence on their side to suddenly roll over and give up. And again, on the left side of the hay windrow, this settlement is being purveyed as an indication that President Trump was wrong to criticize the 2020 election outcome. This legal settlement is being interpreted by some as a vindication of Biden’s claim to have won the 2020 election fair and square.

So here is what seems to be happening to my jaded eyes: FOX News sure looks like it is unnecessarily rolling over and dying in order to paint the widespread claims of 2020 election interference and vote fraud as baseless, empty, and without merit.

And why would FOX News do this?

Because FOX News is owned by never-Trumper Republican Rupert Murdoch and his two registered Never-Trumper Democrat Party sons.

Not too long ago the Murdochs had already gone to one great and painful length to hurt President Trump’s 2024 re-election possibilities by officially declaring Trump persona non exista and persona non grata on FOX News. That is, FOX News reporters and talking heads and hosts were/ are not allowed to even mention President Donald J. Trump’s name on air, unless it is in a negative context. The Murdoch family’s goal is to make Trump invisible and thereby politically irrelevant.

The Murdochs’ political declaration of war on Trump via a supposed news reporting channel is an open declaration of war against the politically conservative FOX News audience. This is not a bluff, this is literally laying all your cards on the table, come what may. It carries real risk to the FOX News brand and to the Murdochs’ financial future.

So…Dominion…when it has now become apparent to everyone watching American politics that all the bogus criticism of Trump and the fake lawsuits against Trump and the fake criminal accusations against Trump are not only having no effect on Trump’s standing with American voters, but are actually bolstering his claim among voters to be the greatest innocent political victim in human history, and thus bolstering his just demand to be the re-elected president in 2024, it appears that the Murdoch Family had only one card left to play: The Dominion card, which looks to me like either the Joker card or the Suicide King card.

The FOX News settlement with Dominion appears to be a last-ditch effort by Trump’s FOX-RINO enemies to undermine his complaints about the 2020 election.

Because normal people would not normally give up the princely sum of $787 million dollars to settle with someone they believe to be unworthy of the money, it appears that the Murdochs are falling on their sword here to create the very public impression that they were unable to press forward with the Dominion lawsuit. Because, you know, the 2020 election “was soooo secure” and “sooooo clean.” Because in truth it was not, but such is the Murdoch family’s collective hatred for President Trump that they will deliberately pop a sacrifice fly ball or throw the fight in order to help the other side win, even at such a great financial and credibility cost to themselves.

And here is the thing the Murdoch family members don’t realize about this crazy expensive gesture of theirs: Normal people are already hip to the crazy shit that super rich people like the Murdochs do, and this throwing of the fight with Dominion looks like just more crazy rich people shit.

And given how corrupt all the Never Trumper people have been, all the lies they have told and unethical things they have done to try to stop President Trump, who is to say that this “settlement” isn’t just an even bigger charade, where Dominion quietly signs the money back over to FOX News? These people, Dominion and FOX News and the Murdochs, have very little credibility with most Americans, because it already looks like they will sell their grandmas for ten bucks to try to hurt Trump, again.

Long Live King President Donald John Trump, mofos. Nice try, but We, The People are going to run the table next year and coronate our guy, our hero, our savior.

UPDATE: FOX News has terminated its employment relationship with host Tucker Carlson, one of the very few journalists remaining at FOX News who was trusted by at least half of America (conservatives). This is yet another act by establishment elites (Murdoch family) to limit the accurate information available to American citizens. Yes, the Murdochs are damaging their Fox News business by behaving this way, but they care more about getting control of you than they care about money. They already have a lot of money, and that has whetted their appetite for getting something even better…control of you. And they can most easily achieve this by limiting the information available to you and then shaping your opinions with the fake news and misinformation they dole out. Bye bye Fox News!

Fox News played its self-defeating last-ditch card, the so-called suicide king

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PA 11th Congressional District race: Joe Peters or Andrew Lewis

Pennsylvania’s 11th congressional district stretches from well southeast of the southcentral PA capital city of Harrisburg to the farthest reaches of northeastern PA, near the New York border. It is one of those crazily gerrymandered districts created to protect a certain congressman, a certain party. You have to try really hard to create a political district this convoluted, and it is as twisted as the power-hungry thinking that went into it.

I know, because according to the PA Supreme Court, I was the primary victim of the gerrymandering that created the 2012 Pennsylvania state political district map, released at the same time as the congressional map.

Apparently my then-candidacy (as an independent-minded conservative) for the 15th state senate district was a threat to the political establishment (self-serving careerists surrounded by a constellation of special interest groups feasting upon the taxpayer host body), and so they placed my Harrisburg home in a tiny political pocket. Our home was barely in one congressional district that is mostly based in Adams County to the south (Gettysburg). It was just one small part of Dauphin County mixed in with much larger portions of other counties, and we were also suddenly a couple blocks away from the 15th state senate district.

The gerrymandering was announced just as our 2012 campaign got under way.

The PA state Supreme Court threw out the state district map, calling the area around our home “an iron cross…” designed to exclude someone from participating in the political process. But the court kept the congressional map, which is being challenged now.

So that is where we got these crazy district lines, and it is how we now have a four-way contest to replace outgoing Congressman Lou Barletta.

Candidates who have officially announced are Joe Peters, Andrew Lewis, Steve Bloom, and Dan Meuser. Their home bases stretch from the farthest reaches of southcentral to far northeastern PA.

I know all of these guys, and I would like to share some thoughts with you about their candidacy.

Let’s start with Joe Peters.

Joe has the most impressive resume of any of the candidates here. He has been a successful professional crimefighter, and a wonderful political outsider. Joe is the stuff of legend, a tough cop surrounded by bad guys, but always doing the right thing.

Peters is the Serpico of political candidates.

A former cop and prosecutor who put away really bad men in jail, Joe took real risks, and earned real enemies. He has been tested many times over many decades, and has proven uncorruptible.

So naturally, Joe has earned the enmity and fear of politically powerful shadows now supporting the other candidate from his region, Dan Meuser.

We would be lucky to have Joe Peters in Congress, though I fear he lacks the funds to get his message and impressive personality out to the voters. When he ran for PA Attorney General a few years ago, I gladly, even eagerly voted for him. Really impressive guy. Total underdog.

Then we have Andrew Lewis.

After more or less forcing me out of the last primary race for the 15th state senate district (2016), by undercutting my base of support in Perry County, Andrew nonetheless earned my endorsement in his subsequent man-to-man primary run against John DiSanto, our current state senator, who thankfully went on to defeat incumbent Rob Teplitz (a Marxist who was outstanding at constituent services).

What I liked about Andrew then is probably his biggest weakness now, and that is his youth.

Andrew must be the most energetic candidate to ever run for any office. He is physically tough, tall, good looking, earnest, religious, conservative, and a combat veteran of the US Army operations in Iraq. And boy is he positive. This kid has the best demeanor and personality you are likely to meet in your lifetime. He is from a rural farming background, salt of the earth family, smart as hell, and highly educated. He has an impressive resume by any standard, and especially for someone so young.

People asked me in 2016 why I endorsed the guy who stole my dream of serving in the state senate. My answer was that Andrew was a really impressive young man, the kind of person America needs in politics and in leadership roles. I stand by that now, and if for some reason you can’t vote for Joe Peters, Andrew Lewis is your  man. You cannot go wrong voting for Andrew, who has probably the best geographic reach (political base, or likely voters) of all the candidates.

Then we have Steve Bloom, a sitting state representative from Cumberland County.

There is nothing negative anyone anywhere can say about Steve Bloom. And there is a long, long list of very positive things about him.

And that is the problem here.

Steve, why are you in this congressional race?  You are needed in the PA State House of Representatives, where you already serve with great distinction! You are WAY too good to lose from the state house.

Steve has worked hard and smart in the state house. He has amazingly, surprisingly worked his way up into junior leadership. He is on the cusp of breaking into actual leadership, which is amazing because he is a straight-talking, no BS conservative. Steve is not a weasel, he is a force for good…in the PA State House. The fact that he is moving up is cause for celebration.

Steve is very conservative, religious, and as pure as the driven snow. Steve is exactly what we need in politics, and in fact he already IS in politics. Now that he is in the state house, it would be nice to keep him there. If you vote for Steve Bloom in the upcoming primary, no one can fault you. But the fear is that Steve’s southcentral PA base is too small for him to leverage into winning this congressional seat, and that voting for him will divide up the vote, resulting in the worst possible outcome in this race…

Dan Meuser.

If you have something positive to say about Dan Meuser, would you please contact me directly?

Honestly, if you have something truthfully good to say about him, I will publish it here, unfiltered. No lie.

Dan is from the same northeastern coal country that Joe Peters is from, and he has played the strangest role in politics for a long time.

Dan has the distinction of having blown the hugest wad of cash on a losing primary race of anyone in living history. About ten years ago he ran against Chris Hackett, a religious hillbilly who no one had ever heard of.

And Dan lost.

He didn’t just lose, he lost spectacularly, hugely, phenomenally. Dan spent literally millions of dollars on a primary race, and lost to a guy who spent, what, a hundred thousand dollars? Maybe a bit more? [UPDATE May 1, 2018: Proving that memory can be a fragile thing, campaign finance records that I looked at today show that Hackett spent well over $100,000 on his campaign against Dan Meuser. It is hard to tell exactly how much both candidates spent, but Meuser’s campaign was over a million bucks, and Hackett’s may have been right behind that. What I recalled was Hackett’s excellent grass roots ground game]

What Dan lacked in charisma and character, he made up for with money. He just kept tossing that cash around, trying to buy votes that never materialized. When the dust settled, in a two-person primary race, mind you, Hackett had crushed him with his folksy man-on-the-street candidacy. The empty suits lost to the citizen revolt that became known within a year as the Tea Party.

Dan Meuser eventually served in the Tom Corbett administration as Secretary of Revenue, the Mister Moneybags of PA government.

The Corbett administration was the worst run administration in modern Pennsylvania history.

A tone deaf governor with zero loyalty for those who put him there, and a taste for private flash, Corbett was surrounded by an army of self-directed, self-interested political hacks embodying the very worst of political patronage. God it was a freaking disaster, and it brings me no happiness to write it here.

I worked hard to get Corbett elected, very hard, and I served on the transition team, only to sit back and watch in slack-jawed amazement as the entire enterprise slo-mo crashed and burned after it was in place. Like a bad dream.

How many people went into the governor’s office, pleading for Corbett to take control and right the ship of state…it was like a nightmare, where your hand is on the wheel, and you keep turning it, but your car heads over the cliff.

Anyhow, if you are like me and four years ago you said “thankfully that pain is behind us” about the departing Corbett Administration, well, Dan Meuser is here to revisit that pain upon us, once again, but this time as a congressman.

As Secretary of Revenue in the Corbett administration, Meuser oversaw, masterminded, and approved the largest state government sexual harassment settlement in Pennsylvania history. And it may be the largest state government sexual harassment settlement in the country’s history.

You understand, this is nothing to brag about. This settlement was probably unnecessary and in any event, it was a colossal waste of limited taxpayer money. At a time of tight budgets, this is no way to spend The People’s money. At a time of flush budgets, it is going to be the butt of late night comedy jokes, because it is bad policy but at least humorously so.

And speaking of The People’s money, do you know another fantastically bad public policy idea Meuser implemented from his perch in state government? He put the squeeze on Pennsylvania businesses, like the Mob would do to extract cash from innocent people.

We PA business owners, great and small, all received these ridiculous notices from Meuser’s Dept. of Revenue saying “Prove to us that you don’t owe this tax money below, and while you are mulling that over, pay this bill for what we think, but cannot prove, that you owe to state government.”

Meuser’s assault on PA businesses for fast cash to prop up bloated state government spending was so shocking that whatever bit of good will the Corbett Administration had left, was squeezed out of his remaining voting base. Nearly 100% of these phony tax bills ended up resulting in zero owed, but it was the kind of expensive and anxiety-inducing government red tape we expect from liberals. Not from business people. With people like Meuser in senior positions pulling these kinds of cheap stunts, it was  ever harder to see Corbett as a pro-business Republican.

And this is the GOOD stuff about Dan.

Believe me, there is plenty more bad stuff. Like, recall the politically powerful shadows pulling his puppet strings mentioned above. He is the stultified establishment candidate. Good grief, aren’t we so beyond that now? Most Republican voters now know how failed that is, a party inward looking, without direction, barely distinguishable from the Democrats.

Dan Meuser is the last person Pennsylvanians need in office. He is representative of everything bad about politics. You cannot vote for him. You just cannot. That is a terrible choice. My gosh, you have three other good candidates to vote for here, and if you really want one of the good guys to win, you will vote for Joe Peters or Andrew Lewis.

Voting for Dan Meuser is voting for an empty suit with no principles, with a history of proven failure on one of the seminal issues of our time, sexual harassment.

Voting for Steve Bloom is effectively dividing up the good-guy vote and pretty much ensuring that Dan Meuser wins. We need Steve to stay in the PA House of Reps. Stay there, Steve, stay! Not voting for Steve Bloom is actually helping Steve stay right where we need him.

Voting for Joe Peters or Andrew Lewis is what you want if you want an outstanding congressman. You cannot go wrong with either one.