Corporate talk radio has noticed someone is looking at them

Wait! There’s more good news! Talk radio is feeling the heat!

After months of stoking anger about alleged election fraud, one of America’s largest talk-radio companies has decided on an abrupt change of direction.

Cumulus Media, which employs some of the most popular right-leaning talk-radio hosts in the United States, has told its on-air personalities to stop suggesting that the election was stolen from President Trump — or else face termination.

This is big. Talk radio has been a pernicious poison in the country for even longer than the internet. Living in the big open spaces of rural America, I’ve done a fair bit of driving, and one thing I learned 40 years ago was to not turn on the car radio, ever. It was all ranting televangelists and Rush Limbaugh raving about ‘Murica and how them liberals are destroying the country, when the real truth is that it was the conservatives doing the damage all along.

Since I don’t listen to it (EVER!), I had to read about who the current stars are. Mark Levin, Ben Shapiro and Dan Bongino? Jesus.

Also unsurprisingly, it is revealed that these loudmouths have been corporate puppets all along.

“It’s naive not to recognize that a corporate imperative goes into all media,” said Michael Harrison, the publisher of Talkers magazine, which covers talk radio. “Corporations have always called the tune ultimately. Everyone pays attention to the guys at the top and always has.”

Talk-radio hosts, Harrison said, “never expected” their critiques of the election “to get out of hand” in the manner seen Wednesday. Cumulus and other broadcast companies “recognize they’re in the hot seat right now because the national eye is on them,” he said.

Yeah, right. They were only getting out of hand on Wednesday. From my perspective, they’ve been out of hand since the Reagan years.

A little glimmer of satisfaction every morning

After years of watching the news feature right-wing idjits every day, whining about being oppressed while advocating the shooting of black people, screaming “lock her up!” at politicians only slightly less conservative than they are, and posturing stupidly in racist groups and gun-toting militias, it’s nice to wake up to new schadenfreude every morning, as they receive their just deserts.

So, the guy capering about in the “Camp Auschwitz” shirt during the Capitol riots? Identified. His name is Robert Keith Packer, and I hope he’s about to suffer some severe economic stress and is anxiously twitching every time someone knocks on his door. The media are already digging through his arrest record! I thought that only happened with black people who were murdered by the police.

You know who else is twitching behind closed doors right now? The guy who inspired Mr Packer.

In other fantastic news, after months of far right jerks announcing that they were stomping off to join Parler, the new social media site for just fascists, all the rich tech companies like Amazon and Apple and Google abruptly pulled the rug out from under them and withdrew all support, and Parler has gone dark. Oh dear. Now they’re all going to come crawling back to Twitter and Facebook, those media sites they found intolerable, even though they had willingly given free reign to their Big Cheeto to spread propaganda, medical misinformation, and lies right up until next week.

Even better, they’d signed up for Parler even though it required them to hand out sensitive info, like their social security information, and now it’s revealed that all the GPS information for their criminal activities in Washington DC was uploaded with their photos and videos! It turns out that Parler was the world’s ugliest Honey Trap!

I’m going to find something in the news to enjoy every day for the next few weeks, I think. Then I think it will go back to normal as all these awful people get slaps on the wrist and go back home to start fundraising for Trump monuments and fomenting insurrection again.

How to wipe a cocky grin off a Trumpkin’s face

Aww, poor Florida Man (Adam Christian Johnson). After fleeing Washington DC, it looks like he figured he’d shave to avoid recognition…only it didn’t work.

Now the regret and rationalizations are setting in as the FBI tracks these traitors down and arrests them. Actually, the rationalizing started early.

Asked why they were storming the Capitol, one woman became angry, saying they weren’t storming, and that that was a “media narrative.” They were just making their voices heard, she said. Then she continued climbing over a wall.

They hold the presidency, the senate, and the supreme court, and they still think their voices aren’t heard. I’m personally a bit tired of constantly having to hear these shrieking assholes.

It has only taken four years for the media to wake up

Now, at last, in the last few weeks of the Trump presidency, do our newspapers start ringing the alarm bells.

It’s a bit late, gang. All these years you’ve been printing pro-Trump columnists, and only now you notice what kind of monster you’ve created?

Facebook has finally banned Trump, Twitter is still thinking about whether maybe a fascist might be a legit part of their brand.

And Fox News…oh jesus, fuck Fox News.

Who attempted a coup? The Nazis, that’s who

Guess who was pushing and promoting the recent insurrection? A couple of freakish ex-YouTube personalities.

They were bragging in a livestream about trespassing, and who knows what other crimes they were cackling over. Come on, law enforcement, this is a case where you should be enforcing the law.

The recent half-assed rebellion

A revolution can be a good thing — after all, this country was founded by one. When that collection of rascals signed the Declaration of Independence, they knew that putting their name on that piece of paper was a deep commitment. They were either going to go through with their grand plan, or it was going to be a damning piece of evidence when King George III put them on trial, and the penalty otherwise was going to be hanging, prison, or at the very least, complete financial ruin. As Ben Franklin said, “We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.” They knew what they were doing, and the stakes were extremely high.

This was not the case in yesterday’s insurrection. Instead we had a mob of Confederate LARPers with no guiding ideology other than QAnon insanity and a philosophy of libertarian selfishness, with no plan for what they wanted to achieve other than to keep a demagogue in office, a demagogue who also happened to be a demonstrably incompetent buffoon who waddled through the last four years doing nothing but wrecking government while enriching himself and his cronies. It was embarrassing. They had no idea what they would do if they “won”, and didn’t even have a clear idea of what “winning” would be. They were just an instance of bumbling chaos.

But like those founding revolutionaries of the US, we know some people who eagerly signed on to that chaos. We know many people who were part of the chickenshit insurrection. Like Donald Trump.

For hours, Trump made little effort to quell the violence he had helped instigate, finally sharing a video at 4:17 p.m. in which he told people to “go home” — while continuing to promote the falsehood that he had won the election.

“We love you,” he told them. “You’re very special.”

And Ted Cruz. And Josh Hawley, who saluted the rioters. And Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, who threatened to challenge the election results. And this man.

And every MAGA-hat wearing, Q-slogan-chanting, gun-toting asshole who thought storming the capitol was a fun way to spend the day. They all signed their name to a commitment to criminal insurrection, without thinking it through. When they yell, “GIVE ME LIBERTY or give me death,” they kind of overlooked the second half of the phrase, which is a conscious expression of their awareness of the moral cost of the steps they have taken.

But no, they all think they can materially aid an insurrection, then the day after they’d just go back to their offices in congress, or back home to their gun clubs and bars, whether they won or lost. This was a weightless rebellion. A joke. A photo op for their Facebook accounts. Or, for the politicians, an opportunity to pander to the mouth-breathing yokels in their home districts, assuming they can get away with any criminal act as long as they’ve got enough idiot constituents to support it.

As Marcus points out, though, there are straightforward legal codes that spell out that conspiracy, sedition, and insurrection are illegal acts with severe penalties.

18 U.S.C. § 2384 – U.S. Code – Title 18. Crimes and Criminal Procedure § 2384. Seditious conspiracy

If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.

§2383. Rebellion or insurrection

Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States

They want to challenge our constitutional government? Fine. But be aware that if they win, there are tremendous obligations to build a new government; if they lose, there is a tremendous personal cost to the rebellion. They gambled. They lost. It’s time to pay the price.

Trump needs to be arrested and tried immediately. His Republican co-conspirators need to lose their seats in the Senate. They all need to spend some time in prison, and never be allowed to run for office ever again.

It’s really that simple. If the Democrats won’t grow a spine and enforce the law, then be prepared for more half-assed rebellions by dumbass conspiracy theorists for year after year.

TREASON

Ilhan Omar is writing up articles of impeachment, which is fine, but far too polite.

Meanwhile…

Pence has issued his own statement saying that “those involved will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” However, that also remains to be seen. Having gathered his followers together under the promise of a “wild” time; having spent months inflaming them with lies about a stolen election; and having spent years teaching his followers to disregard every other source … there is every reason to expect that, far from prosecuting the terrorists, Trump will issue a blanket pardon.

At 4 PM EST, President-elect Joe Biden issued a statement in which he said: “This is not protest. It is insurrection.” He called on Trump to go on national television and end this attempted overthrow of the nation.

Fifteen minutes later, Trump issued a statement to the terrorists saying: “I love you. You’re very special. I know how you feel.” In the video, Trump continued to insist that the election was stolen and he won in a landslide.

Trump did say for terrorists to “go home in peace.” That’s one hell of a lot different from “prosecuted the fullest extent of the law.”

Twitter has suspended the account of the criminal-in-chief for 12 hours, which is rather pathetic.

Trump has committed and incited treason against the United States. The police have arrested 13 or 14 rioters; I’d be content if it were just one. They should walk in, arrest Trump, and drag him out in handcuffs. That is the only appropriate response to this level of treason.