Russiagate queen reigns no more: Rachel Maddow ratings tank after collusion narrative implodes

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Once a shining beacon of hope for Russiagate true believers, it looks like Rachel Maddow has left her best days behind her; MSNBC’s conspiracy queen has seen her show plummet to fifth place in cable news ratings. What happened?

You rise fast and fall hard in the fickle world of television. Just last April, Maddow overtook Fox News’ Sean Hannity to claim the title of most-watched host across cable news. She had become a reliable source for Russigate aficionados to get their daily dose of crazy.

Sadly for Maddow, the latest data released by Nielsen shows her show in fifth place with a total audience of 2.4877 million viewers for July – behind Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham and The Five (all Fox News shows).

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Top 5 Russia-conspiracy fails of Rachel ‘highest-ratings-ever’ Maddow

For context, in January this year, Maddow still boasted an audience of nearly 3.3 million, which means she shed around 800,000 viewers in just six months. Maddow was also in fifth place among viewers in the 25-54 age range – the group most-favored by advertisers.

Ouch.

Once dubbed “the smartest person on TV” by Forbes (really), this is certainly not the big payoff Maddow was expecting, having dedicated three years of her career to breathlessly covering every twist and turn in the anticlimactic Trump-Russia “collusion” drama.

There’s no question that Maddow lost a major component of what had made her show so popular when former special counsel Robert Mueller showed up in March having found no evidence of conspiracy or collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia.

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As former MSNBC host Krystal Ball noted last week in candid criticism of her former network colleague, Maddow had “built segment after segment, show after show, on building anticipation for a big reveal” that never materialized. Indeed, Maddow became something of an expert at promising her audience bombshells that never amounted to anything.

Recall the dramatic teaser tweet she sent out in March 2017 one hour before her show, claiming: “We’ve got Trump tax returns. (Seriously).” When the story turned out to be a big nothingburger (all she had was one boring form which revealed nothing particularly interesting), Maddow lashed out at her own viewers, saying people had “leapt” to conclusions.

Ball also accused Maddow of doing damage to the left, having become “swept up in the ratings bubble” that was being sustained by “feverish Russian conspiracy theories.”

It’s true. Seemingly convinced that the Russiagate story would end with Donald Trump being dragged from the White House in a dressing gown with shackles around his feet, Maddow had abandoned major issues that are important to the American left and trafficked in mental conspiracies and outright fear-mongering instead.

How about that time she suggested that Russia might kill the power in Fargo during a polar vortex and let everyone freeze to death? Or the time she spent three whole minutes dramatically building up to ‘reveal’ that Russia and North Korea share a border – followed by 15 more minutes trying to prove that Vladimir Putin had orchestrated and secretly controlled the Singapore summit between Trump and Kim Jong-un.

A study of her coverage by the Intercept last year showed that 53 percent of Maddow’s segments focused only on Russia over a six-week period between February and March.

Of course, there were no slaps on the wrist for Maddow at MSNBC HQ for getting stories drastically wrong or failing to deliver on her promises of Trump-destroying bombshells. In fact, it seemed the more dramatic and off-the-wall her coverage became, the more she was celebrated for it. This staggering fall from ratings grace can be her comeuppance.

Boo hoo, Rachel. If you need to cry, you could always use the piles of money you made from lies as tissues.

Danielle Ryan

Danielle Ryan is an Irish freelance writer based in Dublin. Her work has appeared in Salon, The Nation, Rethinking Russia, teleSUR, RBTH, The Calvert Journal and others.

 

Democrat Rep. Elijah Cummings Rejects Tour of HUD Facility in Baltimore

Elijah Cummings

By Katherine Rodriguez

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) turned down an offer to tour a Housing and Urban Development (HUD) facility in Baltimore with HUD Secretary Ben Carson on Wednesday.

The agency extended an invitation on Tuesday but Cummings turned down the request.

When reporters asked Carson about why Cummings was not present at a press conference, he responded Cummings may have been absent due to a scheduling conflict but did not elaborate on why he skipped the tour.

Carson visited the Baltimore facility soon after a series of weekend tweets from President Donald Trump criticized Cummings for being a “brutal bully,” alleging his district was in disrepair because of his lack of oversight.

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Cummings fired back, reportedly blaming racism and Trump for Baltimore’s problems.

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While critics have called Trump’s remarks “racist,” not many people have been able to counter Trump’s claims about Baltimore’s corruption, high-murder rate, and rat problems.

“The government has been pumping billions of dollars to no avail. Baltimore is an example of what corrupt government leads to. … I feel so sorry for the people of Baltimore, if they ask me we will get involved,” Trump told a crowd of reporters Tuesday.

Five Of The Craziest Moments From The CNN Tuesday Night Democratic Debate (VIDEOS)

By Aleister – JULY 31, 2019

The first night of the second 2019 Democratic debate on CNN had some wild moments.

We’re not going to bother with the moments the candidates or the CNN audience liked.

We want to point out some of the crazier moments that will probably be overlooked by the media.

Here are five examples.

5. Marianne Williamson

While talking about Democrats taking corporate donations, Williamson invoked a joke from Seinfeld and suggested that voters are going to “yadda, yadda, yadda, right over them. Watch:

4. Pete Buttigieg

When the subject of the minimum wage came up, Pete Buttigieg, who frequently implies that he is more Christian than anyone else, suggested that you are not a decent Christian if you don’t support raising the minimum wage. Watch:

3. Don Lemon

CNN host Don Lemon was included as a moderator in this debate for some reason. He is not a journalist, he is an opinion guy and he absolutely hates Trump. He made that crystal clear with this question. Note the wording:

2. John King

John King, another CNN host, said something factual in his post-debate analysis. He suggested that this field of candidates is further left than any Democrat who has ever won the presidency, including Obama. Watch:

1. Elizabeth Warren

When asked a direct question about whether her healthcare plans would raise taxes on the middle class, Warren refused to give a straight answer. What a surprise. Watch:

Bonus: Bernie Sanders

Bernie got louder and louder as the night went on and Tim Ryan commented on it.

What a clown show.

RACIST? ELIJAH CUMMINGS ONCE CALLED BALTIMORE “INFESTED” JUST LIKE TRUMP

Racist? Elijah Cummings Once Called Baltimore "Infested" Just Like Trump

But only Trump was called a bigot

By Paul Joseph Watson – JULY 31, 2019

President Trump has been labeled a racist for using the word “infested” to describe Baltimore’s rat problem, but Elijah Cummings used the exact same word to describe the city back in 1999.

As the video below highlights, CNN slammed Trump for using the word “infested” to describe Baltimore, suggesting that the president was dehumanizing black people.

However, during 1999 testimony, Elijah Cummings referred to his own district as a “drug infested area.

I guess Elijah Cummings is racist too.

As we previously highlighted, Bernie Sanders also claimed Trump was “attacking” an American city by calling Baltimore rat infested yet Sanders himself repeatedly said the place resembled a “third world country” back in 2015.

Meanwhile, Benny Johnson visited residents in Rep. Cummings district to find out what life is really like there.

Common themes; Rats, trash, crime, corrupt politicians.

Are they all racist too?

 

Nolte: Snopes Spreads Fake News to Blacklist Christian Satire Site the Babylon Bee

Woman with Bible in front of face.

By John Nolte

The far-left “fact check” outlet Snopes is using fake news to blacklist the Christian satire site the Babylon Bee.

Although the Babylon Bee’s own name points to the fact it’s a satire site, although the Babylon Bee is widely known and recognized as a satire site, although the Babylon Bee clearly advertises itself as a satire and “fake news” site, Snopes has launched a fake news jihad to deplatform the Babylon Bee and put it out of business.

Everyone was laughing at Snopes when it started fact-checking the Babylon Bee’s satire pieces; we all howled as the self-serious Snopes labeled obvious satire as “false.” But now we know Snopes actually has an agenda here — and that is to abuse its power as a Facebook-recognized fact checker to blacklist the Babylon Bee, to get the openly Christian satire site algorithmically hidden and demonetized, which will effectively put it out of business.

The Babylon Bee is concerned enough — and rightfully so — that it has retained an attorney.

In a statement released Tuesday, the satire site writes:

Last week, Snopes fact-checked us again. We’re pretty used to that. But this time, instead of merely rating the article as “false,” they questioned whether our work qualifies as satire, and even went so far as to suggest that we were deliberately deceiving our readers. Basically, they treated us as a source of intentionally misleading fake news, rather than as the legitimate, well-known satire publication that we are. This is a big deal.

Yes, this is a big deal, because as we all now know, once the fascist left smears ideas and opinion they do not approve of as “fake news,” people and web sites start to disappear forever.

Although Snopes has been “fact-checking” the Babylon Bee since July of 2016, everyone took notice back in March when Snopes published a disingenuous fact check that resulted in Facebook threatening the Babylon Bee with “limitations and demonetization.”

CNN Purchases Industrial-Sized Washing Machine to Spin News Before Publication” was the Bee’s title, but Snopes still pretended it needed to “fact check” a ridiculous satire piece.

Facebook eventually backed off, but it is likely no accident that the Snopes’ attack and Facebook’s subsequent blacklisting threat occurred just after CNN’s Brian Stelter — a rabid left-winger and conspiracy theorist — published a tweet accusing the Bee of being a “fake news site” disguising itself as satire. He eventually deleted it.

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In April, Snopes again “fact-checked” another blatantly obvious piece of satire, this one aimed at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).

“Did U.S. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez Repeatedly Guess ‘Free’ on TV Show ‘The Price is Right?’” asked Snopes in its stupid “fact-checking” article.

Obviously, she didn’t. That’s the joke.

Things got a whole lot more serious last week, though, when Snopes openly accused the Babylon Bee of engaging in the spreading of fake news.

Snopes “fact checked” a July 22 Babylon Bee piece satirizing State Rep. Erica Thomas (D-GA), the lawmaker who was caught lying earlier this month about being told by a white man in a Publix grocery store to “go back where she came from.”

In the end, Thomas was forced to admit she lied. The man in question is not only Cuban, he’s a Democrat who probably voted for her. What’s more, witnesses claim she was the one screaming “go back,” not him.

Anyway, the Babylon Bee satire piece was titled: “Georgia Lawmaker Claims Chick-Fil-A Employee Told Her To Go Back To Her Country, Later Clarifies He Actually Said ‘My Pleasure.’”

But for its pedantic “fact check,” Snopes accused the Babylon Bee of deliberately misleading people.

“We’re not sure if fanning the flames of controversy and muddying the details of a news story classify an article as ‘satire,’” Snopes wrote as its sub-headline, adding:

The Babylon Bee has managed to fool readers with its brand of satire in the past. This particular story was especially confusing for some readers, however, as it closely mirrored the events of a genuine news story, with the exception of the website’s changing the location from “Publix” to the more controversial Chick-Fil-A.

Babylon Bee founder Adam Ford exposes Snopes in this must-read Twitter thread.

Over the past couple years, Snopes has “fact-checked” the Babylon Bee some 20 times! But if you look at the most recent “fact-checks,” the nine since June of last year, they are all in defense of leftists: Bernie Sanders. Ilhan Omar, CNN, Bill Clinton, California legislators, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, etc.

Although the Babylon Bee regularly satirizes President Trump, Republicans, and even Christians, it is quite telling that Snopes — which falsely identifies itself as non-partisan — never rushes in to save right-leaning targets from the Babylon Bee’s effort to mislead people.

Obviously, what we have here is CNN and Snopes manufacturing a “fake news” controversy as a means to blacklist a satire site — not because the satire site is effective at spreading fake news, but because it is  effective at mocking the media, Democrat politicians, and their inane ideas; effective at using comedy to illuminate a truth the far-leftists at Snopes do not want illuminated.

Thankfully, the Babylon Bee sees this “latest smear from Snopes [as] both dishonest and disconcerting.”

“Snopes appears to be actively engaged in an effort to discredit and deplatform us. While we wish it wasn’t necessary, we have retained a law firm to retain us in this matter,” the statement reads.

Baltimore Is Spending $66M in Federal Grants This Year

Baltimore Mayor Bernard "Jack" Young speaks during a news conference announcing a new collaboration in an effort to reduce homelessness in Baltimore City, Tuesday, July 2, 2019, in Baltimore. Through the initiative, eligible Medicaid participants will receive permanent housing and services they need to prevent a return to homelessness. (AP …

By Joshua Caplan and Ezra Dulis

Baltimore Mayor Bernard “Jack” Young (D) said Monday that President Donald Trump should send federal assistance to the troubled Maryland city instead of criticizing its management — though the mayor’s budget is already spending $66 million in federal grants this year alone.

“If he really wants to, he needs to send us the federal assistance — not only to Baltimore, to cities around this country that are in the same situation that Baltimore is in — but he’s so interested in childish tweets,” Young (pictured) said in an interview with CNN New Dayco-host John Berman.

Young’s remarks follow a string of fierce criticisms from President Donald Trump directed at Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), whose district encompasses Baltimore. Over the weekend, the president blasted the 13-term congressman for the Maryland city’s worsening conditions, calling it a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess” and a “very dangerous & filthy place.” He also said conditions in the city are “far worse” and than those at the U.S.-Mexico border detention centers.

“I mean, if you want to help us, help us. Don’t talk about it, send the resources we need to rebuild America,” Young stated. “He’s talking about he wants to ‘make American great again.’ Put the money in the cities that need it the most and that way you can make America great again.”

According to the official copy of the city’s Fiscal Year 2019 budget, Baltimore is already spending “$66.3 million in federal grants,” and its “federal fund operating appropriation is budgeted at $165.9 million.”

“In Fiscal 2019… the Federal government is providing a combined $30 million for the renovation of City streets, highways, and traffic engineering projects,” the document reads on page 185.

Several line items of “Federal Fund Appropriation” include $1 million for “general services,” $2.38 million for “Youth Violence Prevention,” $8.77 million for “Housing and Community Development,” and a whopping $29.19 million for “HIV Treatment Services for the Uninsured.”

The city’s budget was finalized under former mayor Catherine Pugh, who resigned just months ago amid a scandal alleging “self-dealing” arrangements, where entities seeking to do business with the city reportedly bought thousands of copies of a children’s book by Pugh to boost its sales numbers. Young, who was city council president at the time of her resignation, became acting mayor and will potentially face his first election for the position in 2020.

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If President Trump were to send federal assistance to Baltimore, he would not be the first president to do so in the last decade. In 2009, Baltimore received $1.8 billion from then-President Barack Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) — however — the Democrat-controlled city has yet to see its fortunes turn around despite the massive investment.

As the Washington Free Beacon reported, the Obama administration allocated $1.8 billion of its 2009 stimulus to Baltimore. Of the investment, $26.5 million was aimed at crime prevention, $26 million to revitalize vacant buildings, and $9.5 million to tackle homelessness.

Despite receiving considerable aid, violence continues to plague Baltimore with homicides on track to pass 300 for the fifth consecutive year. A Breitbart News analysis of 2018 homicide rates shows Baltimore’s homicide rate, which stands at 51 per 100,000 residents, was, in fact, “higher than Honduras and nearly the same as in El Salvador.”

Video: On Eve of Debates, People in Detroit Struggle to Name Democrat Presidential Candidates

By Kristinn Taylor

Man-and-woman on the street interviews in Detroit done on the eve of this week’s two-night Democratic Party presidential debates show that even the front running candidates are not very well known among voters.

The interviews were conducted by Spectrum News reporter Lindsay Oliver and posted by Spectrum to Twitter. The debates, hosted by CNN, are airing Tuesday and Wednesday night with ten candidates each night.

In the video, Oliver holds up official photos of the candidates for people to identify. It does not go well for the candidates. However, it is not a total disaster for the Democrats as some voters do recognize more than one candidate and some know what the candidate they support looks like–even if they don’t know the candidate’s name.

Spectrum is providing all-day coverage of the debates.
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Even leading candidate Joe Biden, former two-term vice president who served in the Senate for decades, goes unrecognized by a Democrat voter.

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