There is no such thing as a hush money case, there is no big win for Trump in the new $Bond figure, and IS-K is not an offshoot or splinter of ISIS.
When will the West ever unlearn so they can learn?
Did any media outlet or a single legal eagle read Bragg’s 34-count felony Grand Jury Indictment of Trump? Here is the DA office press release synopsis:
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr. today announced the indictment of DONALD J. TRUMP, 76, for falsifying New York business records in order to conceal damaging information and unlawful activity from American voters before and after the 2016 election. During the election, TRUMP and others employed a “catch and kill” scheme to identify, purchase, and bury negative information about him and boost his electoral prospects. TRUMP then went to great lengths to hide this conduct, causing dozens of false entries in business records to conceal criminal activity, including attempts to violate state and federal election laws.
Where are the words hush money? Hush money is a mere dollar amount not a felony count. How is it right up to this very day the media, journos of different skills and backgrounds, and so-called legal experts continue to frame a 34-count felony indictment simply as hush money?
On Substack there’s been beaucoup discussion of media coverage and journalism. Haven’t been timid in offering constructive criticism of journos and more broadly, teevee news. Reducing 34-felony counts down to something that that it isn’t played right into the hands of Trump and his supporters. ~Brilliant~ Legal cases are about the facts and the evidence. For months the jury pool as well as the population writ-large has been fed the opposite.
Should journos and the media be objective is not the question. The questions are (a) should journos and the media begin with the facts rather than their own take (b) possess enough knowledge to write or speak to the subject matter? Those who don’t speak to the facts and don’t possess a modicum of subject knowledge are not journos or experts. Substituting opinion while omitting obvious, certain, widely known facts is not journalism nor it is what experts are duty-bound to do. How in the world will they attempt to explain up to 34 felony guilty verdicts as mere hush money? Breaking News: Trump found guilty on all 34 counts in the hush money case as if he paid 34 different people and as if paying hush money is a crime. It’s not like the NYT, WaPo, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, Fox News Channel, CNN, and MSNBC don’t employ don’t wordsmiths who fancy themselves as wordmeisters.
How in the world can any journo write Trump had a big win in the New York State fraud case because an Appeal Court reduced the Bond dollar amount and added 10days to pay it? That ain’t a win, it’s simply less of a loss in money and time. And most of all was foreseeable and was one of the most likely outcomes. How is coming up with 175M$ in 10days a win? Trump has to come up with the $amount because he lost. Once again the media and journos found a way to spin Trump lose into a Trump win?
Makes me wonder if they are better suited to go to work in Moscow for Putin, in a fact and knowledge free journo utopia. As it is the West’s reporting on the Crocus City Hall attack was on par with framing a 34count felony indictment as hush money.
Putin and Ru state media framing the attack as barbaric and terrorism is the very definition of rich in irony. Not to be outdone western media and “terrorism experts” identify the attackers as being from IS-K which they further describe as a splinter group or offshoot of ISIS. In the Arab world and the greater Muslim world (Sunni-Shia-Sufi) the word they apply to these people is Khawarij or al-Khariji (which is a smear which in today’s vernacular translates to getdafuqoutofhere).
al-Shurat aka Khawarji go back 13 plus centuries. If anything, AQ/affiliates, ISIS/daesh, the Taliban as well as the scores of black flaggers in Sy and Ir, as well as in SEA and Africa are the splinter groups and offshoots of al-Shurat. So-called ISIS-K take their name and identify with a single passage in the Holy Qu’’an “And there are those who would dedicate their lives to Allah’s pleasure. And Allah is Ever Gracious to ˹His˺ servant.” They take this literally to mean they live and breathe to serve Allah no one or nothing else, in short they reject their own mortal life. ,
In the West the closest in philosophical terms are most orders of Nuns/Sisters, Monks, and in the East, Buddhist Monks and Nuns. Where they diverge is on the definition of unbeliever, believer, and when the use of the sword is justified. that
In the US the consensus of the dawn of so-called Islamic terrorism against the West began with the Beirut Barracks bombings in October 1983. Fifty years elapsed since then including multiple “wars” with black flaggers yet in the US and most of the West the 13 centuries of al-Shurat mean nothing and play no role in “today’s” world.
Makes as much sense as drawing a timeline of Western authors, poets, playwrights, and historians at a date certain while proclaiming those who came before had zero, zilch, nada impact on writing. Seems as if they already did just that with journalism.
~Am grateful~
I share your outrage, disgust and pessimism over the current batch of 'journalists'. Simply stenographers, most are employed by the five major media owners who overtly or covertly shape the message to their benefactors' and owners' demands. The favorable court outcomes and press coverage tRump receives, and conversely the negatives Biden engenders, is to ensure the horse race, clicks and money continue to flow until the election - and since no matter the outcome, it will be contested - and beyond. I am becoming progressively more sure we have crossed the Rubicon and there is no going back...
Where to start, where to start? The journos seem to have fallen in love with their handy catchphrase: "HUSH MONEY." Yes, it's catchier if they don't include "in order to conceal damaging information and unlawful activity from American voters before and after the 2016 election." Do they use this phrase to describe, say, the bribes paid by corporate entities to conceal their exploitation of workers and their toxic-waste dumps?
I went looking for more info on al-Shurat -- and discovered something I did not expect: Shurat HaDin is an Israeli NGO that claims to have been inspired by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) but already I have my doubts. (Source: Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shurat_HaDin, but there's plenty of other info out there.)
Something I've observed over the decades: When "our" side does it, it's fighting for freedom. When "their" side does it, it's terrorism.