The Left Amendment

                A couple of weeks ago the opposition newsletter I read—The Denver Post—ran an editorial on the threat they feel to their first amendment rights from the White House. Thursday of this week Tom Brokaw, or some liberal hack with no credibility of his or her own but some computer skills, tweeted his disdain (well, some of it) for the President stating:

                “I’ve been a journalist 50 years. Never met one who didn’t love USA.

                “Many risk their lives reporting on US values.

                “Cheap shot.”

                So I threw up a little bit in my mouth and why will become clear momentarily. I’m not sure Mr. Brokaw is the actual author because of the grammatical errors that a writer like him would have a reflexive inclination to correct but I do believe he shares the sentiment so we’ll run with it. (Attention CNN viewers, that is my opinion, not necessarily a fact and I know you have a hard time telling the difference.)

                I am ashamed I ever was a journalist, however briefly. The dishonest and irresponsible manner in which the media is reporting most things conservative and all things said by President Trump is nauseating.

                You don’t have to be a linguistic expert to recognize an op-ed on the front page where news stories should be. Journalistic standards such as attribution have gone by the wayside. Quotes from both sides, or in some cases, from either side have been replaced with assertions and opinions of petulant journalists who are apparently risking their lives by telling us what they think (yes, I know he meant war correspondents) rather than what is known. The use of anonymous sources and fictional strawmen have replaced any credible attribution they might have generated.

                Journalists have turned who, what, when, where, why and how into “What the hell are they talking about?”

                We get that your slant is to the left and we’ve been filtering that for decades. For goodness sake we elected a President in spite of and because of it. But this new brand of hysterical, lopsided and distorted journalism is breathtaking, and not in a good way.

                And the main street media’s (MSM) constant whining about the President accusing them of fake news is beginning to remind me of a misbehaving child throwing a kicking and screaming temper tantrum in an aisle at the grocery store.

                Guess what Buttercup, he isn’t the only one who thinks most of what you report is fake news. In the most recent poll I could find, 86% of republicans trust the president more than the media. Fifty two percent of independents do while only 26% of independents were more inclined to trust the media, which I guess left 22% of them not trusting either source.

                In fairness (something else you won’t get from CNN) 77% of democrats trust the media more than the President.

                Hmmm. I’m not sure if that’s in fairness or if it doesn’t help highlight whose side the media is on.

                Overall the poll found that 49% of all Americans trust Trump more than the media. Wait, don’t cheer yet, libs. Only 39% overall trusted the media more than President Trump.

                Additionally, 68% of all Americans feel the media is being harder on President Trump than they were on Obama. Eighteen percent feel the opposite and I would like to meet one of them just for the entertainment value. Even 42% of democrats think the media is harder on Trump than Obama while only 34% think the media is taking it easy on him. That leaves 24% of democrats who either think it’s about the same or they’d just rather order sushi.

                The media cannot stand the idea that we don’t take them seriously. Gee, golly.  Guess what? Conservatives aren’t especially happy the media doesn’t take them seriously. (That’s a strawman.) But if most, some or any conservatives are like me (not a strawman), they just don’t care that much anymore.

                The MSM has been so negative for so long that they have become background noise, in my opinion (had to add “opinion” to keep it honest). To me they’ve become Peter hollering “Wolf, wolf,” in that old Russian musical arrangement and children’s story.  (There’s your Russian connection!) I just honestly hardly look up when they scream now.

                Trump keeps threatening to throw the most flagrant of them out of his press conferences and they are crying foul like the proverbial (and emotionally satisfying) stuck pig. Somehow amnesia about Obama blackballing Fox News back when Rupert ran it and it stood for something is endemic among all those with microphone, pen or camera.

                Trump keeps tweeting, which is controversial on both sides. I would suggest that everyone consider that what may be controversial is that his delivery more resembles a bull in a china shop than a sitting president, not that his message is necessarily amiss.

                In an interview with Leslie Stahl before his inauguration Trump told her he did not intend to quit tweeting because when she and others in the media told lies about him he wanted the opportunity to present the truth. Stahl’s smile was so forced I swear it cracked her botox.

                Between Trump’s personal and presidential twitter accounts he reaches 51 million followers every single time he tweets. That is by FAR more than any single MSM outlet reaches in a week. If I were under attack by the media the way he is—the way 68% of America thinks he is—I wouldn’t give up the opportunity to deliver my side of the story either, no matter how boorishly it might come off.

                The left and their media are so full of their own narrative and belief (I’m on a roll here and none of this is anything more than my opinion, for any liberals who may have read this far) that they know everything worth knowing that, just like when they got their decorative rear jean pockets handed to them in the election, they still don’t hear us, acknowledge us or believe we exist.

                We are tired of government overreach. We are tired of being militarily vulnerable. We are tired of being financially taken advantage of by other nations, illegal immigrants, victim coalitions and our own government. We are tired of open borders that make us vulnerable to everything from random murders of our children by undetected criminals to that dirty bomb that could go off at a football game this fall while three guys are kneeling for the national anthem.

                We are tired of the corruption in Washington and sending representatives there to look after our interests who are more interested in coming home as millionaires. We are tired of lobbyists having more influence than voters. We are tired of high taxes. We are tired of children receiving poor educations to perpetuate a system with a union so strong it drowns out the voices of the disenfranchised with lame excuses about more money, more money, less education. We want more jobs.

                I could go on but you are in luck, I’m over 1000 words. So thank my friend Randy.

                And all of the above things are getting better.  They are getting better every day. They just aren’t getting reported.

                Fear not, tender liberal media warriors, no one wants to take away anybody’s right to the First Amendment. But don’t be so naïve as to think that means we have to believe you, listen to you or stop laughing at you.

 

                 And when we disagree with you we aren't suppressing you. Perhaps you have forgotten we are also entitled to the rights provided by the First Amendment.

                We aren’t after your First Amendment rights. Hells bells, you won us one presidential election and you’re likely to do it again.