Dear Patriots,
Well…that was some Monday in America!
- Tucker fired.
- Lemon fired at CNN
- Biden sends out a dark video in the middle of night announcing that is is running for reelection.
We know that many of our readers and supporters watch Fox News- lately, just to see Tucker Carlson. The fact is, there is no longer any compelling reason to watch the cable channel. If you have not already done so, jump into the world of independent podcasts.
There are many to pick from. Listen to a few to find the ones you like the best. Then you are free to get all the news you need anytime you want it…without a television.
Here are a few of our favorites, but, this is just scratching the surface.
War Room. Ruthless. Charlie Kirk. Timcast. Candace Owens. Dinesh D’Souza. Rubin Report. Dan Bongino Show. Will Cain. All-In. Human Events Daily. Epoch Times. Monica Crowley. The Victor Davis Hanson Show. You can find all of these at Apple Podcasts on your phone.
1- Observations on the end of Tucker Carlson at Fox.
The Tucker Carlson Departure From Fox and the Power of Big Pharma
QUOTE: Why would Fox News fire its most popular host? On average, one million additional people tuned into Tucker Carlson every night than to the Fox programs before and after his show. He drew four times as many viewers as the 8PM show on CNN, Anderson Cooper 360°. He was the leading draw on Fox’s streaming service, and there is no rising star at the network expected to take his seat.
It wasn’t a lack of success that pushed out Carlson, so we are left to speculate why Fox fired their lead anchor. It could have been a battle of egos between Carlson and the Murdochs. Carlson may have threatened to run programming that they disfavored regarding the tapes from January 6, the recent settlement with Dominion, or the coverage of Donald Trump.
Any of these explanations would indicate that ego triumphed over financial sense in the boardroom. Carlson is a revenue driver, and the company’s stock tanked after the announcement on Monday.
But what if there was a rational economic explanation for his firing? What if the people who own Fox have far more interest in neutering criticism of their other economic holdings than they do in the success of Fox’s television department?
Last Wednesday, Carlson opened his show with an attack on the pharmaceutical industry’s manipulation of the news media.
“Sometimes you wonder just how filthy and dishonest our news media are,” Carlson started. “Ask yourself, is any news organization you know of so corrupt that it’s willing to hurt you on behalf of its biggest advertisers?”
Carlson then attacked the news media for taking “hundreds of millions of dollars from Big Pharma companies” and promoting “their sketchy products on the air and as they did that, they maligned anyone who was skeptical of those products.”
Five days later, Carlson was fired. Perhaps, his stardom was not large enough to overcome the issue that he described.
Beyond MyPillow, Fox News’ largest advertisers include GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Novartis, and BlackRock.
Vanguard is the largest institutional owner of Fox Corporation, holding a 6.9 percent stake in the company. BlackRock owns an additional 4.7 percent.
Vanguard and BlackRock are the two largest owners of Pfizer. Combined, they own over 15 percent of the company.
Vanguard and BlackRock are the two largest owners of Johnson & Johnson. Combined, they own over 14 percent of the company.
Vanguard and BlackRock are the second and third largest owners of Moderna. Combined, they own over 13 percent of the company.
Perhaps, you may be noticing a trend.
Vanguard and BlackRock’s holdings in Fox amount to less than $750 million. Their investments in Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly, Pfizer, and Merck amount to over $225 billion.
When Carlson attacked the pharmaceutical industry, he was attacking the same funds that owned his network. But those investments in Big Pharma were 300 times larger than their equity in Fox. Carlson may have stepped on a landmine, speaking the unspeakable against the intertwined economic interests of the world’s most powerful companies.
2- All the lying has become intolerable.
We Tolerate Entirely Too Much Lying From Politicians
QUOTE: RFK Jr., in his recent announcement of his candidacy for president, declared that he was going to do something truly radical if elected president: tell the truth, no matter how uncomfortable or unpopular.
The idea of a politician being held to such a standard shouldn’t be radical, but it absolutely is. At this point, we simply take it for granted that if a government actor’s lips are moving, he’s probably lying. The only questions are how much of what he’s saying is exaggerated, distorted, or outright fabricated, and for what purpose?
And because the corporate media that is supposed to expose and chronicle politicans’ lies is almost always in on the deception itself, the onus falls on the individual or a trusted independent media source to sort fact from fiction. What this leads to is a devastating decay in trust in government and an erosion of civic engagement of the sort seen in Eastern Europe in the heyday of Soviet communism.
It’s not supposed to be like this, and it doesn’t have to be. The only reason this sort of behavior is now not only common but nearly universal within the governing class is that we tolerate it. Like a domestic abuse victim who doesn’t want to contend with the harsh reality, we make excuses or simply accept that the abuse is inevitable.
We don’t accept lies from our children about taking a cookie from the jar. Why should we accept them from politicians? The only way to discipline them is by enforcing devastating consequences.
3- There is a place where border walls are acceptable. Sadly, it is not in the United States.
Suddenly, Walls Work! Finland Begins 124-Mile Erection on Russia Border.
QUOTE: NATO’s newest member state, Finland, has begun erecting a 10ft tall, 124-mile, barbed-wire-topped wall on its eastern border with Russia. Contradicting their approach to Donald Trump’s plan for the U.S. southern border, the media seems quite keen on the anti-Russian barriers.
One critical purpose of the wall is to prevent illegal immigration from Russia, the Finnish border officials have argued.
Authorities wish to reduce the risk of Russian “ushering thousands of asylum-seekers – mostly from Iraq, Afghanistan, and other Middle East nations,” as Russia did between 2015-16. However, the numbers of those crossing the border have been consistently low in comparison to what the United States faces.
In 2022, according to Reuters, Finland detected just 30 illegal crossings and the Russians detected 800 people trying to cross the border. The United States, on the other hand, had in excess of 206,000 encounters at the southern border in November 2022 alone, and that is according to the lower-end, “official” figures.
4- Almost as shocking as Tucker Carlson getting fired, the DNC will not host any debates with other Democrats in the presidential primaries.
RFK Jr. Responds to DNC’s Plans to Skip Primary Debates: ‘The System Is Indeed Rigged’
QUOTE: A Democratic National Committee (DNC) decision to forgo primary debates would serve as confirmation to American voters that the nation’s elections are “rigged,” according to Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
“Debates and town halls are part of the democratic process,” Kennedy told The Epoch Times’ Jan Jekielek on April 24. “We’re living in a time when there’s a lot of Americans who believe our democracy is broken. And I think both political parties have to bend over backwards to start restoring faith in democracy and electional integrity.
“Americans think the entire system is rigged against them,” he added. “And if the DNC goes through with this—its plan to not have debate—I think that will serve as … an unfortunate confirmation to a lot of Americans that the system is indeed rigged.”
According to a Washington Post report, the Democratic Party has “no plans to sponsor primary debates,” even with multiple candidates vying for the party’s nomination.
5- It is not just large cities in deep blue states that are having a massive crime problem. Oh, by the way, this town’s city council is completely controlled by hard-core Democrats, many who ran on defunding the police.
NC tourist town rocked by violence in wake of defund police movement rolls out plan to combat rise in crime
QUOTE: City leaders of a North Carolina tourist town that has been plagued with rising violent crime in recent years announced a 60-day initiative last week to improve conditions in its downtown district amid a crisis in police staffing.
The City of Asheville said they are taking “targeted steps” to address the rising number of incidents affecting public safety with the initiative slated to begin May 1, according to a news release from city government.
“There are complex circumstances contributing to the safety issues that Asheville is currently seeing downtown and it will take a community response to address these complexities,” the city said. “Multiple City departments are coordinating a City government response and we also need participation from community leaders and partners to address all the factors contributing to the rise in crime.”
The announcement comes as violent crime in Asheville, a town of approximately 90,000 people in the Blue Ridge Mountains, has surged in recent years. Aggravated assaults rose by 21.8%, and armed robberies increased by 20% from 2021 to 2022, according to APD statistics.
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