The Associated Press reports an [e]ntire Trump tweet on immigrant aid is wrong: TRUMP’s retweet: “Illegals can get up to $3,874 a month under Federal Assistance program. Our social security checks are on average $1200 a month. RT (retweet) if you agree: If you weren’t born in the United States, you should receive $0 assistance.” THE FACTS:…
Mendacity
Babbittry, Bad Ideas, CDA, Conflicts of Interest, Crony Capitalism, Economy, Elections, Gov. Walker, Kakistocracy, Law, Laws/Regulations, Local Government, Mendacity, State Capitalism, State Government, Tony Evers, WEDC, Wisconsin
Once a Gerrymanderer…
by JOHN ADAMS •
Wisconsin, with a gerrymandered legislature and a crony capitalist, lame-duck governor, was never going to have an easy transition back to a tradition of democratically representative government and sound economic policy. The men who engineered years of the wrong approach were never going to go gently to the political outer darkness that, deservedly, awaits them.…
Bad Ideas, CDA, City, Crony Capitalism, Development, Economy, Foxconn, Government Spending, Mendacity, State Capitalism, State Government, That Which Paved the Way
Foxconn Roundup: Indiana Layoffs & Automation Everywhere
by JOHN ADAMS •
A sensible person would never have listened to a Walker Administration operative in Whitewater tout Foxconn without laughing or looking about for a nearby tomato. No sensible person would have made that operative a guest speaker at an annual dinner or written about the event without criticism. (See, about that Greater Whitewater Committee dinner and that…
Bad Ideas, CDA, City, Crony Capitalism, Development, Economy, Foxconn, Government Spending, Mendacity, State Capitalism, State Government, That Which Paved the Way
Foxconn Roundup: Desperately Ill Edition
by JOHN ADAMS •
Before and after the recent election, solid assessments on Foxconn came to press, and they confirm how irrational and wasteful is that project. Earlier this year, the local business lobby (the Greater Whitewater Committee) invited the state capitalist stooge official overseeing the project to a dinner in Whitewater. I’ve no idea whether Matt Moroney will show…
Bad Ideas, Mendacity, New Media, Politics, That Which Paved the Way
A Site on Facebook: ‘Nothing on this page is real’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Standards have fallen so low that, whether of right or left, trolls take advantage of gullible and ignorant people on Facebook each day. Eli Saslow reports how a liberal troll tricks impressionable conservatives. The people tricking, and the people being tricked, are evidence of (respectively) ethical or educational decline. First the unethical tricksters: He [forty-something Christopher Blair] had…
America, Mendacity, Propaganda, Putin, Russia, Trump
Operation InfeKtion: The Worldwide War on Truth (Part 3 of 3)
by JOHN ADAMS •
? Russia’s meddling in the United States’ elections is not a hoax. It’s the culmination of Moscow’s decades-long campaign to tear the West apart. “Operation InfeKtion” reveals the ways in which one of the Soviets’ central tactics — the promulgation of lies about America — continues today, from Pizzagate to George Soros conspiracies. Meet the KGB…
America, Mendacity, Propaganda, Putin, Trump
Operation InfeKtion: The Seven Commandments of Fake News (Part 2 of 3)
by JOHN ADAMS •
Russia’s meddling in the United States’ elections is not a hoax. It’s the culmination of Moscow’s decades-long campaign to tear the West apart. “Operation InfeKtion” reveals the ways in which one of the Soviets’ central tactics — the promulgation of lies about America — continues today, from Pizzagate to George Soros conspiracies. Meet the KGB spies…
Crime, Mendacity, Misconduct, Newspapers
Daily Union‘s Story on Teacher Dragging Student Through Halls: Weak and Weaker
by JOHN ADAMS •
For years the Daily Union has failed readers by misleading residents about events in their own area, and today their supposed crime reporter Ryan Whisner and his editor (Chris Spangler) blow another story, this time about a teacher in Waterloo who allegedly dragged a small child down the hall of the child’s school (there is…
America, Mendacity, Propaganda, Putin, Trump
Operation InfeKtion: Meet the KGB Spies Who Invented Fake News (Part 1 of 3)
by JOHN ADAMS •
Russia’s meddling in the United States’ elections is not a hoax. It’s the culmination of Moscow’s decades-long campaign to tear the West apart. “Operation InfeKtion” reveals the ways in which one of the Soviets’ central tactics — the promulgation of lies about America — continues today, from Pizzagate to George Soros conspiracies. Meet the KGB spies…
Babbittry, Bad Ideas, Government Spending, Mendacity, Newspapers
Predictable: From Boosterism to Bad Checks
by JOHN ADAMS •
Anyone wanting to see how bad boosterism – the desire to push a local project regardless of sound arguments and actual experience to the contrary – can get should look to the 2018 ‘Warriors and Wizards’ festival in Jefferson, Wisconsin. Formerly a Harry Potter Festival, it was rebranded after Warner Bros. clamped down on obvious…
Bad Ideas, CDA, City, Crony Capitalism, Development, Economy, Foxconn, Government Spending, Mendacity, State Capitalism, State Government, That Which Paved the Way
Foxconn: Failure & Fraud
by JOHN ADAMS •
There are two national publications with recent updates on the Foxconn project, and each report highlights fundamental problems with the billions in public subsidies for that foreign corporation. Here’s a roundup of the latest on this dodgy corporate welfare: Bruce Murphy (writing online for national tech site The Verge) reports Wisconsin’s $4.1 Billion Foxconn Boondoggle (“Gov.…
Babbittry, Bad Ideas, Government Spending, Mendacity, Newspapers
New Developments About Jefferson, Wisconsin’s ‘Warriors & Wizards’ Festival
by JOHN ADAMS •
There are new, troubling developments concerning Jefferson, Wisconsin’s ‘Warriors & Wizards’ festival, an event about which this website has been consistently critical (for many sound reasons). One can wait a day or so to see what this new reporting shows (and how accurate and honest the reporting is, considering how wobbly it’s been). In the…
Babbittry, Mendacity, Newspapers, That Which Paved the Way
Iceberg Aside, Titanic‘s Executive Pleased with Ship’s Voyage
by JOHN ADAMS •
Despite ridicule from countless people, the Daily Union continues to deceive about the performance of Jefferson, Wisconsin’s the latest ‘Wizards and Warriors’ festival. Readers have this awaiting them: Weather aside, Cramer pleased by fest outcome. This is something like shipping magnate J. Bruce Ismay insisting that the Titanic‘s maiden voyage wasn’t too bad, except for…
Babbittry, Mendacity, Newspapers
What Else Would a Publisher Lie About?
by JOHN ADAMS •
Across America, newspapers and television stations often have stories on consumer protection, where readers or viewers can have consumer problems addressed. These stories are popular because they reassure readers that the paper or station is on the side of ordinary readers and viewers. Imagine the opposite posture: where a newspaper lies to ordinary readers to…