matt drudge

Leave it to Matt Drudge to come up with some new conspiracy that all the little minions on the right can latch onto. Today's conspiracy involves the release of October's jobs numbers. Here's the headline he is pushing right now:

Mystery? Oh must be bad numbers and Obama is going to wait until after the election!!!

But let's look at the article that Drudge is linking.

“It is our intention that Friday will be business as usual,” said Carl Fillichio, a senior press advisor at Labor. Mr. Fillichio’s statement provided clarity to an earlier Labor statement that said the agency would assess how to handle data releases this week after the “weather emergency” is over.

Friday’s employment report will be the final read on the labor market ahead of the November elections. Initial reports that a delay was possible briefly fueled speculation that the jobs data, good or bad, might not be revealed until after the elections.

Federal government offices in Washington are closed Monday and may be shut again Tuesday due to the storm.

(emphasis added)

Apparently Matt Drudge hasn't realized that there is a hurricane battering the east coast right now and that has shut everything down. You really think he would notice though, considering right above that headline is this:

Here's what you see right now on Drudge:

Get that? The feds are going after a Christian! Talk about bullshit headlines, this one takes the cake.

As you can guess, the filmmaker Drudge is talking about is the one behind that anti-Islam movie that has sparked all the outrage. Here's what the article says:

A Southern California filmmaker linked to an anti-Islamic movie inflaming protests across the Middle East was interviewed by federal probation officers at a Los Angeles sheriff's station but was not arrested or detained, authorities said early Saturday.

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, was interviewed at the station in his hometown of Cerritos, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Don Walker said.

Federal officials have said they were investigating the activities of Nakoula, who has been convicted of financial crimes. If the probation department determines Nakoula violated terms of his release, a judge could send him back to prison.

Walker said Nakoula traveled voluntarily in a squad car with deputies.

But why are the feds involved?

Is it Obama trying to squash the Christians?

Nope:

The probation department is reviewing the case of Nakoula, who was previously convicted on bank fraud charges and was banned from using computers or the Internet as part of his sentence. The review is aimed at learning whether Nakoula violated the terms of his five-year probation.

Karen Redmond, a spokeswoman for the administrative office of the U.S. courts, confirmed Friday the review is under way.

In 2008 Sarah Palin was picked as a materialistic candidate. She had no real experience to become vice-President and the voters quickly saw that. But that didn't stop the right-wing pundits from trying to sell her to us with such qualifications as "she's hot" and "a great attack dog".

Fast-forward to 2012 and we are seeing a repeat. For example, here's a story that Matt Drudge is pushing:

Now back to 2008. That was a time when we heard the right got after Barack Obama for being "skinny", despite his body fat being estimated close to double that of Ryan's. Are appearences really what our Presidential selection process has come down to? Well Politico seems to think so:

Overlooked, understandably, in Saturday’s analysis and news that Rep. Paul Ryan will be Mitt Romney’s vice presidential nominee was one mostly — but not entirely — unimportant aspect: Paul Ryan is kind of hot.

Upon hearing the news of Ryan’s nomination, TMZ was quick to declare Ryan “the hottest vice presidential candidate ever.”

But looks shouldn't matter when it comes to President or vice-President. Instead the focus should be on experience and plans. The right seems to ignore this.

Matt Drudge has decided to start pushing socialism. Look at his big headline right now:

Here's the story Drudge links to, but I want to go to a story about this that came out two days earlier:

Hardheaded Socialism Makes Canada Richer Than U.S.

On July 1, Canada Day, Canadians awoke to a startling, if pleasant, piece of news: For the first time in recent history, the average Canadian is richer than the average American.

According to data from Environics Analytics WealthScapes published in the Globe and Mail, the net worth of the average Canadian household in 2011 was $363,202, while the average American household’s net worth was $319,970.

A few days later, Canada and the U.S. both released the latest job figures. Canada’s unemployment rate fell, again, to 7.2 percent, and America’s was a stagnant 8.2 percent. Canada continues to thrive while the U.S. struggles to find its way out of an intractable economic crisis and a political sine curve of hope and despair.

I've brought up before, how things like Canada's single payer healthcare system has been a big attraction to businesses, but there's also things like education:

The [Toyota] factory will cost $800 million to build, with the federal and provincial governments kicking in $125 million of that to help cover research, training and infrastructure costs.

Today a perfect example of right wing media scare tactics appears on Drudge. Currently this is his big story:

And when you read it you quickly think "there goes Obama and his power grab ignoring state sovereignty and even the birth of our nation". Of course if you actually read the article, this is what you see:

An Oregon town has reportedly canceled its annual fireworks show out of concern the Fourth of July pyrotechnics will scare sea birds roosting nearby.

Town officials in Depoe Bay have announced the cancellation of the annual pre-Independence Day fireworks show on July 3 following pressure from federal wildlife managers who said the noise disrupts sea birds in the area, the Oregonian reports.

The federal government did ask them to not have the show, and even put some pressure on them, but they didn't cause them to cancel it. Instead the town took it upon themselves.

But that won't stop the people on the right from yelling and screaming that this is all Obama's fault. It will become another conspiracy that we might even hear on the campaign trail. This is the reason our political discourse is so viral today. We have a simple ignorance of facts and only respond to hysteria. One of the greatest creators of that hysteria is Matt Drudge and he gets the attention to do it.

Maybe Americans should celebrate this Independence Day by breaking free of the shackles of misinformation and take a bit of time to become better informed. Look for the facts and ignore the hyperbole. Click on the links and don't judge by just the headlines. You'll be amazed at what you really find out.

Maybe the media should think twice about considering Matt Drudge some sort of news source. Appearing on the Drudge Report this morning was this link:

There's a big problem with that. Government Motors is the right wing meme for General Motors because of the bailout they received. But look at the actual article Drudge was linking to. You don't even have to read it, just look at the headline:

Ford to pay workers $6,000 bonus in new contract

Ford - not GM! Ford didn't take a bailout. As matter of fact Ford refused government money. Shouldn't this be a cause for celebration, especially from the free market right? You would think so, but not in the world of Matt Drudge.

There has been so much news lately of how much of a "valuable news source" Matt Drudge is. Let's look at this "valuable" information. Here's two headlines appearing at the top of his page right now:

The original story from Esquire is here. Interesting enough, when you read it you will notice how it is tagged:

Notice that last tag? It says 'humor'. In other words, this piece was a satire piece. Now this story has been up on Drudge for less than 2 hours (3:30pm est), but look at what was added to the article 3 hours before that: