Episode 87: ALL Commercial News is Fake!

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(This episode is part of the series The Powell Movement.)

We've heard all about this phenomenon, but really, what constitutes that so-called "fake news?" That's the question I raise in this Episode 87: ALL Commercial News Is Fake!, suggesting that the answer can be found simply enough: wherever you find the most likely sources of the money that funds the news, you find as well the most likely source of fakery.

In this Episode I quote: my computer's quickie dictionary; yet again Robert McChesney and John Nichols' book, Death and Life of American Journalism; and a Bloomberg article about Steve Bannon from October 8, 2015, titled "This Man Is the Most Dangerous Political Operative in America." I referenced a This American Life episode which you can find here.

I play absolutely nobody (other than myself) saying the words "fake news." You're welcome.

I did wind up playing: Pietnaska's "Keymonica", and Jahzzar's "Little Chance." I open with D. L. Myers reading from The Memo Itself and KMFDM backing Henry Giroux, and I'm close, once again, with Mistle Thrush.

I'm releasing this and all my episodes under a Creative Commons 4.0, attribution, share-alike and non-commercial license.

Episode 86: Wedgies of Mass Distraction

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(This episode is part of the series The Powell Movement.)

There are complexities, techniques, and nuances learned when you split wood for, oh, 40 years. It's not as simple as smashing an ax on some wood and have it cleave cleanly into smaller pieces. All too often, you've got to not only bring out the wedges, but know how to use them effectively.And, it turns out, splitting wood has quite a few traits in common with splitting electorates, with issues used as wedges.

That's the topic of this Episode 86: Wedgies of Mass Distraction. (And yes, that's "wedgies," as in the resulting uncomfortable underwear bunching that comes from someone pulling the undies up another's butt. You expect lofty analogies from someone that coined the term The Powell Movement?)

In this episode, I read from: my computer's dictionary; Kevin Kruse's book One Nation Under God; Dan Baum's Gun Guys; and Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson's Winner Take All Politics.

I play Jill Lepore observations, taken from her interview in the August 3rd, 2017 episode of On The Media, an episode titled "Smashmortion"; First Lady Betty Ford from 1975 giving her opinion on abortion's legalization (the audio taken from the same OTM episode); D. L. Myers reading from the Memo Itself; and Henry Giroux at the opening, backed by KMFDM. The Necronomikon Quartett played "Future 03" in the middle, and I closed the show with Mistle Thrush's "It's All Like Today".

I'm releasing this and all my episodes under a Creative Commons 4.0 attribution, share-alike, and non-commercial license.

(Oh, and one final note: No, I did not take the cookie analogy used in this episode from Season 3, Episode 7, of "The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt." I know, I know, both of us mentioned the comparison between raisins and chocolate chips, and both associated that mention with Seattle. When I saw that episode, this episode of Attack Ads! was already recorded and mostly edited, so much so that including that bit of Kimmy Schmidt would have been a real pain. It's just a happy coincidence, nothing more.)