Fake news? No. But the media isn’t perfect.

Fake News has been a major talking point the past few months thanks to a particular person. Oh, who was it? Nope. Name doesn’t ring a bell. Sorry.

As I was saying, fake news is all I seem to read or hear about lately, and I’m calling BS. Now, as I venture further, I will state outright that actual fake news is a major problem. There are a lot of manipulative people out there who create and spread videos, images, and articles that are inaccurate, misleading and a lot of the time completely fabricated and without any merit whatsoever. And it’s not just on the right side, the left are guilty, too, albeit not as much in all honesty, but that’s beside the point. I lost count of the amount of memes or bite-sized clips of Hillary Clinton during the election that were outrageously false. (At least we’ve got some sort of an explanation since as to why there was so much of that, eh?)

What baffles me most is how many gullible people actually fall for this kind of juvenile, overly-simplistic propaganda, because that’s what it is. I’ve had actual conversations and debates with people about a range of certain topics and a lot of their arguments are solely based on a little clip or a picture they saw on social media. Don’t get me wrong, I know people are so obsessed with trawling through their feeds on Twitter and Facebook, and it certainly doesn’t help that a lot of people nowadays don’t actually have the patience anymore to sit back and do some research for themselves. If it doesn’t appear on their timeline, it’s a chore for them to go and look for it. But it’s no excuse. It’s causing a heck of a lot of damage. People see a headline or a meme and immediately take it as a fact.

There has been a big backlash against certain networks by you-know-who’s supporters, and it’s beyond alarming. ABC, BBC, NBC, MSNBC, and CNN are all reputable, trustworthy and fair news organisations. Do they swing left more than right? Yes, probably so, but they still strive to take an unbiased approach and always strive to report facts and shun misinformation and unverifiable resources. Yet a major network what’s-his-face has praised is Fox. A news organisation that is so unbelievably geared to the right. They’ve faced problems after problems over the years for their one-sided, manipulative, and shoddy reporting. And even so, Obama, who rightly had issues with them, never referred to them as the enemy of the American people, yet that’s exactly what the bloke with the dodgy wig has called the majority of the press.

This is alarming the majority of the American people, and rightfully so, as undermining and making an enemy of the impartial press is how dictators get started, yet most Republicans and right-wingers are burying their heads in the sand. (Shout out to John McCain for actually taking a stand). Standing by and saying nothing as man-pumpkin makes these kinds of outrageous and unfounded attacks is unforgivable. If there’s one thing democracy absolutely one hundred percent stands for and requires, it’s the right to have free speech and a free press who have the right to criticise the President and the government.

What stuns me most is how pussy-grabber and his team base so much of what they say ON ACTUAL FAKE NEWS! I mean, you all heard about Kellyanne Conway’s Bowling Green Massacre gaffe, right? And Mr. Eight Times Bankrupt just days ago stated that Sweden had suffered an attack. And then there was the lies about the size of the inauguration crowds which could be disproved by a simple aerial shot. And of course, who can forget this genius moment after the illegitimate President claimed he had the biggest electoral college win since Ronald Reagan:

A substantial victory? Considering you lost the popular vote by almost three million and 77 thousand or so votes split between three states would’ve changed the outcome of the result entirely? I’m gonna say it wasn’t substantial in the slightest. Don’t believe me. Take a look at this:

But I guess it’s fake news, huh?

Now, I’m not saying that the mainstream media is completely innocent and blameless. There’s a big argument that if they hadn’t reported on every. single. damn. thing. Steve Bannon’s bitch said during the campaign that he might have struggled to have won the nomination let alone became President of the United States. It’s funny actually, because he could actually OWE the media for his victory. They spent hours after hours reporting on him and all the outrageous things he said to get attention  and to appeal to those awful deplorables. In comparison, Bernie Sanders was given mere minutes of coverage. Outrageous and infuriating as looking back, he stood the best chance of defeating the orange man-beast, but alas.

Likewise, the media doesn’t help itself as many organisations take political correctness and do a field day with it. It seems some jokes or comments can’t be made without people getting on their high-horse with their faux outrage. It also doesn’t help that they give disgraceful people like Katie Hopkins and Milo Yiannopoulos a platform in the first place. By giving them the headlines, they’re adding fuel to the flames and elevating  and strengthening their pathetic excuses of careers further. These awful, abusive, motor-mouths exploit the media for personal gain and really, the media should know better.

So, in summary, your honour, the media needs to improve for sure, but they also need our support during this war tiny-hands has waged against them, because where would we be without them?

I really hope the media and investigative journalists will be the ones to finally expose this would-be daughter-dater and bring him down, because let’s face it, he’s in bed with Russia, and if and when it comes out, he could, in all seriousness, be impeached for treason.
One can hope.

Baffled.

Oh, hi! It’s been a while, hasn’t it?

At least much hasn’t gone on during these past twelve months where I haven’t blogged.

What’s that you say? Oh, yes. It must have slipped my mind. Donald Trump is President of the United States of America. The leader of the free world.

DONALD. TRUMP. IS. PRESIDENT.

It’s been over three months since that awful election night yet I still can’t quite get my head around it.

What on earth went wrong? Sure, Hillary Clinton was often painted as being as bad a candidate for the presidency than Trump (which seems all the more and more ludicrous with each passing day) and it’s now crystal clear that the odds were actually against her what with the hideously unfair, unethical, and quite frankly illegal, FBI interference regarding those damn emails just days before the election. And then of course there’s Russia’s hacking and their attempts to influence the election. And the fact the media is only just now reporting that Trump’s lies are, in fact, well… lies.

But there’s more to it than that. Yes, Hillary  got almost three million more votes (which in most democratic countries means you’ve won the election! Imagine that!) and the Hillary Clinton campaign most certainly dropped the ball and got complacent in the rust belt states, which ended up being her downfall, but over sixty-two million Americans did vote for Trump. I’m sure there are quite a number who might be regretting that now, in fact there’s a Twitter feed dedicated to re-tweeting those who have seen the light, but there are still a large number of Trump followers *COUGH*mindless fanatics*COUGH* who continue to stand-by this atrocious human being.

I mean good Lord above and Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, where do you start? Why on EARTH would you vote for this man unless you’re a sexist or a racist or someone who condones sexual assault or a COMPLETE BLITHERING IDIOT!?

Before I continue further, I must first make clear that I do not wish to be seen as some sort of Hillary lover. I am not. She would not have been my first choice if I was an American. My vote would’ve been for Bernie Sanders. But the way this woman was treated is disgraceful. This is a woman who devoted her entire life to public service and whether you like her as a person, or whether you agree with her politics or not, making out she was as bad as Trump is not only an abomination, but it’s also factually incorrect.

Oh, gawd. Don’t get me started on alternative facts.

But anyway, let’s get back on topic. Why on earth did anybody vote for this hideous creature!? He bullied his way to get the nomination, he then lied (and bullied some more) during the Presidential campaign; he mocked a disabled reporter; bragged about sexually assaulting women; said outright that the majority of Mexican people are rapists and murderers; refused to rule-out using nukes in Europe; called for all followers of Islam, y’know the tiny religion that only has about 1.6 billion followers, to be denied entry into the country, which is not only racist, despicable, and inhumane, but also goes against the constitution of the United States  (but that’s OK because it’s only Muslims, right Trump supporters?) AND WORST OF ALL HE CALLED MERYL STREEP OVER-RATED! OK, that happened after he was elected, but still. You believe that shit?

And that’s not even the tip of the ice-berg. There was also his bullying and intimidation of Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly; his verbal attack on a deceased veteran’s parents because they spoke out against him; his pick of Mike Pence, a man who has stated that gay people  can be ‘cured,’ for Vice President; his insistence that the election was rigged when he started falling behind in the polls; his refusal to accept the result should he have lost; and the horrifying moment when he stated that he would date his daughter Ivanka if he wasn’t her father. Because that’s normal and not completely creepy in the slightest. But alas, I can’t list everything, because I would be here for a very long time and I have socks to fold, y’know?

In spite of all the many horrible things listed above, he went and secured enough states to win the election. I was on the phone with my dear best friend during the night as the results were coming in and it’s actually quite amusing now to look back and recall how our deepest fears were realised and we very quickly became depressed, furious, and baffled by what we were seeing on-screen.You have to laugh about it, I suppose. Otherwise I’d lose the will to live.

And now, he’s the President. He’s sitting in the same very office that Obama, Kennedy, and Lincoln sat in. Donald Trump. The reality star. The corrupt businessman who faced lawsuits in the 70’s for refusing to sell properties to African-Americans. The man who paints himself out to be a genius entrepreneur even though he’s been bankrupt six times. The man who adamantly refused on several occasions to rebuff the endorsement of David Duke, a member of the KKK. The man who refused to believe that Obama, the first black President, was born in the United States because let’s face it, he’s black. The man who then went on to accuse Clinton of being the one who started the whole birther movement. AND THE MAN WHO SAID MERYL STREEP WAS OVERRATED! Oh, sorry. Forgot that was after, wasn’t it?

‘BUT GIVE HIM A CHANCE!’ people shouted. ‘HE MIGHT SURPRISE YOU!’ others suggested. ‘HE COULD DO SOME GOOD!’ the naive protested. Well, he’s not even been in office for a month, and it’s not exactly looking good, is it?

Let’s summarise what he’s done already, shall we?

• Had his pathetic, spineless cronies lie to the American people on dozens of occasions. Even over pointless, trivial things such as the size of his inauguration crowd.
• Attacked a civil right’s activist, a man who marched with Martin Luther King, ON MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY!
• His cabinet picks are beyond a joke. A man in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency who once stated he wanted to abolish that same very agency. A woman in charge of Education who doesn’t believe in public education. And I won’t even get started on Flynn. Just go to CNN right this very second to read all about that.
• His administration failed to mention Jews during their Holocaust tribute. Because y’know, the Jews suffered only a little during that whole thing.
• Gave the go-ahead to the appalling Dakota Access Pipeline. Because the Native American community hasn’t suffered enough.
• Signed executive order after executive order because that seems to be the only thing he can comprehend doing in that tiny, uninspired brain of his.
• Has signed an order to prevent federal funding to Planned Parenthood, because how dare women have the right to decide what happens to their bodies, and how dare they have access to health-care?
• His continued attack against the media who dare to criticise him, or even those who simply just report facts he doesn’t like.
• His branding of CNN and other media outlets as ‘fake news.’ An extremely dangerous rhetoric that completely undermines the rights of the press.
• Signed a disastrous executive order banning Muslims from several countries from entering the United States even though nobody from those countries have committed acts of terror on US soil in decades.
• The ban omitted several countries, including many the 9/11 hijackers were from, because Trump has business interests there.
• Claimed the wall he was going to build will now be a fence in some places.
• Said Mexico will ‘reimburse America’ for the wall later.
• His opening remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast was all about slating Arnie for his ratings on The Apprentice.
• And worst of all: claimed Meryl Streep is overrated.

And once again, folks, that’s just tip of the iceberg. Like I said, I have socks.

All of this, of course, has me very worried. I am honestly scared and afraid for the future of this planet with an absolute mad-man like Trump being the leader of the most powerful country in the world. I’ve also been quite distressed, shocked, and taken aback by people who not only defend, but wholeheartedly support this racist, sexist, thin-skinned, shallow, materialistic, swine of a man who basically admitted to sexual assault against women. Even people fairly close to me have spoken out in favour of him and it’s torn a divide not just through the US, but in countries all around the world.

On the other side of the coin, I’ve also been extremely heartened and reassured by the reaction worldwide against his conduct and diabolical policies. There were over three times as many people marching in D.C. for the rights of women, the LGBTQ and  African-American communities, the environment and so on than there were the day before at Trump’s inauguration. And that doesn’t even include the hundreds of protests worldwide where millions participated. It was a pleasure to witness so many people from across the globe coming together for a united purpose.

The simple fact is, the majority do not agree with Trump’s policies. They go against everything the future generation stands for. Equality. Acceptance. Love. Inclusiveness. And the great American notion that all men are created equal.

Trump’s win, as well as the passing of Brexit, is quite simply the final victory of a rhetoric that the world is finding more and more intolerable. The final stand and stomping of the feet of a dying mentality, where those who fear progression are crying out in protest because the next generation to come, and those folks who have raised their children to not remain in the past, are more intelligent, more inclusive, more diverse and quite simply more compassionate than ever before.

And so, good luck to you President Trump. I hope you change your ways and genuinely try to help people. But if you continue the way you are; if you protect and back those who set to destroy this planet for financial gain or repress minorities further by abolishing their rights: know this. You won’t get away with it. You see the resistance on a daily basis. You witnessed the marches first hand. Your fate lies with the people. They will decide whether you prosper and actually become a champion for the little men, or whether you falter and forever remain as quite simply, an embarrassing, illegitimate President who’s afraid of slopes.

Balls in your court.