PostHeaderIcon Pravda vs MSNBC

My world is truly upside down. In my youth, we used to laugh at the notion that Pravda was a legitimate news source. It was considered nothing more than the propaganda wing of the Communist Party in the USSR. By the ’90s we were calling CNN the “Clinton News Network,” because of their blatant bias and advocacy for Progressive causes. Of late, I have regarded MSNBC as the propaganda wing of the Democrat Party and have likened them to Pravda.

That is probably an egregious libel against the Pravda of today. One is far more likely to find honest and accurate reporting in Pravda than MSNBC. Try to imagine, if your head is capable of such irrational flights of fantasy, MSNBC publishing this piece from Pravda, “American capitalism gone with a whimper“:

It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people.

True, the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years. The initial testing grounds was conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was. But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the fists of the Marxists.

Those lessons were taken and used to properly prepare the American populace for the surrender of their freedoms and souls, to the whims of their elites and betters.

First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas then the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their “right” to choke down a McDonalds burger or a BurgerKing burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our “democracy”. Pride blind the foolish.

Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different “branches and denominations” were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the “winning” side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the “winning” side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power. Even our Holy Orthodox churches are scandalously liberalized in America.

The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America’s short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.

These past two weeks have been the most breath taking of all. First came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, loses and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs look little more then ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beat our own thieves in the shear volumes. Should we congratulate them?

These men, of course, are not an elected panel but made up of appointees picked from the very financial oligarchs and their henchmen who are now gorging themselves on trillions of American dollars, in one bailout after another. They are also usurping the rights, duties and powers of the American congress (parliament). Again, congress has put up little more then a whimper to their masters.

Then came Barack Obama’s command that GM’s (General Motor) president step down from leadership of his company. That is correct, dear reader, in the land of “pure” free markets, the American president now has the power, the self given power, to fire CEOs and we can assume other employees of private companies, at will. Come hither, go dither, the centurion commands his minions.

So it should be no surprise, that the American president has followed this up with a “bold” move of declaring that he and another group of unelected, chosen stooges will now redesign the entire automotive industry and will even be the guarantee of automobile policies. I am sure that if given the chance, they would happily try and redesign it for the whole of the world, too. Prime Minister Putin, less then two months ago, warned Obama and UK’s Blair, not to follow the path to Marxism, it only leads to disaster. Apparently, even though we suffered 70 years of this Western sponsored horror show, we know nothing, as foolish, drunken Russians, so let our “wise” Anglo-Saxon fools find out the folly of their own pride.

Again, the American public has taken this with barely a whimper…but a “freeman” whimper.

So, should it be any surprise to discover that the Democratically controlled Congress of America is working on passing a new regulation that would give the American Treasury department the power to set “fair” maximum salaries, evaluate performance and control how private companies give out pay raises and bonuses? Senator Barney Franks, a social pervert basking in his homosexuality (of course, amongst the modern, enlightened American societal norm, as well as that of the general West, homosexuality is not only not a looked down upon life choice, but is often praised as a virtue) and his Marxist enlightenment, has led this effort. He stresses that this only affects companies that receive government monies, but it is retroactive and taken to a logical extreme, this would include any company or industry that has ever received a tax break or incentive.

The Russian owners of American companies and industries should look thoughtfully at this and the option of closing their facilities down and fleeing the land of the Red as fast as possible. In other words, divest while there is still value left.

The proud American will go down into his slavery with out a fight, beating his chest and proclaiming to the world, how free he really is. The world will only snicker.

Stanislav Mishin

The article has been reprinted with the kind permission from the author and originally appears on his blog, Mat Rodina

Ouch! Does he nail it, or what? I went to his blog and found:

Thus, it is quite obvious that we, the Russian people are not, have never been, nor ever shall be, a part of the West.

Thank God – we are Russians!

We can well coexist with the West peacefully and profitably. We can even make friends with you, but please do neither lecture us, nor interfere with our affairs.

Fair enough!

As I said, my world is upside down. I spent most of my life despising the Russians and fearing a confrontation with them. Now, I would gladly trade half of my whimpering countrymen with them for an equal number of Stanislav Mishin’s. Alas, I get the distinct impression that he wouldn’t take a Green Card if we offered him one. I can’t say as I blame him… and that is the most profound insight of this mornings trip around the world. America is not what it once was, and the prognosis for it ever recovering from the insidious slide into Marxism is not good. â—„Daveâ–º

20 Responses to “Pravda vs MSNBC”

  • Ken Bennett says:

    This is very enlightening, but what can we do about it? It is difficult to believe that this country elected this person, with no experience and no record of any accomplishment to lead. But as near as I can see, there are only complaints, and no concrete plan to do anything about the situation. We are preaching to the choir, there seems no way to undo the mind set that has been induced in the last couple of generations, Is it possible that civilations must go through a certain number of situations, and that groups of people do the same things with predictable results?

    Ken Bennett

  • Hi Ken,

    I don’t think civilizations must repeat history; but those ignorant of it inevitably will. As the author pointed out, the Progressives have been deliberately dumbing us down for over a hundred years. They could never have sold collectivism to Americans without breeding the native self-reliance and individualism out of us. It is embarrassing how effective they have been at their task. You are right that there is nothing short of revolution that we can do about it now. â—„Daveâ–º

  • Greg says:

    Well, I do have to say that avoid BOTH Fox and MSNBC like the plague. However, some of CNN’s programs now seem to play fair. An example is this:

    http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/02/kth-sen-reid-goes-after-romneys-tax-record/?hpt=ac_bn4

    Harry Reid raised the ad hominem attack of casting aspersions of guilt on Mitt Romney nad his tax record. CNN’s Anderson Cooper jumps in there and says, “No, there is no proof of this.” He also defends Huma Abadeen in other clips about radical Muslims infiltrating the government. Regardless of what you personally think about two issues, I think that news networks in general should be praised (and maybe given a cookie 😛 ) when they are seen going after both sides, rather than just one. The example they used for Louie Gomert, which Dave here likes… they have said that the specific claims about Huma are downright false/unproven, whereas the claim of the video that Dave showed they say actually has “more teeth”…so…they are actually being fair when it comes to two separate claims within the same claim.

    The problem with Harry Reid, they note is simple: Where are the sources? The problem with Huma is that she is too many degrees removed. Bachmann’s specific claim goes from Huma –> Father –> College Friend –> Organization -> Muslim Brotherhood. The one that Dave had is more like Member of military –> Organization –> Muslim Brotherhood, so the claims are much more directly linked, and even CNN admits this.

    Rachel Maddow makes me cringe when I see her talking, on any program, about anything. So did Glenn Beck. Lou Dobbs to a lesser extent when he was on CNN.

    The sad fact of the matter is when you have to rely on news networks outside of your country (for instance, the BBC) in order to get a middle-of-the-road/observational perspective on something INSIDE YOUR OWN COUNTRY… that is a sad state of affairs 🙁

    • I am curious regarding your reaction to the content of the Pravda article itself…? â—„Daveâ–º

    • CNN was spinning like a top, Greg. There are no degrees of separation between Huma and the Muslim Brotherhood. She is steeped in it:

      …Bachmann’s argument stands; with this evidence presented, the burden of proof is on McCain to show that Huma was vetted and does not present a threat to National Security. Bachmann’s 16-page letter was not only regarding the Abedins, but “Brotherhood infiltration” in general… After examining this we believe that we provide ample proof for Huma’s involvement, ties and relationship with members of the Muslim Brotherhood… It becomes then obvious that Huma Abedin likely knew:

      1—That the organization to which her family belonged was founded with the help of Al-Qaeda Godfather Abdullah Omar Naseef.
      2—Her family ties existed well after IMMA’s inception, after 9/11, and well into 2006—2008 without any degrees of separation as claimed by CNN. The Abedins could not deny knowing about the widely known SAAR Network charity that Naseef managed.
      3—Her mother was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Huma arranged for Hillary Clinton to speak alongside two Muslim Brotherhood members; Huma’s mother, Saleha Abedin and Suheir Qureshi who is listed by Al-Dustur and Al-Jazeera as a member. The complete list, including the 12 Saudi women members and the names of all 63 members are listed here. Evidence of these being involved with the Muslim Brotherhood is overwhelming.
      4—That her brother is a fellow at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies (OCIS) with Abdullah Omar Naseef as the Chairman of the Board at OCIS with Muslim Brotherhood Sheikh Yusuf Al Qaradawi serving on the OCIS Board.
      5—That leaving her job as editor at IMMA was necessary for her new job at the State Dept.
      6—That her mother leads a group that endorses marital rape, under age marriage, and female genital mutilation…

      Read the whole article documenting the evidence leading to that inevitable conclusion. She worked for several years directly for them herself. The truth is that without connections, she couldn’t even get a low level security clearance… but, then again, neither could Obama. â—„Daveâ–º

      • While you are on that site, you might profit from a superb history lesson regarding the nexus between the Muslim Brotherhood and Hitler (the real root for the modern enmity between the Palestinians and Israelis), which you probably missed on your way to your History degree. 😉

        If you find it less than persuasive, there is a well-footnoted PDF file of his source material, at the end of the article. â—„Daveâ–º

      • Greg says:

        I do have to ask: Is that Bachmann’s argument, or is that someone else’s? To be fair to CNN here, the argument that they were specifically addressing was Bachmann’s argument and how the Senator, herself, has not offered any direct evidence–and was not addressing this as far I can tell. In other words, they were picking apart the argument presented to them through Bachmann. There seems to be a very wide difference between what CNN presented (Her argument) and the argument presented in the page. Your claim you posted, on the other hand, does have teeth, but Bachman’s does not. Do you see why I am questioning it not only in terms of evidence, but also in terms of whose argument that website is presenting? If it is Bachman’s okay, you’re right; they are spinning. But if it is someone else’s entirely… it does not answer that argument. Upon looking at it, it looks like it AUGMENTS the argument, but is not the Senator’s words itself.

        Plus, the media already has a habit of oversimplifying things anyway. And, knowing that CNN does have a liberal bias to a degree, plus the fact that they week are stupid, it does not surprise me that they did not dig into it further.

        But the larger point is: “WHat you do to the right, you must do to the left.” And they are repudiating BOTH arguments, unlike MSNBC, who probably loves Reid right about now 🙁

        However, when John McCain says “Shame on you” to a fellow Republican, that does make me think twice, especially since nowadays he is RARELY bipartisan. I have the link to his speech in my blog. The thing about McCain is: He strikes me as an honest person and says what he believes to be right… just not during an election year ;). Were there any teeth to it, and knowing his stance about it, McCain would have jumped on the bandwagon right there with Bachman.

        As for the Pravda article, I am going to pick it apart, and try to analyze it.

        First of all:
        So, should it be any surprise to discover that the Democratically controlled Congress of America is working on passing a new regulation that would give the American Treasury department the power to set “fair” maximum salaries, evaluate performance and control how private companies give out pay raises and bonuses? Senator Barney Franks, a social pervert basking in his homosexuality (of course, amongst the modern, enlightened American societal norm, as well as that of the general West, homosexuality is not only not a looked down upon life choice, but is often praised as a virtue) and his Marxist enlightenment, has led this effort. He stresses that this only affects companies that receive government monies, but it is retroactive and taken to a logical extreme, this would include any company or industry that has ever received a tax break or incentive.

        Do you have a link to the law itself, or do you know what it is called? I find the claim, just knowing the Constitution, to be a bit “odd” since you can not make a law, constitutionally, retroactive. No offense to you, or the article, but when things jump out at me like that, I tend to go to the source itself 🙂

        Then came Barack Obama’s command that GM’s (General Motor) president step down from leadership of his company. That is correct, dear reader, in the land of “pure” free markets, the American president now has the power, the self given power, to fire CEOs and we can assume other employees of private companies, at will. Come hither, go dither, the centurion commands his minions.

        I suspected as much. His spin is “He voluntarily left.” Well, no, he didn’t; if I remember the two of them squabbled, so OBama said, get out of here. If you want an argument for government-run business, this is THE event to point to.

        First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas then the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their “right” to choke down a McDonalds burger or a BurgerKing burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our “democracy”. Pride blind the foolish.

        Not everyone is dumbed down completely; me being one of them. I still do have half a brain, and while I do enjoy a good cooking reality show, I despise Jersey Shore, and have never watched it, or Real Housewives or any of that intellectually boring, society-mandated drivel. Yuck! 😛

        I actually eat healthier too. Though I do not agree with Bloomberg’s soda law (and should be removed…people do have the right do things dangerous to their health believe it or not), I understand the reasoning behind it: Look at how much you are drinking! Maybe it would make a person or two look at it, but other than that…no, it will not do much and borders to the point of ridiculousness. Michelle Obama has it right (thus far I haven’t seen any exercise laws): exercise, but do it on your own damn time and voluntarily!

        Good points all around by Pravda. I have always maintained that if you want to give news a fair shake, look at an international news source (EG, the BBC), and not our own. The national media and everything else has left our level of intellectual curiosity and ability to comprehend things at an all-time low 🙁

        • I searched Bing on “ex post facto Barney Frank” and came up with this article, which should answer your question. â—„Daveâ–º

        • Greg says:

          Far as I got was here, and I’m not sure if this is the final text or not:

          http://thisbluemarble.com/showthread.php?t=11842

          Note this:
          No financial institution that has received or receives a direct capital investment under the Troubled Assets Relief Program under this title, or with respect to the Federal National Mortgage Association, the Federal Home Loan Montrtgage Corporation, or a Federal home loan bank, under the amendments made by section 1117 of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, may, while that capital investment remains outstanding, make a compensation payment, other than a longevity bonus or a payment in the form of restricted stock, to any executive or employee under any pre-existing compensation arrangement, or enter into a new compensation payment arrangement, if such compensation payment or compensation payment arrangement.

          So, how this bill is different from this, which was already agreed to here, in the HERA bill:
          http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/110/hr3221/text

          See Sec. 1113 and 1114, is a little confusing to me. At any rate, yeah, it’s the government controlling your pay if you worked for Fannie, Freddie, etc. Pravda had it slightly wrong, but the sentiment is the same: while I do not believe executives should get bonuses for what seems like finding a new way to wreck the economy, it is really none of the government’s business, really.

        • Bachmann is a Representative, not a Senator; but she is a member of the Intelligence committee, and is not the bomb throwing ignorant bigot the press likes to caricature her as. Here is her very professional letter to Keith Ellison, where she discusses the issue of Huma Abedin. It is a ‘Scribd’ document, so I cannot cut and paste where she mentions all three family members. Read pages 1-5 and you will have an entirely new take on this whole manufactured outrage, and will conclude that yes, CNN was spinning.

          It is all rather disgusting, really. The D’s have the long knives out for Bachmann, and are spending millions to try to keep her from getting reelected. Keep that in mind anytime you see a negative news story on her. And while you are at it, let the questions she and the Intelligence committee were legitimately asking, niggle at you a bit. Don’t you think they perhaps deserve answers? â—„Daveâ–º

        • Greg says:

          The issue that I have with her argument is she is pointing fingers at specific people–because it may very well turn out not to be true. I have no problem, at all, with her saying, you know, “Are you sure that each of your employees have submitted to a background check? Further, may we see these background checks?”

          But anyway, do you agree with the larger point that at least CNN is keeping somewhat of a brain out there, and not totally buying into either story, and, in this case, is pointing out Reid’s stupidity, and that this, despite the fact that it leans left, is most definitely a good thing that they keep both sides “honest,” rather than being 100% “in the tank” for Democrats?

          • No, I do not, Greg. Given the facts she succinctly articulated in her first letter (quoted in the reply to Ellison), which were not only available to her from intelligence sources; but well documented in open source press reports that predated the letters, together with the huge red flag she didn’t mention – that Huma Abedin Weiner was for some reason permitted to marry a Jew, who at the time was a rising star in our national political arena, without being disowned by her fundamentalist family – made her a prime example of the concerns the Intelligence Committee had over security clearances for potential Muslim Brotherhood operatives. Hillary is Sec of State for the love of Pete. A blanket request to see all of the administration’s background checks, so as to politely avoid naming those of specific concern, would have looked like a partisan witch hunt digging for dirt to use against them. Don’t you think?

            CNN had those letters, so they knew there was much more to the question than they reported, and that Bachmann was not at all acting as a bigoted bomb thrower. This is unforgivable, and only bolsters the general belief among the public that they are part of the propaganda machine behind Obama. The Reid thing was kind of a no-brainer. Sourceless innuendo is so alien to even minimal journalistic standards, that they couldn’t report on the story at all, without challenging it. Unlike MSNBC, their business model requires them to at least try to appear objective. They probably relished the easy pickings on that outrage. â—„Daveâ–º

        • Greg says:

          In that case, since you seem to know that the letter actually “Exists” and is readable somewhere, can you link me to it? I’ve tried finding it, but it’s nowhere to be found. :/

        • Greg says:

          No; that link is not the letter *itself* (seems to augment it, not be the actual full text of the letter), unless I am reading it wrong?

        • Greg says:

          THIS is the letter I was looking for:
          http://www.scribd.com/doc/100244266/Bachmann-Letter-Responding-to-Ellison

          The argument she uses for Huma Abedin’s relationship to the Muslim Brotherhood is, to a degree, what CNN is talking about: Bachman uses the “guilt by association” argument, that is to say “Everyone in her family is part of the Muslim Brotherhood,” therefore, she is (see point 2). However, there is something that flies in the face of CNN, and can actually be exacerbating the problem. Note how CNN says Bachman “claims that she is a member of the Brotherhood.”

          Note what the letter actually says: “She MAY be a member,” and further, that it is “potentially” disqualifying. This seems, to me, to be a simple question and she is encouraging the administration to dig deeper. It does not say, “She IS a member.” There is a big distinction between what she is saying (her question) and how CNN is reporting it; further, since the media is guilty, and will continue to be, guilty of oversimplifying, might the foreign policy protests whenever Clinton and Human are around and in an Arab country be actually caused by the Media itself? Basically, I think CNN is jumping to a conclusion that Bachman does not seem that she actually jumped to.

          • First of all, I apologize for somehow leaving the link out of my comment about the letter. The ‘scribd’ document you finally found is precisely the link that was meant to go into that comment (as I just edited it). It was late and I may not have been firing on all cylinders. 😉

            No, she was not making any accusations at all, she (and four other Representatives) sent letters to the IG’s of several departments asking if they were following their own procedures to properly vet their employees with security clearances. The simple fact is, as I have been trying to say, there is no way sans political influence, for someone with her background, including her employment at a high level in a Muslim Brotherhood organization, to obtain a security clearance. I had a top-secret clearance (which would be the minimal level required of the Sec of State’s personal secretary) and the FBI went to interview neighbors I lived next to as a kid, all over the country (because I moved often). Done properly, it is extremely thorough.

            Yes, the media causes not end of headaches for our foreign policy wonks and intelligence apparatus. On balance, however, I am for more scrutiny of what our government is up to, not less. I just wish the fourth estate were honest and above board themselves, instead of the propaganda arm of the DNC. 🙁 â—„Daveâ–º

        • Greg says:

          The other thing that irks me is that they point out that the Huma in our government and the Huma in the example you show, may not be one in the same; however, shouldn’t we at least do our due diligence to confirm either way? >.<

          I propose that Americans migrate to a 5th estate: News about our country as reported on by other countries, for example the BBC. They do a much better job of being neutral and they do point out when there is an opinion. Why? Because they have little interest (note there is SOME) in influencing our daily life, much let alone a Presidential election (Exception being the "Mitt the Twit" thing, but even then, the BBC was reporting the facts and the reaction)

          If you want one TV show you can relatively trust, it would be Fareed Zakaria GPS. It is presented much more in the format of a liberal arts professor teaching you about the world, rather than someone with an axe to grind. The presentation is thus: "Here are the facts, and this is what I get from the facts." So he spins the facts as everyone else does, but he at least presents the facts (IE: Great Britain's economy will shrink in the next year, the US will grow (on pace I mean). The only thing that I think that points to is government spending vs. austerity). But he at least gives you the baseline facts. If CNN's whole department was like him, they would have provided the letter on their website, told you the facts she lays out, tells you why they think its false based on other facts (instead of spin), and it would allow for a much more productive discourse. 🙂

    • Rush Limbaugh has a brilliant comeback for Harry Reid’s sourceless innuendo. 😀 â—„Daveâ–º

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