Tag: politics

Fox News apology mashup

Here’s a funny (to me) video about current political events. If you want to skip this post, I understand. Also, there’s a serious intro to give it context (since a certain news site is ignoring it).

If you haven’t heard, Fox News just settled with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million. That’s a lot of money! It’s because Fox News intentionally misled their viewers, claiming there was voting fraud in the 2020 election and that Dominion’s machines were corrupt. There’s no proof of fraud, but there’s plenty of proof from inside recordings that Fox News knew the election fraud story was fraudulent, yet they pushed it anyway*. Fox News didn’t want the court case to proceed, with their top TV entertainers** possibly having to testify, so they settled.

An unfortunate part of this settlement is that Fox News didn’t have to admit to its viewers that they misled them. So no official apology, and thus people that only watch Fox News may continue to be misled by propaganda. In response to this, Stephen Colbert made a compilation of Fox News TV personalities admitting to what they did. This is funny (FYI, this clip starts right before the mashup):

For the record, I’m not necessarily against Fox News — just against lying and propaganda. They’re doing much harm to the country by continuing to promote the big lie of voter fraud when there’s been no evidence. I realize Donald Trump still says there is “massive evidence”, but it’s way beyond time to put up or shut up. He had 60+ court cases where no actual evidence was presented. (Some of those were actually humorous, if you read the pre-trial discussions between the judges and lawyers. Should I write on those?)

* Apparently “Fair & Balanced” means “We’re all for Trump, and everything bad is Biden’s fault”.

** In a previous defamation lawsuit, Fox News said their TV news hosts are entertainers, not to be taken seriously. The actual wording, from Fox News lawyers about Tucker Carlson: “cannot be understood to have been stating facts, but instead that he was delivering an opinion using hyperbole for effect”, and the judge agreed, saying, “Given Mr. Carlson’s reputation, any reasonable viewer ‘arrive[s] with an appropriate amount of skepticism’ about the statements he makes.” There’s a previous defamation lawsuit where the Fox News laywers claimed that the TV hosts are entertainers and thus not to be held to the standard of speaking truth. That’s a lame cop-out, and I’m surprised it worked, because “Fox News” is the name of the channel, and it’s displayed on the screen most of the time, so they are marketing themselves as news. Can they just adopt a new identity as it suits them, regardless of who they are? I figured they were against such things…

Sorry about all the seriousness here — I know some of you come here for randomness. I wasn’t going to write on the lawsuit, but found that video clip funny.

If I may close with a quick public service announcement: Get your news from multiple sources, and not all that are only conservative or liberal. Actual news is facts. Any news source that tells you who is to blame or who to be mad at is pushing an agenda.

Now I’ll return you to your regularly scheduled randomness…

improving Trump’s NFT digital trading cards

Before the randomness, here’s the backstory in case you hadn’t heard about it (which is somewhat random on its own).

Recently former President Donald Trump teased a “MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT” coming up, so some people wondered if he was creating his own political party or announcing his Vice-President. Well, apparently “MAJOR” has different meanings for some people. His big news was that he’s selling digital trading cards (NFTs) of himself in Photoshopped images for $99 each.

What’s funny about it is how the video commercial was done, and how crazy the cards are (in that they don’t represent his actual life at all). See for yourself: Collect Trump Cards. He tries to make a couple of self-deprecating comments, but you know it’s not sincere because he immediately says he’s better than Lincoln and Washington. You can win a chance for dinner with him. It might be eating hamburgers at McDonald’s. 🙂 Watching the video, I wonder if Trump refused to do any reshoots of his presentation or if all the other takes were somehow worse. 🙂

He says in the video that these make “a great Christmas gift”. What follows is just my advice, so do whatever you want with it, but I’d recommend to NOT give one of these to anybody even if they’re a big Trump fan. They are NFTs, which mean they exist in the “cloud” (or, rather, blockchain). Basically, you’re getting a picture that is stored on someone else’s computer. And despite the hype around NFTs, I do not think they are a good investment. (Although standard disclaimers apply with any investing advice. I’m not a professional investing agent, but I will not be buying these. However, while I don’t recommend buying NFTs for investment, I wouldn’t be against selling them if someone wants to give me $99 for a picture I made on my computer. It’s a good deal for the person selling them, but not for most people buying them.) Instead of a Christmas gift, this is a Christmas grift. He’s just after your money.

Supposedly there were 45,000 copies generated, and they are now sold out. That’s sad, that that many people gave him money for not much in return. Also, regarding “value”, each time you sell one, “there will be a 10% royalty on the sale price that will be paid back to the creator”.

Okay, let’s get back on track here (meaning randomness). The reality is sad, and while it was supposed to be “MAJOR”, it was lame. So let’s take it up a notch! Someone needs to create some real trading cards (and not NFTs) that depict the more hilarious parts of Trump’s lifestyle. (Remember that these cards were supposed to be showing “really incredible artwork pertaining to my life and my career”, but, none of them do, except maybe the golf one.) So here’s some ideas:

  • Trump with the buffet of cheeseburgers at a White House dinner
  • Trump flushing documents down the toilet
  • Rudy Giuliani’s press conference at The Four Seasons Total Landscaping
  • Trump saluting a North Korean general
  • Covfefe
  • Trump redrawing a hurricane’s path with a Sharpie
  • Trump saying his tax returns are big and beautiful, and they will be released in two weeks
  • Trump saying he exchanged “beautiful letters” with North Korea’s leader and they “fell in love”
  • Trump saying he will release the “irrefutable evidence” of voter fraud in two days (which he never did)
  • Trump losing the 2020 election by over 7 million votes
  • Trump selling NFT cards

I glanced on eBay and there are a number of Trump parody cards for sale, including several Garbage Pail Kids variations. A search, if you want to see for yourself: Donald Trump parody cards.

Update: I wrote the above a while back, and now some guys have made “Honest Trump Cards”, showing him in front of a small piece of border wall that was built, and Trump mocking a disabled man, Trump pouting from losing the 2020 election, Trump behind jail bars, Trump with burgers and fries, etc. You can see them here: Honest Trump Cards NFTs. Some of them are silly, which fits with the theme, but my favorite is him in front of a partial border wall. He made such a big deal of building a wall (which is not a bad idea), how he was the businessman to get it done and make Mexico pay for it, yet it was an epic fail. It fits in with his career resume, so perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised.

important news announcement today

Have you noticed how biased most of the news sources are today? Some “news” stations / websites blame the Biden administration for everything, saying he’s done every single thing wrong, while some other “news” stations / websites blame Donald Trump for everything wrong with America. And of course, while each blames one political party for all the problems, they ignore the problems in their own party while promoting all the good things (even if they have to exaggerate). Actually, both Republicans and Democrats don’t get much done, even when they have majority control in Congress, and that’s probably a good thing.

Anyway, the “news” you hear is mostly full of bias and opinion (particularly about politics). If you only listen to one side (i.e., conservative or liberal), you may not even notice. Here’s a quick test — if you think one party will save America and the other party is to blame for the problems, you have been fed propaganda and bias. And if you are just now realizing this, I apologize. Propaganda seems tasty at first, but when you realize what it really is, it tastes like crap. So don’t eat it!

By now, you’re probably wondering why I’m ranting about politics. Well, this is a big problem in America now, and perhaps Buffet o’ Blog should transition to be a news source you can trust, albeit with humor. (Politics is especially devoid of humor, if you haven’t noticed. It’s like they just care about making you mad these days.) So to be truly fair and balanced, we’re not going to pander to either political party. We’ll tell you the truth! Although I do wonder if the general populace is ready for the truth… here’s why — your preferred party is part of the problem. It’s hard to swallow for people that are lifelong followers of either side — Republicans or Democrats. The truth is, both parties are largely corrupt, incompetent, self-seeking, and are leading America toward eventual destruction. Both will claim they are the solution, that if only their party was fully in charge everything would be great, but it’s not true. Every few years we have one party fully in charge, and not much changes. The same problems still persist and continue to worsen.

You know, scratch that. I don’t think we could make the truth very funny. So that part about starting our own news broadcast, let’s not do that. It is April Fools Day after all, and that part was made up. (Sadly, the rest of the rant is true. Sorry to rain on your parade, but it’s important to know.) So we’re going to remain focused on humor and randomness here. Regardless of our government leading us to a bad future, we should do our best to make the most of each day. Most of us cannot do much about the political debacle other than voting, so why let it sour your attitude and ruin your day? Focus on what you can do to make today great for you and those around you.

That’s all. This was an attempt to be funny about a topic that isn’t funny, and while it probably wasn’t funny, perhaps it could help you feel better anyway. If it failed, sorry; just go to the next post and it’ll not be about politics. I was just trying to mix humor and awareness and life improvement, hoping perhaps someone will look at their “news” consumption and think, “They’re just telling me what to be mad about, and every day there’s some seemingly huge problem that is blamed on the other party. I’d be happier if I didn’t consume all this. I could find better uses of that time.” Find what works for you… personally I’ve cut back on news. Watching it was often like watching a train wreck — it’s a disaster, but it can be hard to look away. However, watching too much of it makes you feel like you were run over by the train… 🙂 And then there’s that whole taste of propaganda thing… ugh!

Oops, sorry, I meant to stop but kept rambling. That happens sometimes. This blog is supposed to be an outlet for rambling and randomness, but there I go trying to help people again. I’ll stop again. 🙂

Thank you, drive thru…

funny pictures, political edition, 2020

Today there is a need for some humor, with it being election day in the U.S. This is a scary election, with millions of people voting for which presidential candidate seems least likely to destroy democracy. (I still can’t get over the fact that out of all the great people here, Joe Biden and Donald Trump are the ones we get to choose from. But I digress…) Anyway, here’s some politics-related pictures that hopefully you might find funny or humorous.

I have to agree… how in the world can we end up with two candidates that most people don’t want to vote for?
This would get out of control quickly, because neither Madea nor Trump would back down, but it would be more entertaining than the recent dumpster fire debates.
Don’t get mad — it’s a joke. Neither presidential candidate is “right”, IMO.
How often do people change their mind? And what methods might be successful? Healthy debates are great, but a lot of online arguing where people just repeat their standard talking points could be time spent doing something more productive. And people might be happier too.
Actually, I don’t want to know what people are having for dinner, either… is there a good reason to get on Facebook these days? 🙂 And don’t get me started on the professional trolls who are creating division on purpose…
Please don’t judge people by who they vote for. They might have one primary reason to vote for a party and thus vote for a turrible-in-most-other-ways candidate.

(To see more funny pictures, click on the “Funny Pictures” category in the sidebar.)