Cities 92.9 Fake News Roundup # 1

Today is the first day of a new series here at Facepalming.

Occasionally, I'll post an instance or two in which the talking heads at Cities 92.9 pass along a false or misleading news story a.k.a fake news.

Most of the stories appearing here will probably have originated elsewhere, as Cities does a great job providing support for the vast right wing conspiracy, but hasn't shown much talent for generating fake news of their own. Not that they haven't tried, its just that their last major attempt at gaining traction off an original fake news story blew up rather spectacularly,

I'm calling this new series the Cities 92.9 Fake News Roundup. The format will first list the fake news claim, which will be taken from the podcast description when included. Next will be a quote from a Cities 92.9 talking head, which will then be followed with some information regarding the accuracy of the claim as well as the claims origins, when known,

With the Trump administration taking the reigns of power in just a few short weeks, and Cities already demonstrating an intent to misrepresent the actions and statements of that administration, I expect there will be no shortage of material over the next 4 years.

With that said, here's week 1 of the Cities 92.9 Fake News Roundup:

Claim: CA. Makes child prostitution legal;

On December 30, 2016, Tom Davis made this statement regarding child prostitution in California:

"Hell is probably where some people are gonna go after we light em up on this. Beginning January 1st in California, prostitution by minors will be legal."

Accuracy of Claim: False.

Describing it as Pants on Fire, Politifact dissects this misleading news story.

Origin:

This story was first promoted by California State Assemblyman (R) Travis Allen, who wrote about it in an op-ed in the Washington Examiner, and who then paraded the story on right wing media shows where it naturally spread throughout the US and out of the mouth of our very own Tom Davis.

Trump Presidency Opens Up New Role for Cities 92.9

Tom Davis
 (Photo courtesy All Access)

If you've found yourself wondering - as I have - what role Cities 92.9 would play during a Trump presidency, wonder no more. Now that the election is behind us, that role - at least in part - has begun to reveal itself, and increasingly appears to be a role of re-writing history. Some might even call it peddling fake news.

A classic example of this phenomenon took place on December 29th, when morning talk show host Tom Davis took a call from Larry, a regular caller to the daytime talk show at Cities called The Morning Buzz.

During the call, Larry pointed out that students and alumni from Southern Illinois University were putting pressure on school administrators to make SIU a place of sanctuary for immigrants, and that this action was motivated by a perception that Donald Trump had made disparaging statements about Mexicans during his presidential campaign. Larry went on to say that the belief that Trump had made these disparaging statements was simply a product of fake news.

Tom Davis agreed, saying:

"They said that they were upset about Donald Trump, the way he described Mexicans as rapists and murderers, when Trump said some of these people who are coming across the border - who are illegal - are rapists and murderers"

So, if we're to believe both Larry and Tom, Trump wasn't saying anything disparaging about Mexicans, he was simply stating the obvious, which is that some people who come here from Mexico illegally are rapists and murderers. But is that what Trump actually said? Did he only say that some Mexicans, who are here illegally, are rapists and murderers? Well, here's Trump in his own words:

"When Mexico sends their people, they're not sending their best. They're sending people that have lots of problems. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."

Never mind that Trump's statement doesn't mention murderers, it also doesn't distinguish between legal and illegal, making that distinction a fiction that Tom Davis manufactured out of thin air.

More importantly, the statement doesn't say that some Mexicans are bad people, it says that some Mexicans are good people. And even more disturbing, is the inclusion of "I assume" in Trump's statement. When Trump says he assumes some Mexicans are good people, it means he isn't exactly sure.

Clearly, what Trump said, and what Tom Davis would like us to believe he said are  opposites. A bit ironic when the overarching topic Tom and Larry were talking about was fake news.

I expect we'll see a lot more whitewashing of the truth by the folks at Cities 92.9 over the next four years. Not surprising by any stretch of the imagination, it's what they do.