Selective Memory and Outrage at Cities 92.9

Tom Davis is outraged.

Tom Davis
(Photo courtesy All Access) 

Earlier this week, comedian Kathy Griffin posed for pictures with an effigy of Donald Trump's severed head. The photos created a backlash from people of all political persuasions, and got Griffin fired from some of her comedic gigs.

The incident, outrageous as it was, wasn't any more shocking or outrageous than the many incidents that occurred during Barack Obama's presidency in which effigies of the first African American president were hung or burned. There was even that time that Ted Nugent waved two machine guns on a stage during a performance while yelling "Obama, he's a piece of shit! I told him to suck on my machine gun!" Conservative newspapers have even printed cartoons of Obama that are blatantly racist:

Those incidents seem to have fallen into the Cities 92.9 memory hole. 

TOM DAVIS: "You know, I can think of the times that many people disagreed with the politics of Mr. Clinton, or Mr. Obama, not once did I see a severed head of those presidents anywhere in social media. However, when it comes to a person of the conservative persuasion, you know, death is always something that seems to be kind of like the tickle spot for some of those who just can't stand conservatives."

I don't recall seeing a severed head of those other presidents on social media either, but I've seen things that were just as bad, if not worse, from the conservative side of the spectrum. And when it happened during the Obama years, Obama and those around him - being classy people - said absolutely nothing. Donald Trump's son Donald Trump Jr on the other hand, used this incident as an opportunity to tarnish the entire left:

DONALD TRUMP Jr: "Disgusting but not surprising. This is the left today. They consider this acceptable. Imagine a conservative did this to Obama as POTUS?"

Of course, the only people who have to imagine a conservative doing something like this are those like Trump Jr, who chose to be willfully ignorant during the Obama years.

Cities 92.9 Fake News Roundup # 2

Claim: Researchers at MIT conclude that Paris Climate Accord would have little to no impact on the climate.

On June 2, Tom Davis made the following statement regarding the Paris Climate Accord, which Donald Trump had pledged to withdraw the U.S. from the day before:

TOM DAVIS:"When the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT for short, compiled the pledges and compared them with its own preexisting projection they found that the temperature reduction by the year 2100 was only 0.2 degrees Celsius. When the analysts compared the pledges with the projection created by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change back in 2000, they found, get this, no change at all."

Accuracy of Claim: Misleading

MIT issued a statement calling this talking point misleading after right wing news outlets began using it as a talking point in support of Trump's pledge to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord.

From MIT's statement:

"The researchers in MIT’s Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change who led the relevant analysis find this statement to be misleading, for two reasons.

First, the 0.2 degree-figure used in the talking point reflects the incremental impact of the Paris Agreement compared with the earlier Copenhagen agreement.  If you instead compare the impact of the Paris Agreement to no climate policy, then the temperature reduction is much larger, on the order of 1 degree Celsius — 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit — by 2100. This would be a significant reduction in the global temperature rise, though much more is needed if the world is to achieve its goal of limiting warming to 2 degrees Celsius or less.

Second, the analysis accounts only for countries’ pledges under the Paris Agreement, assuming no further strengthening of the commitments in years after 2030. The Paris Agreement is a milestone of the ongoing UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which is committed to ongoing annual meetings to regularly revisit and ratchet up nations’ climate goals, making them more ambitious over time."

Origin of Claim: Unknown

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.

Ian Bayne is Running for Mayor of Bloomington

Ian Bayne (Photo courtesy Facebook/Ian.Bayne)

Old news, but still worthy of a double facepalm; Ian Bayne has thrown his hat into the ring for mayor of Bloomington. Based on Bayne's history of making outrageous statements, it's fair to assume that this hat is made up entirely of tin foil.

For those who aren't familiar with Ian Bayne, he was the candidate in the 2014 GOP primary for the 11th congressional district who failed to garner more than 4% of the vote, and who made national headlines during that campaign - of the laughing stock variety - for referring to Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty fame as the Rosa Parks of our time. Apparently, in Bayne's world, pushing back against legitimate criticism of your own bigoted commentary is as courageous as facing the prospect of violence and incarceration for pushing back against actual bigotry. You just can't make this stuff up folks.

While the nation as a whole got to witness a single instance of Bayne's stupidity, we in central Illinois became accustomed to a steady diet after the failed candidate was hired to provide conservative commentary on a local radio station. Apparently, breathtaking stupidity is not an impediment for employment at Cities 92.9, the news and misinformation of central Illinois.

I've previously written about Bayne and some of his shenanigans while he worked at Cities 92.9, as have others, but believe me, volumes more could have been written. This guy is a real piece of work. Unsurprisingly, this clown was fired by Cities 92.9 after his obnoxious and noxious commentary led to declining ratings for the radio station.

I'm a bit mixed regarding my feelings about Bayne's candidacy. As a writer, I look forward to Bayne's victory, because I know I'll have plenty to write about. As a citizen who expects sanity in my government, I hope he loses big time.

Update: The fine citizens of Bloomington added another political loss to Bayne's growing list when only 14% of voters supported Bayne in the February 28th primary.

Don't go away mad Ian, just go away.

The Trump Transgressions Timeline Part I

From the moment Donald Trump stepped into the political arena, his words and actions have demonstrated consistently that he is a racist, and a pathological liar who lacks the temperament and mental capacity to be the leader of the most powerful nation on the planet. We are in some very dark times my friends, and with that in mind, a much needed resource is a timeline of Trump's transgressions, lest they disappear down the memory hole. A one stop shop if you will, to read, and to weep, for our country's future.

This is very much a work in progress, as this president, and the people who make up his administration, demonstrate incompetence on a near daily basis. This is part I of the timeline, which is broken up into 6 sections (Pre-campaign Transgressions, Campaign Trail Transgressions, President Elect Transgressions, Pre-impeachment Transgressions, Post-impeachment/Pandemic Transgressions and Post 2020 Election Transgressions). Part II, Part III, Part IV and Part V can be found at the following links:

Trump Transgressions Timeline Part II - June 17, 2019 to March 1, 2020

Trump Transgressions Timeline Part III - March 1, 2020 to November 3, 2020

Trump Transgressions Timeline Part IV - November 4, 2020 to January 6, 2022

Trump Transgressions Timeline Part V - January 7, 2022 to March 29, 2023

Trump Transgressions Timeline Part VI - March 30, 2023 to the Present

Note to Donald Trump supporters: If you take issue with any of the entries in this timeline, then please try - if you can - to imagine the back side of a very large hand, and extending from that hand, straight up into the air, a lone middle finger. Only after you've conjured that image into your imagination will you have a clearer picture of what I think of your concerns.

Local Conservative Voice vs National Unemployment Statistics

There are two ways of lying. One, not telling the truth and the other, making up statistics - Josephina Vazquez Mota

Author's Note: This is a post I was working on in April of 2013 when Robert Rees was still at the helm of Cities 92.9. For reasons that escape me right now, this post didn't make it onto the pages of facepalming. A lot has changed at Cities since that time, except of course for the bucket loads of stupidity that stream from their call letters on a daily basis. So sit back, and enjoy this look back at an earlier Cities 92.9 master of stupidity:

Robert Rees has a problem with facts and data.

Robert Rees

During Thursday's segment of The Morning Rush with Robert Rees on Cities 92.9, Robert expressed shock and dismay that anyone would point a finger of blame at anyone but Barack Obama for the unemployment numbers of the last 4 years. He claimed he had spoken with people during the 2012 presidential campaign who blamed George Bush for those numbers, and he just couldn't understand how anyone could reach that conclusion. Lucky for Robert, I happen to know why some people have reached that conclusion, and I'm happy to share that bit of information with him. But, before doing that, I need to address a comment that Robert made during the segment:

ROBERT REES: George Bush averaged 4.5% unemployment during his term.

Uh, wrong.

The average unemployment rate was higher than 4.5% in all eight years of George W Bush's presidency. Anybody that understands averages - which usually means fourth graders on up - will tell you that the average of a set of numbers will never be lower than the smallest number used to calculate that average.

Of course, accurate information begins with accurate resources, and since Robert has a pretty shaky track record in that department, it shouldn't surprise anyone when his numbers clash with reality. For those of us who live in the reality based community, there are reliable resources available for just about anything, and for labor statistics, oddly enough, we turn to places like the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

What follows is a chart showing the average unemployment rate for every month of the Bush presidency, courtesy of the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

The graph doesn't show yearly averages, or a cumulative average for the entire eight years, but those aren't hard to figure out, hell, any fourth grader could do it. I went ahead and calculated those averages myself, and assuming I can calculate averages as well as a fourth grader, I came up with the following yearly averages, and yes, I rounded up and down where appropriate:

2001 - 4.7%
2002 - 5.8%
2003 - 6.0%
2004 - 5.5%
2005 - 5.1%
2006 - 4.6%
2007 - 4.6%
2008 - 6.3%

Since the range consists of 4.6% on the low end, and 6.3% on the high end, the average must fall somewhere in between, which rules out Robert's 4.5%. To check my accuracy, you can calculate the overall average yourself. I concluded that the overall unemployment average for the Bush presidency comes out to be approximately 5.3%, which is almost a full percentage point above the 4.5% number that Robert pulled from his nether regions.

Robert then asked the following question:

ROBERT REES: How can they blame Bush for 8 + percentage of unemployment during Obama's four years? 

How can they indeed.

Well, let's take a closer look at the numbers. Prior to 2008, the highest monthly unemployment average during the Bush years occurred in June of 2003. During that month, unemployment averaged 6.3%, which, along with a few other months that year with numbers hovering around 6%, contributed to making 2003 the second worst year for Bush in terms of unemployment numbers. But again, that was prior to 2008. Answering Robert's question requires looking at the worst year for unemployment numbers during the Bush years. The worst year for Bush in terms of unemployment numbers was 2008, which not only served as the last year of Bush's presidency, but set the bar for the beginning of the Obama presidency.

Let's look again at the Bush unemployment numbers, but this time using a graph courtesy of the Bureau of Labor  Statistics:

If you look at the right side of the graph, you'll see that unemployment began to rise in early 2007, and continued unabated throughout the entire year of 2008. By December of 2008 - a month prior to Obama being sworn in as the next president - unemployment exceeded 7%, and was still rising. In fact, it was in December of 2008 that the Bush administration acknowledged for the first time that we were in a recession, but this concession only came after months of denial, and after the release of a government report that December showing the biggest month of job losses in 34 years.

Let's now take a look at the unemployment numbers for the Obama presidency, courtesy of the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

Notice that at the very moment that Barack Obama was being sworn in for his first term, which occurred on January 20th of 2009, the unemployment rate had already breached 8%, and was still climbing. A huge contrast to the stable economy, and the 4.2% unemployment that ushered in the beginning of the Bush years.

Now look again - courtesy of the Bureau of Labor Statistics - at a graphical representation of the Obama unemployment numbers:

Notice the sharp increase in unemployment numbers at the very beginning of the Obama presidency - a continuation of the increase from the Bush years - that peaks in October of 2009 at 10%, and has declined ever since. It shouldn't surprise anyone that the Obama presidency registers a larger unemployment average than the Bush years. But is it fair to compare the average unemployment under Bush - who was handed a stable economy at 4.2% unemployment - with the average unemployment under Obama - who was handed an economy in free fall at over 8% unemployment?

Conservative commentators - like Robert Rees - would have us believe that Obama is to blame for the high unemployment numbers that have plagued his presidency, but to do that, Rober has to rely on his audience being completely ignorant of the fact that the Obama presidency inherited an economy in sharp decline.

ROBERT REES: Where do they get their information from?

That's easy Robert, they get their information from reality, which is not where you get your information from, obviously.