The Los Angeles Times is strongly left-wing. That's fine with me if they want to have a slant to their reports; I don't agree with it, but it's their right. What's not fine with me is when the reporters make up new facts and publish it like they were real.
A good example of this Fake News came again this morning in an article about how right wing populism threatens the GOP majority in the Senate. The reporter, Lisa Mascaro, begins her report with this claim, "The potential showdowns are reminiscent of the tea party uprising that just a few years ago cost Republicans the majority in the Senate." That sounds good (if you're a Democrat), but it's totally wrong. I don't mean it is wrong from an analysis standpoint; it's just factually wrong. The Tea Party was started in the Spring of 2009. At that point, the Democrats controlled the Senate by 60 votes to 40. The GOP minority was so small that it could not stop any bill even with a filibuster. Almost immediately after the Tea Party started, Scott Brown won the special election to fill Ted Kennedy's seat in Massachusetts, so the chamber went to 59 to 41. In the following elections, the GOP gained seats until now there is a GOP majority of 52 to 48. In other words, the Tea Party did not cost the GOP the majority.
I wrote to the reporter to point this out but have received no response. My guess is that the LA Times won't make any changes. That's not how Fake News works.
A good example of this Fake News came again this morning in an article about how right wing populism threatens the GOP majority in the Senate. The reporter, Lisa Mascaro, begins her report with this claim, "The potential showdowns are reminiscent of the tea party uprising that just a few years ago cost Republicans the majority in the Senate." That sounds good (if you're a Democrat), but it's totally wrong. I don't mean it is wrong from an analysis standpoint; it's just factually wrong. The Tea Party was started in the Spring of 2009. At that point, the Democrats controlled the Senate by 60 votes to 40. The GOP minority was so small that it could not stop any bill even with a filibuster. Almost immediately after the Tea Party started, Scott Brown won the special election to fill Ted Kennedy's seat in Massachusetts, so the chamber went to 59 to 41. In the following elections, the GOP gained seats until now there is a GOP majority of 52 to 48. In other words, the Tea Party did not cost the GOP the majority.
I wrote to the reporter to point this out but have received no response. My guess is that the LA Times won't make any changes. That's not how Fake News works.
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