News bits: Regrets from Faux News employees; The futility of arguing with self-identity; Etc.

The Hill reports that three former executives at Faux News now regret helping to build Faux into a disinformation machine:

A trio of former Fox executives said in a joint statement Wednesday that they are disappointed in themselves for helping build up the corporation in its early days, labeling Fox a “disinformation machine.”

“For what little it may, or may not, be worth at this point, Preston Padden, Ken Solomon and Bill Reyner wish to express their deep disappointment for helping to give birth to Fox Broadcasting Company and Fox Television that came to include Fox News Channel — the channel that prominently includes news that, in the words of Sidney Powell’s counsel, ‘no reasonable person would believe,’” the three former executives wrote in a blog post.

The trio’s post is titled “How Our Efforts to Bring Competition To Television Unknowingly Helped Create the Fox Disinformation Machine”.  

“At the time of our work in the 1990’s, we all greatly admired Rupert Murdoch and his vision and bold efforts,” they wrote. “We genuinely believed that the creation of a fourth competitive force in broadcast television was in the public interest.”

Yeah, for what little it may or may not be worth at this point. It's not going to faze Faux, Rupert Murdoch or his offspring Laughlin. They are all full blown, shameless fascists.

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True statement, very few exceptions: "When your politics becomes who you are, you can't debate that."

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About the strikes in Hollywood: The NYT reports: 

The union representing more than 150,000 television and movie actors announced Thursday that it would go on strike at midnight, joining screenwriters who walked out in May and creating Hollywood’s first industrywide shutdown in 63 years.

Pay is often at the center of work stoppages, and that is the case here. But the rise of streaming and the challenges created by the pandemic have stressed the studios, many of which are facing financial challenges, as well as actors and writers, who are seeking better pay and new protections in a rapidly changing workplace.

Both groups also want aggressive guardrails around the use of artificial intelligence to preserve jobs.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents major studios and streamers, has said it offered “historic pay and residual increases” as well as higher caps on pension and health contributions. They also say their offer includes audition protections, a “groundbreaking” proposal on artificial intelligence and other benefits that address the union’s concerns.

What is a person to make of the threat to jobs of artificial intelligence? The writers and actors see it as an existential threat. Their fear is that AI could displace most of their jobs and income. Is that a serious threat, or too abstract to be taken seriously? 

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A WaPo opinion reminds us of what democracy and inconvenient truth are up against from America's radical right. This is about the House hearing with FBI director Chris Wray being slandered by hard core authoritarian Republicans and the American people lied to and insulted:

Republicans celebrate their successful deception of voters

“The American people fully understand,” Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.) informed Wray at Wednesday’s hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, “… that you have personally worked to weaponize the FBI against conservatives.”

Right. Hageman, the election denier who ousted Liz Cheney in a primary, would have you believe that Wray — senior political appointee in the George W. Bush Justice Department, clerk to a noted conservative judge, contributor to the Federalist Society, Donald Trump-appointed head of the FBI — is part of a conspiracy to persecute conservatives. “The idea that I’m biased against conservatives seems somewhat insane to me, given my own personal background,” he replied.

Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.), a close ally of Speaker Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), told Wray that his FBI “suppressed conservative-leaning free speech” on topics such as the unconfirmed theory that covid-19 resulted from a lab leak in China.

“The idea that the FBI would somehow be involved in suppressing references to the lab-leak theory is somewhat absurd,” Wray answered, pointing a finger, “when you consider the fact that the FBI was the only — the only — agency in the entire intelligence community to reach the assessment that it was more likely than not that that was the explanation for the pandemic.”

And several Republicans on the panel floated the slander that the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection was an inside job perpetrated by the FBI.

“This notion that somehow the violence at the Capitol on January 6 was part of some operation by FBI sources and agents is ludicrous,” Wray responded, “and is a disservice to our brave, hard-working, dedicated men and women.”

Good for him. But here’s what’s especially insane, absurd and ludicrous: No matter how many refutations Wray and others provide, Republicans are persuading people to believe their lies — and they are proud of the deception. 

Rep. Matt Gaetz (Fla.) taunted: “People trusted the FBI more when J. Edgar Hoover was running the place.”

Reps. Wesley Hunt and Nathaniel Moran, both from Texas, also needled Wray about the FBI’s popularity. “You’re not aware of those numbers?” Moran jeered.

The Republicans are well aware of “those numbers” — because they are the ones who assassinated the reputation of the nation’s premier law enforcement agency. Support for the FBI isn’t low among all Americans; it’s at rock bottom among Republicans — only 17 percent of whom had a positive view of the FBI in the NBC poll, compared with 58 percent of Democrats. 

Now why would that have happened? Well, maybe it’s because they’ve been fed an endless diet of lies and conspiracy theories about the FBI by elected Republicans and their Murdoch mouthpieces. .... But the lies are also destroying the right’s support for the most basic functions of government that even conservatives long supported, such as law and order and national defense. Maybe that’s the goal.

Now, the arsonists are admiring the ashes.

I agree with that analysis. Authoritarian extremists have to relentlessly attack both pro-democracy institutions and inconvenient truth. Sadly, the tactic works. Dark free speech works. Period.