Teabagger Starts “Unbiased” “News” Service
Former NE Tarrant County Tea Party president Konni Burton succeeded Wendy Davis as a state senator for one term before beaten by Beverly Powell, a Democrat. Her short time in the state senate was notable in two ways; first, Rice’s Baker Institute rated her as the most conservative in the senate, and second, she pissed off Trump over her confiscation reform bill (you know, where police take assets away from someone suspected of criminal behavior even if they were acquitted). Trump threatened to “destroy” her career for disagreeing with him. Apparently he succeeded, since she lost to a Dem.
Burton started looking for a new gig, and in 2019 started The Texan, an online “news” source she touts as:
“Dedicated to providing readers with fact-based news regarding issues, policies, elected officials, and campaigns, The Texan is the alternative to the narratives and spin that is so pervasive in news media today. Seven out of ten Americans, when polled, believe the media knowingly spreads misinformation at least some of the time. The Texan is here to counter that misinformation and provide you with news you can trust.”
Before you burst out laughing at that statement, here’s their stated plan for the “news” service:
“The Texan provides straight news reporting so you can be an informed citizen.
- We do not publish political opinion
- We do not endorse candidates in any political elections
- We do not have an editorial board to publish editorial opinion”
Of course, she’s staffed her “news” service with Republican operatives for editing and reporting, and makes no secret of the “spin” she doesn’t like. Not on the list of her targets for derision are Fox Noise, OAN, or Newsmax. Her reporting is 100% rightwing, masquerading as serious objective reporting, just like her competitors.
This is just a Mini-Me of Fox Noise that also used to claim “fair and balanced” which is most certainly is not. It doesn’t take long to unmask this thinly veiled attempt to camouflage a radically partisan effort to spin the news – all you have to do is peruse Burton’s open sewer of a Twitter feed. Where she tweets and retweets all the normal MAGA talking points. The only good thing about The Texan is that they don’t take advertising, so it’s not cluttered up with ads for gold coins and prepper supplies.
Just what we need…more toxic bile and partisanship as if we don’t already have enough of that in Texas.
“Seven out of ten Americans, when polled, ….”
Yeah, scientific polling at its very best. Yes, what we label as media sometimes distorts the truth. So, let me offer another outlet that distorts the truth. That will fix it.
1Funny. I seem to recall that Fox News made the exact same claim when they started out back in the ’80s. Some things never change…
2Anytime poll results are claimed, legitimate folks will indicate (a) who ran the poll, (b) how many people were polled, and how they were selected, (c) the dates of the poll, and (d) the wording of the questions.
Without those, or at least a link to a location that provides that information, the poll is worth diddly-squat. This holds even for progressive sites. It’s OK for folks here to say “I read somewhere that …”, but not for an alleged news site.
Wanna bet that her answers are (a) I ran it, (b) a dozen people who follow my Facebook screeds, (c) sometime in September 2017, and (d) “don’t y’all think the news lies?”
3El Jefe, since ol’ Bev is allegedly a woman she will be advocating for women in Texas to prevent pregnancy by exercising their 2nd Amendment rights or tasering the jewels off of males entering their 6-8′ circle of personal space. Riiiiight?
j/k That would be almost as likely as one of those Qcumbers supporting Planned Parenthood. Sorry about your luck, Texans. Move over former Vice Poodle Mike Pence. Texas is about to take over from Indiana as the STD haven.
4This reminds me. Whatever happened to Sarah Palin’s news channel?
5slipstream: a moose ate it. Sarah shot at it from a helicopter, but ran out of ammo before she could hit anything.
Now here’s my question to the current residents of Texas. Why has Texas been hiding its light under a basket? I refer to the fine gentleman Winston Dale Cave, who livestreamed himself pulled over by police for having a kayak on his truck that stuck out too far. So what does he do? Roll up the window and start praying to Donald Trump to save him:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=7PLDBY4jlcE
He also calls out for Tom Cruise to help him, sometime before the police smash his window and drag him out. Apparently he is a real jewel, and I think we can all look for him to run for state office. I don’t know when the video was first posted, but surely this is someone who deserves to be making laws for all? Once he posts bail, that is.
6To these right wing “news” outlets, unbiased means fact checking not allowed.
7Well, boy howdy and shuck the chickens. Anybody can carry a concealed firearm, no skills test required, no permit needed. But a kayak that sticks out the back of a pickup?? Thank GAWD the police caught him before he turned that on somebody.
8Around here, you can have anything you like stick out the back of your pickup – including rebar that’s at head-height of the driver following you – as long as you tie a red bandana to it!
9No advertisers? Really! Hey, is she made of money? Or will she have “pledge drives” like public radio? Next question – does she have a brain?
10“Republicans smart, Democrats dum” in order to read more you will need to purchase the deluxe reader plan at $19.95. You can pay by credit card, Venmo, Apple Pay, or leave a 20 in her mailbox.
11Maggie now you are arguing facts not in evidence../s
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