Telling the post-truth with alternative facts

When Kellyanne Conway used the phrase “alternative facts” engaging in a verbal fistfight with Chuck Todd on “Meet the Press,” the hysterics in the media saw the sky falling. (Chicken Little lives.). . .

That’s not all. How foolish of F. Chuck Todd, as Rush Limbaugh refers to him, to call alternative facts a lie. Doing so, he consigns “On the other hand . . . ” to the trash-bin of discontinued phrases.

Fact is (sorry), it’s a term of argument. You concede a point but raise another in at least partial rebuttal: “Consider this, if you will [or dare].”

Chuck, on the other hand, is deaf to the tones of debate. But prosecutors always are, and he engages in prosecutory journalism, as do many of his colleagues in the dismal profession.

For more of the linked analysis/opinion piece quoted above by Suzanne Fields, read the rest of: Telling the post-truth with alternative facts

For more of this unlinked analysis by Jim Bowman, stick with Blithe Spirit. And thank you for that.

Byron York: Justice Department demolishes case against Trump order

Judge tossed off his opinion.

U.S. District Judge James Robart offered little explanation for his decision to stop President Trump’s executive order. So the government answered with a point-by-point demolition of his claims.

For instance:

Earlier presidents have “repeatedly invoked this authority,” the government brief argued, noting actions by Presidents Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, and Obama.

The Supreme Court even ruled in 1993 that the president had “ample power” to order a naval blockade to keep out Haitians trying to enter the United States. Surely he has the authority to stop a Libyan, in Libya, from receiving permission to enter the United States.

Hmm.

Source: Byron York: Justice Department demolishes case against Trump order