Discussion: Fox News Apologizes For False Numbers In Food-Stamp Fraud Report

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Teatroll Rosetta Stone: “We so sorry we lied about the poors, but we still hope they all starve to death.”

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Fox Apologizes. In other news, Hell froze over this morning…actually I think this is the second time since going on the air Fox admitted an error.

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““We reported that back on 2016, $70 million dollars were wasted on food stamp fraud. That was actually incorrect,” weekend co-host Abby Huntsman said in an “update” to the report. “The latest information from 2009 to 2011 shows the fraud at 1.3 percent, which is approximately $853 million dollars for each of those three years, and nationally food stamp trafficking is on the decline, so sorry about that.””

Huh?

$853M > $70M, but it’s on the “decline”? Something doesn’t make sense here.

Am I reading this correctly?

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Fox News: We make shit up; you decide whether to believe it or not.

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Same conclusion I drew. WTF?

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Meh …

When they apologize for their very existence … I’ll take note —

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It doesn’t matter anymore. The damage they meant to do has already been done.

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A Friday news dump. No one will notice.

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Yup, I’m way confused. What’s up w/ this story?

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“A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”

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More perspective here:

Apparently, the previous rate of fraud was about 1.3%. $70 million is about 0.09% of the $71 billion program. So if there is $70 million in fraud the rate is way down from what it was. Since the $70 million number and “the highest rate of fraud ever” are both made up, it’s just more Fox False News.

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“We apologize for making sh*t up, but you cannot believe how much money it just made us.”

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A few years ago when chef and restaurateur Mario Batalli did the food stamp challenge he was mocked on Fox. It’s where you subsist on the average food stamp allotment for a week. That Clayton fellow on Fox and Friends actually told him to go open his own restaurant. These folks are so lacking in self awareness it could fit in a thimble.

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They used an unsubstantiated statistic (the $70M) that was actually lower than the actual figure in absolute dollars (because they apparently just made it up),but the fraud rate was still declining (which was unrelated to the fact that they just made up the first number). The total amount was high only because there were more total dollars spent on food stamps (which are naturally counter-cyclical).

See Kevin Drum’s summary from a few days ago here:

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/12/fox-news-screws-its-latest-lie

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O.K., but what’s this $853 million figure that Fox used in its “correction?”

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I like this but when you have to explain it, you are too late. The damage has already been done.

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Dammit! Stole my thunder! :smile:

I will add, that this is not an accident–if I may elaborate…

This their shameless, grotesque, repugnant, simplistic genius on display

their playbook as far as I can surmise–

  1. They fall in line- If anyone steps out, they’re beaten back into place. They fight dirty with anyone of their own who dares to talk out of turn.

  2. They control the narrative- they convey a message, as is made evident on shows like The Daily Show, where they show every GOP talking head/surrogate repeating the same lines, over and over again, on every news outlet in the country. Say the lie, put the bullshit out there, repeat the lie over and over and over again. If caught, give a whimper of a mea culpa that no one will hear, BOOM narrative set, damage done.

  3. They know their audience- Keep the message simple for the stupid. Use catchy sounding phrases like Paul Ryan did with “medi-scare”. Their stupid proletariat latches onto this catch-phrase, and it spreads like the Bubonic plague.

  4. They fight dirty because they are devoid of the shame gene- their inherent advantage. They will always have this advantage over us, as long as we stay feckless and afraid to ruffle feathers, and call them out on their bullshit with scathing brutality.

  5. They are coordinated and well funded- Voter suppression is a coordinated, well oiled machine. The Koch’s are smart and wealthy, and actually using indoctrination! It’s both terrifying and brilliant at the same time.

  6. When we fight back, they play the victim card with surgical precision- that one kinda speaks for itself. They bully, and when we punch back, they act affronted, indignant and appalled, and it works! Again, they know their audience.

Unless we flip the script, they will continue to win and dominate.

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Also, I can add another–

number 7. When they take over a state house, the first thing they attack is education- The more ill-informed an electorate is, the more bullshit you can sell them. See Kansas. The GOP are robbing these people blind. Yet, the impoverished and ignorant routinely vote against their own interests because “Democrats are Godless homosexuals who want to take away my guns and not let me say Merry Christmas!”

An informed and aware electorate doesn’t fall for that.

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I’m with everyone else here… mystified about what this is sorta about…

$853M over three years would be enough of a figure to outrage Fox and bring phony stories about champagne, caviar and lobster blowouts paid for by food stamp welfare queens…

why would they feel the need to make shit up?

on another note… what is up with the server time outs? I know people take time off this time of year but the servers too?