Donald Trump, hater of "fake news," once served as a source for stories in the National Enquirer, even had his own byline.

This comes from a rather expansive story in The New Yorker focused on Trump's relationship with the CEO of American Media, and publisher of the National Enquirer,  David Pecker: 

In the eighties and early nineties, Trump was something of a fixture in the Enquirer, thanks to his multiple marriages. A typical headline from 1990 read “trump’s mistress cheats on donald with tom cruise.” But, once Pecker took over, critical coverage of Trump vanished. “They have an agreement where David would not write anything that damages Donald,” a senior A.M.I. official from this period told me. 

One employee said that Trump was also a frequent source for Enquirer stories. “When there was something going on in New York, David would talk with Trump about it. Trump provided David with stories directly,” the employee said. “And, if Donald didn’t want a story to run, it wouldn’t run. You can put that in stone.” Indeed, early in the 2016 campaign Pecker simply turned over the pages of the Enquirer to Trump, allowing the candidate to write columns under his own byline. 

So apparently NBC, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, are all hotbeds of fake news, but a magazine that once ran the headline "sociopath’ Hillary Clinton’s secret psych files exposed!" is perfectly respectable?

In fact as it turns out the Enquirer is essentially Trump's own supermarket propaganda outlet:  

Throughout the 2016 Presidential race, the Enquirer embraced Trump with sycophantic fervor. The magazine made its first political endorsement ever, of Trump, last spring. Cover headlines promised, “donald trump’s revenge on hillary & her puppets” and “top secret plan inside: how trump will win debate!” The publication trashed Trump’s rivals, running a dubious cover story on Ted Cruz that described him as a philanderer and another highly questionable piece that linked Cruz’s father to the assassination of John F. Kennedy. 

It was even tougher on Hillary Clinton, regularly printing such headlines as “ ‘sociopath’ hillary clinton’s secret psych files exposed!” A 2015 piece began, “Failing health and a deadly thirst for power are driving Hillary Clinton to an early grave, The National Enquirer has learned in a bombshell investigation. The desperate and deteriorating 67-year-old won’t make it to the White House—because she’ll be dead in six months.” On election eve, the Enquirer offered a special nine-page investigation under the headline “hillary: corrupt! racist! criminal!” This blatantly skewed coverage continued after Trump took office. Post-election cover stories included “trump takes charge! success in just 36 days!” and “proof obama wiretapped trump! lies, leaks & illegal bugging.”

We of course already knew some of this, but what we did not know is that Trump and Pecker are such close friends that Pecker used to be a frequent guest on Trump's private plane, and that he has been covering for Trump for years.

This is what he told the Gus Wenner, of Wenner Media: 

"He told me very bluntly that he had killed all sorts of stories for Trump. He hired a girl to be a columnist when she threatened to go public with a story about Donald.”

Pecker then denied that he had ever admitted that, however the writer of this article, Jeffrey Toobin, asked about it point blank and this was his response:

When I asked Pecker about McDougal, who was Playboy’s Playmate of the Year in 1998, he told me that he first met her when she modelled for the cover of Men’s Fitness, another A.M.I. magazine. “When her people contacted me that she had a story on Trump, everybody was contacting her,” he said. “At the same time, she was launching her own beauty-and-fragrance line, and I said that I’d be very interested in having her in one of my magazines, now that she’s so famous.” But Pecker had a condition for hiring her: “Once she’s part of the company, then on the outside she can’t be bashing Trump and American Media.” 

I pointed out that bashing Trump was not the same as bashing American Media. 

“To me it is,” Pecker replied. “The guy’s a personal friend of mine.”

Now all of this might seem a little frivolous, after all who takes the National Enquirer seriously?

However currently Pecker is working out a deal to buy Time Inc., which would put him at the helm of Time, People, and Fortune magazines, which he would of course then turn into propaganda outlets for Trump as well.

Also keep in mind that this is not the ONLY media CEO that Trump plays footsies with, he has a similar relationship with Rupert Murdoch of Fox News, and of course we know where Stephen Bannon of Breitbart News currently spends his days.

Essentially Trump has taken what Roger Ailes did to insert partisanship into news coverage and amplified it.

So now consumers have a choice, they can either tune into Trump truths, or instead consume fact based "fake news" reported by ethical journalists.

And let's face it, a whole lot of Americans simply cannot tell the difference.

Like his fascist idol, Donald Trump also his own propaganda outlet. It's called the National Enquirer.

Courtesy of Think Progress: 

Since election day, the Enquirer has trumpeted the president-elect’s controversial decision to hire white nationalist figures like Steve Bannon, his economically untenable and largely falsified plan to save a few jobs from leaving Indiana, and his bold leadership in convincing Apple to move 4.5 million jobs to the United States (no such plan exists).

It remains to be seen if the National Enquirer’s current standing as a disreputable rag changes in a Trump administration. For years, the paper has tried to build its credibility as more than a peddler of gossip and fiction, most recently in 2008 when they were the first to break the story about John Edwards’ long history of affairs. Though their reporting lacked basic journalistic standards, subsequent reporting by actual journalists lent weight to the Enquirer’s story. 

But there is some evidence that the Enquirer will have a powerful ally and a captive audience working in the West Wing. It was the Enquirer that first pushed a fake story about Ted Cruz’s father being seen with Lee Harvey Oswald months before the assassination of JFK. Within hours, Donald Trump himself was sharing the story to his millions of followers on social media, citing the Enquirer – “They actually have a very good record of being right,” he said at the time – in the way most people cite the New York Times.

Well I guess it stands to reason that a fake president would have a tabloid famous for printing fake news promoting his version of reality.

You know I have had some dealings with the Enquirer in the past, and there were a few folks there that I thought were actually good reporters with ethics and everything. But overall the paper is a shit show which ONLY cares about printing lurid headlines that entice shoppers to buy them, only to discover later that often the headline does not match the content.

Clearly they are positioning themselves to gain access to Trump and therefore get the kinds of exclusives which might resurrect their reputation.

Which might work out well since neither Trump nor the Enquirer seem to have a terribly strong affinity for the truth.

Levi and Sunny Johnston: What the tabloids DON'T tell you.

So before we jump into any of the reams of information that Levi and Sunny shared with me over the last two and a half years, I thought I would clear up a couple of misconceptions.

First off they are both much better looking in person than they appear in photographs.

(No I am not kidding.)

Secondly they are deeply in love and committed to their marriage, despite numerous attempts to tear them apart.

Thirdly they are great parents.

That last one is kind of a big deal to me, as I often judge people by how they are with children.

Sunny is a devoted and doting mom, and Levi is a giant marshmallow around his daughters.

Even on Levi's first visit to my house, when he was sizing me up and trying to be all tough and stoic, around his little girl (There was only one at the time) he was a big puddle of mush.

Which in my world is the sign of a real man.

It might also interest you to know that Levi is not the barely coherent Jethro Bodine caricature that we have been led to believe that he was.

In fact he is quite articulate and intelligent, in his own way.

While Levi is not what you would consider an intellectual in the strictest sense of the word, he is an incredibly capable young man.

For instance right now Levi is building a house for his mother to live in.

Now I can quote Shakespeare and argue philosophy with the best of them, but if I built my mother a house the odds are good that the roof would cave in and crush her the minute she closed the door behind her.

I have also gone fishing with Levi, and the guy knows everything about fishing in Alaska.

Everything.

In fact he almost lives in the woods, hunting and fishing, when he is not working 12 hour days to support his family.

(Before you get any ideas I have already locked up Levi as my go to guy in the case of a Zombie Apocalypse.)

Bristol Palin takes a page out of her mother's "Manipulating the Masses" handbook.

Courtesy of Bristol's Instagram page:Trig officially loves her 😻#mybrotherhasmorechromosomesthanyou

Ah yes, her mother's favorite political prop loving on the child that Bristol wants to protect from scrutiny.

Well played.

This photo has already started to circulate around on the tabloids. Including People, E Online, Page Six, and Perez Hilton.

Yep, the acorn certainly does not fall far from the batshit crazy oak tree, now does it?

Radar online still shaming Dakota Meyer for not taking responsibility for Bristol's newest baby bump.

 Courtesy of Radar Online:

Single mama-to-be Bristol Palin is about to pop — but her suspected baby daddy couldn’t care less! 

Marine vet and war hero Dakota Meyer, 27, who split from the pregnant former abstinence spokeswoman just weeks before their May wedding, recently posted a boastful quote about living the single life to his private Facebook page. 

“I know what I bring to the table,” the meme read. “Trust me when I say I’m not afraid to eat alone.” 

In another diss, Meyer deleted all photos and mentions of his 25-year-old ex-fiancee from March 2015 to the present.

I gotta say that I love the fact that some of the tabloids are convinced that Dakota must be the father.  Because that means that at some point Dakota might feel compelled to deny that he has anything to do with her newest family embarrassment.

In the meantime of course Bristol is channeling her inner Kardashian.

Yep, this could get VERY entertaining.

Bristol Palin's pregnancy tantalizes the tabloids. Oh I know a former reality star and washed up politician who is NOT going to like this!

"Palin has not said who the father of her baby is."

Nor will she ever.

Bristol was also featured over at People, US, the Daily Mail, Radar Online, and Perez Hilton.

Most of the articles make a point out of the fact that Bristol has not shared the father's name, though Radar Online claims that sources have told them she has identified Dakota Meyer.

If that is true then she is certainly not sticking to that story, because from what I have been hearing she is simply refusing to identify the father and does not want to even talk about it.

In the meantime the Grizzled Mama continues to link to the Nancy French ghostwritten blogposts over on Brancy's blog, however none of the ones that mention Bristol's pregnancy of course.

Gee it's almost as if she thinks if she doesn't acknowledge it, it will just go away.

You know these people REALLY could have benefited from a sex ed class or two.

Well folks it's official, the wedding is off! Update!

Courtesy of Palin's Facebook page:

Bristol and Dakota couldn’t be more thankful for the love and support of family and friends over the past months while preparing for their wedding. They have informed loved ones that unfortunately the announced celebration planned for May 23 will not be held. Many friends and family still look forward to getting together that day in Kentucky anyway – and the Palins and Meyers are happily looking forward to still being at "the old Kentucky home" on May 23 to celebrate life, in general! Family members and close friends know they are welcome to share a great bar-b-que on the farm that day. All involved, especially Dakota, Bristol and Tripp, and their parents and grandparents, thank supporters for the love they've expressed. 

And friends, please see Bristol's message clearing up rumors that tabloids salivate over: 

“Regarding salacious headlines in recent days about “secret wives”, Dakota and I discussed our past relationships prior to our engagement. Dakota was legally divorced years ago, as any good reporter could and should have disclosed to readers. As usual, false stories and dramatically written headlines begging controversy should be disregarded, and we have faith that our privacy will be respected at this time by those with decency. Thank you! – Bristol”

 - Sarah Palin

Well if that's true then why is the wedding off now?

Hmmm?

Well I think this is good news for Bristol, better news for Tripp, and great news for Levi.

Update: Well this is from Dakota's Facebook page:

Bristol and I couldn’t be more thankful for the love and support of family and friends over the past months while preparing for our wedding. We have informed loved ones that unfortunately the announced celebration planned for May 23 will not be held. Many friends and family still look forward to getting together that day in Kentucky anyway - and we are happily looking forward to still being at "the old Kentucky home" on May 23to celebrate life, in general! Family members and close friends know they are welcome to share a great bar-b-que on the farm that day!

Boy that sounds awfully familiar. Almost as if both posts were written by the same person.

Now take note folks, it does not say the wedding is postponed, it says it is cancelled.

Update 2: Well the news is spreading quick.

The Hill has it.

As does the Huffington Post.

And the Washington Post.

Update 3: Wow the Daily Mail did a deep dive on this one.

George Zimmerman's message to his estranged wife probably means nothing. Right?

Courtesy of Radar Online: 

The soon-to-be ex-wife of George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watchman acquitted in the shooting death of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin, discovered a used marksman target riddled with 17 bullet holes nailed to the wall of the home the estranged couple once shared, after he was forced to move out. 

RadarOnline.com has exclusively obtained the menacing photo provided to police which shows what Shellie Zimmerman and her parents uncovered inside the study at their Lake Mary, Fla., home. 

The last person inside the building was said to be 30-year-old sharpshooter George, who had been dramatically asked to collect his belongings and leave, RadarOnline.com has been told. 

“This is the photo that Shellie sent to her lawyer and said, ‘Look at the subliminal message George left me,’ following their showdown in September,” a source with intimate knowledge of the situation revealed. 

“What else could a bullet-riddled marksman’s target mean?”

Well it could mean..uh..but then it could also mean...um...and then there's...you know...yeah who are we kidding? This crazed asshole only knows one way to express his insecurity or frustrations, and that is through the barrel of a gun.

Carl Bernstein refers to phone hacking scandal as "Murdoch"s Watergate." Well, he should know.

Courtesy of Newsweek:

The hacking scandal currently shaking Rupert Murdoch’s empire will surprise only those who have willfully blinded themselves to that empire’s pernicious influence on journalism in the English-speaking world. Too many of us have winked in amusement at the salaciousness without considering the larger corruption of journalism and politics promulgated by Murdoch Culture on both sides of the Atlantic.

The facts of the case are astonishing in their scope. Thousands of private phone messages hacked, presumably by people affiliated with the Murdoch-owned News of the World newspaper, with the violated parties ranging from Prince William and actor Hugh Grant to murder victims and families of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The arrest of Andy Coulson, former press chief to Prime Minister David Cameron, for his role in the scandal during his tenure as the paper’s editor. The arrest (for the second time) of Clive Goodman, the paper’s former royals editor. The shocking July 7 announcement that the paper would cease publication three days later, putting hundreds of employees out of work. Murdoch’s bid to acquire full control of cable-news company BSkyB placed in jeopardy. Allegations of bribery, wiretapping, and other forms of lawbreaking—not to mention the charge that emails were deleted by the millions in order to thwart Scotland Yard’s investigation.

This article is a "must read" for anybody who is closely following this scandal.  Bernstein carefully outlines Murdoch's empire and does not hold back in revealing its overall negative impact on journalism around the world, and particularly in America, and how this indefensible breach of the public trust might serve to undermine a free press in Enlgand, and may have ripple effects that spread much, much further.

Once you have read through that wonderful piece I urge you to visit Philly.com to learn that the things Murdoch has done here in the United States may in fact be much worse than what he did in Britain.  For example:

Iraq and the war on terrorism: America's misguided "pre-emptive war" in the oil-rich Persian Gulf would not have been possible unless the 9/11 attacks and a response to terrorism became conflated with Saddam Hussein's Iraq, which for all its horrors had nothing to do with the assault on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The Fox News Channel, and its parade of GOP-talking-point infused hosts and military "experts," helped to make sure that wrongful conflation took place, as later evidence proved.

A 2003 poll by the Program on International Policy (PIPA) at the University of Maryland and Knowledge Networks found that regular Fox News viewers were significantly more likely than other news consumers to believe one of three significant falsehoods about the Iraq war -- that Iraq was somehow connected to 9/11, that weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq, or that global opinion was in favor of the war. These jingoistic myths -- most heavily adopted by Fox viewers -- fueled years of continued fighting in a war in which thousands of Americans and Iraqi civilians died needlessly.

After reading that I imagine that you are just about as pissed off as I am at the entire fucking Rupert Murdoch empire! So allow me to offer you the chance to cleanse your palate by watching ex-NOW editor Paul McMullen getting his ass handed to him again by yet another British actor, Steve Coogan.



That McMullen douchebag is a special brand of sleazy isn't he? Just watching him on camera makes my skin crawl.

Many of you have wondered how long it would take before the people of Wasilla started to speak out against the Palin family. Well now you know.

From Life & Style Weekly:

Lance Nezaticky, a former classmate of Willow's, tells Life & Style that he watched as Willow took part in a drug transaction in a deserted Target parking lot in her hometown of Wasilla, Alaska, around 1 a.m. on a December night last year. Lance, 18, watched as a male driver pulled up, with Willow riding in the passenger seat. The driver bought $20 worth of marijuana, says Nezaticky, then handed it to Willow. "It was definitely her," Nezaticky tells Life & Style. "There's no question. I had met her before." After buying roughly 2 grams of pot, Willow and her companion drove off. "Willow had been told that the pot was really good stuff," Nezaticky recalls.

Another peer, Matt Scott, 19, shockingly reveals to Life & Style that on Oct. 25, 2009 he looked on as Willow hid herself away at a house party and took swigs straight from a bottle of liquor. Imran Chaudhry, now 19, was also at the party and confirms an underage Willow was guzzling vodka. "I saw her drinking from a bottle of Monarch," he tells Life & Style. "She was chugging it pretty hard." Worried that she'd be spotted, Willow ran to the bathroom and locked herself in with Matt, who also had a bottle of vodka. "She was like, 'I just want to drink,'" Matt tells Life & Style. "She chugged it, then walked out of the bathroom."

Some of you have questioned why I have brought coverage of Sarah Palin down to a tabloid level.

But to be completely honest I didn't.  I just followed where Sarah Palin led, and here we are!

She was the one to start communicating with her fans through People, Us Weekly, Facebook. Twitter, TMZ, and other less than reputable media outlets.  I simply found that in order to really understand, and explain, what Palin was doing, I had no choice but to call her out in a similar fashion.

It has long been my assertion that Sarah Palin, and unfortunately her family, will be undone by the very gossip magazines that she has relied on to speak to her less than literate followers.

And here we have a very "tabloid-y" story about her middle child who, from what I have been hearing, has been raging out of control for over a year now.  It was really only a matter of time before her wild behaviors found their way into the tabloids. And trust me, this is not the worst of it. Not by a long shot.

In fact, much like her older brother, I think that Willow may be developing a fairly serious problem, and if the Palin's can stop chasing money and fame for a few minutes it would be in their best interests to get the teenager some help. As embarrassing as this story will be, it could be that wake up call that salvages this young lady's future.  Locking yourself in a bathroom and saying "I just want to drink" should chill the blood of any loving parent.

Now what I would really like to see is for the adults in Wasilla to follow the lead of these young men, shift the attention OFF of Willow and the rest of the children, and start dishing the real dirt on Sarah and Todd Palin. 

I would also like them to sac up and use their real names like Lance Nezatick, Matt Scott, Imran Chaudhry just did. If they were to do that, we might be able to put this family out of our misery in a just matter of weeks.

And before anybody starts throwing Willow a pity party, remember her now famous Facebook attack on an old schoolmate (Which might have had something to do with these young people stepping forward by the way.), and that her mother has invited this kind of scrutiny by putting her family on national television and attempting to mythologize them to serve her selfish political ambitions.

If Sarah Palin had not trotted her family out onto the national stage, I might argue that they should remain off limits.  But since she continues to use them as political props, and a shield against criticism, I am afraid they are permanently in the line of fire.

Which is really too bad because Willow is still my favorite Palin. 

I still really believe that someday she might very well write the must read "behind the scenes" story about her freakish family. And I for one will pre-order my copy the minute she warms up her keyboard.

Bristol sighting in Wasilla. Update!

From TMZ:

Amidst reports that she's broken off her engagement, Bristol Palin grabbed her son Tripp and did some quality bargain shopping at a Target store in Wasilla, Alaska the other day.

Well I guess at the very least this confirms that Bristol and Tripp are definitely living in Wasilla.  (After all we have a Target as well, and it is much easier to remain incognito in Anchorage than in Wasilla.)

However the rumor of her most recent pregnancy remains just that, a rumor. Though in my opinion these pictures certainly do nothing to put them to rest.

What do you think?

Update: As one of my viisitors pointed out, make sure to go through ALL of the TMZ photos they are very telliing.  As is this photo of Bristol's left hand.

If there was any doubt that Levi was sporting tread marks from the Palin family bus I think we now have sufficient data to put those doubts to rest.

And it is a good thing too, because if to Bristol's jeans are any indication she may have been setting Levi up to support Ben Barber's child for the next eighteen years.

Mercede Johnston has a new post in which she refuses to be thrown under the bus in a trashy tabloid.

In this new post Mercede reads, for the first time, that she is given the blame for the fact that Levi and Bristol broke up immediately following the birth of her nephew.  As you might imagine she does not take it well.

Nope, not well at all.