and this is the thing about impeaching a president. we have actually brought articles of impeachment against so few presidents in our nation s history that when it happens, it s so big it ends up being the kind of thing that just sucks all of the light and all of the air out of every other news cycle. i mean, it s the news cycle version of a black hole. the nixon itt scandal is the example of that sort of thing that would have been huge news, potentially presidency-ending news, had it not been overshadowed and lost down inside the impeachment black hole. instead it s ended up being barely a blip in history. and now at the end of this year, now we are living through another impeachment of another president, just the fourth impeachment effort in the history of this country, the third impeachment of a president, we re seeing that same dynamic at work again now por ejemplo, one of the things
control of the car. some even claimed that airbags were not sold on a buick lesabre, the model he was interested in. that was also not true. because of relentless pushback like that, airbags did not become mandatory in this country until 1998. and that was because the u.s. supreme court ruled unanimously in favor of the safety requirement. since that ruling airbags have saved at least 44,000 lives. imagine what that number could have been had that safety feature been mandated sooner. well, today we got another story along that same vein. this one involving the airline industry. when airplane manufacturers sell their planes, they charge airlines extra for things like premium seating, special lighting and extra bathrooms. but it turns out they also charge the airlines extra for other things. por ejemplo, according to the new york times boeing charges extra for a backup fire extinguisher in the cargo hold. that same report says that aw
when airplane manufacturers sell their planes, they charge airlines extra for things like premium seating, special lighting and extra bathrooms. but it turns out they also charge the airlines extra for other things. por ejemplo, according to the new york times boeing charges extra for a backup fire extinguisher in the cargo hold. that same report says that aw brazilian airline carrier was forced to pay $6,700 extra for oxygen masks for its crew. then there s this. the times reports that as the pilots of the doomed boeing 737 jets in ethiopia and indonesia fought to control their planes they lacked two notable safety features in their cockpits. one reason? boeing charged extra for them. now, while it s not yet known what caused the crashes, investigators are looking into whether a new software system might be partly to blame. faulty data from sensors on the plane may have caused the system to malfunction. as the times reports, boeing s
politifact as america s branded national replacement for fact checking? no. no, no, no. it s like if the prancercise lady brought the rights to the word exercise and then people all over the country decided that exercising was not for them because look at, it i d never do that. that s what politifact is doing to our country and our news literacy. politifact is to real fact checking what prancercise is to exercise. you can do it on your own but don t call it the real word. you can t have the word fact. and i know i have yelled about how terrible they are for a long time. but because nothing i do actually affects them, they continue to market themselves as a news brand thing. and i didn t think it was possible, but over time they have gotten even worse at what they were already failing at. por ejemplo, last week in discussing the return of prisoner of war bowe bergdahl we played some old footage from the rescue of the first american
and i know i have yelled about how terrible they are for a long time. but because nothing i do actually affects them, they continue to market themselves as a news brand thing. and i didn t think it was possible, but over time they have gotten even worse at what they were already failing at. por ejemplo, last week in discussing the return of prisoner of war bowe bergdahl we played some old footage from the rescue of the first american p.o.w. who was rescued in war time since world war ii, and that of course was jessica lynch, who was ambushed along with her nans company on the third day of the iraq war in 2003. now, the story that emerged of her reported heroism during that ambush, that story turned out not to be true. so we reported on that last week. poli tachltfact decided to fact check that reporting. maddow, pentagon made up story of jessica lynch s heroism. according to politi fact, some people who saw the reporting questioned her assertion that the pentagon made up lynch s