Bill O’Reilly didn’t want to talk much about Prince's death “out of respect for Prince’s family,” but O’Reilly was happy to use “reports that he was drug involved” to suggest that it’s President Obama’s fault.
Instead of talking about what may have killed Prince, O’Reilly focused on the “largely out of control” “drug epidemic” that the “powerful are running away from.”
O’Reilly noted a 200% increase in opioid overdose deaths since 2000 and a 51% increase in heroin use among Americans from 2013-2014. Then, after playing a clip of a father talking about his son’s overdose death, O’Reilly moved right in to blame President Obama and the left.
O'REILLY: Over the years there have been literally millions of stories like that one, and it’s simply stunning that our culture has evolved to a point where the sale and use of hard narcotics is now acceptable. President Obama's leading the way on this, classifying drug dealing, hard drug dealing, as a, quote, "nonviolent crime." That sends a signal to the country that, you know what, it may be illegal to sell drugs, but it's not all that bad. And the left is generally supporting the madness.
O’Reilly made no effort to delve into the so-called connection between Obama and the increase in hard drugs – other than to play a clip of hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons arguing that selling drugs is not a violent crime.
‘That is the prevailing wisdom on the left,” O’Reilly intoned, without offering a single statistic to back it up.
O’Reilly went on to attack the left as enabling the import of drugs because “The Democratic Party doesn’t want a wall (on the Mexico border) or to militarize the border.”
O'REILLY: We are reaping what our cowardly leaders have sown: a drug epidemic that cuts across all boundaries. That is the message that should be loud and clear in the media.
Meaning, of course, that the media should be attacking Obama and the Democrats along with O'Reilly. But, as Karoli Kuns, at Crooks and Liars, pointed out, "I guess it's never occurred to BillO that lots of opoids are obtained legally, has it? Or that the issue here isn't drug dealers, it's the addiction itself."
And it probably won't "occur" to O'Reilly until he can find a way to blame that on Obama, too.
Watch the exploitation below, from the April 22 The O'Reilly Factor, via Crooks and Liars.
O’Reilly’s thoughts on the murder of Jam Master Jay, in which he charged Run DMC being a bad influence while completely missing all the anti-gang and anti-drug messages in their music along with them doing a whole album about being one with Christ.
Also him using James Gandolfini’s death to go off on his hatred of The Sopranos and the annoying political cultural critic idea of “moral art”.
He sidestepped the obvious brilliant artistry and instrumental prowess of Prince along with how many of Prince’s songs preached Christian ethics like Let’s Go Crazy to push his agenda.
O’Reilly has shown even in his passing comments about entertainment and the arts basically is that anything after The Beatles in 64 (when they were inoffensive pop group) is the fall of western culture. He has dismissed The Stones cause of them not being “good role models” (again pushing the idea that good art is one that only instructs people on how to act morally or be better citizens.)
O’Reilly needs to admit that like Che Guevara that he hates artists and sees them as unnecessary to society. Also he’s a racist.
BOR has it wrong about drug abuse too. We should be like Holland, but we have too many Neanderthals to even attempt it.
If the story was some white dude shooting up a black church, naturally, all “fair and balanced” d—khead O’Reilly would be raging against anyone speculating it’s a hate crime. A black rock star dying? Oh, it’s drugs. No doubt.
Even if the common speculation Prince’s death is drug related is true, does mental midget O’Reilly begin to comprehend the connection of prescription pain killers and the rise of heroin use in America? Apparently not. He’s buying into the outdated notion drug addicts are making recreational choices and the solution to change their behavior is the threat of incarceration. Because we all know America’s world-leading prison population has nothing to do with incarcerating millions of people over drugs. But wait… maybe it is.
Of course, O’Reilly total misunderstanding of heroin addiction in America is no surprise as GOP TV™ runs endless “Reefer Madness” style anti-marijuana segments pimping ridiculous hysteria of its dangers. They still believe the wholly outdated notion pot is the gateway drug to heroin. Nope, it’s prescription painkillers because after people in chronic pain get addicted to opioids the prescriptions eventually can’t get renewed so they desperately seek heroin.
Then there’s the ridiculous bit where Bill bullies some liberal foolish enough to show up on his propaganda show. Bill pounds the propaganda drug dealing is a “violent crime.” No it’s not, moron. Nobody beats a person into taking drugs. The fact that people die of overdoses doesn’t make it any more of a “violent crime” than car accidents.
Though “The Factor” is quickly becoming a “violent crime” given it’s assault on common sense and common decency.