One aspect of cable news that has been placed into stark relief by the release of the Mueller report is how several “news” outlets blurred the line between hard news and opinion to the point it no longer existed. It happened in the print media as well but due to the relatively static nature of newspapers, the effect was not as pronounced. In the 24/7 cable news business where the beast must be constantly fed, the ripples expanded quickly, and the impact felt immediately.

It has been reported that the hunger for 24/7 Soviet collusion birtherism that drove ratings on CNN and MSNBC to stratospheric heights (for them – certain shows bumped up against Fox News with relative frequency) resulted in a drop of 50% of their viewership. Seems likely that at least half of their viewership realized that they had been lied to and the other half have shrines to Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell, complete with creepy Voodoo candles, human skulls and animal parts set up in their basements.

As the Mueller clock ticked toward the two year point, the stories told on these outlets grew to such grandiose proportions that they simply were implausible to the point of impossibility – but the mewing trolls needed to be fed and they demanded more red meat – and CNN and MSNBC complied.

The headline should be “Mueller Report Tsunami Hits, CNN and MSNBC hardest hit – Don Lemon and Rachel Maddow hospitalized in critical, but unstable, condition.”

The lesson that seems destined to be unlearned by at least 50% of news consumers is this: Opinions are not news. Opinions are views or judgments formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge – and views or judgments not based on facts or knowledge are often wrong.

Many talking heads, “strategists”, “advisors to” and ersatz “people who claim to be smarter than everybody else” blended news and opinion as effectively as a Vitamix Professional 750 but now that the Mueller report separated fact from fictional supposition, there are people who should never appear on video again – unless they are captured on a security camera at Walmart.

CNN has already lost their marquee Trump Hater – Michael Avenatti – to the criminal justice system and John Brennan has started to crawfish (a phrase we Mississippians use to describe someone backing up – the way crawfish do) and MSNBC should lose about half to three quarters of their guests…and don’t even get me started on hosts like Joy Reid, Joe and Mika, Lawrence O’Donnell and MSNBC’s star, Rachel Madcow.

I understand Jussie Smollett is now free to appear, so all is not lost for them.

Sherlock Holmes (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) also said, “There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.”

Perhaps that is the real lesson.