NewsBusters Crops Fox's Bolling, Portrays His Petulantly Hanging Up Mid-Interview As Noble Topic: NewsBusters
Jack Coleman used a May 29 NewsBusters post to misleadingly portray Fox News' Eric Bolling as some kind of hero for petulantly hanging up on Geraldo Rivera's radio show after having his version of the Benghazi narrative challenged.
Coleman waves away Bolling's petulance by declaring, "Ever reach that point when you realize you're arguing with fools? Eric Bolling got there yesterday on Geraldo Rivera's radio show," and going on to portray Rivera as making an unreasonable, unfounded claim by saying that Bolling was portraying President Obama as a "damn murderer" because of the events in Benghazi.
But the audio clip accompanying Coleman's post chops off what transpired before Rivera accused Bolling of portraying the president as a "damn murderer," and Coleman makes no effort to explain. As the full clip posted at Mediaite reveals, Bolling did in fact claim that Obama and his administration deliberately "left four Americans to die":
BOLLING: For 237 years the motto, the U.S. Marine -- forget the Marines, the U.S. armed force motto is no one left behind, leave no one behind, leave no one under fire wanting or wondering if America was going to come back and help them. That’s what Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and the administration did on September 11 of 2012, they left four Americans to die because they said ‘Stand down! Don’t go help.’ And that is a problem.
Coleman also portrayed Bolling's assertion that the stand-down order cost American lives is accurate. But as Mediaite's Tommy Christopher pointed out, congressional testimony shows that the stand-down order came after the four Americans at the Benghazi compound were killed, so nobody was "left behind" as a result of it.
WND Will Really Miss Michele Bachmann Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily is really, really going to miss Michele Bachmann.
Upon Bachmann's announcement that she will not seek re-election to her House seat, Garth Kant penned a May 29 tribute to Bachmann that's staggering in its monumental fealty. Much of it is a rehash of previous interviews Bachmann gave to WND -- indeed, Kant points out that "Bachmann has been a good friend of WND," which named her "woman of the year" last year.
Kant also accepts Bachmann's reasoning for leaving Congress -- that pending ethics investigations and the potential strength of a Democratic challenger in 2014 were not factors -- at face value. By contrast, actual political analysts pointed out that she was a weak candidate for whom scandals could not simply be written off with any degree of seriousness, winning her last election by just 4,296 votes in a solidly Republican district that Mitt Romney won by 15 percentage points. Further, Bachmann had already begun airing TV ads for her 2014 race prior to quitting.
Kant makes little effort whatsoever to quote anyone but Bachmann and his own bosses, WND's Joseph Farah and David Kupelian, slobbering all over her. The fact that Kant could not be moved to perform any actual journalism here is another sign of how badly Bachmann will be missed.
Noel Sheppard: Some Actresses Are Too Pretty To Portray Hillary Clinton Topic: NewsBusters
Are some actresses too beautiful to accurately portray Hillary Clinton in a film? Noel Sheppard thinks so.
Sheppard begins a May 26 NewsBusters post by asking, "When you see Hillary Clinton, do you think of Scarlett Johansson? Or Reese Witherspoon?" After noting that the two are being considered for the lead role in a biopic on Clinton's role in the Watergate hearings, Sheppard attaches photos of Johansson ("conceivably one of the most beautiful actresses in film today") and Witherspoon, followed by pictures of a young Clinton. Sheppard then sneers: "Oh yeah! And Brad Pitt's going to play me when my memoirs are published."
(Yeah, Sheppard really has no room to judge the beauty of others. Just look at the guy.)
Sheppard concludes with a picture of another actress reportedly being considered for the role, Jessica Chastain, adding that it "isn't as far a stretch" and "I could see Chastain in the role" -- presumably because she isn't as conventionally beautiful as Johanssen or Witherspoon.
Sexism is still a thing at the Media Research Center -- remember that MRC staffers joined in Rush Limbaugh's three-day tirade of misogyny against Sandra Fluke, and MRC boss Brent Bozell offered only tepid criticism of Limbaugh's hate.
NEW ARTICLE: David Kupelian's War On Obama Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily's managing editor has no problem with peddling misleading claims and outright lies about the president if it forwards his anti-Obama agenda. Read more >>
MRC Gives Anti-Abortion Activist A Pass On Her History of Deception Topic: Media Research Center
In a May 21 interview with anti-abortion activist Lila Rose, the Media Research Center's Katie Yoder lets Rose uncritically spout her anti-abortion rhetoric without asking her about her history of deceptive "stings" of abortion providers.
Rose's Live Action group has engaged in entrapment "stings" designed to slime abortion providers by manufacturing evidence that Planned Parenthood facilitates gender-based abortion -- despite the fact that it does not occur with any regularity in the United States, as the vast majority of abortions are performed before gender is detectable, and the gender birth ratio in America is close to even.
Rose's declared goal is to take down Planned Parenthood, and she's using lies and deception to do it -- really, just about everything short of violence, and even that may be in her future given how fanatical she is. Apparently, Yoder is OK with that.
WND's Kinsolving Lies That Scouts Also Allows 'Coprophilia, Pedophilia, Bestiality' Topic: WorldNetDaily
It wouldn't be Les Kinsolving if he wasn't being a vile homophobe, and he delivers in spades ion his May 27 WorldNetDaily column:
Something to offend everybody.
That is what 60 percent of 1,400 Boy Scouts of America did at their national meeting in Grapevine, Texas, on May 13.
This 60 percent actually approved a measure that said no youth may be denied membership in the Boy Scouts “on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone.”
Can you believe this?
Believe it – and realize that this statement inevitably proclaims that the Boy Scouts will not reject any boy who has engaged in coprophilia, pedophilia, bestiality or any of the many other alternative sexual orientations.
Well, no, it doesn't, except in Kinsolving's twisted little brain. Not to mention the utter illogic of declaring an underage teen who has sex with another underage teen a "pedophile."
And how is that Kinsolving is so knowledgable on bestiality and coprophilia, anyway? He sure talks about it a lot.
Ronald Kessler may be gone from Newsmax, but his dream of having Donald Trump as president lives on there.
Newsmax devotes an entire May 27 article by Audrey Hudson to how Trump "has spent $1 million for research to determine his political standing in specific states" as part of "testing the waters for a possible 2016 presidential run ."
Hudson makes sure to call Trump a "wildly successful business entrepreneur" and quote a Trump spokesman as saying that "what I would say is that he is exactly what this country needs.”
No mention, of course, of Trump's rampant anti-Obama birtherism, or the fact that Trump burned Newsmax by bailing out on Republican presidential debate they planned to jointly host after most of the candidates refused to take part.
Joseph Farah Is Claiming HOW MUCH As A Tax Deduction For Books? Topic: WorldNetDaily
Joseph Farah has a hissy fit over the IRS in his May 27 WorldNetDaily column:
I’ve never been a tax protester, because I knew that because of my profile, the IRS would love to make an example of me. I’ve never tried to “cheat” the IRS out of a dime it claimed I owed. I decided long ago I would fight in the arena of public opinion rather than in a street fight with people better armed than I.
But I drew a line in the sand on the 2011 audit. I have refused to pay the money the IRS claims I owe. And I will continue to avoid paying it unless and until I am faced with jail or a firing squad. And here’s why …
Most of my deductions were for books I purchased as part of my professional work. Yes, I buy a lot of books. It’s just the nature of what I do as an author, as a speaker, as a commentator and as a journalist. I offered receipts for all of these purchases that included the dates each book was bought, the amount paid and the company (Amazon) I bought them from.
The one thing I omitted were the titles.
I didn’t think it was any of the IRS’ business what I read. I still don’t. But the IRS made it clear that without my providing this additional information, the deductions would be disallowed.
And that’s where the standoff remains today.
To me, it’s bad enough that the IRS has the power to see all my personal financial information. I just don’t think it legitimately has the power to force me to reveal what I read in the privacy of my own home. Does that make sense?
Unfortunately, it did not make sense to the politically motivated auditors at the IRS. Why should it? It was because of my opinions, my writings, my work as a publisher and author that I was targeted in the first place.
To me, it is a double outrage that I would be coerced by monetary penalty to reveal to the IRS the subject matter of what I read.
But, my personal plight just got even more complicated thanks to the Obama administration’s abuse of the IRS – and, I suspect, I am hardly alone given the growing list of victims.
Because of the revision of my 2009 return and the IRS claim that I owe an additional $8,000, the Virginia Department of Taxation just notified me that I owe my home state more, too.
Let's look at Farah's claim a little closer.
Because he could not deduct the cost of the books and other items he bought as a business expense, he says he was ordered to pay an additional $8,000 in federal taxes. Farah doesn't say how much, if any, of that is penalties, but just for the sake of argument let's say that half of it is. And since he said that "most" of those expenses were for books, let's say that three-fourths of it was for books.
That would mean $3,000 in taxes due. With an additional reasonable assumption that Farah is at least in the 25 percent tax bracket, that would mean Farah is claiming a whopping $12,000 in deductible book expenses in 2009. Did Farah really think that would not raise red flags at the IRS?
Given that, the IRS has a sound rationale for asking for the titles of the books Farah bought. After all, Farah might be trying to sneak some recreational reading in there to pad his deductions (fiction, crossword puzzles, etc.), or he may be buying multiple copies of a book he published or wrote for the sole purpose of goosing its sales numbers at Amazon. After all, he wouldn't have to purchase WND Books titles through Amazon since he owns the company and can presumably get them through other means.
It certainly looks like the IRS is acting reasonably by requesting the titles of the books Farah is claiming as business deductions. Given Farah's propensity for lying, there's no reason to take his word for anything.
CNS Still Thinks Federal Money Spent on LGBT Issues Is A 'Waste' Topic: CNSNews.com
CNSNews.com's unnatural obsession with the federal government spending money on LGBT issues continues with a May 23 article by Fred Lucas lamenting that "The National Institutes of Health issued a $536,526 grant to the University of Illinois, Chicago, for a two-year program ending in July to study the smoking cessation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender population."
This reflects CNS' apparent view that any federal money spent on LGBT issues is a "waste."
WND's Corsi Slobbers All Over Breitbart Film Topic: WorldNetDaily
A May 25 WorldNetDaily "news" article by Jerome Corsi is little more than a promotion for the documentary "Hating Breitbart." Corsi gives film producer Andrew Marcus ample opportunity to lionize Andrew Breitbart, even revealing Breitbart's promotional strategy for the film had he lived.
After highlighting "one of the best sequences in the documentary," then rehashed claims that Breitbart may have been the victim of "foul play," as promoted by such sketchy folks as " private investigator Paul Huebl" (pictured right). Corsi does add, "WND was never able to locate other witnesses who reportedly claimed that in the days leading up to his death, Breitbart was particularly paranoid that he was being followed."
Corsi concludes by doing his promotional duty of informing readers where to find the film.
How much did Marcus and the Breitbart folks pay Corsi and WND for this prestigious placement?
Beyond Heathering: MRC's Graham Calls Republican A 'Backstabber' For Criticizing Conservative Topic: NewsBusters
The Media Research Center has long been a proponent of what we call Heathering -- the bullying of Republicans who they deem insufficiently loyal to the right-wing party line.
The Media Research Center's Tim Graham takes Heathering to the next level in a May 24 NewsBusters post, actually calling former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele a "backstabber" for daring to criticize far-right Virginia lieutenant governor candidate Rev. E.W. Jackson:
How does Steele sound any different than Rev. Al Sharpton in this quote package? How does Steele reconcile the idea of electing more black Republicans and diversifying the party by dumping on this nominee? At least Jackson was elected.
How does the former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland forget that he was merely selected, and was considered too socially conservative to win black voters in 2002? The Washington Post then found Steele saying he was pro-life and pro-death penalty, unlike his running mate Bob Ehrlich: "It's part of my religious upbringing," Steele said. "I will follow the next governor. I will argue my beliefs when asked."
Apparently, Steele threw out his religious upbringing when he started attending the same cable-news Church of Obama as Rev. Sharpton. The Post is enjoying these quotes too much to point out that Steele’s personal election record has two statewide losses and one win.
Needless to say, Graham is careful not to mention the details of Jackson's extreme views, nor does he provide any evidence that Steele ever held those very same views. And lost in Graham's attack on Steele's "personal election record" is the fact that it was under Steele that the GOP did so well in the 2010 midterm elections, while the Republicans under current chairman Reince Priebus did horrible in the 2012 elections -- and, unlike Steele, kept his job.
WND And The Koinonia Connection Topic: WorldNetDaily
We've detailed WorldNetDaily's stealth links to alleged cult figure Roy Masters. But that's not the only religious organization WND has ties with.
The Koinonia Institute portrays itself as something of a Christian think tank, claiming to be "dedicated to training and equipping the serious Christian to sojourn in today’s world." It's headed by Chuck Missler, an evangelist who uses a jar of peanut butter to attempt to disprove evolution. Missler also got busted for plagiarism in a book a co-wrote with Hal Lindsey.
So Koinonia appears to push a heavily fundamentalist, if not ultra-orthodox, version of Christianity -- perhaps unsurprising given its position that the Bible is "the inerrant Word of God." But another sign of Koinonia's extremism is its board of regents.
Two names jump out immediately: Joseph Farah and Jerome Corsi. That's right -- two of the most dishonestwriters on the planet are on the Koinonia board. Koinonia also sells lectures by Farah and Corsi, among others, on its website; Corsi's is called "Obama and the Deception," which doesn't strike us as advancing Christian theology.
But Farah and Corsi are only a couple of the extremist or questionable members of Koinonia's board of regents:
Walid Shoebat, who has been credibly accused of lying about his self-proclaimed past as a Palestinian terrorist.
Ergun Caner, who was forced out as dean of Liberty University's Baptist Theological Seminary after it was revealed he had made false statements about his past.
Pat Matrisciana, best known for making "The Clinton Chronicles," the Jerry Falwell-promoted film accusing (without evidence) President Clinton of various and sundry crimes and perpetuating the discredited "Clinton body count."
Alan Keyes, all-around crazy guy (and WND columnist).
Tom Horn, promoter of a dubious theory (also promoted by WND, of course) that Pope Francis will be the "final pope."
Are these really the folks you want "training and equipping the serious Christian to sojourn in today’s world"? It seems more like a rogue's gallery of charlatans and liars promoting questionable brands of Christianity. If Farah and Corsi can't be trusted in their day jobs, doesn't that dishonesty taint whatever Koinonia is trying to do?
NewsBusters Upset That The Mockable Is Being Mocked Topic: NewsBusters
John Williams devoted an entire May 25 NewsBusters post to complaining that NPR's media show "On the Media" dared to mock Glenn Beck and his "news" website, The Blaze. Williams whined that the host "found himself unable to maintain a professional tone, devolving into contemptuous name-calling (“crazy,” “vast conspiracies”), laughing and sneering.
Which raises the questions: Has Williams never listened to Beck or read The Blaze, which is dedicated in part to repeating what Beck says?
Did Williams miss Beck's ranting that an airport shooting in Houston was probably a "setup" like the Reichstag fire?
Did Williams miss Beck and The Blaze promoting the discredited story that a Saudi national who was briefly a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings but ultimately cleared really was involved somehow?
Did Williams somehow miss out on the fact that Beck has undeniably earned the mockery he receives?
That's the kind of "media research" that has apparently earned Williams -- who runs a Twitter account dedicated to bashing NPR -- a coveted slot at NewsBusters.
WND Punts on Arpaio Racial Profiling Scandal Topic: WorldNetDaily
Last week, a federal judge ruled that the office of Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio engaged in racial profiling by systematically singled out Latinos in its immigration patrols, and that some immigration patrols were not based on reports of crime but rather on letters and emails from Arizonans who complained about people with dark skin congregating in an area or speaking Spanish. It's the first time a court has made such a determination.
How did WorldNetDaily cover this story?
Remember that WND and Arpaio have been partners in crime, as it were -- Arpaio gave WND's birther obsession the sheen of officialdom by letting his cold case posse do a (biased and shoddy) investigation of President Obama's "eligibility" (not to mention letting WND's Jerome Corsi be a de facto member of the posse).
Thus, it will not surprise you to learn that WND has posted only a short wire article on the Arpaio ruling, linking to a Reuters article lifted from the supposedly liberal Huffington Post.
Once WND figures out a way to spin this to Arpaio's advantage, it will devote more attention to the case.
MRC Attacks Another Reporter For Telling The Truth Topic: NewsBusters
The Media Research Center's modus operandi of late has been the Orwellian tactic of attacking the media for reporting the truth about conservatives under the name of a "Tell the Truth!" campaign.
Brad Wilmouth does the same thing in a May 24 NewsBusters post:
Appearing as a guest on Thursday's PoliticsNation on MSNBC, Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank mocked South Carolina Republican Governor Nikki Haley as someone who has "reached out to a minority" in the form of white supremacists since they are a "minority," as he reacted to accusations that a member of her reelection committee is a white supremacist.
At no point does Wilmouth contradict any of Milbank's claims -- indeed, it's quite true -- and all he does is bash Milbank and others on MSNBC for highlighting it.
Jack Coleman used a May 29 NewsBusters post to misleadingly portray Fox News' Eric Bolling as some kind of hero for petulantly hanging up on Geraldo Rivera's radio show after having his version of the Benghazi narrative challenged.
WorldNetDaily is really, really going to miss Michele Bachmann.
Are some actresses too beautiful to accurately portray Hillary Clinton in a film? Noel Sheppard thinks so.
In a May 21 
It wouldn't be Les Kinsolving if he wasn't being a 
Joseph Farah has a hissy fit over the IRS in his May 27 WorldNetDaily 
A May 25 WorldNetDaily "news" 
The Media Research Center has long been a proponent of what we call 
We've 
Last week, a federal judge 
