With an arguably perfect storm of Obama scandals, real and imagined, to report on, what's the lead story on Newsmax's front page right now? This:

Posted by Terry K. at 10:06 AM EDT

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One reason to resist Joseph Farah's "National Day of Prayer and Fasting" is because Farah is an unrepentant liar who's pretending that there's no partisan motivation behind it, despite the fact that he has spent the past five years using his website to further the attempted personal destruction of Barack Obama.

Another reason is the rogue's gallery that has endorsed it.

A May 13 WND article ticks off the chief endorsers: "Chuck Norris is on board. So is Michele Bachmann. Best-selling author Jonathan Cahn agrees. So does evangelist Greg Laurie. Historian and author David Barton likes the idea."

To recap:

• Chuck Norris, who doesn't even write his own WND columns.
• Michele Bachmann, the WND "woman of the year" who advanced anti-vaccine conspiracies.
• Greg Laurie, an anti-gay pastor.
• Jonathan Cahn, whose dubious prophecy book "The Harbinger" WND has been riding the coattails of for the past year by producing a video based on the book (and whom Farah just slobbers over).
• And David Barton, the so-called "historian" whose book on Thomas Jefferson was withdrawn by its publisher for its inaccuracies  (and yet is still for sale at the WND online store).

To that illustrious list WND has added ... Mancow:

Matthew Erich “Mancow” Muller, better know as plain old Mancow, joined the growing list of celebrities and leaders who have endorsed the 9-11-13 National Day of Prayer and Fasting called for by WND’s founder, Joseph Farah.

Mancow welcomed Farah on his program this week to talk about the event and said he agreed it might represent America’s last hope – given the failure of political leaders to address the country’s crises.

Ah, yes, Mancow. This guy:

Mancow's Morning Madhouse ran afoul with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) indecency regulations in at least six separate incidents during 2000 and 2001. As a result, the FCC levied $42,000 in fines on Emmis Communications, the licensee of Mancow's then-home station WKQX-FM. In 2004, Emmis Communications signed a consent decree with the FCC sharply restricting indecent content and requiring the payment of $300,000 to the US government.

This is the guy WND is turning to endorse Farah's Day of Prayer? Really?

Posted by Terry K. at 12:54 AM EDT

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Suddently, NewsBusters has suddenly become the arbiter of who can and cannot speak on the subject of immigration.

In a May 9 post, Paul Bremmer unloads on Jose Antonio Vargas, whom he describes as a "former Washington Post reporter and liberal activist who happens to be both gay AND an undocumented immigrant." As you might suspect, that deadly combination disqualifies Vargas from speaking about immigration:

Someone call him a shrink, because he's confusing a cable network for a therapy couch.

I don’t know why this guy is griping. He should just be thankful that the U.S. government allowed him to stay in this country after he revealed his illegal immigrant status in 2011. Vargas has been allowed to live out his dream as a journalist and immigration activist, even winning a Pulitzer Prize, all while trying to smooth the pathway to citizenship for illegals like him. He has no right to complain that our laws currently do not cater to gay illegal aliens.

And Vargas doubly has no right to speak about gay civil rights, at least not without someone sitting next to him telling him he's going to hell and destroying the country:

Vargas asserted: “The country has moved on when it comes to gay marriage, same-sex marriage. How are we moving on in terms of immigration?”

Vargas’s idea of “moving on” involves accepting gay marriage as normal and rewarding those who reside in this country illegally with citizenship. But there are many voices in this country who disagree with that particular notion of societal progress. MSNBC should have balanced Vargas with such a voice.

But wait, the gay immigration activist was not done kvetching.

And neither is Bremmer. After Vargas noted that people think that because he is an undocumented Hispanic immigration it's assumed that he "crossed the border" from Mexico, Bremmer resumed his kvetch-fest:

I guess this is another nuisance in the life of an illegal immigrant. People assume that because Vargas is an illegal alien, he is Mexican. (He’s actually Filipino.) Obviously, not every illegal immigrant crossed our southern border -- many are visa overstays -- and border crossings have declined a bit in recent years. But according to estimates from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 59 percent of undocumented immigrants in 2011 were from Mexico, a country which itself has rather stringent border security laws to prevent immigration on its southern border.

Federal officials should not be distracted by illegal Asian and Pacific Islander immigrants, who, according to Vargas, make up “a full million of the 11 million undocumented population.”  That is not a large proportion of the illegal population. Our southern neighbor is still our greatest supplier of illegal immigrants, so the focus on border security is well warranted.

What MSNBC served up in the Vargas interview was not analysis; it's just good old-fashioned liberal activism thinly and cynically disguised as journalism.

And what Bremmer served up is some good old-fashioned bigotry and right-wing ranting that most definitely is not analysis.

Posted by Terry K. at 10:49 PM EDT

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WorldNetDaily states in an unbylined May 11 article that regurgitates claims from the right-wing Judicial Watch:

Another company once considered a brilliant clean-energy venture – and supported by taxpayer money under Barack Obama’s strategy to attack coal and oil energy – has hit the big-time, being listed among the “Corruption Chronicles” at Judicial Watch.

Oh, it’s also going out a business, after taking some $50 million in taxpayer money.

“Another one of President Obama’s brilliant clean-energy ventures has collapsed after taking tens of millions of dollars from American taxpayers, in this case to develop a special wheelchair-accessible ‘green’ van,” the Judicial Watch report said.

The news comes just weeks after a separate company that got nearly $200 million from the government to develop hybrid vehicles folded, said Judicial Watch. “That fly-by-night company, Fisker Automotive, had been heavily touted by the administration as an innovator that would develop two lines of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles that could run up to 300 miles on a rechargeable Lithium-ion battery. Before doling out the cash, Obama’s Energy Secretary assured the cars ‘will save hundreds of millions of gallons of gasoline and offset millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions by 2016.’”

WND omits some crucial facts: The program that lent VPG and Fisker that money was created under the Bush administration and signed into law by President Bush, Fisker applied for that loan money while Bush was still in office, and the losses by Fisker and VPG are a tiny fraction of the money set aside by Congress to cover losses from the loan program. 

But this is WND, where bashing Obama is always more important than telling the truth.

Posted by Terry K. at 8:50 PM EDT

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Fox News' Megyn Kelly started off her May 9 interview with the Media Research Center's Dan Gainor by claiming that "If you look at sort of across the mainstream media, it was a collective yawn in response to yesterday’s Benghazi coverage" -- that is, the Republican-led hearing on the issue.

Kelly is wrong -- as thte Washington Post's Erik Wemple points out, both the New York Times and Washington Post put it on their front pages, and all three network evening newscasts carried lengthy segments on the hearing.

But rather than correct Kelly, Gainor prattled forward with his right-wing talking points about how this supposed "collective yawn" was a "continuation of their policy to minimize a scandal that makes Hillary Clinton look really bad."

But then, Gainor's a right-wing apparatchik, so he would stick to the talking points instead of tell the truth.

Posted by Terry K. at 11:00 AM EDT

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A May 10 WorldNetDaily article by Drew Zahn about California considering accommodations for transgenders in school does what it usually does:

• It dishonestly frames the issue as co-ed locker rooms, as with the headline "State order girls' locker rooms open to boys."
• And It nonsenically illustrates the article with an image from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" of the lead character taking a shower. WND did the same thing last year.

And, as usual, Zahn does not let anyone respond to the anti-LGBT talking points from anti-gay organizations that take up much of the article.

And WND wonders why nobody believes them.

Posted by Terry K. at 12:26 AM EDT

Updated: Monday, May 13, 2013 12:28 AM EDT

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James Walsh's job at Newsmax is to be its chief immigrant-basher, with a side of Obama-bashing -- a function he continued to perform in a couple recent columns.

One column denounced a recent rally for immigration reform as "a well-orchestrated, well-financed, Alinsky-style community-organizer protest," and claimed the presence of children "reflected the labor-union tactic of using children to evoke sympathy and gain publicity."

Walsh went on to claim that "Some observers of the rally questioned the cost of transporting, feeding, and housing the demonstrators, many of whom couldn’t speak English." He provided no evidence of any lack of English-speaking skills among the attendees, and the quotes he attributes to these "observers" have no backup either; they sound like his usual tactic of quoting purportedly real people who all happen to agree with him.

Walsh's May 3 column was dedicated to declaring that President Obama's policies "have the potential to erode U.S. culture, heritage, identity, and financial solvency." He rails against immigration reform (of course), Obamacare and foreign policy. We've previously noted Walsh's misleading defense of a military instructor who made inflammatory claims about Muslims.

Posted by Terry K. at 10:37 PM EDT

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On April 24, WorldNetDaily's Chelsea Schilling wrote an article in which she uncriticially repeats a report from Fox News' Todd Starnes that "a New York middle school instructed young female students to ask one another for a lesbian kiss – and boys learned how to spot young sluts – in an anti-bullying presentation on gender identity and sexual orientation." At the end of the article, Schilling provided the phone number and email address of the superintendent of the school district so that "concerned parents" may contact him.

Just one problem: It's not true.

The school has explained that "female students were not forced to engage in any lesbian kissing," "male students were not told to carry condoms,” and "sexual activity among young adolescents was not condoned or promoted in any way." The school distrct added, "This information had been shared with the media, but was not reported by some." Starnes has also demanded a correction from Fox's Starnes in an email that may as well be cc'd to Schilling:

These sessions were designed by the building leadership in an effort to have eighth graders treat each other with respect and to develop in our young adolescents an appreciation for personal dignity. To suggest that we would condone or promote sexual activity among teenagers is absurd. It is equally absurd to suggest that an activity, designed to have young women feel more confident saying no to unwanted advances from boys, is in some way promoting a lesbian lifestyle. It is my understanding that the role playing activity is part of a program supported by conservatives such as Laura Bush.

The definitions given to students, while overly granular in my opinion, were put forth to make sure that students understand that all gender identities and/or sexual orientations are protected in law in New York State as part of an effort to curb harassment, discrimination, and bullying. It is our intent to adjust this document and be less granular in future lessons.

Please also know that the two college students who helped facilitate these sessions were guided and supervised by the principal and guidance counselors. They were not acting without direction. And, there is no evidence to suggest that they were inappropriately interacting with the students. Reports indicate the opposite is true. I have read both their written accounts of the sessions and written feedback from students. It was all very positive.

Will Schilling correct her article or do a follow-up that reports the facts? Don't count on it -- after all, she has a long history of less-than-factual reporting at WND.

Posted by Terry K. at 2:40 PM EDT

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Feel the condescension in Tim Graham's May 11 NewsBusters post mocking a poll finding support for letting gays join the Boy Scouts:

ABC and the Washington Post are happy to join the war on the Boy Scouts, pushing every church in America that sponsors a Scout troop to alter their Bibles for the gay agenda. The Post headline on Saturday was "Poll: Most Americans support lifting ban on gay Boy Scouts."

The pollsters did not ask if Americans would also like ending the "bans" in other American social organizations and faith groups. Why can't avid barbecuers join PETA? Freedom of association -- whoever said that was an American principle?

[...]

"Catholics" -- at least those saying they were -- favored the gay agenda: "Opposition to banning gay scout leaders ranges by religious group and along well-worn political fault lines. A 56 percent majority of Catholics oppose the continued ban on gay scout masters, a number that rises to 75 percent among people who identify as atheist, agnostic or nothing in particular. By contrast, Protestants are closely divided, 49 percent supporting and 47 percent opposing the ban on gay scout leaders."

Gotta love the scare quotes around "Catholic," as if he was the arbiter of who and who isn't Catholic.

Posted by Terry K. at 11:44 PM EDT

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Face the facts: The Tsarnaev family had been welcomed to America. They didn’t fall through the cracks; they cracked the system. Those manning the alphabet soup of immigration and attendant agencies wanted them here.

It mattered not that the family has deep roots in Chechnya, a Shariah-law dominated anarchy whose chief export is terrorism to Russian cities.

It mattered not that the family’s refugee-status application was probably bogus.

Mother Tsarnaev’s stealing imperiled her stay in the U.S. not at all.

[...]

On the bright side: Whereas (alleged) terrorist Tamerlan was never at risk of losing his coveted Green Card, my daughter was stripped of hers by “brave” U.S. immigration law enforcers. Yeah, that bandita is finally at bay – turned away at the Canadian border in a mighty show of force, on a technicality.

-- Ilana Mercer, April 25, WND column

The amnesty bill is the last straw not because of the subject, a new amnesty, but because of what it says about Republican perfidy. The amnesty bill is both an arrogant betrayal of principle AND unprecedentedly outrageous in its political stupidity. It asks citizens to buy a pig in a poke merely on the promise of immigration enforcement by the Obama administration, a promise no one with an IQ about 30 can accept.

-- Tom Tancredo, April 26 WorldNetDaily column

If AB-1401 passes the Senate and is signed by the governor, it would make California the first state in the country to allow non-citizens to serve on juries.

Technically, someone who is not a citizen but in the country legally, living in the jurisdiction involved, and is proficient in the language, would be allowed to serve.

I guess that means we can kiss “jury of my peers” goodbye. A non-citizen is not my peer.

-- Barbara Simpson, April 28 WND column

“Come to the U.S. and kill Americans! Even if you murder women and children, you will be guaranteed protection under our Constitution, ‘Mirandized’ and provided lawyers, along with top-quality medical care (if wounded in an escape attempt) … all at taxpayers’ expense. You could possibly even qualify for long-term quality care, with many free amenities, also at public expense, or perhaps, as an ‘enemy combatant,’ receive an all-expense-paid retirement on an island in the Caribbean.”

Extraordinary nonsense! That is manifestly evident in the debate surrounding the Boston bombing.

-- Ben Kinchlow, April 28 WND column

The Nuge Immigration Plan (NIP) takes five years for even illegal immigrants to become Americans. Until then, they should be treated like indentured servants, meaning that they have to earn their citizenship.

The NIP is not an amnesty program. Amnesty is for left-wing mollycoddlers, losers, bureaucrats and hippies. Occupy that.

We need a real full-length, undefeatable border fence built. All illegal men in America should be required to work on building the fence, to be completed in one year. We would pay them minimum wage, provide food and shelter, and provide them English and American history classes at night. Everyone wins.

Illegal aliens trying to become an American are not eligible for any state or federal crack welfare during the five-year Nuge immigration probationary period. None. When the going gets tough, the tough Wango ze Tango.

-- Ted Nugent, May 9 WND column

Posted by Terry K. at 12:46 PM EDT

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It's utterly unsurprising that the Media Research Center's first mentions of (now former) Heritage Foundation researcher Jason Richwine's work bolstering white nationalists' views of the diminished IQ of Hispanics and other minorities are a blanket defense and an attempt to change the subject.

CNSNews.com published a rant by Michelle Malkin in which she attacks anyone who criticized Richwine's pre-Heritage work, asserting that he was being "strung up by the p.c. lynch mob for the crime of unflinching social science research." Malkin also invoked the logical fallacy of the argument from authority by insisting that because Richwine graduated from "Harvard University's prestigious Kennedy School of Government," and a highly credentialed dissertation committee signed of Richwine's doctoral dissertation, nothing could possibly be wrong with Richwine's work.

Over at NewsBusters, Mark Finkelstein tried to change the subject, insisting that the Richwine controversy was nothing but a "flap" and pretending that "Morning Joe" guest Al Hunt was the real racist because he asked to clarify what Richwine wrote about non-white IQ levels. Finkelstein then grumbled, "Ever since the Bell Curve, the discussion of any possible variation in IQ among different ethnic groups has become utterly taboo in politcally-correct circles."

Thus far, no MRC operation has provided a full, unbiased accounting of the Richwine controversy. Don't expect them to do so anytime soon.

Posted by Terry K. at 7:47 PM EDT

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WND Weekly (nee WorldNetWeekly), WorldNetDaily's attempt to generate a little income by repackaging its content into an e-magazine form, is no stranger to creating provocative, publicity-generating covers -- witness this cover image of Obama looking not unlike he's been shot in the face.

WND is at it again with the latest issue, which depicts Hillary Clinton with the tongue of a serpent:

Posted by Terry K. at 5:21 PM EDT

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Cliff Kincaid loves his dubious right-wing fringe figures (Scott Lively, Jared Taylor, Joel Gilbert), so it's not a surprise that he would rush to the defense of another one, Glenn Beck.

Kincaid's May 8 Accuracy in Media column is dedicated to echoing Beck's very narrow defense that he really wasn't depicting New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg as a Nazi during his NRA speech, he was trying to depict Bloomberg as a communist, and that there is a huge difference between the two. Kincaid insists that any claim that Beck was invoking Nazi imagery is "demonstrably false" and huffed that one writer who did make that claim would not "retract his charge after he was informed by Accuracy in Media that his account was flatly inaccurate."

But Kincaid conveniently overlooks the fact that while Beck did apparently model the image on what Kincaid insisted is a "very famous" pose by Vladimir Lenin, it's Naziism, not communism, that's infamous for the raised-arm salute, and it's not a shock that that people not steeped in Soviet propaganda -- that is, the vast majority of America -- would see Beck's image as echoing Nazis, not communists.

Nevertheless, after quoting a writer who pointed that out, Kincaid insisted that the image "is clearly not the same thing as the Nazi salute given by Hitler."

Kincaid was also offended that Jewish groups were calling on Beck to apologize, and that Media Matters (disclosure: my employer) "clearly hoped to resurrect the controversy over Beck, when he was with Fox News, having identified George Soros as having been a Nazi collaborator in his youth." But Kincaid didn't mention that Beck's attack on Soros is, to coin a phrase, demonstrably false.

Posted by Terry K. at 10:59 AM EDT

Updated: Friday, May 10, 2013 5:24 PM EDT

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CNSNews.com isn't the only ConWeb operation to have promoted that Heritage Foundation study on immigration without mentioning its flaws or the racially charged rhetoric of the study's co-author.

A May 7 WND article by John Bennett touted how "Amnesty will cost American taxpayers at least $6.3 trillion in welfare and other public benefits," featuring an audio interview with report co-author Jason Richwine. But Bennett has not lifted a finger to report any of the reaction and fallout from the report:

• The report has massive flaws that even co-author Robert Rector acknowledges: It not only doesn't examine the entire Senate immigration bill it purports to be looking at, it leaves out any examination of provisions designed to help the economy.
  
• Richwine wrote a 2009 doctoral dissertation titled "IQ and Immigration Policy" claiming that "there are deep-set differentials in intelligence between races," adding, "No one knows whether Hispanics will ever reach IQ parity with whites, but the prediction that new Hispanic immigrants will have low-IQ children and grandchildren is difficult to argue against."

Laziness or censorship a la WND's hiding of all facts that discredit its birther obession? We report, you decide.

Posted by Terry K. at 12:36 AM EDT

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