Topic: Newsmax
Much of the Newsmax columnist's so-called media analysis is defending conservatives and bashing liberals. And that doesn't count his defenses of his buddy Mel Gibson. Read more >>
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
NEW ARTICLE: James Hirsen, Right-Wing 'Media Analyst'
Topic: Newsmax Much of the Newsmax columnist's so-called media analysis is defending conservatives and bashing liberals. And that doesn't count his defenses of his buddy Mel Gibson. Read more >>
Posted by Terry K.
at 3:22 PM EST
WND's McMillan Doesn't Understand 'Court-Packing'
Topic: WorldNetDaily Craige McMillan writes in his Nov. 22 WorldNetDaily column:
The two examples McMillan provides are not remotely the same. FDR tried to add additional positions to the Supreme Court, while Obama is merely trying to fill already existing vacancies on a lower court. McMillan also throws in some gratuitous birtherism:
Apparently McMillan hasn't noticed that even the website that publishes his columns has largely abandoned birther conspiracy theories.
Posted by Terry K.
at 2:26 PM EST
MRC's Double Standard on MSNBC Hosts Saying Insulting Things
Topic: Media Research Center The Media Research Center has been in high dudgeon lately over Martin Bashir's remarks about Sarah Palin, for which he has apologized. But a few years back, another MSNBC host who said something offensive got much different treatment. In 2007, when Don Imus described the Rutgers women's basketball team as "nappy-headed ho's," the MRC really didn't want to talk about it. Brent Bozell -- in an example of cowardice that rivaled his treatment of Rush Limbaugh's sleazy remarks about Sandra Fluke -- conceded only that Imus' words were "stupid," then desperately tried to change the subject: "But where were these people when the subject was gangsta rap? With these arrogant and profane multi-millionaires routinely insulting and deriding people, especially black women, with language one hundred-fold more offensive than anything that ever came out of the I-Man's mouth?" Bozell also hypocrically accused CBS of hypocrisy for canceling Imus' radio show over the controversy. When Imus got a new radio gig, NewsBusters' Noel Sheppard cheered on Imus seeking to "avenge" his firing by going after "the group that disseminated transcripts of his broadcast concerning the Rutgers women's basketball team, Media Matters for America." Sheppard added: "Right-thinking Americans across the fruited plain should hope that Imus is going to make it a crusade to expose the various entities in this nation such as Media Matters and the Center for American Progress which are indeed nothing more than propaganda arms of the Clintons. Good luck, Don. Give ‘em hell!" Sheppard couldn't even be bothered to criticize Imus' offensive remarks. Does this sound like an organization that has any moral authority to speak out against Bashir? Didn't think so.
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:53 PM EST
Reality Trumps Perception: Colin Flaherty's 'Black Mob Violence' Narrative Falls Apart
Topic: WorldNetDaily Last week, WorldNetDaily's Aaron Klein had a minor fit over "The lead pollster and main crafter of the marketing campaign for Obamacare" having "once explained that when selling health-care reform to the public 'perceptions are more important than facts and reason.'" Klein won't tell you this, but that's exactly the same way WND has been selling its "black mob violence" narrative. It actually gives the game away in the editor's note on top of every Colin Flaherty article: It states that Flaherty is reporting on "what appears to be a nationwide trend of skyrocketing black-on-white crime, violence and abuse." Not an actual trend -- what merely appears to be one. As one key aspect of Flaherty's "black mob violence" meme has gotten more media exposure recently -- the "knockout game" -- it was inevitable that Flaherty's narrative would start falling apart upon closer scrutiny: The New York Times pointed out that "police officials in several cities where such attacks have been reported said that the 'game' amounted to little more than an urban myth, and that the attacks in question might be nothing more than the sort of random assaults that have always occurred." The Times added that "police officials cautioned that they had yet to see evidence of an organized game spreading among teenagers online, though they have been reluctant to rule out the possibility." The Daily Beast criticized the "media panic" over "knockout game" coverage, highlighting its "strongly anecdotal" nature, adding: "The 'knockout game' may or may not be a new phenomenon, but with a few instances out of tens of thousands of assaults, it’s not a trend, and media outlets shouldn’t treat it as one. A few teens may describe their behavior as a game, but to hold them up as signs of a crime wave is to cherry-pick data and mislead the audience. A little incredulity, in other words, would go a long way." Slate notes that Flaherty "made it his life's work to report any single crime perpetrated by a black person in the U.S. against a white person. In a recent blog post, he lists as evidence six separate crimes in Philadelphia over the course of two years, which share nothing in similarity except for the fact that they involved black people." Slatte adds:
Flaherty and WND are not taking the exposure of its ginned-up coverage lying down -- they're in panic mode and flailing to push back. An unbylined Nov. 25 article attacks the Times and Slate in such a dishonest manner that it's clear they're panicking. Without directly quoting from the article, WND misleadingly asserts that the Times called the knockout game an "urban myth" without mentioning that it's police officials who are characterizing it that way. But that created enough of a straw man for Flaherty to slap down:
WND and Flaherty also attacked Slate -- again without quoting from the article, thus creating another straw man:
The fact that WND and Flaherty have to be so dishonest about their critics demonstrates how little truth is behind their narrative. All they've done is compile unrelated, anecdotal incidents over several years and call it an "epidemic." We've been exposing Flaherty's race-baiting since he began in the summer of 2012. He's been sloppy with the facts and so desperate to keep the meme going that he's included non-blacks -- and even non-humans -- in his "black mobs." And as with Jack Cashill's increasingly desperate defense of George Zimmerman, there's a new WND-published book on the line -- Flaherty's update of his self-published "White Girl Bleed A Lot." Flaherty merely created perception and tried to make it reality. Now that it's getting exposed to the light of day, his house of race-baiting cards is falling apart.
Posted by Terry K.
at 1:22 AM EST
Updated: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 1:55 AM EST
Monday, November 25, 2013
CNS' Starr Frowns On State Department's 'Transgender Day of Remembrance'
Topic: CNSNews.com Last week, CNSNews.com's Penny Starr was gay-baiting recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom by obsessing over the sexual orientation of two of them. Starr followed that up with a Nov. 22 article freaking out over Secretary of State John Kerry marking a "Transgender Day of Remembrance." While Starr played it straight and didn't report any anti-gay tirades, she's so anti-gay herself that this story's existence is a demonstration of her disapproval of the "Transgender Day of Remembrance." Has CNS ever considered keeping reporters with strong personal views on certain subjects -- as Starr clearly does on gays and abortion -- from reporting "news" articles on those subjects? Apparently not, even though that's the standard CNS' parent, the Media Research Center, demands of the "liberal media."
Posted by Terry K.
at 8:24 PM EST
Is WND Trying To Foment A Military Coup Against Obama?
Topic: WorldNetDaily We've documented how WorldNetDaily's Michael Maloof has been drafting crazy birther ex-generals to push his conspiracy theory that President Obama is systematically firing military commanders because ... well, who knows why? Now it appears there might be a method to Maloof's madness. Maloof writes in a Nov. 24 WND article:
Maloof is never going to admit it, but it appears that Vallely and Jones are trying to lay the groundwork for a military coup against Obama. Their creation of a "citizens commission" seems to be designed to give them cover to call their actions a "grassroots" campaign by regular Americans. Maloof's descriiption of what the group plans to do once they take power sure looks like a military coup:
Restricting "weapons, munitions and military-type vehicles" to the military? That's the very definition of the way a military junta behaves. A "grassroots" campaign to overthrow the president led by former military commanders is all kinds of wrong -- if not actually treasonous. But Maloof won't tell you that.
Posted by Terry K.
at 2:21 PM EST
Updated: Monday, November 25, 2013 2:26 PM EST
Bozell Can't Quite Admit He's Heathering Scarborough
Topic: Media Research Center Brent Bozell is not done Heathering Joe Scarborough, it seems. On the heels of a column completely dedicated to bashing Scarborough for not lying about Mitt Romney's bleak presidential prospects and, thus, putting right-wing ideology ahead of reality, Bozell cranked out an open letter after Scarborough said on a radio show that Bozell was "very angry" with him for pointing out incompetently run Republican campaigns. Bozell, of course, is pretending he's not:
Needless to say, the fact that Bozell felt the need to crank out this open letter is all the evidence one needs to see that he is, in fact, very angry with Scarborough. What Bozell is attacking as "intellectual dishonesty" is his own refusal to acknowledge reality: Scarborough appears to be right about his criticism of the presidential campaigns of McCain and Romney given that both candidates lost. Also note that Bozell never specifically denies that he wants Scarborough to lie about conservatives in order to preserve their chances of winning. It's so obvious that he does, even if he doesn't want it put in those words. It is Heathering, pure and simple. Bozell should just acknowledge it.
Posted by Terry K.
at 1:23 PM EST
WND Turns To Right-Wing AAPS Associate To Bash Obamacare
Topic: WorldNetDaily Jack Minor writes in a Nov. 24 WorldNetDaily article:
Minor doesn't mention that Huntoon is heavily affiliated with the right-wing Association of American Physicians and Surgeons -- he's a past president, current board member and editor-in-chief of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, which is best known for publishing falsely inflated statistics in order to blame a purported increase in leprosy on illegal immigrants. Huntoon has also attacked what he calls "sham peer review" of physicians -- ironic, since meaningful peer review of the journal he heads would have kept things like the leprosy error from showing up. The fact that Huntoon is so closely affiliated with such a fringe group should disqualify him from being any sort of expert. But then, WND already runs a weekly column by his AAPS colleague Lee Hieb, so such things don't matter.
Posted by Terry K.
at 1:56 AM EST
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Matt Philbin Has Issues
Topic: Media Research Center As he established when he tweeted sleazy things about Sandra Fluke, the Media Research Center's Matt Philbin has issues with women who take birth control -- in his mind, they're nothing but sluts. On Nov. 12, Philbin tweeted: "Then the birth control fairy came and gave all the good composite girls #hosurance, and they whored happily ever after."That came amidst a series of sneering, misogynist tweets about "hosurance." As the comment thread on theh tweet indicates, we attempted to pin down whether he thinks all women who use birth control are sluts or just all women who get their birth control through Obamacare, but we were not successful.On Nov 20, Philbin's idea to "rebrand Obamacare" was the slogan "Insured girls are easy." Again, we tried to find out why he thinks women who take birth control are "easy," but Philbin refused to give a straight answer. We'd question why the MRC continues to hire such a misogynist, but it appears that his continued employment there constitutes endorsement of his slut-shaming.
Posted by Terry K.
at 10:50 PM EST
WND Unhappy '12 Years A Slave' Accurately Depicts People Using Bible to Justify Slavery
Topic: WorldNetDaily Drew Zahn's Nov. 17 WorldNetDaily review of "12 Years A Slave" is lavish with praise for the movie ... except for the part about how it tells how pro-slavery forces used the Bible to justify slavery. Why? Because if that gets around, people might stop believing the Bible:
Zahn might also be concerned that conservative Christians using the Bible to justify discrimination against gays -- a driving force at WND -- will be perceived in the same light as those who used the Bible to justify slavery. He obviously can't have that. This is what happens when people like Zahn put adherence to an ideology before anything else.
Posted by Terry K.
at 8:09 PM EST
Saturday, November 23, 2013
CNS Obsesses Over Obama Photo Shoot From 6 Years Ago
Topic: CNSNews.com Yes, CNSNews.com really did devote a Nov. 21 article by Barbara Boland to this subject:
Not just your average article, mind you -- Boland cranks out nearly 2,000 words to complain about Richardson's photographic career, complete with pictures of photos from a Richardson artbook complete with pink sticky notes covering the naughty bits. But why bother to do this article in the first place? This is the kind of desperate, petty guilt-by-association smear that belongs in the waning days of a campaign (like CNS' failed freakout over sexual content in novels written by Virginia Senate candidate Jim Webb in 2006, apparently unable to separate fiction from reality), not hurled at a president who won re-election and will never run for office again. Boland made clear in her article that she really wants some answers to her petty attack, dammit:
Boland appears not tyo have considered the possibility that the White House saw her attempt to smear Obama for what it was and treated her inquiry with the lack of respect it deserved.
Posted by Terry K.
at 10:28 PM EST
Obama Derangement Syndrome Watch, Supersize WorldNetDaily Edition
Topic: WorldNetDaily
-- Christopher Monckton, Nov. 5 WorldNetDaily column
-- Barry Farber, Nov. 5 WND column
-- Burt Prelutsky, Nov. 5 WND column
-- Craige McMillan, Nov. 8 WND column
-- Erik Rush, Nov. 13 WND column
-- Tom Tancredo, Nov. 15 WND column
-- Barry Farber, Nov. 19 WND column
-- Burt Prelutsky, Nov. 19 WND column
-- Erik Rush, Nov. 20 WND column
Posted by Terry K.
at 1:35 AM EST
Updated: Saturday, November 23, 2013 10:29 PM EST
Friday, November 22, 2013
MRC's Drennen: Obama Should've Said 'Under God' Even Though Gettysburg Address Draft He Read Didn't Say That
Topic: Media Research Center The Media Research Center is never going to admit that its attacks on President Obama over the Gettysburg Address. In the wake of Tim Graham obsessing over Obama not saying the words "under God" in reciting the Gettysburg Address for a Ken Burns video project -- and failing to tell his readers that Burns specifically asked Obama to read an early draft of the address thatdid not contain those words -- Kyle Drennen does the same thing in a Nov. 21 MRC item:
Unlike Graham, Drennen did note that Obama read an early draft of the address -- which contradicts his assertion that Obama committed a "gaffe." But Drennen decided that was no excuse:
Instead of berating Obama for reading something exactly as written, Drennen should let go of his Obama derangement and start behaving like the "researcher" he's supposed to be and take the question up with Burns himself.
Posted by Terry K.
at 3:30 PM EST
Updated: Friday, November 22, 2013 3:34 PM EST
WND's Maloof Trots Out Crazy Birther Ex-General for Obama-Bashing Encore
Topic: WorldNetDaily Here's another sign Michael Maloof's conspiracy theory that President Obama is systematically firing military commanders is falling apart -- he brings back one of his favorite crazy ex-generals for more baseless conspiracy-mongering. In a Nov. 19 WND article, Maloof touts how retired Gen. Paul Vallely "is calling for the “forced resignations” of President Obama, other administration officials and the leadership of Congress for the direction they’re taking the nation, his list of grievances including the systematic political purge of hundreds of senior military officers in the U.S. military." As we pointed out the last time Maloof cited him, Vallely is a crazy birther whose opinion on Obama is severely clouded by his obvious hatred for the president. If all Maloof has to back up his conspiracy theory is crazy ex-generals and anonymous, unverifiable sources, there clearly is nothing to see here -- not that Maloof won't stop trying to convince you otherwise.
Posted by Terry K.
at 2:22 PM EST
CNS' Starr Gay-Baits on Medal of Freedom Recipients
Topic: CNSNews.com Penny Starr knows how to cater to the homophobes that read CNSNews.com. Thus, we have a Nov. 21 article from her that carries the headline "Obama Honors Gay Socialist and Lesbian Astronaut" and begins like this:
As far as Starr is concerned, the only possible reason Obama could have honored Bayard Rustin and Ride is because they were gay -- not because of what they achieved (Rustin's civil rights activism, Ride as the first female astronaut). But that anti-gay obsession serves her well in her job -- her employer does have an anti-gay agenda, after all.
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:39 PM EST
Updated: Friday, November 22, 2013 12:42 PM EST
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