MRC Hides Link To Catholic Groups Who Signed On To Its Jihad Against Dan Savage Topic: Media Research Center
One can almost admire how the Media Research Center cloaks its war on Dan Savage -- which, in fact, is a demand to censor all gay-oriented content on TV that doesn't conform to right-wing anti-gay dogma -- as an "education campaign."
But the deception doesn't end there. An April 21 MRC press release touts how "Catholic groups" have joined it in its "national campaign to educate the public" about Savage and the TV pilot based on his teenage years that ABC picked up.
But the MRC doesn't disclose its links to two of those groups. As we've documented, MRC chief Brent Bozell is on the board of advisors of the Catholic League and the Cardinal Newman Society, two of the groups listed in the press release.
Which means that the "Catholic groups" listed in the MRC press release are not necessarily representative of all Catholicism -- just a right-wing slice of it.Indeed, Catholic League head Bill Donohue is so fringe that even his and Bozell's fellow conservatives are turning on him (something, by the way, you'll never see reported on any MRC website).
But Donohue's hateful and bigoted comments are just peachy with the MRC -- it's too busy trying to censor Dan Savage.
WND's Unruh Perpetuates Lies About Sanger, Kinsey Topic: WorldNetDaily
Promoting a conference claiming to "connect the dots between Margaret Sanger’s Malthusian philosophy and belief in promiscuity and hatred for marriage … to the pseudoscience of Dr. Alfred Kinsey discovered by Dr. Reisman," Bob Unruh writes in an April 22 WorldNetDaily article:
Thomas Malthus was a 19th-century professor who believed poverty and hunger were symptoms of a population crisis, and the solution was to prevent the growth in the numbers of certain groups of people.
Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, built on that concept of eugenics, at one point saying she did not want word to get out that a goal was to reduce the black population.
Moving further was Alfred Kinsey, the infamous Indiana professor who assembled data on the sexual performance of children as young as five months, and Bernard Nathanson, one of the founders of the National Abortion Rights Action League.
So what do all their life accomplishments have in common?
Deception.
You can add Unruh to that list, based on the above. He takes Sanger's statement out of context to falsely portray her as a murderous racist. As we've documented, while Sanger embraced eugenicist ideas that were popular during her lifetime, she was not racially driven.
Unruh is alluding to a statement Sanger made regarding a birth-control initiative focused on the black community known as the "Negro Project," in which she is quoted as saying that "We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members" -- a statement frequently taken out of context by right-wingers.
But as FactCheck.org reports, the Margaret Sanger Papers Project states that Sanger's statement, in fact, refers to the fact that "Sanger recognized elements within the black community might mistakenly associate the Negro Project with racist sterilization campaigns in the Jim Crow south, unless clergy and other community leaders spread the word that the Project had a humanitarian aim."
Later in his article, Unruh repeats discredited allegations by anti-Kinsey obsessive Judith Reisman -- who is speaking at this conference -- that “Kinsey solicited and encouraged pedophiles, at home and abroad, to sexually violate from 317 to 2,035 infants and children for his alleged data on normal ‘child sexuality.’ "
Riesman is the real liar here, but since she's an author published by WND, Unruh doesn't want you to know that.
CNS Managing Editor Keeps Up His Work As Franklin Graham's PR Guy Topic: CNSNews.com
Franklin Graham doesn't like that a comic book superhero is gay, and CNSNews.com managing editor Michael Chapman is ON IT:
Marvel Comics outed its X-Men character "Iceman" as gay in its latest issue, a cultural step that is designed "to indoctrinate our young people to accept this destructive lifestyle," said Reverend Franklin Graham, who added that God Himself in the Bible says that "homosexuality is a sin" and we are to be on guard against all sin."
"Today the Marvel comic character Ice Man, from the 'X-Men' series, is coming out as gay," said Rev. Graham in a post on Facebook. "This is another attempt to indoctrinate our young people to accept this destructive lifestyle."
"God’s Word says homosexuality is a sin, and we are to be on guard against all sin," said the reverend. "God calls us to repent, turn from our sins, and put our trust in His Son Jesus Christ who died and rose again to pay the penalty for sin."
This is the sixth blog post in April that Chapman has dedicated to the musings of Graham (the others are here, here, here, here and here). That's on top of the 25 articles Chapman dedicated to him in the first three months of 2015 -- more than one-third of Chapman's CNS output during that time.
Chapman has yet to publicly explain why he considers Graham's anti-gay, anti-Muslim and anti-Obama views so newsworthy that he presents them without permitting anyone to respond.
Regarding Chapman's other evangelical-extremist man-crush, he has published three more articles (here, here, and here) featuring the comments of Rafael Cruz, better known as Ted Cruz's dad, since we checked in last.
As with Graham, Chapman has not explained why Cruz's hateful comments are so important as to be presented without comment or criticism. That would seem to violate CNS' mission statement "to fairly present all legitimate sides of a story."
WND's Chumley Tries To Link Walmart to Jade Helm Conspiracy Theory Topic: WorldNetDaily
You can't deny that WorldNetDaily loves its conspiracy theories. We see that again in an April 20 WND article by Cheryl Chumley:
Jade Helm 15 is set to kick off in seven states this summer, sending Special Operations forces from all four main branches of the military onto civilian soil to conduct hostile take-over training – and civil-rights advocates are sounding the alarms.
This is how the military describes it:
“The nature of warfare is always changing and U.S. Army Special Operations Command’s mission is to make certain the Army’s various Special Operations Forces are trained, equipped and organized to successfully conduct worldwide special operations in support of our nation’s interests,” said command spokesman Army Lt. Col. Mark Lastoria, in a statement to the Washington Post a few weeks ago. “Training exercise Jade Helm is going to assist our Special Operations Soldiers and leadership in refining the skills needed against an ever changing foreign threat.”
But plenty on social media aren’t calmed by the explanation, in part remembering the recent similar operation in Broward County, Florida, that saw Blackhawk helicopters flying above community streets while soldiers loaded citizen participants into white vans for transport to internment camps. It was all a staged exercise but for those watching, the scenes that unfolded were alarming.
Only at WND would social media be considered a legitimate source of information.
Chumley's article includes a scary-looking photo of unidentified military-looking people in dark uniforms and carrying assault rifles marching down an unidentified to imply that this is what is happening during the Jade Helm operation (never mind that Jade Helm hasn't even started yet):
Not only does Chumley make no effort to fact-check the claims she reports, she ignores reporting by other, legitimate news outlets explaining why the conspiracy theories have no basis in reality, like this from Stars & Stripes:
Army Lt. Col. Mark Lastoria, a USASOC spokesman, confirmed that there is an upcoming exercise called Jade Helm 15 which is scheduled to take place this summer at locations in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, California and Nevada. But he denied the event is preparation for some sort of military takeover.
“That notion was proposed by a few individuals who are unfamiliar with how and why USASOC conducts training exercises,” he said in an email. “This exercise is routine training to maintain a high level of readiness for Army Special Operations Forces because they must be ready to support potential missions anywhere in the world on a moment’s notice.”
He said the only thing unique about this particular exercise, which is slated to take place between July 15 and Sept. 15, is “the use of new challenging terrain” which was chosen because it is similar to conditions special operations forces operate in overseas.
Instead, Chumley endeavors to tie Walmart into the grand conspiracy:
Yet one more poster pointed to recent reported Wal-Mart closures in Texas, California, Florida and Oklahoma with concern, saying the cited “plumbing problems” cited as the reason for the sudden shut-downs just don’t meet the smell test.
“Employees impacted by the Wal-Mart closures were given just a few hours notice about the six-month shutdown,” the blog Inquisitr wrote. “Approximately 2,200 employees will now be without a paycheck during the ‘extended repairs.’ … The abrupt Wal-Mart closures announcement has reportedly left employees confused and Americans pondering the existence of Wal-Mart underground tunnels and Operation Jade Helm conspiracy theories.”
One of the theories?
Inquisitr reports: “One of the widely circulating rumors associated with the Jade Helm Wal-Mart story on the Internet speculates that the military will use the underground tunnels to move undetected around certain states with the stores being used as either a communications hub or FEMA camps.”
The fear is ratcheted by the fact city officials who govern the areas of the impacted Wal-Marts say the stores haven’t filed any permit requests for plumbing problems, Inquisitr said.
Needless to say, Chumley doesn't mention the far more likely reason those Walmart stores abruptly closed: an atempt to short-circult union activity. CBS reported:
Walmart's plumbing problems have flushed out a potentially embarrassing labor situation.
The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union has filed a claim with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that Walmart's (WMT) recent closing of five stores was done in retaliation for a history of labor activism at one of the locations, rather than because of the plumbing problems the retailer cited, The New York Times reports. The union is asking the government agency for an injunction that would require Walmart to rehire the 2,200 workers who were temporarily laid off or affected by the closings.
Since Walmart closed the five stores this month, citing plumbing problems as the cause, suspicions were aroused, especially because one shuttered location was the site of the first U.S. strike at a Walmart store. One employee at that store, located in Pico Rivera, California, told CBS Los Angeles that some co-workers believed the company was targeting employees who had spoken out against Walmart's labor practices.
But then, a corporate attack on unions isn't as sexy as a New World Order conspiracy theory for Chumley and WND.
CNS Is Mad More People Aren't Covered Under Obamacare, For Some Reason Topic: CNSNews.com
The right-wingers at CNSNews.com have consistently grumbled about Obamacare, so it's odd to see them complain that it's not successful enough at covering people. Brittany Hughes writes in an April 13 CNS article:
Nearly 12 percent of American adults still do not have health insurance, according to a Gallup poll published Monday.
This is despite the fact that the individual mandate in President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act (ACA), AKA Obamacare, took effect at the beginning of 2014.
According to Gallup 11.9% of American adults were uninsured in the first quarter of 2015. That was down one percentage point from the previous quarter and 5.2 points since the end of 2013, just before the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate went into effect.
The Gallup survey shows the ACA falling far short of the president’s statement that the law would be "about making sure that all of us, and all our fellow citizens, can count on the security of health care."
But Hughes doesn't mention one key reason why coverage isn't higher: the refusal of Republican governors to expand their Medicaid rolls.
As Bloomberg details, one key component of the Affordable Care Act is federal funding for states to expand Medicaid -- if they decide to take advantage of it. But 20 states haven't, the vast majority of them run by Republican governors like Florida and Texas. Those two states together have 1.6 million people who could qualify for Medicaid under the wider eligibility criteria, according to estimates from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Hughes might want to consider pointing the finger of blame where it actually belongs instead of engaging in kneejerk Obama-bashing.
We Get Phil Elmore's Attention Topic: WorldNetDaily
Looks like we've gotten someone's attention.
Phil Elmore's April 22 WorldNetDaily column was set off by our examination last week of Elmore's WND work. That's not to say it's a response, because Elmore doesn't really respond to anything in the article -- he doesn't link to the ConWebWatch article he's highlighting, nor to any other work of ours he highlights, which is a sign of the dishonesty to come.
(Funny thing is, WND has a history of this. In 2008, when we submitted a response to WND editor Joseph Farah's criticism of us, WND stripped out all the links to ConWebWatch articles that had been embedded in the original.)
Mainly, he plays the attack-the-messenger card, calling me a "troll" solely because I had the temerity to criticize his writing, offering no evidence of how that consists of "trolling" behavior. Elmore also falsely claims that I think "any opinion with which [I] disagree is automatically a 'lie.' and that I'm constantly "screaming that everyone [I don't] like is lying." In fact, I highlight actuallies as lies; Elmore offers no evidence I've ever portrayed a conservative opinion as a de facto falsehood.
Then, for some reason, Elmore goes back to a 2009 blog post I wrote for a lengthy attack regarding the use of sexual metaphors:
In a blog post entitled, “Erik Rush Discovers Gay Sex,” Krepel quotes WND columnist Erik Rush, who wrote, “Apparently, shouting at the president is objectionable, but his collectively sodomizing the American people in perpetuity is acceptable as long as it is done with a sense of decorum.” Krepel then cites a column in which Rush says, “Indeed – like the proverbial cellblock rapist, our president is ‘ramming’ as much of his Marxist agenda down our collective throats as quickly as he can.”
This, according to Krepel, is very, very mean (and homophobic). According to Krepel, this means Erik Rush is obsessed with gay sex acts. It could not possibly be, to Krepel, that the idea of your government “screwing you” is a common turn of phrase in popular culture; it could not ever be the case that Erik Rush thinks we are being force-fed Marxism by the president and that Rush is using colorful language to make that point. No, in Terry Krepel’s outraged eyes, it must be that Erik Rush has only just “discovered” gay sex.
Yet Krepel himself is obsessed with gay oral sex by his own logic. In objecting to a positive commentary on radio personality Michael Savage, Krepel refers on his blog to “fluffing,” an industry term used on pornography film shoots. Krepel also repeatedly refers to “literary fellatio” in this regard. Exactly how is this different than using the metaphorical language Erik Rush did in the column Krepel found so horribly, horribly objectionable? The answer is … that it isn’t. It isn’t different at all. Mr. Krepel is simply a hypocrite. In the world of Terry Krepel, you see, all pornographic metaphors are equal, but some pornographic metaphors are more equal than others.
Elmore seems to have missed the fact that I was pointing out that Erik Rush's use of violent sexual metaphors was of a piece with Rush Limbaugh's weird fixation on anal sex. By contrasts, my references to "fluffing" and "literary fellatio" -- to which Elmore has to go back to another 2009 ConWebWatch article -- were an apt metaphor for the situation I was describing. In it, I describe how former WND columnist Ellis Washington was using his then-position as the "authorized biographer for the conservative intellectual Dr. Michael Savage" to take his Savage sycophancy to a laughable extent, likening the extreme-right radio host to Jesus Christ and Prometheus.
And therein lies the difference that Elmore fails to see: Erik Rush's sexual metaphors portray forcible acts and imply the perpetrators, like President Obama, are violent thugs; mine point out how Washington is so determined to give pleasure to his subject that it might as well be sexual.
Having exhausted his questioning of things I wrote six years ago, Elmore returns to current matters, finally offering a direct response (sort of) to something I wrote: a post in a Twitter conversation I had with Elmore in which I note that because WND is so discredited, he is discredited by extension because of his association with it. He responds not by acknowledging WND's credibility problems but, rather, by repeating WND's own PR:
Fully 18 years after its founding, certain facts remain facts no matter how many times liberal trolls like Ross and Krepel dismiss them. This site was the first Internet-only news organization. It was also the first Internet-only news site to secure credentials to cover both the White House and Capitol Hill. Among Internet content providers, it was the first to see one of its books made into a feature film, the first to launch a movie production house and the first to start a book-publishing enterprise. As for the opinions liberals hate so much, founder Joseph Farah gives the libs plenty to gnash their teeth over, grinding out an unprecedented six opinion columns per week. WND has repeatedly broken major stories that achieved mainstream attention only later. Regardless of your opinion of its articles concerning theology, alternative-science and arguable conspiracy theories, this is a news organization that has left an indelible mark on the American news landscape.
Like much of the ConWebWatch work he's belatedly criticizing, WND's "firsts" are years in the past, and as any good investor knows, past performance doesn't indicate future results. Heck, we'll even agree with Elmore that WND made some stabs at actual journalism way back when. But it's been a long time since WND was driven by anything resembling journalistic principles, so desperate has it become to destroy Obama by any means necessary.
Elmore makes sure not to mention any of that more recent and relevant WND reportage, such as its failed jihad against President Obama and the whole birther debacle. WND's "indelible mark on the American news landscape" has become that of a bad joke.
If Elmore is proud to be associated with WND, far be it from us to further try to dissuade him. But he shouldn't complain when he sees how that plays outside the WND bubble.
Newsmax's Hirsen Laments Bad Reviews For New 'Paul Blart' Film Topic: Newsmax
James Hirsen uses his April 20 Newsmax column to ask where the love is for the new Kevin James film "Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2," declaring that the film's opening-weekend success "is particularly impressive when examined in light of the excessively brutal reviews that the mainstream film critic community has heaped upon it."
Well, not really. A film sequel generally has a good chance to do well in its opening weekend no matter its quality or reviews from critics. Hirsen works in Hollywood, so he ought to know that.
Hirsen went on to complain that no movie-review websites "paid attention to a positive review that appeared on Ted Baer's [sic] Movie Guide site, in which the film is characterized as 'the funniest family movie in many years.'" Hirsen doesn't explain why anyone should pay attention to right-winger Baehr, who thinks the "Harry Potter" books and films "teach rebellion against authority" because "Witchcraft means rebellion against God's authority in the Bible."
Hirsen pumps up James' supposed family-friendly bona fides, pointing out that he "is married, has four children, and is a committed Catholic believer," as well as "part of an expanding group of professionals in Hollywood who are committed to the goal of creating family friendly fare for the general viewing audience."
Hirsen also ought to know that box-office take is not directly proportional to a film's quality, yet he concludes his column by suggesting it is: "A quick look at the box-office results makes it clear that James has come through for his fans in a big way, and hopefully this portends that more wholesome Hollywood product is in store for the public."
Given that Hirsen promoted Mel Gibson and his film "The Passion of the Christ" -- and defended Gibson after unsavory rants went public -- for years without discolsing the close personal relationship with the actor makes us wonder if there's something between him and James he's not mentioning.
WND Hides The Truth About Why Houston Petitions Were Disqualified Topic: WorldNetDaily
The rule of law was upheld in a Houston petition case -- but you wouldn't know that by reading WorldNetDaily.
Last week, a judge ruled that a right-wing petition initiative to overturn Houston's anti-discrimination ordinance did not contain enough valid signatures after the petitions were found to include numerous errors by petition circulators and forgeries that disqualified signatures. The judge noted that the disqualifying errors included pages where the circulator's affidavit was not notarized or where the circulator notarized his or own affidavit, signatures added after the circulator signed the verification, and signatures that appear more than once.
It fell to Bob Unruh to write about the ruling for WND. Given that Unruh has peddledfalsehoods about the Houston case in the past, it wasn't going to go well for anyone interested in a fair and balanced story.
And it didn't. Three of the first four paragraphs of Unruh's April 17 article are devoted to a side issue that had nothing to do with the final ruling: an attempt by city officials to subpoena communications by some pastors in the case that was ultimately dropped.
It's not until the fifth paragraph that Unruh gets around to admitting that the judge ruled there were not enough valid signatures -- then immediately spent several paragraphs repeating talking points from petition supporters about how the signatures in question were valid.
At no point does Unruh bother to quote from the judge's ruling or explain why those signatures and petitions were disqualifed. He did, however, find space to allow petition supporters (including homophobic former WND columnist Dave Welch) to claim the judge “was supported in his election by the LGBT community.”
Unruh's article ends with the address and phone number of Houston Mayor Annise Parker, whom Unruh makes sure to let us know is "openly lesbian."
While Unruh's article is a journalistic dumpster fire, his boss, Joseph Farah, manages to take it even further in his April 19 column:
Not every state or community permits up-and-down votes of the people on issues of controversy. But the city of Houston, Texas, has such a provision that allows voters to act when they aren’t satisfied with the work of their city council.
Such was the case recently when Mayor Annise Parker, a “progressive” lesbian activist, persuaded the city council to enact a law that extended the most vigorous civil rights protections to “transgendereds” as a protected class, including ensuring that they got to choose the public restrooms of their choice.
Experience more of Joseph Farah’s no-nonsense truth-telling in his books, audio and video products, featured in the WND Superstore
Shortly afterward, pastors throughout Houston organized to undo the action with a city-wide vote. They gathered all the signatures that were needed, but they were disqualified by the city attorney, an apparatchik of the mayor. The Houston pastors appealed the decision to Judge Robert Schaffer last Friday. Once again, one “progressive” judge took the matter out of the hands of the people and placed it in the hands of the city’s ruling elite.
The coalition of pastors has promised an appeal. But you get the idea.
Like Unruh, Farah can't be bothered to explain why exactly those signatures and petition pages were disqualified. Instead, he rants that the judge's ruling "killed 'voter rights' in Houston."
That, of course, is a lie (but as we know, Farah loveslying). If the petition circulators had followed the relevant laws, this would not be a problem.
In other words, Farah is advocating that the law be ignored so his anti-gay agenda can advance. He's mad that the rule of law was enforced, and the fact that he won't tell the truth about what happened tells us that he's more than aware of that -- and he's willing to pervert journalistic principles, with his pliant underling Unruh, to make sure his readers don't get the truth.
While Farah rants that "progressives" don't want justice and equality enforced, it's more than clear he's actually talking about himself.
CNS'Just Can't Stop Obsessing Over LGBT-Related Federal Spending Topic: CNSNews.com
It appears that CNSNews.com deputy managing editor Melanie Hunter has farmed out her obsession with portraying any and all federal spending on LGBT-related issues as wasteful to an underling, Rudy Takala. Thus, we have Takala's April 20 article:
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is devoting $156,929 to study the best ways to convince gay Latino men to wear condoms and get tested for HIV.
“Latinos are diagnosed with HIV at a rate that is three times that of non-Latino whites and they tend to be diagnosed later,” according to NIH’s description of the six-month project that “will focus on promoting sexual health and be positioned as an outreach intervention that promotes HIV testing in an accepting environment.”
And as usual with such articles, the comment thread at the end is starting to fill up with anti-gay and homophobic commenters. Encouraging such comments seems to be the main point of such articles at CNS, since very few, if any, of the most offensive comments ever get deleted.
NEW ARTICLE: Fraud On The Bookshelf Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily's online store sells books that have been roundly discredited -- and David Barton's tome on Thomas Jefferson isn't the only one. Read more >>
Newsmax Promoting Rubio, Giving Him Campaign Advice Topic: Newsmax
Newsmax is not only boosting Marco Rubio's presidential campaign, CEO Christopher Ruddy is trying to tell him how to run it.
On the promotion side, Newsmax is currently offering a copy of Rubio's "engaging autobiography," in which he "shares his gripping life story," for a loss-leader price of $2.95, plus the usual trial subscription to Newsmax magazine that one must opt out of in order to avoid being charged $39.95 for entire year. The promo adds: "Marco Rubio's story is America's story. His story gives hope. His story is one every American who cares about this country should read."
Meanwhile, Ruddy wants Rubio to adjust his campaign messenging. In an April 17 column, Ruddy complained about Rubio's rhetoric calling himself the future while implying that Jeb Bush is the past:
While I agree Marco Rubio is the future of the GOP and a breath of fresh air on the national scene today, he is not answering the real cry of conservative and independent voters.
Today, Americans — especially Republicans — are not interested in a generational change of leadership in Washington.
[...]
Americans are desperate, not for change as Rubio suggests, but for solutions.
This time they want to elect a problem-solver — someone who is experienced and has a track record of getting the job done. And Americans would prefer to have someone from outside Washington to clean house.
On the Republican side, we have several strong candidates who fulfill that requirement. They are experienced; they are outsiders; they are problem-solvers; and they get things done.
The first person who fits the bill is Jeb Bush.
[...]
I think Marco Rubio made a strategic error by focusing on the "future" and emphasizing his candidacy as a generational change. He should have focused more on his solutions for what he ails the nation, his own new frontier.
Still, he is a much more complex candidate than that alone, and will, no doubt, contribute to the upcoming debate. At the age of 43, he is also positioning himself well for the future. But for the moment, the country needs a Mr. Fix It, with a proven record of doing just that.
Newsmax was proud enough of Ruddy's advice that it published an article the next day citing how conservative talking head Lawrence Kudlow agrees with Ruddy.
Even if Ruddy is claiming to support Jeb Bush for 2016 -- Ruddy, like Rubio and Bush, is based in Florida -- he has been a cheerleader for Rubio in the past. Ruddy wrote glowingly about Rubio's outreach to Hispanics in 2012, and Newsmax donated $1,500 to Rubio's 2010 Senate campaign.
Ruddy is a player in Florida politics -- he's tried to playkingmaker for various Republican candidates there, and at one point was a possible candidate for the Senate seat currently held by Democrat Bill Nelson. He would almost certainly like to have a hand in picking the next Republican presidential candidate, especially since two major contenders are from Florida.That may be what's driving Newsmax's editorial and business decisions these days.
CNS (And Brent Bozell) Latches Onto Another Fringe Religious Figure Topic: CNSNews.com
CNSNews.com sure loves its fringe, extremist religious figures all of a sudden, doesn't it?
Driven by CNS managing editor Michael Chapman, the "news" site already uncritically promotes the extreme anti-Muslim, anti-gay and anti-Obama views of Franklin Graham and Rafael Cruz (better known as Ted Cruz's dad).
The latest fringe figure to get approval (and a platform) from Chapman is John Zuhlsdorf, a Catholic priest considered a "traditionalist" and who is the president of the Tridentine Mass Society, a group of Catholics who cling to the Latin version of the Catholic church service that was conducted before the Second Vatican Council declared that church services should be conducted in the language spoken by local church congregants.
Zuhlsdorf is such an extremist that he expressed his opposition to Pope Francis washing the feet of females as part of a Catholic ritual, insisting that only man may have their feet washed. He also engages in the tacky practice of providing "blessed holy cards" to people who donate money to him.
But Chapman is apparently down with that, because he likes Zuhlsdorf's anti-gay attitude. On April 10, Chapman touted Zuhlsdorf's "simple solution" to the issue of "gay activists" who are "attacking Christian bakeries and wedding planners and filing lawsuits to put them out of business because of their religious beliefs": to "show up at the gay wedding wearing a Cross necklace, a Bible-pin on your lapel, and a Bible verse embroidered on your uniform that expresses your morality, such as Mark 10:6-7, 'But at the beginning of creation God made them male and female. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife.'"
The same day, CNS gave Zuhlsdorf a column to rant about "how homosexualists target Christian businesses for destruction" and advises Christian who cater gay weddings to be "wearing crucifixes and have the Holy Family embroidered on their uniforms. ... When the truck pulls up, speakers will be playing Immaculate Mary. Show them the truck and play the music."
Chapman's Media Research Center bosses, Brent Bozell and Tim Graham, apparently liked Zuhlsdorf's mean-spirited solution so much they touted it in their April 17 column, adding that "if gay couples want to force their lifestyle on others, it naturally follows that religious believers should push their beliefs more elaborately as well.
The MRC's continued movetoward the right-wing fringe usually inhabitted by the likes of WorldNetDaily apparently has Bozell's approval.
WND's Farah Continues to Pretend He Cares About Miriam Carey Topic: WorldNetDaily
Joseph Farah concern-trolls in his April 17 WorldNetDaily column:
With all the outrage about the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and the protests over the shooting death of Walter Scott while he was fleeing from a police officer in South Carolina and the “hands up, don’t shoot” sloganeering, one name is seldom uttered – Miriam Carey.
I don’t understand it.
If there was ever a more egregious, unrighteous, unjustifiable police shooting death, I’d like to hear about it.
[...]
Personally, I couldn’t care less what skin color Miriam Carey had. I would be equally upset and committed to seeking justice and truth in this case if she had been white or Hispanic or Asian or a typical American mix like me. But why isn’t the Miriam Carey scandal on the lips of every one of those who proclaim “black lives matter”? Do they mean “some black lives matter”? I don’t recognize or comprehend the standard they are applying to truth and justice.
Why is the outrage so selective?
Where are the protests of Miriam Carey’s death?
I want to participate in those protests. Instead, I find myself leading the protest.
Her totally unnecessary death at the hands of police makes me so outraged, I would be at the front lines of such a demonstration. Instead, there are no demonstrations. Her life is forgotten. Her execution-style death is forgotten.
It doesn’t make any sense.
Is it ignorance?
Is it willful blindness?
Why the selective outrage?
Is it the lack of any moral standards?
Or is it all of the above?
Don't be fooled: Farah does not care about Miriam Carey. Her death is important to him only as a tool to further his right-wing, anti-Obama agenda. As we've noted before, if the occupant of the White House was, say, a white Republican instead of a black Democrat, Farah would be passing this story on to Colin Flaherty, who would portray it as yet another example of purported "black mob violence" in America.
In filing a lawsuit (with the right-wing Judicial Watch, which must chagrin WND buddy and now-departed JW founder Larry Klayman) seeking to force the government to release information about Carey's death, Farah is not seeking justice -- he's seeking to score political points against President Obama. It's a stab at relevance and credibility given the utter failure of WND's increasingly desperate attempts to personally destroy Obama.
Carey's family and legal team seems to appreciate WND's support, but they shouldn't believe for a second Farah and WND have their best interests in mind. To Farah, Carey is a cudgel to attack Obama and nothing more, and nothing he says about his interest in "truth and justice" should be taken at face value.
In an April 17 NewsBusters post, Mark Finkelstein grouses that "volatile former Vermont governor" Howard Dean questioned the accuracy of a Hillary clinton story on the website of the Daily Mail, countering that "if the story were inaccurate, don't you think Hillary's minions would be screaming bloody murder and trotting the attendees to refute the claims? Crickets, anyone?"
Fibnkelstein doesn't mention the fact that the Daily Mail has a lengthy track record of publishing false and inaccurate stories. One writer notes that in its home country of Britain, the Daily Mail has seen 687 complaints filed against it to the country's Press Complaints Commission -- far more than any other British newspaper -- that led either to a PCC adjudication or to a negotiated resolution. The writer adds: "The paper gets away with publishing libels and falsehoods and with invasions of privacy because the penalties are insignificant."
Additionally, a former writer has discussed the Mail's shoddy journalistic standards, explaining how "the Mail's editorial model depends on little more than dishonesty, theft of copyrighted material, and sensationalism so absurd that it crosses into fabrication."
Finkelstein also fails to mention that the Daily Mail's U.S. political editor is David Martosko, the former editor of the conservative Daily Caller who's best known for standing by a false claim about Sen. Robert Menendez and prostitutes.
Making up stuff is clearly within the realm of the Daily Mail, and there is good reason not to trust what appears there. Instead of telling his readers that, however, he huffs, "If attacking the media messenger is the best the Hillary camp can do, it is in serious trouble." But isn't attacking the messenger the entire reason NewsBusters and its parent, the Media Research Center, exist?
Matt Barber rants in his April 17 WorldNetDaily column:
The very notion of “gay marriage” is an artificial construct. It’s the aberrant byproduct of the sexual revolution, which, itself, was largely instigated by bug doctor turned “sexologist,” Alfred Kinsey.
Though married to a woman who took part in his many filmed “scientific” orgies, Kinsey was a promiscuous homosexual and sadomasochist. He managed to completely upend and twist the world’s perception of human sexuality in the 1950s and ’60s with his world famous “Kinsey Reports.”
While his “research” has been universally discredited and exposed as fraudulent, ideologically motivated and even criminal, it remains, nonetheless, the primary source behind today’s “sexual orientation science.”
For this reason, and many others, the novel notion of “gay marriage” sits atop a house of cards.
On April 28, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on whether to attempt, once and for all, the deconstruction and redefinition of the institution of marriage. The court will then hand down a decision by the end of June. In anticipation of this landmark case, civil rights law firm Liberty Counsel has submitted to the Supreme Court a friend of the court brief that reveals the criminally fraudulent foundation upon which the “marriage equality” Tower of Babel has been raised.
Among other things, the brief features the findings of Dr. Judith Reisman, the foremost expert on Kinsey’s pseudo-scientific cultural activism. Reisman has served as scientific consultant to four U.S. Department of Justice administrations, the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). She is a visiting professor of law at Liberty University School of Law and works hand-in-hand with Liberty Counsel.
See all of Dr. Reisman’s books on sexual fraud at the WND Superstore.
As the brief reveals, most people are completely unaware that during his tenure at Indiana University, Kinsey facilitated, with stopwatches and ledgers, the systematic sexual abuse of hundreds, if not thousands, of children and infants – all in the name of science.
Kinsey asserted that children are “sexual from birth.” He further concluded, based upon experiments he directed and documented in his infamous Table 34, that adult-child sex is harmless, even beneficial, and described child “orgasm” as “culminating in extreme trembling, collapse, loss of color, and sometimes fainting. …” Many children suffered “excruciating pain,” he observed, “and [would] scream if movement [was] continued.” Some “[would] fight away from the [adult] partner and may make violent attempts to avoid climax, although they derive[d] definite pleasure from the situation.”
It’s little wonder that Dr. Reisman identifies Kinsey as a “sexual psychopath.”
Actually, it's Reisman who's the fraudulent researcher, and her obsession with Kinsey could certainly be described as approaching the psychopathic.
As we documented back in 2006, Reisman's doctorate is in communications, not in any scientific discipline. Her anti-Kinsey screeds are filled with "innuendo, distortion, and selective representation of decontextualized 'facts,'" according to one scholarly reviewer of her work.
Contrary to Reisman's and Barber's assertions, Kinsey never performed sexual experiments on children or infants. As the Kinsey Institute points out, the "Table 34" to which they refer is based largely on adult recollections and parents observing their children; it also includes data from a small number of adult men who had engaged in sexual contacts with children.
Reisman is an ideologically driven fraud to counts on right-wing press to further her anti-Kinsey obsession. She gets away with it because the dead can't be libeled and because of complicit right-wing outlets like WND who refuse to fact-check her.
The fact that Liberty Counsel based an amicus brief on Reisman's highly questionable, if not fraudulent, so-called research tells us -- and has brought on Reisman as a a visiting professor of law at Liberty University despite her not having anything resembling a law degree -- that Liberty Counsel doesn't care much for truth if it contradicts its right-wing agenda.
One can almost admire how the Media Research Center cloaks its war on Dan Savage -- which, in fact, is a demand to censor all gay-oriented content on TV that doesn't conform to right-wing anti-gay dogma -- as an "education campaign." 
Promoting a conference claiming to "connect the dots between Margaret Sanger’s Malthusian philosophy and belief in promiscuity and hatred for marriage … to the pseudoscience of Dr. Alfred Kinsey discovered by Dr. Reisman," Bob Unruh writes in an April 22 WorldNetDaily 
Franklin Graham doesn't like that a comic book superhero is gay, and CNSNews.com managing editor Michael Chapman is 
The right-wingers at CNSNews.com have consistently grumbled about Obamacare, so it's odd to see them complain that it's not successful enough at covering people. Brittany Hughes writes in an April 13 CNS 
Looks like we've gotten someone's attention.
James Hirsen uses his April 20 Newsmax 
Newsmax is not only boosting Marco Rubio's presidential campaign, CEO Christopher Ruddy is trying to tell him how to run it.
CNSNews.com sure loves its fringe, extremist religious figures all of a sudden, doesn't it?
Joseph Farah concern-trolls in his April 17 WorldNetDaily 
In an April 17 NewsBusters 
Matt Barber rants in his April 17 WorldNetDaily 
