MRC Embraces Trump's Scary-Illegal-Immigrant Crusade
Topic: Media Research Center

President Trump has been pushing the idea that all illegal immigrants are scary, if not actively coming to kill you, and the Media Research Center wants to help that narrative along.

A Jan. 17 post by Brad Wilmouth complained that "CNN senior political analyst John Avlon presented another of his infamous "Reality Check" segments, which is more akin to liberal spin than an actual effort to clearly inform viewers about the issues. The CNN analyst argued against a border wall as he cited Politifact to dismiss claims of 2,000 homicides being committed by illegal immigrants in one year being reported by ICE for FY2018." Wilmouth went on to convolutedly rant about the PolitiFact fact-check:

If one takes a look at the Politifact article he cited, it reads like another lame fact check that the site has become famous for that spins for liberals. The analysis has a point in that the 2,000 homicides cited do not actually come from 2018 since illegals who commit homicides are usually deported after they have spent years serving their sentences in prison, so the total number of homicides committed by illegal aliens in 2018 or any particular year is still unclear.

But the fact-checking site also bizarrely tried to suggest that many homicides were not so bad since not all homicides are actually murders. But legal justifiable homicides tend to make up only a small portion of total homicides, and manslaughter cases are still serious matters in which someone died even if they do not fit the legal definition of murder.

Additionally, if the site had bothered to check numbers for previous years, there were at least a couple of years -- 2011 and 2012 -- when the Obama adiministration reported a number of homicide cases processed by ICE as being well over 1,000, suggesting that numbers between 1,000 and 2,000 may actually be typical and reflective of how many homicides are committed by illegals each year.

And, in FY2017, ICE processed illegal immigrants who had similarly committed almost 1,900 homicides.

And, in a country where over the past 20 years the total number of homicides nationwide tends to vary between 14,000 and 17,000 a year, such numbers from illegal immigrants would represent a substantial chunk -- and probably a disproportionately high portion -- of the nation's homicides.

Actually, the PolitiFact article debunks the claim a lot more than Wilmouth would admit, further explaining that "those offenses could have been accumulated over many years — not just 2017 — and didn’t necessarily happen the same year ICE arrested these people. In addition, a homicide could be a murder, but it could also be an accidental killing. Finally, ICE didn’t pick any of these folks up for murder; it picked them up for being in violation of the nation’s immigration laws." The number also doesn't reflect when homicide charges are dropped.

The next day, the MRC dropped any subtlety on the issue with a headline screaming "Seven Horrific Crimes by Illegal Immigrants that Networks BURIED." In it, Bill D'Agostino insisted that all crimes by illegal immigrants demand national news coverage -- no matter how minor, apparently -- because, duh, they're illegals:

Crimes perpetrated by illegal aliens deserve attention because, by their very nature, all of them theoretically could have been prevented with sufficient enforcement of existing laws. Even if the crime rate among illegal aliens were a fraction of that among the native population, those few offenses still committed would be otherwise avoidable if the culprits had been either deported or prevented from entering in the first place.

MRC analysts examined Nexis transcripts of all network evening news coverage from 2018 and compiled the following list of some of the most heinous crimes committed by unlawful residents over the past year. None of these stories received even a second of evening news coverage – with the exception of the Colorado Spring Wildfire, which the networks briefly covered without mentioning the accused’s immigration status.

As usual, the MRC "study" is limited only to CBS, NBC and ABC -- because it's easier to monitor only a half-hour of programming a day -- and ignores its favorite channel, Fox News, completely.

WND Unhappy With Call To Impeach Trump, Forgets It Demanded Obama's Impeachment
Topic: WorldNetDaily

An anonymous WorldNetDaily writer appears upset in a Jan. 17 article:

Special counsel Robert Mueller has yet to issue a report on his probe of alleged Trump-Russia collusion, but the new issue of The Atlantic features the word “IMPEACH” in large, red letters.

The cover story by Atlantic senior editor Yoni Appelbaum argues Congress has the authority, through impeachment, to “rein in a president who is undermining American ideals,” The Hill reported.

The title subhead reads: “It’s time for Congress to judge the president’s fitness to serve.”

Appelbaum asserts Trump has “repeatedly trampled” on the Constitution through his policies, resistance to investigations and attacks on political opponents.

“These actions are, in sum, an attack on the very foundations of America’s constitutional democracy,” he writes.

We would remind WND that it didn't even wait the two years the Atlantic did, or that there was no special counsel investigation whose results needed waiting for, before calling for the impeachment of President Obama.

As we documented, WND promoted a call for impeachment of Obama in October 2009 -- less than a year after Obama was elected -- then teamed up with the Brown-operated Western Journalism Center (which WND editor Joseph Farah had founded in the 1990s) the following year to churn out "The Case for Impeachment," a shoddily written screed filled with misleading claims and outright falsehoods -- and, of course, birther conspiracy theories -- that purported to make the case for Obama's impeachment.

In other words, one could argue that the Atlantic is following in WND's footsteps. Shouldn't WND be proud of that, or something?

MRC's Allen West Rants About Media 'Borgs' -- While Acting As A Borg For Trump
Topic: CNSNews.com

Allen West spins a conspiracy theory in his Jan. 14 CNSNews.com column:

When I watch the repetitive collective messaging of the left in America, it reminds me of the aliens from “Star Trek: Next Generation” called The Borg. Y’all remember The Borg, right? They were the alien life form that was half human, half machine that forced you into their collective and assimilated you into their group think. Their standard line to their victims was “you will be assimilated; resistance is futile.”

And so, it was last week as I watched leftist pundits, liberal progressive media talking heads, and the utterances of Democratic Party members, such as Senator Chuck Schumer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi repeat incessantly that the whole kerfuffle about border security and a wall is just a “manufactured crisis.” I am quite sure my colleagues at the Media Research Center can do quick research and uncover how many times leftists used the reference, “manufactured crisis,” in the last ten days. The results should not be shocking, but they would undoubtedly confirm what we all know. The real collusion in America is between the Democratic Party and the liberal, progressive news media, which we have come to recognize as “fake news,” subjective, propagandized reporting.

[...]

The real crisis that has been manufactured in America is one by the liberal, progressive fake news media that refuses to report the truth. They have taken up the position that they will not report anything that is contrary to their goal to support progressive socialism in America. Also, they make sure that anything that would favor President Donald Trump is to not be reported. And so, it is, on the issue of border security, when one confronts a progressive, socialist leftist who depends on ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, or PBS for their news reporting, not to mention Mother Jones or other far leftist internet sites, they are woefully uninformed. What the “manufactured crisis” the leftist media has advanced promotes is the ignorance of their viewers, readers, and listeners. They are indeed like The Borg, only able to regurgitate the implanted chip message of the collective. They become incapable of critical thinking, and when faced with truth and facts, they become overly hostile and violent in many cases – just like The Borg.

It becomes rather simple, easy, for the leftists to promulgate a message such as “manufactured crisis” and be believed. It is because their followers tune in to be told what to say and what to think. And when the progressive, socialist fake news refuses to tell the real story, then their patrons find themselves lost, and as Vladimir Lenin is quoted as having called them: “useful idiots.”

But West himself is involved in Borg-like regurgitation. A few days before his column appeared, President Trump said during a visit to the Texas-Mexico border:

“Democrats have refused to listen to the border agents, and they say this is a manufactured crisis,” the president said during a roundtable about border security at the border between Texas and Mexico. He continued:

That’s their new sound bite. All over. I turn the television on—you know, I call it the opposition party. It’s called the fake-news media. And what happens is every network has “manufactured crisis. This is a manufactured crisis.” Every one of them. It’s like they, you know, send out to everybody, “Let’s use this sound bite today.”

In other words: West is projecting. He took a Trump rant and turned it into a column -- like he was told what to say and what to think. He is a Borg creature hypocritically ranting about the Borgs he doesn't like.

MRC's Double Standard on Being Haunted By The Past
Topic: Media Research Center

The mysterious Jay Maxson ranted in a Dec. 12 post about Heisman Trophy winner Kyler Murray's homophobic tweets as a teenager resurfacing:

Oklahoma University's superstar quarterback Kyler Murray won the Heisman Trophy on Saturday night, but by Sunday he was being shamed by the media for something that has absolutely nothing to do with his incredible 2018 football season. Instead, Murray became just the latest high-profile athlete to be busted by social media "cops" in the sports media exposing anyone who has written "anti-gay slurs" in their youth.

You won't find a single one of Murray's impressive stats (51 total touchdowns and nearly 5,000 all-purpose yards) in Sunday's USA Today story by Scott Gleeson, who's focused much of his career writing on LGBT issues.

Gleeson tackles Murray "for homophobic tweets that resurfaced after he won Heisman Trophy." Murray has apologized for what he wrote on social media six years ago, apparently calling a friend "a queer," when he was just 15. Now he's joined a growing list of athletes attacked by the media for similar "thought crimes" as a youth.

Maxson attacked Gleeson as "obsessed with the LGBT agenda to search and destroy adult athletes for youthful remarks," then lamented of Murray: "No matter where he plays in the future as a professional athlete, it's not likely the progressive media will let him escape the "homophobic" taint.

(You might recall that Maxson's Media Research Center colleague Michael Morris, of CNSNews.com, similarly targeted Gleeson for exposing Murray's homophobic tweets.)

But just a month earlier, Maxson was cheering an athlete's youthful behavior coming back to haunt him. Just a month earlier, Maxson was gleefully touting an unverified claim that former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick "allegedly mistreated women in the past," citing a blogger who said she received communication from an anonymous woman who claimed to know Kaepernick during his college years and that he allegedly was "disrespecting women, my friends and people I grew up with." The blooger herself admitted the claims are unverified. Maxson demanded: "The questions we're left with are these: will other media explore the claims of Salome about Kaepernick's history? Or will they sit on this and protect him and his social justice cause?"

Maxson has long been obsessed with Kaepernick.

Democrat Derangement Syndrome, Charlie Daniels Edition
Topic: CNSNews.com

In Schumer-Pelosi’s ideal America:

Guns would be confiscated. There would be no restrictions whatsoever on abortion. Taxes would be through the roof. Global warming – the new religion of the left – would become front and center, and American manufacturing would, again, begin a monolithic evacuation.

Self-proliferating bureaucracies would spring up and regulate every facet of personal life in this nation. Eventually, you would have to get a permit to dig a hole in your own back yard.

Think that’s impossible?

Ask someone in Holland where you have to get a permit to build a dog house.

Getting any kind of license would become a nightmare as self-governing bureaucracies would hire inept political cronies, and inefficiency would slow the process down to a snail’s pace.

Think that won’t happen?

Ask the people in Italy where the licensing offices only work four days a week, use any excuse for a holiday and make even obtaining a marriage license like taking a trip down Alice’s rabbit hole.

Do you want to live in such a country?

If you don’t, you’d better let your voice be heard because with the Democrat/media cartel it can happen very quickly, and you could wake up one morning to find out that your country has been pulled right out from under you.

-- Charlie Daniels, Jan. 15 CNSNews.com column

Democrat Derangement Syndrome, Jesse Lee Peterson Edition
Topic: WorldNetDaily

Jesse Lee Peterson hit the ground ranting in his Jan. 13 WorldNetDaily column:

Immoral Democrat [sic] women have corrupted young people to believe that morality is not important, and now more than ever these women are being elected to run our government. Women, more than men, promote and make excuses for immorality. Real men do not go along with wrongdoing, but beta males abandon morality and follow these women. Such people hate God, hate men, hate the unborn child, and love to promote their immoral false morality.

Peterson then felt the need to explain exactly what alleged offenses to immorality these Democratic women committed, complete with graphic:

And, yes, tops on Peterson's scare-quote-laden list is marrying a man who already has a child, because having a family is somehow bad:

Ayanna Pressley is celebrated by morally bankrupt people as the first “African American” representative from Massachusetts. But she married a man who already has a young daughter by another woman. This is immoral and selfish – children’s souls yearn for their real parents, and don’t want to compete with a stepparent for attention. Ayanna and her new “husband” have sacrificed his daughter’s soul to satisfy their own desires. This beta male supported his new “wife’s” campaign and has been misleading other young black males a “leader” in Barack Obama’s “My Brother’s Keeper” program.

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., is a divorced and remarried mother, and a hijab-wearing Somalian Muslim refugee. She should not be allowed to wear an Islamic headscarf in Congress! She supports socialism and the radical “LGBTQIA+” agenda. She also lied about opposing “Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions” (BDS) against Israel. Moral people would never elect such a Muslim to run our government!

Deb Haaland, D.-New Mexico, is celebrated by shallow people as one of the first “Native American” women in Congress. She was a single mother and raised a daughter who came out as a lesbian. After Haaland was elected, she falsely accused President Trump of “rhetoric of erasing trans people in this country” and “ripping children from their parents.” This failure of a parent turned her daughter away from the father, and pretends to care about people confused about their gender and sexuality.

Veronica Escobar, D.-Texas, is a “Mexican-American” mother and politician who officiated the so-called “wedding” of a young “gay couple” who supported her. She claimed Trump “really frightened” her, saying, “I worry about the planet. I worry about immigrants. I worry about women. I worry about the LGBT community.” President Trump pardoned Joe Arpaio, the sheriff falsely accused of “racial profiling” and “contempt” of court by a liberal judge. In reaction, she cursed and lied, “Un-f***ing-believable! … do you know what message that sends to Hispanics? ‘You don’t belong here.'” She doesn’t belong in office!

Sharice Davids, D.-Kansas, is another first “Native American” female representative – and a lesbian, the “first openly LGBT member of Congress from Kansas.”

Last week I wrote about “the first Palestinian American” Muslim Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D.-Michigan. The divorced single mother told one of her young sons of President Trump, “We’re gonna impeach the motherf—er.” She repeated this at a bar at a MoveOn.org event after being sworn into office. I said then that she is a national security threat to the country. She should be focused on setting a better example for her children, not running the country!

(Sorry, Jesse, the charges for which Arpaio was convicted are very much true, and the judge's alleged politics are irrelevant.)

Peterson went to make up stuff about President Trump:

President Trump is a moral man. He loves the country. He moved past his errors in life, no longer bragging about wrongdoing. Sinners attack Trump because he says he does not ask God for forgiveness. But he does right today – not wrong. Once you repent and are born again of God, you no longer sin. The hypocrites, like Satan, endlessly bring up Trump’s past to accuse him, when they’re no better.

Peterson offers no proof Trump is a "moral man" who "moved past his errors in life," or that he has ever repented for his rampant immorality.

The MRC's Continuing War on Fact-Checkers
Topic: Media Research Center

Because President Trump and his administration are constantly spreading falsehoods, the Media Research Center must try to discredit fact-checkers. Let's take a look at a few recent MRC posts to see how that war is going.

Tim Graham, in ragebot mode yet again, was very mad that Trump was fact-checked during his Oval Office address regarding his government shutdown over border wall funding. He further whined that Trump's statement that Sen. Chuck Schumer "has repeatedly supported a physical barrier in the past" was found to be misleading because it ignored the context that the barrier Schumer supported has already been built. Graham went on to huff:

This underlines that these "fact checkers" are really "context checkers," because the sentence itself is true. Schumer and other Democrats repeatedly supported a physical barrier in the past. It doesn't make Trump's current sentence "un-factual" that he said the fence was too modest as he campaigned. It's an interesting oppositional point, but it doesn't make the sentence "misleading."

Well, actually, yes, Tim, if you do not make the full context of a statement clear, a statement that's "true" on its face can also be misleading.Graham shouldknow this because the MRC he helps run regularly attacks non-conservative media for allegedly taking the words of conservatives out of context.

Graham took offense to another fact-check on Trump's speech, this time insisting that Trump's false statement that "Democrats will not fund border security" should not be judged factually because it is "a political statement blaming the Other Party."

Nicholas Fondacaro then rehashed a Fox News appearance by former Border Patrtol chief Mark Morgan attacking fact-checks of Trump's speech. Morgan claimed that, in Fondacaro's words, that"it was the media that didn’t know what they were talking about" and that he "ripped the liberal media for acting as their own 'self-appointed experts' who spout off their own opinions." Fondacaro also wrote:

Another liberal media suggestion Carlson picked Morgan’s brain on was their claim that studies showed illegal immigrants committed crimes at a lower rate than native-born Americans. “I've never seen the study either and I pose that to somebody to show me that stat and show me how they can come up with that. Because can I show you the opposite,” he declared.

Morgan's not looking to hard to find those studies. The MRC knows they exist, if only beause it's laboring so hard to discredit them with an even more discredited study claiming the opposite.

Brad Wilmouth touted how "On Wednesday's Tucker Carlson Tonight, veteran Fox News analyst Brit Hume called out journalistic 'fact checkers' who assume that liberal opinions on the illegal immigration issue are facts, and therefore that the conservative counter-opinions are claimed by those journalists to be not factual." Invoking his current favorite bugaboo, Wilmouth added: "A bit later, Carlson brought up the recurring tendency of journalists to make questionable claims that illegal immigrants commit crimes at a lower rate than U.S. citizens, leading Hume to point out that, even if that were true, it would not contradict President Trump because he is not claiming that illegals have a higher rate of committing crimes -- only that some do commit serious crimes."

Corinne Weaver then lectured:

It is important for anyone who identifies as a ‘fact-checker’ to be as objective and neutral as possible. At least in theory.

But Facebook might not have done its homework in finding the right fact-checkers. The “charity” Full Fact was announced on January 11 as the new fact-checkers for Facebook. The BBC reports that the organization will “review stories, images and videos and rate them based on accuracy.”

But these fact-checkers might have a bigger agenda, according to their funding page. Google and liberal billionaire George Soros have donated extensively to Full Fact in 2018 alone. It is also funded by a radical leftist, Pierre Omidyar, who funds the Never Trump site the Bulwark, headed by Bill Kristol.

Perhaps the move was meant to placate Soros, whose organizations, including the Color of Change, have lobbied to have Facebook undergo a civil rights audit. Facebook has been under fire following the New York Times report, which said that Facebook hired a right-wing group to do opposition research on Soros.

However, there are no conservative fact-checkers left in the Facebook fact-checking family. With the close of the Weekly Standard, Facebook has yet to name a conservative successor to fact-check.

You might remember that Facebook's oppo research on Soros -- presumably done to placate its right-wing critics -- undercut the MRC's shaky narrative that social media outlets like Facebook are run by liberals determined to censor conservatives.

Weaver did not name any conservative fact-checkers who could be considered credible and not motivated by politics over journalism.

WND's Farah Expects 'Another challenging Year,' Still Won't Address His Fake-News Issue
Topic: WorldNetDaily

Joseph Farah's Jan. 15 WorldNetDaily column asked readers to pray for WND because it faces "another challenging year." After going on his usual attack against the "Digital Cartel" of "Google, Facebook, Amazon, apple, Twitter, et al" for monopolizing ad revenue, he then plays the victim, suggesting without evidence that those outlets targeted WND for loving President Trump too much:

Why did they do it beginning in January 2017? It was an effort to go after Trump by attacking media that were fair to him, to hinder his sweeping policy changes and deprive him of re-election in 2020, if they couldn’t see him impeached before that.

How did it affect us? In 2016, WND had over $10 million in revenues. In 2017, following the attacks on us, that number dropped to $6 million. BUT IN 2018, THAT NUMBER DROPPED TO AN ASTONISHING $2 MILLION!

Can you imagine what that would do to any company? Most of our staff is gone. We’re struggling to survive. But we are determined to do so, no matter how tough the challenge is.

Yet again, Farah does not address the elephant in the room: WND's legacy of fake news and conspiracy theories that, at least as much as the ad-revenue that are affecting most online media outlets, drove WND to the brink of extinction. Indeed, while WND has spent the past year begging for money from readers to stay alive, it has continued to publish fake news -- demonstrating it has learned nothing from its continuing near-death experience.

Farah then invoked God to kick off his spiel of begging for more money:

Almost every digital media company now relies on direct donations from its subscribers and visitors to make it in this new environment – where Google and Facebook and Amazon are raking in all the profits and deliberately starving those they don’t like.

I’m not just asking for your financial contributions, I’m asking for your fervent prayers. Because this is very much a SPIRITUAL WAR, not just a matter of corrupt, politically motivated crony monopoly capitalism at its worst.

We at WND serve a power higher than this cartel. And we ask for your prayers to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob through Jesus of Nazareth, the One and Only Mediator and the Coming King.

Will you do that for us starting today, if you have not already joined us in this effort?

Given WND's history of playing fast and loose with facts, we suspect that Farah's "higher power" is not happy that such shoddy work is meant to serve Him.

And Farah hypocritically adds as his first bullet point for support: "Pray for God to bless WND with financial support and the will and strength to continue to fight for truth in an age of fake news and lies."

Farah should probably ask Clark Jones and Chobani yogurt what they think about WND's so-called "fight for truth."

CNS Managing Editor Still Using Catholic Abuse Scandal To Attack Gays
Topic: CNSNews.com

CNSNews.com's homophobic managing editor, Michael W. Chapman, is joining other right-wing Catholics to use the sexual abuse scandal among Catholic priests to attack the LGBT community. Chapman writes in a Jan. 8 blog post:

Contrary to the claim by some clergy that the sexual abuse problems in the Catholic Church stem from "clericalism" -- excessive deference to priests and bishops -- German Cardinal Walter Brandmuller said the fundamental problem is homosexuality in the priesthood. He stressed that 80% of the abuse cases over the decades involved gay priests abusing post-pubescent boys, i.e., young teen boys, ages 11 to 17.  This is a "statistically proven" fact, he added.

Cardinal Brandmuller, the former president of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences at the Vatican, made his remarks in a Jan. 4 interview with the German news agency Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA).  His remarks were translated by several British and U.S. media, including Life Site News. 

“80% of the abuse cases in the ecclesial environment involved male adolescents, not children," said the cardinal, adding that this is "statistically proven."

According to the John Jay College of Criminal Justice report on clergy sexual abuse in the United States between 1950 and 2002, "81% of victims were male and 19% female. Male victims tended to be older than female victims."

"The largest group of alleged victims (50.9%) was between the ages of 11 and 14, 27.3% were 15-17, 16% were 8-10 and nearly 6% were under age 7," stated the report. There were 8,449 male victims and 2,004 female victims; 2 victims identified as transgender.

But as we've documented every time Bill Donohue or some other right-wing Catholic makes the claim at CNS, this is a deliberate misreading of the John Jay report. The researchers who conducted the report stated that no connection was found between homosexual identity and an increased likelihood of sexual abuse and argued that the idea of sexual identity should be separated from the problem of sexual abuse, since one does not have to have a homosexual identity to commit homosexual acts. The John Jay researchers also stated that the reason more than 80 percent of the victims of clergy sexual abuse were adolescent males is because that's who the priests were around a lot of the time, making this in no small part a crime of opportunity rather than one of sexual orientation.

Neither Chapman nor Brandmuller -- or LifeSiteNews, which reported Brandmuller's comments -- will mention this inconvenient fact, since this will get in the way of their anti-gay agenda.

MRC's Graham Takes A Clearly Hyperbolic Claim Literally
Topic: Media Research Center

Media Research Center bigwig Tim Graham is such a terrible media critic that his default motivation these days is base hatred of the non-conservative media rather than any legitimate "media research" (not that the MRC actually does any of that).

Thus, an innocuous Washington Post item about a screening of the Dick Cheney-mocking movie "vice" at the Newseum is enough to send Graham into paroxysms of rage. In his Jan. 12 post (in which he bizarrely and inexplicably puts "Newseum" in scare quotes) , Graham has apparently decided to take a hyperbolic, throwaway line in the Post article about how "the showing was attended by what seemed like half the city’s press corps" literally, spending two paragraphs listing all the journalists he could uncover who allegedly attended in addition to blockquoting a paragraph from the Post noting who attended -- and still could only come up with a couple dozen names.

Even then, Graham couldn't get his facts straight. He listed two journalists as working for "Knight-Ridder newspapers"; that company ceased to exist in 2006, when it was bought by McClatchy.

(For Graham's edification, there are thousands of journalists in Washington, while the Newseum appears to have only a couple hundred seats.)

Graham bashed the movie itself (of course) and sneered that the screening was "a natural party for Democrats and the national media -- or, as Chris Plante says, 'but I repeat myself.'"

The fact that Graham gets all ranty over an obviously hyperbolic claim is why nobody outside right-wing true believers trusts the MRC's "media research."

CNS Takes Lame Shots At Ocasio-Cortez
Topic: CNSNews.com

As a right-wing "news" outlet whose first duty is to advance conservative narratives over reporting the news, CNSNews.com has been pushing negative coverage of newly elected Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and trying to find ways to attack her. For instance, a Dec. 4 column by the Heartland Institute's Justin Haskins insisted that Ocasio-Cortez's claim that insurance companies effectively act as "death panels" by not covering certain conditions by insisting 1) they don't do that, and 2) a person can easily find an insurance company that does. (Haskins seems unaware that many Americans are locked into an employer's insurance and can't shop around.)

Of course, CNS is not above taking cheap shots at Ocasio-Cortez. For instance, an anonymously written Jan. 14 post highlighted Ocasio-Cortez's struggle to find an affordable place to live in Washington while she's serving in Congress, snarkily adding that she "is now being paid a salary of $174,000 as a member of Congress." CNS didn't say when her first paycheck would arrive --presumably after she started her job, not before -- or mention that housing in Washington is notoriously expensive (which CNS should know, given that it's headquartered in the D.C. metro area).

(A couple days later, CNS disdainfully noted that Ocasio-Cortez had been named to the House Financial Services Committee. But as CNS itself ackowledged way back in July when it complained she was "tweeting about income equality -- obliquely," she has a degree in economics.)

On Jan. 15, Melanie Arter gave space to a right-wing comedian who complained he can't make unfunny jokes about liberals like Ocasio-Cortez:

During an appearance on Fox News’ “Greg Gutfield” show, comedian Jimmy Failla complained that society has taken political correctness too far.

For instance, he joked, “We've become so obsessed with words, you can't even call a moron, a moron anymore. You have to call them Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and moron was quicker. Moron was quicker.”

Arter didn't explain why this was funny.

NEW ARTICLE: Fake News and Floundering
Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily may have spent the past year trying to stay alive, but that didn't keep from publishing a lot of fake news -- one thing that likely led to its severe financial problems in the first place. Plus: Did WND know all along the Seth Rich conspiracy was fake? Read more >>

MRC Struggles To Shoot Down Report Facebook Is Consulting Right-Wing Groups
Topic: Media Research Center

The Media Research Center has been struggling to keep on message as its narrataive that social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook are engaged in rampant discrimination against conservatives keeps getting overtaken by the reality that the outlets have been kowtowing to conservatives to tamp down the criticism. It happened again witn a Jan. 8 Wall Street Journal article detailing how Twitter, YouTube and Facebook have been seeking advice from "right-leaning groups" (as well as those on the left) for guidance on handling political speech on the platforms, as well as being "receptive to behind-the-scenes lobbing" on issues.

The MRC waited two days to attack the WSJ story, and then did so only very narrowly. A Jan. 10 post by Alexander Hall focused only on a single sentence in the article that "Facebook has privately sought advice from the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian public-policy group, and its president, Tony Perkins, according to people familiar with those meetings." Hall let Perkins respond by letting him uncritically claim that he was "a bit surprised that I was described as consultant with Facebook… Now if you have a phone conversation you are a consultant. I've had one conversation with Facebook."

In fact, the article did not describe Perkins as a "consultant," only that it "sought advice" from him and the FRC. It also indicates that Facebook talked to other people at the FRC besides Perkins, which both he and Hall never confirm or deny -- presumably to not interfere with Hall's claim that Facebook "exaggereated" and was telling "fibs" about its interaction with the FRC.

Hall also falsely framed his article to suggest that the only conservative groups Facebook sought advice from are the FRC and Americans for Tax Reform, while the only liberal-leaning group it's getting advice from is the Southern Poverty Law Center. That was likely so he could assert: "However, after Perkins claims that reports of his involvement are greatly exaggerated, it's reasonable to worry the SPLC holds greater sway." That's an assertion for which has no evidence whatsoever.

But Hall's goal is to restore the conservative narrative, and he spent the remainder of his post enlisting Perkins to do just that:

Facebook has been accused by both sides of making a show of consulting them for PR purposes. In this case Perkins noted that Facebook indeed has a censorship problem, citing the recent incident where Facebook censored iconic American pastor Franklin Graham for a post he wrote 2 years ago. 

He said the problem seems to be accelerating, “Either they are failing to use the technology that they are promoting or there is an intent here to squelch conservative ideas and free flow of information.”

Perkins praised the Media Research Center’s exhaustive study, which verified conservatives’ legitimate concerns about Big Tech censorship. The situation is so dire, he said, that social media has ceased to be a “battleground for ideas” so much as a “war against conservative ideas.”

“Look, whether it's the telephone or the social media monopolies, the choking off of ideas and the exchange of information is not good for America.

Hall and Perkins are so determined to stay on message that they ignore the inconcvenient truth that liberals also think social media platforms censor their views.

WND Cheers Anti-Muslim Discrimination At Gun Range
Topic: WorldNetDaily

An anonymously written Jan. 13 WorldNetDaily article states:

Does an American gun range have the right to exclude Muslims who are members of the Council on American-Islamic Relations because of the group’s ties to terrorism?

That question could soon have a legal answer as a Muslim has filed a discrimination suit against the owners of a gun range in Oklahoma.

A federal court dismissed the discrimination complaint by Raja’ee Fatihah against Chad and Nicole Neal, owners of Save Yourself Survival and Tactical Gun Range in Oktaha, Oklahoma. But the judge set a trial to resolve conflicting accusations.

Fatihah claims the range owners banned him because of his religion.

But the Neals claim he was banned from the range on Oct. 23, 2015, because after telling Nicole Neal he was Muslim, Fatihah “took a threatening stance, revealing his handgun to her, and recklessly created a controversy and disturbance.” WND quietly added that only later did the Neals discover that "Fatihah was a board member of CAIR’s Oklahoma affiliate."

WND goes on to quote the gun range's attorneys from the right-wing American Freedom Law Center -- whose press release WND basically rewrites -- who laughably put the burden on the Muslim to prove he isn't a terrorist, despite the fact that Fatihah is an Army reservist and, presumably, has already been cleared of such suspicions: "Had Fatihah’s motives been pure, he would have reached out to the Neals to alert them and to schedule a time to have a civil conversation about Islam, if that were truly his goal, as he claims in this case. Rather, what Fatihah did here was reckless. And that recklessness alone is enough to ban him from the range.

WND bizarrely devotes the last half of its article to a list of "individuals linked to CAIR who have been charged with terror-related crimes." WND does provide evidence that any of these people have any direct link to Fatihah.

WND's and the AFLC's invoking Fatihah's relationship to CAIR is an after-the-fact attempt to justify the gun range's no-Muslims rule, which is blatantly illegal under longstanding federal non-discrimination laws like thte Civil Rights Act of 1964.AFLC never explains why the burden should be on the Muslim to prove he['s not a threat; after all, blacks do not have to prove they're not a threat to use a commercial establishment.

Further, it appears the gun range's stated policy is "no Muslims," not "no terrorists," which the AFLC is apparently failing to concede. AFLC provides no evidence that the gun range has similarly investigated the backgrounds of its white and Christian customers the way it investigated Fatihah, or that it has ever barred use of the range by a non-Mulsim customer due to terrorist links, however tenuous.

CNS Offers Tepid Coverage of Steve King's 'White Nationalist' Remarks
Topic: CNSNews.com

We've detailed how CNSNews.com obsessed over a comment by a  Democratic member of Congress that it deemed offensive -- so much that it inserted the comment in the headlines of articles that had nothing to do with the comment. But when a Republican member of Congress made an offensive comment, CNS' response was, shall we say, decidedly less hyperbolic.

When comments by Republican Rep. Steve King stating that he didn't understand how terms like "white nationalist" and "white supremacist" became offensive went public on Jan. 10, CNS initially said nothing. It took a full four days for CNS to notice -- and that was only when House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy announced that he would take action against King over the remarks.

Compared with CNS' response to Rep. Rashida Tlaib -- which cranked out five articles in four days referencing her profanity-laced call to impeach President Trump -- its take on King was very subdued. The headline on Melanie Arter's Jan. 14 piece read "Kevin McCarthy: ‘Action Will Be Taken’ Against Steve King," not explaining who McCarthy is or the reason he intended to take action against King. Surprisingly, the story itself was filled with criticism of King, and Arter's lead paragraph did describe what King said.

Of course, none of that appeared on CNS' front page, only the bland headline did. And the photo accompanying the front-page promotion was of McCarthy, not King -- as if the response, not the original offense, was the newsworthy part.

That take, of course, couldn't be the dominant tone of coverage. Enter Susan Jones, who penned an article the next day under the similarly bland headline, "Stripped of Committee Assignments, Rep. King Blames ‘Political Decision That Ignores the Truth’" -- which, again, failed to mention King's exact offense -- that gave King a platform to defend himself and blame liberals for being outraged over his remarks:

As expected, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) stripped Rep. Steve King, one of the most conservative Members of Congress, from his committee assignments on Monday for "defending racism," as one liberal media outlet described it.

In response, the Iowa Republican said, “Leader McCarthy’s decision to remove me from committees is a political decision that ignores the truth.”

[...]

King said his remarks, as quoted in a Jan. 10 New York Times story, have been “completely mischaracterized.” In a tweeted explanation, King offered the “context” that “accurately reflects my statement.”

King said he was talking about “Western civilization,” not white nationalism or white supremacy, when he questioned, “How did that language become offensive?”

Being a loyal right-winger spouting the anti-media narrative of her employer, the Media Research Center, Jones made sure to also inject some opinion into the "news" piece: "It should be noted that the Jan. 10 New York Times report used Rep. King as a way to slam Republicans in general and President Trump in particular." She then cited a paragraph that stated how "Mr. King’s ideology and his language maligning undocumented residents helped shape the Republican message in 2016 and 2018 and define Mr. Trump’s agenda and prospects for re-election," Jones did not dispute the accuracy of that statement.

CNS has published no more articles devoted to King's remarks. But in a Jan. 18 article, Jones complained that in a TV appearance, Democratic Rep. Ihlan Omar was asked about "Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), whose quote in the New York Times made it look like he was defending 'white supremacy.' King said he was talking about 'Western Civilization.'" She then devoted four paragraphs to King's defense despite the fact he was not the subject of this story.

None of these articles, by the way, not King's long history of racially inflammatory remarks. That's because CNS has previously touted King's remarks that more closely adhere to its right-wing agenda. For instance:

• Rep. Steve King: ‘If a Heartbeat Is Detected, the Baby Must Be Protected’
• Rep. Steve King: Intelligence Leaks 'Designed to Politically Assassinate' Administration Members
• Rep. King: If Trump Makes DACA 'Amnesty,' His Political 'Base Will Leave Him'
• Rep. Steve King Introduces Bill to Ban Aborting Babies With Heartbeats
• Rep. Steve King: Russia Hacking U.S. Election is a 'CNN Narrative'
• Rep. Steve King: 'Jesus Never Ordered Anyone to be Killed ... But Muhammed Did'
• Rep. Steve King: 'We Must Defend This Constitution'

That's the kind of right-wing rhetoric that earns you a pass from CNS when you spout racist stuff.