Ronald Kessler feels the need to defend Grover Norquist and his quest to cut gtovernment in his Nov. 27 Newsmax column:
Rather than focus on how to reduce government spending, Democrats and many in the media are busy demonizing Grover Norquist and his pledge politicians agree to sign promising never to raise taxes.
In their effort to portray the president of Americans for Tax Reform as sprouting horns, Norquist’s critics rarely mention what is behind his crusade. While Norquist believes we are paying too much in taxes, it’s not because he has an ideological aversion to supporting legitimate government functions. Rather, he believes that in too many cases, we are paying for waste.
Kessler quickly moves on to denigrating government workers:
As noted in my story The Real Problem With Government Spending, those of us who have dealt with the federal government for decades have an impression that in most agencies, half the workers could be cut without impairing output or services.
Lacking a profit motive, workers in the government by and large have a different work ethic from those in private industry. When they could make one call, federal workers take a meeting. When they could find an answer on the Internet, they form a study committee. Instead of appointing one supervisor, they appoint five.
To be sure, there are exceptions. FBI agents, CIA officers, and the military work incredible hours and risk their lives to protect us. But even within those agencies, there are unnecessary levels of supervisors and support staff who could perform their work in half the time.
Only when you are self-employed do you fully realize how much more efficient you become when your output directly correlates with how much money you make. But instead of looking for ways to save money, government agencies actually look for ways to spend more near the end of the fiscal year so Congress won’t reduce their outlays in the next budget year.
Then it's back to defending Norquist with warm and fuzzy anecdotes about his family, slobbering over his wife, and revealing that he's so close to Norquist that he can't be objective about him:
Nor does Norquist fit the caricature of the right-wing nut the media and Democrats have conjured up. Married to Samah Norquist, a Muslim Palestinian born in Kuwait, Norquist stands up to those who portray all Muslims as terrorists.
Every year during the Islamic month of Ramadan, Norquist co-hosts Iftar, when Muslims break their fast. The inter-denominational event is held at the Alexandria home of Rafat (Ray) Mahmood, a Pakistani ambassador at large. The other co-host is Michael Chertoff, the former secretary of Homeland Security. Chertoff is Jewish; his father is an orthodox rabbi.
At the last Iftar, I was honored to be asked by Norquist to talk about my Newsmax story quoting former FBI Director William Webster denouncing as “morally wrong” those who portray all Muslims as threats, thus undercutting the war on terror.
Besides being gorgeous, Samah is, according to Norquist, “very good on taxes.”
Does Ann Romney know that Kessler is cheating on her with Norquist's wife?
My spirits were temporarily lifted when, last week, the Washington, D.C.-based Daily Caller website reported “more than 675,000 digital signatures appeared on 69 separate secession petitions covering all 50 states, according to … requests lodged with the White House’s ‘We the People’ online petition system” (“White House ‘secede’ petitions reach 675,000 signatures, 50-state participation,” David Martosko, dailycaller.com, Nov. 14).
Moreover, in various parts of the country, citizens infuriated for various reasons by the re-election of Barack Obama took their American flags from their porches or roofs and turned them upside down – a traditionally emphatic sign of “distress” (“Upside Down Flag Protests Over Election Sparking Controversy,” John Shumway, pittsburgh.cbslocal.com, Nov. 8).
Many readers have kindly written to say they have sent the Zullo, Monckton and Delzell affidavits about the forged Obama birth certificate to their elected representatives with a request that they should object to Mr Obama’s election on the ground that he has cast doubt upon his own constitutional eligibility by endorsing a forged “birth certificate” and posting it at the White House website. So far, not one member of Congress has agreed even to ask questions about the mounting evidence of forgery and fraud, let alone to object in writing. You have elected 535 inveterate invertebrates.
It is a mystery to me, and one that will never be solved to my satisfaction, how it is that the majority of Americans can see what is happening in Greece and still continue to vote for left-wing ideologues like Barack Obama, who subscribe to the belief that the money the government prints is every bit as good as the money people earn. The closest I have come to generating a theory is that most people fail to see what is happening in Greece because they’re too busy watching really dumb shows on TV, and couldn’t find Greece on a map even if you printed “Athens” in really big letters.
Obama has had four years “leading us down the primrose path” to socialism. Since the GOP still has control of the House, why is it so ready to cave – two months before the next inauguration?
You don’t think it has anything to do with immigration, do you?
You don’t think the estimates that 70 percent of Hispanics voted for Obama has the GOP shaking in their boots, do you?
You don’t think that they are ready to throw the baby out with the bathwater, do you?
Barack Obama is not our problem as such – albeit, he is a malignant parasite who openly schemes to suck the lifeblood from America in favor of government dependency and a socialist State.
We are the problem if we continue to support the party and party hierarchy who have made this possible. Republicans have made this possible by abandoning the core principles upon which America was founded. They have abandoned truth for a lie, and our children will pay for it.
Even if a faux conservative in the mold of George W. Bush is offered up by the GOP in 2016 (former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush springs to mind for some unfathomable reason), this will be as potentially harmful as was George W. himself. This is likely to happen, too; after four more years of the communist usurper, voters are going to be very desperate.
Yes, Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate, lost the election. That is inarguably a bummer, especially since the winner is Barack Obama, whose second term could actually sink the republic.
Deferring to our illegitimate President Barack Hussein Obama, Netanyahu and company have gone along with ineffective and worthless economic sanctions against Iran and held back on eliminating Iran’s nuclear program and other terrorist activities by force. Now, Iran is more powerful and potentially immune from Israeli attack, unless Israel decides to use tactical nuclear weapons to destroy the Islamic state’s atomic and other military facilities. Were this tragic reality simply a rerun of an old Laurel and Hardy movie, one could simply say “a fine mess you’ve gotten us into, Mr. Obama.”
Indeed, Obamacare renders all constitutional limits on federal powers completely meaningless. “And there’s the rub,” as Shakespeare would say. Obamacare demonstrates to all America the tyrannical, fascist power President Obama and the Democratic Socialist Party is willing to wield like a cudgel to smash the God-given, unalienable rights of the people. By the Supreme Court unconstitutionally acquiescing to Obamacare, all Americans are shackled “under the despotism of an oligarchy,” as Jefferson wrote in an 1820 letter to William Jarvis.
In a Nov. 26 NewsBusters post criticizing coverage of President Obama buying books in support of Small Business Saturday, Matt Vespa reports that "according to Penny Starr at CNSNews.com, this administration proposed 6,125 new regulations, an average of 68 per day, in the last 90 days from November 9."
In fact, as we detailed, many of those "regulations" Starr cited aren't regulations at all -- they are requests for comment on proposed regulations or meeting notices. Starr's article was nothing more than lazily reported agitprop -- all she did is copy a counter on a federal website and didn't bother to separate actual regulations from proposals and meeting notices -- designed to get a link on Drudge.
Vespa goes on to write that Obama "proposed an additional 6,125 [regulations] on the backs of businesses, especially coal." Vespa offers no evidence whatsoever to back up this claim, and Starr's article made no mention of coal.
WND Gives TRN Short Shrift In Laura Ingraham's Departure Topic: WorldNetDaily
A Nov. 28 WorldNetDaily article touts radio host Laura Ingraham's departure from her syndicator, Talk Radio Network. TRN, meanwhile, gets short shrift from WND:
There has been no comment available from TRN concerning Ingraham.
Ingraham is the second major personality to move away from TRN recently.
As WND reported, Michael Savage left the airwaves briefly after a long court battle with TRN. He returned to the air with a new syndicator and new time slot.
As we've detailed, WND has had a long symbiotic relationship with TRN -- which it apparently decided to abandon in order to take Savage's side in his TRN dispute. WND gave Savage a platorm to bash TRN without giving TRN an opportunity to respond.
In addition to giving TRN short shrift here -- not even delving into why TRN has lost two of its top hosts over the past couple months -- WND fails to explore other details of the Ingraham-TRN relationship. Talkers magazine notes that "comes as no surprise to industry observers who have long known of the not-so-secret friction that has existed for years between Ingraham and TRN’s top management."
And Radio Ink states that "Dial Global is under contract with TRN for Ingraham's show, which has more than 300 affiliates. In August, TRN filed an anti-trust lawsuit against Dial Global." That lawsuit involves TRN's claim that Dial Global's acquisition of radio ad rep firms. Interestingly, one of TRN's own hosts, Phil Hendrie, objects to the lawsuit.
In short, there's lots of things going on under the surface that WND has shown no interest in exploring, apparently either out of deference to whatever friends at TRN it may still have or because of the fallout over WND siding with Savage.
A real news organization would not be daunted by such a challenge, but we all know WND is not a real news organization.
NewsBusters' Sheppard Upset At Leno for Making A Fox News Joke Topic: NewsBusters
NewsBusters' Noel Sheppard has a love-hate relationship with Jay Leno, which generally pivots on who Leno is telling jokes about on a given night. The pendulum has swung toward hate yet again in a Nov. 30 NewsBusters post complaining that Leno asked Newt Gingrich if his prediction that Mitt Romney would win the election was based on whether he was "just watching Fox News." Sheppard indignantly replied:
Although Leno and his audience obviously thought this was a hoot, folks like Peggy Noonan - who regularly appears on NBC - and ABC's George Will also predicted Romney was going to win.
As such, this belief was hardly exclusive to one television network.
As for the ideological extremes of Fox and MSNBC, I'd be glad to sit down with Leno and explain the vast differences between these two news organizations.
His people should call my people.
When you're as far right as Sheppard is, everything that doesn't have the conservative bias that Fox does automatically has a "liberal bias," and an actually liberal-leaning network like MSNBC might has well be broadcasting from the Soviet Union.
That, we suspect, would be the gist of Sheppard's explanation of the "vast differences" between the two, on the off-chance Leno takes him up on his offer.
WND Movie Reviewer Pretends His Love of 'Red Dawn' Isn't Political Topic: WorldNetDaily
Drew Zahn begins his Nov. 25 WorldNetDaily review of the remake of the film "Red Dawn" with a defense of its plot from "obviously liberal critics":
Out of curiosity, I took a look at how film critics from other newspapers and publications reviewed the new “Red Dawn,” a remake of the 1984 cult classic about teenagers taking up guns and defending America from communist invaders.
You’d think from the critics’ condescending sneers that the remake is utter garbage.
“Preposterous,” said one critic of the remake’s premise that North Korea could invade the U.S. today. “Outdated,” said another, suggesting the plot line be relegated to the ancient Cold War and the once-upon-a-time Red Scare.
The only thing that’s “preposterous,” however, is the speed at which these obviously liberal critics leaped to dismiss the movie. I honestly, without hyperbole, wonder if some of them even watched it.
For starters, the movie explains that North Korea doesn’t invade without “help,” and that they used a cyber attack on the American financial system and an electromagnetic pulse weapon, or EMP, against the U.S. infrastructure. Furthermore, North Korea only invades the Pacific Northwest, while other enemies attack elsewhere. It’s not really that implausible.
Besides, the original film cast Cuba as the invading force – not the Soviet Union, as is commonly reported – so don’t talk to me about “preposterous.”
And as for “outdated,” the Red Scare is far from over, as many Americans outside the leftist worldview recognize. It’s just that the threat of communism in the U.S. now comes from our own public universities, instead of Moscow.
So politically biased bashing aside, let’s look at the film a little more honestly, shall we?
It appears Zahn wants us to believe that his "Red Dawn" review isn't driven by political bias and is more "honest" than what those liberals say. But from his communist fearmongering to warnings of EMP attacks, he's regurgitating what he reads at his employer's website, which nobody can plausibly say lacks political bias.
He's such a screaming fanboy of this film -- he even defends the dialogue, which "sounds like Cold War drivel at patriotic platitudes to a leftist, but it’s downright inspirational to the rest of us – those of us who don’t think of George Washington simply as an imperialistic slave-owner or Ronald Reagan as a rich-loving, trickle-down oligarch" -- he ends his review with: "Allow me to join the chorus of cheers: 'Wolverines!!!!!'"
Of course, Zahn's reviews have always stemmed from a distinctly right-wing viewpoint: he hated the Disney film "Tangled" because it taught children to think for themselves, one film "review" was largely an attack on Darwinism, and he turned another review into an anti-Obama rant (and used his review of a Transformers" film to opine that Obama is a Decepticon).
CNS Falsely Suggests Illegal Immigrants Are To Blame For High Unemployment Topic: CNSNews.com
A Nov. 29 CNSNews.com article by editor in chief Terry Jeffrey carries the headline "Calif., Ariz. Border Towns Have Nation’s Highest Unemployment: Over 28%." The article is accompanied by, and promoted on CNS' front page with, this image of a truck that got stuck trying to drive over a border fence:
At no point in his article does Jeffreyblame immigrants for the high unemployment rate in these "border towns," which he notes are "are contiguous to one another and to the Mexican border" -- indeed, he doesn't mention immigrants at all. The only relation the photo has to anything Jeffrey wrote is that the incident occured near one of the towns he mentions.
Perhaps Jeffrey used the image to imply that illegal immigrants are to blame for the high unemployment in these areas. But that doesn't appear to be true -- according to the Arizona Department of Commerce, the main reason is Yuma's agricultural workforce. It varies throughout the year, changing with the picking season. When they are off they file unemployment claims, therefore the unemployment rate goes up.
So, basically, Jeffrey is falsely smearing immigrants with a misleading photo. That's hardly ethical behavior for the editor of a "news" organization.
WND Columnists Spew Hate At Obama Voters Topic: WorldNetDaily
Columnists at WorldNetDaily have some serious contempt for anyone who doesn't think or behave exactly as they do -- or, worse, voted for President Obama.
Disgraced pitcher John Rocker laments the "devolution of American culture" in his Nov. 26 WND column, railing against "he overwhelming amount of mindless, despicable garbage that permeates a host of media within our society":
It says a lot about the state of our society as a whole when it takes at least two hands to list all of the female TV “stars” who have reached their talentless fame through the exploitation of “accidentally” leaked homemade sex tapes. Many of these individuals who now have every waking moment of their disgusting lives displayed for our entertainment have become major influences on the mentality and integrity of many in this country. They have clothing lines, shoe lines and fragrance brands that are all promoted by displaying night after night the glorified train wreck that is their reality. And what’s most disturbing is that an overwhelming number in our culture lap up this inane nonsense with a rabid lust while possessing a never-ending craving for more.
Unfortunately, it’s more than just these useless reality TV dolts and their hideous lives that are slowly eroding the fabric of our society’s integrity. Arenas such as professional athletics and music through which Americans create other influential “heroes” are also more times than not extremely poor examples of strong character for society’s observation. As consistent as the sunrise, it’s seemingly a daily occurrence to witness a revered athlete or musician in all of his tattooed/graffitied glory with a fresh set of gold teeth and prisonesque clothing being arrested for one thing or another or perhaps proudly speaking of his multitude of illegitimate children. (FYI: When you see an individual wearing his pants so low his filthy underwear is showing, he is mimicking prison attire. When one goes to prison, there are no belts for several reasons. In addition, the inmates must eat less-than-par prison food, thereby losing weight. Hence, sagging pants. Nice role models.)
Rocker, of course, has a long history of hating people who aren't like him.
Craige McMillan, meanwhile, takes particular aim at those who voted for Obama as inbred idiots in his Nov. 28 column:
Since our culture has become a secular culture, most of us have focused on Romney’s “47 percent” and the impact that holds for our nation. To twist it into what passes for modern Christian theology, we might say that the 47 percent now believe that it is more blessed to receive than to give. Praise government, from whom all blessings flow. And pass the rich fatted taxpayer; it’s time for another bag of chips while I watch reality TV.
The people who have traditionally been smart enough to know this doesn’t work, America’s up and coming leaders, seem to have missed those classes in college. Perhaps they were too busy enjoying the enforced coed dorms and subsidized abortions at our nation’s most prestigious educational establishments. Or maybe the inbreeding that occurred over the last few generations has dumbed down even the elites to the point where historical tragedy seems like a bright new idea to launch a career in government.
And don't forget the gays!
Now the 2 percent have begun to succeed at changing “seasons and law” by ushering in homosexual “marriage.” And as nice as Adam and Steve may be as dinnertime conversationalists, they still require the intervention of a female body to complete their “family” and perpetuate the next generation. So look for laws giving homosexuals affirmative action style priority in adoptions. The child, once again, has no choice.
The 47 percent (plus this 2 percent) really do hope to change seasons and law. Both are at war with God. And for a time, they will succeed. But in the process the house divided becomes the house with its foundation built on the shifting sands of popular opinion. And when the storm comes, great will be the fall of it.
Notice the caricature of the divine even by those who self-identify as being at war with God:
“Boys (lads), it is the last time (hour, the end of this age). And as you have heard that the antichrist [he who will oppose Christ in the guise of Christ] is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen, which confirms our belief that it is the final (the end) time” (1 John 2:18 Amplified Bible).
As the left’s statist European castles crumble before us, the leftists are busy here in America, changing seasons and laws. Once we have world government, it will all work out, don’t you know. But the laws of economics, physics and God’s laws can’t be changed by humanity, no matter how noble the cause. The result will always end in tears for the multitudes. From the tears their stupidity will not protect them.
Wow, talk about bitter. But this is all in line with the increasingly bitter and angry Obama-hate spouted by WND's editor, Joseph Farah.
MRC Just Can't Stop Insulting Sandra Fluke Topic: Media Research Center
When Rush Limbaugh went on a three-day tirade of misogyny against Sandra Fluke for talking about birth control in public -- calling her a "slut and a "prostitue," among other vile things -- the employees of the Media Research Center not only failed to find it offensive (MRC chief Brent Bozell led by example on the chickening-out path), some heartily cheered on Limbaugh's sleazy insults.
Now that Fluke is in the news again for being a nominee for Time magazine's person of the year, it's time for the insults to fly again at the MRC.
A Nov. 28 NewsBusters post by Randy Hall uses "Condom Rights Activist" to describe Fluke in his headline, falsely portraying it as being used by Time. In fact, Hall uses his post to lovingly curate a series of right-wing smears and insults of Fluke. For example, he makes sure to include an attack from the anti-abortion website LifeNews -- "Fluke is apparently unable to figure out how to purchase low-cost birth control from places like Target, Walmart or her local pharmacy" -- as well as a post from right-wing blogger Jim Hoft likening Fluke to Adolf Hitler.
Similarly, a NewsBusters post by Brad Wilmouth provides video of Dennis Miller smearing Fluke as "Moan of Arc."
Neither Hall nor Wilmouth criticized any of the comments they forwarded, which must mean they approve of the hate hurled Fluke's way -- so much so that they felt they needed to archive it for future generations.
Speaking of hate, the MRC's resident misogynist Matt Philbin -- he has previously denigrated Fluke as a "horizontal laborer" who wants to "sleep around w/impunity" and expressed a desire to "a big Costco-sized box of condoms" -- continued to exhibit his trademark jerkass behavior, writing in a Twitter post: "Feds Spend $100K teaching teen girls "condom negotiation." Just send Sandra Fluke."
The woman-hating at the MRC never changes, it seems.
WND's Corsi Still Pushing 'Obama Wants Your 401(k)' Falsehood Topic: WorldNetDaily
Jerome Corsi begins a Nov. 25 WorldNetDaily article, headlined "Now Obama wants your 401(k)," this way:
Two years ago, as WND reported, the Obama administration was proceeding with a novel way to finance trillion-dollar budget deficits by forcing IRA and 401(k) holders to buy Treasury bonds by mandating the placement of government-structured annuities in their retirement accounts.
Remarkably, those financial professionals specializing in private retirement savings and the U.S. citizens investing in private retirement plans now face the possibility the Obama administration and its allies on the political left will impose rules and regulations that effectively abolish the private retirement savings and investment markets.
Recent evidence suggests government officials continue to eye the multi-trillion dollar private retirement savings market, including IRAs and 401(k) plans, eyeing the opportunity to redistribute private retirement savings to less affluent Americans and to force the retirement savings out of the private market and into government-controlled programs investing in government-issued debt.
Well, Obama didn't "want your 401(k)" then, and he doesn't now.
As Media Matters reported back in 2010, when this bogus story first surfaced, Obama never proposed to move private retirement accounts to a government-run system. What Corsi is fearmongering about is discussions over ways to promote annuities sold on the private market as a voluntary alternative to lump-sum cash payments in retirement.
There's no evidence that the governement would "force" Americans into such a program, as Corsi claims. Corsi also offers no evidence that any such proposal has progressed any further than it had in 2010.
In other words, Corsi is simply lying. Just another reason why nobody believes WND.
AIM's Kincaid Baselessly Blames Soros For Romney Loss Topic: Accuracy in Media
Cliff Kincaid's Nov. 26 Accuracy in Media column is headlined "Where the Conservative Media Went Wrong," despite the fact that he doesn't really answer the question. Instead, he complains that Mitt Romney wasn't conservative enough -- or, more to the point, that he didn't hate gays enough. The closest Kincaid gets to answering his headline question is noting that the election "was a disaster in the making that many prominent conservatives in the media did not see coming. Some still do not want to grasp the magnitude of the defeat."
In other words: Conservatives bought their own BS and put defeating Obama at all costs -- a mindset AIM completely bought into with its silly anti-Obama "Day of Truth" featuring people not known for telling it -- ahead of putting up a candidate that could win. Why doesn't Kincaid say that? We have no idea; perhaps he's unwilling to admit his own role in a conservative media that went wrong.
Kincaid also complains:
Bombarded with messages from the Obama campaign and the Soros-funded propaganda machine, including the Super PACs he funded, voters found Romney’s private sector experience on Wall Street and wealth more objectionable than Obama’s record as a Marxist president.
Just one problem with that: George Soros didn't spend all that much money on the 2012 election, compared with certain right-wing billionaires.
As Business Insider pointed out in late September:
So far in 2012, his single largest contribution has been $1 million to American Bridge 21st Century PAC, a Super PAC run by Media Matters founder David Brock, which primarily focuses on opposition research. According to a review of data from the Center for Responsive Politics, Soros' contribution comprises about 12% of the organization's contributions. He also gave $1 million to America Votes, which does not endorse candidates.
Besides that, Soros gave $175,000 to House Majority PAC and $100,000 to Majority PAC. He's also given $55,500 to various individual campaigns and PACs.
That's way down from his donations in 2004, and way lower than the $36.5 million commitment made by Casino Magnate Sheldon Adelson and his family so far, and other Republicans trying to unseat the President.
But blaming Soros is apparently some kind of knee-jerk reflexive action on Kincaid's part, no matter how false it is.
WND Praises Uganda, Deceptively Whitewashes Its Proposed Anti-Gay Law Topic: WorldNetDaily
Michael Carl uses a Nov. 25 WorldNetDaily article to praise Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni for "publicly repenting of his personal sin and the sins of the nation" including "idolatry and witchcraft" and "sins of sexual immorality, drunkenness and debauchery; sins of unforgiveness, bitterness, hatred and revenge," then, according to Carl, "dedicated Uganda to God."
But Carl glosses over Ugandan proposal to perpetuate some of those sins, particularly the ones of "unforgiveness, bitterness, hatred and revenge."
Like the proposed anti-gay law that would permit the death penalty for mere homosexuality. WND has largely ignored the death penalty provision, while WND videographer Molotov Mitchell has endorsed the law.
Carl goes on to mislead about the proposed law wshile bringing anti-gay activist Scott Lively to comment on it:
Lively added that Museveni is definitely drawing a contrast between Uganda and the West.
“This incident is also important as a contrast to the picture being painted of Uganda by the godless left of a backwards, violent and savage culture intent on murdering homosexuals,” Lively said.
“On the contrary, Museveni is calmly and confidently setting the course of his nation by the guidance of the Bible, in a way that also shows great courage and resolve,” Lively said.
Homosexual activist groups have criticized the government of Uganda and Museveni for passing laws criminalizing homosexual behavior. A current bill before the Ugandan Parliament increases the jail sentences for homosexual acts and includes criminal penalties for those who encourage or promote homosexuality.
The bill had included the death penalty for those who commit multiple acts of homosexual behavior, but the provision has been removed, BBC News reports.
First, contrary to Carl's claim the the law is "criminalizing homosexual behavior," homosexuality is already illegal in Uganda; the proposed law ratchets up the penalties to a ludicrously oppressive extent, which include extending the threat of punishment to Ugandans living outside the country, outlawing any homosexual advocacy including advocating repeal of the law, defining "homosexual act" so broadly that just about anyone can be convicted, and violating religious freedom by making officiating a same-sex wedding a crime.
Second, while the BBC did report that the death-penalty provision has been removed, Think Progress points out that the BBC provides no details of how the bill has been allegedly altered, adding that "It is irresponsible to suggest that the death penalty has been removed without a thorough investigation of the bill’s new language."
Carl later quotes Lively as saying that he "supports the nation’s strong stance against homosexual behavior" (but "didn’t agree with the death penalty provision") without mentioning Lively's links to the proposed law. As we've detailed, Lively -- who has used WND to smear gays as "lavender Marxists" and "murderers" -- has been sued by a human-rights group for helping to inspire the law through his visits to Uganda.
Carl apparently did not ask Lively about the proposed bill's other Draconian provisions to see if he approved them, or why Lively feels homosexuals in Uganda (real or suspected) must be punished even harsher than they already are. Since the death penalty provision is the only one Lively has tried to distance himself from, we can assume that he supports the rest of the bill.
Newsmax's Kessler Goes Back to Trump-Fluffing Topic: Newsmax
Ronald Kessler has yet to say a peep about his prediction of a Mitt Romney landslide since the election results proved him wildly wrong. He will, however, turn back time and engage in some old-school Trump-fluffing, like he did when he was trying to get Donald Trump to run for president.
In his Nov. 26 Newsmax column, Kessler writes: "The Republican Party will continue to lose presidential elections if it comes across as mean-spirited and unwelcoming toward people of color, Donald Trump tells Newsmax."
No, Kessler is not interested in such things. Instead, it's time for some full metal Trump-fluffing:
Looking ahead, Trump says his top-rated NBC show “Celebrity Apprentice” is now shooting its 13th season.
Trump says his Trump National Golf Course on 600 rolling acres along the Potomac River is “by far, the best golf course in the tri-state area.” He bought the historic Old Post Office on prestigious Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington to remake it as a luxury hotel, and it doesn’t stop there.
“I just bought the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club and Spa in Jupiter, Fla., which is a phenomenal area,” Trump says.
Regardless of who is president, it will be a good year for Trump. This New Year’s Eve, Donald will be celebrating at Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach home and club, which admits Jews and blacks despite the exclusionary policies of some other Palm Beach clubs, as outlined in my book “The Season: Inside Palm Beach and America’s Richest Society.”
Last New Year’s Eve, some 750 guests put on formal wear and sipped Louis Roederer champagne. Hors d’oeuvres included fois gras seared to order, caviar dished lovingly onto blinis, risotto with white truffles, colossal-size cocktail shrimp, and oysters on the half shell.
The band Party on the Moon kept the Mar-a-Lago pavilion rocking as guests donned party hats they found at their tables. Even Trump’s usually reserved wife Melania, a stunning former model, sported a black paper top hat.
Kessler's not big on getting his facts straight either. Trump did not buy the Old Post Office; the federal government continues to own it, but it selected the Trump Organization to redevelop it in a manner that provides a "consistent stream of revenue for the Federal Government."
Kessler also quotes Trump's top aide in order to portray "the private Donald Trump" as "the dearest, most thoughtful, most loyal, most caring man."
But nobody cares about "the private Donald Trump" -- they want to know about the bitter, hateful Trump we saw in the presidential campaign. But Kessler cares too much about his access to Trump to tell his readers the truth.
In a Nov. 26 WorldNetDaily article, Jerome Corsi reports on WND's purportedly extensive anti-trolling operation on its comment threads:
WND Internet forum moderators have conducted extensive studies of leftist, pro-Obama “trolls” who post misinformation.
In the process, the moderators have blocked from WND forums participants who post abusive language aimed at angering or otherwise insulting forum members, WND authors, management and staff.
Trolls appear to perform a “disinformation” function typical of counter-intelligence efforts by intelligence agencies to confuse political enemies and refute or deflect opposing political views that are less susceptible to refutation by more traditional methods of debate and argumentation.
Typically, trolls operating on WND forums attempt to defend Obama by posting specious and diversionary arguments with the goal of changing the subject and obscuring topics that could damage Obama, such as his birth records, life narrative, political history and policy preferences, including his current positions as president.
Particularly offensive is the proclivity of trolls to use obscene or blasphemous language mixed with personal invective.
And so on. Curiously missing from Corsi's article are any specific, detailed examples of a "troll" operating at WND, only general descriptions of how they purportedly operate, or any direct quotes from any of these "WND Internet forum moderators" explaining its "troll" policy. Instead, Corsi repeats a post from "A person identified as 'AMA' posted a comment on the website Above Top Secret that apparently offers insight into how professional trolls operate."
Meanwhile, vile and offensive anti-Obama posts typically remain untouched on WND's comment threads. Corsi offered no explanation for that.
A confession: We posted on WND threads until we were banned a couple months ago We have repeatedly contacted WND for an explanation for the ban, only to be given either a non-responsive answer or ignored entirely. We made no attempt to hide our identity, nor did we engage in "obscene or blasphemous language," though we did point out that WND was ignoring inconvenient facts about its Obama birther crusade. Perhaps that was the problem.
It seems that WND, in banning purported "trolls," is also trying to keep its readers from learning things it doesn't want them to know.
If anyone at WND would like to explain why we might be wrong about that, they know where to find us.
NewsBusters Spins: Ricks Criticized Fox For 'Reporting The News' Topic: NewsBusters
When Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter author Thomas Ricks pointed out on Fox News that the attack on a U.S. diplomatic facility in Behghazi, Libya, "has been extremely political, partly because Fox was operating as a wing of the Republican Party" -- which caused Ricks' interview on Fox to end abruptly -- the Media Research Center, longtimeapologists for Fox News, went into full spin mode.
That resulted in a Nov. 26 NewsBusters post by Jeffrey Mayer that offered his own, um, unique take on the incident:
It’s commonplace for a news organization to be attacked for failing to cover certain major news events. On the other hand, it is rare for a news outlet to be attacked for doing its job and reporting the news.
According to Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Thomas Ricks, Fox News’ extensive reporting on the terrorist attack on our consulate in Benghazi is not only a waste of time but an example of how Fox is, “the wing of the Republican Party.” Appearing on Monday’s Happening Now, Ricks openly called out Fox News for its coverage of what he dismissed as merely a “small firefight.”
The brief segment started off on the wrong foot immediately with Ricks’ first comments being a swipe at Fox News where he claimed, “I think that Benghazi generally was hyped by this network especially.”
Co-host Jon Scott did his best to challenge Ricks assertions by asking him, “when you have four people dead including the first U.S. ambassador in more than 30 years, how do you call that hype?” When Ricks failed to answer Scott’s question and instead repeated his ridiculous assertions, Scott cut the interview short.
Meyer made no effort to explain exactly what was "ridiculous" about what Ricks said. Fox does, in fact, have a long history of being a semi-official mouthpiece for the Republican Party and conservative causes, and it has ceaselessly hyped the supposed "scandal" surrounding the Benghazi attack, pushing numerous falsehoods and distortions in the process.
But Meyer doesn't care about facts. He wasn't done ranting and spinning:
Given that the liberal media has failed to adequately report on the terrorist attack on our Libyan embassy one would expect a well-respected journalist like Thomas Ricks to praise Fox for their coverage. Unfortunately, Ricks decides to not only smear Fox but to classify the terrorist attack as merely a “small firefight” showing the unwillingness of most journalists to objectively cover a major foreign policy failure of the Obama administration.
Again, Meyers fails to disprove Ricks' purported "smear" of Fox. Nor does he consider the possibility that the reason nobody else but Fox is covering this story because Fox is motivated by its right-wing, anti-Obama bias to portray it as a "major foreign policy failure."