Topic: Media Research Center
It's not just transgenders: The Media Research Center's war on non-heterosexual people continues. Read more >>
Tuesday, February 25, 2020
NEW ARTICLE: Drag Queens and Nonbinary and Cross-Dressers, Oh My!
Topic: Media Research Center It's not just transgenders: The Media Research Center's war on non-heterosexual people continues. Read more >>
Posted by Terry K.
at 9:30 PM EST
CNS Once Again Wants To Make Sure You Know That Buttigieg Is Gay
Topic: CNSNews.com We've documented how the gay-haters at CNSNews.com are desperate to remind you that Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg is gay and married to a man. With Buttigieg's emergence as a major candidate following a strong performance in the Iowa caucuses, CNS suddenly felt the need to drive home that message anew. An anonymously written Feb. 7 article carried the headline "Buttigieg on What U.S. Looks Like to Teens: ‘They See Gay Nightclubs Opening Up Across the Country’" and made sure to warn readers: "Buttigieg himself is an avowed homosexual who is in a same-sex marriage." We suspect that CNS has never called anyone an "avowed heterosexual." The sexuality-obsessed hits kept coming after that, which made sure to rope in Buttigieg's "same-sex husband," Chasten (most of which, curiously, are anonymously written). Here's what CNS has published in just the two weeks since the Iowa caucuses:
That's 13 articles in two weeks directly or obliquely referencing Buttigieg's sexuality. That onslaught was joined by CNS reproducing a Feb. 13 column by gay-hating WorldNetDaily columnist Michael Brown under the headline "I Will Say What the Political Leaders Cannot Say about Pete Buttigieg" in which he did exactly that: "Choosing an out and proud “married” gay man to run for president, let alone become president, would contribute to the further degeneration and moral confusion of our society along with further attacks on our most fundamental rights." (More on that later.) By contrast, CNS published just a few articles about Buttigieg's political positions, most of which were cherry-picked and slanted to make him appear as liberal as possible:
Given that CNS' news coverage appears to be directed by notorious gay-hater Michael W. Chapman, its obsession with Buttigieg's sexuality should not be a surprise.
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:17 AM EST
Monday, February 24, 2020
Alveda King Descends Even Further Into Pro-Trump Sycophancy
Topic: Newsmax Alveda King's descent into pro-Trump sycophancy has continued apace with her recent Newsmax columns. In her Jan. 24 column, King gushed over President Trump speaking at the annual March for Life anti-abortion rally -- or as she put it, "we top the whole week off with the president of United States of America, Donald John Trump, in a historic event, addressing the crowd at the March for Life Rally under the authority and in the presence of God Almighty. Who could ask for anything more?" In her "llinks of interest" at the end of her column, she included someone talking on grifter evangelist Jim Bakker's show offering "Three Reasons Who [sic] God Chose Donald Trump." King slobbered even more over Trump for his appearance at the National Prayer Breakfast in her Feb. 7 column:
King took Trump's "I'm trying" out of context -- he was making meaningless blather pandering to the NPB audience for "the love they show to religion," adding, "They like people. And sometimes they hate people. I’m sorry. I apologize. I’m trying to learn." After that, he immediately ranted, "When they impeach you for nothing, then you’re supposed to like them? It’s not easy, folks." If King thinks Trump is showing "heart-wrenching transparency" or expressing any kind of genuine agape love by pandering to his audience, she is apparently very easily fooled. King is so in thrall to Trump that not only did she rewrite his words to make him more honest than he is, she found a Bible verse to justify his petulant refusal to shake hands during his State of the Union address. That's the very definition of a Trump sycophant. (Oh, and Newsmax is still letting Trump call herself "Dr." even though her doctoral degree is honorary.)
Posted by Terry K.
at 9:34 PM EST
Updated: Monday, February 24, 2020 9:44 PM EST
MRC Embraces Roger Stone Conspiracy Theory
Topic: Media Research Center For an operation that tends to pride itself on being in the respectable part of the conservative spectrum, the Media Research Center sure felt the need to glom onto a conspiracy theory involving a friend of President Trump. Nicholas Fondacaro rants to set the scene in a Feb. 13 post:
Jeffrey Lord followed two days later complaining that Hart is "a far left wing activist" and whining: "A biased, left-wing activist, anti-Trump, anti-Stone juror on the Stone jury? Ho-hum. Nothing to report here, move along." Fondacaro then repeated his complaint that "the lead juror in the Stone trial had a long history of anti-Trump statements and had once run for Congress as a Democrat." Needless to say, Fondacaro and Lord will never concede that the Hart story isn't really a story at all. Why? Because Hart did not hide her history during jury selecction. As an actual news organization reported:
And Fondacaro and Lord are certainly not going ot tell you that another juror in the Stone case -- defended Hart as "perhaps the strongest advocate in the room for a rigorous process, for the rights of the defendant and for making sure that we took it seriously and looked at each charge," adding: ""Without her in the room, we would have returned the same verdict, and we would have returned it more quickly and without looking as deeply into the evidence. ... I'm firmly convinced of that." Yes, there is that inconvenient fact that all 12 jurors agreed to convict Stone of the charges against him. But then, neither Fondacaro nor Lord actually want impartiality here -- they want bias, just not the kind they're accusing Hart of. Because Stone is a friend of Trump, and the MRC exists today has a Trump protector, that means Stone must similarly not be held accountable for his behavior, and that everyone else, not them, has a biased agenda.
Posted by Terry K.
at 4:05 PM EST
WND's Mercer Blames 'Caucasian America' For Letting Non-White Immigrants In
Topic: WorldNetDaily WorldNetDaily columnist Ilana Mercer is not a fan of immigration and tends to pal around with white nationalists, which makes her Jan. 30 column completely unsurprising. In it she's mad at "Caucasian America" for not banning non-white immigrants:
Mercer then attacked Kamala Harris' Indian heritage, adding: "Angry, anti-white and highly receptive to theories that blacken the West and porcelainize the undeveloped world – Kamala and her kind cannot be trusted to relinquish race as an organizing principle, in favor of a complete commitment to a constitutional design, in the America she and her progeny hope to inherit." Mercer went on to depict strife currently happening in Western democracies as being the cause of "non-Western people" being allowed to live in those countries:
Mercer has previously waxed nostalgic over pre-1965 immigration policies in the U.S., which largely blocked anyone who was not of northern European desent from moving to the U.S. and were largely driven by racism and eugenics. Yes, Mercer thinks diversity is a "coup."
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:10 AM EST
Sunday, February 23, 2020
MRC Can't Stop Being Triggered by Greta Thunberg, Then Bullying Her
Topic: Media Research Center The reaction from the Media Research Center to teen climate activist Greta Thunberg when she emerged last year consisted largely of insulting and bullying her for her activism. The insults and bullying haven't really stopped. Gabriel Hays seems to be emerging as the MRC's chief Thunberg bully. In a November post mocking her for a magazine recognizner her as among those who, in his words, "are contributing to the delusion and hysteria of the next female generation,: Hays sneered that Thunberg was a "tantrum-throwing, Swedish Climate Change child, adding: "She’s definitely a nice caricature of the left, that’s for sure. Her anger and resentful 'How dare you?!' speech has become the greatest internet meme depicting the left’s tolerance." In December, Hays ranted about the idea of someone making a documentary about Thunberg:
Hays' Thunberg Deranghement Syndrome flared up again in a Feb. 12 post incensed that another documentary about Thunberg was coming:
Never mind that Hays is the one talking like an abuser here, with his incessant, immature mockery and abject hatred of Thunberg. Hays wasn't the only MRC writer to be triggered by Thunberg, though. Kyle Drennen complained that "radical teenage climate crusader" Thunberg was named Time magazine's person of the year with no mention fo "Thunberg's extreme beliefs." Kristine Marsh dismissed Thunberg as a "radical Swedish teen climate change activist," whining that "The media has spent months propping up the "climate crusader"with dozens of fawning reports that skip over her extreme beliefs. Looks like a few someones got a memo to push a narrative that Thunberg is "radical" and "extreme." In January, Marsh defended vicious right-wing attacks on Thunberg by playing whataboutism:
As much as Marsh would like to believe otherwise, making a mild pun on Barron Trump's name in congressional testimony is not an "attack" on him, though the MRC has had no problem with actual attacks on the minor children of Democratic presidents. In a Jan. 28 post, Sadi Martin called Thunberg a "fanatic," huffing: "The leftist media loves to try and push the idea that those who are "fighting" for whatever cause is most popular to them are heroic, but trying to compare a 16-year-old girl who is known for screaming at world leaders for "ruining the planet" while doing basically nothing to actually solve what she sees to be a problem is a pretty big stretch, to say the least. Even the most benign action by Thunberg triggers the MRC, In a Feb. 9 post, Rachel Peterson grumbled: "Hollywood’s favorite 17-year-old climate change expert Greta Thunberg kicked off the documentary mash-up during the Oscars on Sunday night. In a montage, she thanked David Attenborough for getting her interested in the environment through his documentaries." Yes, the MRC attacked Thumberg for saying something nice about a filmmaker. Saying nice things about Thunberg also puts you in the crosshairs. In a Feb. 8 post, Tim Graham was apoplectic that actor Harrison Ford praised her, insulting his (and Thunberg's) intellectual capabilities in the process:
Funny how education and expertise suddenly become important when it suits the MRC's conservative agenda. A few years ago, the MRC demanded coverage of a right-wing petition criticizing climate change even though few of the petition's signatories had any relevant education or expertise in climatology.
Posted by Terry K.
at 9:05 PM EST
Updated: Friday, March 6, 2020 10:09 PM EST
CNS Hides Jewish Activist's Extremism In Order To Attack Tlaib As Extreme
Topic: CNSNews.com CNSNews.com managing editor Michael W. Chapman complained in a Feb. 11 blog post:
Chapman's benign description of Hikind seriously undersells his actual behavior. The very idea of his being a "conservative Democrat" is dubious because he believes the Democratic Party is too far left for him. Indeed, he's actually pretty far right: we've reported that he was once a follower of the terrorist Meir Kahane and a reliable voice for far-right WorldNetDaily Jerusalem-based reporter Aaron Klein to attack the liberal-leaning Israeli government under Ehud Olmert. We also caught Hikind doing a weird blackface stunt. But Chapman isn't interested in telling the full truth. He must hide Hikind's extremism because his mandate is to portray Tlaib -- who has been a CNS target ever since she was elected in 2018 -- as an extremist.
Posted by Terry K.
at 11:41 AM EST
Saturday, February 22, 2020
Tim Graham's War on Fact-Checkers Expands To People Who Like Them
Topic: Media Research Center The Media Research Center's Tim Graham hates fact-checkers so much, he's even attacking someone simply for liking them. No, really: Graham devoted a Feb. 11 post to attacking comedian Sarah Silverman -- whom he made sure to also identify as a "Bernie Sanders-endorsing activist" -- for saying that people should be reading newspapers and that factc-checking operations like Snopes and PolitiFact are "helpful." Graham hufed in response: "When the socialists are touting PolitiFact and Snopes as “helpful,” it underlines why conservatives are right to suspect these websites are deeply biased against them." Or, you know, that conservatives like Graham can't deal with the fact that his favorite president lies so often and so blatantly that it's all fact-checkers can do to keep up. Graham, meanwhile, wasn't done whining, adding: "Sarah Silverman can recommend these 'fact-checking' sites because they've been kind to her. PolitiFact offered only two fact-checks on Silverman, a 'Half True' in 2014, and a 'True' in 2015." Graham seems to have overlooked the relevant fact that Silverman is a comedian, not a politician, and so maybe fact-checking her isn't exactly a high priority. Graham closed with a bit of trademark MRC hypocrisy: After grousing that "It's fascinating that Snopes would wage war on the Babylon Bee and other satirical sites for slanting the truth," he complained that "No one will do a fact check on her genius tweets." Graham deliberately ignores the fact that the reason Snopes does fact-checks on the Babylon Bee is that too many people mistake its satire for real news, while nobody is doing that with the Silverman tweet he cites as an example of her "genius."
Posted by Terry K.
at 9:26 AM EST
Pelosi Derangement Syndrome At WND
Topic: WorldNetDaily
-- Hanne Nabintu Herland, Feb. 6 WorldNetDaily column
-- Mychal Massie, Feb. 10 WND column
-- Rebecca Hagelin, Feb. 13 WND column
Posted by Terry K.
at 1:14 AM EST
Updated: Saturday, February 22, 2020 2:28 AM EST
Friday, February 21, 2020
MRC Attacks Google Again Over YouTube Funding Journalism Projects
Topic: Media Research Center The Media Research Center has previously attacked the Google News Initiative by tarring all the recipients of its grants as irredeemably liberal, even though several recipients were actually mainstream operations and the vast majority of the projects being funded are not ideologically driven. Now the MRC is taking another shot now that it has an unambiguously liberal target to bash. Alexander Hall complained in a Feb. 11 post that the Young Turks -- which he branded as a "far-left media outlet" -- "launched a new project to train a new generation of liberals to dominate local media -- all funded by Big Tech giant YouTube and its owner, Google" as a part of the News Initiative. After repeating a Young Turks statement that its educational program to teach people how to use digital media to report on local issues, TYT Academy, is not designed to push any particular viewpoint, Hall huffed: "Based on The Young Turks’ track record as an outlet, that statement may be difficult for some to believe." Hall seems to be assuming that the Young Turks operate the way programs that train conservative journalists, where viewpoint bias is demanded and you're branded a "Benedict Arnold" if you exercise editorial independence. Hall then rehashed some of the MRC's previous lame hit jobs on Google. First, he claimed, "Google has a history of leaning to the far-left. Google fired engineer James Damore in 2017 after he wrote a memo criticizing political correctness and identity politics." As we documented, Damore's memo claimed that that women were psychologically and biologically unsuited to work as engineers and cited as a source the website Quillette, which dabbles in "alleged links between genetics and IQ, and Damore himself went on far-right and white nationalist talks shows and podcasts to promote his memo. Hall also name-checked Google-hating professor Robert Epstein, who "testified at a state hearing in July of 2019 that Google had helped influence no less than 2.6 million votes in favor of Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election." As we also documented, Epstein's conclusions were based on a tiny pool of 21 undecided voters and didn't explain how he determined whether a given website exhibited "pro-Hillary bias." True to form, Hall censored the inconvenient facts from the examples he cited, instead choosing to rant that "With Google/YouTube’s generous funding, this project alone may have power to swing future elections." He then repeated the two tracks the educational series would take: “Journalism tactics and responsibilities” and “Best practices for online video production.” Oooh, the bias!
Posted by Terry K.
at 2:37 PM EST
MRC's West Trashes Vindman For Telling The Truth
Topic: CNSNews.com Media Research Center senior fellow Allen West spent his Feb. 10 CNSNews.com column mostly raging at Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman for telling the truth. First, he complained that the "progressive socialist left" was making Vindman into a hero. After needless diversions into the cases of Bowe Bergdahl and Bradley Manning, West finally got around to his attack:
West is simply parroting President Trump's attack on Vindman in his justification for firing the lieutenant colonel from the National Security Council. He's also repeating a claim from Timothy Morrison, a supervisor who claimed that Vindman didn't follow the chain of command when reporting issues with Trump's phone call with Ukrainian president Volodomyr Zelensky; in fact, Morrison had been Vindman's superior for just a week at the time of the Trump-Zelensky call, and his predecessor had a different view of chain of command than he did. Further, since the NSC is a civilian operation, not a military one, it seems highly unlikely that Vindman could be punished under the UCMJ for his purported chain-of-command violation. West then went on to rant:
West couldn't come up with anything more serious against Vindman than having "acted outside of his chain of command," and suddenly he's a Benedict Arnold-level traitor? West concluded by ranting:
Weird that West is turning against the UCMJ that convicted Lorance of murder, while demanding that Vindman face the UCMJ for his actions. It's also far from clear that Lorance "killed the enemy in Afghanistan"; he was convicted of ordering his troops to shoot at a group of unarmed civilians, killing two, and even his own soldiers testified against him, describing him as ignorant and overzealous. Lowrance was also convicted of threatening a local Afghan; firing an M14 rifle into a village and trying to have one of his soldiers lie about receiving incoming fire; and obstructing justice by making a false radio report after the two men were killed. All of which seems much more serious than making a report outside the chain of command. But for a guy who violated the UCMJ by torturing an enemy combatant, that's apparently a more honorable way to behave.
Posted by Terry K.
at 1:42 AM EST
Updated: Sunday, February 23, 2020 7:50 PM EST
Thursday, February 20, 2020
MRC, CNS Paper Over Kobe Bryant's Rape Allegation
Topic: Media Research Center Basketball star Kobe Bryant's death in a helicopter crash prompted tributes even inside the ConWeb -- while downplaying a sertain something that would otherwise be the lead story. At the Media Research Center, mysterious sports blogger Jay Maxson paid tribute to Bryant's "devotion to faith and family" while burying the thing that would seem to disprove that notion. Maxson eventually conceded that "In 2003, Bryant was accused of sexual assault in Colorado, but the charges were dropped when his accuser refused to testify in a civil court and settled out of court" -- but then he touted how "With his wife by his side in a press conference, Bryant admitted he had committed adultery," then quoted Bryant's denial of assault charges, which Maxson framed as an "apology" because he claimed to understand how the accuser thought that their sexual encounter wasn't consensual. Though Maxson claimed Bryant made this claim in court, it was actually issued through his attorney, not from the lips of Bryant himself. Maxson then gushed: "How many celebrities will own up to sin in the 21st century? He tried to redeem himself through devotion to family -- his wife and four daughters. There were rocky times ahead for Bryant with his wife and family, but they appeared to weather those storms." Maxson invoked Bryant's professed Catholicism for allegedly having "helped him through the difficult times in his life, especially the sexual assault charge," then closed by reiterating: "Kobe Bryant's life was an imperfect life, but he finished strong and devoted himself to faith and family." (Of course, Maxson would never give, say, Colin Kaepernick the consideration of being "imperfect.") At the MRC's "news" division, CNSNews.com, Craig Bannister similarly gushed how "Pro basketball legend Kobe Bryant, who died Sunday in helicopter crash in Southern California, was a practicing Catholic who credited his Catholic faith for helping him through the toughest times in his life." He too took a while before admitting that the "toughest time" was the sexual assault charge:
Bannister finished by noting a tribute Bryant by the Catholic archbishop of Los Angeles.
Posted by Terry K.
at 3:23 PM EST
Updated: Thursday, February 20, 2020 9:30 PM EST
CNS Melts Down Over Super Bowl Halftime Show
Topic: CNSNews.com The Super Bowl halftime show featuring Jennifer Lopez and Shakira did not sit well with the moral scolds at CNSNews.com. Managing editor Michael W. Chapman touted attacks on the show by Franklin Graham and other conservatives as a mockery of "moral decency,"and Chapman helpfully added a description of the show: "The halftime show was little more than a striptease performed by pop-tarts Shakira and Jennifer Lopez, complete with crotch-rubbing, butt-shaking, hip-grinding, S&M leather, and a stripper pole." In a Feb. 6 column advocating for "religious freedom," Ken Blackwell added an aside that "Public figures embrace hypocrisy, and the entertainment industry mocks values and celebrates immorality, as recently demonstrated in the Super Bowl halftime show." An otherwise empty item links to a post by Leesa Donner at the right-wing Liberty Nation with the headline "Avert Your Eyes: Do we Really Need a Super Bowl Stripper Pole?" who called the show "a prime-time gentlemen’s lounge act complete with sadomasochistic attire and stripper pole." The winner for full meltdown, though, goes to John Horvat II, who uses the show to go on an extended morality rant under the headline "Wny Mothers Now Weep For Their Children":
Horvat uses this to rnat against "the decline of morals, the outrage of abortion and the LGBTQ+ tyranny," with particular focus on "ever-growing presence of drag queens, especially in their story hours that target pre-school children in public libraries and elementary schools," which purportedly demonstrate "the desire to corrupt," adding: "As one drag queen said at a public hearing in Lafayette, La., “this is going to be the grooming of the next generation.” Horvat is deliberately taking the "grooming" line out of context. As we documented, the drag queen said that he has no agenda and the "grooming" that is taking place is about not hating drag queens the way Horvat does. And don't doubt that hate is driving Horvat: He then huffs that "The drag queen is the cutting edge of the Sexual Revolution that seeks to destroy all sexual restrictions, identities, and taboos," adding: "We are entering times when unnatural vice and macabre lifestyles are becoming normalized. Satanism and “black masses” are proliferating." Yep, he jumped rather easily from drag queens to Satanism.
Posted by Terry K.
at 9:34 AM EST
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
How Is The MRC Melting Down Over Jim Acosta Now?
Topic: Media Research Center The Media Research Center has toned down its bizarre, obsessive hatred for CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta of late. But that doesn't mean that the flare-ups of Acosta Derangement Syndrome have completely disappeared. We've already documented a November meltown and noted how the MRC freaked about Acosta accurately describing Rush Limbaugh has a "history of making derogatory comments about African-Americans" while never actually disputing the accusation. Butit's gone on other Acosta-bashing tirades as well. IN January, Nicholas Fondacaro groused that "Acosta chided Trump’s calm and reassuring tweet to the American people" following Iran's attack on a U.S. military base in Iraq, ranting that Acosta was "bitter" and was "gaslighting CNN's viewers." Fondacaro went on another mind-reading escapade, declaring that Acosta was "increasingly indignant" and "seemed to grow more and more irritated" and proclaiming that the reporter was "obviously more angry at Trump than the Iranians who were trying to kill Americans." Fondacaro is obviously angry that Acosta won't act like he's on Fox News and be a good little Trump-bot like himself. Chief Acosta-hater Curtis Houck chimed in with a Feb. 5 post smearing Acosta as "Fake News Jim" for noting the relevant fact of Mitt Romney's support of one article of impeachment against President Trump. Two days later, Scott Whitlock complained that the "pompous" Acosta "appeared at Point Park University on Thursday to lecture on how his truth telling 'gets under your skin.' Acosta also explained his worry that the President’s comments could lead to violence against the press." Remember, the MRC hates journalists and is actively callous toward their safety, actively denying that Trump's (and, by extension, the MRC's) anti-journalist rhetoric doesn't inspire violence.
Posted by Terry K.
at 2:19 PM EST
Updated: Thursday, February 20, 2020 9:36 PM EST
Lie-Loving WND Unironically Attacks Democrats For Lying
Topic: WorldNetDaily The latest edition of WorldNetDaily's sparsely read Whistleblower magazine gets touted in a Feb. 7 article:
You know who else is in love with lying? Kupelian and WND. To name just two of the worst examples, WND spent eight years pushing the lie that Barack Obama was not born in the U.S. and that his birth certificate was fraudulent, and it also pushed the lie that Seth Rich leaked Democratic emails. And its recent years haven't stopped it from publishing false, fake news -- heck, we caught them just the other day inventing a quote nobody is on record as saying. The cognitive dissonance continued in Kupelian's column from the issue filled with more ranting:
Trust us: Conscience and inner conflict is not something Kupelian is burdened by. If he was, he would have used his position as de facto WND leader in Joseph Farah's absence to apologize for the above-cited lies he has spread through WND over the years. The fact that he hasn't shows us he knows he's lying and doesn't care. Unsurprisingly, we've also caught Kupelian telling lies, for which he has yet to apologize as well. Kupelian once wrote a column accusing Democrats of "projection" in criticizing conservatives. But Kupelian was the one projecting then, and he's doing the exact same thing now.
Posted by Terry K.
at 1:26 AM EST
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