MRC Hypocritically Cheers Musk's Suspension of Journalists He Doesn't Like Topic: NewsBusters
For an organization that purportedly hates censorship, the Media Research Center sure loves it when journalists who don't share its right-wingn ideology get censored -- and even more when it's Elon Musk doing the censoring. Kevin Tober justified the censorship in a Dec. 16 post:
Late Thursday night, Elon Musk banned the Twitter accounts of a group of leftist reporters from various left-wing outlets like CNN, The Washington Post, and The New York Times for violating the site's terms of service agreement against doxxing. They weren't just doxxing anyone, they were dumb enough to reveal the location of Musk's private jet which puts his personal safety in jeopardy. Needless to say, the lefty meltdowns both on Twitter and cable news were explosive and fun to watch.
The leftist media tears were especially delicious on MSNBC & CNN where the respective networks gathered their panelists to wail about the attack on freedom of the press. On MSNBC's The 11th Hour, host Stephanie Ruhle was apparently terrified about Musk banning leftist reporters. "This seems really scary. Okay?"Ruhle cried.
"These are reporters who covered Elon Musk, who have covered the changes on Twitter since he took over. Now he's claiming these suspensions are taking place because these reporters put him at risk," Ruhle added. She then attempted to deny that the reporters have put Musk's safety at risk: "there's not even evidence any of them did that."
Ruhle's guest Alex Stamos from the Krebs Stamos Group claimed Musk was just trying to intimidate reporters from reporting critically on him:
Tober offered no evidence that the suspended reporters were "leftist," nor did he offer the evidence Ruhle said was lacking to justify the suspensions.He also failed to mention that the Twitter account that tracked Musk's jet -- which the journalists got suspended for linking to -- used publicly available data, or that Musk himself had previously said he would not ban the tracking account because of his claimed support for free speech.
Alex Christy demanded "nuance" on this discussion, something the MRC is not known for:
Friday’s CNN This Morning reacted to Thursday night’s suspensions with none of the nuance that a discussion about doxing and flight tracking information should have. Instead, it was claimed that non-democratic governments around the world will use the incident to clamp down on free speech in their own countries.
While some of the panel was hesitant to give Elon Musk more attention, senior media reporter Oliver Darcy claimed, “You don't want to give someone attention if they're looking for attention. But I think it's important to talk about what's happening on this platform because it is such a crucial information platform. This is how a lot of the world communicates. I mean, world leaders are on this platform.”
Christy didn't mention Musk's previous vow not to suspend the tracker program; instead, took offense when the CNN discussion turned to theidea of foreign dictators taking cues from Musk's banning of journalists:
Not only did CNN not have this story under the old Twitter leadership when they were banning New York Post< links, but the idea that dictators needed Thursday night to clamp down on free speech and press freedom is so obviously wrong, CNN should be embarrassed. Many of these countries had already banned Twitter.
The fact that dictators had already banned Twitter strongly suggests that pre-Musk Twitter wasn't as censorious as right-wing narratives depicted it, but Christy didn't comment on that.
Chrsity then tried to argue the tracker account was illicit because it "evaded the FAA’s privacy program," linking to a tweet claiming the account's owner made a workaround to get informaion on Musk's plane.
Curtis Houck served up more glee at the suspensions:
On Friday, ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s were in a state of anger, shock and sadness over a number of their fellow leftists propagandists being suspended from Twitter late Thursday over what new boss Elon Musk insisted was a violation of the company’s doxxing policies and sharing information about his movements.
Agree or disagree with the decision, but one has to acknowledge the irony of ABC and NBC setting aside time to lament the plight of their comrades in keyboarding whereas conservatives faced years of censorship, election interference, and anti-American browbeating from Big Tech and their media allies.
Houck agrees, obvioiusly -- while failing to prove thaty any of the suspended journlaists were "leftists" -- while adding: "The suspensions came after Musk said a stalker had tracked down his son Tuesday and attacked the car he was traveling in by even jumping on the hood." But that story turned out not to be true: There was no link between the tracking account and the alleged incident, which happened at a gas station and not an airport, and the stalker was actually more interested in Musk's ex-girlfriend and baby mama, the singer Grimes, than in Musk himself.
The MRC then dragged Rich Noyes out of retirement to complain about the coverage the suspensions were getting:
CNN and MSNBC are pouncing on Twitter’s suspension of several liberal journalists, but those same cable news giants had about 15 times less interest in evidence of the same platform’s suspensions, blacklists and shadow banning aimed at conservatives when the so-called Twitter Files were released two weeks ago.
Last night, CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 was first to report the suspension of the reporters, breaking the news at around 8:54pm ET. “Musk seems to be just stamping out accounts that he doesn’t like,” CNN reporter Donie O’Sullivan, one of those whose account was affected, told Cooper.
Between then and noon on Friday, CNN pumped out 38 minutes, 25 seconds of coverage to the suspension of these journalists. MSNBC didn’t pick up the story until shortly before 10pm on Thursday, but they have also been busily griping at the move, churning out 31 minutes, 51 seconds of coverage.
The whining continnued from Christy in a Dec. 17 post:
CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan was one of the journalists suspended by Twitter on Thursday for spreading information that Twitter considers to be reach the threshold of doxing. On Friday, he traveled over to Amanpour and Company which airs domestically on PBS and internationally on CNN International to warn of the “chilling effect” this may have on other journalists who cover Elon Musk.
With no sense of irony, guest host Paula Newton wondered if Musk is so sensitive, would he ban President Biden or French President Emmanuel Macron next, “Yeah. I mean, the point is -- Donie, it's you today. Is it the president tomorrow? Is Biden going to say something? Is Macron going to say something to criticize him? I mean, there is a lot at stake here.”
Christy didn't mention his own lack of irony in cheering these suspensions as his employer raged about "censorship."
Leftist MSNBC host Chris Hayes had an absolute conniption over Twitter owner Elon Musk not tolerating journalists sharing his real-time flight location on the platform.
Hayes went on a rant against Musk’s changes to Twitter on the December 16 edition of All in with Chris Hayes. He spewed that Musk was a “power mad billionaire attempt[ing] to coerce and capture the American discourse.” He argued that Musk’s suspension of journalists that shared information “doxxing” him and his children was somehow authoritarian.
“You cannot trust anyone with absolute power, in any domain,” Hayes flailed. “No matter if it is the U.S. presidency, a social media enterprise, a cable news show, a condo board association, even a pillow company. Left unchecked, they will drive it into the ground."
It’s worth asking what Hayes thinks about censorship-obsessed CEOs like leftist Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Perhaps Hayes doesn’t have as much of a problem with them since all three have the correct left-wing politics.
Johnson censored the fact that Musk reneged on his earlier promise not to suspend the tracker account. There was also no mention that the jet doesn't even belong to Musk -- it's owned by one of the companies Musk leads, SpaceX, which means that, since it's a corporate jet and not a personal one, there's no guarantee Musk would even be on the tracked plane.
CNN Newsroom host Jim Acosta returned to his old form on Saturday of hyperbolically warning about threats to press freedom as he compared the Twitter suspension of several journalists to the Trump White House revoking his press credentials. He also managed to compare tracking Elon Musk’s jet to reporting when senators arrive on the Senate floor or athletes who arrive at a stadium.
Acosta was not pleased with Musk’s trolling of hypocritical journalists, “Mike, Elon Musk initially mocked his critics over this ban, tweeting ‘so inspiring to see this newfound love of freedom of speech by the press.’”
Christy further whined that a CNN guest "accused Musk of making up the policy as he goes along and that he appears to be driven by emotion," which Christy didn't dispute.
Jeffrey Lord served up his own brand of whining in his Dec. 17 column:
Back in the early days of 2021, former First Lady Michelle Obama led the charge that Twitter and other social-media giants needed to permanently ban then-President Donald Trump. Twitter’s leftists scrambled to do as she asked.
Not to mention that one conservative after another was either suspended, banned or shadow-banned over the years. All of this has come tumbling out into very public view in recent days thanks to Twitter’s new owner, the redoubtable Elon Musk.
And there was not a peep of outrage from this interesting collection of left-wing journalists who suddenly are outspokenly outraged that - gasp! - they themselves have suffered a version of the fate Mrs. Obama was recommending for then-President Trump in 2021 and that had been regularly dished to a collection of conservatives.
Lord somehow forgot to mention that Trump was suspended for inciting an insurrection -- an arguably more serious offense than following the location of Musk's plane.
Tober ran to Musk's defense again in a Dec. 18 post:
During Sunday's edition of ABC's This Week, there was a lot of crying over Elon Musk suspending the Twitter accounts of lefty journalists who purposefully broke Twitter's rules against doxxing other people on the platform. New York Times national political reporter Astead Herndon either couldn't understand this concept or didn't care, and instead proceeded to ironically accuse Musk of violating the tenants of free speech and being a hypocrite.
In reality, Musk isn't being hypocritical since he bought Twitter to restore free speech to Twitter users who were suspended or shadow banned for saying objectively true things like "trans women" are men or tweeting out the New York Post's story about the massive scandal surrounding Hunter Biden's laptop.
Conservatives have been consistent that free speech doesn't protect you from threatening people by posting their real time locations, which is what the slew of leftist journalists did to get banned on Twitter.
Clay Waters mocked the New York Times' concern about the jornalists being suspended and cheered the revenge aspect: "Yes, after years of bans on conservative accounts and deletion of conservative content by social media behemoths Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, suddenly it’s a 'free speech and online censorship' problem when it happens to left-wing journalists." Waters offered no evidence the suspended reporters were "left-wing."
WND Puts Crass, Glib Headline On Story About Actress' Death Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily has done some notably crass things in 2022, from invoking 9/11 to sell website subscriptions to illustrating an article about black farmers with a picture of watermelons. It added to that crassness with its reprint of a Dec. 5 Fox News article on the death of actress Kirstie Alley. The WND headline read 'Drop Dead Gorgeous' star Kirstie Alley dead."
The Fox News article it republished did not put "Drop Dead Gorgeous" in its headline -- in fact, it didn't even mention that film until the very last paragraph, instead giving more prominent mention to more prominent roles, such as on the TV show "Cheers."
The crassness may have an point, however. It was likely designed to allude to WND's current obsession with depicting anyone who dropped dead or died suddenly of having done so beause of COVID vaccines.
It's not clear why WND thinks that engaging in such crassness will draw readers, but if its fake news and conspiracy theories aren't bringing in eyeballs, it's unlikely this will either, no matter howdesperately WND needs the money.
MRC Childishly Mocks CBS For Fact-Checking Hunter Biden Laptop Story Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center's Hunter BidenDerangementSyndrome is so bad that it childishly mocks anyone who did their homework to actually verify the story about his Hunter's laptop before running with it -- unlike, of course, the MRC's fellow residents of the right-wing media bubble, who decided it was too good to fact-check before relentlessly hyping the partisan story. We saw that immaturity in a Nov. 21 post by Curtis Houck:
With Democrats having secured the White House in 2020 and fared better than expected in the 2022 midterms, Monday’s CBS Mornings spent nearly six minutes (five minutes and 41 seconds) finally conceding something ludicrously obvious: Hunter Biden’s laptop from hell is real.
CBS let the intrepid Catherine Herridge out to report on a story purposefully censored by the liberal media and Big Tech. And, sure enough, Herridge commissioned an independent review of a “clean copy” from former Delaware laptop repair shop owner John Paul Mac Issac that found there’s no evidence it was tampered with.
[...]
Herridge shared “the laptop’s backstory” dating back to 2019 and then, in an attempt to excuse the media’s censorship campaign, fretted that “versions were widely shared by Republican operatives” in the 2020 election cycle and “questions were raised about whether additional files were added to those versions.”
[...]
Following clips of moderate Republican strategist Doug Heye warning investigations into Hunter could “backfire,” Herridge threw in a dismissal meant to suggest there’s no there there: “After two years of scrutiny, the laptop has not produced evidence President Biden directly benefited from his son's business deals.”
This all led co-host and Democratic donor Gayle King to fret: “Hmmm. Could be a lesson to pay your bills. $85 could have changed everything had the bill been paid.”
Where in the world was this take two years ago, Gayle?
As usual, Houck never explained why anyone should have trusted the story at face value when it came out, given that it came from a pro-Trump newspaper that offered no independent verification and even seasonsed intelligence professionals said it looked like Russian disinformation. Instead, he took the lazy conspiracist's way out and claimed without evidence that the story was "purposefully censored."
This was followed by a mocking, unprofessional item later that day by Bill D'Agostino purporting to be "a list of things that somehow took less time than CBS took to finally admit to the existence of Hunter Biden’s laptop."
Then, the next day, Houck went on Fox News to clown around over the story:
Making his latest appearance on the Fox News Channel’s Fox News @ Night, NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck and host Trace Gallagher slammed CBS News early Tuesday for having finally admitted 768 days after the New York Post’s first report to concede Hunter Biden’s laptop is real and anything but a conspiracy theory.
“And another black eye for CBS. After dismissing the Hunter Biden laptop as disinformation and unable to be verified, the network once called Tiffany now having an epiphany, yet sadly it comes two years too late,” said Gallagher in a tease.
Going later to Houck, he noted that “the phrase better late than never...might not apply this time” with CBS waiting until two major elections passed to consider the laptop’s “authenticity” as well as the fact that CBS’s 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl mocked the idea it was real in an October 2020 interview with then-President Trump.
Note that Gallagher unironicially complained that CBS had "dismissing the Hunter Biden laptop as disinformation and unable to be verified" -- even though that was exactly the case. Gallagher certainly didn't criticize the New York Post for providing any independent verification at the time.
Houck went conspiratorial here too: "Houck later agreed with Gallagher’s recognition that CBS made this call in order 'to get ahead of' next year’s House probes, adding it could be that as well as simply being 'on the other side the midterm elections, but I think it's definitely more about wanting to get ahead of the House Oversight Committee'."
It's immature and totally rehearsed, but it got Houck on TV, right? Getting TV hits and website clicks is much more important than legitimate "media research" at the MRC these days.
CNS Trashes Competition For RNC Chair Before Effectively Endorsing Her Topic: CNSNews.com
We've noted how CNSNews.com lovingly quoted Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel touting before the midterm elections that Republicans were all lawyered up and poll-watcher-laden to attack the polls if things went badly for Republicans. Unfortunately for her, Republicans performed poorly enough that mass election challenges weren't plausible -- which put her in a precarious position for staying in power at the RNC. CNS has largely stayed out of that battle -- but it did publsih a Dec. 13 article by managing editor Michael W. Chapman that noted McDaniels' failures but devoted much of it to attacking her main competition for the job, Harmeet Dhillon, for the offense of being insufficiently hateful of LGBTQ people and abortion:
Although 107 Republican National Committee members have signed a letter in support of Ronna McDaniel to be reelected to a fourth term as RNC chairwoman, many conservatives in D.C. and across the country want California Republican Harmeet Dhillon to take the position.
Some conservatives say McDaniel has a long losing streak and needs to go. However, critics have noted that Dhillon has a controversial past on issues such as abortion, transgenderism, and gay marriage, which may make her less than ideal.
In addition to the 107 RNC members (out of 168) who back McDaniel – more than enough votes to win the election in January – SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser praised her and endorsed her for reelection.
[...]
However, long-time conservative leader Morton Blackwell tweeted on Dec. 10, “As Republican National Committeeman for Virginia, I support Harmeet Dhillon for Chair of the Republican National Committee. She has a long and successful record as a leader for conservative principles at the state and national levels.”
Attorney and Republican activist Victoria Toensing told CNS News that many people she has spoken with "are very upset with" McDaniel, and some say "she's a loser."
"I want to express my support for Harmeet," said Toensing.
Harmeet Dhillon, an attorney, leads the California Republican National Committee, founded the Center for American Liberty, and frequently appears as a commentator on Fox News.
[...]
Concerning some of Dhillon’s controversial background, Suzanne Bowdey wrote in The Washington Stand, the Family Research Council’s news and commentary outlet, that the lawyer has defended Christian students, pro-life journalists, and gender-transition victims over the years. However, Dhillon has also “aligned herself with Republicans who identify as transgender, voiced evolving views on abortion, and said the government should have no role in sanctioning marriages.”
Dhillon is a former board member of the ACLU, former donor to Kamala Harris’ district attorney race in San Francisco, and former general counsel to Caitlyn Jenner’s (Bruce Jenner) gubernatorial run in 2021. In addition, Dhillon worked for Richard Grenell, a gay-partnered man who served as Director of National Intelligence in the Trump administration.
The Washington Stand further reported that Dhillon’s positions on abortion and gay marriage “seem to have ‘evolved’ over the years.”
Yes, "evolved," as in ... moving from a total abortion ban to allowing it "in limited circumstances — life of the mother and rape" and deciding that "the government should not interfere in most private choices by individuals." As if being a slightly less intolerant right-winger is "controversial."
Uitimately, though, Chapman seems cool with Dhillon being RNC chair -- even citing his favorite dishonest Catholic and his boss' kid in support -- even if he's also resigned to McDaniel staying in power:
Despite these controversies, there is no doubt that Dhillon has done yeoman’s work over the years fighting for pro-life clients and other conservative causes, as The Washington Stand details. And when compared it comes to the RNC race, many conservatives prefer Dhillon.
As Catholic League President Bill Donohue told CNS News, “In professional sports, losing coaches are often fired at the end of the season, if not before then. … Ronna McDaniel presided over a losing midterm election. She has to go. Given the monumental failure of the first two years of the Biden administration, expectations were running high that Republicans would post record gains. They did not. One reason they didn’t is because of McDaniel’s leadership."
“Fortunately, Harmeet Dhillon is waiting in the wings,” said Donohue. “Smart and courageous, she would give the GOP a real shot in the arm. It’s not a close call.”
ForAmerica President David Bozell said, “There is no disputing that the Party has struggled to compete statewide, cycle after cycle, in the same critical states: Arizona, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Nevada are top of mind. Romney-McDaniel has had multiple election cycles to solve this problem and yet, the Party remains stuck in neutral. ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’ It’s time for new thinking at the top of the GOP.”
[...]
Republican Lee Zeldin, who decided not to run for RNC chairman, said in a statement, “The better path forward would be for Chairwoman McDaniel to listen to and respect the wishes of the actual grassroots voters of our party, and allow the RNC to forge ahead with new leadership. Her greatest service to the Republican Party at this time would be to make room for a new chair."
Zeldin added, however, that McDaniel’s reelection seemed “pre-baked by design,” implying it would be tough to unseat an incumbent from the RNC chair.
That's how Chapman both-sides an issue where it would not advance right-wing narratives to explicitly take a side.
MRC's Mandelburg Rages Against Abortion And Those Who Support And Have Them Topic: Media Research Center
Tierin-Rose Mandelburg is the Media Research Center's resident abortion extremist, who believes women who have abortions are serial killers and advocates an Orwellian surveillance state to closely monitor women living in states where abortion is illegal in case they travel to another state where abortion is legal. She unsurprisingly spent much of last year spewing hate at abortion, those who support and the women who have them. In a July 15 post, she complained that the feminist site Jezebel highlighted the murder of a pregnant woman as an example of how the overturning of Roe v. Wade could result in more domestic violence:
Last week a Missouri man reportedly murdered his wife after a “heated argument about his affair with another woman.” The man’s wife was supposedly six weeks pregnant and used her phone to search “what to do if your husband is upset you are pregnant,” according to police.
Jezebel pointed out that the woman’s pregnancy was a “risk” and was the cause for her murder. The outlet suggested that perhaps if she weren’t pregnant, her husband wouldn’t have killed her. This was Jezebels attempt to advocate for abortion rights.
[...]
I don’t think that abusers should go without severe punishment, but I also don’t think the solution to an abuser is to end the life of an innocent child. This lady’s husband was psycho and it is a tragedy that she and her unborn baby died. The solution to death is not more death.
Things like this are unfortunately going to keep happening but not because of abortion bans but because some people are unable or unwilling to acknowledge that all life has intrinsic value.
When society indicates that not all life is valued, some life inevitably becomes disposable. Every second that abortion is still legal contributes to this mindset.
Why would it matter if a pregnant woman is killed if it doesn’t matter if her baby is?
That’s the vile attitude that many possess and that’s why people are subject to domestic abuse. Ending abortion isn't going to stop psychos from killing.
Mandelburg spent a Sept. 28 post raging at a comedian's abortion-related jokes:
“I feel guilty, not getting an abortion when I still had the chance.”
Ladykiller series is set to debut on September 30. The series is a comedy special where comedian Jena Friedman will talk about “marriage, motherhood, and murder” with a strong emphasis on the pro-abort narrative.
[...]
“Sorry,” she added while turning to expose her very pregnant belly and then continuing “while we still had the chance.” Her sarcasm on that last “joke” was deafening.
The audience erupted into laughter at her insistence that there was a “we” due to the fact that she was pregnant. I presume they’re all in support of dehumanizing unborn children in order to justify their radical pro-death views.
[...]
Unfortunately, Freidman wasn’t overdramatizing her talking points for the entertainment aspect. In a statement following filming Ladykiller, Freidmen said that the show “made me really appreciate having a platform where I could talk about some of the things I have been losing sleep over since Roe was overturned, and to do so particularly before the midterms.”
Great, so she really is just a horrible human.
The next day, Mandelburg was outraged that another comedian pointed out a location where it's still legal to have an abortion:
On today’s list of people I cannot stand: Amy Schumer.
In an elevator-pitch style, Amy Schumer promoted her show “Inside Amy Schumer.” Schumer advocated for women to visit Colorado for its best attraction: being a state that supports the slaughter of the unborn.
[...]
At the end of the clip, Schumer walked viewers through the use of a private browser to check out different abortion service sites. She also made sure to encourage people to “subscribe to an encrypted VPN internet provider” and to delete search history.
Schumer also insisted that these services are available “for a limited time only,” alluding to the dwindling opportunity to murder an innocent child (good!).
It’s pretty cringe-inducing for people to be so adamant about killing kids that they have to make entire shows glamorizing it. This is not something I’ll be wasting my free time watching. That’s a promise.
Oh, but if the MRC paid her to hate-watch Schumer's show, she would happily do it, as we learned when she hate-watched a drag queen on "DancingWith the Star" despite vowing not to do so.
An Oct. 4 post by Mandelburg petulantly ranted about a perfectly legal mobile abortion clinic:
This is not fake news.
On October 3, Planned Parenthood announced its creation of a mobile abortion clinic. According to NPR, Planned Parenthood plans to drive the bus to red-state borders to make the act of murdering unborn babies more accessible.
How pleasant.
The first mobile clinic is set to open in southern Illinois, a state where abortion is not only legal but celebrated.
[...]
I wonder if it will have a morgue attached to the clinic considering all the murders it plans to conduct. And hey, "We Deliver" could be a great value-add to Planned Parenthood's baby parts business.
This is a grotesque play from the left. Planned Parenthood is a vile organization that dehumanizes the unborn and treats their lives like mundane inconveniences that need to be eliminated.
This mobile clinic is a disgrace. I hope they bought a lemon.
Mandelburg raged against the mobiile abortion clinics again in a Nov. 2 post:
Baby on board? Not for long.
On Wednesday’s CBS Mornings, co-host and Democratic donor Gayle King introduced Planned Parenthood's new “solution” to abortion bans — mobile abortion clinics. Though CBS did include the perspective of one pro-lifer, the overall climate of the clip is a celebration of the mobile baby morgues.
[...]
Money spent to save women and children is much better than an RV aimed to kill but, this is the left we're dealing with.
Mandelburg also targeted Vice Presient Kamala Harris for failure to hate abortion the way she does. She spent a Sept. 9 post complaiing that Harris referenced abortion rights while speaking at a religious convention. The anti-abortion extremist unironically complained that Harris "likened pro-life legislatures to 'extremists,'" adding:
Harris also referenced verses from 1 Corinthians, but declined to reference any other passages from the Bible in which the Lord commands, “Thou shalt not murder,” nor the other parts in which Scripture reminds us of the sanctity of life. None of that helped her narrative.
Christianity is clearly against abortion, but Harris still claims to follow it closely --- yikes.
Mandelburg similarly complaikned in an Oct. 5 post:
I find it hysterical that Harris often alludes to faith when trying to justify abortion. She claims to be a Christian and follow the Holy Bible, which is unquestionably against abortion. Even so, she pretends that faith and abortion are on the same page.
“One does not have to abandon their faith or beliefs to agree that the government should not be making these decisions for the women of America," she added.
Perhaps her translation of the Bible is different than mine.
Harris also called pro-life lawmakers “extremist so-called leaders.”
I’ve said this numerous times, but it really makes me chuckle when the left calls lawmakers who advocate for saving lives the “extremists.” That makes no sense.
Yes, the woman who wants an anti-abortion surveillance state doesn't think wanting one is "extreme."
Mandelburg lashed out at Harris again in an Oct. 26 post:
I really didn’t know that there were more than one version of the Holy Bible. One that supports the slaughter of the unborn and one that doesn’t … oh wait.
Yet again, Vice President Kamala Harris thinks that the Christian faith supports abortion. She has proven that point over and over and over again.
Most recently, on October 25, she was at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque talked with NM Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and a local doctor, Dr. Eve Espey. The trio spoke on protecting the right to murder innocent children in New Mexico and beyond.
Harris reiterated her regular talking points in order to help justify her enthusiastic support for abortion.
“One does not have to give up their faith or deeply held beliefs, one does not have to abandon one’s faith or deeply held beliefs to agree, the government should not be making this decision for her,” VP Harris told the audience.
Ah, that’s one of her favorites.
Mandelburg further lectured Harris:
The Christian faith recognizes the intrinsic value of life at the moment of conception. It’s a grave evil to murder an innocent child, yet Harris seems to think her Christian faith doesn’t need to be neglected in order to support abortion. Harris is just trying to justify her claims by pretending, or convincing herself and others that the Bible supports abortion.
I’ve read the whole thing, and I can assure you, it doesn’t.
It’s blasphemy against God for Harris to be manipulating the words of the Holy Bible to help push an anti-life agenda, but given her and her accomplices track record, it's not surprising.
Mandelburg is clearly unable to tolerate opinions that differ from her own. But then, that narrow-minded intolerance is what makes her an ideal MRC employee.
Newsmax Waited Until Brittney Griner Was Released Before Sniping At Her Topic: Newsmax
Unlike its ConWeb buddies at the Media Research Center, Newsmax didn't spend much time launching personal attacks on WNBA star Brittney Griner after she was imprisoned in Russia on trumped-up drug charges -- it has been anti-Russia and pro-Ukraine, after all -- focusing instead on President Biden's purported incompetence in freeing her. A Nov. 14 column by Hugh Dugan, for instance, bashed Biden for having "cock-a-doodle’d the 'wrongful detention' talking point yet again" and insisted the U.S. should show "a modicum of humility" because "Russia was not so induced to give credence to the charge that Ms. Griner’s detention was wrongful." And a Nov. 28 article quoted a sportswriter calling out "the lack of sympathy — and outright anger — directed at Brittney Griner ... because she's not white, or male, or straight."
After Griner was freed following a swap for arms dealer Viktor Bout, however, Newsmax leaned into some sniping, largely framed around Republican congressmenappearing on Newsmax TV complaining about her getting released instead of a different imprisoned American, Paul Whelan. The apparently unironically named Charlie McCarthy wrote in a Dec. 8 article:
Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., told Newsmax on Thursday that President Joe Biden "has upped the ante for what it takes to get someone out of Russia."
Lankford appeared on "National Report" following news that Russia freed WNBA star Brittney Griner in exchange for the U.S. releasing notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
The exchange deal did not include Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine who has been held prisoner in Russia for nearly four years.
[...]
Lankford said he was happy that Griner was coming home, but again questioned the cost.
WNBA star Brittney Griner's sentence of nine years in a Russian prison was far too long for a "too minor crime" of possession of cannabis oil, but her release in exchange for notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, whose nickname is the "Merchant of Death," means the return of an "evil man" who will "kill more Americans, more innocent people, and more people in general throughout the world," Rep. Jeff Van Drew told Newsmax on Thursday.
[...]
Meanwhile, U.S. Marine veteran Paul Whelan, a Michigan corporate security executive, has been jailed in Russia since December 2018 on espionage charges that his family and the U.S. government have called baseless, and Van Drew said Biden "doesn't really seem to care as much" about securing his release.
Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., said Americans will be pleased WNBA star Brittney Griner is coming home after being detained in Russia for eight months but they should also be upset with the Biden administration's handling of a hostage swap that didn't include U.S. Marine veteran Paul Whelan.
"It's interesting and disappointing in what we see from the left that tends to say [America] is a 'racist, misogynist, and colonialist' country. These people tend to have never been abroad ... in countries where you can be snatched from the street and held [in jail] — for any reason," Waltz told Newsmax Thursday afternoon, while appearing on "American Agenda" with hosts Bob Sellers and Katrina Szish.
"We don't have a perfect country, but it's still the greatest in the world," said Waltz, while making the point that Griner has a public record of protesting America, but still returned home.
Clemons served up another complaining, sniping congressman in a Dec. 9 post:
Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, maintains the Biden administration has made a "mess" of the last few days — in terms of trumpeting the prisoner-swap release of WNBA star Brittney Griner from Russia, but neglecting to bring home retired U.S. Marine Paul Whelan and American Marc Fogel in a deal that allowed a convicted terrorist and arms dealer, Viktor Bout, to return to Moscow.
[...]
On the surface, Nehls doesn't have a problem with Griner coming home, despite her open loathing of America, prior to the eight-month detainment in Russia. But the Texas congressman would also like Griner to show some humility upon returning to the states.
Regarding Griner, Nehls hopes she "will consider" singing the national anthem at her next sporting event, or perhaps going to an elementary school and leading the children in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
"You owe it to America," said Nehls of Griner.
Fitzgerald returned for a Dec. 10 article with yet another GOP congressman:
The prisoner swap that resulted in the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner from Russia and not U.S. Marine veteran and police officer Paul Whelan in exchange for notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout shows a "pattern of weakness" and "capitulation" from Democrats and the Biden administration, Rep. Scott Perry told Newsmax on Saturday.
[...]
"There's got to be a priority here, and the priority apparently is about what's trending on social media and what looks more politically correct," said Perry.
Griner is Black and openly gay.
"What the priority should be is the person that's out, making sure that every single one of us can live free, the Marine remains in prison and it just seems to be lopsided," he added.
All of these congressman and all of these Newsmax writers failed to note that, as we've pointed out, Whelan received a bad-conduct discharge from the Marines following a court martial for attempted larceny, false statements and dereliction of duty, among other things. In other words, he actually committed crimes that were much worse the Russia accused Griner of doing (having a couple vape cartridges of cannabis oil).
Meanwhile, Newsmax host Eric Bolling sneered that Griner is "a mere basketball player" who "can’t free-throw or hide her stash to save her life." (Actually, her free-throw percentage is above the average for both the WNBA and the NBA.) And columnist Michael Dorstewitz whined that "Paul Whelan, a U.S. Marine, is going on his fourth year in Russian captivity his arrest at a Moscow hotel for espionage" and grumbled that the "America-hating, lesbian doper" was released instead: "So the issue wasn’t justice so much as it was identity politics, and Griner checked all the boxes: she’s Black, female, and lesbian — and a basketball star to boot! Whelan never had a chance."
And it wouldn't be Newsmax if it wasn't doing Trump stenography: A Dec. 8 article by Michael Katz hyped that "Former President Donald Trump slammed Thursday's prisoner exchange that freed U.S. women's basketball star Brittney Griner from a Russian prison, calling it an 'unpatriotic embarrassment,'" and a Dec. 11 article by Nick Kotsoubinas touted how Donald Trump claimed he would not have traded Griner for Bout and bragged that he turned down a Whelan-Bout trade.
Days later, Newsmax was still having people snipe about the Griner release deal. A Dec. 17 article by Solange Reyner hyped Oliver North's complaint that "Biden's decision to trade notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout for WNBA star Brittney Griner benefits Russian President Vladimir Putin more than it does the U.S." The same day, an article by Fitzgerald had former DEA agent Derek Maltz, who showed no expertise in international diplomacy, complain that "WNBA star Brittney Griner's return to the United States is a good thing, but it took a "bad deal" to get her here."
WND Misrepresents Yet Another COVID Vaccine Study Topic: WorldNetDaily
Misrepresenting studies regarding COVID vaccines is a major pastime at WorldNetDaily, and Art Moore added another one to the list in a Dec. 19 article:
A new study by the Food and Drug Administration confirms the concerns of many physicians worldwide of a link between blood clots and the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
The researchers examined data covering 17.4 million elderly Americans who had received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine. They found that the incidents of pulmonary embolism, or blood clotting in the lungs, met the initial safety signal, meaning further investigation is warranted, the Epoch Times reported.
After a more thorough evaluation, the statistical signal continued to meet the criteria. Researchers said three other outcomes initially raised red flags but did not meet the statistical threshold: a lack of oxygen to the heart, a blood platelet disorder called immune thrombocytopenia, and another type of clotting called intravascular coagulation.
The FDA, however, said it will not act on the results because they don't prove the vaccines cause any of the four outcomes. The agency said the findings, published by the journal Vaccine, "are still under investigation and require more robust study."
Without citing any evidence, the authors said the FDA "strongly believes the potential benefits of COVID-19 vaccination outweigh the potential risks of COVID-19 infection."
But as a more responsible and fact-based media outlet reported:
Social media users are misinterpreting a study published this month in the journal “Vaccine,” to falsely claim it proves that the FDA has admitted that Pfizer’s COVID-19 shot causes blood clots.
“So the FDA finally came out and said that Pfizer’s Covid shot causes blood clots? Only 2 years late!” wrote one Twitter user who received more than 37,000 shares and 168,000 likes on the post.
Other social media users shared a link to a post from a conservative publication that has spread vaccine misinformation in the past. While the article more accurately conveys the results of the study, the contents are behind a paywall and its headline left out key context, stating: “Pfizer’s COVID-19 Vaccine Linked to Blood Clotting: FDA.”
But the FDA made no such an announcement, and the claims take the study’s findings out of context, according to experts.
[...]
Dr. Jeffrey Olin, a cardiologist and professor at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine in New York, reiterated that the paper found a “signal,” but emphasized that this is not the same as causation.
“There was a slightly increased signal in that vaccine compared to the other ones they tested,” said Olin, who is also the director of vascular medicine at Mount Sinai’s center for cardiovascular health. “So you can’t assess causation. All you can say is there’s an association. And then if you want to assess causation you need to have a much more sophisticated study.”
Olin noted that the group who received the Pfizer vaccine were older, more likely to be in nursing homes and had more comorbidities that would put them in the hospital — all things that are associated with blood clotting.
“It’s impossible to sort out those things as the cause versus the vaccine,” he said.
That's not the only thing Moore and WND have mislead about. He wrote in a Nov. 23 article:
President Biden repeatedly has scolded Americans who choose not to take the experimental mRNA COVID shots under emergency use authorization, charging they are responsible for a "pandemic of the unvaccinated."
On Wednesday, however, the administration's reliable media ally, the Washington Post, reported "a majority of Americans dying from the coronavirus received at least the primary series of the vaccine."
The report came a day after Biden's top health adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and his COVID coordinator, Dr. Ashish Jha, declared the data "overwhelmingly" show the effectiveness of the vaccines in preventing hospitalization and death.
[...]
The Post reported the latest data show 58% of COVID-19 deaths in August 2022 were from people who were vaccinated or boosted.
Some argue that with 68% of Americans fully vaccinated, a higher percentage of the unvaccinated are dying.
But Moore skipped the part in the Washington Post article pointing out that vaccine efficacy wanes over time and that regular booster shots are needed. He also censored other reasons behind the finding: More people have received at least one vaccination, and older people are more likely to die from COVID regardless of vaccination status.
Moore is deliberately misleading is readers. That's bad journalism, and yet another reason why WND is barely surviving these days.
NEW ARTICLE -- New Press Secretary, Same MRC Hate: October-December 2022 Topic: Media Research Center
Curtis Houck and Co. seemed to be getting bored with spewing hate at Karine Jean-Pierre and fluffing right-wing journalists, so the frequency of the Media Research Center's press briefing write-ups diminished toward the end of the year. Read more >>
MRC Predictably Bashes Jan. 6 Committee (Again) As Its Mission Ends Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center has constantlyattacked the House committee looking into the Capitol riot and its causes -- not that it ever offered any factual counterpoint to the testimony revealed by the committee -- so it's not a shock that as the committee concluded its business and prepared to issue its final report, the MRC simply couldn't stop the hate. Nicholas Fondacaro whined in a Dec. 19 post:
With the January 6 Committee having held their final hearing on Monday by sending criminal referrals against former President Trump and others to the Department of Justice (DOJ), the liberal broadcast networks swooned for their friends on the committee. ABC and NBC suggested the committee was better at conducting investigations than the DOJ. Meanwhile, CBS was itching to see soon-to-be former Republican Congresswoman and committee vice chair, Liz Cheney (WY) run for president against Trump.
Immediately following the proceedings, ABC chief anchor David Muir opined, “We have just witnessed an extraordinary moment in American history, the January 6 Select Committee with both Democrats and Republicans … Voting unanimously to send a criminal referral to the Department of Justice.”
ABC chief Washington correspondent Jon Karl joined him to blow smoke for the committee. According to him, the biased committee conducted the most thorough investigation in American history. “This committee conducted a thorough investigation … one of the most thorough we have seen of any single incident in American history,” he proclaimed.
Again, no factual counterpoint was offered -- Fondacaro was simply being paid to whine. Kevin Tober similarly complained with the additional whine that something historic was described as "historic":
On Monday, the hyper partisan January 6 congressional committee recommended criminal charges against former President Donald Trump. Due to this news, the “big three” evening newscasts brought out the confetti and each led with the story while hyping its “historic” nature, with one network going as far as to laughably claim that the committee was “bipartisan.”
During ABC’s World News Tonight, anchor David Muir hyped how the “January 6 committee making history today for the first time Congress has recommended criminal charges for a former President.”
Muir bragged that the committee voted “unanimously to recommend former President Trump be charged by the Justice Department for his actions leading up to and including January 6,” and reminded viewers how many seasons the Pelosi circus ran: “The committee's nearly 18-month investigation, ten public hearings, depositions from more than 1,000 witnesses.”
Meanwhile on CBS Evening News, anchor Norah O’Donnell began the program by proclaiming it a “historic day on capitol hill,” because “for the first time in American history, Congress has referred a former President to the Department of Justice for possible criminal prosecution, recommending four felony charges for his role in trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election.”
O’Donnell told viewers that “the statute for one of those charges, insurrection, says someone convicted shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.”
Which of course, is the entire point of the committee.
Tober didn't explain why that was a bad thing.
Aiden Moorehouse cheered that "Former Acting FBI Director and current CNN analyst Andrew McCabe took a much more cautious tone than most media pundits, and accidentally hinted at how the blatantly partisan and theatrical presentation the Committee opted for ended up hurting it in the end," adding that "McCabe lent credence to one of the strongest accusations against the conduct of the January 6 Committee: that it was purposefully designed as a theatrical production intended to push a narrative more focused on short-term electoral gains in 2022 than any real long-term accountability." Never mind, of course, that Moorehouse's employer would have criticized the committee whatever it did because its beloved Donald Trump was being investigated.
Moorehouse's boss, Tim Graham -- who had previously complained that non-right-wing media was covering the final pre-election hearing from the committee isntead of the latest legal fiasco by right-wing prosecutor John Durham, which the MRC also ignored -- was in full whine mode for his Dec. 19 podcast: "Monday's rerun hearing of the House January 6 committee drew the usual supportive wave of live coverage -- and then led the evening newscasts of ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS. Coming next are the massive 500-page copies of the committee's final report -- The New York Times, The New Yorker, and MSNBC's Ari Melber are all pushing versions of the report. The committee's own official report -- with commentary by Rep. Adam Schiff -- is coming out on the second anniversary of the January 6 riot." Graham followed up in his Dec. 21 column, with an added dose of Hunter Biden Derangement:
After the final hearing of the Pelosi-picked House January 6 panel, Time magazine sent out an email to its audience, under the headline "Trump should be prosecuted, Jan. 6 Committee declares in historic criminal referral”. To our leftist media elite, everything the Democrats do to promote themselves is “historic.”
Is it surprising to anyone that the House Democrats (and Cheney and Kinzinger) want Trump in an orange jumpsuit? Is it “historic” if the referrals are ignored by the Justice Department?
Obviously, the riot itself is historic, in the worst way. But Time and their media pals would never consider the heavy-handed Hunter Biden scandal censorship “historic,” as in an ever-more-obvious plot to prevent Donald Trump’s re-election. They cannot mentally connect Hunter censorship to January 6, even though that kind of rigging outraged Republican voters of all kinds. You get the sense that journalists get emotional and hyperbolic and imagine that anyone talking about Hunter’s laptop is an honorary rioter.
But Graham is serving up an implicit defense of Trump by not criticizing his actions leading up to the riot or during it, in which he spent three hours watching it on TV instead of trying to stop it. No, it's all about the evil Hunter Biden, and Trump is as pure as the driven snow.
The MRC also published a Dec. 29 syndicated column by Cal Thomas complaining that the committee had a "predictable outcome" and insisting that "One can oppose Donald Trump’s run for president in 2024, while still questioning the way the House committee conducted itself." But he too failed to dispute any of the evidence the committee uncovered.
WorldNetDaily managing editor David Kupelian penned a Dec. 15 article that was also sent out as a money beg to WND's mailing list:
Dear WND readers,
First, MERRY CHRISTMAS – I know I speak for everyone at WND in saying how much we truly appreciate your readership, loyalty and support.
I have an earnest request for you, and it is simply this: If you read and appreciate WND and would like to see us survive the never-ending and utterly insane attacks on us by Big Tech, one of the most important – and rewarding – ways you can pitch in is by becoming a subscriber to our monthly magazine, Whistleblower. Stay with me here.
If you haven’t read Whistleblower, honestly you have no idea what you’re missing.
Actually, we've read enough of WND's promos for it to know exactly what we're missing -- highlybiasedexaminations of issues designed to draw right-wing eyeballs, capped off with a screed from Kupelian himself.
Of course, that's not what Kupelian thinks -- Whistleblower is his baby, and he has to beg people to subscribe, so the sales pitch was on:
Each monthly issue is a totally unique deep dive into one single topic, a trip down to the hidden realm where politics, culture and the spiritual realm intersect – in other words, to REALITY.
[...]
Friends, for the sake of your family and loved ones who need the type of insight and encouragement found in Whistleblower, and for the sake of our country that's under total siege – and for the sake of helping WND during a time of extraordinary and literally never-ending challenges courtesy of Big Tech, please subscribe to Whistleblower today, or renew (or extend) your subscription. And also please generously give Whistleblower gift subscriptions this Christmas. For many years, Whistleblower – which is available in both PRINT and state-of-the-art DIGITAL versions – has been WND's single most popular GIFT choice.
Kupelian also plugged the current issue of Whistleblower, which, yes, is yet another highly biased rant against something he doesn't like:
To illustrate, consider the current Whistleblower issue, titled “HOLY WAR: Defeating the growing cult of leftism and its total war on Christianity.”
Whether it’s the “Climate Change Cult” or the “Anti-Racism Cult,” or the “Cult of Wokeness” or the “Transgender Cult” with its appalling sexualization and grooming of America’s children – or any of the other ever-expanding cults, like the “COVID Cult” and the “Cult of Globalism” and the various “TikTok Cults,” every month the list grows and grows. What on earth is going on?
Clearheaded, right-thinking Americans are starting to realize that the irrational, deranged – and often demonic – leftwing political and cultural movements currently capturing the minds of millions of Americans are nothing short of full-fledged religious cults.
This Whistleblower issue reveals how today’s leftwing cults are not only negatively transforming America, they also frequently instigate full-bore social contagion episodes. For example, there’s the hypnotic influence various TikTok personalities exert on adolescents, especially girls, persuading many to “identify” as transgender and undergo horrendous surgical amputation of healthy body parts. There are few limits to this social contagion phenomenon, which Western medicine refers to as “mass sociogenic illness.” And of course, the “Climate Change” and “Anti-Racism” cults and others are being deployed (to use Obama’s words) to “fundamentally transform the United States of America.”
Anyway, all this and much more is explored in a deeply insightful way I can guarantee you have not seen before, in the current Whistleblower issue, “HOLY WAR.”
Actually, the only thing Kupelian should be guaranteeing is that -- as his screed indicates, as taken from his essay -- there will be nothing at all deep or insightful about this issue. Meanwhile, Kupelian has little moral standing to make this argument -- he remains in the grip of the Trump cult, as well as the cult of far-right Christianity that will not accept any other interpretation or lifestyle and depicts anyone who disagrees with him as not just wrong but evil.
Not only is that not deep or insightful, it's also not good journalism. No wonder WND remains on the precipice on failure -- and that Kupelian has to beg for money to keep him employed.
Newsmax -- always a shill for all things Donald Trump -- pl;ayed along with yet another tease in a Dec. 14 article by the apparently unironically named Charlie McCarthy:
Former President Donald Trump said he will make a major announcement Thursday concerning America's need for a "superhero."
"America Needs a Superhero! I will be making a Major Announcement tomorrow. Thank you!" Trump posted in all-caps Wednesday morning on Truth Social.
Trump's post was accompanied by a video, which begins with him restating the country's need for a superhero.
The video then gives way to animation showing the former president, standing before Trump Tower, with a buttoned-down shirt torn open to reveal a Superman-like outfit with the symbol "T" on his chest. Light beams protrude from Trump's eyes.
The spot ends showing "Major announcement. Thursday, December 15th."
Trump's post gave no indication what the announcement would be about.
McCarthy did, interestingly, hint that this was a distraction from bad news, noting that the post "came on a day that The Wall Street Journal reported its new poll showed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis holding a 52%-38% lead over Trump among Republican primary voters."
The next day did indeed bring that "major announcement" -- and, yes, McCarthy was there for that too, while seeming to concede it was a tad underwhelming:
Former President Donald Trump's self-proclaimed "MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT" concerns a new digital trading card collection.
Trump on Wednesday teased that he would have a "MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT on America's need for a "superhero." He followed through with a Thursday morning post on Truth Social.
"MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT! My official Donald Trump Digital Trading Card collection is here!," Trump posted with an image of the former president standing Superman-like in a costume showing a "T" on his chest and an American flag cape.
"These limited edition cards feature amazing ART of my Life & Career! Collect all of your favorite Trump Digital Trading Cards, very much like a baseball card, but hopefully much more exciting. Go to collecttrumpcards.com/ & GET YOUR CARDS NOW! Only $99 each! Would make a great Christmas gift. Don’t Wait. They will be gone, I believe, very quickly!"
Trump last month officially kicked off his campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
After Trump's Wednesday post, some wondered if the announcement would concern a running mate, or the former president's return to Twitter, Newsweek reported.
Newsmax didn't report on related issues with the cards, such as lauching them as the NFT market decllines (and the value of the Trump NFTs fell quickly), criticism of such a money-grubbing venture by even his allies, and using images into which Trump was photoshopped that may or may not have been stolen. Instead, a Dec. 16 article by Nicole Wells bragged about how the NFTs had sold out, with only a token noting of criticism:
The entire collection of former President Donald Trump's digital trading cards reportedly sold out within 12 hours of launching — raising millions in the process.
Trump teased a "major announcement" earlier this week on his social media platform Truth Social. While some people thought he could be announcing a running mate for the 2024 presidential election, the news that he was releasing a digital trading cardor nonfungible token (NFT) collection was criticized by both supporters and detractors.
Wells also included a very defensive statement from the marketer of the NFTs:
It was not immediately clear who receives the money and how it will be used.
NFT INT, which created the digital cards, said that money from their sale will not be used to fund Trump’s 2024 bid for the presidency, which he announced last month.
"These Digital Trading Cards are not political and have nothing to do with any political campaign," the company said on the cards’ website. "NFT INT LLC is not owned, managed or controlled by Donald J. Trump, The Trump Organization, CIC Digital LLC or any of their respective principals or affiliates. NFT INT LLC uses Donald J. Trump's name, likeness and image under paid license from CIC Digital LLC, which license may be terminated."
As it turns out, NFT INT has its headquarters in a mailbox at a UPS Store in Park City, Utah, and is owned by a different company run by a current Trump lawyer and a former Trump adviser, the mailing address for which is the Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach.
In between all this, Luca Cacciatore cranked out a Dec. 15 stenography piece gushing over how "Trump unveiled a five-point plan to tackle censorship Thursday night, vowing to protect 'lawful speech' from being labeled as disinformation. Newsmax provided coverage of the strategy rollout." Cacciatore made no mention of the NFT imbroglio, even though that and not this five-point plan was what people would be talking about.
CNS Nitpicks Biden's Christmas Message For Not Ramming Religion Down Americans' Throats Topic: CNSNews.com
CNSNews.com's nitpickiness of President Biden even extends to his Christmas messages. In December 2020, CNS repeated Biden's Christmas message, though it saited until four days after Christmas to report on it and refused to identify him as president-elect -- not a surprise, since it was stillpromoting Donald Trump's election fraud conspiracies. CNS didn't even report on Biden's 2021 Christmas message.
But for the 2022 Christmas message, CNS decided to nitpick. A Dec.23 article by Susan Jones nitpicked how Biden delivered it:
Instead of an end-of-year press conference, where he might be asked a few difficult questions -- about the border chaos, for example -- President Joe Biden delivered a "Christmas Address to the Nation," as the White House described it.
His message: "Things are getting better." And: "Spread a little kindness."
The message was delivered at the White House, with no reporters present.
An article by Craig Bannister later that day nitpicked the words he used -- a running theme lately -- then compared him unfavorably to the last president:
This year, when President Joe Biden spoke at his second annual White House Christmas tree lighting ceremony, he neglected to mention either “Christ” or “Jesus,” just as he did last year.
Not until the last two sentences of his remarks, did he wish Americans a “Merry Christmas” and mention “God” (“God bless you.”)
At the 2021 Christmas tree lighting ceremony, on December 2, Biden did actually commemorate a birthday: that of his Interior Secretary, not that of Jesus Christ (“It is wonderful to join you here on your birthday, Madam Secretary. Happy birthday”).
In contrast, at his last Christmas tree lighting ceremony in 2019, President Donald Trump reminded Americans of the Christian heritage and beliefs that Christmas trees represent:
Bannister didn't not that there's no evidence that Trump lives the words he spoke, nor doid he explain why the president must shoehorn Christianity into a secular ceremony.
In an apparent attempt at partisan contrast, managing editor Michael W. Chapman cranked out two articles on the Christmas messages from more conservatively correct Republican presidents, Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump; Chapman made sure to put their references to Jesus by name in the headlines. For unexplained reasons, Chapman also reposted a 2019 article recounting how "As heavy clouds and torrential rain stalled the advance of the U.S. Third Army during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944, Gen. George S. Patton ordered the Third Army chaplain to compose a prayer for good weather to kill Germans, to 'crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies.'"
From there, the nitpicking duties went to CNS' new commentary editor, Georgiana Constantin-Parke,who began her Dec. 29 column with a bit of an apology (while also making sure to include her employer's senility narrative):
There already have been several articles about President Joe Biden’s 2022 Christmas message. And while some might see this type of scrutiny as nitpicking or quite a tedious hobby of the right wing or right-leaning individuals in general, it is essential that one is always aware and awake, as the reality of faith and the burden of freedom demand. Analyzing the actions and words of our leaders is vital to understanding our potential futures.
However, firstly, one must acknowledge that both he and his speech writer are human, and therefore cannot be expected to be free of flaws. On the other hand, they are also not expected to be all flaws.
Secondly, let us take into consideration that this is probably not an easy time for him, as the memory of the death of his first wife and one of his children many years ago around this time is not one which will ever go away. We should offer prayers for the souls of his departed loved ones and be understanding of this difficult time for him and his family.
Finally, whether he is in the (arguably) early stages of Alzheimer’s, or he lies habitually, or is no longer the Christian he claims to be, or perhaps he is doing the very work of those who would see the church dismantled around the world, makes no difference in one respect: he is, somehow, the President of the United States.
Tump lied habiltually, but we don't recall CNS ever being concerned about that.Constantin-Parke then moved to a partisan attack on Biden's message:
So what was his message?
At first glance, it was one that called people to unity, to remember the light for which we all stand, no matter our beliefs, and to be kind and empathetic to one another. In a nutshell, it was a classic example of ‘do as I say not as I do’ rhetoric -- his messages to the electorate have rarely been uniting or empathetic or ones to steer people toward the light of goodness.
Encouraging the mutilation of children through speedy so-called gender-affirming care, treating children in the womb as if they were parasites there to steal the mother’s independence, and calling for an end to patience with the unvaccinated, among other things, did anything but unite or inspire kindness in people.
Then the real nitpicking began, with Constantin-Parke being weirdly perturbed that Biden said "Son of God" instead of "Jesus Christ":
An important part of the speech revolved around, as some have noted, hinting to Christ rather than saying His name. This is true. But perhaps the more noteworthy concern was the way he talked about Christianity and the picture he painted of religion and faith in general.
To start off, the language used was one of an objective observer rather than a participant in faith. He stated that Christmas is about the birth of a child that “Christians believe to be the son of God.” It would perhaps have been more appropriate for a practicing Christian to have noted “ a child all of us Christians know as the Son of God, the Christ.”
By distancing himself from his declared faith, Catholicism, he made a clear statement. Perhaps they did not want him to seem overzealous or fanatical, but rather inclusive. But the problem with this approach is the message that it sends to everyone.
It wasn't until near the end of her column that Constantin-Parke acknowledged that Biden might be the president ofall Americans, not just the Christian ones, and that his message should be at least somewhat universal -- yet she still insisted on slamming his Christmas message anyway:
Of course, I could be wrong and he could truly have meant to speak of joy and unity and show himself as the president of all Americans, not just Christians. But even then, you cannot stand and defend peoples’ faiths while distancing yourself from your own. Not to say that he should be the most devout Christian, but if he just does not trust in Christ anymore, why lie about it? His actions speak quite clearly. And many would probably call him brave for stating his disbelief or change of creed.
Or perhaps he has not pondered nor does he care about the discrepancies between his words and actions. This is politics after all. But then again, even politicians have to tell some truths sometimes, otherwise there is no point to any political system. So, where are Biden’s truths?
The real issue is that he is diminishing the idea of religion and faith in general and shrouding it in a light of embarrassment and myth. This is a more diplomatic version of what the communists did in Socialist Romania. They ridiculed faith and church so that no “serious scientist” and “man of reason” would ever dare think of “such nonsense.”
This is the direction the Christmas message was heading. It was not the avoidance of the words Jesus Christ or the watered-down presentation of his own declared faith that were the most problematic, but the combination of what was blurred and what was made clear.
So inclusive Christmas messages are sending America down the road to communism? Constantin-Parke didn't explain why the president must force-feed Christianity to Americans who aren't Christian.
The MRC's Autumn of Hunter Biden Derangement Topic: Media Research Center
Elon Musk's selectively released "Twitter files" is not the only Hunter Biden-related narrative the Media Resarch Center pushed in the final few months of 2022 (while whining that it was not inaccurately made into a right-wing obsession with Hunter's genitals). Its Hunter Biden Derangement Syndrome continued to reign at the MRC since the last time we checked in, with lots of complaining that the non-right-wing media was ignoring whatever minor development was blowing up in their right-wing media bubble.
Here's some of what the MRC was obessing over (and whining about) in the last few months of 2022:
We've already noted how the MRC keeps blaming the media for not embracing the right-wing narrative on the then-unverified Hunter laptop story (and not criticizing the New York Post for providing any independent verification at the time that would have kept the story from being treated as anything other than a partisan October surprise), as well as how that the MRC smeared not only Hunter but her daughter on her wedding day, how it lashed out at media outlets who won't push the right-wing anti-Hunter narrative as "liberal rags." and how it complained that interview with Hunter's ex-wife didn't dish enough sleaze for the MRC's prurient satisfaction.
We've also noted how the MRC loves to run up the numbers on purported Hunter Biden scandals, and it tried to add to that list with an Oct. 13 piece by Geoffrey Dickens declaring, "Eight Brand New Hunter Biden Scandals the Nets Are CENSORING." That inflated the number of MRC-declared Hunter "scandals" to 35.
But if there's anything the MRC really doesn't like, it's normal media people pointing out that Hunter Biden is a thing only inside the right-wing media bubble. Kevin Tober complained in an Oct. 9 post:
On Sunday's Meet the Press on NBC former Biden White House press secretary Jen Psaki dismissed the newsworthiness of the FBI's announcement that they now have collected enough evidence to charge President Biden's crack delinquent crackhead son Hunter with tax and gun-related charges. Psaki claimed that she looked online at the front pages of local newspapers around the country and didn't see the story. Therefore, according to her, it's just an inside-the-Beltway Washington story.
[...]
Psaki is only making NewsBusters point that the media is covering for Joe and Hunter Biden by not covering this story. Just because a handful of leftwing newspapers aren't covering the Hunter Biden scandal doesn't mean it's not a big story.
Mark Finkelstein whined even more in a Nov. 18 post:
Hypothesis:
CNN's Don Lemon is a shameless pro-Democrat hack.
Proof:
Just before the presidential election, theNew York Post broke bombshell stories, derived from Hunter Biden's laptop, indicating that he was trading influence with his father for big paydays from companies in Ukraine and China. And that on at least one of the deals, 10% of the payments had been earmarked for "the big guy," which one of Hunter Biden's partners has said was a reference to Joe Biden.
The liberal media, including CNN, and Big Tech, including Facebook and Twitter, circled the wagons, dismissing the New York Post story as "Russian disinformation."
But—after the election—the Washington Post and the New York Times admitted that the information on Hunter's laptop was authentic—not Russian disinformation.
So . . . you'd think that Don Lemon would have the journalistic integrity to acknowledge that a congressional investigation into the matter is very much justified, and indeed, necessary.
But no. On today's CNN This Morning, CNN's Pamela Brown reported on her interview with Rep. James Comer, the Republican chairman of the House oversight committee, who will be leading the investigation. Comer indicated that although Joe Biden will not be subpoenaed, this will be an investigation of the president.
Lemon, expressing skepticism, asked Brown whether there is any "there, there" to the investigation. Lemon suggested that the investigation is nothing more than "retribution" for the Democrats' investigations of Donald Trump.
And Lemon concluded the segment by scoffing at the importance of the investigation:
"The American people are dealing with a lot of things. I'm not sure this is one of them."
Right. Because who cares if the sitting President of the United States had been profiting from his son's influence-peddling?
Never mind, of course, that the Hunter laptop story looked enough like Russian disinformation for numerous intelligence officials to initially dismiss the story, coupled with the New York Post's failure to provide any initial independent verification. But in Finkelstein's eyes, that's not the Post's fault, apparently.
This is how desperate the MRC wants to take down President Biden, that it feels it must destroy his son in order to make that happen.
CNS Doing Word Counts On Biden Now Topic: CNSNews.com
CNSNews.com loves to do word counts on Democrats (though never on Republicans) -- heck, it's stilldoing that to Barack Obama even though he hasn't been president for years. President Biden is the latest nitpickingtarget, and CNS is obsessing over how he repeats certain words in his speeches. Susan Jones complained in a Oct. 5 article:
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris convened the second meeting of their reproductive rights taskforce on Tuesday, each giving introductory remarks and slamming pro-life views as "extremist."
Reading from a binder when his moment came, Biden used the word "extreme" or "extremist" six times in five minutes to describe abortion bans and the people who support such bans.
After citing each example and even putting it in boldface, Jones then went the gaslighting route (like its Media Research Center parent) to pretend that Democrats are the real extremists on abortion:
Some pro-life Americans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, have said Democrats are the real extremists on abortion:
In a speech on the Senate floor in May, McConnell accused Democrats of supporting "an extreme and radical abortion policy."
“Our Democratic colleagues want to vote for abortion on demand through all nine months, until the moment before a baby is born," McConnell said.
"Democrats’ radical bill is as extreme as extreme gets. It ignores modern science. It is tone-deaf to public opinion. Nothing about their bill merely codifies the current case law on this issue. Their extreme proposal goes way, way beyond codifying the status quo. It would roll back many existing laws.
"Democrats’ bill would functionally allow elective abortion through all nine months. Abortion until the moment of birth.
Jones cited no example of an abortion taking place at "the moment of birth."
Craig Bannister did his own word count for a Nov. 30 article:
President Joe Biden repeatedly promised his audience that he was being truthful on Tuesday, when he addressed a South Korean-owned computer chip manufacturer in Bay City, Michigan.
On 29 occasions during his speech, Biden reassured those in attendance either that “I mean it,” it’s “not a joke,” it’s “a fact,” or he was “serious” about what he said.
Biden said 13 times that he meant what he said. Three of those times, Biden revealed that he “really” meant what he said, and another three times he explained that he “seriously” meant it.
Four of his comments were “not a joke,” Biden explained.
Nine times, Biden declared that he was providing a “fact,” including three times he doubled down on the claim.
Biden said that three of his comments were “serious.”
On multiple occasions, Biden used more than one of the reassurances in the same sentence, such as when he declared union workers to be the world’s most highly skilled and trained:
We cannot recall an instance in which CNS called out how many times Donald Trump used a certain word or phrase, even though there are many opportunities for it to do so -- for instance, his multiple claims that "big, strong" men keep coming up to him and crying.
WND Pushed Conspiracy Theories Against Kari Lake's Opponent Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily has embraced Kari Lake's election denierism, so it's not surprising that it would launch attacks on the woman who defeated her for Arizona governor, Katie Hobbs. An anonymously written Nov. 14 article tried to build a conspiracy theory out of the idea that because Hobbs was Arizona secretary of state, she would be signing off on her own election:
It is a conflict of interest?
Democrat Katie Hobbs, the party's candidate to be governor of Arizona, is holding a small lead in the race over Republican Kari Lake as the last few percentages of precincts are counted – a week after the fact of the election.
And as the state's elections chief as secretary of state, she could be in the position to certify her own election.
Which has raised objections from Lake, who suggested Hobbs should recuse, because of the apparent conflict.
In fact, the secretary of state's role in certifying elections is largely ceremonial and there was no real reason for Hobbs to recuse herself.
Art Moore pushed another Hobbs attack in a Nov. 29 article:
As Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake challenges Maricopa County's certification of the 2022 election in court, the chairman of another county is declaring he voted to certify under duress.
"I found out today that I have no choice but to vote 'Aye' or I will be arrested and charged with a felony," said Ron Gould, chairman of the Mohave County Board of Supervisors.
Lake's opponent, Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, who is overseeing the election, has threatened felony charges for officials who don't certify the election.
Hobbs is suing Cochise County, which refused to certify by the Monday deadline.
But as a more responsible media outlet reported, there was a state-mandated Nov. 28 deadline for Arizona counties to certify the election , but county officials clung to a dubious claim that the county's voting machines weren't certified as an excuse to delay certification, adding that "County boards do not have the legal right to either change the results provided by their elections officials or refuse to certify them."
An anonymously written Dec. 2 article rehashed numerous pro-Lake, anti-Hobbs claims, including that "It was Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, who curiously 'won' that race, that sent an email to officials in Mohave County threatening to file felony charges against them."
Bob Unruh tried to manufacture a conspiracy theory in a Dec. 6 article:
Multiple people have called for an investigation into Katie Hobbs, the Democrat governor-elect of Arizona, after it was revealed that she colluded with Big Tech to censor information about the election in which she was on the ballot.
Republican attorney general nominee Abe Hamadeh's campaign issued a statement that, "The Secretary of State (Hobbs) was working with the federal government and Big Tech to silence free speech and political dissent in an election that she was on the ticket for. This needs to be fully investigated."
Also, firebrand U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said, "The SOS of AZ and Gov candidate, Katie Hobbs, used the power of the AZ SOS to collude w/Twitter to unconstitutionally violate 1st Amendment rights of Americans for her own political gain. This is communism and Hobbs can not be governor. I'm calling for a Federal investigation."
It is a report at Just the News that explained Christinia Bobb, a lawyer for Donald Trump for President 2024, wondered, "What else did Katie Hobbs have removed? And how much censorship took place under her office?"
The report said Twitter removed several statements from the social media site after Hobbs' office contacted an organization called the Center for Internet Security, "which forwarded it to Twitter."
Unruh is lying. In fact, the Hobbs action in question did not try to "censor information about the election in which she was on the ballot" -- it was made on Jan. 7, 2021, months before Hobbs announced for governor, something even the dubious Just the News admits. The request specifically address the false claim made in those tweets that the state's voter registration system is controlled by foreigners. Unruh offered no proof otherwise, nor did he explain why lies should never be challenged or why it's "censorship" to remove verifiably false information.
Despite that, Andy Schlafly perpetuated this misinformation, delcaring in his Dec. 6 column that "In a story broken by The Gateway Pundit, Twitter censored tweets critical of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs at her request" without mentioning important context like the untruth of the tweet being "censored."
For an organization that purportedly hates censorship, the Media Research Center sure loves it when journalists who don't share its right-wingn ideology get censored -- and even more when it's Elon Musk doing the censoring. Kevin Tober justified the censorship in a Dec. 16 post:
WorldNetDaily has done some notably crass things in 2022, from 
The Media Research Center's 
We've noted
Tierin-Rose Mandelburg is the Media Research Center's resident abortion extremist, who believes women who have abortions are serial killers and 
Unlike its ConWeb buddies at the 
Misrepresenting studies regarding COVID vaccines is a major pastime at WorldNetDaily, and Art Moore added another one to the list in a Dec. 19 
The Media Research Center has 
WorldNetDaily managing editor David Kupelian penned a Dec. 15 
Newsmax -- 
CNSNews.com's nitpickiness of President Biden even extends to his Christmas messages. In December 2020, CNS 
Elon Musk's 
CNSNews.com 
WorldNetDaily 
