The Media Research Center has been complaining for a while now that even though Elon Musk has given right-wing hate more exposure on Twitter, the platform has continued to flag anti-transgender hate -- it even issued a report complaining that anti-transgender hate was being blocked. Kevin Tober seemed to express hope that things might change in a May 23 post under the headline "HUGE":

Conservative media & entertainment company The Daily Wire announced Tuesday that starting May 30, they will be streaming all nine of their podcasts on Twitter for free. The move comes after Daily Wire co-CEO Jeremy Boreing revealed a massive censorship campaign by YouTube which demonetized many Daily Wire videos and podcasts in the platform, including The Matt Walsh Show. 

“At this moment, Twitter is the largest free speech platform in the world,” Boreing announced. “The overwhelming amount of positive feedback from our advertisers and audience after putting ‘The Matt Walsh Show’ on Twitter signals to us there is tremendous opportunity, which is why we’ve decided to distribute the rest of our shows on Twitter."

Walsh, of course, is a raging homophobe and transphobe whose lies the MRC has helped to spread.But when Walsh's anti-trans film ran into Twitter policies, a June 1 post by Luis Cornelio helped the Daily Wire to complain about it and play the victim:

Twitter can’t make its mind up on the radicalized gender ideology of the left and initially “canceled” a deal with The Daily Wire to promote a documentary.

The Daily Wire Co-CEO Jeremy Boreing slammed Twitter, accusing the company of thwarting a partnership to premiere What is a Woman? free of charge on the platform. Boreing said Twitter alleged that the documentary violated the platform’s policy on “misgendering” and it threatened to censor the film if shared on its platform.

Twitter apparently backed out of the deal after it had already signed a deal with the news outlet, which included a package that permitted the movie to be hosted on a dedicated Twitter page.

Boreing declared in a tweet: “After reviewing the film, though, Twitter let us know that not only could we no longer purchase the package they offered, they would no longer provide us any support and would actually limit the reach of the film and label it as ‘hateful conduct’ because of ‘misgendering.’”

Musk responded to the reported bombshell claiming that “[t]his was a mistake by many people at Twitter. It is definitively allowed.” The Twitter owner also added that not using preferred pronouns is “at most rude” but warned that misgendering individuals “certainly breaks no laws.” Musk condemned threats of violence as a result of deadnaming, saying in his tweet: “However, for the same reason, I object to rude behavior, ostracism or threats of violence if the wrong pronoun or name is used.”

MRC Free Speech America Vice President Dan Schneider reacted to Musk's response, stating, "It's more clear than ever before that Elon Musk is fighting a civil war within his own organization. Many of his employees refuse to follow his leadership to make Twitter a platform for free speech. We applaud Musk for standing up for the First Amendment and American values."

Cornelio then tried to frame Musk as pro-transgender despite his behavior clearly indicating he's not:

Twitter’s blatant threats of censorship mark a stark reversal of Elon Musk’s dubious promise to make Twitter 2.0 a free speech platform. However, these developments should surprise no one. Twitter previously removed parts of its policy that barred “deadnaming” and “misgendering” transgender individuals. The move was championed as a victory for free speech, but the platform still considered “gender identity” a “protected category” against its so-called hateful conduct policy, as MRC Free Speech America reported in April.

The new policy echoed Musk’s publicly announced support for the transgender community. “I absolutely support trans, but all these pronouns are an esthetic [sic] nightmare,” the Twitter owner said in a tweet on Dec. 16, 2020. Musk also tweeted, “What is a woman?” on May 29, 2023, responding to a question from Spotify Founder and CEO Daniel Ek, who asked in a tweet, “If aliens were to visit us right now, what’s one thing we’ve chosen to do as a society (that feels relatively simple or obvious) that would be super hard to explain?”

Cornelio didn't mention that Musk is such a bad father to his transgender child that the child has moved to sever all ties with one of the richest men in the world -- more evidence that he really doesn't "support the transgender community."

(This wasn't the only simping the MRC did for the right-wing Daily Wire. A June 12 post by Cornelio asserted that YouTube "censored" videos from Daily Wire personnel like Candance Owens, Michael Knowles and Jordan Peterson because they "push[ed] back against the left’s radicalized gender ideology," followed two days later by a post from Autumn Johnson noting YouTube's explanation that the hosts violated the platform's "hate speech" policies and Knowles denying that his transphobia is hate speech.)

Well, all that right-wing whining paid off for the haters. A June 15 post by Gabriela Pariseau touted a new MRC study showing how more anti-transgender hate and disrespect is spreaing on Twitter:

Many have suspected an internal rebellion at Twitter against owner Elon Musk’s vision of a free speech platform. And now we have evidence to show that Musk’s moves to make Twitter more of a free speech platform have been successful despite attempts by his disgruntled anti-free speech employees to thwart him. 

In recent weeks, Twitter has begun to slow its censorship of those criticizing the “transgender” movement. The shift came after the platform changed its “deadnaming” and “misgendering” policy on April 18, and following several staff resignations, including the head of Trust and Safety chief Ella Irwin’s departure on June 1. 

Twitter saw a 261 percent drop in censored users and posts critiquing the left’s radical “transgender” ideology in the month after the policy change (April 18 through May 17, 2023) compared with the month prior (March 18 through April 17, 2023), according to data found in MRC Free Speech America’s CensorTrack.org database.

The month prior showed an unprecedented spike in censorship of content related to the “transgender” issue. Although it is too soon to tell whether this recent free speech win will last, the drop from 142 cases of censorship the month before the policy changed to just 37 cases after shows considerable promise.

Pariseau touted how Musk himself touted Walsh's transphobic film in the wake of the controversy. She then gave the game away by effectively admitting that getting others to hate transgender people is the point, and that Twitter was an obstacle to that agenda:

Musk’s efforts to promote free speech on the “transgender” issue have come just in time. A new Gallup poll found that “A majority, 55%, consider ‘changing one’s gender’ to be more ‘morally wrong.’” In October a similar poll conducted by McLaughlin & Associates found that 75 percent of voters “believe that the transgender movement has gone too far by encouraging underage minors to use drugs and surgery to transition to the opposite sex.” Now the majority of Americans can enjoy true free speech and speak their minds on Twitter.

Musk standing his ground is a good start to making Twitter a free speech platform, but it is impossible to ignore the massive amount of censorship that has occurred under his watch to date.

Censorship of those who speak out against the left’s radical “transgender” ideology tripled over the last year, largely because of unchecked censorship on Twitter. Using the MRC CensorTrack.org database, MRC Free Speech America found that Big Tech collectively silenced 689 accounts or posts from users who dared critique the left’s “transgender” narrative between June 10, 2022 and June 9, 2023. That’s a 359% increase from the year before when platforms censored users 192 times between June 10, 2021 and June 9, 2022. The overwhelming majority of this year’s cases (635 of 689, or 92%) were a result of Twitter censorship.

The platform silenced mothers concerned about children being indoctrinated by the left’s woke, “transgender” narrative and detransitioned women sounding the alarm about the horrific reality of medical transition. The platform also halted users from exposing which children’s hospitals offered transition treatments to minors.

[...]

Obviously, Twitter, although the primary culprit, is not the only platform with a censorship problem. Video platforms particularly targeted those attempting to share their personal experiences with gender “transition.” 

Pariseau didn't mention that those transphobic attacks on chidren's hospital resulted in violent threats against them, nor did she explain how being transgender is an "ideology." She also didn't disclose that McLaughlin & Associates is a right-wing pollster best known for doing polls for Donald Trump's 2020 campaign with whom ther MRC worked to manufacture a narrative that the 2020 election was "stolen" from Trump.

Posted by Terry K. at 7:42 PM EDT

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Our catch-up on Michael Brown's anti-LGBT activism continues with an April 19 WorldNetDaily column in which he lists the existence of LGBT people as further evidence that the country is on an "inevitable and disastrous cultural trajectory":

Many things can seem innocent and innocuous in their early stages, just like a rocket that is the slightest bit off target. Nothing to worry about! In the end, though, it will miss its target by many miles. The wrong trajectory, however so slight, ends up with a major deviation from the original target and goal.

That's one reason why I often use a full gamut of letters when speaking about gay and trans activism, namely, LGBTQ++. It's a constant reminder of the trajectory, which originally started with just the G before quickly adding the L, then the B. Then it was T, then Q (which was part of the early foundation of, "We're here, we're queer, get used to it"), then beyond.

That's why websites answer questions such as, "What Does the Full LGBTQIA+ Acronym Stand For?" This same website has a section titled, "Understanding LGBTQ2S+ and other expanded acronyms."

But of course. Once you deviate from foundational, societal norms, the possibilities are endless.

Another site offers, "68 Terms That Describe Gender Identity and Expression." And a nonbinary reference page lists a number of multi-genders, including abigender, ambigender, bigender, demiflux, genderfluid, pangender, polygender and trigender, all defined with the utmost seriousness. Again, this is what happens when you deviate from "male and female He created them" (Genesis 1:27).

That's why the list of preferred gender pronouns has become absolutely (and sadly) laughable, yielding questions like this: "Is bun/bunself a valid pronoun? My friend was calling me a transphobe since I said it's not valid."

One responder answered, "I don't understand neopronouns (for example, Someone said they prefer 'bug/bugself' as pronouns). Is this even respectful to the LGBTQ community?" Seriously!

More broadly, the larger trajectory of gay activism has inevitably led to this current moment in history, which includes: 1) The continued assault on our families and children, as Washington state has "passed a bill allowing children to legally be taken away from their parents for not consenting to gender transition procedures on their child."

Brown complained in his April 24 column that teaching kids not to hate LGBT people is a bad thing and somehow a form of "grooming":

Yes, the thinking of the children must be changed, and at the earliest ages possible. Or in the words of a gay drag queen who participated in Drag Queen Story Hour’s for children, the goal was to “groom” the little ones (not meaning here in a pedophilic, sexual way, although that may have been the goal for some, but in terms of changing their thinking about gays and sexuality).

In his April 26 column, Brown complained that "progressive" Christians don't hate LGBT people enough and that the Bible demands that they do:

When it comes to homosexual practice, progressive Christians argue that the biblical authors were not familiar with loving, same-sex relationships, otherwise they would have blessed them. Instead, it is claimed, they were familiar with abusive same-sex relationships, such as pederasty or prostitution or promiscuity.

But this argument breaks down on numerous levels.

First, are these progressive Christians claiming that loving, committed same-sex relationships did not exist throughout history? If so, what does that say about the fleshly and sinful nature of same-sex relationships? Was there no true, gay love in the ancient world? Is it only a recent phenomenon? That alone would be a bizarre and self-defeating argument.

Second, there is plenty of evidence that at least some of the biblical authors would have been familiar with committed gay couples. Some scholars have even argued that the situations Paul dealt with in Corinth would be very similar to the situations we deal with today.

Third, Paul taught that homosexual practice was fundamentally wrong, a violation of nature (meaning, the way that God created men and women). This was a matter of natural law, of biology, of divinely intended function, not a matter of societal practices or preferences.

Fourth, Jesus certainly understood human nature, and He only reinforced biblical teaching about sexuality and marriage. Or are you telling me that He was unable to gaze into the hearts of LGBTQ people and see their struggles? (A professing gay Christian once used that very argument: Jesus really didn't know what was in people's hearts. So, this "gay Christian" chose to downgrade who Jesus was rather than recognize the error of his ways.) Since Scripture tells us plainly that Jesus did, in fact, know what was in every human heart (see John 2:24-25), we must accept His judgment on the matter. God established marriage as the union of one man and one woman for life (see Matthew 19:4-6), and all sexual acts committed outside of that union are sinful and defiling (see Matthew 15:19-20).

Fifth, the idea that the biblical authors simply didn't understand same-sex attractions is to say that they were not inspired by God and that they did not have divine insight into human nature and the nature of sin. Again, this is a completely self-defeating argument, since, if you can succeed in proving that the biblical authors didn't get these things right, then you have just undercut the authority of the Scriptures.

Brown ranted about "cultural capitulation" in his May 10 column: "A current example would be the cultural mandate that requires us to give our preferred gender pronouns or to deny biological realities when talking with a trans-identified person. We rightly say no to that mandate for many reasons."

Brown spent his May 15 column praising how his teenage granddaughter hates LGBT people as much as he does (which, of course, he framed as "common-sense wisdom"):

"They no longer teach about the birds and the bees but about the birds and the birds and the bees and the bees and the bees that used to be birds and the birds that used to be bees."

Those were the spontaneous comments of our 16-year-old granddaughter as she explained to my wife and me what was being taught in her high school.

We were all together near Lynchburg, Virginia, celebrating the college graduation of our oldest grandchild, Ellie, from Liberty University when our youngest grandchild, Riley, learned that she had been penalized for failing to complete a class assignment.

Until then, her grade had been an A, but it now dropped down to a C. What happened?

It was a gender and sexual orientation assignment in a health class where Riley had to supply definitions for the standard LGBTQ+ terms, including words like genderqueer. But of course! I can actually point you to books for toddlers with similar vocabulary lessons. Certainly, all teens must be able to tell the difference between a cisgender person and a self-identified genderqueer individual, right?

In the past, with her parents' full approval and encouragement, Riley had opted out of other assignments, some of them with sexually explicit material. And her teacher had always accommodated these requests. But this time, while away with family and doing the assignment remotely, she simply failed to turn it in, hence the penalty in her grade.

We encouraged her to write to her teacher, explaining that the class violated her personal religious and moral beliefs, which she did immediately.

Thankfully, the teacher responded quickly, saying that she would never ask a student to complete an assignment that made them uneasy. Wonderful!

But this is hardly the norm in many of our school systems today, from children's schools through our universities. There is often a high price to pay for failing to conform.

Brown concluded by expressing his desire for other teens to follow his hate:

The bad news is that a whole generation of young people has been heavily indoctrinated, from the schools to social media, and from many authority figures to movies and TV, resulting in deep confusion and uncertainty. (I'll write more about this shortly; for the moment, see this recent report documenting how the number of high school students identifying as somewhere on the LGBTQ+ spectrum has doubled since 2015, now at 25%.)

We had better pay careful attention to what our children are taking in, doing our best to provide positive, clear and compassionate environments for their own growth and development. And by all means, let us keep pushing back in the schools. Young lives are at stake.

Should we be similarly concerned that people like Brown are trying to indoctrinate young people into hating anyone who's not heterosexual? He's silent about that.

Posted by Terry K. at 2:03 PM EDT

Updated: Sunday, July 23, 2023 2:08 PM EDT

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Tim Graham served up his own twist on his employer's Hunter Biden Derangement Syndrome in a May 13 post complaining that a fact-checker brought up an old MRC poll while fact-checking Donald Trump's CNN town hall:

Washington Post "Fact Checker" Glenn Kessler somehow thinks it's a terrible idea to do a poll asking about how the 2020 election could have turned out differently. That's odd, since The Post did polls for several years asking if the Russians made the 2016 election turn out differently. Robert Mueller didn't find that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians, but that didn't stop the incessant journalism promoting that idea.

After the CNN "town hall" with Trump, Kessler took on something Trump said about the Hunter Biden laptop story suppression, and veered into attacking our Media Research Center poll, which Trump didn't mention. On all the social-media censorship and media bias by omission, Kessler asserted "there’s no evidence it made a difference in the election result."

Twitter briefly blocked users from sharing the New York Post story on Hunter Biden’s laptop — a decision officials later said was a mistake. We’ve previously examined a poll often cited by Trump allies that suggests telling the tale would have swayed the election. The poll was done by the Polling Company, a conservative pollster founded by Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, on behalf of the Media Research Center. Our analysis found that the poll conveniently supported a line that Republicans are pushing — that a lack of media coverage related to the Hunter Biden laptop made a difference in the presidential election.

But when you dig into the results, which are swayed by aggressively misleading questions, it shows that for all but a tiny percentage of Biden voters, the story would not have made a difference — even if framed as a still-unproved scandal. The questions in the poll are similar to messages the Trump campaign used in the final weeks before the election — and it still fell short.

As Rich Noyes explained at the time, we asked about some negative Biden themes and positive Trump themes that the media didn't want to discuss.

Graham strangely didn't even link to the Kessler fact-check of Trump he's criticizing here. But he's really complaining about how, back in February, Kessler called out the poll the MRC bought after the 2020 election in an effort to prove that the election was "stolen" from Trump because the Hunter Biden laptop story wasn't sufficiently covered whan that poll was referenced by Republicans during an GOP-led anti-Biden hearing. Note that Graham stayed silent when Kessler pointed out the wildly biased poll questions (except to huff that they were purportedly questions that "the media didn't want to discuss," though that in itself is a biased assessment) and the bias of the pollster. He also didn't mention that the MRC bought this biased poll even as it was screeching about pre-election media polls purpotedly being "deliberately wildly wrong" because they showed Biden winning bigger than he ultimately did. (By contrast, the MRC never lashed out at pollsters in 2022 when their midterm polling showed a "red wave" that never happened.)

Instead, Graham went on to play victim, baselessly suggesting that Kessler was targeting the MRC because it "regularly criticizes The Fact Checker." He also responded to Kessler pointing out the biased nauture of the poll by noting that "some polls are structured to produce the desired result," by playing whataboutism: "Oh, that never happens at The Washington Post polling shop?" And he got really mad when Kessler argued that Biden's own campaign messaging trumped the right-wing laptop narrative:

Kessler doesn't seem to fathom that the liberal media obviously felt that the Hunter Biden laptop story could be a defining story in the election. Doesn't all the suppression suggest their fear of its impact? But you can only laugh when Kessler claims that blaming media bias is a "stretch."

But all of the lines that were tested were staples of the Trump campaign’s messaging. MRC suggests that media bias prevented those messages from getting through to voters and changing their minds to vote for Trump or even not vote at all. As we noted, that’s a stretch, because it assumes the Biden campaign was not offering its own messages to woo voters that, in the end, were more compelling.

Funny, I thought "Democracy dies in darkness" when the Washington Post isn't putting its big thumbs on the scale.

We don't recall Graham complaining that the New York Post was putting a thumb on the scale when it put out the original laptop story. Nor has he complained that the New York Post botched things by failing to provide independent verification of the laptop that would have overcome objections to the October-surprise nature of a story promoted by a pro-Trump publication and sourced to pro-Trump partisans.

More than two years after the fact, Graham is unable to admit the likelihood that the laptop story simply wasn't strong enough to overcome voters' concerns about an increasingly unstable Trump, and he absolutely will not admit that the MRC's own polling to manufacture its version of a "stolen election" conspiracy theory is simply too biased to be treated as a reliable indicator of anything, as he demands. He's putting narrative before facts -- which is what he's being paid to do.

Posted by Terry K. at 10:23 AM EDT

Updated: Sunday, July 23, 2023 10:50 AM EDT

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Hanne Nabintu Herland complained in her April 26 WorldNetDaily column:

The forced politicization of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine may easily backfire. As the Ukrainian government is now engaged in a militant, atheistic, Soviet Union-type of manhunt and persecution against traditional Orthodox Christians, despite their pledged loyalty to Ukraine, this may be a mistake that will impact the Russia-Ukraine war in unexpected ways. What happens domestically when you begin attacking your own history? "The Ukrainian authorities are sadly ignorant of the spiritual laws that govern the universe. Instead, they spit upon the Church and the saints," says Metropolitan Luke of Zaporozhye. Almost half of the Ukrainian population adhere to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

[...]

The world-famous Monastery of the Caves, the Holy Dormition Kiev Caves Lavra, dates back to the 11th century. It is the holiest site in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and now at the center of attention, as the current government has decided to expel the church from this site, pledging to take its hundreds of years old holy relics and turning these over to museums. The thousand-year-old monastery is to be a place for arts, crafts and military rehab.

Herland is being quite vague about what is happening here. At no point did she note that, as we've documented, the Ukranian Orthodox Church continues to have ties to the Russian Orthodox Church, which is headed by a stauch ally, Patriarch Kirill. A breakaway sect, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, has formed independent of Moscow -- the existence of which Herland doesn't mention at all (also, Russia refuses to recognize the church). The Ukranian government took over the monastery because the UOC continues to remain affiliated with Moscow despite pledges to the contrary.

Still, Herland insisted on whining: "When the Western-affiliated government follows atheistic Soviet tactics of harassment and persecution of the Ukrainian Church, they ignore the very greatness of their own history that made Ukraine such a center for spirituality in the East." Again, she falsely portrayed the UOC as be persecuted for their religion when, in fact, they are facing consequences for continued links to Russia at a time when Russia is waging war on Ukraine.

That's just rank dishonesty -- but then, we're used to that from Herland.

Posted by Terry K. at 1:32 AM EDT

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We've documented how the Media Research Center mocked and denigrated E. Jean Carroll for claiming that Donald Trump sexually assaulted her in a department store dressing room more than 20 years ago (while lionizing Tara Reade for making unsupported claims that Joe Biden engaged in sexual misconduct). As a civil trial on Carroll's allegations approached, the attacks continued.

Tim Graham's April 26 podcast complained that a PBS newscast did "eight minutes of negative coverage about the civil rape trial of Donald Trump as alleged by journalist E. Jean Carroll," adding:

Their Trump-trashing story was titled "Trump faces civil trial in rape and defamation case brought by writer E. Jean Carroll." They not only touted Carroll's unproven story of rape in the Bergdorf Goodman department store (she can't remember which year it was), they added other witnesses. "Jessica Leeds alleged Trump groped her on the flight in 1979. And People magazine writer Natasha Stoynoff has accused him of groping her in 2005 at Mar-a-Lago while she was there to interview him."

An April 30 post by Mark Finkelstein bristled at the idea that sexual assault victims should be trusted:

This is what passes for an MSNBC legal "analyst." On Jonathan Capehart's Saturday morning show, MSNBC legal analyst Glenn Kirschner said that cross-examining people who claim to be sexual assault victims, such as Trump accuser E. Jean Caroll, is a "disservice."

Kirschner grudgingly acknowledged that the Sixth Amendment—that inconvenient thing!—gives defendants the right to confront and cross-examine their accusers.  But Kirschner said that as a former prosecutor, it was "heartbreaking" for him to see sexual assault victims "falsely accused of making stories up." 

But how is a jury supposed to decide who is being "falsely accused"—the accuser or the person being accused—unless the accuser is subjected to cross-examination? And who made Kirschner the arbiter of who is telling the truth and who is "making stories up?" 

The real "disservice" would be to justice—if Kirschner's notion were ever adopted, and sexual assault accusers were simply taken at their word.

For that matter, what if Tara Reade, who has accused Joe Biden of having sexually assaulted her, decided to bring suit? Think Kirschner would go on television to bemoan the right of Biden's lawyers to cross-examine her? Rhetorical question.

Then again, the MRC has been silent about questions that have been raised about Reade, and its own reference to Reade defecting to Russia is in a June 1 post by Curtis Houck that is otherwise mostly about his usual attacks on White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

Graham served up more whining in his May 3 column:

Liberal outlets rushed to make time for the latest courtroom testimony from Trump rape accuser E. Jean Carroll. It doesn’t matter that she’s like Brett Kavanaugh’s sketchy primary accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, in failing to know the date of this alleged assault. But her Monday testimony drew six minutes on the PBS NewsHour and drew stories in both The Post and The Times. But there was nothing for little Navy Joan or her mother.

Tara Reade whataboutism came up again in a May 8 post about a new Newsmax show featuring MRC buddy and right-wing radio host Chris Plante:

On the inaugural episode of Newsmax’s Chris Plante: The Right Squad, conservative talk radio star Chris Plante and his assembled panel tore into the leftist media for ignoring the credible allegations of sexual assault of Tara Reade by then-Senator Joe Biden, in favor of non-stop coverage of the flimsy allegations by E. Jean Carroll against former President Donald Trump. 

Plante wasted no time getting into the well-deserved media bashing. Plante opened the show by pointing out the media’s hypocrisy: “While the media is focused in a laser-like way on the E. Jean Carroll and her civil trial against former President Donald Trump. Everyone has apparently forgotten all about Tara Reade.”

“She's accused President Joe Biden of sexually assaulting her and she has pretty good standing here,” Plante noted.

When Trump was found to be liable for sexually abusing Carroll, the MRC unsurprisingly complained about that too. Houck whined in a May 10 post:

Between Monday night and Tuesday morning, the “big three” networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC spent 43 minutes and 47 seconds on former President Trump being found liable for sexual abuse in a New York civil suit brought by lefty advice columnist E. Jean Carroll. At one point in those roughly 44 minutes, Carroll let slip that CBS Mornings co-host and Democratic donor Gayle King admitted off-camera she said “hooray” Tuesday when she heard the verdict.

Tsk, tsk to E. Jean as she let slip an answer to a question many wonder: Do liberal journalists openly cheer or high-five when something goes their way?

We can assume there was lots of booing in the MRC offices over the fact that Carroll won her lawsuit against Trump. Indeed, as the trial was getting started, Houck wrote in an April 25 tweet: "How warped is E. Jean Carroll? Remember how she even creeped out Anderson Cooper when she said in 2019 that "most people think of rape as sexy"? Utterly deranged and spoke volumes about her pscyhe." In fact, Carroll has explained her comment by noting that "we are saturated with entertainment shows which continually show rapes to gather an audience."

Graham returend to complain in his May 12 podcast that the CNN town hall with Trump "obsessed over scandals" initially, including the Carroll trial. A May 23 post by Finkelstein complained that an MSNBC host was "touting vigilant Trump litigant E. Jean Carroll attempting to add new cash demands every time Donald Trump calls her a 'wack job' on television -- in this case, on the CNN town hall."

Graham wasn't done yet, however, spending a June 4 post complaining that Carroll is planning to work on a book with a dissident Trump family member whom the MRC also happens to hate:

You might think the liberal snobs who dominate the audience of National “Public” Radio would look down on the romance novel. But NPR can’t resist hyping a romance novel…when it’s written by heroes of the #Resistance.

On Friday night’s All Things Considered, NPR reported Donald Trump’s bitter niece Mary Trump is writing a romance novel and posting it in chapters on Substack. This story dominated the ATC web page on Friday:

[...]

Openly gay Mary Trump claimed she's never read a romance novel, and now she's writing one. The plot of The Italian Lesson sounds very typical; "An American woman goes to a hill town in Tuscany, opens a café, meets this hunk."

She’s getting by with a little help from her friends….who are also renowned for being “hypercritical” of Trump.

Graham didn't explain why his website was effectively censoring the fact that its favorite sexual-assault accuser had defected to a hostile foreign country.

Posted by Terry K. at 10:11 PM EDT

Updated: Sunday, July 23, 2023 10:35 AM EDT

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Despite being total Donald Trump sycophants, Newsmax surprisingly promoted Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign announcement on Twitter. A May 23 article by Eric Mack favorably touted it, an article the next day by Solange Reyner featured Texas politician Rick Perry calling it "pretty cool" in a Newsmax TV appearance, and even perpetually wrong Newsmax pundit Dick Morris stated that it was a good move. But Mack also wrote a pre-launch article featuring Trump's political action committee attacking the launch as "one of the most out-of-touch campaign launches in modern history."

After the glitch-filled launch, however, Newsmax changed its tune. Mack touted the issues in a May 24 article:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' Twitter Spaces 2024 GOP presidential campaign launch failed, but he tweeted his announcement before the technical issues and embarrassment for the candidate and Twitter CEO Elon Musk.

"I'm running for president to lead our Great American Comeback," DeSantis tweeted Wednesday before his Twitter Spaces campaign presentation, which started with technical difficulties and was crippled for more than 20 minutes after the scheduled launch.

[...]

The original Twitter Spaces link ended after 21 minutes and 17 seconds. Musk tweeted another event, but it was not immediately available.

The event kicked back up at an undisclosed location on Twitter, with DeSantis reading his opening remarks off what sounded like a prepared script. More disparaging articles followed:

• Mike Huckabee to Newsmax: Tech Glitches Hurt DeSantis' Chances
• Rep. Gaetz Trolls DeSantis' Twitter Announcement
• Devin Nunes to Newsmax: Likely 'Last' Twitter Campaign Launch
• Twitter's Engineering Director Out After DeSantis Hiccup
• Trump Jr.: DeSantis Makes Jeb Bush Look 'High Energy'
• AOC: More Watched 'Among Us' Than DeSantis LaunchReports: Twitter Cuts, Server Woes Led to DeSantis Glitches

There was also a May 25 article by Mack repeating DeSantis spinning away the glitches during a Newsmax TV appearance. But again, this is Trump Central, so Newsmax made sure Trump got his licks in. First up was a May 24 article by Michael Katz:

Former President Donald Trump joined the chorus of critics who roasted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday for multiple technical glitches that hampered the unique launch of his candidacy on Twitter for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.

"'Rob,' My Red Button is bigger, better, stronger, and is working (TRUTH!), yours does not! (per my conversation with Kim Jung Un, of North Korea, soon to become my friend!)," Trump posted on his Truth Social account.

Trump added another post on Truth Social showing a video of him at a rally interspersed with a shot of Elon Musk's account in Twitter Spaces with the caption "Preparing to Launch." A voice can be heard saying things such as, "We are kind of melting the servers." And he posted another video titled "Ron! 2024."

Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for Trump's MAGA Inc. PAC, tweeted: "Ron DeSantis's campaign announcement is a historic train wreck. #Trump2024"

That was followed by a May 25 article by Sandy Fitzgerald featuring more trashing from Trump:

Former President Donald Trump, after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis's campaign announcement Wednesday, tore into him with a series of posts to his Truth Social account, mostly ridiculing the GOP governor's glitch-filled Twitter Spaces launch with billionaire owner Elon Musk that added a 20-minute delay to the proceedings.

"I know Ron," Trump said in one post. "The way he handled his announcement, he will handle the country!"

In another post, the former president quipped: "Is the DeSantis launch FATAL? Yes!"

[...]

The final post of the night came with a mocked-up "Twitter Spaces" page featuring generated voices of DeSantis, Musk, Adolph Hitler, George Soros, World Economic Forum Chair Klaus Schwab, Dick Cheney, Satan, and an FBI agent offering commentary through a "campaign launch."

At the end of it, a voice representing Trump pops in, saying "The devil, I'm gonna kick your a** very soon. Hitler, you're already dead. Dick Cheney, sounds like you'll be joining Hitler very soon. Ron DeSanctimonious can kiss my big, beautiful 2024 presidential a**."

Nicole Wells followed with a May 25 article noting that DeSantis planned to visit several states "following a glitch-plagued Twitter Spaces campaign launch," and he also appeared on Eric Bolling's Newsmax TV show later that day.

Posted by Terry K. at 8:16 PM EDT

Updated: Friday, July 21, 2023 8:18 PM EDT

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An anonymously bylined May 23 WorldNetDaily article stated:

An arrest was made shortly after a driver barreled a U-Haul truck into some barricades at the White House Monday night, but that did almost nothing to squelch concerns that the stunt was a set-up.

A report from Revolver News explained, "We deserve better false flags. It’s as if the FBI isn’t even trying anymore. That’s the consensus from most conservatives, who are calling 'BS' on the latest 'Nazi' stunt that unfolded in D.C., and are calling it just another poorly-orchestrated FBI psyop."

What is being reported is that the Secret Service officers detained the driver of a U-Haul box truck after the vehicle hit a White House barrier.

No injuries were claimed. And the investigation continues.

A spokesman said it appears the driver intentionally hit the security barriers, and charges are pending.

"And right on cue, a Nazi flag was pulled from the cab of the truck and perfectly laid out on the ground for everyone to see," the Revolver report said.

The driver was identified later as Sai Varshith Kandula, 19, from St. Louis and a native of India.

Revolver's report include a comment, "Let me get this straight… so you are telling me a guy with a Nazi flag in an empty U-Haul truck randomly plowed into a White House barricade at low speeds, then gave up immediately and got arrested, and the FBI laid out the flag in front of the truck for the perfect photo op?"

The report itself said, "There are countless legit reasons why conservatives don’t buy this incident, starting with the disgraced FBI’s involvement in orchestrating the Russia Hoax, suspicions surrounding FBI’s involvement in January 6th, and the FBI’s proven involvement in the sketchy 'Whitmer kidnapping' plot, just to name a few.

"In addition Joe Biden, who was best buddies with a KKK Grand Dragon named Robert Byrd, just delivered yet another divisive speech, where he declared 'white supremacy' was the most dangerous threat facing the United States."

WND hasn't touched this story since -- presumably because there's more evidence that Kandula was, in fact, influenced by Nazi ideology. (Also, Byrd spent the last few decades of his life apologizing for his KKK involvement, to the point that even the NAACP mourned his death.) Investigators found in a journal a speech Kandula planned to give if his attempt to overthrow the government had worked that would have announced the end of democracy:

The memo quotes a passage of the journal, which the defendant described as a "green book," that describes a post-democratic U.S. He addresses "my fellow citizens of America" in prescribing historic change.

“As I am familiar with the [unknown] of this country being a democratic nation, and this will no longer be the case," the passage reads, according to the memo. "There shall be consequence if civil unrest happens. To make it clear Any opposition will be met with death penalty to make it clear: (kill president) As you have seen, we will declare martial until the situation has been [unknown]. We will rebuild this world."

The defendant, who allegedly grabbed a Nazi flag from the cargo area of the rented U-Haul just before he was apprehended, ended the passage with the words "Sieg hail," echoing but misspelling the Nazi motto that means "hail victory."

Investigators have also revealed that Kandula planned other attacks:

Kandula then exited the vehicle and unfurled a red and white flag featuring a Nazi swastika, according to charging documents. Prosecutors also revealed Friday that Kandula asked officers on scene whether the media would cover what happened.

“He intended to overthrow the government and replace it with an authoritarian regime fueled by Nazi ideology,” said Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Schneider.

[...]

Kandula told investigators his plan was to “get to the White House, seize power and be put in charge of the nation.” He told them he would “kill the president if that’s what I have to do and would hurt anyone that would stand in my way.”

Kandula told investigators he purchased the Nazi flag online because the “Nazi’s have a great history.” Kandula told them he looked up to Adolf Hitler and called him a “strong leader” and said he admired the Nazis’ authoritarian nature and support of eugenics.

But because facts are less important than unproven conspiracy theories, WND will never tell you about this. WND would also have to admit that its original report, lazily copied from other far-right sources, is wrong, and it usually takes a lawsuit or the threat of one for WND to correct anything on its website.

Posted by Terry K. at 2:03 PM EDT

Updated: Friday, July 21, 2023 4:26 PM EDT

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The Media Research Center has been desperately trying to make Hunter Biden happen, and they blame anything and anyone but the complete lack of an actual story for that failure to happen. Geoffrey Dickens seemed to think it might start happening in a May 1 post:

Stunningly, the Big Three (ABC, CBS, NBC)  networks are actually getting out of their censorship mode (for a while) to actually cover the Hunter Biden scandal. 

On April 19 The Wall Street Journal reported that a whistleblower who works in the IRS’s criminal investigation division came forward to reveal that the Biden administration is allegedly giving Hunter Biden preferential treatment and has tried to stonewall the investigation into the alleged tax crimes Hunter committed. 

Then on April 20, the New York Post reported that now-Secretary of State Antony Blinken was the catalyst behind the debunked and infamous October 2020 letter from former intelligence officials dismissing the surfacing of Hunter Biden’s laptop as Russian disinformation.

These incredible revelations actually woke ABC, CBS, NBC  out of their Joe Biden-esque sleepy slumber to devote, on their evening, morning and Sunday roundtable shows, a total of 24 minutes, 56 seconds to the Hunter-related scandals from April 19 to April 23. The nets then quickly dropped the story and haven’t even mentioned Hunter's name in 8 days. 

[...]

The whistleblower story was covered by all three networks. 

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the earth-shattering news that Blinken was behind the 2020 letter of former intelligence officials that debunked Hunter’s laptop as Russian disinformation. 

Since the networks initially bought into this lie it’s not too surprising they’d be reluctant to report on this bit of embarrassing (for them) news.

Dickens didn't mention that 1) the laptop really did look like Russian disinformation, and 2) the pro-Trump New York Post, which first pushed the laptop story, refused to offer any indepdendent verification of the laptop that might have made the story less susceptible to being dismissed as the partisan October surprise it was.

For the rest of the month, it was back to whining that the story remained stuck in the right-wing bubble and cheering occasional outbreaks of it:

• Nets Skip Deadbeat Hunter Biden's Court Appearance Over Child Support
• Biden's Puffball Press Corps Ignores Hunter Biden in Court (Tim Graham column)
• Ruhle Defends Biden on Hunter, Mourns Unpopularity 'Despite All These Wins'
• Gingrich Steamrolls Williams on Hunter's Corrupt Business Dealings
• Nets Ignore Biden White House Banning NY Post Reporter Who Asked About Hunter
• Nets Ignore New Hunter Biden Revelations, Hype Santos Charges
• NewsBusters Podcast: The Ongoing Suppression of Hunter Biden Scoops
• Whistleblower Claims IRS Removed Investigative Team from Hunter Probe, Nets CENSOR
• Let’s Play a Game: Fun with Hunter Headlines!
• CBS Rediscovers Hunter Biden Scandal With IRS Whistleblower Interview
• CBS Skips Own Scoop on ‘Multiple’ ‘Whistleblowers’ Claiming Hunter Probe Shenanigans

It wouldn't be the MRC ifit wasn't trying to run up the numbers on purported Biden scandals. Thus, we have a May 11 post by Dickens headlined "11 Brand New Biden Family Scandals the Networks Are CENSORING." (It's also in Spanish.) By our count, the MRC hasnow claimed to identify 56 separate and distinct "scandals," mostly centering on Hunter, which doesn't seem accurate.

Meanwhile, a May 12 article by Clay Waters complained that the New York Times pointed out that despite all of these partisan accusations against Hunter in particular and the Bidens in general, there has been very little in the way of actual evidence to prove anything:

The same front page featured this blurb to a story on page A18 that had the political scandal roles reversed and the treatment was quite drastically different:

“G.O.P. Lacks Proof on Bidens --After months of investigation and many public accusations of corruption against President Biden and his family, an inquiry by the House G.O.P. has yet to find evidence of misconduct.

The Times’ negative aggression toward Republican oversight of a Democratic president is amazing, especially after years of the paper’s giddy coverage of Trump scandals, with Democrats like Rep. Jamie Raskin and Rep. Eric Swalwell were hailed as heroes in its pages, even if they're not truthful themselves.

As The Federalist’s Jordan Boyd pointed out, the headlines are also factually inaccurate. The GOP may not yet have proof of Biden family misconduct, but they’ve laid out plenty of “evidence.”

The fact that Waters puts "evidence" in scare quotes suggests that he knows what Republicans have put out so far isn't really evidence of anything.

Posted by Terry K. at 10:33 PM EDT

Updated: Thursday, July 20, 2023 10:34 PM EDT

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Following the impeachment of corrupt Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Andy Schlafly aggressively defended him in his May 30 WorldNetDaily column:

The ambush impeachment and removal of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was a shocking and undemocratic assault on the will of the voters. Paxton won reelection by 800,000 votes last November, yet merely one legislative chamber was able to override those votes with a scheme hatched in secret and sprung as a last-minute surprise.

Imagine if Congress could force the removal of a president by secretly plotting an impeachment, suddenly executed a few days later without a single public hearing. The American people would not stand for what the New York Times called "unexpected – as of a week ago there was little public indication that an impeachment could be imminent."

Who really plotted this unprecedented theft from voters remains a closely guarded secret. Donald Trump led the way by truthing his opposition: "Hopefully Republicans in the Texas House will agree that this is a very unfair process that should not be allowed to happen or proceed – I will fight you if it does."

Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, who was elected by pandering to Democrats, "kept this under wraps until the end, there wasn't a lot of time for Paxton's defenders to react," observes Rice University political scientist Mark Jones. It was obviously improper to deprive the voters of an elected official without first informing the public and hearing from them.

As pointed out during the brief debate on the Texas House floor, there was no justification for concealing the plot to remove Paxton from office until shortly prior to the vote. Paxton has been the leader in litigating against open borders and other unlawful policies of the Biden administration, and two months ago he opened an official investigation of Pfizer over its COVID-19 vaccine.

Note how Schlafly downplays the fact that Phelan is a Republican by claiming without evidence that he was "elected by pandering to Democrats." Instead, he tried to manufacture a conspiracy theory about those who voted for Paxton's impeachment: 

On TruthSocial, Trump exclaimed to thunderous support by tens of thousands, "MISSING IN ACTION! Where is the Governor of Texas on his Attorney General's impeachment?"

The silent Republicans share something in common. In addition to Abbott's shamefully going AWOL, Trump's presidential rivals have likewise been silent, as has the senior U.S. senator from Texas, John Cornyn.

All these Republicans depend on heavy support by dark money mega-donors, who are mostly globalist billionaires seeking their own self-serving agenda that includes an open border. DeSantis, Tim Scott, Nikki Haley and wannabe Senate Majority Leader John Cornyn all depend on millions from this network to fuel their political ambitions.

Most of the 60 Texas Republicans who voted for Paxton's removal probably feared retaliation by the dark money globalists, as there are no campaign donation limits in Texas. Gov. Abbott himself has been a frequent attendee to the Koch network donor confabs, whose members funnel money to those who back their agenda and try to punish those who get in their way.

Schlafly, however, is completely silent on exactly why Paxton is being impeached.As a more honest news organization reported, Paxton has been accused of a "yearslong pattern of corruption, including abusing his office’s powers, retaliating against whistleblowers and obstructing justice." Given that investigations of Paxton have been going on for years, Schlafly is being more than a little dishonest by complaining that the impeachment vote was relatively quick. He also didn't reveal the vote total of the impeachment -- 121-23, which tells us that a majority of Republicans in the Texas House found Paxton's corruption too significant to ignore.Indeed, one GOP House member said that "The evidence is substantial. It is alarming and unnerving."

Schlafly spent the final part of his column ranting against a Convention of States some right-wingers want to see happen, claiming that Texas Republicans who endorsed the idea were under the influence of "globalist mega-donors."

Posted by Terry K. at 7:57 PM EDT

Updated: Thursday, July 20, 2023 7:59 PM EDT

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Christian Toto is a film critic who thinks he's a right-wing pundit -- and the Media Research Center is giving him space to indulge that. For instance, we've caught him complaining about a film about early abortion rights activists, whining about cartoon shows being too black, having a fit of Brian Stelter Derangement Syndrome, cheering Bill Maher and Elon Musk for ranting about the "woke mind virus" (whatever thatis), and trying to exempt "Bosom Buddies" from right-wing culture wars against transgender people and drag queens. As a right-wing pundit, Toto is compelled to spout right-wing talking points -- the chief one these days being labeling everything that doesn't neatly fit in his highly biased worldview as woke. He rushed to hang the "woke" label on the new Indiana Jones movie in a May 27 column -- never mind that he had not seen the movie yet:

Social media hasn’t been kind to “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” despite no one having seen the fifth film in the franchise.

It’s woke, users cried, citing early snippets, test screening rumors and other minutiae. Co-star Phoebe Waller-Bridge of “Fleabag” fame is the new Indy, they cried, supplanting Harrison Ford’s beloved hero to appease Hollywood’s female empowerment mandate.

Except no one had actually seen the finished film to confirm those rumors, and director James Mangold indirectly refuted the film’s replacement theory.

That changed this week.

The sequel’s Cannes Film Festival premiere allowed select film critics to screen the movie, slated for a June 30 release. And the early notices are less than kind.

And what purportedly makes the movie "woke"? It sets up someone who isn't a white male and not as studly-looking as Harrison Ford to take over the franchise. No, seriously, that's it. Toto was soi shook up by this development that it declared it a "fear":

Variety confirms what many suspected about the belated sequel – it’s a vehicle for Disney, Inc. to replace Ford’s Indy with Waller-Bridge’s heroine.

[...]

Others feared Waller-Bridge’s character would be Hollywood’s latest Mary Sue figure — a flawless heroine lacking the shades of gray that make heroes pop off the screen. Think both Rey and Rose Tico from the recent “Star Wars” sequels.

Here’s The Hollywood Reporter confirming those fears, too.

[...]

Jones may be riding off into the sunset, but the reviews suggest his replacement has already been found. Now, will audiences embrace Indy’s goddaughter, or will she become the latest example of a woke figure alienating the masses.

Toto needs to talk with a mental health professional if feels so threatened by someone who isn't a white male being an action hero.

Toto spent his July 8 column gloating that the film is unlikely to make back its production and marketing costs (which even he admits were overly high), going on to rant that "elite Hollywood news outlets leave out critical reasons for the film’s failure. Again" -- which is to say that the film is "woke" because it sets up somone who isn't a white male to take over the franchise:

The film endured reshoots during the production process, which isn’t abnormal in La La Land, so it’s possible that baton-passing ending got nixed in the end.

Team Disney could have handled those rumors better. Instead, director James Mangold attacked “trolls” for spreading misinformation.

It’s Marketing 101. Don’t insult your audience. The “Ghostbusters” crew learned that lesson the hard way.

Those “Destiny” rumors registered with both conservatives and die-hard Indy fans. Early reviews, even from liberal outlets like the BBC, shared how Waller-Bridge’s character dominates the action at Indy’s expense.

“Destiny” turns Ford’s character into a “Damsel in Distress” waiting for Helena to rescue him during another sequence. She even decks Indy with one punch at a critical moment in the film.

Did reporters mention these worries in their post-game analysis, which traveled at the speed of social media for months on end? Of course not.

Did Toto mention that Ford is pushing 80, so it makes little sense to force him to do stunts and other action-hero things the way he did 40 years ago? Of course not.

Toto never explains how, exactly, not having a white male take over the franchise is "woke" (let alone his definition of "woke" in general) or why it offends him and the "Red State USA" he purports to be speaking for. Instead, he closed with another rant:

You are 100% correct, we are sick of this woke trash.

Maybe now Disney will clean out Lucasfilm and get people in there with some fresh ideas, they’ve ruined Star Wars and Indy. It’ll be too bad they’re going to leave the place a mess.

Toto thinks Star Wars got "ruined" by "woke trash" because "Disney turned one of film’s most iconic heroes, Luke Skywalker, into a burned-out hermit who rebelled against The Force in 'The Last Jedi.'" He's clearly not a fan of storytelling that conflicts with his narrow right-wing worldview -- a close-mindedness that would seem to make him a bad movie reviewer.

Posted by Terry K. at 1:24 PM EDT

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The May issue of WorldNetDaily's sparsely read Whistleblower magazine carried the theme "The Elites' All-Out War On Free Speech" -- ironic, since WND has abused its free-speech rights by publishing fake news and bogus conspiracy theories. Still, WND made sure to milk things for full victimhood. So important was this issue considered to be that Joiseph Farah devoted his May 24 column to plugging it:

Are you sick and tired of being called an election denier, a science denier, a climate-change denier, a conspiracy theorist, accused of using hated speech, a purveyor of hate speech, a follower of fake news, a practitioner of disinformation, misinformation and malinformation?

It comes from the very top – conjured up by America's elites. That's right. The conspiracy mongers are right in front of us all. The result is censorship, like our country has never before seen or known – in the greatest nation founded by mortal men, great men and women, under the influence of God Almighty.

Now, in a 48-page color magazine, unusual these days as they dwindle among the fast-moving controlled media, WND brings you a historic special edition of Whistleblower magazine that blows the cover off this story of the most important kind – one that could never be brought to you any other way.

Farah promoted his own pet conspiracy theories, as well as lionizing Tucker Carlson:

Sometimes, as with many of the approximately 1,000 Americans arrested after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, decent people are unjustly incarcerated as in brutal Third World dictatorships, simply for holding – and expressing – political views condemned by the ruling elites.

This issue of Whistleblower focuses on Tucker Carlson, hands-down the most popular commentator in America, ousted by Fox News Channel's ruling Murdoch family on Monday, April 24, with no prior notice nor reason given. The cable news giant has been seriously hemorrhaging viewers ever since. Recently, insider reports have claimed that despite official denials from all sides, Carlson's expulsion was part of Fox's $787.5 million out-of-court settlement of the Dominion voting machine lawsuit.

Tucker freely expressed the still-forbidden, though wildly obvious, truth that the 2020 presidential election was rigged. After all, totally aside from the mountain of proven election "irregularities" (the last-minute unconstitutional rule changes, the unsavory "ballot harvesting," the double-counted ballots and so much more), Elon Musk's public release of the previously suppressed "Twitter files" prove conclusively that the "Deep State" colluded with Big Tech to alter the outcome of the 2020 election. Period. Just weeks prior to the election, the guardians of the internet knowingly suppressed overwhelming evidence of rampant corruption and criminality on the part of the Biden family, very much including "the big guy." Post-election polling revealed that Biden would have lost and Trump would now be president had Americans simply been allowed to hear the truth about Joe Biden before they cast their ballots.

Carlson also exposed the Biden administration's supremely reckless Ukraine policy of sending gargantuan amounts of taxpayer money and advanced weaponry to the epically corrupt eastern European country with no accounting required, while secretly pursuing the overthrow of Russian President Vladimir Putin – that is, a war of regime change in Moscow – thereby risking all-out global nuclear war.

[...]

He likewise exposed some of the many outrageous lies and injustices associated with the January 6 Capitol riot, dramatically airing for the first time long-suppressed surveillance video from that fateful day, the aftermath of which saw thousands of essentially innocent people accused of being terrorists, insurrectionists, white supremacists and Nazis.

The multifaceted and entirely unprecedented attacks on Americans' most cherished First Amendment freedoms – and how best to fight back – are illuminated as never before in the May issue of WND's critically acclaimed Whistleblower magazine, titled "THE ELITES' ALL-OUT WAR ON FREE SPEECH."

Managing editor David Kupelian ramped up the victimhood in a May 29 column that serves as the issue's lead essay:

These malevolent yet essentially meaningless expressions, such as “election denier,” “science denier,” “climate-change denier” and “conspiracy theorist,” are accompanied by open attacks on everything conservative and Christian as “hate speech,” “disinformation” and “misinformation.” There’s even a newly manufactured subvariant no one ever heard of before: “malinformation.”

And of course, there’s the favorite, back-of-the-hand catchall insult of the elites: “fake news.”

For example, Wikipedia lists WND as a "far-right fake news website ... known for promoting falsehoods and conspiracy theories." That's from a website that daily publishes actual “fake news,” “falsehoods” and “conspiracy theories” on every major political and cultural topic affecting America’s future. In fact, Wikipedia’s massive 29,000-word article on Joe Biden includes only two sentences on Hunter Biden and the massive and overwhelmingly documented level of Biden family corruption and criminality. Here they are: “During the 2020 presidential campaign, Trump and his allies falsely alleged Biden had engaged in corrupt activities in Ukraine related to his son, Hunter. A joint investigation by two Republican Senate committees released in September 2020 found no wrongdoing, nor did a Republican House Oversight committee investigation by May 2023.”

But WND does, in fact, publish fake news and misinformation. We've meticulously documented it, and WND has never disputed any of our documentation.Kupelian also complaioned about Carlson's firing:

Take Tucker Carlson, the most trusted news personality in America according to a recent poll, yet ousted by Fox News Channel’s ruling Murdoch family on Monday, April 24 with no prior notice nor reason given. The cable news giant has been seriously hemorrhaging viewers ever since. Multiple insider reports have claimed that despite official denials from all sides, Carlson’s expulsion was part of Fox’s $787.5 million out-of-court settlement of the Dominion voting machine lawsuit.

Regardless, many of America’s elites were delighted to see Fox News kill off its top show, since in their minds, the host was a purveyor of extreme rightwing conspiracy theories, an “election denier,” an ally of Vladimir Putin, and – of course – a racist. 

Kupelian tried to conlcude on a rah-rah note:

In the end, the elites’ obsession with “election denialism,” “pro-Putin disinformation,” “white supremacist MAGA conspiracy theories” and other cruel absurdities is really just the playing out of their ongoing internal war with reality. Truth is virtually the only speech the “rulers of this world” cannot endure, since it tends to cause them unbearable conflict, seeing as it fans the flame of their conscience – the truth of God’s moral laws “written in their minds and hearts” – but with which they are at war.

Fortunately, there are still many millions of good, decent Americans – truly the best people on earth. Hundreds of thousands fought to protect this nation and many were wounded in battle – and of course many families have members who paid the ultimate price to defend this nation. They’re horrified at what is being described here. But they still love their country – and they want it back.

A good start in that effort is to speak the truth – boldly, kindly, clearly, joyfully, and without rancor or hate. It’s therapeutic to speak the truth with love. After all, you’re not insane, deplorable, irredeemable or racist, as they insist. You’re an American, with a God-given and constitutionally guaranteed right to speak your mind, come what may.

Kupelian's problem is that WND doesn't speak the truth -- its track record is one of spreading lies and disinformation. Lies and misinformation are not protected by the First Amendment, and the "constitutionally guaranteed right to speak your mind" doesn't keep you from facing the consequences of doing so, especially if you spread lies and misinformation. And, really, that's what's been happening to WND over the past few years -- people are tired of reading an untrustworthy website and businesses are tired of supporting one, so its finances have suffered accordingly. Yet WND sees no reason to change things, and it's continuing to publish the same old stuff that has brought it to the brink of non-existence.

WND has not been victimized by "elites" -- Farah, Kupelian and Co. have brought all this on themselves. And trying to turn their self-made issues into yet another conspiracy theory is more evidence that they have aggressively refused to learn from their mistakes.

UPDATE: Farah also promoted the issue in his May 26 column, claiming that Carlson getting fired from Fox News is "why I maintain free speech in America is obsolete. It's gone." He also claimed of the magazine: ". What our veteran staff and contributors meticulous unmask is the left's broad conspiracy, something they've been working on for decades – now literally on overdrive." We'd be more inclined to believe that WND staff is actually meticulous  if Farah's misspelling of "meticulously" hadn't slipped past editors (if, indeed, WND still has copy editors).

Posted by Terry K. at 1:01 AM EDT

Updated: Monday, July 24, 2023 3:05 PM EDT

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Matt Palumbo has been a favorite of the Media Research Center over their shared hatred of both fact-checkers and George Soros. But as we've documented, Palumbo has spent the past few months discrediting himself by writing (paid, one would hope) propaganda on behalf of Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui, which were in turn published as paid content on websites like Newsmax and Gateway Pundit, taking time away from his day job working for right-wing radio host Dan Bongino. (Mother Jones has a new article examining some of this.)

Meanwhile, the MRC has promoting Palumbo's work for quite some time:

• An August 2020 post by Tim Graham touted how "Matt Palumbo at Bongino.com took issue with the extremely biased nature of PolitiFact's 'Truth-O-Meter' in assessing 'facts.'"
• An October 2020 post by Graham noted Palumbo defending his nominal boss, right-wing radio host Dan Bongino, over accusations he had been spreading unfounced misinformation that liberals planned to riot if Donald Trump won the election.
• A June 2021 post by Joseph Vazquez referenced Palumbo whining that Soros advocates higher taxes for the wealthy though he paid no income tacxes himself.
• In January, an MRC report obsessing over Soros' spending on causes he likes referenced an attack by Palumbo, followed by a post by Vazqueztouting how "Bongino Report Content Manager Matt Palumbo peeled back “the layers” of leftist billionaire George Soros’ global political and media influence during a recent interview with The Epoch Times."
• A Feb. 1 post by Vazquez hyped a New York Post editorial calling Soros "the mosdt dangerous man in  America," approvingly citing attacks from Palumbo.
• An April 10 post by Vazquez noted Palumbo complaining about  right-wingers being called out for trying to discredit Trump prosecutor Alvin Bragg by linking him to Soros.

As Palumbo ramped up his moonlighting propaganda for Guo -- which one would think is disqualifying --  the MRC continued to promote him. Curtis Houck gushed in an April 18 "editor's pick":

Writing in Tuesday’s print edition of the New York Post, our friend Matt Palumbo of the Bongino Report took a blowtorch to the liberal media-selected, so-called fact-checkers for their latest antics and lies in order to defend far-left Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in his efforts to prosecute former President Trump.

“So-called fact-checkers know more about spinning the facts than checking them,” Palumbo began, citing Bragg as the latest proof they’ll go to any length “to circle the wagons and ‘debunk’ actual truths.”

[...]

Taken together, Palumbo argued that “[a]nyone can see exactly what happened here — yet the fact-checkers were more than happy to further demolish their credibility in arguing the contrary with pure semantics” and while one could argue these acts of mental gymnastics are comical, they’re actually disturbing as the intent is “to censor” dissent.

Houck did not mention how Palumbo was destroying his credibility by writing paid propaganda. A post three days later by Tom Olohan touted Bongino citing his employee in making the same argument.

A May 2 post by Olohan hyped Palumbo attacking a "George Soro lackey" for critiicizing right-wing attacks on prosecutors for allegedly having linksto Soros. A May 22 post by Vazquez cited Palumbo in promoting a right-wing Rasmussen poll claiming that a bare majority of Americans have an "unfavorable" view of  Soros -- thus show how the millions of dollars spent by the likes of the MRC and Palumbo to spread anti-Soros hate are paying off.

Vazquez ran to Palumbo's defense in a June 15 post:

The George Soros-funded Southern Poverty Law Center threw a temper tantrum over Bongino Report Content Manager Matt Palumbo for his criticism of the group’s leftist financier.

The SPLC grumbled in a June 8 "Hatewatch" how Soros “has been that boogeyman for right-wing pundits, politicians and TV personalities.” SPLC then tried to launch nonsensical hyperbole in order to shield Soros from criticism and cast any opposition as being anti-Semitic in nature: “Soros has become the extreme right’s go-to antisemitic trope, and its ubiquity speaks to the mainstreaming of antisemitic rhetoric in the United States.” The SPLC then turned its sights on Palumbo and his book The Man Behind the Curtain: Inside the Secret Network of George Soros (2022) as an anecdote, and smeared his work as “antisemitic-trope laden” without citing any evidence to support the allegation. 

SPLC, of course, omitted from the blog any disclosure that Soros’ organizations funneled at least $160,000 to its coffers between 2016 and 2019 alone. Palumbo mocked the SPLC for its absurdity in comments to MRC Business, stating: “I’m shocked that an organization funded by George Soros would resort to such absurd lies to defend him!” Palumbo is right on target.

Vazquez then tried to help Palumbo perpetuate the false anti-Semitic smear that Soros is a Nazi sympathizer:

The SPLC twisted the facts around an April interview of Palumbo with Daily Wire host Candace Owens. SPLC claimed: “[Owens] suggested that ‘because of his contempt for Americans,’ it was ‘plausible’ that George Soros, a Holocaust survivor, was actually ‘sympathetic to the Nazis.’” The leftist organization accused Palumbo of agreeing with the notion. 

However, the SPLC characterization of the discussion was completely devoid of context. Owens cited Soros’ own apathetic admission, saying “No,” that he had no feeling of guilt for being even tacitly connected to the Nazi confiscation of property from the Jewish people as a young teenager during the former’s occupation of Hungary during World War II.

“It seems very bizarre that he has such hatred for — really — the people that liberated him. Right? If he believes that the Nazis were so backwards and were so awful, how could he then spend his life having such contempt for Americans,” Owens asked. She continued: “Why would he be trying to foster the end of America? Why would he be wanting the cities to be crime-filled and releasing criminals onto the streets via his district attorneys? It doesn’t make sense.” 

Owens then asked: “Is it plausible that he was actually sympathetic to the Nazis because he was taken care of and he was protected and maybe he saw them through a different vein?” Palumbo correctly pointed out that the question surrounding Soros’ indifference and motivation against America is difficult. “The Occam’s Razor answer is the simplest one, which is: He’s just an evil guy. And what the exact, you know, reason was, we don’t exactly know.” But even broaching the topic in order to explain Soros’ creepy apathy is supposedly anti-Semitic, according to the SPLC’s logic. 

Soros also happens to be notorious for using his fortune to fuel anti-Israel causes.

But Vazquez, Palumbo and Owens omitted important context as well: A teenage Soros was posing as the nephew of a Hungarian official who was inventorying property already seized from the Jews, and that the Nazis found out his Jewish identity, he would likely be sent to a concentration camp and killed. In other words, he was trying to survive, and Vazquez and Co. appear to be demanding that he feel guilty for surviving the Nazis.

As with many other right-wingers who similarly irrationally hate Soros, it seems that Vazquez, Palumbo and Owens wish that the Nazis had executed just one more Jew.

And, needless to say, Vazquez made no mention of Palumbo's side gig writing pro-Guo propaganda -- propaganda he is continuing to write. A June 20 article at Gateway Pundit -- paid content listed as a "sponsored post" by "NewNoah," presumably a Guo front group -- complained that Guo was "unjustly denied" a hearing related to the fraud charges he facees, "adding yet more evidence that the system is rigged against him." He ended the article in full propaganda mode:

In the interest of judicial fairness, it is essential that Guo be granted bail. By bestowing upon him the freedom to combat the baseless accusations hurled his way, we ensure the preservation of bedrock principles like due process and the right to mount a defense. The mistreatment suffered by Guo serves as a chilling reminder of the potential for power abuse within our judicial system. The time has come to prioritize truth, fairness, and the safeguarding of individual liberties, by granting Guo the opportunity to champion his innocence.

By the way, Palumbo's new (Bongino-published) book is out this week, which is dedicated to attacking fact-checkers as being too far "left." When you can't attack the facts, you attack the fact-checkers -- and why would anyone trust a paid propagandist to be honest about facts?

Posted by Terry K. at 10:24 PM EDT

Updated: Wednesday, July 19, 2023 10:39 PM EDT

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Minnesota fascists hope to be making a list in the near future and checking it twice.

State Rep. Samantha Vang, D-Dist. 38B, wants to change state law and make statements she doesn’t like grounds for putting people she doesn’t like on a North Star State "bias list."

We tried to tell gullible Republicans in the past that voting for a hate crime law was volunteering to schedule yourself for the left's enemies and canceled lists.

Hate crime laws are really "thought crime laws" because the law criminalizes thought instead of action.

That didn’t stop "Rep. Gomer Pyle" from supporting the laws and it didn’t motivate Republicans to repeal the laws if they gained power.

Bias crime lists are just another avenue to criminalize and marginalize people the left doesn’t like and also wishes to punish.

[...]

Minnesota also has a red flag bill advancing through the legislature that takes guns away from people deemed to be dangerous without a trial.

If you aren’t dangerous, you still have to spend money on a lawyer to get your weapons returned.

Another example of the process being the punishment.

Here’s how the bills could work together:

Angry sister-in-law has had it with her MAGA ("Make America Great Again") brother-in-law.

She sees him wearing his MAGA hat in his car and he inadvertently drives past the "Saint" George Floyd Memorial in Minneapolis.

She calls the bias registry and anonymously reports her brother-in-law. That puts him on Big Brother’s list.

A month later at a family gathering, brother-in-law starts talking about the clot (COVID-19) shot and he wonders aloud why people harmed by shot side effects don’t grab a gun and demand accountability from Big Pharma.

That’s all she needs.

Sister-in-law calls the state police and makes a red flag report on her brother-in-law claiming he’s making violent, threatening statements and is a danger to the public.

The state police check Big Brother’s big bias spreadsheet and low-and-behold brother–in–law is already on the list!

Two strikes and he can kiss his guns goodbye.

The left’s conservative-targeted laws don’t work in isolation; the laws are an all-out, all fronts attack on political enemies. Which would be you.

-- Michael Reagan, May 2 Newsmax column

Posted by Terry K. at 5:16 PM EDT

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Would you take fashion tips from someone who bills himself as a "cultural commentator with over 50 years in vocational ministry"? That person, Larry Tomczak, thinks you should, since he devoted his entire May 23 WorldNetDaily column to discussing how people -- well, women -- ought to dress.

He began by noting tweets attacking bikinis and yoga pants, then asking: "Are these unreasonable perspectives? Are they biblical? We can avoid legalism and it really does matter." He then went into lecture mode:

Scripture clearly reveals the direction Jesus gave us to never "look on a woman to lust after her" (Matt. 5:28) and Ps. 101:3 tells us, "I will set no wicked thing before my eyes." What follows are six guidelines pertinent to women but having application for men as well.

• We are to "present [our] bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable to God, which is [our] reasonable service of worship ... [and] "not be conformed to this world [pop culture] but be transformed by the renewing of [our] mind[s]" (Rom. 12:1-2a).

We should look sharp, not seductive. We can dress cool without appearing cheap. Let's draw attention to our countenance and eyes (which Jesus said are the "lamp of the body," as opposed to body parts and flesh that often show where a person's heart and focus really are). Let's not rationalize either ("I get a better tan line, and guys shouldn't be looking anyway").

• We know that we should never wear clothing that draws lustful looks, causing others to "stumble" into sin (see Matt. 18:6) or commit adultery in their heart by fantasizing after viewing us dressed provocatively or immodestly (Matt. 5:28), as in wearing a swimsuit akin to walking around in revealing underwear. Let's get real: Is some beach attire a bathing suit, or almost a birthday suit? We must not allow ourselves to become desensitized to the message of modesty today.

• Modesty is a positive principle emphasizing inner beauty and character over outward vanity and cheapness. "I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly" (1 Tim. 2:9a, NASB). Sprayed-on yoga pants or see-through, braless blouses don't get a thumbs-up here.

If men are not supposed to "look on a woman to lust after her," it shouldn't matter what women wear, so Tomczak's demand that women "never wear clothing that draws lustful looks" is a bit nonsensical. Nevetheless, he conluded:

Here's the deal: When there is a question raised (by yourself, a parent or a faithful friend) concerning an article of clothing, length of a skirt, level of a neckline, tightness of pants, message on a shirt, follow the following:

• Doubt – do without (Rom. 14:13)

• Flee from youthful lusts" (2 Tim. 2:22a, NASB)

• Honor your father and your mother" (Eph. 6:2a, MEV)

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Let's help our young women learn to discern the deception of pop culture advocating "empowerment." Remember, modest attire starts in the heart, not a dress code. Let's focus on the abundant life Jesus promised!

Yet the entire point of Tomczak's column is to demand that women follow a dress code of which he approves.

Posted by Terry K. at 1:48 PM EDT

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