MRC Keeps Pretending Right-Wing-Promoted Book Bans Aren't Really Book Bans Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center has long been in denial that right-wingers seeking to ban a book from a library are book-banners, insisting that any book ban pushed by a right-winger is automatically justified. Tim Graham kept up that narrative in his March 29 column:
The Left is in an uproar. Parents opposed to their indoctrinating ways are forming a resistance movement. One uproar is over books – assigned books in the classroom and available books in the school library. Disagree with the content of the books? You’re for “book bans.”
Technically, this is accurate inside the school, but the leftist press makes it sound like you’re banning books entirely from public view. They get to pose as the defenders of books and “book learning” and as compassionate defenders of the book-reading needs of the “marginalized.”
[...]
This is how the leftist media operate. They are all about channeling outrage about “book bans,” and spend no time explaining the pornographic passages and images that stoke the controversy. It’s all posing, and no disclosing.
Curtis Houck whined the same day when it was pointed out that conservatives care more about guns than books:
On Wednesday’s CBS Mornings, co-host, Democratic donor, and Obama family friend Gayle King used the normally light-hearted “Talk of the Table” segment to lambaste Americans (and especially gun rights supporters) for “valu[ing] guns over children” and “the lives of fellow human beings” in light of the Nashville school shooting, adding in another veiled shot at conservatives and Republicans that they should stop “banning books” and work to ban “assault rifles”.
[...]
“Guys, they’re banning books in schools,” King bemoaned, ruling “books can’t kill your children,” but “they” are nonetheless “banning some books in schools, but yet, the rules are very different when it comes to guns.”
And there it is. Conservatives are fine with children being slaughtered, but are over their skis in wanting graphic sexual material kept out of schools for young children.
A May 5 post by Clay Waters complained that the "library lobby" was pointing out book bans:
The PBS show Amanpour & Co. went on an aggrieved rant Monday evening over the supposed threat of book banning. Host Christiane Amanpour set up the interview with the president of the notoriously liberal American Library Association, a group always eager to see dangerous book bans coming from the right, while ignoring squelching of both fiction and non-fiction from the left via Amazon, “sensitivity readers,” and posthumous editing.
The library lobby has put out yet another misleading report on “book bans” in America and Amanpour & Co. were ready to spread hysteria:
[...]
Yet peer behind the rhetoric and it’s clear that most book challenges involve parents being concerned about the age-appropriateness of sexually explicit material, often in picture form.
Waters offered no evidence to back up that claim.
Alex Christy issued a similar complaint in a May 17 post:
The cast of CNN Tonight was all in agreement on Tuesday that conservative attempts to “ban books” are “fascist,” similar to Nazism, and worse than the current trend of leftists re-writing books they did not write. At no point could anyone point to a book that was actually banned.
The genesis of the conversation was Salman Rushdie condemning both the attempts to control school library content on the right and revisionism on the left. For, The Atlantic’s James Surowiecki, the revisionism is wrong, but “But I think the bigger thing is the bans on books in school libraries and in schools that-- places like Florida, Tennessee, Texas, where some libraries, they've talked about shutting down libraries. I think that's far more consequential and far, far grimmer. So I'm glad he was, went after that.”
Re-writing books is actually “far, far grimmer,” because the original book disappears and sometimes for the dumbest reasons, such as the promotion of gender neutralism. Any book that is removed from a school library can still be accessed elsewhere and in its original state.
[...]
Another reason why lefties re-writing books is far worse is that these conversations rarely touch on the kind sexually explicit books that are being removed while ignoring all the fake news on books like Roberto Clemente biographies.
The link Christy supplied to support his claim of "fake news" about a Roberto Clemente bio being removed actually admitted that the book (along with many others) was removed from one school district's library pending approval by a "certified media specialist."
A WND Columnist Who's Not A Putin Apologist Topic: WorldNetDaily
There may be a lot of pro-Russiaapologists at WND, but they're not all Putin puppets. James Zumwalt used May 24 WND column to liken Vladimir Putin to the subject of the Jim Croce song "Bad Bad Leroy Brown," declaring that in invading Ukraine, Purin "bit off more than he could chew, having started a bar fight with someone tougher. Croce's description of Brown at fight's end is not too dissimilar to that of Putin's military today – looking 'like a jigsaw puzzle with a couple of pieces gone.' At least Brown's fight is over; Putin's is still ongoing." Zumwalt went on to complain in a very WND way about this as well, noting that Russians trying to avoid getting conscripted into the war are claiming to be transgender:
Not until months later, however, did members of Russia's legislative branch (Duma) discover a ploy some draft dodgers, perhaps preferring to remain in Russia or simply unable to get out, were using to avoid the draft. In 1997, the Duma had passed a law authorizing transgenders to change their gender identity simply by modifying it on their passport with a medical permission slip. In an ultimate slap in the face to Putin's war, at least 3,000 Russian males have recently changed their gender identity under that law. Finally recognizing this loophole, the Duma is working on legislation to mandate more than just a gender identity declaration and medical note by requiring body-altering surgery as well.
Zumwalt further took Putin to task for botching things in Ukraine:
Putin, who came to power in 2000 as a democratically elected president, has manipulated the government machinery to basically establish an autocracy. In 2020, the country's constitution was manipulated to keep him in power until 2036. There is no way the Russian people will tolerate this should the war in Ukraine not end soon.
The conflict now boils down to an unbending Ukrainian resolve and a tyrant's ego. Absent a major battlefield change – such as Putin pressuring Belarus to open a new front in Ukraine – or Ukraine's weapons suppliers withdrawing, a gambling man would bet Putin's days are numbered. Similar to Russia's last czar, Nicholas II, who violently learned the hard way over a century earlier, not listening to your people comes at a very high price.
Just because Zumwalt did one thing right doesn't mean we've forgotten things he's done wrong, like pushing nasty attacks against Alexandria Osasio-Cortez. He and WND also face legal peril after a Zumwalt column (which is still live at WND) promoted a far-right podcaster's false claim that an official with voting-tech company Dominion confessed to changing vote totals and worked with Antifa; that official is suing the podcaster and others for defamation.
MRC Annoyed By SCOTUS Ruling Striking Down Alabama Congressional Map Topic: Media Research Center
Just because the Supreme Court has a right-wing tilt these days doesn't mean that the Media Research Center will be pleased with everything it does. Ineeed, it was annoyed that the court struck down a congressional district map in Alabama for violating civil rights because it failed to apportion a second black-majority district. Kevin Tober complained in a June 8 post:
On Thursday, the Supreme Court struck down Alabama’s congressional map on the basis that it was a violation of the 1964 Voting Rights Act. The partisan decision was even more head-scratching when it was revealed that so-called conservative justices John Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh joined the three leftists on the court. As was expected, the three evening news broadcasts gloated over the ruling.
ABC’s World News Tonight was the most obnoxious with justice correspondent Terry Moran breathlessly hyping the “Supreme Court stunner.”
“Two conservative Justices, Chief Justice John Roberts, and Brett Kavanaugh joined the court's liberals in striking down Alabama's congressional map that critics said diluted the power of black voters,” Moran gushed.
Yes, Tober thinks it's "obnoxious" to preserve the voting rights of people.
MSNBC asked three Democrats to discuss the Supreme Court’s ruling on Alabama’s redistricting plan, neglecting to acknowledge any alternate view point. NBC senior legal correspondent Laura Jarrett, president and CEO of the Brennan Center for Justice Michael Waldman, and former Alabama Democratic Senator Doug Jones expressed surprise that the conservative Supreme Court would uphold Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act when they previously “gutted the 65 [Voting Rights] Act.”
“While the court isn't breaking new ground by just simply reaffirming what the law has been for the better part of several decades, it was a surprising decision, especially from this conservative majority,” Laura Jarrett said, alluding that a conservative court would traditionally choose to ignore the Voting Rights Act.
Michael Waldman, author of The Super Majority: How the Supreme Court Divided America, agreed with Jarrett’s assessment and added, “Overwhelmingly, that population growth comes in communities of color, and they are not being represented in the maps that legislatures have drawn. So this will have an impact beyond this one case as these rulings often do, though it is upholding what had been the law for decades.”
Waldman portrayed the court as doing the bare minimum in its ruling, which fits the narrative of his new book.
[...]
Even when MSNBC agreed with the Supreme Court’s verdict, it still portrayed the conservative court as corrupt. If this is how they treat decisions they support, one can only imagine their response to a decision they dislike.
In a delightful aside, DeVries' post was promoted on the NewsBusters front page with a headline claiming that the MSNBC folks were suggesting the court had "allterior motives" behind their decision. Doesn't anyone copy-edit anything over there before posting?
WND Defends Trump Again After Second Indictment Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily was an aggressivedefender of Donald Trump after his first indictment. When his second indictment came, WND was just as aggressive. A June 8 "news" article by Joe Kovacs was heavy on uncritically quoting Trump's rantings about the indictment. Then the columnists weighed in with their pro-Trump sycophancy. Wayne Allyn Root ranted in his more-unhinged-than-usual June 9 column:
re you getting the subtle impression that Democrats don't want former President Donald Trump to win in 2024; that they're scared to death of Trump; that they're so desperate to stop him from winning again, they want him to rot in a prison cell for life?
Congratulations. You're not a complete moron.
The feds just indicted Trump on fake, lame, trumped-up charges. But didn't Democrats just try this trick in New York? It didn't work then. It won't work now. And it won't work next week when Trump appears in court in Miami. And it won't work next month when a Georgia grand jury indicts Trump. This is Groundhog Day.
[...]
Lastly, God is great. God always wins. This is God's plan. The Democrats in power and the people who run our government are evil. Demonic. Satanic. This isn't normal. The things they're doing are Nazi Gestapo-like, Soviet KGB-like, East German Stasi-like. God has done us a favor: He's revealed what Democrats are really like.
This is war. This is life or death. This is the end of America if we don't fight fire with fire.
But Democrats have picked a fight with the wrong crowd. America beat Hitler. America defeated the Soviet Empire. You think we're going to let a brain-dead old man with dementia and diapers trample our rights and freedoms? You're going down.
Today's the day Donald Trump gets indicted – again.
This is not the first time. And it probably won't be the last.
Call it what it is. It's the U.S. Injustice Department's plan for election interference next year. They'll just keep indicting him till they get it right. Joe Biden explained it this way: "I may not be the only one, but I know him well, and I know the danger he presents to our democracy. We've been down this road before."
Yes, like in the 2020 rigged election when we were supposed to believe that Biden received 81 million votes – far more that any candidate in U.S. history. It's a day that will live in infamy, as a another Democratic president said about the day Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941 – a "strong condemnation as the result of a shameful, criminal, or outrageous act." The 2020 fraud will never be forgotten.
Neither will this national abomination brought to us by Special Counsel Jack Smith, Merrick Garland and Biden.
He concluded: "Pray for Trump. That's all we can do."
Rachel Alexander served up her own defense in her June 12 column:
Conservatives who say we need to go with someone for president other than Donald Trump due to the left targeting him with political prosecutions are missing the larger picture. This is one of the most frightening eras in America's history, where the left has weaponized politics to the point of putting our most powerful, leading conservatives in prison. It is not the time to desert them.
If we complacently allow the fascist left to take down Trump, it will become far easier for them to take down others, having set a precedent. It's just a matter of time before they turn their sights on prosecuting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis; if he gets the nomination, they'll proceed with a criminal fishing expedition against him.
[...]
While many of us may get annoyed at Trump's sharp attacks on others, including fellow Republicans, deserting him would be a Pyrrhic victory. The left will launch multiple criminal investigations of DeSantis if he gets the nomination. Let's stop ignoring history and face reality. They are coming after Trump because he is the leading candidate to challenge their incumbent president, and sweeping it under the rug and choosing DeSantis instead solves nothing, especially since the left will engage in as much election fraud against him too.
Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States, could receive up to 400 years in prison related to this latest indictment. Is this America? He's the leading candidate to become the 47th president. And he should have served as "45" for eight years, but for a fraudulent election.
In any case, if he is convicted, Merrick Garland and Joe Biden, the Torquemadas of our time, will be sure that he serves the rest of his life in prison and does not ever see the presidency again.
To avoid prison, all he would have to do is return, quietly, to a private life of luxury and sign a pledge to eschew politics. But he could not do that, because he's fighting for you and me. He's determined to eliminate the Deep State, to return America to its promise, like a shining city on a hill.
Andy Schlafly used his June 13 column to build conspiracy theories and spew hate at government workers:
Few Americans would base their vote on where President Trump stored boxes of documents relating to his presidency when he moved out of his residence at the White House. Many public officials take copies of documents with them when they leave office, as Joe Biden did when he left the White House in 2017, and Biden has not been charged with anything.
But many federal workers in D.C. are too virulently anti-Trump to allow the democratic process to work without interference by fanatical federal prosecutors. They have no employable skills outside of government and yet are bankrolled by an unlimited spigot of taxpayer dollars, which would have been shut off had the debt ceiling been enforced on June 1.
The timing of this federal indictment to be less than one week after suspension of the debt ceiling, which keeps the money flowing to them, seems to be more than a coincidence. The GOP majority in the House does not have to allow taxpayer millions to be spent on biased investigators taking pictures of boxes of obscure documents stored in an unused bathroom.
Schlafly conlcuded by ranting: "This new indictment proves how vindictively the Deep State will retaliate. It needs to be defunded."
WND also published a June 13 article by Bob Unruh alarmingly headlined "Corruption confirmed on team prosecuting Trump!" which was a repeat of dirt-digging by far-right outlet Just the News that found something untoward a memver of the prosecution team allegedly did 14 years ago.
GDP Turned Positive -- But MRC Can't Stop Talking Down Biden Economy Topic: Media Research Center
We've documented how the Media Research Center continually talks down the economy under President Biden, particularly when it comes to reporting on GDP. Last summer, it heavily hyped that two quarters of negative GDP that occurred meant there was a devastaing recession and that other economic data should be ignored -- but when GDP turned positive in the fourth quarter, it denied that this meant anything. The MRC was still pushing that narrative at the start of this year; a Jan. 10 post by Joseph Vazquez complained that New York Times economic columnist Paul Krugman called Republicans (like Vazquez) "economy deniers," huffing that "Krugman’s elitism clearly precludes him from seeing economic danger signs that don’t comport with his leftist politics."
When the GDP numbers for the fourth quarter showed it to be in positive territory, the MRC cranked up the spin, with a Jan. 26 post by Kevin Tober insisting that the growth was "anemic":
Forget about the recession and rampant, crippling inflation that has soared to 40-year-highs, MSNBC's All In host Chris Hayes was here to assure you that the Biden economic recovery has been "one of the most successful, remarkable recoveries in all of American economic history." Sadly for Hayes, the large eyeglasses on his face won't make him seem smart with economically illiterate comments like that. The pollyannaish host made these comments on the heels of Thursday's GDP report which showed the economy grew by an anemic 2.9 percent.
Hayes began by ironically complaining about the negative media coverage of the Biden economy: "If you've been watching the news over the past few weeks, you might get the sense the U.S. is hemorrhaging jobs, as high-profile companies from Amazon to Meta, to Goldman Sachs, and IBM lay off thousands of workers."
"But one of the constants of the Biden economy is that there's a weird, persistent gap between the media’s coverage of the economy, which is almost always everything’s terrible, and what the data show about its actual state," Hayes whined.
Apparently, when there were layoffs in major American corporations, it means nothing for the state of the overall economy, and the media was supposed to ignore the news to help Biden's electoral prospects.
He then pointed to a chart that showed a graph of the direction the economy was headed and bragged that "the U.S. economy grew by 2.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022."
Tober didn't mention that GDP had been in negative territory for two quarters of 2022, whcih mean the recovery (and postive GDP) really is remarkable. But Tober doesn't get [paid to admit that Democrats are doing a good job, so he had tocherry-pick other numbers that adhere closer to his narrative, despite having insisted just a few short months earlier that GDP numbers were the only thing anyone should be looking at.
When GDP turned in another positive number for the first quarter of this year, the MRC had to spin further -- this time by hypocritcally accusing others of spin. An April 27 post by Vazquez dropped the "anemic" line without mentioning the two quarters of negative GDP last year:
Leave it to the propagandists at The New York Times to try to sprinkle some sugar over an anemic GDP report.
The Times economics writer Ben Casselman broke out some confetti for the latest economic report showing a lackluster 1.1 percent GDP growth in the first quarter, which was notably slower than the 1.9 percent forecast. But look on the bright side, bleated Casselman in his sub-headline, “[t]he gross domestic product increased for the third straight quarter as consumer spending remained robust despite higher interest rates.” Casselman’s own headline was heavy on nuance and lacking on context: “U.S. Economy Grew at 1.1% Rate in First Quarter.” Contrast the headline with how other outlets reported the GDP story and The Times’s gambit to protect President Joe Biden’s image from the bad economic news becomes clear. Here was CNBC’s headline: “GDP report points to dreaded stagflation, but these stocks can still work in this environment.” Here was Bloomberg News: “US Economic Growth Slows to 1.1% While Inflation Accelerates.” [Emphasis added.]
Casselman’s spin might even give Looney Tunes character Tasmanian Devil a run for his money.
A post that day by Tober again repeated the "anemic" line (while not admitting last year's two quarters of negative GDP) while praising Fox News for advancing the Republican narrative:
On Thursday, Americans awoke to yet another sign our economy was barreling toward a recession caused by reckless government spending and 40-year-high inflation as the U.S. Commerce Department reported that the U.S. economy grew at a pathetic 1.1 percent in the first quarter of 2023. This was well below the two percent growth economists were expecting, and a far cry from the 2.6 percent GDP growth in the final quarter of 2022. Given this news was released just days after President Joe Biden kicked off his 2024 reelection campaign touting his belief that he's "never been more optimistic about America's future," it was predictable that the "big three" evening news broadcasts would ignore the fact that Biden's economy was teetering on recession.
While millions of Americans were struggling to afford basic necessities due to sky-high inflation, and living in constant fear of losing their jobs, ABC's World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, and NBC Nightly News, all wasted time on local weather reports, and news that anti-American athlete Brittney Griner held a press conference to discuss her experience in a Russian prison after breaking the law by bringing illegal drugs into a foreign country.
In contrast, Fox News Channel's Special Report reported on the anemic GDP numbers when noting Biden's cratering approval numbers on the economy. "Fox News polls show voter concerns about the economy are more pervasive. 78 percent rating the economy negatively after today's GDP report came in below expectations with sluggish growth at an annual rate of 1.1 percent for the first quarter," Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich reported.
She then read Biden's out-of-touch statement on the economic figures: "We learned that the American economy remains strong as it transitions to steady and stable growth." These comments from Biden, according to Heinrich are "out of sync with how many really feel."
Vazquez spent a May 2 post complaining that CNN was evolving on the possibility of a recession:
CNN apparently can’t get its talking points in order after wantonly lecturing people to “chill” with the recession talk back in February.
CNN’s May 2 headline didn't mince words about the current precarious state of America’s economy. “Why a US recession is probably coming,” the headline read. That’s the exact opposite of what the same outlet pushed nearly three months prior. “It’s time to chill with all the recession talk,” read the competing Feb. 6 CNN headline. Make up your mind, CNN.
[...]
MRC Business Vice President Dan Schneider called out CNN for its 180-degree turnaround: "The narrative is changing on the state of our economy and our Republic." In Schneider's view, "The legacy media has previously been doing everything they could to protect Joe Biden for his reelection efforts. But recently, you see signs that the media is offering the backdoor to let Biden escape in place of a Democratic candidate in a stronger position to win another term as president."
Vazquez and Schneider didn't mention that the MRC's own recession thinking had also evolved: When there were two quarters of negative GDP, it insisted that this was the only possible definition of a recession, but it had to change that when GDP turned positive in order to keep up its talk-down-the-Biden-economy narrative. And they certainly didn't disclose that their job is to talk down the economy to hurt Biden's re-election chances.
Other Newsmax Columnists Also Serve As Trump Sycophants Topic: Newsmax
Dick Morris may be the most prominent Donald Trumpsycophant at Newsmax, but he isn't the only one. Other Newsmax columnists have pledged their loyalty to Trump as well. Here's a sampling from recent weeks:
Recent weeks have been replete with betrayals in the Republican Party, from the treatment of James O’Keefe to Tucker Carlson’s abrupt firing. The most insidious and shameful of betrayals, though, is the quasi-official pro-life movement opting to work against the re-election of President Donald J. Trump in 2024.
One prominent pro-life organization, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, is leading the charge against Trump. They have the audacity to demonize his stance on abortion: that it is an issue that should be left to the states.
[...]
Enter Donald J. Trump, a brash billionaire who was not steeped in pro-life ideology, but as winner and a doer who vowed to live up to his mandate after evangelicals, many of whom had serious reservations about his character and his ability to lead, got behind him during his 2016 presidential victory.
Trump delivered a victory that no other Republican president could accomplish. He did what none of his predecessors could do, not even the vaunted and idolized Ronald Reagan: He went 3-for-3 in nominating strong, conservative, rule-of-law justices to the Supreme Court. He fulfilled the promise of voting for the Republican Party to support judges, one of the popular canards used over the years to cajole angry conservatives into showing up to support Republicans who repeatedly stab them in the back.
[...]
God is using President Trump, deemed a fool by the sophisticates and the intellectuals and the elites, to shake the rotten system of government to its core, just like God used King David, a shepherd of diminutive stature from a modest background who was considered weak by his rivals, to defeat the Philistine fighter Goliath, become the King of Israel, and rise to be the eternal standard against which all leaders are measured.
Trump exposed the rotten fruits of this system to the world. He revealed its evils and put a strain upon the demonic forces guiding its machinations. Trump deserves four more years to finish the job and continue making his providential progress, and pro-life activists must be on the front lines in helping him overcome the massive institutional impediments to achieve victory in 2024.
Then-candidate Trump started the War on Woke in June of 2015, boldly declaring, "When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. . . . They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."
In that now-famous moment, he spoke of how Americans must address the ills brought to our country by our open border.
To protect our nation, he announced that it is "way past time to build a massive wall to secure our southern border." He added, "A country without borders is, quite simply, not a country."
President Trump proceeded to launch a fight against political correctness that reshaped the Republican Party.
[...]
President Trump is fully aligned and committed to unabashed America First values. He will shamelessly pursue them.
He has shown us his strength of character and fortitude.
The right team will uplift him to achieve heightened levels of success. Other candidates, namely DeSantis, will claim to be the "anti-woke candidate."
They are just a tribute band. Americans want the real deal.
-- Gavin Wax, May 23 column (Newsmax insisted on putting a disclaimer on this column stating that "The following commentary is not an endorsement for any political party or candidate, on the part of Newsmax," even though it is unabashedly pro-Trump)
Just take a look at the indictment of President Trump. No former president has ever had to go through this kind of mockery, and it is setting up a dangerous precedent that could affect future leaders.
I believe Donald Trump was a man who was set in place by God to lead our nation, which I discuss in my book, "God and Donald Trump," and our country was better because of his presidency.
Is it possible God has a plan for this nation? Is it possible He has a plan for His people? I've tried to make the case that President Trump won the evangelical vote by the largest margin in history. I haven't tried to analyze his spiritual condition — only God knows the heart.
[...]
I personally believe Donald Trump is being led by the Spirit and will survive this as he has nearly everything thrown his way by the woke crowd. Join me in praying for this.
Love or hate the guy, it shouldn't be entirely surprising to witness Donald Trump's 2024 election polling advantage surging despite transparently desperate Democrat and complicit media attempts to discredit and disqualify him through dubious criminal investigations and legal charges as provably far worse offenses by Joe Biden are ignored.
Included are two failed sham Trump impeachments, a banana republic style Capitol "insurrection" kangaroo court show trial that omitted key information and disallowed cross examination of witness testimony, and an armed raid on his private Mar-a-Lago residence in search of documents he was authorized to declassify.
A stranger on Twitter asked me this in the wake of the recent indictment of former President Trump on three dozen felony counts regarding possession and sloppy handling of classified documents. After I made the mistake of responding, the stranger retorts: "BS and you know it. That’s not what happened. You’re lying."
The frustrated liberal’s ever-present fallback.
One reason this writer continues to support "this guy" Trump is because so many other people hate him, so many authorities and politicians and institutions are working so diligently to destroy him.
[...]
So much of the fight about Trump ignores policy and focuses on him personally — his character flaws, alleged misbehavior 25 years ago, mean tweets, his chiropractic talent for bending the truth — that we forget his record as president.
In his first three years in office, the economy grew 50% faster that the average growth of the previous ten years. Employment for blacks, Hispanics and women hit all-time highs.
Under President Trump, the U.S. was the largest producer of oil and natural gas in the world, and prices at the pump were below $2 a gallon. On the global stage, we were respected… and feared, because the same traits his haters decry also give our enemies pause.
Trump doesn’t take static from anyone.
That’s one of the main things many of us love about him.
In politics today, the biggest rock star remains Donald Trump and it is not even close. At the “Faith and Freedom” conference last weekend, President Trump received thunderous applause.
Among Americans, Trump is the main attraction, the candidate with the most support and the unquestioned leader in the 2024 race for the White House. According to the latest Harvard CAPS-Harris poll, Trump leads President Joe Biden by a margin of 45%-39%.
What is amazing is that Trump leads despite a dizzying array of hurdles placed in front of him by his Deep State enemies. The latest challenge is a 37-count federal indictment stemming from the investigation into classified documents recovered from his Florida estate.
The Deep State has tried everything to derail Donald Trump from the day he descended the “golden escalator” in 2015 to announce his presidential candidacy.
[...]
Americans understand that President Trump has been treated unfairly from the beginning. Despite being surveilled, constantly investigated and marred with false allegations of “Russian collusion,” his administration was extremely successful.
The Trump record of achievement stands in stark contrast to the disaster known as the Biden administration. A new NBC News poll shows that only 20%< of Americans believe the country is going in the “right direction,” while an astounding 74% believe our nation is on the “wrong track.” Even worse for Biden, 68% of Americans believe he does not possess the necessary mental and physical health to be president.”
While Biden is faltering on every level, and his radical policies are failing, President Trump is looking much better in comparison. Americans remember that Trump achieved energy independence, a secure border, a strong economy, a strong military and respect throughout the world. Under President Trump peace deals were being reached while our country entered no new wars.
WND Rants That Real News Orgs Won't Call Being Transgender An 'Ideology' Topic: WorldNetDaily
An anonymous writer complained in a June 6 WorldNetDaily article:
The Associated Press, which stunningly still claims to be a source of "unbiased" news, now has banned journalists from using the word "transgenderism," a new report says.
It's because that "frames transgender identity as an ideology."
It is Tyler O'Neil who has explained in a commentary at the Daily Signal that the organization, which publishes a stylebook used by many journalists, is demanding journalists abide by the transgenderism ideology, but they are not allowed to think of it as an ideology.
The AP, he said, recently updated its requirements, and moves way beyond "bathrooms or pronouns."
"In a classic example of '1984'-style doublethink, good journalists are required to abide by transgender ideology, while denying that such an ideology exists," he explained. "AP's most recent style guide update—published Thursday—instructs them to use a person’s 'preferred' pronouns, deny that sex is a biological fact recognized at or before birth, and use the euphemism 'gender-affirming care' when describing experimental medical interventions that leave patients stunted, scarred, and infertile."
O'Neil explained, "The most recent update to the AP style guide is quite clear: 'Do not use the term transgenderism, which frames transgender identity as an ideology.' Yet the entire document is dripping with this ideology."
[...]
Transgenderism is been put in a spotlight in recent months because of the fact that the Joe Biden administration has made promoting the ideology, along with abortion, a main agenda point for his tenure in office. Further, economic disasters that Anheuser-Busch and Target have brought on themselves in recent weeks – each corporation losing tens of billions of dollars in value – have been over their advocacy for the transgenderism ideology.
But despite all this complaining, the anonymous WND writer doesn't quote O'Neil or anyone else to explain why "transgenderism" is an acceptable word (let alone a "key" one) or how, exactly, being transgender is an "ideology." As the Media Diversty Institute points out, the "ideology" term is used by anti-transgender activists, but it "makes no sense because there is no unified ideology that all trans people believe in. That is, not all trans people experience or understand their identity in the same way and we cannot therefore say that there is a transgender ideology."
It seems our anonymous writer is mad that biased and inaccurate right-wing labeling is being called out.
NEW ARTICLE: Protecting The Guns, Attacking The Protesters Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center pushed several pet narratives in the aftermath of a Nashville school shooting: hyping the shooter's alleged transgender identity, complaining that guns were being blamed, and attacking state legislators who protested inaction. Read more >>
MRC's Mandelburg Has Five Days In A Row Of Anti-Drag Meltdowns Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center has continued to crank outperformative outrage over drag performers and shows -- that's how they generate clicks, after all.
An April 3 post by chief MRC homophobe and transphobe Tierin-Rose Mandelburg complained that during thte CMT Awards, singer Kelsea Ballerini "performed on stage with four drag queens to her song, “If You Go Down.” By the grace of God the drag queens were wearing modest clothes (this time) but the fact that they were legit men in tights was still rather obvious. The stage was also decked out in rainbow and confetti. It looked like Jojo Siwa vomited across the set and the stage crew just ran with it." She further whined:
It’s likely Ballerini was protesting the recent Tennessee legislation that barred drag queens from entering the same spaces as children. Remember, the left thinks drag queen, aka professional perverts, should be reading stories to our kids, teaching them how to twerk, and showing them their crotches covered by nothing but fishnets.
The next day, Mandelburg parroted hate from the wilidly homophobic Libsof TikTok over a theater camp:
This wasn’t an April Fool’s joke.
The Young Actors Theater Camp held a weekend drag camp last weekend for students ages 8-18 in Northern California to teach aspiring actors how to dress and perform in drag.
Libs of TikTok tweeted an image of the flyer, which promoted the “free camp." The camp had previously been listed with a $597 fee which included a “bring a friend 4 free” element, but as of its most recent ad, the event was free of charge.
I guess they didn’t have enough registrants. I wonder why.
Details included that the camp was set up to help kids “discover your inner drag and share it with the world," specifically targeted for “queens, kings & non-binary royalty aged 8-18." Because apparently 8-year-olds who, mind you, can’t even stay home alone might be mature enough to decide that they’re neither male nor female.
Mandelburg concluded by huffing, "Let’s just say that Jesus had better come back soon, because we’re in hell." Yeah, Mandelburg's version of hell would incude her not being able to spew hate at people.
If you were thinking about bringing a kid or a loved one to Build-A-Bear anytime soon, don’t.
Build-A-Bear just announced its latest partnership with none other than drag queen RuPaul in order to push drag even more into spaces where kids exist.
RuPaul, who hosts a drag queen competition show on TV, posted an unboxing video on his Instagram page where he got to meet the RuPaul bear. The stuffed toy had an intense amount of gold eyeshadow and black eyeliner, similiar to how many drag queens do their makeup, as well as a giant blonde wig and a gold sequin dress. The dress even has a slit that extended all the way up to the bear's crotch.
Very tasteful, Build-A-Bear.&nbI’d argue that offering a child a teddy bear dressed up as a professional pervert is a great way to exercise grooming behavior.
[...]
It really is sick, the way the left is blatantly and obviously grooming our kids. And it’s also sick that when they’re called out for it, they don’t even care.
Welcome to 2023 America.
It's a sign of Mandelburg's extreme, sick hatred for anyone different from her that she thinks a teddy bear that nobody is being forced to buy is "grooming."
But Mandelburg was on a roll, and she spent an April 6 post raging against Disney:
If you didn’t think that Disney was out for your kids, here’s your reminder.
Disney’s latest live action movie, "The Little Mermaid," is set to release at the end of May, and this time the creators are harping heavily on leftist religion of wokeism to carry the plot. The antagonist, Ursula, is supposedly based heavily on drag queens.
Melissa McCarthy, who plays the role of Ursula in the 2023 film, sat down with Entertainment Weekly (EW) to talk about the role. Ursula, the original character from the classic animated version of the movie, was in fact inspired by drag queen Devine [sic] back when it was created. But, the new, live action reprise makes it even more obvious.
There's a drag queen that lives in me. I'm always right on the verge of going full-time with her,” McCarthy told EW.
She said she “100 percent” used drag as her influence for the role under the sea. McCarthy also told Pink News that she’d relied on her moments isolated during the COVID-19 pandemic to, let's just say, drag out her inner drag…pun intended.
“To keep the humour and the sadness and the edginess to Ursula is everything I want in a character – and, frankly, everything I want in a drag queen,” she said.
You'd think Mandelburg would be happy to see a villain be based on drag. Still, that's slightly better than her former colleague in hate, Matt Philbin, who went a tad racist by complaining that a Disney live-action "Peter Pan" movie wasn't white enough (our pointing out of which may have cost him his MRC job).
Manedlburg spent an April 7 post whining that not everybody was being forced to mark Easter Sunday by having Christianity imposed on them:
When you think of Easter, do you think about Jesus, death, resurrection, springtime, bunnies, or church? Well then you’re like most of the rest of the country who knows what Easter is all about. On the other hand, some people think about freakin’ drag queens.
In protest to the “400 pieces of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation on the books,” the Los Angeles LGBT Center planned an Easter Day Drag March.
Now that’s an idea I hope dies and doesn't get resurrected.
[...]
This isn’t the only blasphemy of Easter. Earlier this week, we saw numerous restaurants gearing up for Easter drag brunch events, a drag queen Jesus, and a few drag queen bunnies showing what they called “gay chaos” this Easter season.
If you wanna wear fake boobs, Walmart makeup and rainbow fishnets, you’re gonna look weird, but do you, boo. But, on EASTER? Really?
We thought right-wingers like Mandelburg opposed having views imposed on others -- but that's exactly what she's doing by demanding that everyonemark Easter the way a right-wing Christian like her would.
That's five straight days of anti-drag hate. Presumably, she gets paid well to spew that much rage.
WND's Latest 'Mark Of The Beast': Portable Digital Health Records Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily has accused a lot of things of being the "mark of the beast" over the years, from implantable microchips to COVID vaccines. Bob Unruh served up the latest candidate in a June 6 article:
The World Health Organization has announced it has taken a step toward a Global Digital Health Certification Network that has as its goal to monitor, digitally, everyone!
The announcement comes from the WHO and the European Commission, after WHO chief Tedros Ghebreyesus said his organization copied a scheme that had been developed during the COVID-19 pandemic by the European Union.
The plans immediately were labeled "Mark of the Beast?" by those watching development of a worldwide agenda to use on citizens.
The Manila Times said Ghebreyesus described the new agenda as a "global public good" and the first step in a scheme for a worldwide health "certification."
Privacy experts long have been alarmed by the idea of a system that would set out to monitor literally everyone. Constitutionalists also are concerned about the related idea that the WHO would force all nations to submit to a global plan that would give it control over health decision-making entirely, meaning a bureaucrat from WHO could shut down a nation's economy, order residents to submit to experimental drugs, or more.
Further, worldwide standards and data monitoring imply some sort of enforcement mechanism that would be needed to require compliance.
You will not be surprised to learn that Unruh's fearmongering is not accurate. The goal of the Global Digital Health Certification Network is to allow easy patient access to vaccination and prescription information across borders in a way that is secure and can be validated, and WHO will not have access to underlying personal information.But Unruh must fearmonger anyway, ominously claiming, "But if people have access to those records, so would governments." Unruh also doesn't name any of these "privacy experts" who oppose this system, let alone directly quote any of them.
In short, Unruh's article offers nothing useful, and its only goal is to spread baseless fearmongering among WND's shrinking base of readers for whom "mark of the beast" is a trigger phrase.
Trump Sycophant Dick Morris Cranks Out Anti-Biden Attacks Topic: Newsmax
As part of his role as Newsmax's resident Donald Trumpsycophant, Dick Morris cranks out lots of anti-Biden talking points as well. Here's what he's done over the past few months with emphasis on two maintalking points, the candidacy of Robert Kennedy Jr. and Republican claims of scandal:
Morris also dutifully repeated Repubican talking points trying to link the Bidens to alleged bribery -- even if he can't actually prove it happened. He wrote in a June 6 column: "We don’t have proof that Joe Biden took a $5 million bribe, but the evidence suggests a full criminal investigation of the matter is warranted." He went on full Biden attack in a June 21 column:
However, as reality set in, his job approval fell rapidly.
But his personal favorability or popularity remained higher than his job approval.
People liked him even if they disapproved of his performance in office.
But now, the revelations of accusations of receiving money improperly, the Hunter Biden scandals, his increasing physical disability and his obvious mental inability to cope with today’s problems are taking their toll on his personal popularity.
In the June poll by McLaughlin and Associates, Biden had sunk to all time lows both in job approval and in personal favorability.
Any politician can recover from bad job ratings — they can always do a better job.
But once the job disapproval has crept into his personal favorability it's hard to recover.
It’s easier to convince people that your job performance has improved than it is to tell them that you have become a better man or woman.
So Biden’s political troubles are mounting to a point where he cannot redeem himself. He is becoming unelectable.
But, in an act that can only be compared to ritual suicide, the Democratic Party remains wed to him.
Morris didn't mention that McLaughlin is a right-wing pollster who's best known for working for Trump's 2020 campaign.And one can just as easily argue that sycophants like Morris are commitingritual suicide by tying themselves to an increasingly erratic and amoral man whose behavior continues to get him indicted. Indeed, Morris ended his columnn with more sycophancy:
Let's put the last few weeks in perspective.
Trump was arrested and then indicted in two separate scandals and his ratings improved. Biden is still immune from censure by his biased Justice Department, but his numbers have dropped.
There is a God.
Morris' smear about Biden's "obvious mental inability" earned him a top-of-column disclaimer from Newsmax stating that "The following column has been authored by a non-clinician."
WND Gets Blowback After Criticizing Christian Show For Not Hating Gays Enough Topic: WorldNetDaily
Like the rest of the right-wing media, WorldNetDaily unsurprisingly published "news" articles and columns attacking companies like Target and the maker of Bud LIght for committing the offense of not hating LGBT people. For instance:
But if a company considered an ally isf ailing to sufficiently hate LGBT people, however, they won't be held to the same standard -- and, as WND found out, there will be some blowback for doing so. On May 30, WND republished a Daily Caller article taking aim at a popular Christian show WND had previously praised:
The popular TV show “The Chosen” defended having a pride flag on set after facing criticism on social media, according to its Twitter posts on Tuesday.
Jon Root, a Christian conservative commentator and Turning Point USA contributor, tweeted out screenshots Monday of a behind-the-scenes YouTube video showing a pride flag on the set of the TV show, which portrays the life of Jesus and his ministry, and asked why the pride flag was there. The Chosen Twitter account replied to Root Tuesday, saying that “we will work with anyone on our show.”
[...]
Dallas Jenkins, the creator of "The Chosen," told the Daily Caller News Foundation that there is no “religious or political litmus test” for employees.
“I love our cast and crew, especially because even though they all come from different backgrounds and beliefs, they work their butts off for the show and the viewers,” Jenkins said. “The show’s official stance on anything is to be found in the content of the show.”
Root told the DCNF that he was “shocked” by the show’s position.
“This is not the response of a show that is truly dedicated to honoring the ‘authentic Jesus’ and everything He stood for,” Root said. “The response showed that 'The Chosen' unapologetically supports sexual depravity and has no problem promoting homosexuality & transgenderism. Promoting and accepting unrepentant sin is not the way Jesus lived or taught His followers to live.”
Root also asked Christians to boycott the show on Twitter, referencing similar moves after Target and Bud Light promoted trans and LGBTQ ideology, and encouraged prayer for Jenkins, the cast and crew.
Not only did that not happen, WND faced pushback for publishing the article. On June 1, WND published a "letter to the editor" from Angela Hunt, "a novelist, youth pastor's wife, and happy grandmother," angry about the article:
Are you kidding? A little investigation would have revealed that a cameraman had placed a small rainbow flag on his camera stand, which was visible in a behind-the-scenes video about the filming of "The Chosen" season four. This flag was not a statement from leaders of "The Chosen," and when asked about the flag, director Dallas Jenkins simply said that he "would work with anyone" on the show.
When you decide to build a house, do you require that all contractors, subcontractors, plumbers, electricians and carpenters be born-again Christians who agree with your doctrines? Does anyone? Dallas Jenkins is committed to providing a quality series, an excellent sacrifice to the Lord, and the series has already resulted in the salvation of many viewers AND people among the cast and crew.
The night of His betrayal, Jesus prayed (in regard to His followers): "I am not asking that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from the evil one." We are not to cloister ourselves in holy communes, but to live in the world and shine the Light.
Over and over again, we tell ourselves to love sinners and hate sin – so why are we spewing vitriol against our brothers and sisters in Christ? Dallas said NOTHING to defend "sexual depravity" or homosexuality. Instead, he defended his right to hire excellent people to work on a story about the Light of the world.
I fear this article – about an incidental object brought in by a crew member – was intended to create mischief. At first glance, a casual reader would assume that a huge rainbow flag was flying above the set of "The Chosen," and nothing could be further from the truth.
I believe WND owes an apology to the leaders of "The Chosen."
A June 5 article by Joe Kovacs featured Jenkins' response to the manufactured controversy:
"To be clear, there is no flag flown. A three-inch flag doesn't fly anyway. And there's been no statement made by 'The Chosen' about Pride or Pride Month or anything like that. There's no promotion of anything happening, unlike some of the headlines and some of the hysterical rantings we've seen."
"This turned into a bit of a culture war, a kind of an intra-Christian culture war and we're getting compared to companies that actively promote whatever woke agenda that people are concerned about."
Jenkins indicated having the flag there on the set was "nothing new."
"For a long time, our cast and crew have wildly different beliefs. They run the spectrum, and they sometimes wear T-shirts or hats that go across the entire spectrum from a Pride flag or a MAGA hat or a Jesus Saves shirt. And no one's been triggered. No one minds," he explained.
Kovacs concluded with both positive and negative anonymous reaction from a source he didn't identify.
And it wouldn't be an LGBT-related controversy if anti-LGBT activist Michael Brown didn't weigh in, and he did just that in his June 7 column. He stated, "My goal here is not to fuel the fires of Christian gossip, nor is it to deepen the controversy. To the contrary, I want to respond in the most constructive and helpful way possible." Brown's idea of "constructive," of course, was to criticize Jenkins for pointing out that, while "The Chosen" is not a religion or a ministry, there were homophobes among his critics:
But it is at this point that I take issue with Jenkins and encourage him to offer a public apology.
That’s because some of the show’s prominent actors had some ugly words for those who took issue with the pride flag. As reported on the Not the Bee website, "Multiple ‘Chosen’ actors who portray Jesus' disciples decry ‘homophobia and ignorance’ of fans after show defends LGBT flag on set."
So, some of the very people who were part of the crowdfunding of "The Chosen" and some of the people who represent the core viewers of the program were trashed by some of the show's prominent actors. Surely, this is not the kind of thing where you say, "Hey, everyone is allowed their viewpoint, and I do not police what they post."Rather, at this point, it's important to show some solidarity with your viewers and not just with your employees.
The fact is, without the viewers, there would be no employees. Shouldn't this be a real concern, not out of a desire for fame or fortune but out of Christian love and ethics?
To give further context to the online interaction in question, Giavani Cairo, who plays the apostle Thaddeus, tweeted, "Another one of the actors on 'The Chosen' here. Anyone who is going to go at one of our family members for something like this, is no fan of ours. They can close the door on the way out. 'Love one another as I have loved you' We stand with our brother 🌈❤️.”
Talk about being tone deaf. Cairo plays the role of an apostle – yes, he's an actor, but everyone knows him now as Thaddeus. He quotes the words of Jesus in his tweet, calling us to love another as Jesus loved us, then he trashes a concerned viewer. Really?
To paraphrase, "Jesus calls us to love another, so get out of here, you jerk! And be sure not to come back. We stand with LGBT pride, not with you, the concerned Christian viewers."
Of course Brown wants anti-LGBT hate to be treated as a virtue. He continued:
Do these actors and crew members have the right to express themselves freely? Absolutely.
Is it good that they showed solidarity with one of their own? To a certain extent, yes.
But they should have been far more considerate of the people who watch their work and help fund it. And they should ask themselves some deeper questions about Jesus, the Bible, Christian love and LGBTQ pride.
In my view, the right thing to do from here in order to honor the Lord and honor the viewers, is this: First, Jenkins should apologize for these hateful and harsh comments, saying that they absolutely do not speak for him or the team behind "The Chosen" and that he regrets the pain they have caused.
Second, the actors should make clear that while they love and stand with their crew and personally reject hateful attitudes, they owe the viewers an apology for their harsh, judgmental and un-Christlike comments.
I believe most viewers would forgive and move on. Isn’t this the path of wisdom, love, integrity and truth?
Yes, Brown is complaining that it causes "pain" to have one's homophobia called out.
But WND eventually got over it; it published an outside article on July 18 touting that production of "the Chosen" won't be interrupted by strikes by writers and actors.
UPDATE: To show just how sensitive it is to accuse its own side of the same things it gets clicks for doing when acceptable targets are attacked, the head of the Daily Wire apologized for publishing a similar attack on "The Chosen" over the rainbow flag, declaring it's "hardly the fault of the show" -- even though the Daily Wire employs rabid homophobes like Matt Walsh and Michael Knowles who have aggressively promoted boycotts against Bud Light and Target over their insufficient hate of LGBT people.
MRC Helps RFK Jr. Play Victim To Boost His Presidential Hopes Topic: Media Research Center
Robert Kennedy Jr. is one of the Media Research Center's favorite so-called victims of "big tech" because his anti-vaccine conspiracy theories keep getting called out for the misinformation the are (which the MRC dishonestly portrays as "censorship") -- for instance, we've noted how the MRC portrayed Kennedy as a victim of its totally imaginary "secondhand censorship" metric. But Kennedy has presidential ambitions, and the MRC would like to help -- not because they want him to win, of course, but because they think he might hurt President Biden's re-election chances, like Kennedy's otherConWebboosters. Here's how it did so early in his campaign:
An April 22 post by Alex Christy complained that a reporter dismissed Kennedy as "token primary opposition" to Biden.
Curtis Houck made an April 28 appearance on Fox News, where he noted that Kennedy did an interview witih ABC News but that "they edited out what they considered to be misinformation on the negative health effects of vaccines," insisting that Kennedy's "speech shouldn't be silenced." He was joined by another MRC staffer, Stephanie Hamill, who insisted that it was "an egregious violation of journalistic ethics" and that, according to the anonymously written writeup of the appearance, "Kennedy is running for president and should have a right to share his views."
When Instagram restored Kennedy's account after suspending it oer his misinformation, Luis Cornelio cheered in a June 5 post:
Big Tech is back at it with election interference, this time anti-free speech platform Instagram admitting that it suspended a presidential candidate’s account over an “error.”
In exclusive comments to MRC Free Speech America, a spokesperson for Instagram parent company Meta admitted that Instagram had censored Democratic Party presidential primary candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The spokesperson claimed, “[W]ith respect to the below: this was an error, which we corrected.” The spokesperson also shared with MRC Free Speech America staff a link to an article at The Washington Post with the following misleading headline: “Instagram reinstates Robert Kennedy Jr. after launch of presidential bid.”
Kennedy Jr., who is challenging President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination for president in 2024, blasted Instagram over what he labeled “undemocratic” censorship in a series of Twitter posts. “To silence a major political candidate is profoundly undemocratic,” the Democrat politician wrote in a tweet. “Social media is the modern equivalent of the town square. How can democracy function if only some candidates have access to it?”
The Post’s article featured a comment from Andy Stone, a spokesman for Meta saying, “As he is now an active candidate for president of the United States, we have restored access to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s, Instagram account.” Kennedy Jr.’s account was initially suspended over alleged COVID-19 vaccine misinformation violations on February 11, 2021.
Note that Cornelio is incapable of admitting that Kennedy spreads misinformation -- as if there is no objective definition of it -- even though he linked to an Associated Press article that specifically identified the misinformation he spread.
P.J. Gladnick spent a June 6 post complaining that the media will report the truth about RFK Jr.'s wack (but dangerous) conspiracy theorires:
Wouldn't it be nice to run for political office confident in the knowledge that the lapdog press will act on your behalf by attacking your primary opponent? Republicans can't imagine it. But Democrats rely on the press to serve as unofficial agents of their campaign and attack their opponents, allowing them to pretend to remain above the fray.
That's the plan for Joe Biden. According to Tuesday's "Politico Playbook," he and his team will rely on the aid of the self-styled "objective" press to attack Robert F. Kennedy Jr on his behalf while comfortably ignoring him as revealed in"What do you do with a problem like RFK Jr.?"
Biden world’s plan is to ignore him. The overwhelming sense inside the campaign and White House orbits is that any other posture would elevate him from a gadfly with a good name to a genuine contender.
They are counting on reporters and other Democrats to do the work of informing voters about Kennedy’s well-established views. Once that happens, as one Democratic strategist put it to us, they will “realize he’s running in the wrong party.” (This person, like others who spoke about Kennedy, did so on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly about strategy.)
Yes. Joe Biden can relax at his Delaware beach house during the 2024 presidential primary elections because, according to Politico, the press has his back and will attack RFK, Jr. while Joe stares at the sea from his patio. No debates are necessary, just an occasional attack piece.
And how will Biden's loyal press attack RFK,Jr.? By portraying him as like a Steve Bannon prank candidate, despite his generally liberal Democrat views:
Gladnick made sure not to mention Kennedy's anti-vaxxer conspiracy theories -- probably becaus ehe knows that it's not part of his allegedly "generally liberal Democrat views."
Catherine Salgado played the victim card for Kennedy in a June 7 post:
The Big Tech censors are piling on with their anti-free speech election interference, as YouTube again targets Democratic Party presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
YouTube deleted yet another interview of Robert F. Kennedy Jr as the platform continues to join with other Big Tech companies censoring the Democrat presidential candidate. The video, still accessible through The Wayback Machine, has been removed by YouTube, which now has a notice saying the interview violated “Community Guidelines.” The platform has not yet given further explanation.
Trending Politics News co-owner Colin Rugg tweeted June 5, “During a podcast with Mike Tyson, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. talked about how the CIA killed his father. YouTube has now deleted the video. The elites don’t want you to watch this.” The tweet included a video clip of the censored interview, from Matt Orfalea.
This is hardly the first time Big Tech has censored Kennedy. Kennedy recently slammed Big Tech censorship, tweeting, “To silence a major political candidate is profoundly undemocratic. Social media is the modern equivalent of the town square. How can democracy function if only some candidates have access to it?”
The MRC sure cares a lot about a candidate they have no intention of actually supporting in a non-ironic way.
Newsmax Columnist Demands Evidence Of Things That Didn't Happen In Capitol Riot Topic: Newsmax
Michael B. Abramson wrote in a May 30 Newsmax column:
The Republican presidential nominee, especially if it is President Trump, and Republicans in other races will have to defeat the Democrats' arguments that President Trump and Republicans caused the riot and are a threat to democracy.
Republicans, and House Republicans in particular, must defeat these arguments.
Unfortunately for Abramson, those arguments don't bode well for Trump and Republicans, despite what he thinks. He went on to write:
Republicans must point out that the Jan. 6 Committee did not produce any evidence indicating that Trump ordered the Riot.
As I wrote on Jan. 12, 2021, it was obvious that President Trump did not cause or commit the Capitol Riot.
Democrats will refer to the Jan. 6 Committee's point that President Trump worked to have representatives object to states' awarding of electoral votes.
Republicans must point out that this strategy is not the same as calling for a riot.
In fact, several rioters have cited in their trials a Trump tweet calling for a protest on Jan. 6, adding, Be there. Will be wild!" as motivation for them to come to Washington to protest. And it has been revealed that Trump knew his election challenges were false before he made them, which means that there was little reason to believe that there was no reason to push them beyond inciting his supporters. Abramson continued:
They must investigate aspects of the Capitol Riot which run counter to the Democrats' narrative and then report their findings to the American people.
Most importantly, Republicans must validate President Trump's claims that he authorized 10,000 National Guard troops to be deployed in Washington, D.C., and that this offer was denied.
These troops would have prevented the Capitol Riot.
In all likelihood, the offer of National Guard troops was both conveyed and responded to in writing. Republicans merely need to obtain these writings and put them on a public website.
If writings do not exist, Republicans could prove the existence of the offer by calling individuals to testify such as those were in the Oval Office when President Trump requested the National Guard.
Republicans must also have those responsible for the security of the Capitol and Washington, D.C., testify under oath. Concurrently, Republicans must subpoena their emails, notes, and memoranda regarding any security issues and planning for Jan. 6.
They should be asked about why the Capitol was not better fortified, any intelligence about possible attacks, and their responses to President Trump's request to authorize National Guard troops.
Abramson referenced a Newsmax article repeating a 2022 claim by Trump official Keith Kellogg that he heard Trump request to the Department of Defense that the National Guard be available, but there's no evidence Trump ever issued such an order. But a week before, however, the House committee looking into the riot aired footage of Kellogg stating that he never heard Trump ask for the National Guard or a law enforcement respons on the day of the riot.
Abramson went on to spout a right-wing conspiracy theory:
Third, Republicans must determine the FBI's role in the Riot. FBI officials have implied that FBI agents were in the crowd but have declined to explain why they were there due to the protection of "sources and methods."
Republicans must determine these agents' actions during the Riot.
The Durham Report notes that the FBI meddled in a previous election (2016) and affected political outcome(s). Republicans must determine if the FBI did so on Jan. 6 as well.
This appears to be a version of the Ray Epps conspiracy theory -- which even Epps says has testified false.
There isn't evidence of the things Abramson is demanding not because nobody has searched for it -- it's because those things didn't happen.
To add insult to (nonexistent) injury, Newsmax stuck a disclaimer at the top of Abramson's column stating that "The following column does not constitute an endorsement of any political party, or candidate, on the part of Newsmax." Never mind that Abramson didn't explicitly endorse anyone.
MRC Still Mad That Hunter Biden Is Fighting Back Topic: Media Research Center
We've noted how the Media Research Center has gotten mad that Hunter Biden is starting to fight back against the politics of personal destruction Republicans are using against him. Let's go back in time to look at another example of this anger that we initially overloooked. Curtis Houck ranted in a March 17 post:
Hunter Biden and his family’s team of high-powered attorneys amended their lawsuit Friday, against the former Delaware computer repair shop owner at the center of Hunter’s laptop scandal that exacerbated and illustrated for the world the First Son’s life of ruin.
Not surprisingly, the liberal media — ranging from ABCNews.com to Delaware’s top newspaper to The Washington Post — were so favorable in covering this filing against John Mac Isaac that they rhetorically camped themselves inside Hunter’s colon.
And seeing as how we’ve repeatedly shown that the major broadcast networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC have displayed barely any interest in the story on their flagship AM and PM shows, this provides a glimpse into how they’d report on it if they were forced to.
Houck complained yet again that non-right-wing media failed to obsess over the laptop the way right-wing activists demanded:
One of the more comical lines came when [ABC reporter Lucien] Bruggeman insisted Mac Issac “emerged as a central figure in the drama surrounding Hunter Biden's laptop in the waning days of the 2020 presidential campaign, when images, emails, and text messages allegedly belonging to Hunter Biden emerged in public and galvanized the national conversation as voters took to the polls."
Later in the piece, she further boasted: “This new legal offensive comes as congressional scrutiny of President Biden's family ramps up and federal prosecutors press forward in their yearslong probe of Hunter Biden's tax affairs and overseas business endeavors.”
Rating: Pants on Fire. Talk about an alternate reality where the corporate media were diligent (they weren’t), have remained to update on the latest findings (they haven’t been), took it seriously (they didn’t), and made it top of mind for voters (it wasn’t).
"Corporate media"? Isn't Fox News also a corporation?
Houck then attacked a Washington Post reporter as a "wannabe Biden adviser" (as if Houck is not a wannabe DeSantis adviser) and whined that the reporter "went to work poking holes in the basic paperwork Hunter signed when he dropped off his laptop, insisting the laptop was “the subject of intense scrutiny dating” back to the New York Post’s original, October 14, 2020 story, and offering a dubious conspiracy that the information may have been planted." Houck also went after another reporter:
USA Today? More of the same. Bart Jansen leaned into Hunter’s spin with “‘Egregious violation’: Hunter Biden sues computer repairman who gave laptop data to Trump allies.”
Jansen explained in his lede, “Hunter Biden filed a claim Friday in federal court over a laptop filled with his personal information that was widely distributed, alleging that a computer repairman violated his privacy, took part in a conspiracy and helped others invade his privacy.”
Ignoring this bizarre line of thinking that the data was his but not necessarily the laptop, Jansen said “[t]he files included pictures of Hunter Biden using drugs, without clothes and in intimate relations with other adults.”
And where did they come from, Bart?
Houck even took the time to attack local media in Delaware:
Finally in local media, Delaware Online (the website for the Wilmington News Journal) said Hunter was “suing the Trolley Square computer repair shop owner who claimed Biden dropped off his computer and never retrieved it,” with Mac Isaac “rocket[ing] into the national spotlight in October 2020” and has since “portray[ed] himself as a victim in the scandal.”
If the First Family were hot on your trail and imploring the president’s Justice Department and the AG of the state the family unofficially rules over to join in, wouldn’t you think of yourself that way?
As if Mac Issac wasn't politially motivated here, given that his first instinct when given the laptop to repair was apparently to rummage through it for incriminating data and then hand it over to partisan pro-Trump operatives to use as political bait. Strangely, though, Houck offered no defense of Mac Issac at all in his post, telling us that his real source of anger here is that Hunter is fighting back.
Of course, right-wing activists like Houck don't think Hunter deserves a defense at all -- they think he should be an eternal punching bag simply for the sin of having Joe Biden for a father and for leading a less-than-perfect life, and they would not feel bad if they drove Hunter to suicide. He's not a human being to them -- he's an abstract object of hate, a narrative, a tool to exploit. And if President Biden loses or Hunter dies, all the better.
The Media Research Center has long been in denial that right-wingers seeking to ban a book from a library are book-banners, insisting that any book ban pushed by a right-winger is automatically justified. Tim Graham kept up that narrative in his March 29 column:
There may be a lot of 
Just because the Supreme Court has a right-wing tilt these days doesn't mean that the Media Research Center will be pleased with everything it does. Ineeed, it was annoyed that the court struck down a congressional district map in Alabama for violating civil rights because it failed to apportion a second black-majority district. Kevin Tober complained in a June 8 
WorldNetDaily was an 
We've documented
Dick Morris may be the most prominent 
An anonymous writer complained in a June 6 WorldNetDaily 
The Media Research Center has continued to 
WorldNetDaily has accused 
As part of his role as Newsmax's resident 
Like the rest of the right-wing media, WorldNetDaily unsurprisingly published "news" articles and columns attacking companies like Target and the maker of Bud LIght for committing the offense of not hating LGBT people. For instance:
Robert Kennedy Jr. is one of the Media Research Center's favorite so-called victims of "big tech" because his anti-vaccine conspiracy theories keep getting called out for the misinformation the are (which the MRC dishonestly portrays as "censorship") -- for instance, 
We've noted
