MRC Can't Stop Complaining That Kinzinger Called Out GOP Extremism Topic: Media Research Center
We've shown how the Media Research Center tried to Heather former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger for failing to adhere to the right-wing pro-Trump, pro-insiurrection narrative, but it wasn't done yet. Tim Graham complained further about Kinzinger in a Nov. 5 post:
In promoting his Republican-trashing memoir, ex-Rep. Adam Kinzinger not only was awarded two PBS interviews, but two NPR interviews. First on NPR, he trashed Republicans as the "terrorist caucus." In an hourlong Halloween tongue-bath on Fresh Air with Terry Gross, Kinzinger compared the GOP to ISIS, and he suggested Sean Hannity and Mark Levin fans have "brain rot." Your tax dollars at work.
Here's how it was summarized on NPR.org:
The former Illinois congressman reflects on confronting the "fanaticism of the hardcore" of his own party. Kinzinger served on the House committee investigating the attack on the Capitol.
Terry Gross wanted to underline the tale of how Kinzinger's own family disowned him because they listen to too much conservative talk radio:
When Kinzinger noted that he was accused of having "lost the trust of great men like Mark Levin and Sean Hannity. And it goes to show, to me, the brain rot - right? - the rot going on, the absolute abuse of people that put their trust in some of these - you know, these radio folks or these TV folks," Graham only sneered, "NPR fans believe that, deeply."
instead of actually trying to address anything Kinzinger said in a substantive way, Graham played whataboutism, huffing that "What's amazing is the NPR interviewer seemed to have brain rot, asking Adam 'Republicans Are Terrorists' Kinzinger um, shouldn't his enemies tone down their rhetoric?" He concluded by whining that Kinzinger was "a showboat who has been bathing in laudatory liberal interviews all over TV and radio and cashing in on a book deal."
It was Alex Christy's turn to whine about Kinzinger in a Nov. 18 post:
Former GOP Rep. and current CNN political analyst Adam Kinzinger continued to prove that his turn against the GOP isn’t just related to the aftermath of the 2020 election and January 6 when he traveled to HBO and Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday to once again compare Speaker Mike Johnson to the Taliban.
The liberal atheist Maher had some crazy analogies of his own, “So, here's something really scary, Mike Johnson, he’s the Republican Party new head chief over there in the House. This came out, he was talking to a prayer group. He said ‘depraved America deserves God's wrath’ -- came out there, exactly sounds like Bin Laden. Now, the Republican guy sounds like bin Laden and Trump sounds like Hitler, and the kids sound like—”
Christy rushed to Johnson's defense pretending that what he said wasn't really what he said:
It should be noted that “’Depraved’ America deserves God’s wrath” is a Rolling Stone headline summation of what Johnson said, but “deserves God’s wrath” is not in quotes. What Rolling Stone actually quotes Johnson as saying is, “The only question is: Is God going to allow our nation to enter a time of judgment for our collective sins? … Or is he going to give us one more chance to restore the foundations and return to Him?... We have to ask ourselves: How long can His mercy and His grace be held back?”
It’s honestly a question every country should ask itself because sin has consequences, but by reaching for the bin Laden card, Maher seemed to suggest that Johnson would justify terrorism or acts of war against America which is not at all what he was saying.
Actually, it pretty much is, but Christy is being paid not to acknowledge that fact. Instead, he rehashed an earlier complaint that Kinzinger portrayed Christian nationalism of the kind Johnson advocates as little different from the Taliban:
Deep down even Kinzinger probably knows just how absurd that is because he would immediately proceed to tie himself into a pretzel, “Now, maybe the end is different maybe the means are different but there's no difference in saying this is a government run on religion.”
So, Kinzinger logic says that things are the same except for all the ways that they are different. This is the man the media demands Republicans listen to and take seriously.
Again, Christy made no effort to explain why Chrstian nationalism -- which, at its heart, is about forcing a specific religion on Americans through government imposition -- is not Taliban-ish, and he offered no evidence that such a thing would not happen.
Newsmax's Hirsen Hypes Mike Johnson's Virtues, Supposed Dedication To 'Principled Governance' Topic: Newsmax
James Hirsen started his Nov. 10 Newsmax column by repeating the ConWeblament that the right-wing extremism of newly selected House speaker Mike Johnson was being reported:
Mike Johnson is under attack for the religious and cultural beliefs that he holds.
In an appearance on a recent weekend news program, the newly-elected Speaker of the House made the following comments regarding the barrage of negativity that he is having to endure:
“There are entire industries built on taking down, tearing down people like me. I understand that comes with the territory and we’re not fazed by it,” he said.
From the moment he took possession of the Speaker's gavel, enemies within the media have joined forces with partisan operatives in an attempt to pigeonhole him as an extremist.
Appearing to take things in stride, he stated, “I’ve been labeled all kinds of stuff, but these people don’t know me.”
One does not need to know another person to report accurately on them, and neither Johnson nor Hirsen have denited the specifics of what has been reported. Hirsen followed that by lazily reciting his resume and anonymous boilerplate praise:
Arriving at his new post with almost 20 years of constitutional law experience under his belt, in his practice he routinely safeguarded the fundamental rights of individuals and businesses.
He characterized his legal career as one that placed him in the position of “defending religious freedom, the sanctity of human life, and biblical values...”
Highly respected by his colleagues, a deeply divided Republican caucus actually came together and succeeded in electing him as new House Speaker.
Even prior to his Speaker post he was held in high esteem by his colleagues. He was one of the most well-liked members of the GOP leadership.
Back in 2022, he had been unanimously elected vice chair of the House Republican Conference for a second time.
The favorable reputation was due in large part to the way in which he comported himself, humble in his demeanor yet true to his principles.
Hirsen then lamented that the creepiness ofJohnson including his teenage son in his porn "accountability" software was being noted (while ignoring the creepiness aspect):
During a 2022 technology panel, which took place at his church in Louisiana, Johnson spoke about a subscription-based computer program that he and his teenage son were using at the time to monitor questionable content.
Media outlets, including Rolling Stone and The New Republic, apparently unearthed the remarks. Attacks were then leveled at the Speaker for his commitment against pornography.
While talking to reporters at the Capitol, he described the negative media blitz as “just the latest attack in a campaign by D.C. insiders on my faith.”
Of course, Hirsen chose to misleadingly frame the discussion about Johnson having a "commitment against pornography" and not, you know, that he brought his teenage son into it. He went on to insist that Johnson was just like the Founding Fathers and all about "principled governance":
Those who are going after Johnson are perhaps unintentionally, or perhaps intentionally, forgetting that the beliefs he espouses are the same Judeo-Christian principles that served as foundational pillars during the initial formation of our country.
The Founders were heavily influenced by biblical teachings contained in the Old and New Testaments.
Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence the profound “self-evident” truth that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
These words spring from the Judeo-Christian credo that all people are created in the image of God.
The Founders recognized Scripture as a prime source of moral and ethical wisdom and incorporated many of its precepts into the U.S. Constitution. The three branches of government, checks and balances on power, the freedom to worship, and equal treatment under the law are but a few.
It is through the application of these inherent values that Johnson desires to implement what he terms “principled governance.”
Never mind that Johnson's Republican Party is also the party of George Santos. Principled governance, anyone? And if Hirsen really had any principles, he would apologize for all the election fraud lies and conspiracy theories he spread after the 2020 election.
Hirsen concluded by declaring: "Praying for Speaker Johnson’s success. And a miracle for America." It would be a miracle if Hirsen ever repented for the lies he spread.
WND's Cashill Falsely Claims Twitter Troll Was Imprisoned Over A 'Joke' Topic: WorldNetDaily
Jack Cashill complained in his Nov. 15 WorldNetDaily column:
Ever since professional snitch John Dean ratted out Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz in 1976 for an overheard racial joke, we've known that certain forms of humor can get one canned.
With the recent conviction of internet jokester Doug Mackey for passing along an anti-Hillary meme, we now know that a joke can get one imprisoned.
The slope from getting fired for joking about a state official to getting jailed has been slippery and steep.
[...]
In the months before the 2016 election he passed along a meme he found online titled, "Save Time, Avoid the Line." The meme featured a smiling image of Hillary Clinton and directed readers to text their vote to a made-up number.
Four years later, within a week after the 2021 inauguration, Mackey was rudely snapped from his sleep by a crew of 10 law enforcement officers, including four FBI agents, banging on his door at 7 a.m.
In March 2023, a federal jury in Brooklyn convicted Mackey of "Conspiracy Against Rights stemming from his scheme to deprive individuals of their constitutional right to vote." He was sentenced to seven months in prison.
Cashill is dishonestly simplifying the case and omitting inconvenient details to make Mackey look like an innocent victim. As we documented when fellow WND columnist Rachel Alexander tried to make the same argument, Mackey is an alt-right Twitter troll who posted under the name Ricky Vaughn; he also said that women shouldn't be allowed to vote and that black people are easily deceived. That last point is important to illustrate what he did, as reported by a more reliable media outlet:
Prosecutors told jurors during the trial that Mackey urged supporters of then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to “vote” via text message or social media, knowing that those endorsements were not legally valid votes.
At about the same time, prosecutors said, he was sending tweets suggesting that it was important to limit “black turnout” at voting booths. One tweet he sent showed a photo of a Black woman with a Clinton campaign sign, encouraging people to “avoid the line” and “vote from home,” court papers said.
Using social media pitches, one image encouraging phony votes utilized a font similar to one used by the Clinton campaign in authentic ads, prosecutors said. Others tried to mimic Clinton’s ads in other ways, they added.
By Election Day in 2016, at least 4,900 unique telephone numbers texted “Hillary” or something similar to a text number that was spread by multiple deceptive campaign images tweeted by Mackey and co-conspirators, prosecutors said.
Compare that to how Cashill briefly and misleadingly described what Mackey did. Cashill offered no evidence that Mackey's actions were an obvious "joke"; indeed, Mackey's own defense didn't even make that claim, instead trying to frame what he did as "shitposting," which the Southern Poverty Law Center defines as "an internet term of art for publishing inflammatory content that is protected by the First Amendment."
Cashill went on to attempt whataboutism:
On Election Day, Nov. 8, 2016, Kristina Wong tweeted out a video of herself saying, "Hey Trump Supporters! Skip poll lines at #Election2016 and TEXT in your vote! Text votes are legit. Or vote tomorrow on Super Wednesday!"
In the video, wearing a MAGA hat, Wong makes a direct appeal to black and Asian voters to text in their votes. She was obviously joking.
As we also noted when Alexander did the same thing, Wong is an actual comedian while Mackey is not.
Cashill also went off on a different tangent, lamenting that people no longer find racism funny:
In 2018, comedienne Roseanne Barr, the star of the reboot of the popular TV show "Roseanne," famously tweeted that the mixed-race, Iranian-born Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett looked like "the muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby."
ABC promptly canceled the show. Comedians had been saying the most vile things imaginable about Donald Trump without consequence, but Obama's people were, as Barr learned, off limits.
Shocked by the show's cancellation and undoubtedly guided by her press agents, Roseanne tweeted, "Don't feel sorry for me, guys!! I just want to apologize to the hundreds of people and wonderful writers (all liberal) and talented actors who lost their jobs on my show due to my stupid tweet."
In a police state, the accused cannot expect her friends and colleagues to rally to her defense. The "Roseanne" cast lived down to expectations.
"Roseanne's recent comments about Valerie Jarrett, and so much more, are abhorrent and do not reflect the beliefs of our cast and crew or anyone associated with our show," tweeted Sara Gilbert, one of the several cast members who dumped on Roseanne publicly.
Having permanently severed Roseanne from her own show, ABC restarted the show as "The Conners." Without a word of support for the woman who gave them their careers, the original cast blithely picked up where they left off.
After a ritual apology got her nowhere – groveling never works – Roseanne offered a defense more keeping in character, "I thought the bitch was white."
Again, Cashill doesn't demonstrate that any of Barr's racist meltdowns were a "joke," let alone explain why anyone is supposed to find them funny. Then again, Cashill has been showing an increasinganimus toward black people of late, defending white people charged with killing them and demonizing the victims.
NEW ARTICLE -- Loving The Fringe To Own The Libs: The Case Of Russell Brand Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center hated actor Russell Brand -- until he started spouting conservatively correct narratives. Even Brand facing credible allegations of sexual assault, abuse and grooming hasn't stopped the MRC's admiration of him. Read more >>
MRC's DeSantis Defense Brigade Watch, Softball Interview Edition Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center's DeSantisDefenseBrigade hasn't exactly helped Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign, as it's still mired in the lower end of polling. So the MRC tried one last-ditch effort to boost DeSantis: a softball interview. Curtis Houck detailed the agenda-promoting softness in the nearly 16-minute interview in a Nov. 3 post:
This week, Media Research Center Founder and President L. Brent Bozell spoke with 2024 Republican presidential candidate and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis about a whole host of issues and, naturally, it included exchanges about the repeated, years-long barrages of attacks from the liberal media.
Bozell began by noting the MRC has “monitored how they’ve treated you and how they’ve treated all the Republican candidates” and, while “all the focus is always on — on how awful they are to Donald Trump,” “[t]hey’re just about just as awful with you.”
Bozell cited an August NewsBusters study by our Rich Noyes on 2024 coverage from the network evening newscasts on ABC, CBS, and NBC that “78 percent of the coverage of you has been negative” before asking how that’s “not election interference when the networks are deliberately trying to derail Republicans.”
DeSantis didn’t hesitate in emphasizing that “there’s no question that they have...a partisan agenda...trying to advance a victory for the Democratic Party” that “you guys have pointed this out...for a number of years.”
He added why the liberal media have “been so negative on me is because they do see all the success that we’ve had in Florida” and fear the possibility that, if elected president, his “model from Florida” could be “implemented nationally” and deal a huge blow “to their friends on the political left.”
[...]
Bozell reacted with effusive praise:“Of all the candidates out there and perhaps even all public figures out there today when it comes to dealing with vicious attacks from the media and doing it on the spot, I really don’t think there’s anyone who’s better than you are...It’s extraordinary.”
A few hours later, a post by Luis Cornelio detailed more softballs for DeSantis:
FIRST ON MRC: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) joined MRC Founder and President Brent Bozell to speak about how Google is interfering in elections by manipulating its search results to highlight Democratic candidates ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
DeSantis, who is seeking the Republican nomination for president, did not mince words in response to the MRC Free Speech America study revealing that Google buried the websites of GOP candidates. “So, of course, it’s something that is being done to change elections,” DeSantis said, before pledging to take “principled” measures, if elected president, against the potentially illegal censorship to ensure “everybody is treated equally.”
DeSantis appeared to agree with Bozell’s reasoning that Google’s censorship likely constituted illegal campaign contributions. “Is this something that a President DeSantis would be looking at?” Bozell asked DeSantis, to which the governor answered, “Yes, we could. I mean, I think that, you know, you have FEC. You have all this stuff, and those have been ineffective bureaucracies.” He added, “But I think that these guys have gotten a pass. I do think they're using corporate resources to be able to influence elections, and that is just not something that you can do without reporting under our system.”
Over at the right-wing blog that used to be the MRC's "news" division CNSNews.com, Craig Bannister was given his own interview segment to tout in a Nov. 6 post:
In an exclusive on-camera interview, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) discussed with Media Research Center (MRC) President Brent Bozell the dangers of media bias, especially when it comes to U.S. elections and Israel’s war on Hamas terrorism.
Gov. DeSantis, who is seeking the GOP’s 2024 presidential nomination, was asked about how bias liberal media are interfering with U.S. elections. DeSantis said there’s no doubt the media have a partisan agenda and are “trying to advance a victory for the Democrat Party,” as MRC has documented “for a number of years.”
That was joined the same day by one more bit of softball stennography from Bannister:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should ignore the anti-Israel media attacks and demands for a cease-fire to Israel’s effort to wipe out Hamas terrorists, Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis told Media Research Center (MRC) President Brent Bozell this week.
In an exclusive interview, the GOP presidential hopeful said that, as soon as he heard Hamas had attacked a music festival in Israel on October 7 – killing 1,400 people – he knew the media would start attacking Israel.
If Bozell asked a question of DeSantis that was even remotely challenging, it doesn't appear in any of these articles.
Because all this looked very much like an in-kind campaign contribution -- not unlike its DeSantis Defense Brigade crusade over the past several months -- the MRC felt compelled to add an editor's note to each piece: "All major 2024 candidates polling above one percent nationally across the spectrum — Republicans, independents, and Democrats — have been invited to participate in similar sit-downs. Our offers remain on the table." To date, no other candidate has -- even with the implied promise of a cushy, fawning interview by Bozell, which suggests the less-than-lofty status the MRC apparently has in the right-wing media bubble. That, and the fact that no other candidate has felt the need as of yet to take the MRC up on its softball-interview offer, leaves the unmistakable impression that this was created to be an in-kind contribution to DeSantis.
The interview landed with such a thud, in fact, that the MRC didn't publish another post centered on DeSantis for the rest of November.
Newsmax Parrots MRC's Attacks On NewsGuard Topic: Newsmax
Newsmax is parroting the Media Research Center's loudandlamewar on website-rating service NewsGuard, repeating the dubious narrative that NewsGuard exists solely to suppress right-wing views. Theodore Bunker huffed in a March 10 article:
NewsGuard, a left-wing media monitoring organization which claims to rate the credibility of news websites, was awarded nearly $750,000 from the Department of Defense in 2021 according to publicly available records.
The revelation comes in the latest "Twitter Files" post by Matt Taibbi.
Bunker offered no proof that NewsGuard is "left-wing"; instead, he copy-and-pasted the MRC's attacks:
The Media Research Center has examined NewsGuard's "ratings" system and found the service continually favors left-wing and liberal news outlets as "trusted" and negatively rates conservative ones as not reliable.
Newsguard negatively rates leading conservative outlets like Washington Times, Newsmax, Breitbart, Federalist, Epoch Times, Red State, Prager U, Daily Wire, and others.
We've documented how the MRC's purported examination of NewsGuard's rating system is actually all about how the shoddiness of right-wing media is being exposed by NewsGuard and how it's demanding that NewsGuard mandate false ratings parity.
Newsmax parroted other right-wing attacks on NewsGuard around that time as well:
As the right-wing war on NewsGuard heated up in the fall, Newsmax was happy to take part, such as in an Oct. 20 article by Mark Swanson:
Elon Musk railed against the left-wing media fact-checker NewsGuard on Thursday, calling the ratings company a "scam" and saying it should be "disbanded immediately."
Musk's reaction came in the aftermath of a series of posts on his social media site X, formerly known as Twitter.
One came from Foundation for Freedom Online executive director Mike Benz, who claimed NewsGuard, led by adviser and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, worked with the European Union on a disinformation code that would prompt governments to bankrupt alternative news sites.
Benz highlighted NewsGuard's business model, which he said combines "disinformation compliance services with censorship laws it promotes."
[...]
Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy months ago called out NewsGuard — and the Global Disinformation Index — for exerting their influence to silence conservative voices. Ruddy said they present themselves as independent fact-checkers.
This turned into a circular promotion with Musk, which Newsmax was only too happy to tout in an Oct. 22 article by Sandy Fitzgerald:
Elon Musk Sunday responded to a Newsmax article concerning his objections to left-wing media fact-checker NewsGuard, agreeing that it is "not cool" for it to push a "political agenda" with its ratings.
"Yeah, it’s not cool. Pushing a political agenda in the name of “guarding” the public," Musk posted on his social media site X, formerly Twitter, in a response to Newsmax's article, published Thursday after he called NewsGuard a "scam" and said it should be "disbanded immediately."
In neither article was any proof offered to back up the claim that NewsGuard is "left-wing."
An Oct. 23 article by Swanson touted another attack on NewsGuard:
The publishers of the foreign policy news website Consortium News filed a lawsuit against the left-wing media fact-checker NewsGuard Technologies, Inc. and the U.S. government on Monday in New York federal court, claiming First Amendment violations and defamation.
The publisher, Consortium for Independent Journalism, accused NewsGuard of defaming Consortium News and the government for colluding with the self-proclaimed media "watchdog" to violate the First Amendment.
The publisher also is accusing an alliance between NewsGuard and the government — specifically the Pentagon's Cyber Command — of coercing news organizations to "alter viewpoints" that differ or dissent from policies of the United States and its allies," via a program called the "misinformation fingerprints" project.
And just as the MRC did, Swanson failed to tell readers that Consortium News is a liberal-leaning site, since doing so undermines the right0wing narrative that NewsGuard is uniquely biased against right-wing website. And, again, Swanson offered no proof to back up his claim that NewsGuard is "left-wing."
Then, presumably in the hope of setting off another round of circular promotion, a Nov. 23 article by Luca Cacciator and Michael Katz hyped another Musk attack on NewsGuard:
Elon Musk's social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, issued a new warning Wednesday about the left-wing ratings company NewsGuard.
In a post on the site, X said it was the latest organization to be targeted by NewsGuard, which has systematically targeted conservative media.
"NewsGuard is about to publish a 'report' on misinformation on X. As a for-profit company, they will only share the data that underpins their purported research if you pay," X explained.
X then highlighted NewsGuard's strategy in going after the platform — the same strategy it has employed on dozens of other companies.
NewsGuard "uses these reports to pressure companies to buy their 'fact-checking' services. It's a profit over any principle model," X said.
"X has not seen any of the data in their report. Before publishing, we encourage all media outlets to request the data underpinning their claims."
After the X posting, Elon Musk himself weighed in on the matter, posting to his account, "In other words, 'NewsGuard' is a propaganda shop that will produce any lies you want if you pay them enough money."
Cacciatore and Katz failed to note that Twitter/X is also ostensibly a for-profit company that will only share the data that underpins its purported research in defense of the company. That was demonstrated with the "Twitter files," in which Musk released selective data and documents to hand-picked writers whose job it was to push Musk's preferred narrative about "censorship" at Twitter by pre-Musk management. Of course, they also failed to offer any evidence that NewsGuard is "left-wing."
MRC -- Which Loves To Smear People As 'Digital Brownshirts' -- Complains About Nazi References Topic: Media Research Center
Alex Christy served up a little hypocritical outrage in an Oct. 31 post:
On October 7, the Jewish people suffered their greatest single-day loss of life since the Holocaust in a horrific massacre that should cause people to think twice before comparing someone or something to Hitler, the Nazis, or their crimes. Unfortunately, the news media only seem to apply that standard to one side.
Based on Godwin's Law -- which states the longer an internet conversation goes on, the likelihood that someone or something will be compared to Adolf Hitler or the Nazi Party approaches one -- NewsBusters analysts looked at all news programming on ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, CNN, and MSNBC from October 26, 2022 through October 26, 2023, to compare how the media treats Nazi analogies on the right and left. (October 26 is Mike Godwin's birthday.)
[...]
Joe Scarborough is tied for the media personality who is mostly likely to invoke a Nazi analogy. If Scarborough is the king of Nazi analogies on television, his queen is frequent MSNBC guest Ruth Ben-Ghiat, the New York University professor billed as an expert on authoritarianism,
Of their combined 20 analogies, 18 were either about Donald Trump or the Republican Party in the general sense. One particularly ironic exception was Scarborough on May 8 lamenting a lack of gun control by comparing it to a challenge the U.S. has to overcome, like the Nazis. The other involved Scarborough going after Sen. Josh Hawley and Steve Bannon talking about disaffected males in his I'm-not-saying-I'm-just-saying way of speaking.
MSNBC presidential historian Michael Beschloss was a close third with nine Nazi analogies, all about Trump or Republicans.
[...]
In total, there were 192 Nazi analogies made by media personalities, guests, or political figures that were reported on. Of these,88 were attacks from the right, of which 80 (90.9 percent) were condemned during the segment. Of the uncondemned eight, three were recollections of how current Sen. J.D. Vance used to compare Trump to Hitler and another was Trump suggesting Hitler would support 2024 rival Gov. Ron DeSantis.
By contrast,104 were attacks from the left and only 29 (27.9 percent) of which were condemned during the segment. However, when one removes reports on statements made by Democratic-turned-independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on COVID-era mandates and vaccines, only 4 of 79 (5 percent) left-wing attacks were condemned.
Christy went on to claim that "Robert F. Kennedy's history of anti-vaccine activism predates COVID, so his attacks were still considered to be from the left despite the media typically associating the issue with the right," even though that anti-vaccine activism is largely a right-wing phenomenon and his employer aggressively and ironically promoted his presidential campaign when he was running as a Democrat in the hope that he might spoll President Biden's re-election efforts, then effectively abandoned him when he moved to run as an independent candidate.
He also stated that the terms he analyzed were “Nazi,” “Nazism,” “Hitler,” “Gestapo,” and “Holocaust"; it's also a given that he exempted his employer from scrutiny even though it too is a prolific hurler of Nazi analogies. The MRC's favorite Nazi smear is the word "brownshirts," which Christy conveniently didn't cover. In 2023 alone, the MRC used it eight times to smear anyone who is trying to fight the spread of lies and misinformation on social media (here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here). For instance, in a May 3 post, Catherine Salgado raged against "eco-obsessed 'digital brownshirts' clamoring for Google to censor content that undercuts climate change alarmism" and approvingly quoted her boss, Brent Bozell, huffing that "Digital brownshirts are attacking conservative organizations for daring to have an honest debate on climate policy." The MRC is so unashamed of the smear that "digital brownshirts" appears several times in the headline of the post.
The MRC is also not afraid to thow around the "Gestapo" smear. Mysterious sports blogger Jay Maxson was a regular spreader of it:
A May 2021 post called critics of the Gadsden flag the "PC gestapo."
An August 2021 post complained about the "sports nickname gestapo."
A September 2021 post referred to sports governing bodies requiring athletes to get COVID vaccines a "vaccine gestapo."
A March 2022 post approvingly quoted Breitbart's John Nolte calling tennis officials a "Woke Gestapo" for allegedly requriing Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev to denounce Russia's invasion of Ukraine before being allowed to play.
Meanwhile, A March 2021 post by Veronica Hays called those who exposed old bigoted posts made by singer Camilla Cabello a "woke gestapo." And Tim Graham whined in an August 2022 post that Republicans were criticized for calling the FBI raid on Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago to retrieve stolen classifed documents a "Gestapo" move.
The MRC also enjoys likening people to Joseph Goebbels (which also wasn't one of Christy's analyzed terms). A May 2022 column by Cal Thomas falsely likened a proposed anti-disinformation offiice in the Department of Homeland Security to Goebbels' "Nazi propaganda effort," among other things. A Feb. 3 post by Nicholas Fondacaro approvingly noted that "The View" co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin invoked it to attack Rep. Ilhan Omar’s "ridiculous suggestion that the U.S. and Israel were like Hamas and the Taliban, and how she used the same anti-Semitic tropes proliferated by Nazi propaganda master Joseph Goebbels."
Graham promoted Christy's hypocritical work in his Nov. 1 podcast:
Alex's study of a year of Nazi and Hitler analogies on TV found that not only did MSNBC "excel" in Nazi excess, but the top three abusers of the Nazi analogies were MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, and leftist historians Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Michael Beschloss. Overall, there were 192 Nazi analogies. Eighty-eight were attacks from the right, of which 80 (90.9 percent) were condemned.
By contrast, 104 were attacks from the left and only 29 (27.9 percent) of which were condemned. But if you remove reports on statements made by presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on COVID-era mandates and vaccines, only 4 of 79 (5 percent) left-wing attacks were condemned.
Christy joined Graham on the podcast to hype the study, but they did not discuss all times their co-workers went Godwin; however, he did unironically say: "The point of this is not to say my Nazi analogies are better than yours;it's to say can we stop with this and apply one standard to it all." That was followed by Graham unironically smearing Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler as "Herr Kessler," which in the context of the discussion is effectively a Nazi reference.
NEW ARTICLE -- WND Remains Obsessed With Obama: The Conspiracy Theories Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily wants you to believe Barack Obama murdered his chef as well as the rantings of his bitter half-brother, and it thinks the completely discredited Larry Sinclair is telling the truth about an alleged long-ago drugs-and-sex encounter with Obama. Read more >>
MRC Complains That Media Finds Mike Johnson's Porn 'Accountability' With His Teenage Son To Be Creepy Topic: Media Research Center
After Republicans selected Mike Johnson as House speaker, the Media Research Center became angry that his right-wing extremism was accurately reported upon. That continued days after Johnson's selection:
When it was revealed that Johnson shares "accountability software" with his teenage son that alerts the other party if one of them views pornography, Alex Christy spent a Nov. 7 post complaining that people on TV pointed out how creepy that is:
Sarah Silverman returned to Comedy Central for round two of temp hosting The Daily Show on Monday and spent the majority of the program attacking Speaker Mike Johnson, including for putting porn accountability software on his and his son’s phones. Meanwhile, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel did the same, labeling it “strange.”
Silverman introduced the story, “And finally let’s move on to Washington, D.C., where the new Speaker of the House just keeps getting weirder and weirder.”
In a montage of news clips, Johnson was shown in 2022 explaining that, “My accountability partner right now is Jack, my son, right? And, so, he's 17, so he and I get a report of all the things that are on our phones or all of our devices once a week. If anything objectionable comes up, your accountability partner gets an immediate notice.”
Also included in the series of clips was an ad from the software Covenant Eyes which featured a man in a superhero costume proclaiming, “Every superhero has his strengths and weaknesses. My superpower: strength. My weakness: porn,” with the last bit showing the superhero transforming into just a regular guy.
Silverman thought this was all very odd, “Wow, these Marvel movies are really running out of ideas. Why is he a superhero whose weakness is porn, like, what is that origin story, did his parents die masturbating to horny MILFs? Was he hit with a radioactive money shot?”
[...]
Kimmel, meanwhile, was less gratuitous, but still was greatly confused, “Meanwhile, our new Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, is giving us plenty to talk about… It’s very, very strange to ask your teenage son to be your porn accountability partner. I mean, I get it -- you don't want them watching, but how about this. You know, Mike, if you have nobody else in your life to do this with, I will gladly be your porn accountability partner.”
Concluding, Kimmel compared Johnson to another Republican, “I'm pretty sure we can do it cross-country. I'm very open minded. Whatever weird stuff you're watching – I don’t know, clown porn, cosplay, stepmom, foot fetish, the stuff with the tentacles -- no problem. I don't judge. What happens between you Mike and your Johnson is your business. But let’s get your son out of this. I didn't think it was possible, but Mike Johnson makes Mike Pence look like Mike Tyson.”
There’s lots of debate in comedy about what is considered “too far” or offensive, but mocking virtue and how people take steps to avoid temptation is a pretty good indication that you’ve gone to far.
Christy didn't explain what, exactly, where the "virtue" is in Johnson including his teenage son in his porn "accountability" software.
The MRC even managed to find a way to include Johnson in its war onGoogle, as outlined in a Nov. 15 post by Dan Schneider:
Who is the better person, former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi or newly minted Speaker Mike Johnson? Google’s artificial intelligence tool, Bard, has answers that might surprise those unfamiliar with the company’s long history of left-wing bias.
Google's A.I. chatbot Bard provided skewed results just like its search engine has become known for. In searches performed by MRC Free Speech America shortly after the Republican presidential primary debate, researchers first searched for “What can you tell me about Speaker Nancy Pelosi?” and then asked the same question about Speaker Mike Johnson.
For San Francisco darling Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Bard described her work in affirming, virtuous ways while using derogatory terms to describe Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) achievements.
Even more telling is the fact that Bard’s competitor, ChatGPT, did not show this evident discrepancy when MRC researchers presented it with identical queries.
[...]
It seems, however, that Google, not Johnson, is the one out of touch with the American people. As MRC President Brent Bozell put it, “Google treats Nancy Pelosi, arguably the most divisive and radical leftist House Leader in history, like a conquering hero while relegating Speaker Johnson to being a part of a fringe ‘faction’ with ‘ultraconservative’ views. Somebody ought to remind Google that the great bulk of Americans, especially women, favor limits on abortion -just like Mike Johnson - and that both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton originally ran for president supporting traditional marriage - just like Mike Johnson.”
Bozell added that “[t]he majority of Americans call themselves Christians, opposed Obamacare when it was forced on them, and still think deficit spending is destroying our economy - just like Mike Johnson. Google is trying to brainwash America.”
Rather than explaining why anyone should trust anything that comes from any AI chatbot -- or even that anything Bard said about Johnson was inaccurate -- Schneider rehashed the MRC's dubious attacks on Google: "Google’s history of rigging its algorithms to achieve its political ends has been well documented by MRC Free Speech America."
Morris used an Oct. 12 column to rant that "It's becoming increasingly obvious that the Hamas attack on Israel is directly due to Biden’s relaxation of Donald Trump’s oil embargo on Iran," adding that "Biden’s weakness and senility serve to disguise effectively his pro-Iranian bias inherited from the Obama administration."
Morris has also been eager to pounce on any little thing to declare Biden's re-election campaign to be over. In an Oct. 31 column, it was that he wouldn't be on the primary ballot in New Hampshire due to a squabble between state and Democratic officals over which should be the first primary state:
Biden will not appear on the New Hampshire presidential primary ballot and will have to depend on write-ins to generate a showing.
It was exact same situation in 1968 when Lyndon Johnson did not appear on the New Hampshire ballot but appealed to write-ins. His performance was so pathetic that he was forced out of the race a month later.
[...]
But once Biden is humiliated in New Hampshire, and everybody sees that the emperor has no clothes, recovery will be difficult.
I doubt Biden can overcome such a strategy and I think he may be out of the race before or immediately after super Tuesday, March 5, 2024.
Then sit back and watch for any Democratic pretender to the throne to be roasted and eaten alive by the party’s carnivorous progressive wing.
In a Nov. 7 column, Morris declared that "The recent New York Times/Sienna College Poll makes it clear beyond doubt that Donald Trump is headed for a landslide defeat of Joe Biden," and joined the rest of Newsmax in touting Dean Philliips as a Biden spoiler (now that it wound down its cheerleading for Robert Kennedy Jr.'s campaign since he moved from Democrat to independent):
The Minnesota Democratic Congressman could upend the plan by winning or doing well in the first-in-the nation New Hampshire primary.
Biden, stupidly, will not be on the ballot. He removed himself to protest the legislature’s decision to stay first in the nation, frustrating Biden’s plan to put South Carolina ahead of it.
With Phillips on the ballot, and Biden having to depend on write-in votes, we may face a rerun of 1968 when Lyndon Johnson depended on write-ins and did not appear on the New Hampshire ballot, opening the way for another Minnesotan, Eugene McCarthy, to draw 42% of the vote, a stunning performance that led to Johnson’s withdrawal.
Phillips has a brilliant campaign message.
He says the only difference between he and Biden is age and physical condition.
He states the obvious truth — that only he is likely to be able to finish a second term.
Such an appeal — loving Biden while opposing him — is likely to draw lots of votes.
[...]
In the beginning, Phillips won’t be able to raise any money, but he doesn’t need to, running against Biden. The president’s failure to defeat Trump in the polls will demonstrate sufficiently that the party needs a new candidate and Phillips is as good as anyone to fill the void.
So, it will be a surprise Biden withdrawal at the last minute.
Morris didn't forget to suck up to the guy he really wants as president: "In the meantime, Trump will continue to wage his brilliant campaign of new, important, and attractive ideas, as well as compelling rally speeches."
Morris made more wild claims in a Dec. 9 TV appearance:
President Joe Biden is potentially going to be voted into an official House impeachment inquiry this week, which can expose him as being on the China payroll, according to presidential adviser Dick Morris on Newsmax.
"Biden was essentially not just seeking bribes, but on the payroll of the Chinese Communist Party," Morris told "Saturday Report." "They gave the University of Pennsylvania $58 million as a grant at the start of Biden's term and set up the Institute for Global Engagement and hired Joe Biden as the professor.
"At the end of his term as vice president when he was unemployed, China basically gave him a job."
In fact, Penn says it "never solicited or received any gifts from any Chinese or other foreign entity" for the Biden Center, which is funded entirely by university funds.
Chuck Norris Devoted His WND Column To Spreading Discredited COVID Vaccine Conspiracy Theories Topic: WorldNetDaily
For some reason, Chuck Norris has chosen to take a deep dive into COVID vaccine conspiracy theories in his Nov. 13 WorldNetDaily column:
Over the past several months, I've been barraged with scientific studies and previously undisclosed government documents which have shown that COVID vaccinations led to millions of deaths, and continues to.
I was compelled to pass this research along to Americans and all the people of the world, whom I love dearly, to allow them to make up their own minds. Especially important is the video at the end of this column by an international banker who is dying from the COVID vaccines, along with his mother. Please watch it after you read the below evidence that gives the exact reasons he says what he does in the video.
Here's just a small sample of recent studies and reports showing the detrimental effects of COVID vaccines around the country and world:
Most of Norris' links to claims about the vaccines come from the Epoch Times, a prolific spreader of COVID vaccine misinformation -- and indeed, much of what Norris links to has been debunked. For example, he linked to an Epoch Times article headlined Researchers Find COVID Vaccines Linked to Increased Mortality in 17 countries." But this article was debunked by Health Feedback: Apart from the fact that correlation alone cannot demonstrate a causal relationship, it neglected to account for the fact that these spikes in excess mortality corresponded to surges of COVID-19 deaths. This means that these spikes were very likely due to COVID-19, not the vaccines. Norris hyped another Epoch Times article citing a study showing that vaccine mRNA can appear in breast milk, but as we noted, there's no evidence that this is causing any health issues.
Norris touted another Epoch Times article stating that ""People who received a new COVID-19 vaccine booster were more likely to contract COVID-19 than people who received no COVID-19 vaccine doses, according to a new study of prisons in California." In fact, the study found "low infection rates in both the vaccinated and unvaccinated groups, with a small absolute difference between the two across age groups," and infection rates in vaccinated people could be largely attributed to the emergence of theOmicron variant that previous boosters were designed to tackle, adding that "the risk of severe breakthrough infection with the Omicron variant remains low, especially among individuals who have received a booster vaccine dose."
Norris also quoted from a journal study with these claims: "Both countries achieved high vaccination rates, with 84.9% in Italy and 92.9% in Costa Rica. A higher proportion of AEFIs occurred in females in both countries, with 53% and 65% in Naples and Costa Rica, respectively. Most adverse effects following immunization were observed in individuals aged 18-64 years. ….Naples reported a higher incidence of serious events per 100,000 inhabitants." The ellipsis Norris put in censored this claim that completelyu debunks his thesis: "The rate of serious adverse reactions was lower in both countries than the international average."
Norris linked to a Rumble video in which "Wall Street analyst" Edward Dowd claimed that COVID vaccines are "greatest fraud in history." Actually, the fraud here is Dowd, who has no medical expertise and has been caught spreading COVID-related misiinformation before. He also referenced claimed by Robert Malone and Peter McCullough, who are also prolific misinformers. He also linked to an Epoch Times article complaining that Dr. Sherri Tenpenny's medical license was suspended over her COVID misinformation -- but he didn't tell readers that Tenpenny was making wildly false claims such as that the vaccines magnetize recipients and interface with 5G cell towers.
Norris went on to tout a video purporting to claim "how Dr. Fauci and mainstream media painted vaccinations as "highly effective" in the beginning then plunges to virtually ineffective and detrimental in most recent news reports." But as we've documented regarding a similar video promoted by Elon Musk, the headlines are taken out of chronological order and context, ignoring that specific vaccine variants react differently to specific virus variants.
Norris concluded by peddling one more conspiracy theory:
As a result of all the above and more, Truth Justice recently posted a 4-minute must-watch video on X with a capitalized caption: "GOVERNMENT MASS MURDER."
Truth Justice explained their video: "International banker who is dying from the COVID vaccines along with his mother calls for the immediate arrests of Bill Gates, WHO executives, WEF politicians, Klaus Schwab, Big Tech leaders and Pfizer for poisoning humanity leading to millions of deaths. He and his mother are triple vaccinated with the Pfizer lethal injections classified as bioweapons. He calls for the billions of vaccinated people to stand up and fight for justice."
You can watch the video on Truth Justice's X feed or on Rumble.
Please share this column and evidence with everyone you know and let them make up their own minds as well.
In that video, retired banker Pascal Najadi wildly demands that Swiss authorities arrest everyone at the World Economic Forum and the World Health Organization because it promoted the vaccines, which he called a "bioweapon" due to something he calls "nano lipids," ranting that "we cannot tolerate any entity that promotes poison to be injected into humanity." No proof is offered that either he or his mother are "dying from the COVID vaccines," and Norris apparently sought none.
Norris is embarrassing himself by promoting such bizarre conspiracy theories and trusting sources who are known for spreading blatant misinformation about COVID vaccines -- and he's apparently incapable of fact-checking anything that appears under his name, making him look even more clownish.
NEW ARTICLE: Debate Patrol At The MRC Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center (plus the DeSantis Defense Brigade) not only tried to shield Republican presidential candidates from criticism after the first debate, it defended Donald Trump hanging out with Tucker Carlson instead of taking part. Read more >>
MRC Heathers Adam Kinzinger For Rejecting GOP's Pro-Insurrection Narrative Topic: Media Research Center
As with Alyssa Farah Griffin, the Media Reserarch Center is playing its Heathering games against former Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger for failing to stick to theright-wing script and admitting that Donald Trump is a bad person. Kevin Tober had a small meltdown last January when Kinzinger became a CNN commentator:
In the most predictable breaking news possible, on Wednesday evening, CNN host Erin Burnett announced on her eponymous program Erin Burnett OutFront that former anti-Trump Republican and Pelosi-picked January 6 committee member Adam Kinzinger had been hired as a "senior political commentator" on the network. This, of course, makes perfect sense because other than our friends Scott Jennings and Stephen Gutowski, Adam Kinzinger is the type of "Republican" voice that gets a lot of airtime on CNN.
[...]
Kinzinger, if you recall, was redistricted out of his Congressional seat by Democrats despite doing everything he could to suck up to them and act as their puppet.
This, of course, is Kinzinger's reward for abandoning his own party and helping to legitimize Nancy Pelosi's January 6 show trials. He can't keep his seat in Congress, but he gets a cushy commentator job on a failing cable news network.
As NewsBusters Managing Editor Curtis Houck summed up perfectly on Twitter, "the fact that Chris Licht's CNN has hired liberal wine mom simp Adam Kinzinger as not only a political commentator but senior political commentator is proof that nothing has changed at CNN from Zucker. By and large, CNN still hates a large part of the country."
Right-wingers like Tober and Houck used to reliably hate the part of the country that were credibly accused or convicted criminals, though that all changed when Republicans staged an insurrection on behalf of credibly accused criminal Donald Trump, another Republican.They also alienate the part of the country annoyed with so-called "media researchers" who spew insults like "liberal wine mom simp" rather than actually trying to substantiate their criticism.
It wasn't until later in the year, though, that the MRC began seriously Heathering Kinzinger for failing to be a right-wing shill. Tim Graham spent a Nov. 1 column ranting about Kinzinger's new book:
Former congressman Adam Kinzinger has a new book out for Halloween titled Renegade. This implies he’s a daring rebel against Republicans, instead of simply switching parties. In some dictionaries, “renegade” is defined as “a person who abandons a cause or organization, usually without right,” like a “mutineer.” That fits.
When asked by liberal interviewers, Kinzinger volunteers he voted for Democrats in the midterms and will vote for Biden and Democrats in 2024. He says it’s a simple decision between democracy (Democrats) or authoritarianism (Republicans). That fits the Democrat narrative perfectly.
He'll claim he's still a Republican. Professionally, Kinzinger is now a “CNN Republican,” just as for his last two years in Congress, he was a “Pelosi Republican” on her personally-picked panel on January 6. She was his leader. He followed her orders. Just like those hearings, his book interviews are all pre-packaged anti-Republican talking points.
ABC and NPR and other liberal media outlets were eager to interview him and promote his book. When you draw a softball interview with Clinton press secretary George Stephanopoulos, you look like a Democrat. When you’re celebrated on the Stephen Colbert hootenanny, it’s the same look.
Even at a time when Hamas terrorists can slaughter hundreds of innocent people and still cause “professional” journalists to refrain from using the T-word, Kinzinger knew he could call conservative Republicans “terrorists” and get rewarded for it.
Graham made no attempt to rebut anything Kinzinger said or even why he's not allowed to criticize the far-right drift of Trump and his fellow Republicans -- it was all about the Heathering.
It was Alex Christy's turn to whine that Kinzinger was not spreading the required right-wing talking points in a Nov. 2 post:
Former GOP congressman turned CNN political analyst Adam Kinzinger likes to say that his move away from the party is because of Donald Trump, January 6, and election denial, but on Wednesday, he took his book tour to CBS and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert where he compared Speaker Mike Johnson’s statements that his worldview is found in the Bible to the Taliban.
Colbert has been harping on the idea that Johnson’s statements that the Bible is the foundation for his worldview is particularly scary on Wednesday was no exception, “Now, one of the things that Mike Johnson has said is that if you want to know his worldview, like how he feels about issues specifically, you should go pick up a Bible. I pick up Bibles all the time. I'm a big fan. It's a very good book, but what do you make of the Bible as a legislative tool?”
Indeed, Colbert will frequently cite the Bible to defend left-wing economics so he knows that there is a big difference between imposing a theocracy and pursuing policies you believe are in line with the Word of God, but when it comes to Republicans he plays dumb and pretends that theocracy is imminent.
As for Kinzinger, he suggested that Johnson doesn’t know how America works, “The Bible is what—the Bible is something that, you know, for me, I use it as a guide for my life. I'm a Christian, right? The Bible shows me how to live my life, but I think this country was founded on the idea that a representative represents not just people that share his faith or her faith but people that you represent-- 700,000 people that I represented, they all don't believe the same thing I do.”
Johnson isn’t suggesting that everybody should be forced to go to church or anything like that, but Kinzinger still reached for the Taliban card[.]
[...]
Kinzinger was first elected to Congress in 2010 when same-sex marriage was not yet legal in all 50 states, was America like the Taliban then? Is protecting the integrity of women’s sports like the Taliban? Is believing that a man is a man even if he thinks and says he is a woman like the Taliban? Is the downfall of Roe v. Wade like the Taliban, because Colbert thinks it is.
The Heathering baton moved later that day to Clay Waters:
The Adam Kinzinger media lovefest rolls on, as the former Republican congressman sells his book boasting about how he became a "traitor" to Republicans, serving on the House January 6 committee (hand-picked to serve by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
He retained his anti-Republican talking points on Wednesday’s Amanpour & Co., which airs on taxpayer-funded PBS. The liberal media’s ideal Republican, groomed for CNN, the former Illinois congressman now votes Democrat and wants you to to as well, warning in his new book Renegade: My Life in Faith, the Military, and Defending America from Trump's Attack on Democracy that the Republican Party no longer believes in democracy.
Is it any wonder the mainstream media is so eager to talk to him as the 2024 presidential campaign approaches?
Host Christiane Amanpour called Kinzinger “an outcast in his own party” while setting up his talk with journalist Michel Martin, who quizzed him about the election of Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana as Speaker of the House. Martin noted Johnson “was one of the 147 House and Senate Republicans who voted to overturn the 2020 election,” setting up the former congressman to call it “a frightening moment.”
[...]
Kinzinger again admitted he’s not really a Republican any more (even as the press treats him as the conscience of the party) and urged listeners to vote Democrat in 2024.
Waters didn't discuss the fact that -- as the transcript showed but he didn't highlight, let alone try to disprove -- Kinzinger said he's voting Democratic because "because in my mind, there's only one issue on the ballot, that issue is, do you believe in democracy or do you not believe in democracy? If you don't, I got a party for you. If you do, right now, there's only one party that shows a real commitment to democracy."
Waters followed that an hour or so later with another complaint about Kinziner appearing on another PBS show,. huffing that he has become "the liberal media’s ideal 'Republican,' one who votes Democrat and urges you too as well." Waters didn't explain how Kinzinger's refusal to endorse the Capitol riot and Trump's incitement of it warranted putting "Republican" in scare quotes.
Graham returned to rehash all this Heathering of Kinzinger in his Nov. 3 podcast:
Plus Adam Kinzinger smears Republicans on his liberal-media book tour. No "fact checkers" moved a mental muscle.
On NPR's All Things Considered, Kinzinger described the conservative House Republicans as a "terrorist caucus" taking "hostages." On CBS's Late Show with Stephen Colbert, he compared House Speaker Mike Johnson to the Taliban. On NPR'sFresh Air, he compared the GOP to "fundamentalists" like ISIS. And everywhere, he said the Republicans were the party of authoritarianism, not democracy.
You can suggest conservatives are all authoritarians, or they represent "Jim Crow 2.0," and the fact-checkers don't lift a finger. This slime is considered fair game.
You know who else didn't fact-check Kinzinger? Graham and his MRC subordinates, no matter how much they whined about his words. And Graham would not want anybody fact-checking its narrative that Kinzinger isn't a real Republican because he opposed the Capitol riot and Trump's wannabe authoritarianism.
Newsmax, WND Slobber Over Trump's Allegedly Increasing Net Worth Topic: Newsmax
When Forbes magazine dropped Donald Trump from its list of the 400 richest Americans in October, Newsmax gave Trump space to whine about it, baselessly calling the magazine "very badly failing" and dismiss the list as a "very dated and discredited 'antique'" and insisting that the magazine is "China-owned" though it's actually owned by a 28-year-old American tech bro. (UPDATE: The sale to the tech bro fell through, which means it's apparently still owned by a Hong Kong-based investment group, which Forbes denies has any ties to China.) But when a different magazine put Trump on its own list of rich people, Newsmax devoted a Nov. 7 article by Lee Barney to gushing over it:
Trump’s fortune has grown by $500 million to $3.1 billion since leaving office in 2021, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Bloomberg attributes this primarily to the real estate boom in Florida, which has bolstered two of Trump’s best-known properties, Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach and the Doral golf resort in Miami.
In addition, having sold his Washington hotel and paid down loans, Trump has more cash and less debt than at any point in the past decade, according to Bloomberg, which has been estimating Trump’s net worth since 2015.
Actually, Bloomberg didn't make that claim about Trump having "more cash and less debt" -- it simply quoted Eric Trump saying it. Barney then slipped into Trump PR mode, claiming that Bloomberg's estimation of his real estate properties does not take into consideration the impact of the Trump brand on their values, the historical significance of some of the properties," making a particular case for a certain property:
Perhaps the most controversial piece of real estate being dissected in the trial is Trump’s penthouse apartment at Trump Tower, which his company valued at $131.3 million in 2021, and Bloomberg says is worth $40 million today. The court has no estimation.
[...]
Between 2011 and 2016, Trump said his penthouse was 30,000 square feet, but New York state says it is only 10,996 feet.
What the A.G. nor Bloomberg have not admitted is that New York real estate law permits developers and real estate agents to include measurements of common areas of a building, like the basement, elevator shaft, hallways, roof, etc., in an apartment’s square foot calculation.
Plus, if Trump’s penthouse were to go on the market, there would be a premium price for it because of the 45th president’s name. “There would be a Trump premium because the person that would want the property is likely to be a Trump supporter,” says Eli Beracha, director of the Hollo School of Real Estate at Florida International University.
Barney didn't explain how counting hallways and elevator shafts and basements (which, by the way, a penghouse apartment wouldn't even have) equated to tripling the size of Trump's apartment. He concluded by gushing further:
So, while there’s a $1.4 billion differential between Trump’s $4.5 billion claim and the Bloomberg Billionaires Index’s $3.1 billion peg, the index points out reasonable factors why Trump could be worth all that — or far more.
Further, nowhere does the article acknowledge the monumental, game-changing impact Trump has had on real estate, particularly New York real estate, since he began developing it in the 1970s.
Perhaps because what Trump did 40-plus years ago (with the fortune left to him by his father) has little bearing on his current numbers.
WorldNetDaily similarly gushed over Trump's placement on this list in a Nov. 8 article by Bob Unruh that began by rehashing old grievances:
President Donald Trump's corporate worth is an issue now because the New York attorney general, Letitia James, who campaigned on the platform of getting him, is claiming in a civil case he inflated the values of his properties.
She is insisting on $250 million in damages is owed. And she wants the courts to kill Trump's business entities entirely.
udge Arthur Engoron already has ruled there was "fraud," even though there's no evidence of any loan defaults, any complaints from business associates or anything like that.
Further the paperwork involved in Trump's real estate deals included a disclaimer, telling purchasers, or sellers, they should do their own due diligence on property values, which is a standard clause in many contracts.
But now that Engoron, on his own, wildly ruled that Trump's Mar-a-Lago home was worth only about $18 million, drawing dropped jaws and laughter from experts in real estate, a report has appeared with documentation.
But Engoron didn't reach that conclusion "wildly" or "on his own" -- it's the value of Mar-a-Lago for tax assessment purposes. Nevertheless, Unruh went on to cite a report from the right-wing Epoch Times quoting a real estate agent claiming that 'Trump's Mar-a-Lago is worth more than Bloomberg's estimate, and way more than Engoron claimed.'"
MRC Writer's Assertion That Sunny Hostin Is 'Amti-Semitic' Is As Bogus As His Claim That She's Racist Topic: Media Research Center
Media Research Center writer Nicholas Fondacaro, whose main job is to hate-watch "The View," has taken in recent weeks to smearing co-host Sunny Hostin as "anti-Semitic." But as with his smear of Hostin as "racist" -- which is based on her merely talking about racism and his failure to understand how metaphors work -- this latest smear appears to be based mostly on Hostin merely talking about the war between Israel and Hamas. Fondacaro helpfully summarized his attacks in a Nov. 2 post:
Since the start of the current war between Israel and Hamas, NewsBusters has documented the festering antisemitism leaking from The View’s Sunny Hostin as she has blamed Israel for the October 7 terrorist attack against them, decried Israeli anger at Hamas as “terrifying,” pushed Hamas’s propaganda, and suggested it was Israel that was committing acts of “terror” and “war crimes.”
Let's take a closer look at those allegations. For the first allegation, that Hostin "has blamed Israel for the October 7 terrorist attack," liked to his writeup of the Oct. 9 episode, in which she he quoted her saying nothing of the kind. Fondacaro quoted Hostin noting that "this was a highly coordinated and wide-scale attack by Hamas," then asking ABC reporter James Longman, "What do we know about the timing of this, and what was the impetus for this to happen now?" Longman responded by accurately pointing out that the current government in Israel is "the most right-wing government in this country's history" adding that there's "a sense perhaps that many Palestinians that any kind of political way out of this, is behind them because some of the right-wing elements of the government have been very incendiary in their rhetoric about Palestinians." Despite the fact that Hostin said absolutely nothing that blamed Israel, Fondacaro claimed otherwise: "It was predictable that Hostin would take that position since it bought into Hamas’s narrative that Palestinian land was being occupied by colonizers. She likely sympathizes with that stance since she’s chronically aggrieved and supposedly “oppressed” (as she put it), despite being a multimillionaire. She had even demanded 'reparations' from the United States."
For his second example, from the Oct. 10 episode, Fondacaro did actually quote Hostin saying that "“What is terrifying to me also is that there is so much anger on the Israeli side”; Hostin went on to say that "But now you have a defense minister that is saying we are going to close the Strip and put 2.2 million innocent civilians in the Gaza Strip and we're going to launch an offensive against those 2.2 million people, half of which are children; providing no food, water, or electricity. There are losers on both sides of this, and they're civilians." Not even Fondacaro disputed that there is "so much anger on the Israeli side," and it's also factually accurate that there are many civilians in harm's way in Gaza. Nevertheless, Fondacaro huffed that Hostin engaged in 'anti-Israel/anti-Semitic hate and propaganda" and smeared her as a "racist colonizer."
His third example came from the Oct. 11 episode, in which he accused Hostin of "openly pushing Hamas terrorist propaganda about Israel carrying out collective punishment against Palestinians and how they should “look at some restraint here” after 1,200 Israeli civilians were slaughtered." But the first thing Fondacaro quoted her saying was the ract that the residents of Gaza "have not had a democratic election since 2007 … They did not vote in these people currently vote in Hamas" -- not excactly "Hamas terrorist propaganda." Since he couldn't dispute that fact, he then tried to falsely conflate Palestinians elsewhere with the residents of Gaza: "So, Sunny, answer this: If Palestinians didn’t support the actions of Hamas, then why were they out celebrating in the streets and parading around the bodies of their victims? Why were they so emboldened as to have pro-terrorist rallies across the globe, even here in America?"
Fondacaro then wrote that "Hostin followed that up by pushing Hamas propaganda about how Israel was supposedly violating international law and dishing out collective punishment against Palestinians. This caused the rest of the cast to revolt against her, calling out Hamas for using human shields and storing weapons in schools and noting the Israeli Defense Force warned civilians before striking targets." He didn't accuse "the rest of the cast" of pushing Israeli propaganda.
Fondacaro's final alleged piece of evidence came from his Oct. 13 episode writeup, which he began by complaining that Hostin said "Hamas has been designated a terror organization just like many other terror organizations have had this designation, like the Proud Boys here in the United States"; he made no effort to dispute the accuracy of her description. Then he raged:
Hostin followed up by using Hamas talking points suggesting Israeli military actions were“retaliation against innocent civilians collectively” which were acts of “terror” and “war crimes.” Continuing to draw false equivalencies, she grossly compared Israel to Russia despite the fact Israel did not start the war:
And again, those are not my words, those are the words of the law. And the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said, just last year when we were talking about Ukraine, she said Russia's attacks against civilian infrastructure, especially electricity, are war crimes. Cutting off men, women, children of water, electricity, and heating with winter coming, these are acts of pure terror, and we have to call it as such.
Hostin responded by doubling down on the anti-Israel smears, proclaiming, “They should really refrain from committing war crimes or terror because they're going to lose the goodwill that they have.”
In fact, civilians have died in Gaza at a higher rate than in other recent conflicts, most of the civilians killed in Gaza due to Israeli bombing have been women and children. Further, nearly half of the bombs Israel has dropped in Gaza have been unguided, which causes a greater threat to civilians. No less than Amnesty International is discussing the possibilty that Israel's apparent disregard for the lives of civilians in Gaza constitute a war crime.
Despite the fact that there is nothing anti-Semitic about questioning the tactics Israel is using in Gaza, Fondacaro screeched in the beginning of his post that "We can now add anti-Semite as an accurate descriptor for The View ’s racist co-host, Sunny Hostin." (and, no, Fondacaro still doesn't understand how metaphors work.) In the Nov. 2 post that contained his list, Fondacaro tried to mock Hostin for responding to being falsely smeared as anti-Semitic:
In a segment featuring MSNBC regular Donny Deutsch, Hostin began her comments by whining that she doesn’t like talking about the war because she gets called out for being an anti-Semite. Her defense? She had a Jewish family member:
And I've explained that even as a person of Jewish ancestry – my grandfather is Jewish – Which in my view, is someone who hates Jews. I would have to hate my family.
“However, there is a difference between an anti-Semite and being someone that speaks out against Israel's -- some of Israel's policies,” she argued.
But as noted above, she wasn’t just speaking out against Israeli policy, she was speaking out against them even being angry about the terrorist attack that killed 1,400, including babies, and blaming them for it.
Unsurprisingly, Fondacaro did not explain how that supposedly equates to anti-Semitism. He then noted that "Deutsch even explained it to Hostin in simple terms that it was in Israel was indeed trying to minimize casualties and noted that it was in their best interest to do so" -- but, of course, he wonldn't label Deutsch as repeating Israeli propaganda the way he smeared Hostin for spreading "Hamas propaganda."
We've shown how the Media Research Center tried to Heather former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger for failing to adhere to the right-wing pro-Trump, pro-insiurrection narrative, but it wasn't done yet. Tim Graham complained further about Kinzinger in a Nov. 5 post:
James Hirsen started his Nov. 10 Newsmax 
Jack Cashill complained in his Nov. 15 WorldNetDaily 
The Media Research Center's 
Newsmax is parroting the Media Research Center's 
Alex Christy served up a little hypocritical outrage in an Oct. 31 
Newsmax pundit Dick Morris kept up his attacks on President Biden as the year wound down, as Newsmax pays him to do:
For some reason, Chuck Norris has chosen to take a deep dive into COVID vaccine conspiracy theories in his Nov. 13 WorldNetDaily 
As with 
When Forbes magazine dropped Donald Trump from its list of the 400 richest Americans in October, Newsmax gave Trump 
Media Research Center writer Nicholas Fondacaro, whose main job is to hate-watch "The View," has taken in recent weeks to smearing co-host Sunny Hostin as "anti-Semitic." But as with his 
