Dark Days Topic: WorldNetDaily
Letting his pro-extremist bias show again, WorldNetDaily reporter Aaron Klein declared in an Aug. 13 news article that the Gaza disengagement is, for Jews, "the darkest day of their history." (The story's headline puts "darkest day" in quotes, but the only person making the assertion in the article is Klein himself.)
Guess Klein never heard of a little thing called the Holocaust.
Even as Klein cites events such as "the outbreak of pogroms against Jews during the First Crusade, the expulsion of Jews from Spain and later from England, and the crushing of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising in Germany," they are all apparently trivial matters compared to disengagement.
Why, again, is WND using this man as a "reporter"?
The online gamer zine Gamer Revolution notes that Thompson has taken offense to an AIM buddy icon posted on a sister site depicting a gruesome death for Thompson (well, as much as you can depict one in a buddy icon). Even though it was removed from the site per a cease-and-desist letter from Thompson, that wasn't enough. Thompson is demanding the arrest of the zine's president because the removal of the icon "constitutes an admission of guilt."
The zine concludes that Thompson is "a litigious, headline-hungry lunatic who routinely exhibits a startling lack of common sense." Sounds about right.
More ConWeb Magazine News Topic: Newsmax
We keep forgetting to post this, but last month, NewsMax made a point of noting that "In recent months NewsMax Magazine has hit more than 100,000 paid subscribers - this means that more than 400,000 Americans read NewsMax Magazine each month!"
It's hard to say meaningful NewsMax's 4-readers-per-copy claim is, since no evidence is offered to support it. But let's take a trip back in time for NewsMax's history of fudging circulation figures.
As ConWebWatch has noted, NewsMax has publicly claimed in the past that the magazine has "a paid monthly readership of more than 300,000 readers," while noting at the same time in its filing for its abortive IPO that the magazine's circulation was, in fact, "approximately 59,395."
Given the similar lack of evidence to support the circulation claim and NewsMax history of lying about it, there probably isn't much reason to believe that claim, either.
'The Best News Magazine in the World' Topic: WorldNetDaily
We missed this when we were detailing the logrolling WorldNetDaily is doing for David Kupelian's book (or maybe it wasn't there before), but the logrolling article promotes a "Special Offer" for those who buy Kupelian's book from WND:
When you order "The Marketing of Evil" from WorldNetDaily's online store, you can also receive – FREE – three issues of David Kupelian's elite monthly Whistleblower magazine, which many have called the best news magazine in the world.
No evidence is offered that anyone, let alone "many," thinks that Whistleblower is "the best news magazine in the world."
We skimmed through the book tonight at the bookstore, and yes, it has a version of his "media matrix" essay. And no, there's no mention of the matrix WND weaves.
NewsMax Pimps Bogus Poll Topic: Newsmax
In an Aug. 11 article, NewsMax turns to the last resort of publicity -- the meaningless, opt-in online poll -- to tout Jeanine Pirro.
While NewsMax concedes that the poll is "unscientific," it claims that "it continues a trend that began this week." No, it doesn't; the fact that the poll is unscientific means that it is not a true reflection of anything beyond the opinions of those to chose to vote in the poll.
Updates Topic: The ConWeb
-- NewsMax punts, runs only an AP article on the demise of its beloved Counter Clinton Library. Did NewsMax Media or Christopher Ruddy donate to it? Time to hunt down those donation records, since it was a 501(c)3 group that had to report donations to the IRS.
-- NewsMax also continues lying about Jamie Gorelick, ignoring history of "wall."
-- More whitewashing of Jeanine Pirro's 32-second gap, this time for CNSNews.com's Rich Galen: "I don't blame Ms. Pirro for that gaff [sic]. I blame the staff and the environment which we have created around public officials."
New Article: Where the Killer Is A Victim Topic: WorldNetDaily
Why does WorldNetDaily have as its Jerusalem reporter someone who is so cozy with a militant Jewish movement that he whitewashes and obscures its history of violence and extremism? An in-depth look at WND's Aaron Klein that began in ConWebBlog. Read more.
The He-Man Clinton-Haters Club Packs It In Topic: Newsmax
The Associated Press reports that the Counter Clinton Library, championed by the likes of NewsMax and John LeBoutillier as "the headquarters of the Stop Hillary Now campaign," has folded:
"I'm giving up," said Houston businessman Richard Erickson, who established nonprofit Counterlibe Inc. last year to fund construction of a Counter Clinton Library in Little Rock and another in Washington.
[...]
He said the Counter Clinton Library's Web site would be shut down soon. In addition to railing against the former president and his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., the site touts what may have been the failed organization's biggest moment - a segment on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" in which a fake news reporter makes fun of the group's very mission.
[...]
In a separate e-mail sent Wednesday, Erickson informed [former congressman Bob] Barr that he couldn't raise enough money to continue.
"Nearly every dime raised has gone to professional fundraisers and lawyers," Erickson wrote to Barr. "I cannot continue, in good conscience, to ask well-meaning people to donate to what they believe is a good cause, when the money will most likely be consumed in administrative and legal expenses."
Does this mean Scaife wouldn't bail 'em out?
Don't expect a NewsMax article on this until LeBoutiller figures out how to give it a positive spin.
Schlussel Slithers Back Topic: WorldNetDaily
ConWebWatch detailed the bizarre, contradictory rhetoric of Ann Coulter wannabe Debbie Schlussel back in 2001, when she was a WorldNetDaily columnist. Whether it was her taste in movies or insisting that a phone call from a congressman constituted harassment or her sports-as-war fetish, Schlussel could be counted on for, um, unusual takes on things. Then, WND dropped her, and she slid below the radar.
Well, Schlussel is apparently trying to make a comeback, overheated rhetoric and all. An Aug. 11 article at David Horowitz's FrontPageMag.com claims that "Peter Jennings did more for the cause of Islamic terrorism than any media figure today." She drops the line "I won't dance on Jennings' grave" despite the fact that that is exactly what she's doing.
Horowitz, you'll recall, had an equally classy reaction to Jennings' death, so FrontPageMag is the perfect home for Schlussel's screed.
The Wall, Part 2 Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily has decided to join NewsMax in lying about Jamie Gorelick.
An Aug. 11 article quote the conservative blog Captain's Quarters as an authoritative source in claiming that "It was Gorelick who, as deputy attorney general in the Clinton Justice Department, established the wall of silence between intel and law enforcement."
Needless to say, there's no mention of the facts that Gorelick did not create the "wall," or that the Bush Justice Department renewed it shortly before 9/11.
She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Serious Topic: CNSNews.com
Most unintentionally funny commentary of the day: an Aug. 11 CNSNews.com piece by Jill S. Farrell, "a conservative communications and media relations professional," fretting that conservatives' constant attacks on Hillary Clinton are increasing her name recognition.
NewsMax Pirro Watch Topic: Newsmax
What we're watching for tonight: When it issues an original report on Jeanine Pirro's official announcement of her campaign for Hillary Clinton's Senate seat, will NewsMax make note of Pirro's 32-second dead spot when she lost a page of her speech?
UPDATE: We have our answer. It's buried toward the end of an article by Jim Meyers and dismissed as a "minor gaffe" being turned into a "big deal" by "New York's notoriously liberal press." Meyers spends the rest of the article trying to portray any media mention of the legal and sexual indiscretions of Pirro's husband as a "full-scale assault" by said liberal press.
Violent Extremists Topic: CNSNews.com
Susan Jones relies on the usual CNSNews.com labeling bias in an Aug. 10 article on NARAL Pro-Choice America's ad on Supreme Court nominee John Roberts -- "pro-life demonstrators" vs. "pro-abortion group" and "abortion advocate."
Jones also engages in a tortured defense of a brief Roberts filed in a case involving abortion protesters:
Moreover, Roberts' 1991 court brief did not support violent extremists; in that brief, Roberts argued against the use of an 1871 federal law to prosecute pro-life demonstrators. Those demonstrators included a man, Michael Bray, who previously (in 1985) had been convicted of conspiracy in connection with abortion clinic bombings.
So even though the defendants whose position Roberts supported in his brief were violent extremists, he was not actually supporting violent extremists. Got that?
Another Brick in NewsMax's Wall Topic: Newsmax
As it did with Winter Soldier, NewsMax can't stop lying about Jamie Gorelick.
An Aug. 9 article blames Gorelick, former deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration who NewsMax claims "was reportedly installed in her post at the insistence of then-first lady Hillary Clinton," for allegations that federal investigators did not act upon intelligence that had identified in 2000 four men who were eventually among the 19 hijackers who perpetrated 9/11, because she allegedly implemented a "wall" that prevented sharing of information between intelligence officials and criminal investigators.
In fact, as ConWebWatch has noted, Gorelick did not create that wall; it was created in 1978. And while NewsMax quotes former attorney general John Ashcroft claiming that Gorelick "built that wall" (based on a memo that Ashcroft had conveniently declassified in time for his testimony before the 9/11 Commission), NewsMax fails to note that Ashcroft's own deputy reaffirmed the guidelines Gorelick advocated a few months before 9/11.
