CNS Expands Its Word-Counting Fetish to Clinton Topic: CNSNews.com
CNSNews.com has something of a fetish for bashing President Obama for specific words he says or doesn't say, i.e. paraphrasing the Declaration of Independence without mentioning "the Creator."
That obsession has expanded to other politicians CNS despises. Hence, an April 22 article by Penny Starr:
In accepting the “Advocate of Change” award at the GLAAD Media Awards on Sunday, former Democratic President Bill Clinton invoked the Declaration of Independence as confirming support for homosexuals as being “endowed with certain rights” but omitted the words “their Creator” as the source of those rights.
The Declaration of Independence says, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, 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.”
Yes, Starr really thinks this is worthy of a "news" article, which demonstrates that she (and the rest of CNS) puts right-wing ideology before journalistic intent.
WND Columnist Condones Domestic Terrorism Against Government Officials Topic: WorldNetDaily
In her April 19 WorldNetDaily column, Patrice Lewis warned that there is a "trend over the last five years or so in which the government tries to criminalize anyone who disagrees with it." As evidence, she repeated baseless fearmongering over government and military studies of far-right extremists.
Then, Lewis essentially justifies domestic terrorism against government officials because there are legitimate reasons "people believe the federal government is corrupt and tyrannical." She then rattles off a paranoid laundry list of alleged offenses, some of which have nothing to do with government:
Our children are being brainwashed with a federally driven progressive public school agenda of revisionist history, socialist propaganda, gender neutrality, anti-religious views, anti-family literature, the evils of the Second Amendment and the convenience of abortion.
One of the premier magazines in the nation publishes an article indicating that deeply held religious beliefs are a sign of mental illness.
Mental-health issues are being nationalized, setting the stage for Soviet-era-style psychological warfare on American citizens.
Lewis then writes, "As the saying goes, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean you’re wrong."
Lewis concludes:
Now I ask you: who is working to bring down America, to rot the soul of our nation, to bring treason from within? Who is working to fracture our families, undermine our national security and crash our economy? Who is working to penalize small businesses, prosecute producers and reclassify innocent people as domestic terrorists at the stroke of a pen?
In short, who are the REAL domestic terrorists in America?
Well, given that she's essentially condoning, if not outright approving, the use of violence against elected officials, it appears Lewis is one of those domestic terrorists.
Newsmax Touts (Bulk-Purchase-Fueled) Sales of (Newsmax-Published) Obamacare Book Topic: Newsmax
Jim Meyers breathlessly writes in an April 12 Newsmax article:
The “ObamaCare Survival Guide” has reached a new sales milestone — it’s hit the coveted No. 1 spot on The New York Times best-seller list.
The Guide reached the Times’ best-seller list for paperback/advice in early February and remains there today.
The new first-place ranking will appear in the April 21 issue of The New York Times Book Review.
But if you look at the sales chart, you'll notice that there's a dagger symbol at the end of the “ObamaCare Survival Guide” entry. The end of the chart states: "A dagger (†) indicates that some retailers report receiving bulk orders." Bulk sales are a traditional method of boosting sales figures for conservative authors.
And many of those bulk sales appear to be coming from Newsmax itself. The book is Newsmax's latest loss leader, selling it for $4.95 with its usual bonus trial subscriptions to Newsmax magazine and other newsletters that one must opt out of in order to avoid being charged for a full year's subscription.
Meyers also fails to mention the key reason Newsmax is pushing this book so hard: Newsmax published it through its subsidiary Humanix Books.
WND's Unruh Serves As Michele Bachmann's Press Agent Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily named Michele Bachmann its "Woman of the Year" last year, and apparently one of the perks of that designation is that WND will deflect and whitewash her ethhical peccadilloes.
Bob Unruh does exactly that in an April 22 WND article, uncritically regurgitating claims by a former Bachmann official that a dispute over how a staffer for her presidential campaign in Iowa was paid has absolutely nothing to do with her:
News media are turning an ethics dispute between the Iowa Senate and one of its members into a story that is “wrong, reckless, and outrageous,” according to a statement released by counsel for U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn.
[...]
The dispute arose over a claim that an Iowa state senator was paid to work on Bachmann’s 2012 presidential election campaign. The charges, and refutations, both come from different members of the team that supported Bachmann in the race.
“The way the media is portraying this story is wrong, reckless, and outrageous. The affidavit by a former employee in fact confirms that Congresswoman Bachmann followed all applicable laws and ethical rules and instructed those working for her to do the same,” the statement.
“The alleged arrangement at issue was both lawful and properly reported under federal law. This dispute is between the Iowa Senate and an Iowa senator: it has nothing whatsoever to do with Congresswoman Bachmann or her political committees,” the statement continued.
“For anyone to suggest otherwise is both dishonest and reprehensible.”
Well, Unruh is certainly not going to suggest otherwise -- heck, he waits until the third-to-last paragraph of his article before he even gets around to naming the person making the allegation.
NewsBusters Repeats Bogus Claim About Carjacked Mercedes With 'Coexist' Sticker Topic: NewsBusters
Jack Coleman writes in the midst of a Rachel Maddow-bashing rant in an April 22 NewsBusters post:
In fairness to MSNBC viewers, I doubt that most of them and a majority of the network's former primetime hosts are at risk of becoming jihadist bombers. I am equal confident, however, that many MSNBC viewers have adorned a bumper on their vehicle with a "Co-exist" bumper sticker -- like the one placed on the Mercedes allegedly carjacked by the Tsarnaev brothers.
Maybe the brothers saw the sticker, maybe they didn't, but I hope this detail gets pinned down at Tsarnaev's trial, regardless of where it's held. The owner of the vehicle was sending a message with that sticker, along the lines of -- let's all get along, shall we? That's not how the sticker would be interpreted by predators like the Tsarnaevs. Their reading of it would be this -- unarmed driver who won't put up a fight.
Just one little problem: It's not true. The carjacked Mercedes did not have a "Coexist" bumper sticker on it.
Sorry to interrupt your Maddow-bashing with the facts, Jack.
WND's Top Sources On Boston Bombing and Islam: Reza Kahlili and Walid Shoebat Topic: WorldNetDaily
It says a lot about WorldNetDaily -- none of it good -- that its chief sources on the Boston bombings and their alleged Islamic links are Reza Kahlili and Walid Shoebat.
Kahlili -- the writer hiding behind a pseudonym who uses anonymous sources almost exclusively -- claims in an April 22 WND article that "Qasem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Quds Forces, ordered reconnaissance and intelligence gathering on various events and public gatherings in the United States years ago, culminating in the bombings at the Boston Marathon one week ago." His alleged source for this is "a source within Iran’s intelligence services," and Kahlili offers no on-the-record substantiation.
As we've pointed out, when you're hiding behind a fake name and use only anonymous sources like Kahlili does, you can pretty much write anything safe in the knowledge that it's unverifiable by anyone else.
Meanwhile, another April 22 WND article by Drew Zahn uncritically promotes a claim from Shoebat -- who has been credibly accused of lying about his own past as a self-proclaimed Islamic terrorist-turned-Christian -- that "a bizarre video released out of Egypt demonstrates the 'demonic' spirit that has gripped the nation since its 2011 Islamic revolution." Zahn makes no effort to verify the video or seek another interpretation.
These are the people that WND is relying on. Scary, isn't it?
MRC: Depicting Gays in Comics Is 'Propaganda' Topic: Media Research Center
Kristine Marsh and Matt Philbin rant in an April 15 MRC Culture & Media Institute item:
Poor Sgt. Rock. Were he around today, the grizzled infantryman who’s WWII combat exploits thrilled a generation of boys might find himself sitting through sexual orientation sensitivity training in the post-Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell Army. And he’d be hard pressed to recognize his old DC Comics area of operations.
In an upcoming release, DC’s openly lesbian Batwoman character will be shown kissing her lover while proposing marriage. And now, Batgirl has a transgendered roommate. These are not your father’s comic books.
Like the rest of American pop culture, comic books have increasingly included pro-gay propaganda pieces aimed at the children and young adults who read them. Not to be outdone by DC’s super-heroic sexual diversity, Marvel released a comic a few weeks ago where “Wolverine and Hercules share a gay kiss,” as reported by The Huffington Post.
Yes, Marsh and Philbin really seem to believe that depicting gays in comics behaving like other comic characters behave is "propaganda."
Marsh and Philbin also rush to the defense of right-wing sci-fi writer Orson Scott Card from "gay activists" who "have been hounding him as a 'homophobe' and 'bigot,' simply for affirming the traditional understanding of marriage."
They go on to lament: "Unsurprisingly, there’s no public uproar or call for writers to be fired for pushing their gay agenda, because what press this gaying of comics has gotten has been favorable." But they don't explain why gays must be treated as nothing less than evil, which is apparently their goal.
David Kupelian's Solution to Obama-Induced Stress: Help From His Favorite Cult Leader Topic: WorldNetDaily
Turns out we were right on the money when we pointed out that WorldNetDaily's Whistleblower magazine would be blaming the nation's overall stress on President Obama.
WND has published managing editor David Kupelian's essay on the subject, and it pretty much fulfills that promise:
After all, let’s face the hard facts: We just re-elected perhaps the worst president in history, someone manifestly obsessed with dismantling traditional, free-market capitalist America and transforming it into a socialist nanny state. That in itself is highly stressful – at least for the roughly half the population that still understands socialism always leads to a profound loss of freedom and prosperity.
Then there’s today’s relentless economic pressures: high unemployment (the actual rate is at least double that of the “official” government rate), foreclosures and bankruptcies, a stagnant growth rate, 11,000 new people signing up for food stamps every single day, rising taxes for the entire middle class whose net worth is simultaneously shrinking, ever-higher prices for food, gas and other essentials – and overshadowing it all, a galactic national debt burden, courtesy of a wildly out-of-control government unrestrained by either the Constitution or common sense.
That, too, is very stressful. Top it all off with an administration continually abusing the public for the sake of enlarging and consolidating its political power – for instance, by purposely making the “sequester” cuts hurt Americans, even our active-duty soldiers, as much as possible.
Make no mistake: This sort of stress on Americans is not only intentional on the part of Team Obama – it is strategic. Remember, these people are revolutionaries (that is, engaged in “bringing about a major or fundamental change,” as Merriam-Webster puts it) and utterly committed to replacing one societal structure – America’s constitutional, limited-government, free-enterprise system – with another – a socialist, wealth-redistributionist system run by an all-powerful government.
Such a radical change cannot be accomplished while Americans are calm, happy, content and grateful for their blessings. Citizens must be unhappy and stressed out. Indeed, widespread popular discontent has always been the required fuel for leftist transformation.
Just reading a few pages into Saul Alinsky’s notorious “Rules for Radicals,” one encounters repeated confirmation that the very key to radical “change” is keeping the populace angry, encouraging their grievances, stoking their resentments and making sure they are continually upset. That is the primary psychological dynamic of “community organizing” – and America today is led by community-organizer-in-chief Barack Obama, a long-time master practitioner and instructor in Alinsky’s neo-Marxist agitation methods.
Top radio talker Rush Limbaugh recently picked up on this normally unspoken aspect of Obama’s modus operandi: “I think he wants people to snap,” opined Rush. “I think Obama is challenging everybody’s sanity. Obama [is] literally pushing people to snap, attacking the very sanity of the country.”
Kupelian also writes that "during eras when society and families are stable, unified and fundamentally decent and moral – as, say, America during the 1950s – the stress level for each person is minimized, or at least not compounded by a perverse society." Yeah, blacks in the 1950s weren't feeling any stress about being systematically discriminated against, did they?
Kupelian's solution to all of this Obama-induced stress involves an old friend:
Like the constantly inculcated attribute of “resilience,” the military has also found the practice of “mindfulness” to be extremely helpful in overcoming stress. And the gold standard in this growing field is “Be Still and Know,” a simple and time-tested awareness exercise that been used in all five armed service branches for many years.
[...]
“Be Still and Know” was developed by Roy Masters, who at 85 is the patriarch of stress experts, having taught this method since 1960 to millions, his fans including everyone from movie star John Wayne to Internet journalist Matt Drudge. He also hosts talk radio’s longest-running counseling show, “Advice Line,” on Talk Radio Network. The author of 18 books, Masters was featured on the Sean Hannity Show to discuss his newest book, “Hypnotic States of Americans.”
Recently, all four of the audio exercises on the “Coping Strategies” CD have been released in a new civilian version on a dedicated MP3 player called, “The Cure Stress Device.”
“In today’s high-tech, wireless world,” said Masters, “a little, self-contained audio device the size of a credit card seemed like the best delivery system possible.”
In a recent message he tweeted, Masters summed up more than 60 years of work in just 140 characters: “Learn to endure cruelty and injustice without resentment and after the stress has passed you will find the fulfillment you have been seeking.”
Kupelian never gets around to mentioning it, but he used to work for Masters. We've documented that Kupelian used to edit a magazine for Masters' organization, the Foundation of Human Understanding, that appears to have served as a prototype for Whistleblower.
Masters may not be the best person to take relaxation tips from. He and his FHU has been accused of cult-like tendencies over the years; his followers have been called "Roybots." Masters moved his operations to Grants Pass, Oregon, in 1982 -- followed by 2,000 of his supporters, who proceeded to attempt to take over the town; that prompted a boycott of Masters-related businesses by some local residents. A July 1992 episode of Geraldo Rivera's TV show featured a former FHU member who said of the group: "The role of women is to be very submissive, quiet, never questioning, not thinking, no decisions." The ex-wife of one of Roy Masters' sons denounced Masters on a 1999 TV show, citing a "long history of Masters' denigration of women."
Plus, as WND news editor Joe Kovacs inadvertently confirmed, WND's original headquaters was located on a ranch owned by Masters' FHU.
So we have your usual WND non-disclosure of conflicts of interest and a whitewashing of the ugly truth about the man who Kupelian apparently idolizes. Par for the course for a "news" organization so desperate for credibility that it's still touting how some website nobody's heard of (run by a church where an associate pastor has been accused of raping a child) proclaimed it "trustworthy."
NewsBusters associate editor Noel Sheppard spent part of his weekend being fascinated by the tweets of Donald Trump.
Sheppard devoted an April 20 post to highlighting a Trump tweet asking, "Is the Boston killer eligible for Obama Care to bring him back to health?" Sheppard added that "Alas, many of Trump's followers didn't see the humor in this and voiced their displeasure." Actually, it's Sheppard and Trump who missed the humor: As severl Twitter followers responded, the suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings, since he lives in Massachusetts, would be eligible for care under the health care plan put into place under former governor -- and 2012 Republican presidential candidate with prominent backing from Trump -- Mitt Romney.
The next day, Sheppard highlighted another tweet from Trump, this time asking, "What do you think of water boarding the Boston killer sometime prior to allowing our doctors to make him well? I suspect he may talk!" Sheppard did not voice his disapproval at either tweet.
By contrast, Sheppard completely ignored another, even more controversial tweet from Trump the same weekend. As Wonkette details, Trump rebutted a follower who complained about his views on the Central Park 5 case by retorting, "Tell me, what were they doing in the Park, playing checkers?"
In fact, the suspects who were originally convicted of raping a jogger in Central Park were exonerated were exonerated and released from prison after another person confessed to the crime. Trump later deleted the tweet.
Funny that Sheppard didn't want to interrupt his Trump-fluffing to tell the truth.
WND's Robert Ringer: America 'Reached Its Apex of Virtuosity In The 1950s' Topic: WorldNetDaily
Robert Ringer writes in his April 17 WorldNetDaily column:
The collective was the life of prehistoric man – the life of the savage. As civilization advanced, however, families began to strive for self-sufficiency, which increasingly came to be considered virtuous. This was especially true of the United States, which probably reached its apex of virtuosity in the 1950s.
So why did things begin to slide backwards after that? I believe it was a result of a fascinating paradox. As the average person’s life has become ever more comfortable, there has been a natural evolution toward compassion. No civilized person – especially someone who is living well – wants to see other people suffer.
Unfortunately, this natural evolution toward compassion also dragged along with it the tenets of socialism.
Really? The time of segregation, sexism and a 90 percent top tax rate was the "apex of virtuosity"?
CNS' Starr Unhappy That Gays Might Be Considered 'Extraordinary' Topic: CNSNews.com
CNSNews.com reporter Penny Starr is ratherprone to anti-gay freakouts. She has another one in an April 17 article over the thought that gays might be considered "extraordinary":
The White House announced it is expanding its “Champions of Change” contest, which “spotlights ordinary people doing extraordinary things,” to include gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender individuals.
The announcement posted on the White House website cites President Barack Obama posthumously awarding Harvey Milk the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. Milk, a gay man who was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and later shot to death by a rival politician, served as the inspiration for the expanded contest.
Starr seems to think that gays have never done anything extraordinary ever. That that fits right in with her employer's anti-gay agenda.
WND Pushes Another Dubious Claim From Walid Shoebat Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily continues its irresponsible behavior in reporting on the Boston Marathon bombings with an April 19 article by Bob Unruh, in which he uncritically repeats the unsubstantiated claim that Michelle Obama visited Abdul Rahman Ali Issa Al-Salimi Alharbi -- a former “person of interest” in theh bombing who has since been cleared -- while visiting a Boston hospital and meeting with victims of the bombing.
The only source Unruh cites for this claim is the notoriously unreliable Walid Shoebat -- who has been credibly accused of of lying about his own past as a self-proclaimed Islamic terrorist-turned-Christian -- who in turn cites a report in a Saudi Arabian newspaper named Okaz. Unruh makes no mention of Shoebat offering any verification of the claim other than citing "tweets from members of the Alharbi family."
Unruh is weirdly eager to boost the credibility of the unverified claim by talking up the alleged good reputation of Okaz:
The newspaper is more than half a century old and publishes out of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. It also publishes simultaneously in Riyadh.
One of the oldest newspapers in Saudi Arabia, it also is brave, taking on banned issues such as lesbianism in the repressive Islamic kingdom. Its circulation is estimated at about 150,000 and the online version was reported by Forbes Middle East two years ago to be one of the Top 10 online newspapers in the Middle East region.
Unruh also repeated a pair of false and/or libelous claims:
"WND reported earlier when an expert on terrorism said Alharbi, the original 'person of interest' in the Monday bombing, was going to be deported on national security grounds." He curiously didn't name his expert, Steve Emerson -- perhaps because his assertion has been discredited.
"WND had reported Wednesday morning that the Saudi student Alharbi shares the same last name as a major Saudi clan that includes scores of al-Qaida operatives." As we've documented, WND is implying without proof that Alharbi is a terrorist, which exposes it to a potential libel action from Alharbi if the claim is indeed false.
You'd think that a veteran of three decades in journalism, part of that time with the Associated Press, would know better than to write a story with a single source whose veracity is highly questionable, or to repeat claims that are demonstrably false or potentially libelous. But Joseph Farah is not paying Unruh to follow time-tested journalistic ethics.
"The Five" on Fox News Channel didn't cover more than a few seconds of President Obama's petulant Rose Garden attack on conservatives making Wednesday "a shameful day for Washington." The other networks, which define "news" as anything their Heroic President chooses to utter, including his March Madness picks, were shocked and appalled.
Graham failed to identify what, exactly, was petulant about what Obama said. But then, it appears Graham's petulance detector is way out of calibration, because he sees Fox's petulant refusal to air Obama's remarks as a principled decision, despite the fact that Fox cut away even before Obama finished his first sentence and, thus, could not know the full content of Obama's remarks.
Still, Graham claimed that Fox's Greg Gutfeld, during whose Fox show the channel quickly cut out of Obama's statement, "seemed to protest the brevity of their White House snippet." In reality, Obama-hater Gutfeld seemed to be realizing how bad this looks, even for such an anti-Obama channel like Fox, and this was merely an effort to paper over how partisan and petty the channel looked.
Graham goes on to proudly declare that Fox News "broke out its smackdown machine" in response to its refusal to air Obama's response, despite the fact that Fox's statements sure sound much more petulant than anything Obama said.
So: Obama responding to the failure of a Senate vote is "petulant," while Fox's petulance is principled. Got it, Tim.
WND Columnist: Sandy Hook Survivors Are A 'Disgrace' For Seeking Gun Regulations Topic: WorldNetDaily
The Sandy Hook parents and others running around this nation at taxpayer and DNC front group expense seeking to hold responsible an inanimate object for their grief are, quite frankly, a disgrace. They know perfectly well the truth about Sandy Hook, but they are lying to America. They would have us “sacrifice essential liberty,” to paraphrase Ben Franklin, not for temporary safety, but for their own momentary convenience.
And the truth is very inconvenient. Adam Lanza’s mother knew that her son was a danger. But she blamed “bullying” at the school (not, you will note, the individual bullies, just the process). She excused and enabled her son’s actions. She knew the course her son’s illness would take, yet she did nothing. And neither did anyone else in her circle of friends. She enabled her son.
Just as the Sandy Hook parents and others who have suffered a personal loss are enabling the sick hypocrites and demagogues in D.C. who are shamefully using these family members’ grief to destroy essential American liberties. Why? Because they find individual liberty and freedom from government overreach inconvenient to their hypocritical lives and careers. Stop dishonoring the memory of your loved ones. Stop dishonoring America. Tell the truth.
MRC Just Started Sending Reporter To Trial It's Been Haranguing Others To Cover Topic: Media Research Center
Over the past couple of weeks, the Media Research Center has gotten a lot of mileage out of trying to shame broadcast outlets into covering the murder trial of abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell. It's a selective shame, of course -- the MRC has to focus only on broadcast networks and ignore inconvenient facts like how Fox News devoted the least amount of airtime of the three cable news networks to Gosnell's arrest in 2011.
The latest step in the MRC's campaign is an April 18 Culture & Media Institute article by Katie Yoder complaining that "besides the Media Research Center, an average of only 12 – 15 reporters appeared in the courtroom at a time on Wednesday, April 17."
What Philbin doesn't report in his article: April 17 was apparently the first anyone from the MRC attended trial proceedings.
We asked CMI managing editor Matt Philbin via Twitter if that was true -- that April 17 was the first day that an MRC employee attended the Gosnell trial in person. He responded: "Like we have the resources? We don't get Soros $." We'll take that as a yes.
By the way, Philbin's crack about "Soros $" is silly because a) ConWebWatch doesn't receive funding from anyone, let alone George Soros, b) the Scaife and Pickens money the MRC receives surely salves any wound it feels from not being a Soros beneficiary, and c) the MRC has a $12 million budget, and it couldn't afford to send someone from Washington to Philadelphia to cover the trial only until it could justify doing so as a way to further its anti-media activism? Apparently, the MRC has to save that precious cash for important things like Times Square billboards.
So while the MRC was spending money trying to rouse conservatives into harrassing the media to cover the Gosnell trial, it couldn't be bothered to spend money on a hotel room, a laptop and gas money to send someone to Philly to cover the trial until three days ago.
That cynical approach proves once again that the MRC doesn't care about journalism, except when it can be exploited to further its right-wing agenda.
