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Thursday, October 31, 2013
MRC Is Still Defending Dick Cheney
Topic: Media Research Center

Brad Wilmouth takes us back into time in an Oct. 29 Media Research Center item:

On Monday's PoliticsNation, MSNBC host Al Sharpton bizarrely devoted his regular "Nice Try" segment to Dick Cheney denying that he and Wyoming Republican Senator Mike Enzi are "fishing buddies," which the former Vice President did on Sunday's ABC This Week during a discussion of daughter Liz Cheney's bid for the Senate.

As he mocked the former Vice President, Sharpton managed to bring up the Iraq invasion and repeated the false assertion from the left that Cheney had claimed Iraq should be invaded because an Iraqi agent met with one of the 9/11 hijackers. Sharpton: "Is Cheney finally admitting that a 9-1-1 bomber didn't meet with an agent of Saddam Hussein? Cheney used that meeting to justify the Iraq invasion even though it didn't happen."

Sharpton was alluding to a series of edited clips from four interviews the former Vice President gave on NBC's Meet the Press which liberal entities like MSNBC promoted in 2004 to make it appear that Cheney had claimed that Iraq was involved in the 9/11 attacks.

In reality, in each case, Cheney was answering a question from then-host Tim Russert about whether there were links between the 9/11 hijackers and Iraq. The then-Vice President informed viewers that a Czech intelligence agent had claimed that he observed one of the 9/11 hijackers meeting with an Iraqi intelligence agent in Prague, but also noted that there was debate whether the account was true.

Well, if Cheney couldn't prove it, why repeat the claim in the first place? Shouldn't Cheney have waited until the claim was definitively proven before repeating it in public?

As Wilmouth noted, Cheney made the claim four different times, which seems to indicated that there was an agenda behind doing so -- namely, justifying U.S. involvement in Iraq. And Cheney was still repeating it even after it had been all but discredited. Doesn't that indicate a pro-Iraq War agenda as well?

The evidence seems to indicate that Cheney wanted to tie Iraq to the 9/11 attacks. Wilmouth, however, seems to want to take refuge in Cheney's disclaimers to ignore the fact that if such disclaimers were necessary, Cheney should have never made the claim public.


Posted by Terry K. at 9:48 PM EDT
WND's Maloof Recruits Another Obama-Hater To his Anti-Obama Conspiracy
Topic: WorldNetDaily

WorldNetDaily's Michael Maloof apparently thinks he has something going with his conspiracy theory that Preident Obama is systematically removing military commanders, despite the utter lack of evidence to back up the claim. Maloof has found another dupe -- er, supposed military expert to sign on to the conspiratorial claims made by crazy birther Paul Vallely:

President Obama is aiming a “wrecking operation” at the U.S. military, according to a former Defense Department official who was reacting to a WND report about his dismissal of nine generals and flag officers so far during his second term.

[...]

Frank Gaffney, founder and director of the Center for Security Policy and former Undersecretary of Defense for the Reagan Administration, cast his lot in with Vallely.

“President Obama is engaged in a wrecking operation on the U.S. military particularly, and under the guise of ‘fundamentally transforming America,’ doing what he can to remake society in his image,” he told WND.

Get “Court Disaster: How the CIA kept America Safe and How Barack Obama is Inviting the Next Attack.

Gaffney said he believes Obama may be attempting to install military rule or martial law as part of his plans, saying, “One of the issues that has been raised by colleagues of mine who are serious students of national security policy and practice is that a way of accelerating the transforming of America would be essentially dispensing with our constitutional form of government under the rubric of ‘emergency measures,’ martial law, a military shutdown of our society.

“Does the wrecking operation of the military have something to do with that particular purpose?” asked Gaffney.

Gaffney answers his own question by claiming the existence of an ongoing “purge.”

“Increasingly of late, there is effectively a purge going on of people of faith from the U.S. military, a social engineering of the institution of the military between homosexuals and women in combat, the evisceration of the military’s training resources and in some cases, senior leadership. Could you at some point get to a point where that military was willing to enforce martial law against the people of the United States under circumstances less than national emergency?

“It’s a conversation we ought to be having,” he said.

“When you look at the assaults on the Constitution Obama is engaged in, when you look at the assaults on the military Obama is engaged in, at least it is a scenario [martial law] that could both explain what he is doing and … what he has in mind,” Gaffney continued.

He contends, “The American people don’t want any part of where Obama is taking us, despite the fact they have elected him twice, but I believe that’s mostly because they are not aware of how truly radical and subversive Obama’s agenda is.”

Maloof didn't mention that Gaffney is such an Obama-hater he thinks Obama may still be a Muslim, so  he's hardly an objective or reliable source. But then, forwarding objective or reliable sources is not Maloof's intent, is it?


Posted by Terry K. at 8:13 PM EDT
MRC's Bozell Goes Mind-Reading to Bash NBC, Doesn't Understand What 'Censor' Means
Topic: Media Research Center

The Media Research Center issued this press release on Oct. 29:

In a bombshell report for NBC News.com, NBC News senior investigative correspondent Lisa Myers found buried in the 2010 Obamacare regulations language predicting, “A reasonable range for the percentage of individual policies that would terminate is forty percent to sixty-seven percent.” Myers’ reporting shows that Barack Obama knowingly lied to the American people for more than three years when he regularly insisted that those who like their current health insurance would be able to keep it under Obamacare.

Yet, according to an analysis from the Media Research Center, this massive, deliberate breach of trust was worthy of only 21 seconds of coverage on NBC Nightly News, buried at the end of the show’s fourth story, with no follow up on Today. ABC and CBS completely censored Lisa Myers’ discovery with not one single second of coverage on either their morning or evening programs.

Media Research Center President Brent Bozell reacts:

“Barack Obama lied to the American people – repeatedly and with a straight face – every time he insisted that those who like their current healthcare could keep it under Obamacare. And he’ll keep lying to the American people because the liberal media refuse to hold him accountable.

“NBC News, whose own reporter found the language in Obamacare proving Obama knowingly lied to the people for over three years, gave this bombshell revelation a pathetic 21 seconds of coverage on Nightly News. There was no follow-up on Today. In other words, NBC News buried their own reporter to protect Obama.

 “This sends a clear message to the American people. As far as the liberal broadcast networks are concerned, when Barack Obama lies, it’s not news. What would Richard Nixon have given for a press corps this corrupt?”

The MRC does not know what "censor" means. If something was reported, it was, by definition, not censored.

Choosing not to report something others have reported is not censorship.

Failure to play up a story to the extent Bozell wants a story played is not censorship.

Failure of a news outlet to play a story to the extent Bozell wants it played across all of its platforms is not censorship.

Failure to acede to a right-wing activist's demands -- or any activist's demands -- is not censorship.

Second: How does Bozell know that "NBC News buried their own reporter to protect Obama"? Does he have any reporting to back up this assertion? Or is he just doing a bit of mind-reading?

The fact that Bozell insists on describing as "censorship" a failure of media outlets to give in to his ideological demands exposes the bullying nature of his anti-media crusade.


Posted by Terry K. at 2:53 PM EDT
NEW ARTICLE: If Jack Cashill Had A Book To Promote
Topic: WorldNetDaily
The WorldNetDaily columnist takes a break from Obama conspiracy-mongering to portray Trayvon Martin as a criminal and George Zimmerman as a civil-rights martyr. Read more >>

Posted by Terry K. at 9:40 AM EDT
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
TruthRevolt's 'Exclusive' May Not Be So Exclusive
Topic: Horowitz

Ben Shapiro declared in an Oct. 28 TruthRevolt item: "Exclusive: PolitiFact Defends 'Half-True' Rating on Obama's Insurance Lie." Shapiro doesn't explain what is so "exclusive" about his post.

That would bed important to know, especially since NewsBusters also issued an Oct. 28 post by Matt Hadro with a similar headline: "What?! PolitiFact Says Obama's 'You Will Keep Your Health Insurance' Promise Is Still 'Half True'."

Unlike NewsBusters, TruthRevolt does not list the time of day its items are posted, so we don't know which post came first. But if the TruthRevolt post appeared after NewsBuysters, it would be really embarrassing -- not to mention dishonest -- to portray it as an "exclusive," especially since it contains nothing that wasn't in the NewsBusters post.

Again, it appears that TruthRevolt is simply aping NewsBusters. So if it's merely duplicating the content of others, what is its purpose, other than to further the David Horowitz cult of personality?


Posted by Terry K. at 9:58 PM EDT
WND's Maloof Tries to Create Conspiracy Over Dismissed Military Commanders
Topic: WorldNetDaily

Michael Maloof writes in an Oct. 28 WorldNetDaily article:

President Obama this year alone has fired some nine generals and flag officers, on top of at least four similar dismissals during his first term, suggesting that a purge may be the real reason behind the removals, which are being described as cases of personal misbehavior.

Retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely, an outspoken critic of the Obama administration, claims it is part of Obama’s strategy to reduce U.S. standing worldwide.

“Obama is intentionally weakening and gutting our military, Pentagon and reducing us as a superpower, and anyone in the ranks who disagrees or speaks out is being purged,” he charged.

Duty personnel seem to back up this concern, suggesting that the firings are meant to send a message to “young officers down through the ranks” not to criticize the president or White House politics.

“They are purging everyone, and if you want to keep your job, just keep your mouth shut,” one source said.

Notice that Maloof cites only one on-the-record source for his speculation, someone who is not only "an outspoken critic of the Obama administration" but a crazy birther as well. His anonymous "duty personnel" are worthless if they can't step forward and back up their allegations.

Maloof is simply stringing together unrelated incidents to cobble together an anti-Obama conspiracy -- and he gets some of his facts wrong in the process. He writes:

In one case, U.S. Army Gen. Carter Ham, who commanded U.S. African Command when the consulate was attacked and four Americans were killed, was highly critical of the decision by the State Department not to send in reinforcements.

Obama has insisted there were no reinforcements in the area that night.

But Ham contends reinforcements could have been sent in time, and he said he never was given a stand-down order. However, others contend that he was given the order but defied it. He was immediately relieved of his command and retired.

Again, Maloof quotes no on-the-record sources. Contrary to Maloof's assertions, former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has testified that due to a lack of "real-time informaton" about what was on the ground in Benghazi, "the commander who was on the ground in that area, Gen. Ham, Gen. Dempsey and I felt very strongly that we could not put forces at risk in that situation." And Gen. Martin Dempsey has said that it is "absolutely false" that Ham was relieved of his command over Benghazi; his departure was "part of routine succession planning."

Maloof thinks you should trust his black-box anonymous sources and his crazy ex-generals over people who were actually directly involved in the incidents -- but he won't tell us why. That's a big reason right there not to trust anything Maloof has to say.


Posted by Terry K. at 2:44 PM EDT
Shocker! MRC Finally Discloses Bozell's Link To Catholic Group (One Of Them, Anyway)
Topic: Media Research Center

Tim Graham devotes an Oct. 25 NewsBusters post to expressing his unhappiness that, according to something called Catholic Education Daily, a class at Georgetown Law School "will have students working with a pro-abortion rights advocacy organization." (Apparently, Graham believes that some law students should be kept in the dark about certain aspects of the law for ideological reasons.) Graham concludes his post by noting:

PS: Catholic Education Daily is a publication of the Cardinal Newman Society. MRC president Brent Bozell serves on its board.

As near as we can tell, this is the first time anyone at the MRC has disclosed Bozell's right-wing Catholic activism to its readers. As we documented in 2009, CNSNews.com, the MRC's "news" division, had never disclosed Bozell's link to the Newman Society in four years of stories citing the group and promoting its dogmatic agenda.

On the other hand, the MRC has yet to disclose in its items on the Catholic League that Bozell is also on that organization's board of advisers.

So, hey, Tim Graham, you've made a good first step in doing the ethically correct thing in disclosing a conflict of interest. Now, try spreading the word to your colleagues so they can behave ethically too.


Posted by Terry K. at 1:24 PM EDT
Colin Flaherty Confuses Race-Baiting With Being A 'Student of Racial Violence'
Topic: WorldNetDaily

Colin Flaherty begins his Oct. 27 WorldNetDaily article by calling himself a "student of racial violence." Is that what they're calling race-baiters obsessed with purported "black mob violence" these days?

Flaherty makes his race-baiting agenda all too clear in the article by mocking the idea of white people rioting, calling it "the Holy Grail: often talked about, but so rare, some doubt it even exists." He then cites an incident in Delaware that he dismisses as not being up to snuff:

ABC national news could not decide if it was a riot or a near-riot, but it did report students destroyed at least one garbage can, and others walked on a few lawns. Other network affiliates in Philadelphia breathlessly followed suit.

But the video tapes reveal a more tepid drama. Though this “riot” had major league numbers – with 3,000 students running, jumping, laughing and stopping traffic on the main street of this Newark college town – the violence, anger, hostility and criminality was strictly minor league, especially when compared with recent black mob violence.

Remember that Flaherty has different standards for white riots and black riots -- white riots come only in crowds of thousands, while Flaherty's "black mobs" include white people, Australian aborigines, and dogs.

Pro tip for Flaherty: If you're obsessing over "black mobs" and inflating their numbers to push a racial agenda, you're not a "student of racial violence" -- you're just a race-baiter.


Posted by Terry K. at 9:37 AM EDT
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
MRC's Bozell Is Still Offended That There Are Gays On His TV
Topic: Media Research Center

The Media Research Center has always had issues with gays on TV -- i.e., its complaint that "Modern Family" commits the atrocity of letting you sympathize with gay characters. (The horror!)

MRC chief Brent Bozell, who we last saw in this particular arena dancing on the grave of "The New Normal," uses his Oct. 25 column to express outrage that gay characters are even allowed to be on TV while gay-bashers aren't:

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) has issued a new report boasting that "TV hasn't merely reflected the changes in social attitudes; it has also had an important role in bringing them about. Time and again, it's been shown that personally knowing an LGBT person is one of the most influential factors in shifting one's views on LGBT issues, but in the absence of that, many viewers have first gotten to know us as television characters."

If network executives were honest, they'd be slamming this report. If. Haven't they routinely insisted that TV shows have zero effect on the audience? That's their constant mantra when defending sex and violence on TV. They're silent. They know exactly how much they influence.

GLAAD and The Hollywood Reporter commissioned a poll last fall that found in the past 10 years, about three times as many voters have become more supportive of "marriage equality" (31 percent) as more opposed (10 percent). When asked how television has influenced them, 27 percent said "inclusive" TV shows made them more "inclusive," while six percent were more "anti-marriage equality."

[...]

In the 2012-13 TV season, GLAAD found a record number of LGBT characters — 4.4 percent, or at least double their actual percentage of the population. Fox was honored for having these characters in 42 percent of their programming hours — although that wasn't enough for "Excellent" status, merely "Good."

[...]

They want children indoctrinated as well. GLAAD is also not shy when it comes to Teen Nick, Cartoon Network and the Disney Channel. Apparently, children also desperately need the propaganda of gay characters in 42 percent of programming hours. They're extremely happy with the liberalism of "ABC Family" and have relayed that Disney Channel executives promised GLAAD they will "introduce LGBT characters in an episode of its original series 'Good Luck Charlie' set to air in 2014, a first for the network." The first of many, they expect.

Here's the catch: Gay characters never face any real opposition to the gay agenda on these so-called "inclusive" programs. There is no measure of Orthodox religious inclusion and no real debates. The victory of the left is assumed without thinking. When a conservative character is created — like Ellen Barkin's "Nana" in "The New Normal" — it's a vicious cartoon, the kind that those "against defamation" folks deeply enjoy.

More ridiculous than Bozell's gay-bashing, however, is the MRC's response to criticism of it. TimGraham writes in an Oct. 27 NewsBusters post:

Brent Bozell’s latest culture column has spurred anger from the so-called Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. The entertainment site Variety.com reports GLAAD advocate Wilson Cruz – who played a troubled gay teen on the ABC flop “My So-Called Life” in 1994 – found it “laughable,” “ridiculous,” and “misleading” for Bozell to ask for some kind of a debate on gay issues on TV, instead of the propaganda-fest we see routinely these days.

Borrowing the language of Orwell, Cruz said one-sided propaganda is “an accurate reflection of the American cultural fabric, which no longer accepts this kind of bigotry.”

Given that the MRC wants one-sided anti-gay propaganda of its own, Graham playing the "propaganda" card is hypocritical. And Graham offers no evidence to contradict GLAAD's claim that "the American cultural fabric ... no longer accepts this kind of bigotry." Of course, to do that, he would have to find a polling example outside the MRC offices, where the Bozell-enforced anti-gay agenda reigns supreme.


Posted by Terry K. at 8:46 PM EDT
Too Extreme for WND?
Topic: WorldNetDaily

Right Wing Watch catches white nationalist and VDARE proprietor Peter Brimelow claiming that a recent column submission to WorldNetDaily was rejected as "too extreme":

What is in this too-crazy-for-WND column?

Brimelow argues that Democrats’ supposed support of an “invasion” and “colonization” of the US by non-white immigrants is treason because it reduces the percentage of the white population.

Hard to believe that WND, which has published Brimelow’s columns previously and is the home of anti-immigrant writers such as Ann Coulter, Pat Buchanan, Tom Tancredo and Jerome Corsi (who peddle the same fears about the death of White America and the GOP), would find anything wrong with this column.

We don’t know what WND’s editors were thinking, because this reads just like a column one would see on their site.

Don't forget Colin Flaherty, who fearmongers about "black mob violence" and pads his numbers with non-blacks and animals. Indeed, Flaherty's book "White Girl Bleed A Lot" has been promoted on VDARE, so it's perplexing that WND would reject Brimelow.

Perhaps WND simply prefers its racism to be better disguised than Brimelow's offerings.


Posted by Terry K. at 4:25 PM EDT
Noel Sheppard Wants False Balance on Fact-Checking
Topic: NewsBusters

Noel Sheppard whines in an Oct. 27 NewsBusters post:

Is it possible for CNN's John Avlon to at least pretend to be impartial?

On Sunday's Reliable Sources, in the closing segment about PolitiFact's just announced new website PunditFact, Avlon showed three reports by the organization: one giving conservative author Ann Coulter a "Pants on Fire," another giving Fox News host Sean Hannity a "Mostly False," and a third giving MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell a "Mostly True"[.]

Yes, Sheppard is complaining that conservatives are found to be wrong more often than liberals, without offering any evidence that this is not the case. But lack of evidence to back up his claims won't stop him from complaining further:

Something also to consider is the appearance that PolitiFact over-fact-checks conservatives versus liberals.

Page one of PF's Health Care fact-checks currently has thirteen conservatives and only five liberals. Nice balance, huh?

But it gets worse because of the conservatives fact-checked on page one, NOT ONE was found to be Mostly True or True. By contrast, the statements by all five liberals fact-checked were found to be Mostly True.

Do the folks at CNN and PolitiFact actually believe that not one liberal politician or pundit has recently made a comment about healthcare that was either Half True, Mostly False, or Pants on Fire?

Notice that Sheppard is not complaining that conservatives are falsely accused of making less-than-true statements -- only that they're getting caught doing it.

Again, Sheppard offers no evidence that liberals have made as many false statements as conservatives. He's just repeating the right-wing "liberal bias" mantra, demanding a false equivalence whether or not it's justified.

Sheppard also comically missed the point about what Avlon's report:

And why did Avlon find it necessary to share exclusively negative reports about conservative pundits with a positive one about a liberal commentator?

Surely CNN could have found a conservative statement about ObamaCare PolitiFact rated positively such as the organization declaring Sarah Palin's remark about Obama having said the individual mandate wasn't a tax to be "True."

Avlon could also have shared PolitiFact finding Newt Gingrich claiming ObamaCare has never had majority support from the public was "Mostly True."

But NOOOO. The conservative pundits had to be "Pants on Fire" and "Mostly False."

Sheppard missed the part where Avlon was specifically citing examples regarding "the current debate over the seriously screwed up implementation of healthcare.gov." The Palin statement Sheppard cites dates from June 2012; the Gingrich statement is from last month, but it's not about the website which, again, Avlon stated he was focusing on.

This is what passes for "media research" at NewsBusters. It's the kind of work that keeps Sheppard employed as a NewsBusters associate editor.


Posted by Terry K. at 11:19 AM EDT
Joseph Farah Lies Again
Topic: WorldNetDaily

One statement stood out to us in Joseph Farah's Oct. 27 WorldNetDaily column:

When I’m wrong I admit it. 

I'll pause for a bit while you laugh hysterically.

OK.

Farah's statement, of course, is a bald-faced lie. We've compiled a whole column of falsehoods Farah has told that he has yet to admit, much less correct.

And even when Farah and WND admit errors, it's usually a protracted battle to get to that admission. The most egregious example of this is WND spending seven years fighting a libel and defamation lawsuit from a Tennessee car dealer whom WND claimed was a "suspected drug dealer," before abruptly settling the lawsuit out of court just before it was to go to trial, admitting that the claim was completely false and reaching a secret settlement that WND has refused to disclose to its readers.

Farah and WND admit no wrong until they're forced to, by threat of lawsuit or getting caught in such a massive boner they have no other choice.

We'd ask Farah to correct his claim to reflect reality, but we already know his record on such things.


Posted by Terry K. at 12:22 AM EDT
Monday, October 28, 2013
CNS' Jeffrey Botches Welfare-Work Comparison
Topic: CNSNews.com

Terry Jeffrey writes in an Oct. 24 CNSNews.com article:

Americans who were recipients of means-tested government benefits in 2011 outnumbered year-round full-time workers, according to data released this month by the Census Bureau.
They also out-numbered the total population of the Philippines.

There were 108,592,000 people in the United States in the fourth quarter of 2011 who were recipients of one or more means-tested government benefit programs, the Census Bureau said in data released this week. Meanwhile, according to the Census Bureau, there were 101,716,000 people who worked full-time year round in 2011. That included both private-sector and government workers.

That means there were about 1.07 people getting some form of means-tested government benefit for every 1 person working full-time year round.

Actually, no, it doesn't. As Media Matters documents, the "means-tested government benefit" number is for "anyone residing in a household in which one or more people received benefits," thus including individuals who did not themselves receive government benefits. The full-time worker number, meanwhile, is a count of individuals. 

Jeffrey's numbers also fail to account for the fact that some full-time workers also receive means-tested government benefits.

In other words, it's an apples-to-oranges comparison with some overlap. It's a very dishonest way for Jeffrey to report.


Posted by Terry K. at 10:53 PM EDT
WND's Gina Loudon Don't Need No Stinkin' Facts to Fearmonger About Obamacare
Topic: WorldNetDaily

It's not often that one can pull off the feat of being both dishonest and crazy over the course of two articles, but this is WorldNetDaily we're talking about here, and Gina Loudon is clearly up to the challenge.

The dishonest part came in an Oct. 26 article in which Loudon fearmongered about the purported privacy concerns about Obamacare in general and the healthcare.gov site in particular:

The controversy already has generated a back-and-forth in Congress, where a Colorado Democrat, Diana DeGette, criticized a Republican for having concerns about privacy.

U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, had charged that the source code for the Obamacare website includes the statement that Americans will have “no reasonable expectation of privacy about communication or data stored on the system.”

The code cannot be viewed by a user on Healthcare.gov, he reported, but it is in the code and violates the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

“You know it’s not HIPAA-compliant; admit it,” Barton charged Cheryl Campbell of CGI Federal, which was contracted to work on the site. “You’re under oath. Your company is the company that put this together. We’re telling every American … that you sign up for this or even attempt to, you have no expectation of privacy. That is a direct contradiction of HIPAA and you know it.”

Loudon did mention DeGette's response, which appeared in the International Business Times article she cites on the Barton-DeGette exchange:

DeGette said that as she understood it, the Obamacare website doesn’t need any medical information from users who enroll other than whether they smoke or not. She said that question would not violate HIPAA.

“I’m disappointed that my friend would go down this road,” she said, referring to Barton. She accused her colleague of using the perceived privacy issue as one of the reasons to do away with the Affordable Care Act.

“I realize that in fact a lot of people don’t want the Affordable Care Act to work and they're raising all these privacy specters,” she said.

That would seem to be relevant to the issue. Loudon was too busy fearmongering to believe otherwise.

The crazy part came in Loudon's Oct. 27 column in which she ratchets up the fearmongering to ridiculous levels, claiming without evidence that Obamacare has caused people to commit suicide:

A 16-year-old goes to the doctor for her first gynecological exam. She wants to tell the doctor about concerns she has but she is afraid of it being disclosed and destroying her bright future. She read a story about doctors being paid tens of thousands of dollars to turn over their electronic medical records to the government, and she can’t trust that her secrets will be kept safe.

A 28-year-old divorcee stands alone in terror, in the corner of her room. She was denied a gun license because she disclosed feeling suicidal when her abusive husband beat her that last time. She has nowhere to go to be safe, and no way to keep her child safe from the man who threatened to kill them both. She doesn’t sleep, and she can’t function at work, so she is worried she will lose her job.

A 75-year-old widower sits quietly with a pistol pointed at his chest. He feels completely alone, betrayed by the country he fought for. His most private data was stolen when a laptop was taken from a cafeteria at the Department of Health and Human Services. Someone posted all of his information publicly, and now he fears his most private information will be made public. There are secrets of a man’s heart that he wants kept a secret. He regrets the day he went for counseling to gain control over a pornography addiction. How could this happen and threaten his legacy, after so many years of living responsibly? He cannot deal with that reality.

Order Gina Loudon’s book “Ladies and Gentlemen: Why the Survival of Our Republic Depends on the Revival of Honor” — how atheism, liberalism and radical feminism have harmed the nation.

A young, gay man stands in front of a roulette table, his last hope to pay off the fines from the IRS since he disclosed his income to sign up for Obamacare, and was subsequently audited for a disparity in his tax forms. There are rumors of many gays being targeted by the current administration, though it doesn’t matter now and he can’t prove it anyway. He says a silent prayer as he lays down his last $250 in hopes that he can multiply it to stay out of jail.

[...[

Liberty has eroded to such a degree that some wonder if it can ever be restored. But personal liberty, the bright light that distinguishes us as the freest nation of all time, has been permanently dimmed.

This administration has withheld health care without ever revoking a medical device. It has taken guns and lives without overturning the Second Amendment. It has caused suicides and deaths with only the weapon of Obamacare. It has made criminals of otherwise law-abiding citizens, while criminals go free. It has done all of this with the silent threat of what can happen under a system that gives more power to government than it has ever had before.

Who needs facts when fearmongering works so much better on the typical WND reader?


Posted by Terry K. at 7:53 PM EDT
NewsBusters' Double Standard on Vomiting Rainbows
Topic: NewsBusters

Tim Graham complains in an Oct. 27 NewsBusters post:

If journalism school began with a course on Avoiding Puff Pieces, they could use as text this Sunday New York Times article by Michael Schulman: “Ronan Farrow: The Youngest Old Guy in the Room.” MSNBC’s newest star is puffed as large as the Sta-Puf Marshmallow Giant in "Ghostbusters."  It invites the neologism "Ipe-cackle."  It's so vomitous it's humorous.

If such blatant puffery is so offensive to Graham, where was he when his fellow NewsBuster Noel Sheppard unleashed this bit of vomitous fawning over Ann Coulter?

Ann Coulter is one of the leading conservative voices in America with too many New York Times bestsellers to count. Her newest book, “Never Trust a Liberal Over Three - Especially a Republican,” is guaranteed to be her next bestseller. As NewsBusters readers know, Ann is a dear friend of the Media Research Center’s and a dear of mine.

If Graham and the MRC purport to know so much about Avoiding Puff Pieces, why don't they practice it on their own website?


Posted by Terry K. at 12:07 PM EDT

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