Topic: WorldNetDaily
As long as Art Robinson keeps running for Congress in Oregon, WorldNetDaily's David Kupelian will keep recycling his deceptive, truth-avoiding endorsements of the candidate. Read more >>
Thursday, October 23, 2014
NEW ARTICLE: Editorial Reruns For A Political Rerun
Topic: WorldNetDaily As long as Art Robinson keeps running for Congress in Oregon, WorldNetDaily's David Kupelian will keep recycling his deceptive, truth-avoiding endorsements of the candidate. Read more >>
Posted by Terry K.
at 4:48 PM EDT
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
CNS Pushes Zombie Lie Of 'Failed' Stimulus
Topic: CNSNews.com
Bannister's insistence that the stimulus "failed" is at odds with reality. PolitiFact states that such simplistic per-job calculations -- Bannister's backup for his claim of "more than $200,000 spent per job created/saved" is a 2011 CNS article simply dividing the amount spent on the stimulus by the number of jobs created -- are misleading because the stimulus money went toward a range of projects and programs including tax breaks, not just for salaries. Futher, the Associated Press points out that Bannister's simplistic calculation ignores the value of the work produced -- "Any cost-per-job figure pays not just for the worker, but for material, supplies and that worker's output - a portion of a road paved, patients treated in a health clinic, goods shipped from a factory floor, railroad tracks laid" -- and also counts only jobs created to date, not those created over the life of the stimulus-funded contract. Bannister's repeating of a discredited right-wing myth proves that promoting zombie lies isn't just the purpose of WorldNetDaily.
Posted by Terry K.
at 8:56 PM EDT
Updated: Wednesday, October 22, 2014 8:59 PM EDT
Will WND's Farah Fire His Lie-Peddling Reporter?
Topic: WorldNetDaily
Then, Kant quotes his boss opining on the situation:
If that's the standard that must be followed, then Farah must immediately fire one of his WND reporters, Bob Unruh, for his own blatant misrepresentation of the words of another. As we've documented, Unruh claimed in at least two WND articles that Houston Mayor Annise Parker said that the city's new non-discrimination ordinance is "all about me" -- a quote Parker is not on record as ever making. Unruh simply made it up. While Unruh dropped the quotes in later articles, he's still falsely misrepresenting her remarks, portraying them as narcissism instead of the admission it really is that the ordinance directly affects her. This is Farah's test: Will he apply the standard he wants Politico to follow to his own reporter? We shall see.
Posted by Terry K.
at 10:55 AM EDT
Updated: Wednesday, October 22, 2014 10:56 AM EDT
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
NewsBusters' Zinger Fail
Topic: NewsBusters
Coleman apparently thinks this is some kind of gotcha zinger. But he apparently missed the end of the show on which the Stewart-O'Reilly argument took place, where Stewart said: "Don't think I don't realize that I'm not the ideal advocate for the convesation I was having with Bill O'Reilly." Coleman also somehow overlooked O'Reilly's own zinger in the extended interview, telling Stewart that "in your case, there is white privilege. The fact that you're here sitting there -- he doesn't even shave."
Actually, it does depend on which Asians you're talking about. The Chinese experience in America is undeniably different than, say, the Japanese experience or the Vietnamese experience or the Thai experience. Maybe Coleman needs to have his zinger detector recalibrated.
Posted by Terry K.
at 5:26 PM EDT
If You Want To Live, Ignore WND (And The AAPS)
Topic: WorldNetDaily
Amerling, by the way, is president-elect of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, a fringe right-wing website that opposes mandatory vaccinations and promotes conspiracy theories. This is the guy who is telling us to ignore medical experts and trust his own dishonest organization? Really? Given WND's propensity for fearmongering about medical issues, it's the last place anybody should turn for the truth on health matters.
Posted by Terry K.
at 2:08 PM EDT
Monday, October 20, 2014
MRC: Criticizing NRA Means You're Not 'Neutral'
Topic: Media Research Center
Jeffrey Meyer writes in an Oct. 19 MRC item:
Meyer didn't contradict anything Todd said -- indeed, Todd is correct that the NRA has pressured senators into stalling a vote on Vivek Murthy, the surgeon general nominee, because he has stated that guns are a public health problem (never mind that it's true, and that he couldn't directly influence gun policy if he was confirmed). Apparently, the NRA is such a sacred cow at the MRC that daring to criticize it is a demonstration of "liberal media bias."
Posted by Terry K.
at 8:34 PM EDT
WND Now Baselessly Blaming Undocumented Immigrants For Enterovirus
Topic: WorldNetDaily
Aaron Klein writes in an Oct. 13 WND article that enterovirus "could have been carried into the U.S. by illegal-alien minors from Central America." But he offers no evidence to back it up, only speculation from factually challenged right-wingers like Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage. Klein noted 12 states where "laboratory-confirmed cases of EV-D68 were reported," but he didn't mention that one state not on that list was Texas, where many of those "illegal-alien minors from Central America" entered the country. That would seem to shoot a large hole in his conspiracy theory. It's not until the very end of his article that he grudgingly admits the Centers for Disease Control reports there is no demonstrated link between the unaccompanied minors and the enterovirus outbreak. A day later, WND's Jerome Corsi took his own shot at fearmongering, claiming that despite the CDC's statement, the enterovirus outbreak is "widely suspected to have a direct connection to the Obama administration policy of placing across the U.S. tens of thousands of minors who have been allowed to enter without a health screening." The first source Corsi cites in support of his conspiracy theory is Jane Orient of the fringe Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, who is prone to spreading fear about Ebola. Corsi also wrote:
But as Snopes points out, that the study did not specifically address a higher prevalence of the illnesses in Latin America, and that many readers of that study have mistakenly conflated the location of the study's participants with a predeliction for contracting and transmitting the virus. The determined insistence on putting fear before facts is just another reason nobody believes WND.
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:27 AM EDT
Sunday, October 19, 2014
MRC Embraces A Logical Fallacy
Topic: Media Research Center
In an Oct. 13 NewsBusters post, MRC analyst Matthew Balan huffed that an Associated Press reporter quoted the "cultural leftist activist" Human Rights Campaign praising what it called a "seismic shift" in the Catholic Church's attitude toward gays during a meeting at the Vatican last week. No, really -- Balan really did complain that the AP "directly lifted the 'seismic shift' term from a press release of the Human Rights Campaign." Apparently, anyone the MRC deems to be "cultural leftist activists" are not permitted to comment about the Catholic Church. Balan was so angry about this, in fact, that he ranted the next day that other media outlets were taking their language directly from the HRC:
And here's where we run into the correlation-equals-causation fallacy. At no point does Balan prove that the networks were taking their language directly from the HRC. "Seismic shift" is arguably a cliche, and the interim report being cited could certainly be described as that, even if the meeting's final results ended up being much less so. Again, Matthew: Correlation does not necessarily equal causation. It's basic logic.
Posted by Terry K.
at 9:50 PM EDT
Updated: Sunday, October 19, 2014 9:52 PM EDT
WND's Unruh Evolves His Lie about Houston Mayor
Topic: WorldNetDaily
As we've documented, Unruh has asserted that Parker claims the non-discrimination ordinance is "all about me," with those words in quotes. But Parker has never been quoted saying "all about me." From the Houston Business Journal:
In other words, it's not the narcissistic statement Unruh's fraudulent misquote of Parker suggests it is, but an admission of how the non-discrimination ordinance directly affects her. Unruh repeated the false "all about me" quote in his Oct. 13 article, but two days later he adjusted it slightly, stating that "Parker, a lesbian, has admitted the anti-discrimination ordinance is 'all about' her and her lifestyle." The quote is still wrong -- she never said "all about." On Oct. 16, Unruh dropped the fraudulent quotes altogether, claiming that Parker "has said the issue is all about her own lifestyle choice." But that's a lie too -- Unruh offers no evidence that Parker has ever referred to homosexuality as a "lifestyle choice." Unruh reverted to his previous lie in an Oct. 18 article, claiming Parker "admitted" the ordinance "was all about her." Perhaps instead of making up quotes and falsely paraphrasing Parker, Unruh could try something journalistic and, you know, quote what she actually said. But then, Unruh isn't really a journalist, is he?
Posted by Terry K.
at 7:02 PM EDT
Saturday, October 18, 2014
Yes, Patrice Lewis, Some People Are Too Stupid To Roast Marshmallows Without Instructions
Patrice Lewis is outraged -- outraged, I tell ya! -- in her Oct. 17 WorldNetDaily column:
Lewis seems to have forgotten about that time the hosts of "Fox & Friends" tried to roast marshmallows with their hands. Even fellow Fox Newser Chris Wallace thought they were idiots:
Posted by Terry K.
at 9:17 PM EDT
Friday, October 17, 2014
MRC Joins Houston Pastor Subpoena Controversy Bandwagon
Topic: Media Research Center
An Oct. 15 NewsBusters post by Ken Shepherd cranks up the outrage meter:
Shepherd didn't mention the salient fact that this subpoena request did not come out of nowhere, as he suggests, but is a discovery request in a lawsuit over the non-discrimination ordinance filed by the ministers and their right-wing representatives. Shepherd even cites an opinion by conservative legal blogger Eugene Volokh stating that the subpoena is probably permissible, then dismisses it by declaring the request is "a fishing expedition." MRC chief Brent Bozell then horned in on the discussion with a typically hyperbolic rant divorced from reality:
We have no idea what Bozell is talking about. No pastor's speech is being censored and freedom of religion is not being threatened; what's being sought are statements that have already been made. MRC apparatchik Dan Gainor also joined in the politically motivated fun:
Again, freedom of religion is not threatened. But Gainor is too invested in ratcheting up the controversy; his Oct. 16 column accuses Houston Mayor Annise Parker of engaging in an "anti-Christian jihad" and falsely insisted this is about "the religious liberty of five pastors" despite not offering any evidence that the pastors' "religious liberty" has, in fact, actually been violated. The MRC's freedom to try and make hay off of ginned-up controversies, meanwhile, is unhindered.
Posted by Terry K.
at 3:46 PM EDT
WND's Unruh Can't Stop Misleading About Houston Non-Discrimination Lawsuit
Topic: WorldNetDaily
In an Oct. 13 WND article, Unruh dishonestly portrays a city request for copies of sermons delivered by pastors who oppose the ordinance -- which Unruh maliciously describes as "allow[ing] 'gender-confused' people to use public restrooms designated for the opposite sex" and portrays as part of "the transsexual agenda" -- as a threat to religious freedom. Unruh quotes only pastors and their legal representatives fearmongering about the action and misleading about the ordinance, and he made no apparent effort to contact city officials for their side of the story. Unruh also repeats his lie that Houston Mayor Annise Parker "has acknowledged the ordinance is 'all about me.'" As we've documented, Parker said no such thing. But as Media Matters points out, the request is part of a normal discovery phase in response to a lawsuit filed by ordinance opponents and are meant to gather information about possibly improper church behavior. Had Unruh bothered to contact Houston officials about the controversy, he wold have found that they concede the documents request may be overbroad. But, again, the facts don't matter to Unruh. His Oct. 15 follow-up article repeats all the one-sided smears and Unruh's refusal to tell the other side of the story. And in an Oct. 16 article kept up Unruh's lazy reporting: He fails yet again to contact Houston city officials for their side of the story, instead noting an article from the right-wing Washington Times about the city narrowing the scope of their demands. Most real journalists would be ashamed to write such ridiculously biased and misleading -- if not outright false -- screeds and passing them off as "journalism." Unruh clearly has no shame about this, which is just another reason why nobody believes WND. UPDATE: Unruh's Oct. 17 article on the issue, like the others, ignores the other side of the story. Despite writing four articles about this, Unruh has never reached out to Houston city officials for their response. Talk about lazy reporting.
Posted by Terry K.
at 11:59 AM EDT
Updated: Friday, October 17, 2014 4:07 PM EDT
Thursday, October 16, 2014
NEW ARTICLE: The Unbalanced Barbara Hollingsworth
Topic: CNSNews.com The CNS senior editor isn't big on reporting both sides of the story or disclosing the right-wing nature of her sources. She also let a Scientology-linked attack on psychiatric drugs stand unchallenged. Read more >>
Posted by Terry K.
at 9:33 PM EDT
WND's Newest Conspiracy Theory: Alexa Cutting Traffic Numbers On Right-Wing Websites!
Topic: WorldNetDaily
Leo Hohmann writes in an Oct. 13 WND article:
Notice how Hohmann defined right-wing website as "watchdog" sites while liberal sites became "pro-government." And Hohmann waited until the 22nd paragraph of his article to note the likely explanation behind it: an Alexa blog post describing the site's newly expanded data sampling to provide more accurate metrics. Nevertheless, Hohmann pushes the conspiracy angle in a WND article the following day:
Nowhere in his two articles does Hohmann raise the possibility that Alexa's previous data was flawed and that the new numbers accurately reflect traffic. This refusal to see the truth and assume a conspiracy is just another reason why nobody believes WND -- and why its traffic is dropping.
Posted by Terry K.
at 1:43 PM EDT
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Of Course Newsmax Has A Special Deal For Dick Morris' Book
Topic: Newsmax
Here's the deal:Buy Morris' book from Newsmax for just $9.95 and they'll throw in an entire year of Newsmax magazine for free. The usual caveat applies, though: You have to remember to unsubscribe from the magazine when the year is up, otherwise you will be automatically charged $39.95 for the following year's subscription. Newsmax just loves these kinds of loss-leader deals.
Posted by Terry K.
at 8:19 PM EDT
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