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Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Black WND Columnist Tells Blacks To 'Get Over Their Blackness'
Topic: WorldNetDaily

Jesse Lee Peterson has gone full Mychal Massie, exercising his black conservative privilege of saying things that would be considered horribly racist if he was white. Peterson rants in his Feb. 1 WorldNetDaily column:

Black History Month is dumb. And it provides no value for black Americans or anyone else.

In reality, black history is American history, and any attempt to detach the two separates blacks from their country and empowers useless black “leaders.”

Instead of celebrating Black History Month, I challenge black Americans to get over their “blackness” and start building character this month!

Over the past 50 years, blacks have been seduced away from character and truth. Their “leaders” have convinced them that their struggle is a physical battle with whites and that America is a racist nation. The truth is that there is good and bad in every race, and every human being is engaged in a spiritual battle of good versus evil.

Blacks in the United States are the freest and wealthiest group of blacks anywhere. If black America were a country, it would be the 15th wealthiest nation in the world.

Blacks who are caught up with their skin color and think they need a Black History Month foolishly believe they are righting past wrongs. The sad truth is that they’re wasting their time and building false pride.

[...]

Focusing on color is a losing proposition. The obsession with race leads to anger, blame and bitterness, which ultimately destroys people. The time and energy wasted on hatred leaves little time and energy for productive living; whereas building a life based on character and love will help one succeed in life.

Focusing on color over character gave us Barack Obama – the worst president in U.S. history.

Of course, if Peterson has truly gotten over his blackness, he wouldn't be saying such things. Instead, he does, knowing he would be treated differently than if he wasn't black.

And a man who has issues with women thinks he an tell others to "start building character"? Please. He needs to get over his female issues before he has any moral standing to lecture others.


Posted by Terry K. at 8:02 PM EST
NewsBusters Endorses Intimidation of Abortion Doctors
Topic: NewsBusters

Anti-abortion activist Jill Stanek is a regular NewsBusters blogger, and her Jan. 31 post gave her -- and, thus, NewsBusters' -- enthusiastic approval to a scheme designed to intimidate abortion doctors.

Stanek's post touted the intimidation scheme of fellow anti-abortion activist Eric Scheidler, who mailed a set of plastic handcuffs to every abortion provider in the U.S., suggesting they will eventyually be arrested simply for providing abortion (which, of course, is the goal of Stanek and Scheidler).

As befits someone with a dubious history of anti-abortion activism -- her career-making claim of allegedly having seen fetuses who survived an abortion left to dies was never substantiated -- Stanek saw nothing wrong with this, stating that it's a "stretch" to call Scheidler's scheme indimidation. Stanek then claimed that anti-abortion activists who cross the line into actual harrassment of abortion providers aren't "real harassers."

It appears that Stanek -- and, thus, NewsBusters -- have a double standard of what constitutes initmidation and harrassment depending upon who's doing it.


Posted by Terry K. at 4:16 PM EST
Updated: Tuesday, February 3, 2015 4:42 PM EST
WND Won't Blame Anti-Vaxxers For Measles Outbreak (But Will Blame Obama And Immigrants)
Topic: WorldNetDaily

WorldNetDaily has always had a strong anti-vaccination streak. This pops up again in its coverage of the Disneyland-related measles outbreak, in which WND writers blame everyone else but those who refused to vaccinate their children.

A Jan. 31 WND article promoted a rant by far-right radio host Michael Savage (who's so buddy-buddy with WND that it hosts Savage's website) claming that the outbreak is President Obama's fault somehow: “Measles had been nearly eradicated until about 15 years ago. When Clinton busted our border with Mexico, the floodgates were opened to infected migrants. Measles, TB, even malaria is returning! This is a form of medical genocide.” The article was silent on anti-vaxxers.

Barbara Simpson's Feb. 1 WND column -- headlined "Obama's plague" -- takes a similar tack by blaming Obama and immigrants for the outbreak:

We’re told it all started in Disneyland and that it surely originated with a foreign visitor, but that the worst of it, is because of those retro-parents who didn’t vaccinate their children. On top of that, many doctors are saying they will not accept any patients who are not vaccinated.

With all the epidemic hoopla, there is one source that’s totally ignored.

Illegal aliens.

Why is it assumed a “foreign visitor” brought it to Disneyland? Why couldn’t it have been an illegal alien, who perhaps works at Disneyland or was a visitor there?

But Simpson also displays her anti-vaxxer streak:

The move to immunize children from whatever diseases someone developed a vaccine against has resulted in parents’ concerns about the components in the shots and their side effects.

If recommendations are followed, children would get 49 doses of 14 vaccines before the age of 6. There’s even one, for hepatitis, that is supposed to be administered within 12 hours of birth!

Along with so many vaccines, there’s been the astounding increase in the number of cases of autism. We know what it is, but we don’t know why it is, where it comes from or how to prevent it.

So parents decide: Vaccinate their child and risk autism and other side effects, or avoid vaccines altogether.

Before you condemn those parents, consider that the government has a national Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System to report side effects of vaccines. On top of that, you might ask why the vaccine manufacturers are relieved of any liability for any negative side effects of their products.

Of course, Simpson is silent about the millions of lives that have been saved by vaccines.


Posted by Terry K. at 1:04 PM EST
Monday, February 2, 2015
CNS Censors Probe That Discredits Attkisson
Topic: CNSNews.com

Brittany Hughes was eager to serve as Sharyl Attkisson's stenographer in a Jan. 30 CNSNews.com article, uncritically repeating her claims at a confirmation hearing for attorney general candiate Loretta Lynch that "she was subjected to numerous phone calls from federal officials attempting to keep her quiet; had her Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests 'stonewalled'; was denied access to government buildings; and she even believes the government 'compromised' her personal computer."

Hughes won't report, however, that Attkisson's claim about her computer being "compromised" has been completely discredited.

A report by the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General found no evidence to support Attkisson's claim of her computer being compromised, noting that a video Attkisson posted purporting to show the hacking take place instead showed a stuck backspace key and"a standard error prompt."

Despite the fact that the DOJ IG report was made public the same day as Attkisson's testimony -- and, in fact, was put into the public recoprd as part of her testimony -- Hughes makes no reference to it in her article, instead sticking with simple stenography of her discredited claims.

But then, the MRC loves Attkisson (and vice versa), so she will not be the subject of critical reporting at CNS as long as she's following the MRC's anti-Obama agenda. So the IG report must remain censored.


Posted by Terry K. at 9:02 PM EST
WND's Klein Is Trying To Influence Another Israeli Election
Topic: WorldNetDaily

WorldNetDaily's Aaron Klein has never been interested in reporting fairly on Israeli politics -- he may as well be a paid operative of the conservative Likud Party (if he isn't actually one).

In 2006, Klein wrote numerous articles attacking liberal-leaning Prime Minister Ehud Olmert but reported nothing negative about Likud candidate Benjamin Netanyahu. And in 2012, Klein and WND all but ignored Likud member and Israeli President Moshe Katsav's rape scandal despite obsessing over sex scandals involving non-conservatives like Bill Clinton.

Netanyahu is the prime minister now, an election is coming up, and he faces a serious challenge. Thus, it's time for Klein to run to the aid of Likud.

This explains Klein's articles freaking out over a new coalition, known as V15, seeking to defeat Likud and Netanyahu getting advice from a U.S. political consulting firm made up of former staffers for President Obama's re-election campaign.

A Jan. 27 WND article by Klein proclaims this "Obama's army" despite the fact nobody is actually quoted in the article using the term. Klein also baselessly implies the consulting firm's involvement is directly tied to Obama's decision not to meet with Netanyahu during an upcoming visit to the U.S. on the invitation of Republican House speaker John Boehner in order to avoid influencing the upcoming election.

The next day, Klein published an article about his interview with the head of the V15 coalition. His attempts to denigrate the group's efforts stumble on contradictory language in describing the group's offices; in the lead paragraph, he describes them as being located off a "posh" Tel Aviv street, but later he describes the offices as being "on the second floor of a decrepit building" that "one m[u]st walk down an uninviting alleyway into a poorly lit entrance and up a flight of exposed concrete stairs" to get to. Klein feigned offense the the group is "decidedly anti-Netanyahu."

A Feb. 1 article by Klein shows him in full partnership with Likud; it touts how Likud "shared with WND" its complaint against V15's "international" funding. The next day, Klein wrote an article claiming that V15 is "primarily financed by an American billionaire and a Mexican entrepreneur who is a U.S. resident."

Needless to say, Klein is engaging in no small amount of hypocrisy when reporting on outside assistance in Israeli elections. The Jerusalem Post reports that  conservative American political strategists have regularly worked for Netanyahu's campaigns, and an American consultant currently working for Likud was reportedly sent to Israel at the behest of U.S. Republicans.

Klein hasn't reported a thing about that, of course. He won't report anything that might damage Likud.


Posted by Terry K. at 1:11 PM EST
Sunday, February 1, 2015
MRC's Graham Complains Politico Following In MRC's Footsteps
Topic: NewsBusters

The Media Research Center's Tim Graham complains in a Jan. 28 NewsBusters post:

Noah Rothman at Hot Air called out Politico for badly mangling remarks by potential presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. In his new book, Huckabee devoted a chapter to "The Culture of Crude." On Wednesday morning, they tweeted out this attention-grabbing headline: ["Mike Huckabee complains of ‘trashy’ women at Fox News."]

But after clicking through to the article by reporter Adam Lerner, the reader discovered that Huckabee never mentioned Fox, just being in a "professional setting"[.]

Of course, the main reason Huckabee has spent so much time in New York was to shoot his Fox News show, so it's highly logical to assume that he was talking about women at Fox News. Unless, of course, Graham doesn't think Fox News is a "professional setting."

Besides, it can be argued that Politico was simply using the MRC's own journalistic ethics in reporting the story. As we've detailed, the MRC's "news" division, CNSNews.com, insisted in 2005 that Democratic strategist Paul Begala claimed that Republicans "want to kill" Americans when, in fact, the full context of the Begala statement makes it clear that he was saying terrorists -- not Republicans -- want to kill Americans. When Begala called CNS out on its error, then-CNS editor David Thibault (a Republican activist like the intern who originally reported the story for CNS) called Begala a liar. Needless to say, CNS never apologized for its falsehood.

By contrast, the seeming accuracy of the way Politico reported Huckabee's remarks was backed up by how a Fox News host responded to them.

Appearing on Fox News to discuss the remarks (which he denied were targeted at Fox News women), Huckabee found himself on the other end of a mini-lecture from Fox host Megyn Kelly: "Well, I do have some news for you before I let you go. We're not only swearing. We’re drinking, we’re smoking, we’re having premarital sex with birth control before we go to work, and sometimes boss around a bunch of men. ... That's just the reality, Guv."

Curiously, neither Graham nor anyone else at any MRC website has reported Kelly's retort to Huckabee. Apparently, a Fox News host, especially one as reliably conservative as Kelly, deviating from the right-wing script of promoting a persecution narrative -- and, even worse, point out that women behave like human beings -- is simply not news at the MRC.


Posted by Terry K. at 7:22 PM EST
Saturday, January 31, 2015
Obama Derangement Syndrome Watch, Supersize WorldNetDaily Edition
Topic: WorldNetDaily

If and when Iran means to strike, it knows it must do it before Jan. 20, 2017.

Barack Obama made clear in his State of the Union address that he would veto any additional sanctions bill. Perhaps Congress will have a large enough majority to override the mullah’s veto. But whether it does or not, it is clear: If and when Iran strikes, it will be with the knowledge that Obama will do nothing. If Israel needs emergency backup, Iran knows that Obama will not provide it.

[...]

The message Obama is sending to Iran and the entire devout Muslim world is, “I am with you. Allahu akbar.”

-- Pamela Geller, Jan. 25 WorldNetDaily column

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than half of American households now receive benefits from the government.

Obama is purposely weakening people by addicting them to programs, hoping their only choice will be to “come to mamma” (the government) for their sustenance.

And he’s purposely weakening America’s defenses, putting us at the mercy of ISIS and al-Qaida.

-- Jesse Lee Peterson, Jan. 25 WND column

In the famous 1997 movie comedy “Liar Liar,” actor Jim Carrey plays a lawyer who, as a result of his young son’s birthday wish being magically fulfilled, cannot tell a lie – he can only tell the truth – for 24 hours. Let’s imagine that such a wish forced President Obama to do the same, not for 24 hours, but only during his State of the Union address.

Here is what he said followed by what he would have said if he could only tell the truth.

-- Dennis Prager, Jan. 26 WND column

Last week, we were once again treated to another presidential malfunction. Hours after Obamas State of the Union speech, the country of Yemen went into meltdown. This was one of the places that he had touted as a huge success story for us in the Middle East, and now it was being overrun by Shiite Houthi rebels who had succeeded in overthrowing one of the only friendly governments that we had in the region. The media ran footage of angry rebels shouting “Death to America!” and raising their weapons in defiance. Humiliating? I would say so.

With Yemen in tatters and ISIS and al-Qaida growing stronger by the day, Obama seemed oblivious to anything except his agenda.

-- Morgan Brittany, Jan. 27 WND column

If he actually qualified as a real leader, Mr. Obama would hold a press conference immediately where, surrounded by all our military top brass scowling at the camera, he states unambiguously that it is our clear and present objective to kill every Islamic vermin on the planet.

Once he’s done talking there should be a big television screen behind him with a live video of a missile or bomb blowing up some voodoo vermin training location.

-- Ted Nugent, Jan. 28 WND column

First – when did this man who has has never held a real job become an expert in Criminal Justice? Harvard Law graduates do not summarily qualify as such, and Obama’s records from Harvard have been sealed anyway. His law degree could be as legitimate as Elvis Presley’s black belt for all we know.

Second, they’re going to put federal muscle behind those recommendations.

Recalling Obama’s advocacy for a civilian police force as well-equipped as the military during his 2008 campaign, we should have seen this coming, yes? While fomenting racial tension has had its uses for the administration, in the context of demonizing the police, there is an additional objective.

-- Erik Rush, Jan. 28 WND column

Try to imagine what it would have been like if Barack Obama were running things at the start of World War II.

After Pearl Harbor, he would have denied the Japanese were the enemy.

“It couldn’t be the Japanese that were the problem,” he might say. “The people commanding those planes and aircraft carriers were not Japanese. They couldn’t have been. After all, the Japanese people are good people. This attack must have been committed by some rogue elements – probably folks who don’t understand the peaceful nature of the Japanese culture and religion.”

Obama would then declare war not on Japan, but on sneak attacks.

-- Joseph Farah, Jan. 29 WND column

Well, that didn’t take long. This summer after Barack Obama inexplicably (and illegally) freed five of the Taliban’s most deadly terrorists in exchange for army deserter Bowe Bergdahl, I asked a burning question – a question that remains unanswered: “What will it take for our spineless U.S. Congress to impeach this tyrant? This is way beyond partisan politics. This is about justice. This is about the safety of the American people. Barack Hussein Obama is America’s biggest threat to national security. He is ‘an enemy within.’”
 
[...]

Long gone are the days when calling an American president a tyrant and accusing him of treason amounted to political hyperbole. Just a few short decades ago this anti-American Marxist would not only have been accused of treason, he would have been tried for it.

But alas, inaction and injustice are the lawless hallmarks of today’s political milieu.

We’ve become “fundamentally transformed,” all right.

-- Matt Barber, Jan. 30 WND column


Posted by Terry K. at 9:17 PM EST
Friday, January 30, 2015
MRC Promotes Mark Levin's New Contract, Ignore His Racist Comment
Topic: Media Research Center

The Media Research Center loves Mark Levin -- so much so, in fact, that it will hide his most disturbing and inflammatory remarks from the MRC's readers.

Thus, you will not hear a thing about Levin's racist attack on CNN host Fareed Zakaria, mocking his "broken English."

You will, however, read at both NewsBusters and CNSNews.com all about Levin re-upping his radio show with syndicator Westwood One. At CNS, Barbara Hollingsworth serves up the gushy detail that "The news was hailed by leading conservatives, including fellow talk show host Sean Hannity, who called Levin 'a national treasure'." NewsBusters couldn't be bothered to put a byline on its Levin-fluffing, instead proclaiming that the contract extension is "Good news for Mark Levin fans."

Of course, neither post from the MRC subsidiaries informed readers that Levin is in business with the MRC -- Levin does live-reads for the MRC on his radio show, and the MRC runs ads touting Levin's endorsement of various MRC operations.

Reality, in the form of Levin's offensive words, can't be allowed to intrude on this little lovefest.


Posted by Terry K. at 7:27 PM EST
WND Still Hiding Evidence of Fraud In Houston Anti-Gay Petitions
Topic: WorldNetDaily

We've detailed how WorldNetDaily refuses to acknowledge evidence of fraud in petitions seeking to overturn Houston's non-discrimination ordinance. That tradition continues in a Jan. 28 WND article by John Griffing.

Griffing is purporting to report on a trial over the petitions, and the bias is evident from the get-go. The headline of the article reads,  "Big-city mayor calling own citizens 'criminals'" -- a blatant lie. The first paragraph makes it clear that one of the anti-gay ministers trying to overturn the non-discrimination ordinance is merely accusing Houston Mayor Annise Parker (who, in grand WND tradition, Griffing makes sure to inform us is a lesbian)of saying that. At no point does Griffing directly quote Parker making such a claim.

WND does have a problem of falsely quoting Parker, repeatedly asserting that she claimed the ordinance is "all about me."

Griffing can't be bothered to directly quote -- or even to identify by name -- any of the attorneys for the city cross-examining the anti-gay ministers trying to overturn the ordinance, but he gives one of those ministers, former WND columnist Dave Welch, plenty of space:

Welch told the court there may have been a mistake over the course of collecting tens of thousands of signatures.

“One petition page is far from being ‘rife with’ fraud. … These are citizens doing this, and someone may add on a signature not realizing something may not be notarized. It is a matter of investigative intent and process, and I have no issue with the process,” he said.

But when city attorneys started going through multiple pages of signed petitions, asking Welch to determine forgery, fraud or accident, he responded.

“I am not going to ascribe motives or intent to the individuals who collected these signatures,” he said. “Do you want me to keep repeating myself? This is a matter of process and enthusiasm of people getting out and getting signatures. A referendum drive like this has not been done in the city for many years.”

But nowhere in his article does Griffing explain what the petition issues are. World Magazine, a conservative Christian outlet, does a much better job than WND at doing so:

The definition of “signature” and where it should be located on the sworn affidavit portion of the petition represented two of the city’s major points of contention and most potent means of eliminating signatures. Before submitting their petition pages, each circulator was required to present them to a notary public, before whom the circulator would sign a sworn oath stating all of the signatures had been collected in his or her presence. The bottom portion of the petition page was reserved for that documentation and the notary’s signature and seal.

Welch testified he created the petition page by copying relevant elements gleaned from the Houston City Charter provided in a link on the city’s official website.

That proved problematic.

Welch left out a line in the notary verification portion of the document he said appeared “superfluous.” Harrison insinuated the line was for the circulator’s signature. Without a notary-certified circulator signature, the entire petition sheet with all its signatures was unacceptable, he said. That charge alone invalidated 1,268 petition pages containing 6,443 signatures.

In other words, there are clear issues with the petitions, not to mention the evidence of forged signatures. But Griffing has decided to put right-wing ideology over reporting the facts -- just the way WND likes it.


Posted by Terry K. at 10:31 AM EST
Thursday, January 29, 2015
AIM, MRC Have No Problem With GOP Governor's State-Run Media Outlet
Topic: Accuracy in Media

The ConWeb loves to echo Rush Limbaugh's contention that any media outlet that fails to bash President Obama to the satisfaction of right-wingers is "state-run media." But when confronted by actual state-run media -- run by a Republican governor, no less -- the ConWeb is much less disapproving.

In a Jan. 27 Accuracy in Media blog post, Don Irvine touts Republican Indiana Gov. Mike Pence's plans to start a "state-run, taxpayer-funded news outlet that would compete with the local media," proclaiming it a "decisive and bold measure" and that journalists who are complaining about it "have only themselves to blame" because their "biased reporting" all but forced Pence to do it.

The Media Research Center's Scott Whitlock approved of the move as well, trying in a Jan. 28 post to liken it to public broadcasting and chiding PBS host Charlie Rose for criticizing it.Whitlock huffed that "PBS received about $445 million in taxpayer money in 2012" and sneered that "Rose is worth an estimated $23 million, some of which came from his work on PBS."

Of course, unlike public broadcasting, whose mandate is to focus on educational, information and arts programming that mass media outlets ignore, the Pence's news service explicitly stated it would compete with established news outlets and would "function as a news outlet in its own right."

After all the negative criticism -- though not from anywhere in the ConWeb -- Pence endeavored to walk the plan back and eventually pulled the plug on his planned news outlet. Irvine and Whitlock are probably heartbroken.

(Photo of Pence: Indianapolis Star)


Posted by Terry K. at 9:52 PM EST
Updated: Thursday, January 29, 2015 10:10 PM EST
WND's Evidence for 'No-Go Zones' Cites Repudiated Evidence
Topic: WorldNetDaily

As Jerome Corsi has demonstrated, WorldNetDaily has been rather desperate to promote the idea that there really are "no-go zones" in Europe where non-Muslims are prohibited from entering, no matter how shaky. But other WND writers have botched the story even worse than Corsi (shocking, we know).

Art Moore tried to bolster the "no-go zones" claim -- infamously promoted by self-proclaimed Middle East expert Steven Emerson in a Fox News appearance for which Fox later issued an abject apology -- in a Jan. 20 WND article:

The French government lists on its website 751 Zones Urbaines Sensibles, or Sensitive Urban Zones, that the state does not fully control, notes Middle East foreign policy expert Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum.

The French zones, which have specific street demarcations, were first identified by the government in 1996. An estimate that is now 10 years old found 5 million people living in the zones, Pipes noted.

[...]

Pipes, who was one of the first to use the term “no-go zone” in reference to Muslims in Europe, noted in 2006 that France’s Sensitive Urban Zones ranged from two zones in the medieval town of Carcassonne to 12 in the heavily Muslim city of Marseilles, with hardly a town in the country lacking one.

Pipes has continuously updated his original 2006 post, citing references by politicians, civil leaders and journalists to “no-go zones” in Britain, Germany and Sweden, as well as France.

Since 2007, Pipes has visited largely Muslim areas of Paris, Copenhagen, Malmö, Stockholm, Berlin and Athens to find out for himself what is happening. He explained that for “a visiting American, these areas are very mild, even dull.”

“We who know the Bronx and Detroit expect urban hell in Europe too, but there things look fine. The immigrant areas are hardly beautiful, but buildings are intact, greenery abounds, and order prevails,” Pipes said.

“These are not full-fledged no-go zones,” he explained, “but, as the French nomenclature accurately indicates, ‘sensitive urban zones.’ In normal times, they are unthreatening, routine places. But they do unpredictably erupt, with car burnings, attacks on representatives of the state (including police), and riots.”

But Moore omits one key observation Pipes made: that the "sensitive urban zones," or ZUS, aren't no-go zones, even though he stated it in that "continuously updated" post Moore cites. Pipes wrote:

Before my travels, I expected these areas to be similar to the worst areas of the United States, such as the Bronx or Detroit, where buildings are decrepit, streets menacing, and outsiders feel distinctly unwelcome.

My experiences starting in 2007 belied this expectation. All the immigrant areas turned out to be well maintained, with safe streets, and no sense of intimidation. I walked around, usually with camera in hand, and felt at ease. I encountered no difficulties at all.

That said, there is a reason why the French government calls these regions sensibles (sensitive, delicate). They contain many social pathologies (unemployment, drugs, political extremism), they seethe with antagonism toward the majority society, and are prone to outbreaks of violence.

So, from an American point of view, these areas are a bit confusing: potentially dangerous, yes, but in normal times very ordinary looking and with no sense of foreboding. Thus, the term no-go zone does not accurately reflect the situation.

A Jan. 22 WND article by Bob Unruh apparently cribbed from Moore's article in suggesting that Pipes has called the ZUS areas "no-go zones" when he has repudiated the claim.

Unruh simply stole from Moore's article because he's just that lazy of a reporter, but what's Moore's excuse? There's no way he couldn't have read it, so we can probably assume his selective editing of Pipes was deliberate.

Don't expect a Fox News-like apology from WND -- it really doesn't do such things unless it's too painfully false to ignore (like it did in 2012 when it falsely claimed that Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly believed the Bible prohibited interracial marriage). 


Posted by Terry K. at 5:05 PM EST
CNS's Jeffrey Falsely Claims Lynch 'Advocated For Partial-Birth Abortion'
Topic: CNSNews.com

CNSNews.com editor in chief Terry Jeffrey writes in a Jan. 28 article:

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch at a confirmation hearing today that the fact that, in support of Planned Parenthood, she had advocated for partial-birth abortion did not "disqualify" her from serving as attorney general of the United States.

But Lynch did not "advocate for partial-birth abortion," as Jeffrey himself concedes in his very next paragraphs:

"In 2006, you signed an amicus brief supporting Planned Parenthood's opposition to partial-birth abortion ban; is that correct?" said Graham at Lynch's confirmation hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"Yes," said Lynch, "I was one of a number of former Department of Justice officials [who signed it]."

"Although, the amicus brief that we signed was focused on the issue of the facial issues of the law, and how it might impact the perception of law enforcement's discretion and independence," she said.

Signing onto an amicus brief opposing a law banning "partial-birth abortion" does not equal "advocating" for the practice. And it's clear she was discussing issues of the law, not defending the practice.

Jeffrey does not provide a link to the amicus brief in question so his readers can see for themselves what, exactly, she supposedly was "advocating."

In other words, Jeffrey is lying about Lynch. Is that something the editor of a self-proclaimed news organization should be doing?


Posted by Terry K. at 10:56 AM EST
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
NEW ARTICLE: The Super PAC That Didn't Do Anything
Topic: WorldNetDaily
A super PAC endorsed by WorldNetDaily's Joseph Farah and Jerome Corsi did not donate to candidates, got the bulk of its money from WND, and spent it all on administrative expenses and fundraising. Read more >>

Posted by Terry K. at 8:11 PM EST
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
MRC Still Can't Talk Honestly About Rape Provision In Anti-Abortion Bill
Topic: Media Research Center

The Media Research Center still doesn't want to talk about rape exceptions, or lack thereof, in right-wing proposals to ban abortion.

The latest MRC writer to whiff on the subject is Kristine Marsh, who offers up this alternative version of reality regarding a recently tabled anti-abortion bill in a Jan. 23 MRC item:

The focus of the March for Life is celebrating life and pro-life legal victories, however the media chose to celebrate a GOP fallout over a pro-life bill instead. The Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act was dropped before it could make it to a House vote the night before the March for Life. The bill would’ve banned abortions after 20 weeks but was dropped for voting after North Carolina GOP Rep. Renee Ellmers allegedly led a resistance against the bill because it did not cover exceptions for cases of rape. Luckily another pro-life bill was passed in it’s place, forbidding federal funds from going towards abortion and disabling tax credits for insurance plans which pay for abortions.

Marsh gets the issue completely wrong. The problem Ellmers and other female Republicanhouse members had with the bill is not that it didn't create a rape exception, it's that the exception in the bill was granted only if the woman had reported the rape to law enforcement.

Marsh then huffed that one media outlet "cloaked the pro-life bills in ominous language saying the GOP was 'forbidding' access to abortions." Forbidding access to abortion is exactly what the bills are designed to do. Why does Marsh think it's "ominous" to report accurately on the bill's intent?


Posted by Terry K. at 10:42 PM EST
Vicious Hypocrite At WND Complains About 'Vicious Hypocrisy' In Media
Topic: WorldNetDaily

A Jan. 25 WorldNetDaily article by Jerome Corsi originally carried the headline "News media caught in vicious hypocrisy."

Think about that. Corsi is well known for his viciousness in peddling lies and unverified sleaze to advance his right-wing agenda --not to mention his complete refusal to retract all his reporting promoting birther conspiracies that has proven utterly wrong -- and he's attacking the media for "vicious hypocrisy"? That's rich.

Anyway, the gist of Corsi's article is trying to rehab the reputation of right-wing anti-Muslim activist Steven Emerson after having to apologize for falsely fearmongering about the alleged existence of "no-go zones" in Britain and Europe:

While longtime counter-terrorism expert Steven Emerson was strongly criticized by establishment media for his remarks in a Fox News interview about Muslim “no-go” zones in Europe where police have lost control, many of the same news outlets have repeatedly used the term for at least a decade.

“The political left in the mainstream media has decided to demonize me,” Emerson said in a WND interview. “It’s outrageous for media outlets to apologize, saying ‘no-go zones’ don’t exist in Europe, when even the New York Times for years has published articles documenting Muslim ‘no-go zones’ do exist in European countries like France.”

Since this is Corsi, he's being unsurprisingly dishonest. His very first example to support his claim is an article referencing unrest caused by "gangs hoping to turn their neighborhoods into no-go zones for police so drug trafficking and racketeering can thrive." Not that no-go zones actually exist -- but that perpetrators hope they will. And the article in question did not single out Muslims as being the driving force behind this drive.

Corsi then went on to suggest that all of the hundreds, or thousands, of areas in France designed as "sensitive urban areas" (or ZUS) were no-go zones. But as Snopes points out, ZUS areas are not exempted from policing or French law, something that even fellow anti-Mulsim activist Daniel Pipes has backtracked on.


Posted by Terry K. at 7:08 PM EST

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