Topic: WorldNetDaily
It's clear that there is nothing so offensive Ann Coulter could do that would make WorldNetDaily drop her column -- WND needs the traffic she brings too much to do that. Read more >>
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
NEW ARTICLE: Joseph Farah, the Coulter Codependent
Topic: WorldNetDaily It's clear that there is nothing so offensive Ann Coulter could do that would make WorldNetDaily drop her column -- WND needs the traffic she brings too much to do that. Read more >>
Posted by Terry K.
at 8:47 AM EDT
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
WND Invokes Mental-Illness Defense for Dylann Roof, Doesn't Mention His WND-Aligned Views
Topic: WorldNetDaily
Instead, WND is now denying that Roof was a committed right-winger, just "mentally ill." In an Oct. 15 WND article, Leo Hohmann complains about government efforts to battle domestic extremism, which he baselessly suggests is being given priority over efforts against Islamic extremism. He further asserts that "the Justice Department sees Islamic jihadists as no more dangerous than mentally ill actors such as Dylann Roof, the Charleston, South Carolina, church shooter who killed nine black Christians." Hohmann then complains about "a study by the New America Foundation that found nearly twice as many Americans have been killed by 'right-wing' extremists since Sept. 11 than by Islamic terrorists," but the list "includes the Charleston church shooting among 19 'right-wing' attacks, despite evidence that Roof has a history of severe mental health issues." Hohmann provides no evidence to back up is insistence that Roof was "mentally ill" at the time of the Charleston shooting. Since Roof has not yet been prosecuted in the massacre, no official evidence of mental illness has been put foward. Salon writer Arthur Chu notes that invoking claims of mental illness is a copout, designed to distract attention from the views Roof held and the motivations for his massacre.In what is surely not a coincidence, Hohmann also fails to mention the WND-aligned views Roof is documented to have held at the time of his massacre. Instead, he rants about "mind-control programs" the government is supposedly going to start using to make citizens behave in approved ways. He also claims that "John Muhammad, the Washington, D.C., sniper who killed at least 10 people in 2002 with his young accomplice, Lee Malvo," was a "jihadist" attack on the U.S., despite the fact that law enforcement never determined a motive for the attacks and Muhammad and Malvo demanded only ransom money while the attacks were ongoing.
Posted by Terry K.
at 6:45 PM EDT
What AIM And Its Chairman Are Tweeting About Instead Of Wayne Simmons
Topic: Accuracy in Media Up until (and shortly after) his arrest on fraud charges, self-proclaimed terrorism expert Wayne Simmons was a member of Accuracy in Media's "Citizens' Commission on Benghazi," a kangaroo court stuffed with Obama-haters and birthers that AIM wants us to believe is seeking the truth about what happened in the Benghazi attacks. Simmons was arguably one of the more prominent members of the CCB. But after Simmons' arrest, he has suddenly become He Who Must Not Be Named By AIM. It's been systematically scrubbing Simmons and any ties he has to the CCB from its website, and its bland statement on Simmons, issued more than a day after the charges were announced, is oddly buried on the CCB section -- not linked to on AIM's front page -- and its existence was announced solely via an AIM tweet cryptically worded, "Statement on the Citizens' Commission on Benghazi." Aside from that cryptic tweet, AIM's Twitter account has been silent on Simmons, even though AIM's statement touted him as a "colleague" whose current situation leaves them "stunned and saddened."And the Twitter account of AIM chairman Don Irvine has been completely bereft of any reference to Simmons, cryptic or otherwise. So what have AIM and Irvine been tweeting about to keep from having to talk about simmons? Well, AIM touted the trailer for the new "Star Wars" film, complete with R2D2 emoji: This is what AIM and its leader are talking about instead of Wayne Simmons, a story they are at the center of and whose point of view would be a contribution. Silence and a buried, bland statement do not serve the "accuracy in media" AIM purports to desire. It seems like the group's initials should be changed from AIM to CYA. Voices Against Violence Voices Against Violence
Posted by Terry K.
at 1:00 AM EDT
Updated: Tuesday, October 20, 2015 1:06 AM EDT
Monday, October 19, 2015
WND's Corsi Is Now A Chelsea Clinton Birther
Topic: WorldNetDaily
We've noted how WND is ignoring the immoral swinger lifestyle of Roger Stone to promote his new hatchet-job book on the Clintons. Corsi is taking the same selective-morality route in promoting Stone's book. And guess which part of it he's focusing on? In an Oct. 11 WND summary of the book by Stone and Robert Morrow -- who loves to spread his bizarre sexual fantasies about the Clintons -- Corsi makes sure to highlight never-proven right-wing rumors that Chelsea Clinton's real father is Webb Hubbell: Among the “family secrets” that Stone and Morrow discuss is the “strong circumstantial evidence” that Chelsea Clinton is not the biological daughter of Bill. The authors publish photographs of Chelsea that appear to show “extensive plastic surgery to rebuild her face in her 20s” to make her appear physically less like Webb Hubbell, the Arkansas attorney who was a colleague of Hillary at the Rose law firm in Little Rock who went to prison for tax fraud in relation to his billing. Then, in an Oct. 14 WND article, Corsi highlights how sex-obessed author Morrow tried to ambush Chelsea Clinton with a question about Hubbell being her father, adding his own ambush:
Corsi presents no actual evidence Hubbell is Clinton's father, citing only "a rumor swirling in the dark underworld of Clinton family speculation." You know, like all of his Obama birther reporting was based on rumors and the deliberate shunning of actual facts. It's telling that Corsi is quite comfortable with the fact-free sleaze peddled by people he would dismiss as sexually depraved were they not rabid Clinton-haters like himself. Makes us wonder if there's something in Corsi's dark underworld that he's trying to hide...
Posted by Terry K.
at 7:20 PM EDT
MRC Trolls CNN Anchor On Media Bias
Topic: Media Research Center
An Oct. 17 NewsBusters post by "NB Staff" (though listed in the post's URL as written by Tim Graham) touts how "new MRCTV correspondent Brittany M. Hughes asked CNN primetime host Don Lemon if the media tilts left. He made faces like the question was preposterous, and denied any such thing." NewsBusters then issued its apparent coup de grace:
but that clip package demonstrates how thoroughly deceptive the MRC's definition of "liberal bias" is. As stated, the clips do indeed show people expressing liberal opinions. But mere expression is not bias, as the MRC claims. A liberal like Begala or Sally Kohn (who's also in the clip package) invited onto CNN to express his opinion is expected to express one that's liberal. For the MRC to claim that this is bias is ridiculous. The clip package also includes "CNN anchors" expressing opinions, but some like Piers Morgan -- who hasn't been on CNN in quite some time -- are not news anchors. So, again, the MRC fails in a logical definition of news bias. Further, one of the clips of Morgan quotes him as saying, "Limbaugh's disgusting comments are the work of an archaic old dinosaur living in a warped, ugly swamp ... Shame on you, Rush Limbaugh." There's an edit there, one that removes the context of Morgan's remarks (and, again, Morgan hosted an opinion show, not a "news" show). Here's the full comment, with the portion the MRC deleted in italics (though we found it elsewhere at the MRC):
Yes, Morgan was referring to Limbaugh's three-day rampage of misogyny against Sandra Fluke, to which the MRC responded by, among other distractions, starting an "I Stand With Rush" website. And MRC boss Brent Bozell was kinda OK with that criticism, conceding it was "fair." Of course, Bozell then proceded to distract from Limbaugh by attacking Morgan for the entirely unrelated offense of having once nice things about Bill Maher. But last time we checked, neither Morgan nor anyone else at CNN set up an "I Stand With Bill Maher" website. Meanwhile, on Fox News, news anchors joining their conservative guests in regularly serving up right-wing opinion, and the MRC says nary a peep about it. If it was genuinely concerned about news bias, it wouldn't keep quiet. It seems what the MRC really wants is to censor opinion it doesn't agree with -- that is, it wants liberals off TV. Why else would it be making the ridiculous complaint the mere existence of a liberal commentator expressing a liberal opinion on TV to say is itself an act of "bias"? Oh, and Lemon's answer to Hughes -- that "if you’re liberal, then there’s conservative bias, and if you’re conservative, you think there’s a liberal bias," and that "people are deliberately trying to skew things one way or the other" based on their own beliefs -- was accurate. The MRC is too busy trying to skew things to its own agenda to admit it.
Posted by Terry K.
at 4:21 PM EDT
Updated: Monday, October 19, 2015 4:31 PM EDT
Sunday, October 18, 2015
WND And AAPS-Affiliated Doc Can't Stop Fearmongering About Vaccines
Topic: WorldNetDaily
Following the Sept. 16 Republican presidential debate, in which Donald Trump fearmongered about an "epidemic" of autism he suggested was caused by vaccines and Ben Carson asserted that children are receiving "too many" vaccines, WND was thrilled. GOP candidates agree on vaccines!" enthused the headline of a WND article following the debate, declaring that "three of the candidates agreed that American doctors have become too vaccine-happy." AAPS executive director Jane Orient used her Sept. 27 WND column to defend Trump's fearmongering about vaccines:
Actually, Trump -- and, thus, Orient -- are pushing a load of bunk. The Washington Post reported that the vaccine schedule for children is "carefully vetted," adding, "When they are given in combinations, or "bunched" at the same time, it's only after they are carefully tested in 'concomitant use' studies to make sure the vaccines don't interfere with each other or cause harm." Further, Orient is lying when she claims that nobody knows why there is an autism "epidemic." It may just be that there is an increase of autism diagnosis instead of an increase of the number of people who have it, given that autism spectrum disorder is a fairly recent development. But Orient won't listen to things like science; she insists that "A multi-billion dollar industry benefits from vaccine mandates – and has enormous influence over groups like AAP." Orient then ranted:
In fact, as we've noted, the Centers for Disease Control have found no evidence of a link between illegal immigrants and enterovirus outbreaks in the U.S. Actual evidence doesn't sway WND on such things; Jerome Corsi was declaring last October that "The EV-D68 epidemic occurred only after the surge this year of unaccompanied alien children illegally crossing the border from Latin America" and that "but government data show the virus was rare in the U.S. before this year." In that article, Orient assertd that "Latin American children likely have some immunity and may not be sick, while still contagious," and that "Some serious work needs to be done to get to the bottom of this." That may be true, but don't expect to see any "serious work" from Orient and the APPS -- for from WND, for that matter -- if those filthy illegal immigrants can't be blamed for it in the end.
Posted by Terry K.
at 5:16 PM EDT
Saturday, October 17, 2015
Joseph Farah Thin Skin Watch
Topic: WorldNetDaily
Farah whines about how "So-called “progressives” have, in effect, created a new neo-puritanical religion that empowers them, even commands them, to do unto others what they accuse others of doing to them," invoking Jack Cashill's new book "Scarlet Letters" (the name of which Farah misspells at one point, and which he also fails to disclose that he published). Finally, toward the end of his column, Farah vents his spleen at a certain person:
Notice that Farah doesn't quote anything from the columnist other than the word "Anti-American" or give any context for the purported name-calling. That's a sign Farah is trying to hide something -- namely, that what he says happened really didn't. Farah is attacking columnist Rehka Basu and a column she wrote about anti-Muslim discrimination. And indeed, not only does Basu not explicitly call Farah "anti-American," the term "anti-American" appears nowhere in her column -- only in the headline. Regarding Farah, Basu responded to criticism from him and other right-wingers regarding Ahmed Mohamed, the kid who got in trouble for bringing a homemade clock to school and of President Obama for defending the kid:
In other words, Basu is criticizing Farah for what Farah accuses liberals of doing -- hurling insults about a subject on which they know nothing because it makes them feel better, and for abusing his position of authority to punish those who don't hold his scared values. No wonder Farah said that the details of what Basu was criticizing him for don't matter. He was ignoring them so he could engage in another dishonest rant.
Posted by Terry K.
at 3:00 PM EDT
Friday, October 16, 2015
AIM Still Silent On Simmons -- But Scrubs Him From Website
Topic: Accuracy in Media
AIM has, however, scrubbed Simmons off its website. Simmons' name has been removed from the list of "Citizens' Commission on Benghazi" members, where it was as recently as two days ago, according to Google cache. Simmons' bio as a CCB member has also been deleted from the website; the page where the bio formerly resided now returns a 404 error. Yet AIM doesn't want to talk about its actions. Is it afraid that Simmons' fraud will rub off on the committee? Too late for that -- it's already too stuffed with birthers and Obama-haters to be considered credible. UPDATE: Finally! The AIM website's CCB section has issued a (carefully, tepidly worded) statement -- strangely located in the header of the CCB page, not in its own post, as if it's ready to make this go away quietly as well:
The statement then goes on to bizarrely promote how "On April 22, 2014 the CCB released an interim report with preliminary findings." That may have been there before the Simmons statement was posted, but its current juxtoposition makes it look like part of the statement -- and an inappropriately placed promotion, despite the fact that the nature of the allegations against Simmons arguably casts a cloud over the entire CCB. Meanwhile, AIM's Cliff Kincaid has yet to distance himself from discredited filmmaker Joel Gilbert. UPDATE 2: Media Matters notes that several more pages referencing Simmons have been scrubbed from AIM's website.
Posted by Terry K.
at 3:39 PM EDT
Updated: Friday, October 16, 2015 6:52 PM EDT
MRC Doesn't Want You To Know Benghazi Committee Whistleblower Was An MRC Intern
Topic: Media Research Center
There's a reason the MRC is downplaying Podliska's story: he used to be one of them. Talking Points Memo reports that Podliska's conservative credentials are impeccable, and that they include a stint as an intern at the MRC. Indeed, a search of the MRC website reveals Podliska listed as an intern on several items published in September and October of 1996. Interestingly, none of those NewsBusters posts disclose the fact that Podliska once worked there. Why? Do they feel their association with him was so long ago they can claim no link to him now? Or do they want to distance themselves from the fact that his allegations are exposing something Clinton-hating MRC boss Brent Bozell doesn't want exposed, and are afraid that the MRC will be linked to it because it will undermine the legitimacy of the Benghazi probe? Podliska has discovered bias the way the MRC taught him to do -- but unfortunately for him, it's bias the MRC endorses and doesn't want to do anything about.
Posted by Terry K.
at 8:50 AM EDT
Thursday, October 15, 2015
AIM 'Citizens' Commision on Benghazi' Member Accused of Fraud
Topic: Accuracy in Media
Much of that is not true, it appears. The Washington Post reports that Simmons has been arrested on fraud charges relating to the self-aggrandizing tales he has told about himself over the years. A federal indictment states that in order to obtain a security clearance for a government contractor, Simmons was “falsely stating that he had been recruited to the CIA in 1973, that he had not previously been charged with or convicted of a felony offense, that his prior arrests and criminal convictions were directly related to his supposed intelligence work for the CIA, and that he had held a top secret security clearance from 1973 to 2000.” Simmons was also charged in an apparently unrelated scam in which he convinced someone to make a $125,000 real estate investment with him, citing "his supposed affiliation with the CIA to bolster his credibility," then used the money for personal expenses. If Simmons is the fraud prosecutors claim he is, that doesn't exactly bode well for the credibility of AIM's "Citizens' Commission on Benghazi," which is already stuffed with birthers and Obama-haters. Thus far, AIM has been silent about the charges against Simmons both on its webiste and on its Twitter account, as well as the Twitter account of AIM chairman Don Irvine.
Posted by Terry K.
at 2:59 PM EDT
NEW ARTICLE: Pelosi and the Protester
Topic: CNSNews.com The Media Research Center tries to pretend that their employee who hurled a gotcha question on abortion to Nancy Pelosi is an actual journalist instead of an activist and fundraising tool. Read more >>
Posted by Terry K.
at 8:47 AM EDT
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
The ConWeb's Big Prison Pork Freakout
Topic: The ConWeb When the Washington Post reported last week that the federal government had decided to stop serving pork to federal prison inmates, citing unpopularity and cost, it quoted Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations saying that the decision would prompt anti-Islam groups would spin the decision into a case of the federal government acting under pressure from Muslims, adding: “This is just the kind of thing that drives them crazy. ... It will stoke the fires of Islamophobia based on the usual conspiracy theories.” Cue the ConWeb, which used the Post story to build their own articles, done in their own biased style. Newsmax gave its story the full top-of-front-page treatment on Oct. 9: The article, by Greg Richter, made sure to prominently mention CAIR. CNSNews.com gave it a "CNSNews.com Staff" byline that also prominently featured CAIR, but took Hooper's comment out of context, claiming that he "warned that it might spark 'Islamophobia.'" Well, no, Hooper warned specifically that anti-Islam groups like CNS would do that.Curiously, CNS cited only the unpopularity angle, failing to mention the government's claim that pork was too pricey -- a strange omission given how close an eagle eye CNS normally keeps on government spending. WorldNetDaily was a little late to the party, with an Oct. 13 article by Douglas Ernst (like fellow WNDer Cheryl Chumley, someone for whom the Washington Times apparently wasn't right-wing enough) going straight for the conspiratiorial angle:
Ernst also made sure to mention CAIR but, like Newsmax, didn't mention Hooper's statement about the Islamophobia that would come from anti-Muslim groups over the decision -- you know, like WND.
Posted by Terry K.
at 9:06 PM EDT
Obama Derangement Syndrome Watch, Pat Boone Edition
Topic: WorldNetDaily
-- Obama-hater Pat Boone, Oct. 12 WorldNetDaily column
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:44 PM EDT
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
CNS Anti-Gay Watch
Topic: CNSNews.com How is CNSNews.com hating on gays lately? Here's a couple of examples. Melanie Hunter did another of her "how dare the federal government fund gay things!" articles, an Oct. 9 piece complaining that "The National Institutes of Health has awarded $603,412 to the University of Pittsburgh for a five-year study of patterns of healthy aging among gay men." Here's the image CNS chose to illustrate Hunter's article with: Then, an Oct. 12 column by Eric Metaxas warns against young-adult literature that isn't sufficiently hateful of gays:
Metaxas' column is headlined "Disproportionately Gay: Alarming Trend in Youth Lit." Metaxas did not identify what he considered to be a suitably proportionate number of gay characters in young-adult literature, nor did he identify an enforcement mechanism he would use to achieve that desired proportion.
Posted by Terry K.
at 9:57 PM EDT
The MRC's Weird Attempt At A Brent Bozell Cult of Personality
Topic: Media Research Center The Media Research Center's self-promotional efforts tend to feature the grim visage of founder and president Brent Bozell -- not unlike, say, how they do things in North Korea. This no doubt feeds Bozell's ego -- it's obvious he has a large enough of one to insist on being the face of the MRC, though his photogenicity is up for debate. This is the guy, after all, who spent 15-plus years stealing the credit from the guy who actually wrote his syndicated column, so he clearly wants as much glory for himself as he can get. So now the MRC is promoting its little dress-up "Gala" shindig devoted to mocking its political enemies, and here's the image it's using: And what was Bozell so happy about in that photo? To read the description on the MRC page to which the happy-Bozell image links, it appears he was leading the Two Minutes Hate that the MRC Gala apparently is:
And then there's this, in which Bozell makes sure his role is noted:
Note: Not necessarily accurate or truthful information, but the "proper" information. Again, just like North Korea. It all comes off as a propaganda operation instead of any sort of "media research," with Bozell attempting to create a cult of personality around himself. Funny thing is, it was just a few weeks ago that the MRC was accusing Stephen Colbert of leading a "cult of personality." All the better to distract attention from the boss, it seems.
Posted by Terry K.
at 4:17 PM EDT
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