Mychal Massie Thesaurus Watch
Topic: WorldNetDaily

When WorldNetDaily columnist Mychal Massie isn't spewing hatred, he's plundering thesauruses for five-dollar words to stick in his column.

He drops some more excess verbiage in his Oct. 19 WND column, in which he uses the phrase "pernicious camarilla of Erebusic marplots."

Now, "Erebusic" and "marplots" are two of Massie's favorite showoff words, but we don't recall him putting them together like that. We're not sure what a "pernicious camarilla" is, let alone a "pernicious camarilla of Erebusic marplots."

This superiority exercise by Massie, by the way, is directed at a year-old study arguing that twice as many drivers failed to yield for black pedestrians than those who were white. Massie declared -- in language used by actual humans -- that this "witch-hunt" was conducted by "white cultural Marxists" who were expressing their "personal bigotry."

Massie further argued that the behavior found in the study was justified because of "the high rate of violent behavior by blacks." No, really:

These white-hating racists and all like them never factor in the idea of self-preservation of the whites they are accusing. They did not factor in the number of car-jackings by blacks or the documented unprovoked attacks upon vehicles operated by whites in intersections and crosswalks by blacks. Did they factor the attacks by blacks such as the kidnapping, rape, sodomizing, torture and murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom? (See: “We Must Unite Against Black Racialists”; mychal-massie.com; Dec. 20, 2013)

Of course not, because that would mean holding blacks accountable for their actions. Neither these people nor their alleged researched studies are interested in truth; they are only interested in promoting white guilt, accusing whites and continuing the idea of blacks being treated negatively based on the color of their skin.

This wasn’t a study – it was an exercise in the “golem effect,” a phenomenon in which low expectations lead to decreased performance, which is a form of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Uh, yeah.We've detailed how Massie loves to invoke his black-conservative privilege to say things that would leave him branded as a racist were he not a black conservative.

Maybe Massie should stick to thesaurus-plundering.

MRC Clinton Derangement Syndrome, Benghazi Edition
Topic: Media Research Center

In keeping with the long, sordid history of Clinton derangement that animates the Media Research Center roared to life once again with Hillary Clinton's testimony before the House Select Committee on Benghazi.

TheMRC kicked things off with the Oct. 21 column by Tim Graham and Brent Bozel, which rather desperately tries to distract from the statements from Republicans -- not Democrats -- that the committee is designed to harm Hillary's presidential chances: "The Democrats have pushed heavily on the narrative that the House probe is transparently political — as if everything they say about Clinton is transparently ... nonpartisan?" See what they did there?

They even spun Republican Kevin McCarthy's statement to that effect by claiming he merely said Hillary was "untrustable," omitting the part about how he said it was the Benghazi committee that made her so.

The MRC displayed its full-derangement mode with the headline of this Oct. 22 post by Geoffrey Dickens: "Watch Hillary Gleefully Laugh As Andrea Mitchell Clip Played In Her Defense At Benghazi Hearing." That's right -- Hillary laughing is the only item of "media research" substance it could pull from the testimony.

Other items of MRC "media research" include complaining about commentary over the hearing that was insufficiently hateful of Hillary and a clip of MRC chief Brent Bozell whining on Fox Business that Republicans weren't asking Hillary tough enough questions.

Meanwhile, over at MRC "news" division CNSNews.com, here is what was considered "news" from the Benghazi hearing:

 

• An article by Melanie Hunder rehashing Rep. Trey Gowdy's assertion that his Benghazi committee is not about Clinton, but omitting the statements of two Republicans and a former committee staffer that the committee is designed to ruin Clinton's presidential campaign.
• Another article by Hunter fowarding the amazing right-wing spin that "of the more than 600 security requests related to Libya and Benghazi that came in in 2012 before the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack none ever reached her desk" yet "[Sid] Blumenthal’s 150 emails reached her desk." hunter did not point out the difference between personal messages from Blumenthal and requests for security that went to State Department personnel whose job it was to review.
• A lengthy rehash by Susan Jones of Republicn Rep. Jim Jordan's talking points for his questioning of Clinton, which is so skewed it reads like it was written by Jordan's congressional staffers.
• An article by Jones repeating testimony by Clinton, in response to a Republican representative's questioning, that "I did not conduct most of my business that I did on behalf of our country on email."
  
• A repeat of an article on Benghazi CNS first published in 2013.
• A blog post featuring Adam Baldwin's take on the Benghazi hearings. CNS' Mark Judge did not explain what special insight the actor has into Benghazi that made his views worthy of a blog post.
  

No original CNS story on the hearing referenced questioning from Democratic members of the committee.

WND Columnist Censors California Gov's Explanation of Right-To-Try Veto
Topic: WorldNetDaily

Barbara Simpson rants in her Oct. 18 WorldNetDaily column:

California Gov. Jerry Brown is giving thinking people in his state whiplash with his position on the “Right to Die” and “Right to Try” bills.

On the one hand, he signed the “End of Life Option Act,” allowing supposedly terminally ill people to legally kill themselves using doctor-prescribed drugs.

Then, within days, Brown vetoed the “Right to Try” bill, which would have allowed terminally ill people to have access to experimental drugs or devices not yet approved by the FDA but which might aid their condition.

Brown’s signature makes it impossible for patients to have a last-ditch chance to try treatment that may affect their survival – and have the opportunity to make that decision for themselves.

But terminally ill people do, in fact, have "a last-ditch chance to try treatment that may affect their survival" -- and that's why Brown vetoed the bill.

Brown said that "Patients with life threatening conditions should be able to try experimental drugs, and the United States Food and Drug Administration's compassionate use program allows this to happen. ... Before authorizing an alternative state pathway, we should give this federal expedited process a chance to work."

Simpson chose to censor Brown explanation from her column, presumably so it wouldn't interfere with the bashing of Brown she devotes her column to unleashing.

Newsmax's 'Top 100 Health Blogs' Includes Quacks
Topic: Newsmax

Newsmax's new list of "Newsmax Health's Top 100 Health Blogs" includes most of the usual suspect. Plus, as you'd surmise with the task of coming up with enough entries to fill the list and Newsmax's own dubious health advice, a couple of quacks.

Located prominently at No. 6 is "Mercola.com — Alternative medicine news from Joseph Mercola, D.O." If that name sounds familiar, it should -- WorldNetDaily promoted Mercola's fearmongering about the HPV vaccine. According to Quackwatch, Mercola is a seller of health supplements who opposes immunization, fluoridation of water, and mammography; claims that amalgam fillings are toxic; and makes many unsubstantiated claims in recommending dietary supplements. 

Coming in at No. 34 is Newsmax's own favorite doctor, Russell Blaylock. We've documented how Blaylock -- who has partnerd with Newsmax on a health newsletter -- fearmongers against vaccines and claims NutraSweet and MSG cause brain damage.

Newsmax's mixing of quacks into its list casts a dubious shadow over the rest of the list, even if most of them are offering sound medical advice (which they appear to be doing).

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 >>

WND Invokes Mental-Illness Defense for Dylann Roof, Doesn't Mention His WND-Aligned Views
Topic: WorldNetDaily

WorldNetDaily has never denied that the things that motivated Dylann Roof to murder nine blacks in a Charleston, S.C., church are the same things that are part and parcel of WND's right-wing editorial agenda: an obsession with black-on-whte crime, the prosecution of George Zimmerman in the death of Trayvon Martin, the moral supremacy of apartheid-era South Africa.

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.

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:

AIM also promoted a Fox News story on Benghazi reported by "Past Reed Irvine Award Winner Catherine Herridge," as if Irvine Award winners were known for reporting facts instead of reinforcing right-wing talking points:

Irvine has been even more eager to change the subject. He also touted the new "Star Wars" trailer:

He complained about the weather and his car:

And he live-tweeted the latest episode of "The Walking Dead":

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.

WND's Corsi Is Now A Chelsea Clinton Birther
Topic: WorldNetDaily

When the Obama birther conospiracy theories promoted by Jerome Corsi and WorldNetDaily were discredited, they never admitted they were wrong; they just didn't bother reporting the truth. Having given up the birther ghost, Corsi and WND have found someone else to go birther over.

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:

WND caught up with Hubbell by telephone Wednesday to ask him about the accusations in the Stone-Morrow book.

“I have not read Roger Stone’s book, and I don’t plan to. Thank you very much,” said Hubbell abruptly.

When asked specifically about the accusation that he was Chelsea Clinton’s biological father, Hubbell responded: “No comment.”

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...

MRC Trolls CNN Anchor On Media Bias
Topic: Media Research Center

Not content with trolling members of Congress to provoke them into saying something on camera it can use to further its right-wing agenda, the Media Research Center is now trolling the media figures whose existence it despises.

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:

So MRCTV followed up with a collection of CNN clips from our archives that demonstrate that left-wing opinion often bursts forth from CNN anchors and their very political contributors (ahem, Paul Begala):

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):

"Limbaugh's disgusting comments are the work of an archaic old dinosaur living in a warped, ugly swamp, who thinks it's okay to degrade decent young women for sport and ratings. Well, it isn't it. Shame on you, Rush Limbaugh."

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.

WND And AAPS-Affiliated Doc Can't Stop Fearmongering About Vaccines
Topic: WorldNetDaily

If there's anything that doctors affiliated with the right-wing Association of American Physicians and Surgeons love to do, its fearmonger about vaccines. Turns out WorldNetDaily loves to do that too, and it also loves giving AAPS-affiliated doctors a platform for their fearmongering.

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:

The American Academy of Pediatrics, or AAP, was quick to accuse candidates of making “false statements.” But AAP’s consistent advocacy for all “recommended” vaccines notwithstanding, the following statements are true:

• Safety testing is limited, especially for long-term effects and for combinations of vaccines.
• Donald Trump’s idea of lower doses spread over time is not just that of a layman. Some experienced pediatricians have thought so, too.
• Trump said we were having an epidemic of autism. So did James Perrin, M.D., president elect of AAP, in 2012. Neither AAP nor anybody else knows why. It is an extremely serious problem.

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:

Children are affected by many non-vaccine preventable conditions, some fatal, such as enterovirus D68, which swept through the nation in 2014. It caused hundreds of hospitalizations and at least 12 deaths, compared with one death from measles. Trump might want to look into the possible consequences of dispersing inadequately screened immigrant children.

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.

Joseph Farah Thin Skin Watch
Topic: WorldNetDaily

WorldNetDaily editor Joseph Farah has never taken criticism well. His thin skin crops up again in his Oct. 12 column.

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:

Recently, I was dubbed “anti-American” by a columnist for the Des Moines Register.

“Anti-American”? Really. Why? Because I support the Constitution of the United States? Because I want to protect and defend it as a land of the free? Because I want my kids to grow up with hope and the chance for preserving the liberty and opportunity I knew as a kid?

None of those questions really matter.

Most of these name-callers don’t know a thing about the people they attempt to tar and feather as evildoers, sinners and sociopaths.

It’s simply what they do.

They do it because it makes them feel better. They are practicing their own false creed. If they had the power to damn their imaginary enemies to hell, they wouldn’t hesitate for a minute. If they had the courage to take our lives, I have little doubt many of them would. When they are empowered to positions of authority, they abuse it by punishing those who don’t share their sacred values.

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:

Joseph Farah, writing for conservative website World Net Daily criticized Obama for not reaching out to “the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of school children who have variously been punished for drawing pictures of guns, bringing toy guns to school, kissing other students, wearing T-shirts that defend the Second Amendment.”

But did they build something?

Demagogues are using Muslims to discredit the president, play to evangelical Christian bases or to serve some other agenda. Evidently none has actually known a Muslim well enough to know how false their gross generalizations are. Or worse, they have, yet do it anyway – leaving Americans more divided and fearful.

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.

AIM Still Silent On Simmons -- But Scrubs Him From Website
Topic: Accuracy in Media

It's been a day since self-proclaimed CIA operative Wayne Simmons was exposed as a fraud, but Accuracy in Media, Simmons' most prominent connection on the right wing -- he serves as a member of its "Citizens' Commission on Benghazi" kangaroo court -- has remained silent on the situation. There's nothing to be found addressing Simmons on its website, its Twitter account or the Twitter of AIM chairman Don Irvine.

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:

We were stunned and saddened to hear the news about Wayne Simmons. He has been a colleague of ours on the Citizens’ Commission on Benghazi since we were established in 2013. We have removed Wayne’s name from the list of members on the website of the CCB, pending the outcome of the legal proceedings. As with everyone charged with a crime or crimes in this country, he is innocent until proven guilty. We wish him the best.

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.

MRC Doesn't Want You To Know Benghazi Committee Whistleblower Was An MRC Intern
Topic: Media Research Center

The Media Research Center has been unusually quiet about the accusations from former House Select Committee on Benghazi investigator Bradley Podliska that the committee is a partisan witch hunt out to get Hillary Clinton. All it's done so far is a few NewsBusters posts complaining that his story was being reported (a contrast to MRC "news" division CNSNews.com, which has devoted no original coverage to it).

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.

AIM 'Citizens' Commision on Benghazi' Member Accused of Fraud
Topic: Accuracy in Media

The bio page for Wayne Simmons at Accuracy in Media's website for its "Citizens' Commission on Benghazi" kangaroo court puts "former CIA officer" right in the headline and claims that he "spent 27 years working with the CIA to combat terrorism, narco-terrorism and narcotics trafficking, arms smuggling, counterfeiting, cyber-terrorists, and industrial and economic espionage."

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.

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 >>