Farah Actually Cites His Exploitation of Seth Rich's Death As A Reason WND Should Live Topic: WorldNetDaily
Perhaps indicative of the state of its campaign to raise money to raise money to stay alive by its declared deadline -- it's still about $50,000 short of the $200,000 it said it needed to raise by March 1 -- WorldNetDaily and editor Joseph Farah are getting a bit desperate in its emailed pleas to readers.
In his Feb. 21 letter, Farah basically argues that if WND doesn't get saved, Donald Trump gets it:
So again, I just need to ask the tough question: Can you imagine America without the independent media during the critical 2018 election cycle – or with a weakened independent media that is struggling to stay alive?
You know what that will mean. It will very likely mean the hapless Republican Party will lose the Congress – making it impossible for President Trump to carry out his plans to restore American greatness, secure our borders, and continue the economic recovery.
And as I have said before, we all know the very first item on the Democrats' agenda should they retake Congress will be to impeach President Trump.
That’s how big this fight is. But WND is not just about the 2018 election. We’re about changing the culture of America for the better, about restoring the magnificent pro-American, free-market, constitutional, Judeo-Christian system our founders intended. We’re about saving America’s soul and restoring its inner greatness.
Two days later, Farah tried a different appeal, one that -- to put it charitably -- backfired:
Why are the independent media so critical to the future of America?
What is it that we do that the fake-news cartel doesn’t do?
We keep truth alive.
How important it that?
Here’s just one example from earlier this week.
Who else, besides WND, has consistently kept alive the memory of Seth Rich’s 2016 murder?
It’s a good example of what we do – almost uniquely.
We take a battering for it, too. It’s expensive to do this kind of reporting. And it’s costly in other ways than money. There’s real opposition to this kind of reporting. But we do it because it’s our job – the pursuit of the truth.
True, WND's obsession with Seth Rich is "a good example of what we do – almost uniquely," though not in the way Farah wants you to think. As we've documented, WND has been cynically exploiting Rich's death and pushing baseless conspiracy theories about it solely to fuel its decades-long obsession with hating the Clintons.
The article Farah is citing, a Feb. 19 piece by Bob Unruh, is problematic as well. Its two main sources for its claim regarding Rich is the Zero Hedge blog -- a fringe blog that published a false story that WND picked up in late 2016 -- and Kim Dotcom, a con artist and fugitive from justice who's hiding in New Zealand to avoid extradition to the U.S. on fraud and racketeering charges. Of course, Unruh fails to mention Dotcom's legal troubles.
So, yes, the Seth Rich pursuit is indeed a good example of what WND does: push conspiracy theories as a tool to fulfill the personal and political vendettas of Farah and Co.
If Farah is proud to be exploting a young man's tragic death for political purposes, maybe WND really doesn't deserve to live.
CNS Deflects From #MeToo By Recounting Someone's Decade-Old Consensual Affair Topic: CNSNews.com
You know things are getting uncomfortable at the Media Research Center on the #MeToo front -- after all, it has studiously avoided talking about the sexual harassment allegations against numerous Fox News personalities even as it rants about non-conservative alleged perpetrators.
As the spousal abuse scandal involving White House adviser Rob Porter was blowing up, CNSNews.com was studiousy ignoring that too, until it got to the point that biased reporter Susan Jones whined that she had to cover it. The only other article CNS has done on Porter is a Feb. 12 piece by Melanie Arter uncritically regurgitating the Trump White House line on Porter.
In the midst of this, CNS felt the need to ... recount a decade-old consensual affair involving a current Democratic candidate for California governor. Craig Bannister grumbles in a Feb. 8 CNS blog post:
California Lt. Governor Gavin Newson [sic] (D), now running for governor, says the #MeToo movement doesn’t apply to his affair with a female staffer who was married to his chief campaign adviser.
[...]
But, addressing the scandal at a Politico event on Monday, Newsom said the #MeToo movement should focus on “deeper issues” than his sexual affair with a subordinate:
“The #MeToo movement represents "a profound opportunity to address deeper issues,'' he said, adding: ‘It’s not a political movement, it’s a cultural movement.’”
“I applaud women for coming forward” as part of the #MeToo movement, Newsom added.
One woman who has come forward – the subordinate Newsom had the affair with – agrees with Newsom that the #MeToo movement doesn’t apply to the Democrat running for governor:
So everyone agrees -- except Bannister -- that a consensual affair, however ill-advised, is not sexual harassment. But it diverted the eyes of CNS readers away from actual bad things happening in the Trump administration, so it arguably served its purpose.
WND Steals Donation Box Idea From Liberal News Website Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily has recently started running pleas for donations at the end of its articles , in a box that looks like this:
If that box looks familar, it should. It appears WND stole its layout and basic content from a very similar box used in a very similar fashion by the British newspaper the Guardian -- ironically, a liberal-leaning outlet:
WND cribs the gray background, the yellow highlighted text, the yellow bar at the top of the box, the overall typographical scheme, the random quote from a reader and, apparently, the credit card images from the Guardian's box. Even the text of WND's plea hits the same beats as that of the Guardian's -- ad revenues are falling, the desire not to impose a paywall, the attempt to flatter the reader into donating, the reference to "independent, investigative journalism."
We know that WND has laid off people due to its current dire financial situation, and that it has had problems with plagiarism in the past (not to mention the outright theft of others' content without permission or compensation that's a key part of its business model), but this is ridiculous.
WND Columnists Demand That Black Forgive Whites, But Not That Whites Apologize Topic: WorldNetDaily
A couple of WorldNetDaily columnists have gotten the idea that the way to fix what's wrong with black America is for blacks to forgive whites. Mason Weaver wrote in his Feb. 15 column:
What would happen if angry black protesters forgave white people? Real or imaginary wrongs are just as powerful. The NFL did not want black players. We forgave and now dominate the NFL. Professional basketball, baseball, boxing and other sports were discriminating, but we forgave the wrongs and started competing. What if we acknowledged the wrongs and forgave that old slave master? What if we forgave his children and grandchildren? We could compete, stop allowing racial caretakers and develop our own competitive spirit.
My first book, “It’s OK to Leave the Plantation,” outlines my journey from hatred to forgiveness and illustrates the powerful transformation I experienced as a result. It may not work for you, but it does seem to work for many. “It’s OK to Leave the Plantation” reveals that only slaves stay on the plantation. You can allow the world to define you, or you can define the world.
I know some people, both black and white, will not understand my call of forgiveness. But if we are free, if we are strong, if we are grown, what is wrong with standing tall and looking America in the eye and announcing we are here to compete and take what is rightfully ours: a place in the American Culture?
Larry Nevenhoven similarly argued in his Feb. 16 column:
Throwing more money at the inner cities in hopes of setting black Americans free from their agonies is just a splashier way of following Democratic Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s advice in his 1970 memo to President Richard Nixon: “The time may have come when the issue of race could benefit from a period of ‘benign neglect.'”
How much benign neglect can American politicians continue to pour on race issues without dealing with black Americans’ underlying problems?
Like the dream of my friend, black Americans in our nation’s inner cities are facing the back walls of their personal prisons built out of bricks of bitterness, anger and hatred. They must pivot around 180 degrees to walk out the open doors of their cells.
But like my friend, there is only one way to walk through their cells’ open doors. And that’s through forgiveness and repentance.
Forgiveness? Who do black Americans need to forgive?
Every white American. Every police officer. Every person they feel has held them back from being all they can be and all they can do with their lives.
Is this a mountain too big for them to overcome?
While both columnists demand that blacks forgive whites, neither similarly demand that whites apologize or ask for forgiveness. Weaver did try to explain why he's not asking for an apology, citing an incident in the Navy as a young man in which "a racist shipmate tried to kill me by dropping 2,800 pounds of steel and other metals on me":
Forgiveness is meant to alleviate white guilt and black anger. If America truly owes black America a debt from the legacy of slavery, then there are two choices. One is the demand for payment; the second is to forgive the debt.
I do not want anyone to confuse forgiveness with surrender. It is not a docile action; it is a powerful action. I am not saying surrender because others are too powerful. I am saying forgive because they are not powerful enough to keep you down. You cannot have racial reconciliation without racial forgiveness. And you can never have any real racial forgiveness until you have unconditional forgiveness.
[...]
I could have demanded an apology, special treatment, or punishment for the perpetrator. However, if I demanded anything from anyone, I would be dependent upon him. If I was going to be free, I would have to act like a free man. First, I had to totally forgive the hatred and attempted murder. I had to forgive whatever contributing factor I placed upon my country and white people. The real “liberation theology” was not new; it was very old – it was the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Of course, justice is a path toward forgiveness, so it's puzzling why Weaver apparently never pursued that. And while it's not healthy to hold on to anger, and sometimes one must forgive without getting anything in return, demanding forgiveness without some sort of apology to kick things off is arguably exhausting.
Add Art and Art History To The Things NewsBusters' Blumer Doesn't Understand Topic: NewsBusters
We've documented how WorldNetDaily and the Media Research Center went into a calculated freakout of a couple of paintings of women holding severed heads done by Kehinde Wiley, painter of the official portraits of Barack and Michelle Obama, refusing to acknowledge their context as reinterpretations of classic Renaissance-era art themes.
Now, NewsBusters blogger Tom Blumer feels the need to share his ignorant take on the situation:
MRCTV's Brittany M. Hughes reported Monday that Kehinde Wiley, Barack Obama's official portrait artist, previously created two paintings of black women holding white women's severed heads, making him the art world's equivalent of Donald Trump severed-head comedienne Kathy Griffin. Additionally, Wiley, described in New York Magazine as "possibly the wealthiest painter of his generation," outsources much of "his" painting to China to "cut costs." Establishment press coverage has virtually ignored these components of Wiley's background, but their descriptions of Obama's involvement in selecting him reveal his almost certain awareness of the artist's full portfolio.
[...]
Revelations that a foreign country-outsourcing portrait artist for a white president had created paintings showing severed heads of blacks would dominate the news cycle for days.
And if Wiley was the portrait artist for a white president, Blumer would be praising his outsourcing as a prime example of capitalism in action.
Blumer already doesn't understand how the media works, so it's no surprise he doesn't understand art or art history either.
Irony: Objectivity-Challenged CNS Reporter Accuses TV Host of Lacking Objectivity Topic: CNSNews.com
CNS reporter Susan Jones hufffed in a Feb. 20 "news" article:
Quivering with indignation, CNN's Alisyn Camerota "moderated" an on-air debate Tuesday morning between two Republicans with differing views on gun control.
But to Camerota, there is only one righteous side, and she defended it with all the passion of an activist.
The students have announced a "March for Our Lives" protest in Washington next month; they have a website up and running; and they are taking buses to the Florida state capitol today to discuss their agenda with lawmakers and Gov. Rick Scott. They say their anti-NRA ("baby murderers") campaign is not political, except that it is.
Camerota went to Parkland in the aftermath of the horrific shooting, where CNN and many other media outlets gave the understandably grieving students plenty of air time. They are now famous. Listen to her not-so-fair and balanced presentation on Tuesday:
How ironic that one of the most biased reporters by even right-wing standards -- Jones' pro-Trump stenography is getting ridiculous -- is huffing about someone else's purported bias.
Plus, there's also the fact that Jones' article is being presented as "news" instead of opinion -- as well as the fact that the original headline read, "Wow. Listen to This CNN Anchor Drop All Pretense of Being Objective, Right Before Your Very Eyes..." The headline was later changed to "CNN Anchor Drops All Pretense of Being Objective on Gun Control," despite the fact that Jones couldn't even bother to transcribe what exactly was not "objective" about what Camerota said.
It's clear that being an fair and objective reporter is not a condition of Jones' employment at CNS.
WND Finally Deletes Paul Nehlen's Book -- But Still Won't Talk About It Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily still can'tquite bring itself to publicly disassociate from anti-Semitic white nationalist Paul Nehlen, whose book "Wage thte Battle" WND published last year. But it's ever-so-slowly taken another step in disappearing him from its website.
Sometime in the past week -- perhaps moved by Nehlen tweeting an image of Prince Harry fiancee Meghan Markle's face photoshopped onto Cheddar Man, an early Briton recently revealed to be dark-skinned, and the Wisconsin Republican Party subsequently dissociating itself from him and Twitter indefinitely suspending him -- WND Books removed the page for "Wage the Battle" and Nehlen's author bio from its website; both URLs now return 404 errors.
WND has yet to announce whether it is formally withdrawing Nehlen's book from the market -- or make any other statement about the state of its relationship with Nehlen. Indeed, new copies of both the paper and e-book editions are still available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble, so it still appears to be available.
That's a problem. WND is indisputably tied to Nehlen; until last September, it enthusiastically touted Nehlen's campaign for the Wisconsin House seat currently held by Paul Ryan. About the time WND stopped promoting him, Nehlen was spouting anti-immigrant rhetoric and immersing himself in the alt-right movement. Those views were not that far from what WND has advocated, so it's unclear how WND came to view him as a pariah.
Because WND has no public statement on Nehlen, we don't know why WND was first attracted to him enough to publish his book, why it stopped promoting him in September, or why it's taken so long to back away from him. Our emails to WND asking for comment have gone unanswered.
WND has not handled this well, and certainly not with any sort of moral clarity. That may be another reason why it does not deserve to live.
Bozell and His MRC Are Drinking the Trump Kool-Aid Topic: Media Research Center
In a Feb. 2 post, the Media Research Center's Kyle Drennen complained that NBC's Chuck Todd 'dismiss[ed] President Trump’s supporters as members of a cult," referrinf to them as being in "his Kool-Aid orbit."
Drennen isn't about to admit that the MRC is a bona fide member of the Trump cult.
The previous day, MRC chief Brent Bozell sounded like a full-fledged cult devotee as he rhapsodized over Trump's State of the Union speedh:
Well, I think that the State of the Union was single best night of President Trump's career. Now I say this because he didn’t hit a home run, he hit three home runs simultaneously. The first home run, an extraordinary speech. He did what Donald Trump should have been doing for a year. He got off this silly narcissism and went Ronald Reagan. Talking about we, we, we, over a 100 times in juxtaposition to Barack Obama, who could only talk about himself. Bill Clinton who could only talk about himself. It was a warm, unifying, positive speech extolling great American values and the public loved it, home run number one. Home run number two, the public then saw the Democrats, sitting on their thumbs, clearly nervous, clearly disoriented, clearly not knowing what to do because they were not expecting this knowing that cameras were on them, but they could not move and they looked — they were exposed for what they were. That was home run number two. Home run number three, it became the media reaction to this.
[...]
Do you know who else was cheering watching it? The American people watching it. They were feeling very good. You showed it with your numbers. They were feeling very good about this. They were liking the commander in chief, they were liking the executive in the White House. They like the fact that he was talking to them and he was using first person plural. He was making a joint American thing. Look how many times he talked about America and then the best line of them all, saying we are dreamers too. It was beautiful.
An email sent by the MRC after the speech demonstrated even more cult-like dedication to Dear Leader (bolding in original):
Last night we watched the 2018 State of the Union Address and this morning we reviewed the liberal media’s reaction to it. And we are left with one question, “Were we watching the same speech as ABC and CNN?”
The 2018 State of the Union address was a hit, by any standard. President Trump presented a strong and united vision for America. He was alternately tough and compassionate (his tribute to the police officer who adopted the baby of a heroin addict left some in tears). He spoke directly to the American people, and to those in the balcony — highlighting the very best qualities in them.
[...]
The liberal media’s coverage of the State of the Union was ridiculous and shows just how out of touch they are with the American people.
It’s time to take action today. Take a few minutes to email ABC and CNN to let them know that they should have accurately reported the State of the Union and that their blatant bias is unacceptable.
The Kool-Aid is clearly on tap at MRC headquarters.
AIM Pushes Discredited Informant In Discredited Clinton Scandal Topic: Accuracy in Media
An anonymous Accuracy in Media writer claims in a Feb. 9 post:
A former undercover FBI agent told Congress that the Obama administration glanced over the evidence he was building against the Uranium One deal, which involved the Hillary Clinton-led State Department approving the sale of uranium to Ukraine and pro-Russian companies.
The informant told Congress that he built contacts with Russian officials, who expected that a lobbying firm would apply a portion of their lobbying payment to “provide in-kind support for the Clintons’ Global Initiative.”
Why? So the Obama administration and the Clinton State Department would approve the Uranium One deal.
The media has since attacked the controversy about the Uranium One story as an example of a right-wing conspiracy theory.
Townhall, Newsweek and Fox Newscovered the story, but this new story about the informant’s testimony was ignored by the Washington Post and other major media outlets, according to our Google search of the topic.
Perhaps that's because the informant lacks credibility. According to a letter by Reps. Elijah Cummings and Adam Schiff, the Justice Department considers the informant, William Campbell, to be unreliable because he has made inconsistent statements and has apparently lied to the FBI. The informant also never provided any allegation or evidence of illegal or corrupt behavior on the part of the Clintons, the Clinton Foundation or in reference to the Uranium One deal.
And, really, the whole idea of a "scandal" involving the Uranium One deal has been discredited.
CNS Reporter Attacks Trump Sexual Harassment Accuser Topic: CNSNews.com
Just how much of a pro-Trump stenographer is CNSNews.com reporter Susan Jones? She's attacking a woman who has accused Donald Trump of sexual harassment as a possible liar and definite publicity hound.
President Trump, in one of his Tuesday morning tweets, expressed irritation with the continuing media coverage of Rachel Crooks, a woman who's made repeated media appearances to complain that Trump made improper advances when she approached him years ago in the lobby of Trump Tower.
The Washington Post ran a front-page story on Crooks on Tuesday with the title: "Trump accuser keeps telling her story, hoping someone will finally listen." (Apparently no one has taken Crooks seriously because she's made so much out of so little so long ago.)
Crooks has "made so much out of so little so long ago"? We're willing to wager that neither Jones nor any other Media Research Center employee ever said that about, say, Paula Jones.
Jones is not done with the sneering, disrespectful attitude:
As the Post tells it: "It was just a dreadful kiss, or at least that's what she kept trying to tell herself to quiet the confusion that had grown out of that moment, turning into shame, hardening into anxiety, an insecurity until nearly a decade later when she first started to read about other women whose accusations sounded so much like her own."
The article goes on and on, portraying Crooks as a woman who suffers from an anxiety made all the worse by the publicity she has sought and the hateful responses she has received.
As for Crooks' oft-repeated lament, the newspaper says she "has to keep asking herself: Will it ever make a difference?"
Crooks and more than a dozen other Trump accusers want Congress to investigate Trump's alleged sexual misconduct.
Oh, and let's not forget this tidbit: Crooks is now running for a seat in the Ohio Legislature.
Jones' highly biased article is headlined "Enough: Trump Fires Back at Female Accuser, 'A Woman I Don't Know'." It's not clear whether the "enough" is a reaction from Trump or from Jones herself.
Jones' huffy dismissal of Crooks is right in line with how her MRC colleagues treat women who accuse conservatives of sexual misconduct. Whether it's Trump, Roy Moore, ClarenceThomas or any givenFox News personality, all conservatives must be defended no matter what, apparently.
This may be the first time we've seen this at WorldNetDaily: a "news" article that's sponsored content actually labeled as such.
A Feb. 17 item presented in "news" format -- which appeared in the front-page carousel that day -- is an ad for something called TruthFinder, which claims that it "lets you review anyone’s driving records" and "can also tell you if someone’s been arrested! It can also uncover personal details, contact information, relatives, and hidden assets." What'sunusual about this is the disclosure: The kicker headline states that it's "sponsored content," and the subhead reads, "Sponsored by TruthFinder."
This is a rarity. WND has published dozens of "news" articles over the years that were thinly disguised promotions for the authors WND's book division has published. And a December article promoted a book published by WND's self-publishing division, World Ahead Press, in which the author pays WND to print and market the book -- meaning that this article was sponsored content as well.
It's a sign of how bad WND's financial condition is that it agreed to do this.
MRC Gins Up Outrage Against 'The View' Host For Criticizing VP Pence Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center's latest manufactured outrage involves "The View" co-hosts Joy Behar and Sunny Hostin, who commented that if Vice President Mike Pence is hearing the voice of Jesus talking to him, he might be suffering from a mental illness.
The first MRC post on the comment was innocuous by MRC standards. But MRC chief Brent Bozell smelled an opportunity for publicity, so he worked up some outrage and fired off a letter to ABC ranting that "These characterizations of the Vice President’s faith are insulting not just to him, but to all Christians," adding that "the slurs against the Vice President’s faith insult millions of Christians and are unacceptable. If there are no on-air apologies after this deplorable episode, Christians will tune out ABC programming across the board. And we will do our best to encourage it."
A few days later, Behar addressed the issue on "The View," pointing out that she was making a joke. Now, by the MRC's own standards, this should have been acceptable to Bozell & Co. -- after all, when Hank Williams Jr. appeared on Fox News to liken President Obama to a Nazi, the MRC not only chose not to be offended, it played off the insult as a "bad joke."
Needless to say, the MRC declared Behar's response to be insufficient; its post on the matter huffed, "What a lame response."
So now, the MRC is taking its manufactured outrage up a notch. First, it sicced its followers on ABC by encouraging them to call the network to parrot the MRC's outrage. It claims at least 25,000 phone calls have been made, but it doesn't explain how it could know that number or how the accuracy of the number was verified.
And because Behar and Hostin still haven't groveled enough to Bozell, he's taking it further by targeting the show's advertisers:
The Media Research Center on Wednesday announced a campaign to hold ABC's advertisers accountable for the anti-Christian bigotry spewed on The View. We are encouraging our grassroots army to call The View’s sponsors and let them know how upset you are about a show that smears Christians as “dangerous” and “mentally ill.”
Go to http://stopattackingchristians.com/ and let top sponsors, such as Clorox, Gerber, Oreo and Home Advisor, know what you think of Joy Behar and Sunny Hostin’s comments.
Yes, the MRC bought a special domain name for its manufactured outrage.
NEW ARTICLE: Does WND Deserve to Live? Topic: WorldNetDaily
Joseph Farah is begging for money to keep WorldNetDaily alive, but he's refusing to address the elephant in the room: the fake news and shoddy reporting that played a major role in bringing WND to the brink. Read more >>
CNS' Reaction to Fla. Shooting: Blaming Abortion, Bashing Students Topic: CNSNews.com
CNSNews.com responded to last week's mass shooting at a Florida high school the way you'd expect from a right-wing website: blaming anything but guns for the massacre, then attacking the school-age survivors for speaking out.
CNS first reposted a 2012 commentary by Craig Bannister effectively blaming abortion for mass shootings:
The problem of mass violence in the U.S. is more a reflection of contempt for the sanctity of human life than of a love for gun ownership.
In a society that reveres human life, gun ownership isn't a chronic problem. People who genuinely believe in the sanctity of human life won't take another life - by gun or any other means - unless it is absolutely necessary.
Not so in a society that views human life as subjective and revocable.
In a society that condones, funds, and promotes abortion and excuses euthanasia, human life is cheap. When a woman has a right to kill an unwanted child growing inside her simply because it suits her to do so, life is robbed of its value.
[...]
Thus, when it comes to preventing mass violence, the answer is respect for life and self-control - not gun control.
When students at the school began to show up in the media demanding action against gun violence, highly biased CNS reporter Susan Jones went into attack mode. Jones sneered in one "news" article that the students were ignorant publicity hogs:
The FBI failed to investigate warnings about the Florida school shooter, but never mind that. And the National Rifle Association has no control over school shootings, but never mind that, either.
Two newly minted gun control activists from Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida are defending the FBI, while demanding that NRA "child murderers" dismantle and disband. And they have declined an invitation to discuss their concerns with President Donald Trump, whom they call "disgusting."
[...]
Both Hogg and Gonzalez said they have been invited to a listening session to share their concerns with President Trump, but neither of them are going. They're blowing off Trump for CNN's Jake Tapper, who is hosting what they called a previously scheduled town hall on CNN.
Jones doubled down on her attack in a second article trying to defend the National Rifle Association:
Stoneman Douglas High School student Emma Gonzalez told CNN on Monday morning that she wants the NRA to "disband, dismantle...don't you dare come back here." She said gun control is the students' main focus. Fellow student David Hogg said politicians have to stop taking money from those NRA "child murderers." The students made it clear that the upcoming "March For Our Lives" is a direct attack on the NRA. But, they insist, this is not political.
She made sure to insert a piece of boilerplate pro-NRA puffery:
The National Rifle Association supports the legal possession and use of firearms and protects' Americans' right to self-defense. It also donates to politicians who endorse the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. The "blood on its hands" line is straight out of the liberal, anti-gun, anti-NRA playbook, and by making the NRA the bogeyman, as it so often is, the students politicized the debate that supposedly "isn't a red and blue thing."
Again: Jones is writing what are supposed to be "news" articles. Instead, she's injecting the kind of bias CNS' parent, the Media Research Center, normally objects to.
WND Managing Editor Tries To Blame Antidepressants for Fla. School Shooting Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily managing editor David Kupelian rehashes an old theme in a Feb. 15 column:
Here we go again. A horrific mass shooting occurs. Everyone is in shock and grief. Democrats blame guns and Republicans. Pundits urge the public, “If you see something, say something.” And everyone asks, “Why?”
As information about the perpetrator emerges, a relative confides to a newspaper that the “troubled youth” who committed the mass murder was on psychiatric medications – you know, those powerful, little understood, mind-altering drugs with fearsome side effects including “suicidal ideation” and even “homicidal ideation.”
Yet the predictable response from the press is always the same – not only a total lack of curiosity, but disdain for any who ask the question, as though connecting psychiatric meds to mass shootings is pursuing a “conspiracy theory.”
Here’s a good way to tell whether or not something is a conspiracy theory: If it’s true, it’s not a conspiracy theory.
In the case of Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old Florida mass-shooter, his mother’s sister, Barbara Kumbatovich, told the Miami Herald that she believed Cruz was on medication to deal with his emotional fragility.
[...]
Fact: A disturbing number of perpetrators of school shootings and similar mass murders in our modern era were either on – or just recently coming off of – psychiatric medications.
One example he cites of this is "Andrea Yates, in one of the most heartrending crimes in modern history, drowned all five of her children – aged 7 years down to 6 months – in a bathtub. Insisting inner voices commanded her to kill her children, she had become increasingly psychotic over the course of several years." Kupelian adds that "Yates had been taking the antidepressant Effexor."
Blaming antidepressants for mass shootings -- never mind his ignorance of fact that corellation does not necessarily equal causation -- is something Kupelian has been doing for years. Strangely, the perpetrators he lists as examples appear to all be white; if you're a Muslim mass killer, Islam is to blame, apparently.
But as we pointed out back in 2010, Kupelian's inclusion of Yates on that list leaves out one important piece of information: At the time of the deaths, Yates and her husband were in thrall to a fundamentalist Christian street preacher who convinced the Yateses to sell their possessions and live in a bus the preacher had sold them.
But dismissing inconvenient facts is what Kupelian does -- and that's one reason why WND is currently fighting for its life.