MRC Helps Conservatives Play Victim, Censors How Facebook Sucks Up To Conservatives Topic: Media Research Center
We'vedocumented how the Media Research Center insists on falsely portraying Facebok as hostile to conservatives even as the company sucks up to them (including CEO Mark Zuckerberg holding secret dinners with MRC chief Brent Bozell). Those secret dinners didn't work because the MRC has not stopped attacking Facebook.
Here's a smattering of the MRC's recent Facebook rage:
In June, when Facebook agreed to consider whether to flag falsehoods or misleading claims in posts from political leaders like President Trump, Corinne Weaver wailed that Zuckerberg succumbed to demands from "the liberal media." On June 17, Weaver complained that Facebook was working to "incentivize its users in America to vote in the 2020 election," though she offered no evidence Facebook would tell people how to vote, instead, she invoked dubious claims from Robert Epstein about purported pro-Hillary bias in 2016 simply by reminding people to vote.
On June 30, Alexander Hall got mad at Facebook for tweaking its news feed to prioritize news stories featuring original reporting and transparent authorship. He didn't explain why this was a bad thing, other than to huff: "This begs the question as to whether Facebook will respect the anonymity of journalists using pen names to avoid not just government, but being targeted by cancel culture or violent left-wing activists." Hall has apparently forgotten that his employer attacks media outlets that cite anonymous sources (in stories that make conservatives look bad, anyway; right-wing outlets can still use anonymous sources with impunity).
A July 9 post by Adam Burnett attacked a Facebook report that "slammed the tech company's choice to leave several posts by President Trump untouched," then huffed that "the report was put together by liberal lobbyist, attorney, and Democratic donor Laura Murphy," further complaining that "the left has continually sought to define free speech as only speech they like and agree with." In a July 11 post, Clay Waters claimed there was secret anti-Trump bias in a New York Times article about that Facebook report: "No one wants “hate” to flourish online. But that headline actually sneakily translates into a complaint that Facebook is not sufficiently censoring Trump and his supporters in the run-up to November."
Dan Gainor regurgitated the MRC's complaints over a new Facebook oversight board, grumbling in a July 14 post: "Facebook released the third and final version of the radical left’s audit of its operations last week. As the company caves increasingly to critics demanding more speech restrictions, it was still shocking how much Facebook works actively with the left. ... The report was filled with ways the company gave access to, worked with or made changes at the behest of the radical left." But Gainor cited one group, the American Civil Liberties Union,in his complaint, and nobody except far-right folks like Gainor thinks they're "radical left."
When Facebook tagged a Trump post raging against mail-in voting with information about how to vote by mail, Heather Moon predictably cried "censorship," even though Trump's post was not censored:
The outcome of Facebook’s outlandish new policy promoting mail-in voting was easy to predict.
The company announced a plan Friday that encourages mail-in voting so much that even if a post criticizes the concept, Facebook links it to mail-in voting.
That’s exactly what happened — to the president of the United States.
Donald Trump posted the following to Facebook:
“Mail-In Voting, unless changed by the courts, will lead to the most CORRUPT ELECTION in our Nation’s History! #RIGGEDELECTION”
Facebook seized this chance to add its info label that, when clicked, sends users directly to a usa.gov page on how to use mail-in absentee voting where available because of the Coronavirus.
After Facebook corrected another false Trump tweet, Alexa Moutevelis lamented: "the Big Tech companies have taken it upon themselves to arbitrate the truth during this heated election season and it's clear which side they're on."
Actually, the side Facebook is on is not the one Mouteveis wants you to think it's on - because Facebook has censored all mention of even more sucking up to conservatives Facebook has done.
NBC reported earlier this month that "Facebook has allowed conservative news outlets and personalities to repeatedly spread false information without facing any of the company's stated penalties," adding:
According to internal discussions from the last six months, Facebook has relaxed its rules so that conservative pages, including those run by Breitbart, former Fox News personalities Diamond and Silk, the nonprofit media outlet PragerU and the pundit Charlie Kirk, were not penalized for violations of the company’s misinformation policies.
Facebook's fact-checking rules dictate that pages can have their reach and advertising limited on the platform if they repeatedly spread information deemed inaccurate by its fact-checking partners. The company operates on a "strike" basis, meaning a page can post inaccurate information and receive a one-strike warning before the platform takes action. Two strikes in 90 days places an account into “repeat offender” status, which can lead to a reduction in distributionmof the account’s content and a temporary block on advertisingon the platform.
[...]
The list and descriptions of the escalations, leaked to NBC News, showed that Facebook employees in the misinformation escalations team, with direct oversight from company leadership, deleted strikes during the review process that were issued to some conservative partners for posting misinformation over the last six months. The discussions of the reviews showed that Facebook employees were worried that complaints about Facebook's fact-checking could go public and fuel allegations that the social network was biased against conservatives.
The removal of the strikes has furthered concerns from some current and former employees that the company routinely relaxes its rules for conservative pages over fears about accusations of bias.
Further, Buzzfeed reported that Facebook allegedly fired an employee who collected evidence about this preferential treatment.
Another thing the MRC won't tell you about is a Twitter account that lists "the sources of the 10 top-performing link posts by U.S. Facebook pages every day." And every day, that list list dominated by right-wing personalities and websites such as Ben Shapiro,Dan Bongino, Fox News and Franklin Graham.
Of course, telling its readers the full truth about Facebook would interfere with its victimization narrative, so the MRC makes sure to stay silent.
SHOCKER: WND Not Biting Yet On Harris Eligibility Conspiracy Theory Topic: WorldNetDaily
Given that WorldNetDaily is best known for its eight-year embrace of the conspiracy theory that Barack Obama was not eligible to be president because he may have been born in Kenya (or some other reason), you'd think it would be rushing to promote the conspiracy theory that Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris isn't eligible to hold the position.
Shockingly, that's not the case -- at least not yet.
When the question popped up several days ago, WND published only two articles on the subject, neither of which it wrote on its own: a Washington Examiner piece on President Trump declaring he'll "take a look" at the claim, which also noted that Harris was "born in the United States" and, thus, in eligible; and a piece from The Hill noting that Newsweek magazine apologized for publishing a column advancing the conspiracy theory.
That's it. WND is staying away -- at least so far.
(Note the WND is still laughably calling these articles it steals without permission or payment "WND News Services." In fact, it pays no other "news service" for the use of other people's content, as it has since its founding, claiming that its theft of others' property is "fair use.")
Then again, there's still a couple months left before the election, so there's still plenty of time for it to start treating Harris like it did Obama.
MRC: Being Anti-Vaxxer Is Patriotic Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center continues its embrace of odious people and odious views in an Aug. 11 item by Alexander Hall:
Famous Christian public figures were censored for expressing disbelief that patriotism in the current year amounts to submitting to forced vaccinations amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Benham Brothers, identical twins David Benham and Jason Benham, who previously lost their HGTV show for their conservative views have been censored by Facebook. On August 10, Jason shared a screenshot on his Facebook page and wrote, “Saw this in my notifications today. Looks like the FB social police won’t be allowing people to say things like ‘I won’t be getting the vaccine.’”
The screenshot featured a notification from Facebook that read: “David Benham’s post goes against our Community Standards on misinformation that could cause physical harm.” The post also explained: “We have these standards because misinformation that could cause people physical harm can make some people feel unsafe on Facebook.” The Benham Brothers’ post from August 7 was a scathing commentary on how the only acceptable form of patriotism in 2020 America is unquestionably obeying the government:
“Soooo… patriotism today is nothing but a micro aggression, unless it's redefined, of course, and pushed a leftist agenda. No matter where you stand on this, to be told it’s ‘patriotic’ to vaccinate is typical propaganda.”
This comes after news sources like USA Today suggested that forcing nationwide vaccinations is “patriotic.”
Yes, Hall is trying to defend attacks on vaccinations as "patriotic." If getting vaccinated against coronavirus helps people and the country, what's the problem?
He's also lying about the Benham's background. It wasn't "conservative views" that cost the brothers their TV show -- it's their extreme anti-gay and anti-abortion stances, smearing homosexuality is "demonic" and ranting outside abortion clinics that they are the "altars of Moloch." Hall can't demonstrate those are mainstream "conservative views."
And it's laughable how Hall and the Benham brothers are complaining that "the only acceptable form of patriotism in 2020 America is unquestionably obeying the government" when the MRC has done nothing to unquestioningly obey Trump for the past four years.
CNS Sends The Interns To Ask Senators Another Gotcha Question Topic: CNSNews.com
CNSNews.com just loves to send its summer interns out to the Capitol to pester members of Congress with gotcha questions. Their second question for the summer was more benign than asking about biological males who identify as females use female bathrooms and locker rooms, but it was more hypocritical. This time, they asked: "So far in fiscal 2020, the federal debt has increased by $3.78 trillion. When do you predict the government will pay off the debt it has added this year?" As usual they got several responses, all from senators:
Of these eight respondents, only Hirono and Warner are Democrats; the rest are Republicans. The question also conveniently omitted the fact that this year's debt was racked up under a Republican-controlled Senate and signed by a Republican president.
The hypocrisy here -- and, unsurprisingly, it was not mentioned in the questioning -- is that CNS' owner, the Media Research Center, played a role in increasing the federal debt by applying for and receiving more than $1 million from the Paycheck Protection Program.
But, then, pushing a message is more important at CNS these days then accuracy or ideological consistency -- or even reporting "news," despite the word being part of its name.
Cowardice: MRC Writers Won't Bring Their Criticism Of Laura Loomer To The MRC Topic: Media Research Center
We'vedocumented how Media Research Center writer and NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck utterly lacks the courage of his convictions -- he'll express un-conservative sympathies that he can't or won't put onto the website he manages.
When right-wing extremist Laura Loomer won her Republican primary for a House seat in Florida, Houck tweeted out a "two thumbs down" GIF. When President Trump congratulated Loomer, he tweeted out a "NO" GIF. MRC writer Scott Whitlock similarly criticized Trump's endorsement of Loomer on Twitter: "Loomer is a lunatic and everyone should repudiate her. Too bad the President of the United States doesn't understand that simple point."
The next day, Houck tweeted a thread quoting right-wing activist Erick Erickson denouncing Loomer as "a grifter who is going to take people’s money that could be used in serious races with serious people to get them elected" and castigated Florida Republicans who support her, declaring that they "should be marched into the sea like the lemmings that they are."
But if you read NewsBusters -- again, the MRC for which Houck serves as managing editor -- you will find nary a disparaging word about Loomer. In fact, NewsBusters treats her as a free-speech martyr because most social media operations (and other places) have banned her for her hate-spewing Islamophobia. That's something the MRC is done for quiteawhile, and now Houck's operation is doing it even more now that she's a Republican candidate.
A July 6 post by Alexander Hall proclaimed that Loomer was the "GOP frontrunner" in her primary, but "her personal accounts have been banned from Facebook and Instagram, her political campaign has been restricted from creating an account or even buying advertisements." Hall refused to detail why Loomer got banned in the first place, instead gushing that "Loomer made a name for herself as a Jewish-American right-wing provocateur whose performance art and protests resulted in having multiple Big Tech and payment processing platforms blacklist her."
And on Aug. 18 -- the same day Houck denounced Loomer on Twitter -- his NewsBusters published another post by Hall gushing that she was a "conservative firebrand and Florida GOP frontrunner" who has "reportedly been targeted" by a cable company. No only did Hall provide no verified evidence to back up Loomer's accusastions, he again failed to detail Loomer's viciously hateful rhetoric, instead repeating his benign description of her as "a Jewish-American right-wing provocateur."
the next day -- the same day Houck reproduced Erickson's bashing of Loomer -- his NesBusters published a post by Corinne Weaver that once again helped Loomer play the victim:
Facebook is blatantly interfering in elections by banning the ads of a Republican congressional candidate.
“Facebook has reportedly banned all ads on behalf of Laura Loomer, the frontrunner in the GOP primary race for House candidate in Florida’s 21st district” Breitbart reported on July 3. The article noted how her personal accounts have been banned from Facebook and Instagram, her political campaign has been restricted from creating an account or even buying advertisements.
“I’m the only federal candidate in the nation banned from advertising on Facebook,” Loomer observed. She added adding that “My competitor, Lois Frankel is running ads on Facebook to reach voters, and my campaign is shut out.” She then declared that Facebook’s moderation here is a case of “illegal election interference.”
Like her colleague Hall, Weaver refused to detail the Islamophobia that got Loomer banned, instead robotically repeating the "Jewish-American right-wing provocateur" boilerplate.
Hall returned on Aug. 24 to tout a right-wing effort to get the feds to investigate "Big Tech" and portrayed Loomer as utterly normal: "The recent GOP nomination of Laura Loomer in the U.S. House race for Florida’s 21st Congressional district shows how the electoral game has changed, and conservative organizations are taking notice. [The American Principles Project's Jon] Schweppe argued in his open letter that while Loomer has been censored by multiple platforms '[d]ue to past controversial comments,' the fact that she 'is now a major party nominee for U.S. congress' shows its high time for a reassessment." Once again, Hall was silent on the exact nature of those "past controversial comments," nor did he or Schweppe explain why they have become less controversial because she's now a Republican politician.
Houck and Whitlock are cowards, pure and simple. By censoring anyt criticism of Loomer and the real reason social media banned her, they do not have the courage of the convictions they express outside of work.
Newsmax Gives Obama's Angry Half-Brother A Platform Topic: Newsmax
Right-wing media outlets continue to give Barack Obama's half-brother, Malik Obama, a platform because he says all the Obama-bashing things they love. Newsmax contributed with an Aug. 1 article by Tauren Dyson that rewrote a conservative New York Post piece:
President Barack Obama became "cold and ruthless" once he took office and abandoned his family in Kenya when they were most in need, according to a book from his half-brother Malik Obama.
“He got rich and became a snob,” Malik, 62, told The New York Post via Skype. “What I saw was he was the kind of person that wants people to worship him. He needs to be worshiped and I don’t do that. I am his older brother so I don’t do that.”
In “Big Bad Brother From Kenya,” a self-published memoir that Malik Obama has been writing for the last 22 years, he details the slow but eventual fall out between him and Barack. The rift forced Malik to endorse Donald Trump for president in 2016.
As we've noted, Malik has spent years trying to ride his half-brother's coattails, and he's mad that Barack was not having it, and even Malik's fellow Kenyans have called him out on it. He even peddled a purported Kenyan birth certificate for Barack that even the rabid Obama birthers at WorldNetDaily admitted was fake.
Again: Outlets like Newsmax give Malik Obama a platform because bashes Barack Obama, and for no other good reason.
WND Columnist Pushes Conspiracy Theory About Fauci Topic: WorldNetDaily
The last time we checked in on WorldNetDaily columnist Jonathon Moseley, he was abusing statistics. Now he's pushing conspiracy theories about Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Moseley began his Aug. 5 column by declaring: "It is time for President Donald Trump to start ignoring Dr. Anthony Fauci. Is Fauci trying to save lives? Or to elect Joe Biden?" This was followed by a long digression into the Henry Ford Health System study claiming to back up the idea of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for coronavirus, but as we've noted when other. similarly HCQ-obsessed WND columnists were embracing this study, experts have pointed out that the Henry Ford study is flawed because it was an observational study that lacked a randomized control group.
Moseley then attacked Fauci for pointing out those flaws, then went into conspiracy mode:
Remember: Dr. Anthony Fauci is not the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fauci is not the head of the National Institutes of Health. Fauci is head of only one small department of NIH. From that small perch, Fauci has pushed around public health officials and medical professionals for decades.
Fauci claims that the Ford System study is flawed because some patients received more than one drug or treatment.
And … so what? Suppose the patients received 12 different medicines (just to make up a number) and the death rate dropped significantly, and the suffering of patients was shortened.
What if none of the treatments work acting alone? What if it was the combination that did the trick? What if you have to mix them all together as a team?
What if we never learned which medications are responsible for the dramatic improvements the Ford study found? Are we trying to save lives, or defeat Donald Trump for re-election?
[...]
Fauci and his colleagues also push randomized selection and assignment of patients to a placebo. Is that ethical? So people come to a hospital sick with COVID-19, who could die, and Fauci wants to give them a sugar pill placebo and risk them dying. If you are testing a weight loss pill or baldness cure, sure. But how do we randomize placebos for sick patients who could actually die?
Moseley, it should be noted, is not a doctor; he's a right-wing lawyer and onetime host of something called the "Conservartive Commandos Radio Show." We'll stick with Fauci over him for advice on medical research.
MRC Joins Right-Wing Race-Baiting On 5-Year-Old's Murder Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center has largely stayed away from explicit race-baiting -- but its increasing anger and extremism has apparently made that palatable now.
For the past few weeks, right-wing media has been obsessed with Cannon Hinnant, a white 5-year-old boy who was killed without apparent provocation by a black man who lived next door, as an apparent response to the police-committed death of George Floyd, despite the fact that Hinnant's parents have insisted it's not an issue of face.
Despite that, the MRC's Scott Whitlock decided to pile on in an Aug. 13 post:
Why is this not a story provoking media outrage? On Sunday, a five-year-old boy in North Carolina was brutally murdered execution style in front of his family by a neighbor. Cannon Hinnant was playing outside his home when a neighbor, Darius N. Sessoms, walked up and shot the child in the head. It’s every parent’s worst nightmare. Yet the national media has mostly been silent.
As The Blaze noted, “The gruesome murder was reportedly witnessed by Hinnant's 7-year-old and 8-year-old sisters” and neighbors. Yet, the networks, CNN and MSNBC have boycotted the topic.
[...]
Are journalists able to cover multiple stories or not? Clearly, there are several big stories driving the news, from Kamala Harris to the pandemic. But CBS still found time on Wednesday night and Thursday morning to the suspension of a cop for having his K-9 dog attack someone (under questionable circumstances).
Yet, nothing for this appalling act of violence. Nothing on the unimaginable grief suffered by the family of young Cannon.
Whitlock dishonestly omitted the races of the victim and perpetrator in his post -- that is, the entire reason Hinnant's death is being so hyped in right-wing media. Nor did he not that there is no issue of injustice here: Hinnant's alleged shooter was quickly arrested and nobody is agitating on his behalf, compared with, say, the police-caused deaths of Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
But the purpose was made clear with the Fox News screenshot that accompanied his post -- a smiling white boy paired with an angry-looking black man -- as well as the promotional copy in an MRC tweet: "The media has completely buried the story of a black man allegedly shooting and killing a 5-year-old boy at point-blank range in front of his family. If the races were reversed, it would be national news for weeks."
This is how the MRC is dipping its toes into right-wing race-baiting. Expect to see more of it.
CNS Invoking Chicago Violence To Help Trump Get Re-Elected Topic: CNSNews.com
CNSNews.com loves to invoke reports of inner-city violence, particularly in Chicago, when it decides that it's advantageous to its right-wing political agenda to do so. Right now, President Trump has to be re-elected, and emphasizing such incidents is a key part of that. Thus, as a loyal Trump supporter, CNS has ramped up what it's already been doing.
In a June 29 article, Craig Bannister promoted a Chicago pastor who "called for a three-step response to the violence in his city that took the lives of 13 people, including a one year-old child, last weekend" in an appearance on Fox News.
John Jakubisin dutifully reported in a July 13 article: 'New York City and Chicago saw another weekend of violence with shooting victims totaling 64 in Chicago and 28 in New York City, including a 1-year-old boy, reported the local media Chicago Sun-Times and The New York Post." Jakubisin also repeated mostly conservative-friendly explanations of the violence: "The cause of the uptick in shootings remains unclear. Some have pointed to the economic downturn following COVID-19, while others have said the cuts to police budgets and presence have caused the increase. Officials with the NYC Police have indicated that prison releases and bail reform might be a significant factor as well."
Jakubisin did this again on July 20: "Violence continued in Chicago as 40 shootings left 58 people wounded and 9 dead over the weekend, according to WGN 9. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) and Police Commissioner Dermot Shea announced an “End Gun Violence” plan in reaction to the recent rise in shootings." He also highlighted "a $1 billion cut to the NYPD budget, supported by Mayor de Blasio." This continued over the following weeks:
July 27: "In Chicago over the weekend, 56 people were wounded and 3 others were killed by gun violence. The wounded included a 13-year-old girl, according to the Chicago Sun-Times." Jakubisin also called Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot a "left-wing Democrat."
Aug. 3: "Chicago saw another violent weekend in which 33 people were shot, 9 fatally, including a 9-year-old-boy, according to ABC 7 Eyewitness News. The weekend capped off the month of July which experienced a 139% increase in murders in comparison to July of 2019."
Aug. 10: "Over the weekend in Chicago, 40 people were shot, four fatally, and riots swept through the city Sunday night. In the District of Columbia, the nation’s capital, 20 people were shot at a block party, including a 17-year-old who was killed."
This was joined by CNS featuring partisans invoking the violence for political reasons.
A July 7 article by Melanie Arter featured White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany complaining that reporters were "not asking about the shootings that took place over the weekend in cities like New York City, Atlanta and Chicago."
Jakubisin touted how CNS' favorite right-wing radio host Mark Levin claimed that "Presidential candidate Joe Biden and his Democrat party [sic] had offered no policy or response to the recent uptick of inner city shootings."
Susan Jones gushed at how Republican Rep. John Kennedy asserted on Fox News that "Chicago is now the largest outdoor shooting range in America,"
Arter promoted on July 22 how "President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he is sending “a surge of federal law enforcement” into Chicago to help quell inner-city violence that has increased recently under the leadership of Mayor Lori Lightfoot and eventually into other U.S. plagued by an uptick in violent crime," uncritically repeating how he claimed that politicians have “put the interest of criminals above the rights of law-abiding citizens” for decades and are now embracing “the far left movement” to break up police departments as part of the Black Lives Matter movement, “causing violent crimes in the cities to spiral … out of control.”
Bannister featured how right-wing activist Dan Bongino "praised the president for not taking the advice of those telling him to let Chicago continue to suffer the consequences of the anti-police polices of its Democrat leaders" in, yes, a Fox News appearance.
Arter was in stenography mode again in a July 23 article featuring Trump claiming that "Former President Barack Obama was at fault for the increase in homicides in Chicago in 2016, because he was invited in and could have solved the problem."
In an Aug. 11 article, Bannister touted how Fox News commentator Geraldo Rivera claimed that "his friends in Chicago tell him they’re terrified by what’s taking place in their city."
Jakubisin wrote in an Aug. 13 article on how "Chicago looters and rioters ruined the birthday celebration of 2-year-old Owen Buell, who lives with his family at the Chicago Ronald McDonald House while being treated for Stage 4 neuroblastoma, reported the Gateway Pundit."Jakubisin didn't mention that Gateway Pundit is a notoriously unreliable website that nobody should be quoting authoritatively.
Arter served up even more stenograhy on Aug. 17, featuring how "President Donald Trump posed the question to voters on Monday whether they want “the radical left policies” of Chicago, Minneapolis, and San Francisco imposed on the entire country" and invoking "the failed policies" of Lightfoot and other "left-wing Democrats."
Make no mistake -- CNS is focusing on Chicago violence to help Trump get re-elected, not because it cares about reporting news.
UPDATE: An Aug. 24 post by Bannister touted another fearmongering complaint by Rivera, touting how he "tweeted out the tally of shootings in Chicago over the weekend, introducing video of his Sunday commentary on how Democrats are ignoring the violence when blacks shoot and kill other blacks."
The MRC's Summer Of Swooning Over McEnany Topic: Media Research Center
In his July 10 column, the Media Research Center's Tim Graham took exception to some media commentators complaining about White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany's "walk-offs," in which she demans an insults a reporter then, apparently believing this to be a mic-drop moment, hustles out of the briefing room. Graham quoted one observer saying that "these mic drops create delight for Trump and 'the universe of Trump-friendly websites,' who turn these commentaries into clips "for the MAGA-sphere." That's true. McEnany's commentaries are great clickbait for people who want to see arrogant reporters get a dose of their own medicine."
Indeed, a significant percentage of the MRC's content over the past few months has been over-the-top gushing over McEnany's walk-offs and other media-bashing. A sample, many of which were written by Curtis Houck:
Notice that several of those clips focus on CNN in general and Jim Acosta in particular, whom Houck has a pathological hatred of.
Nevertheless, Graham played whataboutism over the criticism of McEnany, insisting that it was reporters who asked provocative questions, and not her, who were grandstanding, while taking a shot at Politico reporter Ryan Lizza's "live-in girlfriend":
Lizza isn't being honest, because he represents "pure theater" and "negative partisanship" from the other side of the exchange. On May 26, he asked McEnany this beanball question repeatedly: "We're about to cross the 100,000 dead American milestone...on Election Day, what does the White House view the number of dead Americans where you can say that you successfully defeated this pandemic? Is there a number?"
Recently, Lizza asked her facetiously, "Does President Trump believe that it was a good thing that the South lost the Civil War?"
Lizza's live-in girlfriend, Olivia Nuzzi of New York Magazine, beat him to the sleazy punch when she asked Trump on April 27, "If an American president loses more Americans over the course of six weeks than died in the entirety of the Vietnam War, does he deserve to be reelected?"
This kind of question is performance art. It's a look-at-me spectacle, a Jim Acosta bump and grind. There's nothing "quaint" about it.
Strange how Graham is apparently scandalized by two reporters living together without benefit of marriage while giving a pass to a president who paid hush money to porn stars.
WND's Brown Whiffs On Playing The Alinsky Card Topic: WorldNetDaily
Michael Brown devorted his July 24 WorldNetDaily column to ranting about Black Lives Matter, going back in time to invoke Barack Obama and Saul Alinsky:
While Saul Alinsky can be connected directly to both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, I'm not aware that such a clear connection exists between the founders of the BLM movement and Alinsky, who died in 1972. But there is no doubt that they share his philosophy of cultural revolution.
In his insightful, 2009 mini-book, "Barack Obama's Rules for Revolution: The Alinsky Model," David Horowitz quoted an SDS radical who wrote, "The issue is never the issue. The issue is always the revolution."
As Horowitz explained, "In other words the cause – whether inner city blacks or women – is never the real cause, but only an occasion to advance the real cause, which is the accumulation of power to make the revolution. That was the all-consuming focus of Alinsky and his radicals."
When it comes to BLM, the purported issue, namely, that Black Lives Matter, is not the ultimate issue. Instead, a larger cultural revolution is the ultimate issue. (As many have noted, the founders of BLM are both Marxists and radical feminists, with two of the three women identifying as queer activists.)
And so, the mantra that "Black Lives Matter" specifically means blacks who are victims of white police brutality. Black lives in the womb do not matter. Blacks getting gunned down in gang violence do not matter. Black toddlers killed in random shootings do not matter. Not even blacks killed by black police officers matter – at least not nearly as much as blacks killed by white officers.
[...]
BLM is playing by the book. Alinsky's book.
For good reason Gregory A. wrote on Medium.com, "It's time to stop supporting this anti-American organization that is working to sow division, spread lies, and destroying the country. Their playbook comes straight from 'Rules for Radicals' by Saul Alinsky who dedicated his book to Lucifer. They aren't looking for unity, but to destroy anyone who doesn't agree with their radical Marxist philosophy. Black Lives Matter leaders know how to cause chaos and to turn us against each other. Individuals and corporations must stop pandering to this organization that is working to tear the country apart."
Precisely so.
Brown is writing like someone who has never read anything by Saul Alinsky and knows him only as a bogeyman to invoke when trying to make liberals sound scary. And he clearly didn't read the 12 Alinsky rules for grassroots organizing he linked to; if he had, he would have seen there was nothing inherently politically "radical" in them. Alinsky wasn't an socialist or communist ideologue; he was a political organizer on the left.
Brown's invoking of Horowitz is deceptive; he apparently doesn't know that Horowitz thinks enough of Alinsky's tactics that he advocates that conservatives use them.
Finally, Brown uncritically repeated the right-wing lie that Alinsky "dedicated" his book "Rules for Radicals" to Lucifer. In fact, the book is dedicated to his wife; the beginning of the book also offers "an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history ... the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom — Lucifer."
MRC's Hypocrisy On Nazi Comparisons Rears Its Head Yet Again Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center's Curtis Houck whined in a July 24 post:
MSNBC’s The ReidOut barreled into Thursday with another hour priming viewers to hate law enforcement and dismiss urban crime as a fake, racist narrative concocted by President Trump to scare white people. But things went a step further when host Joy Reid refused to call out Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner for comparing federal agents to Nazis.
[...]
After introducing her lead-off panel, she spewed more lies about federal agents, claiming they’re mysteriously “snatching people off the streets” and have been both “unnamed.”
This gave Krasner the green light to hurl hate and venom at men and women who, like him, take an oath to uphold and defend the laws of our country. Without a challenge, he compared them to Nazis his father and uncles fought in World War II [.]
The MRC clearly knows who the real Nazis are, and it's ... social media?
Yep. MRC chief Brent Bozell unironically went there four days later in attacking social media operations for shutting dodwn a misinformation-laden video about coronavirus that had been retweeted by President Trump and Donald Trump Jr. (emphasis added):
Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube all worked in concert to mass censor material from President Donald Trump, his son, Donald Trump Jr., and a Facebook event hosted by the Tea Party Patriots that involved doctors discussing COVID-19.
Yet these tech companies are about to be grilled in Congress on July 29 at an antitrust hearing.
“The Big Tech Gestapo are at it again! Facebook, Google, and YouTube went insane yesterday and again shut down free speech, removing a viral @BreitbartNewsvideo of a @TPPatriots event. Big Tech can’t be allowed to choose whose voice is heard,” said MRC President and founder L. Brent Bozell on Twitter.
Needless to say, Bozell wasn't about to acknowledge that the video contained misinformation about treating coronavirus, and there's no evidence that any of the doctors in the video had ever, in fact, treated it.
Bozell seems pretty proud of going Godwin, but it undermines any MRC criticism of someone in the media using Nazi references to criticize Trump or other conservatives. Then again, the MRC has a longhistoryofhypocrisy on the issue
CNS Editor Bizarrely Likens Biden To King Henry VIII Topic: CNSNews.com
With his rabidly anti-Biden editorials, CNSNews.com editor in chief Terry Jeffrey doesn't inspire confidence in the fairness and balance of the "news" organization he runs.
In his July 22 column, Jeffrey ludicrously tried to liken Joe Biden to King Henry VIII, though try as he might, even he labored profusely to make the case that beheading Sir Thomas More and having insurance policies cover contraception is the exact same thing:
As punishment for following his conscience rather than a tyrant, Henry VIII beheaded More.
Now, More lives as a saint in heaven — and Henry VIII's name lives in infamy.
As noted, Biden says on his campaign website, "I'm a practicing Catholic."
But when Biden was vice president during the Obama administration, that administration issued a regulation that Catholics and other Christians could not in good conscience obey.
[...]
"If I am elected, I will restore the Obama-Biden policy that existed before the Hobby Lobby ruling: providing an exemption for houses of worship and an accommodation for nonprofit organizations with religious missions," Biden said.
Unlike Henry VIII, Biden will not behead those who refuse to act against their consciences and obey his mandate.
He will merely fine them millions of dollars — every year.
In his Aug. 12 column, Jeffrey ranted that "Joe Biden did not look to his right for a running mate. He picked someone whose policy prescriptions — like his own — are unambiguously on the left. Not only does Kamala Harris support Medicare for all, she would allow non-heterosexual people to be part of government:
She not only promised to appoint "transgender" people to "leadership roles" in her own presidential administration, but she also argued that "transition-related care" needed to be part of "comprehensive health care."
"And I will be intentional about appointing LGBTQ+ people — including transgender and gender non-conforming individuals — to leadership roles throughout my administration, from my cabinet to the federal bench and beyond," Harris said in an op-ed published on Nov. 1, 2019, in the Las Vegas Spectrum, which describes itself as a "news magazine geared to the LGBTQ and progressive community."
Does her commitment to appoint "transgender" individuals to her cabinet mean she would advocate for a biological male who says he is a female to be nominated to Biden's cabinet?
Would she advocate that a biological male who says he is female be appointed secretary of state? Secretary of defense?
Jeffrey didn't explain why such a thing would matter beyond CNS homophobes like himself and managing editor Michael W. Chapman.
AIM Is Mad The Truth About Herman Cain And Coronavirus Is Told Topic: Accuracy in Media
We've noted how the Media Research Center threw tantrums when media pointed out the likelihood that Herman Cain picked up the coronavirus that ultimately killed him during a rally for President Trump in Tulsa in June. Now Accuracy in Media publisher Don Irvine is treating this fact as a smear in a Aug. 3 post:
In a headline Sunday, Reuters insinuated that former presidential candidate Herman Cain’s death from COVID-19 was due to his refusal to wear a mask.
Cain, 74, died Thursday after spending most of July in an Atlanta-area hospital after being diagnosed with COVID-19 on June 29, which Reuters noted was just nine days after a Trump rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma that Cain attended without a mask.
The Reuters story also pointed out how many Trump supporters — of which Cain was one — are against wearing masks, mentioning his tweet about Trump’s July 4 celebration at Mount Rushmore.
“Masks will not be mandatory for the event, which will be attended by President Trump. PEOPLE ARE FED UP!”
Cain was a successful businessman and talk-show host and did not deserve to be smeared by Reuters for exercising his rights as an American to not wear a mask.
It's not a "smear" to report a fact. It's indisputable that Cain largely refused to wear a mask, and you don't have to be a "smear artist" to point out the basics of how viruses spread and how that played into Cain's illness.If you don't wear a mask while attending crowded events like Trump rallies, there's a chance you'll catch something. Unfortunately for Cain, the bug going around this year is coronavirus, which can kill you.
Irvine's post is of the old-school media attack in which reporting inconvenient facts about conservatives equals "liberal bias."
Yes, MRC, Kanye's Presidential Campaign Is A GOP Trick Topic: Media Research Center
Michael Dellano wrote in a Aug. 6 Media Research Center post:
The Biden-backing media have been dumbfounded for weeks with the presidential campaign of rap star Kayne West, and by their twisted logic, the rational move was to blame it on Republicans. On Wednesday night’s All In, MSNBC host Chris Hayes, alongside other leftist hacks, accused Republicans of propping up West’s campaign.
Hayes used the topic as a cover for all of his other absurd theories about Trump’s 2020 campaign:
Republicans are obviously pinning their hopes on Kanye West to siphon off enough votes to squeeze Donald Trump through. But that's just one part of the strategy, right, that alone is not enough. You also needed to make it hard for people to vote, to suppress the votes of Democratic voters, which the Republican Party is aggressively trying to do. And then they also have to hope in the next few months, say, Russia delivers, or some other foreign adversary.
It doesn’t matter whether or not Hayes has any evidence for his wild claims, he was just using it as a way to delegitimize the results of the 2020 election in case Trump wins. Hayes just wanted to fantasize that West’s presidential bid was another way for the election to be “hacked” by the GOP.
West has been talking about running for president as far back as 2015, saying he wanted to run in 2020, then changed his mind to 2024 after sitting down with President-elect Trump. So the entire narrative that West’s vanity project is some sort of “dirty trick” by Republicans has no basis in fact.
Except, you know, for all the evidence to the contrary:
Another group gathering signatures in Wyoming to put West on the ballot there made a point of telling would-be signatories that putting west on the ballot would "take votes" from Joe Biden. As Newsmax noted: "The tactic appeared to work, as the journalists witnessed several people sign the document. One woman expressed her excitement at helping Trump win another term in office."
We've documented how the Media Research Center insists on falsely portraying Facebok as hostile to conservatives even as the company sucks up to them (including CEO Mark Zuckerberg holding secret dinners with MRC chief Brent Bozell). Those secret dinners didn't work because the MRC has not stopped attacking Facebook.
Given that WorldNetDaily is best known for its eight-year embrace of the conspiracy theory that Barack Obama was not eligible to be president because he may have been born in Kenya (or some other reason), you'd think it would be rushing to promote the conspiracy theory that Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris isn't eligible to hold the position.
The Media Research Center continues its embrace of 
CNSNews.com just loves to send its summer interns out to the Capitol to pester members of Congress with gotcha questions. Their second question for the summer was more benign than 
We've
Right-wing media outlets 
The last time we checked in on WorldNetDaily columnist Jonathon Moseley, he was 
The Media Research Center has largely stayed away from explicit race-baiting -- but its increasing anger and extremism has apparently made that palatable now.
CNSNews.com 
In his July 10 
Michael Brown devorted his July 24 WorldNetDaily 
The Media Research Center's Curtis Houck whined in a July 24 
With his rabidly anti-Biden editorials, CNSNews.com editor in chief Terry Jeffrey doesn't inspire confidence in the fairness and balance of the "news" organization he runs.
We've 
Michael Dellano wrote in a Aug. 6 Media Research Center 
