MRC's Double Standard On TV Weatherfolks With An Agenda, Continued Topic: Media Research Center
We've documented how the Media Research Center has promoted Fox News weatherperson Janice Dean's rage against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, vindictively blaming him for the deaths of relatives residing at a long-term-care facility in the state early in the coronavirus pandemic purportedly because of a policy under Cuomo in which COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospitals to nursing homes -- while dismissing NBC weather guy Al Roker for talking about climate change.
Since then, though, fact-checkers have ruled Dean's claim to be mostly false, since experts believe that the spread of coronavirus in nursing homes was more likely caused by visitors and employees rather than from patients transferred there in an effort to open up hospital space for other victims of the virus. Nevertheless, since we last checked in, the MRC has continued to push Dean's emotional greviances as authoritative.
In August, Curtis Houck wrote that Dean "was set to address a committee of New York legislators investigating the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and specifically Governor Andrew Cuomo’s nursing home policy, but she was never given a chance to speak due to fears that her presence would be uncomfortable," going on to tout how "FNC shows have given Dean over 17 minutes of airtime since she was axed from the hearing."
Fox News meteorologist Janice Dean bluntly spoke out on America's Newsroom Monday morning on the International Emmys granting an award to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for being a Democrat -- er, for his wonderful COVID briefings. Both of Dean's in-laws died in New York nursing homes from COVID-19 after Cuomo pushed COVID patients into nursing homes to recover.
Fox host Sandra Smith asked Dean for reaction, noting this would be the first Thanksgiving without her in-laws.
[...]
The Washington Examiner reported that in October, Dean joined a throng of protesters who filled a casket placed outside of a Brooklyn nursing home with about 6,500 copies of Cuomo’s new book on the coronavirus.
Graham clearly has no problem with blatant political activism by a supposedly objective news person -- at least, if that person works for Fox News.
Houck returned Jan. 4 to cheer another bout of Dean's activism:
On Monday morning, Fox News senior meteorologist Janice Dean continued her unrelenting fight against Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY), penning a lengthy, 3,500-word-plus FoxNews.com item recapping Cuomo’s arrogance, failure to lead, and refusal to admit wrongdoing with his reckless coronavirus nursing home order.
Following an appearance on Fox & Friends, Dean revealed that an attempt to seek comment from Cuomo’s office was met with more bullying and stonewalling instead of admission for why coronavirus patients were placed in nursing homes.
[...]
And with outlets ranging from ABC to CNN continuing to play footsie with Cuomo instead of holding him accountable, it’s left to Dean and hurting families (plus a few outlets committed to real journalism) to continue the fight.
In a Jan. 14 post, Houck got huffy when someone pointed out that Dean's job is supposed to be a weather person, not a political activist:
In a Wednesday story for the Daily Mail, New York Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration sunk to a new low, lashing out like a grade-school Mean Girl at Fox News senior meteorologist Janice Dean, dismissing her fervent push for answers on behalf of deceased elderly New Yorkers (such as her late in-laws) because she’s no more than a weather lady.
Cuomo spokesperson Richard Azzopardi told the Daily Mail: “Last I checked she's not a credible source on anything except maybe the weather.”
So you shouldn’t trust someone using platform to a voice for families across the state and country who lost elderly family members to the coronavirus (and whom most were never able to say goodbye to) because she’s just the weather person? Would Azzopardi and Cuomo say the same about victims of gun violence?
[...]
Just last week, Dean penned a lengthy FoxNews.com column containing a deep dive into Cuomo’s actions, why they led to the deaths of untold numbers of seniors, how he has yet to answer for what happened (other than to blame others), and what this all means. So perhaps that helped set them over the edge.
Perhaps its another case of liberals believing that speaking truth to power doesn’t apply to them.
And nothing against the good men and women at ABC and NBC, but if this were something, say, a Ron DeSantis spokesperson said about a meteorologist on Good Morning America or Today, you can bet your life everyone from the CNN media team to late comics to MSNBC’s Never Trumpers to even entertainment blogs would be calling for their firing.
What Houck won't tell you: He's mad that other people are treating Dean the way the MRC treats Roker.While the MRC has come to Dean's defense, it has repeatedly bashed Roker for talking about climate change or doing anything other than weather.
In June, Kyle Drennen sneered that "former Vice President Al Gore hailed weatherman Al Roker for his “consistent advocacy” pushing the liberal climate change agenda. Co-host Craig Melvin then asked Gore how people could maintain the supposed environmental “progress” caused by the devastating coronavirus pandemic, adding that "Friday was not the first time Gore showed up on the morning show to praise Roker’s climate activism. Back in 2018, he appeared on 3rd Hour Today cheer the longtime NBC weatherman for his “long-time attention to the climate crisis.”
(In a 2018 post on that appearance, Drennen unironically complained, "It’s remarkable how unabashed the media can be when it comes to promoting the pet issues of liberal politicians.")
Drennen -- who is apparently the MRC's designated Roker-basher -- complained in September: "On Wednesday, NBC’s resident climate crusader Al Roker was in awe of actor and far-left radical Jane Fonda as he hailed the 'Hollywood icon' for 'her dedication to the climate crisis.' The Today show weatherman cheered Fonda’s extreme calls for an end to fossil fuels and implementation of economically destructive Green New Deal." Drennen dismissed Fonda as a "left-wing loon" and, by association, Roker. A coule days later, Drennen appeared on MRC executive Tim Graham's podcast to bash "the climate crusades of NBC weatherman Al Roker."
On Jan. 20, Drennen whined that "On NBC’s Today show Wednesday morning, just hours before Joe Biden’s inauguration, weatherman Al Roker hoped to be able repeat an embarrassing display during the 2013 inauguration when he yelled at then-Vice President Biden like an adoring groupie during the inaugural parade. That moment sparked a long-running 'bromance' between Roker and Biden that clearly continues to this day."
On Wednesday, NBC’s Today show weatherman and adoring Joe Biden groupie Al Roker could barely contain his excitement over the President planning to issue executive orders that would force through radical climate change policies. Roker gushed over Biden preparing to declare climate change a “national security priority” and treated a top White House environmental advisor to a softball chat to promote the left-wing agenda.
[...]
The longtime climate crusader seized on recent natural disasters to boost the Biden agenda in his first question to [Biden climate adviser Gina] McCarthy: “Well, according to NOAA, nearly 10.3 million acres of land destroyed by wildfires last year, record-setting 30 storms named during the Atlantic hurricane season. Globally, the second hottest year on record....Why is climate change a matter of national security?”
The MRC would never take such a dismissive tone with Dean, who's steering much further out of her lane than Roker is.
Is Newsmax's Hirsen Regretting Promoting Those Election Fraud Conspiracy Theories? Topic: Newsmax
We'vedocumented how smirky Newsmax columnist James Hirsen promoted bogus right-wing election fraud conspiracy theories. Is he regretting that now in the wake of the Capitol riot?
IN his Jan. 4 article -- two days before the riot -- Hirsen wrote a column embracing another conspiracy theory, the "Great Reset" (already pushed by conspiracy theorists like WorldNetDaily). He invoked Aldous Huxley and ranted, "The list of infringement upon our freedoms at the hands of modern day autocrats goes on forever. I think in order to avoid our own "Brave New World," we need to counter The Great Reset with The Great Return."
But is his first column after the riot, on Jan. 11, Hirsen was rather abruptly singing a different tune. While not referencing Trump or the riot, Hirsen went all existential on us:
It’s a strange world in which we find ourselves.
The start of the New Year confirmed to many of us that some individuals we thought we knew so well weren’t the same folks we thought they were.
Many of them appeared to have transformed into a newn persona literally overnight, leaving people, who had supported, admired, and trusted them, in a state of disbelief, distress, and overwhelming sadness.
The depth of duplicity to which they had sunk shocked us to the core.
But it did something else too.
It set us on a path to find out how human beings can cause so much hurt, do so much damage, and care so little about what they'd done.
I would like to offer one explanation, which is based upon my academic background and application of sociological, cultural, and media psychology principles.
There is an insatiable human need to be loved.
[...]
In my assessment, this would explain why so many people, the likes of which I described above in my opening, caved so easily to other influential individuals and groups, whom they most longed to please, and whose continuous acceptance they still desperately desire.
It is a hollow choice that these people made.
And they may soon come to know that fame is fleeting, but misfortune oftentimes lingers.
In his next column, on Jan. 25, Hirsen expounded on the dangerous nature of cults. Is he talking about QAnon? Is he talking about fanatical Trump supporters like himself? Again, he doesn't say. But his message echoes his earlier column:
I contend that the word "cult" has actually crept into our common vernacular and is creating a significant problem. Because societal members think they are talking to one another, when they are really talking past one another.
They are operating on distinctly different denotations and connotations of the word, which will inevitably result in confusion and friction between parties.
Sadly, some people are simply unaware of what is taking place. Other people are being deliberately provocative and are actually desirous of the negative outcomes that are flowing.
If Hirsen has had some kind of post-riot awakening toward Trump, his supporters and his own behavior, it would be nice if he wasn't being so oblique about it. Come right out and admit it, Jim! Tell us why the riot disillusioned you about Trump and made you question your own beliefs. Explain to us why you no longer stand by the election fraud conspiracy theories you promoted.
In short, tell us how you screwed up and say you're sorry. You can do that, can't you?
WND Reacts To The Capitol Riot, Part 1 Topic: WorldNetDaily
As to yesterday's speech, at no point in Trump's commentary did he encourage or cajole people in any way to attack the Capitol. His rhetoric was charged – without a doubt. He and his supporters are clearly emotional about what they believe is, if not outright fraud, at least the strong perception of impropriety with regard to the election processes in various states. The frustration is especially (and understandably) high given that there's never been a decision on the merits of the claims in any of the court cases brought by the president's team.
[...]
Don't you find it odd that President Trump might have had the intent to unleash a mob which would have the effect of stopping the process he's been pushing since early November, and in which he's invested all his hope for a second term as POTUS? Certainly he knew, as any reasonable person does, that an attack on the Capitol would not succeed and would only cast the attackers and their benefactors in the worse possible light.
Might it not make more sense that those wishing to undermine the integrity of the republic, those who have been burning, looting and destroying our cities since May 2020, would interfere with the constitutional electoral process through force and violence?
[...]
Regardless of what you think about President Trump and his performance as president, it is wholly irrational to believe that he, by his comments, intentionally inflamed a crowd of his supporters to storm the Capitol. This claim against Trump is simply another in the endless list of alleged wrongdoing by a president whose only offense seems to be that he loves his county.
Congress certified the Electoral College vote for Joe Biden in the middle of the night, just like how Jesus was convicted by the Jewish high priests in the middle of the night, just like five states committed election fraud last Nov. 3-4 in the middle of the night.
Riots took place in D.C. Wednesday. The media are playing those scenes over and over, unlike what they did last summer when Antifa and BLM were burning down American cities. The police killed an unarmed woman, 17-year Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt.
Congress used those riots to punt on its responsibility to "defend and protect" the United States Constitution. It refused to look at the irregularities and constitutional violations by those five states that changed election processes without legislative approvals as per the Constitution. It ignored the ballot harvesting that happened with COVID as the excuse. It ignored the vote switching from Trump to Biden as recorded for the Georgia Legislature and proved in Michigan.
[...]
Why are some Americans rioting over the election? Because they, too, are frustrated. They are not getting anyone to investigate their grievances.
Pretend the riots over election fraud were done by Black Lives Matter or Antifa. What would those politicians be saying? Pretend that Ashli Babbitt, the woman killed by the police, was black and shot during a BLM protest. How would the media be treating this?
Just like the Supreme Court, the Congress punted on its responsibility. The ramifications of that will last for generations, as the bad guys now have free will to defraud Americans.
MAGA men and women are just that: The best of people in the worst of times. These good people converged on D.C., Jan. 6, to protest the certification of the Electoral College vote.
They, who have "nothing before them," had come to demand that something be done by those who had "brought [them] forth into this wilderness," yet sit "by the fleshpots [on the Potomac] and [eat] bread to the full." (My adaptation of Exodus 16:3.)
Cassandra Fairbanks, of the Gateway Pundit web-hub, framed her report about the protest that ensued just right: "Patriots Have Stormed the Capitol Building – Masses Breaching Federal Barriers – Cops Losing Control."
Yes, patriots. Rage that had been simmering over an election whose results lacked constitutional credibility had finally come to a boil.
[...]
Here's the difference between pro-Trump patriots and BLM detritus:
The latter, BLM, trashed, looted and leveled their countrymen's livelihoods, their businesses. MAGA men and women stormed the seats of corruption.
All this is background, so I can ask you to think about what you do see – as well as what you don't see.
What you do see if you watch or listen to the mainline media, is that Trump's MAGA movement has crashed and burned, as a result of the president's own personal failings, now writ large over the nation. The Democratic Party was somehow – perhaps through the grace of A-men and A-Woman – able to persuade enough demoralized Democrats, BLMers and Antifa supporters to vote for a man who campaigned from his basement and socially distanced himself from reporters and opinion scribes.
What you don't see is celebrations breaking out among 80 million Joe Biden voters who crawled across broken glass to vote and have now gathered around state capitols singing patriotic Marxist hymns. Nor do you see them pitching in and helping small businesses rebuild their burned and looted shops. They also aren't questioning why a flu-like illness with a low death rate should shut down our economy, turn governors into lawmaking monarchs running police states, close schools and businesses, and shut down houses of worship (a constitutionally protected activity).
You also don't see Democrats (OK, mainline commentators) wondering about the implications of electronic election fraud (both now and in the future). They don't opine about corrupt election officials who shepherded the stolen election and then fired whistelblowers. Nor do you hear speculation on what it means to the nation when the newly elected president's son has been paid hundreds of millions of dollars by the Chinese Communist Party (perhaps the most repressive regime in the world).
Finally, you don't see them speculating on the character traits of a man whose character they have spent five years assassinating. If they did, they might have some hint of what lies just ahead for them. Perhaps investing themselves so deeply in the lies they prepared for us at each broadcast, they have become immune to Truth, even when it is staring them in the face.
Not only are they beating up Trump on his policies and on his efforts to find and prove election cheating, but they now accuse him of fomenting the rioting at the Capitol. Apparently, all because he asked those in Washington to go to the Capitol to show their support of Congress in their anticipated vote.
Thousands did, but some others were there with another goal – to cause disruption and chaos. And they succeeded – not only challenging outside security but getting inside the building, into public areas and private offices, stealing and causing damage.
[...]
Bottom line, these guys play for keeps, and they have pulled out all the stops in their efforts to destroy Donald Trump. It began when he declared his candidacy, continued through his presidency and now continues as he tries to show that, in fact, these last election results are fraudulent.
As Limbaugh said, "They want a scalp."
They may want that, but Donald Trump is not ready to provide it. He's a fighter for what he believes is true and right, and he's maintained that throughout his presidency. Talk about strength.
The events of the last couple months have sickened me. To see Trump – and by extension, the will of the American people – betrayed by the highest powers in the land is revolting. The Supreme Court refused to hear evidence of the stolen election. The GOP has lost the Senate for the next two years. Chuck Schumer will become majority leader. And of course, Vice President Pence had a genuine "Et tu, Brute?" moment when he stabbed the president in the back after refusing to block Biden's electors.
"Although a slew of evidence was released in recent weeks in the form of sworn affidavits and expert testimony, the claims were repeatedly denied by leading election officials and lawmakers," observes Janita Kan of NTD. "Critics and members of the media have also characterized the claims as 'baseless.'" Bulltucky.
As John Whitehead with the Rutherford Institute put it, "Either way, no matter which candidate lost to the other, it was always going to be the Deep State that won."
Anti-Semitic? MRC Portrays Jewish CNN President As A 'Puppet Master' Topic: Media Research Center
The portrayal of a Jewish leader has a puppet master is an anti-Semitic trope that has been around for centuries. The Media Research Center has done so quite literally in attacking George Soros, depicting him as "the media's puppet master" to scare a few bucks out of gullible conservatives. The MRC has even declared Soros as a Jew conservatives are permitted to hate, pre-emptively absolving them of anti-Semitism in doing so.
But the MRC -- specifically, NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck -- has been portraying another prominent Jewish leader as a "puppet master": CNN president Jeff Zucker.
The first time Houck did this was in a March 2018 post, in which he complained that "CNN president and puppet-master Jeff Zucker ripped the Fox News Channel (FNC) as 'state-run TV' and 'pure propaganda machine' that 'does an incredible disservice to this country.'" His purported justification of this was "an April 2017 New York Times Magazine profile of Zucker. In it, Zucker was exposed as a puppet-master choreographing big interviews and feeding questions in the ears of Anderson Cooper and Jake Tapper. Down to the analysts, commentators, and Trump coverage, Zucker has behaved like a ringmaster with political panels and Trump controversies framed like a primetime drama."
It can be argued that, in this respect, Zucker is no different from Fox News founder Roger Ailes, who did much the same thing there (and, yes, was called a puppet master). Yet you'll never hear Houck or anyone else at the MRC describe Ailes in that manner; indeed, a 2015 post by Tim Graham complained that he was described that way.
Yet Houck persisted in tagging Zucker with the epithet:
Somehow, CNN and puppetmaster Jeffrey Zucker thought it would be a smart idea to move New Day co-host Chris Cuomo, punishing those of us who stay up late. -- May 11, 2018
In nearly 14 minutes, CNN showed why the network run by puppetmaster Jeffrey Zucker was not only hostile to those not willing to endorse the network’s views (snarky chyrons and all) but views them as their enemy and thus must be silenced. -- Aug. 5, 2019
Not to be left out, Hannity had a little something for CNN puppetmaster Jeffrey Zucker, wondering if he’s“proud of this political hit job putting a [sic] operative's life in danger...to help Obama sycophant, this guy, Jim Sciutto, whoever he is.” -- Sept. 11, 2019
After the show’s last commercial break, Carlson brought up one of the many Project Veritas videos released this week which pertained to CNN boss/puppetmaster Jeff Zucker insisting his network would be focused on impeachment no matter what. -- Oct. 17, 2019
And even better yet, he live-streamed Tuesday’s meeting and jumped in to reveal himself to CNN boss and puppetmaster Jeff Zucker. -- Dec. 2, 2020
As we learned Tuesday in the Project Veritas videos, CNN puppetmaster Jeff Zucker was feeling his oats because, somehow, the network’s sophomoric chyrons need to be nastier. -- Dec. 2, 2020
In an email to CNN employees, CNN head, “Dwarf King,” and puppetmaster Jeff Zucker announced the decision, citing a “steep decline in airport traffic because of COVID-19, coupled with all the new ways that people are consuming content on their personal devices.”-- Jan. 13, 2021
Hand in hand with this slur is the MRC's portrayal -- again by Houck, with help from fellow MRC writer Nicholas Fondacaro and others -- dismissing CNN employees as "Zuckerbots," automatons incapable of doing their jobs without constant guidance from their "puppet master":
As my colleague Nick Fondacaro likes to suggest, CNN anchors and analysts have morphed into Zuckerbots. To see what he's talking about, check out a New York Times Magazine profile of CNN under Zucker and you'll see why. For CNN under Zucker, so much of their coverage and outbursts is staged and all about theater. -- Houck, Feb. 15, 2018
Stelter concluded by stressing that “there are ethical questions about even having this conversation at all.” This Zuckerbot appeared all too eager to throw those “ethical questions” aside as he declared “we can’t tiptoe around it anymore.” -- Ryan Foley, Aug. 26, 2019
And in the other case, the Zuckerbots paint all other forms of media criticism as akin to leveling death threats. -- Houck, Oct. 10. 2019
Unfortunately, CNN’s Zuckerbots weren’t interested in this point of view.-- Houck, Oct. 21, 2019
Earth to Zuckerbots, far and wide: Since when was someone above criticism? And especially skepticism toward those that you cover? -- Houck, Nov. 19, 2019
There’s no bottom for CNN and Jeffrey Zucker puppet Brian Stelter. ... Predictably, the Zuckerbot’s insinuation about FNC and its viewers was picked up like clockwork by both Axios and The Daily Beast. -- Houck, Aug. 3, 2020
Tuesday afternoon’s CNN Newsroom brought us another example of how personalties on the Jeffrey Zucker-led network and his puppets were anything but civil, fair, mature, serious, and sober. ... So let’s try to get through some of this. After stacking the deck with a lead-in from former conservative journalist-turned-Zuckerbot Kaitlan Collins, Keilar asked Schlapp why Trump trusted Florida’s voter system but not the rest of the country. -- Houck, Aug. 4, 2020
Swoon for her “dystopian” vision of America, the Zuckerville collective praised it by calling on violent rhetoric; touting her as going “for the jugular” against President Trump. ... The Zuckerbots were glorifying Obama’s bleak vision of America because that was the narrative they’ve been feeding their viewers for years now, and they needed to capitalize on it during the election. -- Fondacaro, Aug. 18, 2020
Of course, chief political correspondent Dana Bash completely agreed like the good Zuckerbot that she was. -- Fondacaro, Oct. 22, 2020
With this Zuckerbot refusing to acknowledge the sacrifices that involve serving in law enforcement, McEnany was left to remind him that they help keep him safe[.] -- Houck, Dec. 28, 2020
CNN alsomade a slew of other personnel moves, including the promotion of conservative journalist-turned-Zuckerbot Kaitlan Collins to Acosta’s title, moving Phil Mattingly and Biden suck-up Arlette Saenz to the White House beat, Abby Phillip to host Sunday’s Inside Politics, and “adult” Jake Tapper’s The Lead permanently expanding to two hours (after having been so in the election build-up). -- Houck, Jan. 11, 2021
Back when S.E. Cupp wasn’t a glorified Democrat and Zuckerbot, she had an HLN show that didn’t treat conservatives, Republicans, libertarians, and any non-lefty as enemies. -- Houck, Jan. 20, 2021
Houck, Fondacaro and the rest of thte MRC crew would never similarly describe Fox News employees as "Ailes-bots." (Or, say, themselves as Bozellbots.)
It says somethibng about Houck's near-pathological hatred for CNN that he is either oblivious or uncaring about depicting Zucker with such an ugly anti-Semitic trope and smearing CNN employees as the victims of a Jewish "puppet master."
CNS' Ongoing Freakout Over Biden and Transgender Rights Topic: CNSNews.com
CNSNews.com wants to hate Joe Biden, transgender people ... and anything Biden does to help them. It's been obsessing -- and fearmongering -- about that for months.
We've already seen that CNS has sent interns out twice last year to pester members of Congress about Biden's "intent to order public schools to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms, locker rooms, and sports teams of their choice." But it primed those gotcha questions with months of fearmongering about Biden wanting equal treatment for transgenders:
These are all "news" articles, and they weren't posted because CNS approves of this -- it's a way to generate right-wing clickbait. Interestingly, most of these are anonymously written, credited only to "CNSNews.com Staff," though CNS' search engine shows many of them were posted through the account of Jeffrey -- the guy who calls transgender equality "evil."
Also note that there is particular fixation on trans athletes, even though any Biden orders proposed or issued would not specifically mandate that transgender athletes play on or against girls' teams and are more broadly ban discrimination. Which is why CNS also published these articles:
WND Reacts To The Capitol Riot, Part 1 Topic: WorldNetDaily
The events that occurred in the nation's Capitol yesterday are more than just disturbing. They strike at the very heart of our system of government, one that purports to be based on the rule and law and the peaceful transition of power from one party to another. It seems that everybody in the media is convinced that President Trump instigated the violence and encouraged the mob by his comments to hundreds of thousands of supporters gathered on the National Mall to hear his speech.
Did Trump's comments spontaneously instigate an angry mob and induce them to storm the Capitol to save his presidency?
If such is humanly possible any more, let's look at this critically.
[...]
Don't you find it odd that President Trump might have had the intent to unleash a mob which would have the effect of stopping the process he's been pushing since early November, and in which he's invested all his hope for a second term as POTUS? Certainly he knew, as any reasonable person does, that an attack on the Capitol would not succeed and would only cast the attackers and their benefactors in the worse possible light.
Might it not make more sense that those wishing to undermine the integrity of the republic, those who have been burning, looting and destroying our cities since May 2020, would interfere with the constitutional electoral process through force and violence?
[...]
Regardless of what you think about President Trump and his performance as president, it is wholly irrational to believe that he, by his comments, intentionally inflamed a crowd of his supporters to storm the Capitol. This claim against Trump is simply another in the endless list of alleged wrongdoing by a president whose only offense seems to be that he loves his county.
Congress certified the Electoral College vote for Joe Biden in the middle of the night, just like how Jesus was convicted by the Jewish high priests in the middle of the night, just like five states committed election fraud last Nov. 3-4 in the middle of the night.
Riots took place in D.C. Wednesday. The media are playing those scenes over and over, unlike what they did last summer when Antifa and BLM were burning down American cities. The police killed an unarmed woman, 17-year Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt.
Congress used those riots to punt on its responsibility to "defend and protect" the United States Constitution. It refused to look at the irregularities and constitutional violations by those five states that changed election processes without legislative approvals as per the Constitution. It ignored the ballot harvesting that happened with COVID as the excuse. It ignored the vote switching from Trump to Biden as recorded for the Georgia Legislature and proved in Michigan.
[...]
Why are some Americans rioting over the election? Because they, too, are frustrated. They are not getting anyone to investigate their grievances.
Pretend the riots over election fraud were done by Black Lives Matter or Antifa. What would those politicians be saying? Pretend that Ashli Babbitt, the woman killed by the police, was black and shot during a BLM protest. How would the media be treating this?
Just like the Supreme Court, the Congress punted on its responsibility. The ramifications of that will last for generations, as the bad guys now have free will to defraud Americans.
MAGA men and women are just that: The best of people in the worst of times. These good people converged on D.C., Jan. 6, to protest the certification of the Electoral College vote.
They, who have "nothing before them," had come to demand that something be done by those who had "brought [them] forth into this wilderness," yet sit "by the fleshpots [on the Potomac] and [eat] bread to the full." (My adaptation of Exodus 16:3.)
Cassandra Fairbanks, of the Gateway Pundit web-hub, framed her report about the protest that ensued just right: "Patriots Have Stormed the Capitol Building – Masses Breaching Federal Barriers – Cops Losing Control."
Yes, patriots. Rage that had been simmering over an election whose results lacked constitutional credibility had finally come to a boil.
[...]
Here's the difference between pro-Trump patriots and BLM detritus:
The latter, BLM, trashed, looted and leveled their countrymen's livelihoods, their businesses. MAGA men and women stormed the seats of corruption.
All this is background, so I can ask you to think about what you do see – as well as what you don't see.
What you do see if you watch or listen to the mainline media, is that Trump's MAGA movement has crashed and burned, as a result of the president's own personal failings, now writ large over the nation. The Democratic Party was somehow – perhaps through the grace of A-men and A-Woman – able to persuade enough demoralized Democrats, BLMers and Antifa supporters to vote for a man who campaigned from his basement and socially distanced himself from reporters and opinion scribes.
What you don't see is celebrations breaking out among 80 million Joe Biden voters who crawled across broken glass to vote and have now gathered around state capitols singing patriotic Marxist hymns. Nor do you see them pitching in and helping small businesses rebuild their burned and looted shops. They also aren't questioning why a flu-like illness with a low death rate should shut down our economy, turn governors into lawmaking monarchs running police states, close schools and businesses, and shut down houses of worship (a constitutionally protected activity).
You also don't see Democrats (OK, mainline commentators) wondering about the implications of electronic election fraud (both now and in the future). They don't opine about corrupt election officials who shepherded the stolen election and then fired whistelblowers. Nor do you hear speculation on what it means to the nation when the newly elected president's son has been paid hundreds of millions of dollars by the Chinese Communist Party (perhaps the most repressive regime in the world).
Finally, you don't see them speculating on the character traits of a man whose character they have spent five years assassinating. If they did, they might have some hint of what lies just ahead for them. Perhaps investing themselves so deeply in the lies they prepared for us at each broadcast, they have become immune to Truth, even when it is staring them in the face.
Not only are they beating up Trump on his policies and on his efforts to find and prove election cheating, but they now accuse him of fomenting the rioting at the Capitol. Apparently, all because he asked those in Washington to go to the Capitol to show their support of Congress in their anticipated vote.
Thousands did, but some others were there with another goal – to cause disruption and chaos. And they succeeded – not only challenging outside security but getting inside the building, into public areas and private offices, stealing and causing damage.
[...]
Bottom line, these guys play for keeps, and they have pulled out all the stops in their efforts to destroy Donald Trump. It began when he declared his candidacy, continued through his presidency and now continues as he tries to show that, in fact, these last election results are fraudulent.
As Limbaugh said, "They want a scalp."
They may want that, but Donald Trump is not ready to provide it. He's a fighter for what he believes is true and right, and he's maintained that throughout his presidency. Talk about strength.
The events of the last couple months have sickened me. To see Trump – and by extension, the will of the American people – betrayed by the highest powers in the land is revolting. The Supreme Court refused to hear evidence of the stolen election. The GOP has lost the Senate for the next two years. Chuck Schumer will become majority leader. And of course, Vice President Pence had a genuine "Et tu, Brute?" moment when he stabbed the president in the back after refusing to block Biden's electors.
"Although a slew of evidence was released in recent weeks in the form of sworn affidavits and expert testimony, the claims were repeatedly denied by leading election officials and lawmakers," observes Janita Kan of NTD. "Critics and members of the media have also characterized the claims as 'baseless.'" Bulltucky.
As John Whitehead with the Rutherford Institute put it, "Either way, no matter which candidate lost to the other, it was always going to be the Deep State that won."
MRC Tries To Portray Hawley As A Victim Over His Book Getting Canceled Topic: Media Research Center
If the Media Research Center can find a way to portray conservatives as victims, no matter how unjustified, it will. Joseph Vazquez eagerly played the victim card in a Jan. 8 post:
Rule of thumb: Always be skeptical of a company that tries to act woke, especially when CNN blowhard Brian Stelteris pushing it.
Publishing company Simon & Schuster tried to do just that by canceling publication of Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley’s upcoming book “The Tyranny of Big Tech.” The firm arbitrarily pinned blame on him for the Capitol Hill riot. The company wrote in a statement on Twitter: “[W]e take seriously our larger public responsibility as citizens, and cannot support Senator Hawley after his role in what became a dangerous threat to our democracy and freedom.”
But, there may be political reasons why the company decided not to publish. Federal Election Commission (FEC) records revealed that Simon & Schuster CEO Jonathan Karp donated exclusively to Democrats this electoral cycle. Karp donated $350 to former Democratic presidential candidate and leftist Beto O’Rourke in 2019, while he was President and Publisher of Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing. So, a Democrat donor is head of the company that canceled a Republican senator’s book. No conflict there, right?
Stelter touted the news on Twitter, writing: “This just in: @SimonSchuster ‘has decided to cancel publication of Senator Josh Hawley’s forthcoming book, THE TYRANNY OF BIG TECH.’" Stelter proceeded to parrot some of the highlights from the Simon & Schuster statement, but he didn’t mention anything about the company’s CEO being a Democrat donor.
Vazquez is simply making stuff up. Does he really believe that Karp canceled Hawley's book because he once donated $350 to a Democrat in Texas (and another $100 to liberal donation aggregator ActBlue)? If Karp is so partisan, how does Vazquez account for Hawley's book initially ghetting approved for publication under Karp's watch? How dumb do he and his employer think we are?
Vazquez also lied when he claimed Hawley as "arbitrarily" being blamed for his role in inciting the Capitol riot. There is plenty of evidence to support his incitement role, such as his push to overturn the election and to continue to do so even after the riot.
Vazquez's post is less reality-based examination and more politically driven speculation. But then, the MRC cares much more about the narrative than it does the truth.
P.S.: Hawley's book was quickly snapped up by right-wing publisher Regnery, so Vazquez need not fret about whether Hawley will be unable to cash in on his newfound notoriety.
WND also published a Nov. 17 column by Teresa Blazewicz laughably declaring that "Sidney Powell's battle for democratic freedom in the United States today mirrors the battle Joan of Arc fought on behalf of her country so many years ago."
But when Powell was dismissed by Trump's legal team, WND's Joe Kovacs was concerned since she was "appearing with President Trump's campaign lawyers at news conferences through last week," then touted how "Powell said she was going to file a lawsuit of 'biblical' proportions in order to 'blow up' 2020 election results based on alleged fraud involving electronic voting machines in Georgia." Blazewicz returned on Nov. 24 to buck up Powell after her dismissal from the Trump team, insisting that "Sidney Powell is a serious lawyer who has poignantly stated that she never says anything she cannot prove, and who has had, up until this moment, a generally unassailable reputation."
But it started becoming clear (to WND, at least; the rest of us figured it out some time earlier) that the only master of deception here was Powell. On Jan. 8, Unruh reported Dominion's $1.3 billion lawsuit against Powell for her lies about the company falsely claming its machines changed vote counts.Unruh tried to put a positive spin on things, declaring that "In a defamation case, Dominion must prove the falsity of the statements. Allaw.com noted truth is an 'absolute defense' in such claims, and pretrial discovery in the case will enable Powell to question Dominion official under oath and obtain evidence."
WND's admiration for Powell, though, ultimately went down with a whimper as Kovacs used a Jan. 19 article to recount how Powell withdrew her "Kraken" lawsuit:
Sidney Powell, the high-profile attorney who vowed to "release the Kraken" in a lawsuit alleging widespread fraud in Georgia resulting in a presidential victory for Joe Biden, has voluntarily dropped her legal action less than 24 hours before Biden's inauguration.
In a motion filed at the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, Powell and other attorneys agreed with defendants including Gov. Brian Kemp and Sec. of State Brad Raffensperger to have the case dismissed.
"This civil action brings to light a massive election fraud," her original lawsuit had indicated.
"I feel very optimistic the truth will get out," Powell had said in November concerning her actions trying to prove fraud helped steal the election away from President Trump. "Of course, everybody on the face of the earth now is trying to suppress it, including people in our own government.
"But I won't quit until it's out and (we) release the Kraken," she said, invoking a line from the mythological monster fantasy film "Clash of the Titans."
Powell was a guest on numerous TV and radio programs, alleging Dominion Voting Systems, the company supplying voting machines for Georgia and other states, was rigging the election in favor of Biden.
WND hasn't mentioned her since --perhaps to keep it out of further defamation lawsuit scrutiny, since it already opened itself up to that when it published James Zumwalt's attack on a Dominion official.
MRC Gives Levin A Platform To Whine About His Radio Syndicator Topic: Media Research Center
If right-wing radio host Mark Levin has a complaint, it can count on a sympathetic ear from the Media Research Center, as demonstrated by the years the MRC's "news" division, CNSNews.com, has spent cranking out Levin stenography. So when Levin feels the need to rant about coverage of a new directive from the company that syndicates his radio show, Tim Graham has a pillow for him to cry on:
Early on Monday morning, Washington Post media reporter Paul Farhi posted a hot story headlined “Talk-radio owner orders conservative hosts to temper election fraud rhetoric.” It said “Cumulus Media, which employs some of the most popular right-leaning talk-radio hosts in the United States, has told its on-air personalities to stop suggesting that the election was stolen from President Trump — or else face termination.”
Cumulus executive Brian Phillips insisted Cumulus and its program syndication arm, Westwood One, “will not tolerate any suggestion that the election has not ended. The election has been resolved and there are no alternate acceptable ‘paths.’”
Farhi put Mark Levin at the center of his story about "orders," but Levin told NewsBusters “I never received that memo, and my crew never received that memo. This story is done by a reporter who has never spoken to me – ever." He said if he received that memo, "I would make sure the entire nation would hear about it." He added "I would like a correction and an apology from the Post, but I won’t hold my breath.”
Farhi would not comment to NewsBusters on Levin’s accusation that there was no attempt at contact. Isn’t it fascinating when reporters say “no comment”?
Of course, the basic story is true -- Cumulus did, in fact, issue a memo to that effect. Whether Levin personally received a copy is irrelevant. Indeed, the question is whether Levin is receiving special treatment; the company's directive appears mostly directed to local hosts, while national hosts like Levin are apparently not being held to it.
But Levin wasn't done whining to Graham:
Levin also told NewsBusters the Post was “unprofessional” in another story last Thursday suggesting he somehow played some role in a protester dying of a heart attack at the Capitol: “Greeson appeared to have an account on the right-wing social media site Parler filled with recent obscene and violent posts, fueled by misinformation spread by right-wing radio host Mark Levin, the Proud Boys and others.”
Levin also complained the “reprobates” at Mediaite used the Post story against him. The site’s Ken Meyer energetically slimedLevin and Dan Bongino as inciters of an “insurrectionist mob.”
"My broadcasts are on my website going back four years," Levin said. "I haven't incited anything." He said his protests have all been about the election decisions made in four states that he says violate the Constitution, including the way elected judges in Pennsylvania overrode the state legislature in setting election rules.
It's not clear what specific case Levin is referring to, but actual scholars of constitutional law (which Levin also claims to be but apparently isn't) have said that courts have discretion to interpret election law.
Also, it's hilarious that Graham ismocking the Post reporter for declining to comment on his gotcha question when the MRC routinely refuses to publicly comment on controversies regarding it, i.e., the fact that MRC chief Brent Bozell spent years slapping his name on columns Graham ghost-wrote. Y'know, Tim, it's never too late to share your opinion about that with the world.
The idea of a "Great Reset" was tailor-made to be turned into a conspiracy theory. Devised by the World Economic Forum -- the folks behind the annual meeting of the world's elites at Davos, Switzerland -- as a plan to restart the world's economy after the coronavirus pandemic that writer Naomi Klein described as containing "some good stuff that won’t happen and some bad stuff that certainly will and, frankly, nothing out of the ordinary in our era of 'green' billionaires readying rockets for Mars. Indeed, anyone with even a cursory knowledge of Davos speak, and the number of times it has attempted to rebrand capitalism as a slightly buggy poverty alleviation and ecological restoration program, will recognize the vintage champagne in this online carafe."
Needless to say, WorldNetDaily glommed onto this. An entire issue of its sparsely read Whistleblower magazine was devoted to this, and the promotional blurb fully went there:
The first and most pivotal phase of the Great Reset plan under cover of COVID is, of course, winning the 2020 presidential election through a dizzyingly multifaceted attack on the integrity of the U.S. election system itself, in conjunction with a unified campaign by Big Media and Big Tech to elect Joe Biden at all costs.
Biden is fully on board with the “Great Reset.” In fact, the Biden presidential campaign chose as its official campaign slogan the seemingly innocuous phrase, “Build Back Better,” which happens also to be the slogan of the “Great Reset” coined by its originator and main advocate, World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab.
Under cover of the COVID-19 pandemic, Schwab insists the entire world must “act jointly and swiftly to revamp all aspects of our societies and economies,” meaning, as he explains, “we need a ‘Great Reset’ of capitalism.” In other words, socialism.
[...]
Prince Charles is a key advocate for the Great Reset, as is International Monetary Fund chief economist Gina Gopinath, U.N. Secretary General António Guterres, as well as heads of many major corporations, including Microsoft.
[...]
Unfortunately, as Whistleblower shows, the world’s elites do not really want equality for everybody. Historically, from Stalin to Mao to Chavez, Marxist/socialist leaders have never been truly interested in everyone being equal. That’s just happy-talk to seduce the masses. What they want, first and foremost, is power, they want wealth and privilege for themselves, they want glory, they want revenge on their enemies, and they want worship.
“In a word,” writes Whistleblower Editor David Kupelian, “they want to be gods. The original temptation in the Garden of Eden was, ‘Ye shall be as gods.’ (Genesis 3:5) But when humans try to become gods, they turn into devils. And the agenda planned by these would-be rulers is both insane and evil.”
Kupelian went even further in his essay from the issue from which the promotion blurb was adapted, which started by ranting about events from "Big Media openly siding with the senile and corrupt Joe Biden while portraying President Donald Trump as a mentally ill, racist would-be dictator, to November’s breathtakingly rigged election – likely the most crooked and corrupt in our history." And since China is the right-wing bogeyman du jour, he ranted about how the Chinese want to put a barcode on everybody:
Since the coronavirus originated in China, and since Joe Biden is profoundly compromised with regard to China because of his family’s corrupt financial activities with that nation, and since Big Tech and so many U.S.-based mega-companies are in total thrall to China both for its vast retail markets and its cheap labor pool, it is reasonable to wonder: How exactly does China fit into the plan to “reset” the world under cover of COVID?
That’s easy: China is the leader.
Recently, in a chilling story headlined “Give Everyone a Barcode? China Trying to Use COVID Fears to Launch Global Tracking System for Humans,” the Christian Broadcast Network reported: “China's communist leader Xi Jinping is calling for countries across the world to accept a global COVID-19 tracking system that uses QR codes in an attempt to expedite international travel.”
It was during a Nov. 21 virtual G20 leaders' meeting that Xi proposed the "global mechanism" to deploy an electronic barcode that would help determine travelers’ health status.
Kupelian went on to reference the Biblical "mark of the devil" stuff, of course. And he concluded by declaring that "America indeed needs a great reset, but not one envisioned by deluded, power-obsessed, sociopathic elites. Rather, the reset we truly need is a repentance-fueled revival that will invite God’s renewed blessing on us and restore our nation to its former greatness and goodness."
CNS Tries To Mainstream Another Far-Right Member of Congress Topic: CNSNews.com
Marjorie Taylor Greene isn't the only newly elected extreme-right-wing Republican member of Congress CNSNews.com has been trying to mainstream. Rep. Lauren Boebert, like Greene, has expressed support for the QAnon, and she has also praised the thugs in the Proud Boys. And as with Greene, CNS has no interest in talking about her extremism.
Articles by Patrick Goodenough on Nov. 5 and Nov. 18 touted Boebert alongside Greene as the new "pro-life women" elected to the House. On Nov. 24, managing editor Micchael W. Chapman was quite giddy that Boebert "reportedly has asked what the rules are to carry a gun on Capitol Hill and in her congressional office," touting how she "is from a largely conservative district in western Colorado. She is a defender of the Second Amendment and operates a restaurant called Shooters Grill, in Rifle, Colorado. She is sometimes seen sporting a Glock pistol on her hip."
Susan Jones penned a gushy article about Boebert on Jan. 5:
Colorado's newly elected U.S. Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert on Tuesday described herself as "a 34-year-old woman who wants to protect herself in this dangerous city, here in our nation's capital" -- by carrying a gun.
"You know, it's very interesting that here in the United States of America that there is so much controversy over our Second Amendment rights," Boebert told "Fox & Friends" on Tuesday morning.
[...]
Boebert, the owner of a "gun-themed restaurant" in Rifle, Colorado (as the Denver Post described it) is allowed, as a member of Congress, to carry a gun in the Capitol, except in certain restricted areas.
In a post-riot Jan. 15 article, Melanie Arter featured how Boebert "called out Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) on Thursday for implying that she gave a tour of the U.S. Capitol building to 'insurrectionists' a day before the Capitol riots." It wasn't until the seventh paragraph that Arter got around to admitting that "Maloney didn’t name Boebert in his interview as the person who gave the tour."
None of these articles mention Boebert's extreme views, even though CNS is not shy about highlighting what it considers extreme views of Democratic politicians.
MRC's Mysterious Sports Blogger Melts Down Over Super Bowl Halftime Show Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center 's mysterious MRC sports blogger, Jay Maxson, loves to freak out over Super Bowl halftime shows. So when The Weeknd was announced as the lead entertainer for this year's Super Bowl, Maxson went into full meltdown mode:
It's official. The entertainer known as The Weeknd will provide the substandard gutter garbage, sexually explicit, vulgar rot. We're not talking about MTV or even the Grammy Awards here. He's actually the NFL's pathetic choice to headline the 2021 Super Bowl halftime show.
Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (seen in photo), a Canadian who passes as a so-called entertainer and who goes by The Weeknd moniker, has been chosen by The NFL, Pepsi and Roc Nation to keep the bar lower than low for this year's Super Bowl halftime disgrace.
During the recent CBS broadcast of an NFL game, shameless studio host James Brown delivered this “exciting news" to a world waiting for the identity of the next Super Bowl embarrassment, Feb. 7 in Tampa. Family entertainment, it's not. Not even close.
Maxson cied only obscure "lowlife garbage" from early in The Weeknd's career. No mention of anything that more likely landed The Weeknd the gig -- songs like the non-vulgar "Blinding Lights," universally considered one of the best songs of 2020. But Maxson is not here to talk about an artist's work -- he/she's here to spew right-wing rants:
This ongoing parade of trash halftime shows aptly demonstrates the NFL's diminished capacity to provide “family entertainment” under Commissioner Roger Goodell’s feeble "guidance.” The halftime stage has become a showplace for an exposed breast, crotch-grabbing, pole-dancing, twerking, grinding, edited profanities and a dance salute to the murderous Black Panthers.
Atlanta in 2019 provided another low point in Super Bowl history. Travis Scott and Big Boi provided the vulgar, N-wording, women-denigrating rap with the full approval of the National Football League. And a book by Mike Freeman demonstrates that abusing women is no big thing to the NFL.
Meanwhile, in the real world, The Weeknd has vowed to "keep it PG" for his halftime show.
That's not the only Super Bowl-related meltdown Maxson has had. In a Jan. 26 post, he/she lost it when a sports writer brought up the despised name of Colin Kaepernick:
The Feb. 7 Super Bowl is shaping up as a tale of two great quarterbacks: Kansas City’s young gunslinger Patrick Mahomes and Tampa Bay’s old G.O.A.T. Tom Brady. Great as their legacies are, neither can compare to the one preferred by The New York Times writer Kurt Streeter – Colin Kaepernick.
Yes, sad to say, Kaepernick’s notorious, undeserving name is snaking its way into media discussions about Super Bowl LV.
Kaepernick hasn’t played in an NFL game for more than four years. His mediocre career is over and done with, but the NYT’s Kurt Streeter is still an obsessive fanboy.
[...]
With an underwater career record of 28-30 as an NFL starter, Kaepernick isn’t deserving of a lofty legacy for what he did on the field.
Maxson and the MRC have a seriouscomplex about Kaepernick.
WND Promotes Another Coronavirus Conspiracy Theory Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily loves a good conspiracy -- and many bad ones. An example pf the latter surfaced in a Jan. 5 article by Bob Unruh:
The rate of influenza this season has cratered and now an epidemiologist is explaining why.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the cumulative positive influenza test rate from September through the middle of December was 0.2%, down from 8.7% a year ago.
"The weekly comparisons are even starker: This week one year ago, the positive clinical rate was 22%, where now it stands at 0.1%," reported Just the News.
So where has the flu gone?
Nowhere, explains epidemiologist Knut Wittkowksi. It's just being called something else.
"Influenza has been renamed COVID in large part," he said.
He's the former chief of biostatistics, epidemiology and research design at Rockefeller University.
"There may be quite a number of influenza cases included in the 'presumed COVID' category of people who have COVID symptoms (which Influenza symptoms can be mistaken for), but are not tested for SARS RNA," he said in an interview with Just the News.
Had Unruh bothered to fact-check Wittkowski's claim, he would have found it to be bogus:
In summary, no evidence supports the claim that flu cases are being misdiagnosed as COVID-19. Although both diseases share similar symptoms, probable COVID-19 cases must meet additional criteria besides the presence of disease symptoms, such as previous close contact with a COVID-19 case or a positive SARS-CoV-2 antigen or antibody test result. Social media posts questioning how public health measures can effectively limit the spread of flu but not COVID-19 are misleading as they fail to account for several factors, such as the differences in transmission between COVID-19 and flu. Experts suggest that the lower than usual flu activity this season is likely due to a combination of factors, including public health measures implemented to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and higher flu vaccination rates.
Wittkowski is a coronavirus misinformer whom WND has previously promoted, and notorious enough that Rockefeller University has issued a statement distancing itself from him.
Unruh did actually cite an epidemiologist who correctly and logically noted that COVID-19 mitigation is largely responsible for the decline in flu cases -- but he then let Wittkowski respond by claiming "there is 'no evidence' to support the idea masks would stop the flu." Again, Unruh didn't fact-check that either, thus censoring the fact that, yes, there is plenty of evidence masks help slow the spread, as the above fact-checker also noted:
Wearing face masks reduces the spread of COVID-19 by blocking the release of respiratory droplets from infected individuals. Therefore, wearing face masks likely reduces the transmission of other respiratory infections that spread in ways similar to COVID-19, including the flu. For this reason, Wittkowski claims that if face masks worked, then they should be able to stop both COVID-19 and flu equally. ... As we explain below, such interpretations are misleading, as they overlook the fact that COVID-19 spreads easier than flu. Furthermore, other factors besides the use of face masks may also contribute to reducing flu transmission, such as an increase in flu vaccination rates.
Unruh's article is the kind of factually dubious content WND thinks people will donate to its "News Center" to create.
NEW ARTICLE: The MRC's Crush On Kayleigh McEnany Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center -- mostly NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck -- spent the past several months gushing over President Trump's final press secretary, cheering every "walk-off" insult-fest and allegedly sick burn of the media. Read more >>
Uber-Catholics At CNS Attack Biden For Being Insufficiently Catholic Topic: CNSNews.com
The uber-Catholics who run CNSNews.com -- namely editor Terry Jeffrey and managing editor Michael W. Chapman, who think they're more Catholic than the pope -- has not been shy about seeking every opportunity to attack Joe Biden as insufficiently Catholic by refusing to force all Americans to submit to Catholic dictates, particularly on abortion.
Before the election, for instance, CNS dredged up a vice presidential debate from the 2012 election to complain that Biden said he "accepted that “life begins at conception” but would not interfere with women doctors aborting human lives in the womb," quoting him as saying on the Catholic Church's anti-abortion stance that "I refuse to impose it on equally devout Christians and Muslims and Jews, and I just refuse to impose that on others." And Chapman found a random Catholic priest to rant that the "Democrat Party [sic] is the Party of Death" and that Biden is its leader. (Weird how a Catholic priest who is supposed to be above politics is spouting deliberate right-wing misnaming of the Democratic Party.)
But Jeffrey's meltdown that Biden's victory speech interrupted a Notre Dame football game -- which he declared Biden, as a "devout Catholic," should have known about and thus should have waited until at least halftime to speak -- set the tone for CNS' post-election attacks on Biden's (purported lack of) faith, as did CNS' bashing of Catholic bishops who congratulated Biden on his win.
The attacks on Biden continued:
On Nov. 19, Chapman quoted a bishop who called on Biden "to 'repent' from his support of abortion and gay 'marriage' for 'his own salvation' and the good of the country." Curiously, Chapman referred to Biden as a "Democratic presidential candidate" even though by this time he was president-elect.
In a Dec. 3 article, Jeffrey dug up a 2015 interview of Biden where he "spoke of his admiration for Pope Francis and what this pope was doing for the church," quoting Biden saying that the pope was "the embodiment of the Catholic social doctrine I was raised with." Jeffrey hates Pope Francis for not being right-wing enough.
Two days later, Chapman found a bishop who thought Biden "should not receive Holy Communion" because of "his long history of supporting 'grave moral evils,' such as abortion."
CNS published a Jan. 5 column by Catholic activist CJ Doyle blaiming Biden for being personally responsible for millions of abortions because he voted against the Supreme Court nomination of Robert Bork, who would have been an activist on the court to overturn Roe v. Wade (ironically demonstrating that Bork was unfit to be on the court).
On Jan. 14, Chapman found a bishop who proclaimed that Biden "ran on a platform avidly supporting this gruesome capital punishment for innocent pre-born babies."
In a Jan. 18 article, CNS found another bishop who thinks that any Catholic priest who gives Holy Communion to Biden "without clearly teaching the gravity of his facilitating the evil of abortion (and his approval of same-sex relationships), they do a serious disservice to their brother bishops and their people."
The same day, Chapman located yet another priest to claim Biden should be denied communion because he "has not repented of his avowed pro-abortion policies," and "has not sought God's forgiveness for them." Of course, the priest cannot possibly know that because the sacrement of confession is veiled in secrecy.
CNS gave a Jan. 26 column to anti-abortion activist Hugh Brown, who ranted that "There is no such thing as a liberal Catholic" and that anyone who thinks so, like Biden, "are the anti-Church spoken of by St. John Paul II."
On Jan. 28, dishonest Catholic Bill Donohue was given space to huff that "Biden has a real problem with the most basic moral teachings of his professed religion" and that "Biden's choice of Thursday [when Catholic bishops were holding a Vigil for Life] to announce his pro-abortion executive orders makes him look like a rogue Catholic."
Chapman penned a Feb. 1 article highlighting the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) condemned Biden's action rescinding the Mexico City policy, which had blocked U.S. support to foreign organizaitons that mentioned abortion as a choice for women, which was effectively a gag rule -- as furthering the "destruction of human lives in developing nations."
Chapman wrote in a Feb. 3 article: "African Catholic Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama, one of Nigeria's most powerful leaders, said that Democratic President Joe Biden's executive orders to promote abortion widely in the United States and abroad are contrary 'to reason' and they violate 'human dignity."' Chapman also proudly touted that Kaigama once explained "why it is morally right to imprison people who contract 'gay marriage.'"
None of these articles gave anyone a chance to counter the anti-Biden slant CNS is promoting, even though CNS' mission statement declares that it "endeavors to fairly present all legitimate sides of a story."
We've documented how the Media Research Center has promoted Fox News weatherperson Janice Dean's rage against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, vindictively blaming him for the deaths of relatives residing at a long-term-care facility in the state early in the coronavirus pandemic purportedly because of a policy under Cuomo in which COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospitals to nursing homes -- while dismissing NBC weather guy Al Roker for talking about climate change. 
We've
As to yesterday's speech, at no point in Trump's commentary did he encourage or cajole people in any way to attack the Capitol. His rhetoric was charged – without a doubt. He and his supporters are clearly emotional about what they believe is, if not outright fraud, at least the strong perception of impropriety with regard to the election processes in various states. The frustration is especially (and understandably) high given that there's never been a decision on the merits of the claims in any of the court cases brought by the president's team.
The portrayal of a Jewish leader has a puppet master is an 
CNSNews.com wants to hate Joe Biden, transgender people ... and anything Biden does to help them. It's been obsessing -- and fearmongering -- about that for months. 
If the Media Research Center can find a way to portray conservatives as victims, no matter how unjustified, it will. Joseph Vazquez eagerly played the victim card in a Jan. 8 
Conspiracy-obsessed pro-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell has been having a rough few weeks, and WorldNetDaily seems a little sad about it.
If right-wing radio host Mark Levin has a complaint, it can count on a sympathetic ear from the Media Research Center, as demonstrated by the years the MRC's "news" division, CNSNews.com, has spent 
The idea of a "Great Reset" was tailor-made to be turned into a conspiracy theory. Devised by the World Economic Forum -- the folks behind the annual meeting of the world's elites at Davos, Switzerland -- as a plan to restart the world's economy after the coronavirus pandemic that writer Naomi Klein 
The Media Research Center 's mysterious MRC sports blogger, Jay Maxson, 
WorldNetDaily loves a good conspiracy -- and many bad ones. An example pf the latter surfaced in a Jan. 5 
The 
