MRC Endorses Incomplete Report Because It Claims To Exonerate Trump Topic: Media Research Center
Nicholas Fondacaro tried to push the ol' "fake news" narrative on a new report in a June 9 post:
On Wednesday, NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt flaunted just how much he felt “fairness is overrated,” when he had his program censor an Inspector General report that busted a fake news narrative. About a year ago, the liberal media accused then-President Trump of having Lafayette Park cleared of Black Lives Matter protesters for a photo-op in front of St. John’s Church.
CBS Evening Newscalling it “vindication for the Trump administration.” But NBC was more interested in trying to get viewers deals for hot summer sales on bathing suits, lipstick, and other frivolous items. The network was also fascinated with a group of elephants migrating across China.
Fondacaro went on to claim that "the report had corroborated what Attorney General Bill Barr was saying at the time in defense of the action" and complained that a reporter "didn’t want to give the former President credit for what he was saying."
First, Fondacaro is taking Holt's statement out of context. Second, he has forgotten that Trump has been caught in so many lies there's no reason to take anything he says at face value. The original story was not "fake news" because 1) the timeline made it plausible, 2) no proof was offered that anyone in the media knew that story was false but reported it anyway, 3) Trump is a liar whose word can't be trusted, and 4) the Trump White House offered no credible evidence to disprove the story.
Fondadcaro is also giving way too much credit to that report because it can be wedged into the MRC's pro-Trump, anti-media narrative, ignoring the investigation's many holes. As Washington Post columnist Radley Balko pointed out, the inspector general didn't interview Trump, Barr or anyone else from the White House, the journalists and protesters who were there, or the Secret Service or any of the law enforcement agencies involved that day (let alone try to answer such questions as why personnel from the Bureau of Prisons were there). The report only looked into why Lafayette Square was cleared, not how.There's also plenty of evidence about Trump's authoritarian nature that supports the narrative that the square was cleared for his photo-op.
Despite all those reasons to treat the IG's report with skepticism, Brad Wilmouth still complained on June 14 that people were being skeptical:
CNN journalists are so bitten by Trump Derangement Syndrome that the release of an inspector general's report disproving the liberal media's anti-Trump narrative on the clearing of Lafayette Park has had them struggling to salvage their anti-Trump theories.
After last week's report by the U.S. Department of the Interior found tha President Donald Trump did not order that protesters be forcibly removed so he could stage a photo-op last June, CNN's Jim Acosta joined Thursday's New Day to react with skepticism, with Acosta suggesting that the inspector general was trying to get a job working for Trump.
Meanwhile, Wilmouth sounds like he's trying to get a job working for Trump by attempting to justify ther square-clearling crackdown by declaring that "a large number of officers were injured in the Lafayette Park area in the first week of protests, which was more than the number injured in the January 6 Capitol riots." Wilmouth didn't mention that Lafayette Square protesters got nowhere near the White House , while the Jan. 6 rioters actually broke into the Capitol.
As we see yet again, facts don't matter at the MRC -- only the narrative does.
Newsmax Keeps Flooding The Zone With Fawning Trump Coverage Topic: Newsmax
Newsmax just loves serving as Donald Trump's publicity agent, flooding the zone whenever he does an interview with a Newsmax personality. That happened again on June 25, when Trump appeared on Newsmax's morning show, "Wake Up America" (telling us that some Newsmax employees have experience writing outraged letters to the editor of newspapers). Newsmax generated a whopping eight articles out of that interview:
Now, this was not an interview that deserved eight articles -- who thinks that, say, what Trump says about his wife is worthy of a headline? But if you're a "news" organization that's effectively Trump's PR agent, you get your client's name out there as much as you can, and that's exactly what Newsmax did here.
And that's not even the end of the fawning, uncritical coverage Newsmax gave Trump that day. Jeffrey Rodack wrote in a separate article:
Former President Donald Trump is suggesting that Georgia residents sue the state for running "a corrupt and rigged 2020 presidential election."
His comments came in a statement released Friday after Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that the Justice Department is filing a lawsuit against the state of Georgia to try and overturn a new voting law that Democrats allege discriminates against minorities.
[...]
Trump, in his statement said: "Biden’s Department of Justice just announced that they are suing the Great State of Georgia over its Election Integrity Act. Actually, it should be the other way around! The PEOPLE of Georgia should SUE the State, and their elected officials, for running a CORRUPT AND RIGGED 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION — and for trying to suppress the VOTE of the AMERICAN PEOPLE in Georgia. If we don’t address these issues from the 2020 Election head on, and we allow the Radical Left Democrats to continue to politicize the DOJ and Law Enforcement, we will lose our Country. SAVE AMERICA!"
A real reporter would have also noted that no credible evidence has been found to back up Trump's claim of a "CORRUPT AND RIGGED" election in Georgia. But Rodack didn't -- he's part of the Trump PR team at Newsmax.
CNS Does Softball Interview With Ex-Trump Adviser Now Leading Right-Wing Legal Group Topic: CNSNews.com
The Media Research Center loves to rage against reporters who ask allegedly softball questions of non-conservative people -- even cheering the most vile of obscenties being hatefully hurled at them. But when one of its own employees conducts a softball interview? No problem.
A June 4 CNSNews.com article -- presented as "news" -- detailed an interview commentary editor Rob Shimshock conducted with Stephen Miller, the former Trump adviser who now runs a right-wing legal organization, America First Legal.Shimshock touted how Miller's group "is using the legal system to combat the left’s attempt to strip Americans of their civil liberties" -- showing total buy-in of Miller's partisan agenda right off the bat -- and his questions were highly softball:
Now I know your group has also been very active in other fields, particularly on the front of racial discrimination, and what I like about America First Legal’s approach here is that you’re not just fixated on one prong of this attack by the left but are instead tackling the whole kit and kaboodle, suing the Biden Administration to stop discrimination against white farmers, filing for a temporary restraining order on COVID relief funds being distributed to restaurants based on the skin color of their owners, and slamming the Department of Education for a proposed rule to include viciously racist critical race theory in K-12 education. So tell me a bit about these fights briefly and let me know how optimistic, or concerned, you are about each of them.
Now, turning to another topical issue, and you alluded to this earlier, the coronavirus: we’ve seen some states, like Texas and Florida refuse to implement vaccine passports, but we recently saw the Oregon Health Authority issue an edict saying that people can enter businesses and even churches without a mask only if they have been vaccinated. Now, to me, this sounds impractical in execution and also like a pretty clear violation of medical privacy. Has America First Legal considered getting involved on this front?
Great, now, I asked Matt Whitaker this question in April, but I wanted to get your take on it, too. We’ve seen coverage during the past few years about corrupt prosecutors funded by George Soros, the potential for a tainted jury, which could have played a role in the George Floyd murder ⎼ the George Floyd verdict ⎼ and we’ve even seen ostensibly conservative justices on the Supreme Court make some rather questionable decisions. So, can you identify one aspect of the legal system for me that poses the biggest hurdle to you and your team and conservatives at large as you try to defend American civil liberties, and how do you overcome that?
Yeah and one common thread -- just on that point -- that I’ve seen is that a lot of these nefarious systems will oftentimes start off in academia. So we’ve been talking about critical race theory and then we also have the justice system, there are campus kangaroo courts when it comes to sexual assault allegations and so hopefully, we won’t take that direction as a country as a whole, but that remains to be seen. So, finally Stephen, what advice would you give to viewers who see all of this insanity going on and want to make a difference? How can they support America First Legal and, more broadly, how can they channel their understandable frustration into positive social change?
Shimshock concluded with a total suck-up statement: "Awesome, well I’m very excited to see what America First Legal accomplishes this year, and thanks so much for joining us, Stephen."
Shihmshock could have asked Miller about the controversial immigration policies he crafted in the Trump White House, or about the falsehoods he has told about President Biden's immigration polices. But he didn't, because his job was to toss softballs. His MRC bosses won't be hurling any obscenities Shimshock's way for this performance.
WND Columnists Continue To Spread Fear About COVID, Vaccines Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily columnists -- not exactly known for their thoughtful takes on amy issue, but particularly involving the coronavirus pandemic -- have continued to rage about various aspects of COVID.
In his June 14 column, Wayne Allyn Root detailed an interview with Vladimir Zelenko, a doctor whose claims about hydroxychloroquine being an effective treatment for COVID were enthusiastically touted by WND early in the pandemic despite his work lacking credible documentation. Root went on to rant:
It's time to start asking why treatments for COVID-19 proven in multiple studies around the world to save lives are slandered, censored and banned by social media? Who are they to ban life-saving information? Who are they to label life-saving information as "medical misinformation"? What's in it for them if thousands die needlessly? Somebody clearly is getting filthy rich on this scam.
I asked Zelenko about it on a return visit to my show only days ago. He said: "Pre-hospital treatment of COVID-19 was intentionally suppressed. Life-saving information and medication was intentionally suppressed. … Out of 600,000 dead Americans, we could have saved 510,000. The American people have been brutalized and are the victims of mass murder and crimes against humanity."
I asked Zelenko for his solution to this ongoing tragedy. He said, "Number one, immediately endorse pre-hospital treatment with the Zelenko Protocol, and make it the standard of care. Number two, we must bring these criminals to justice."
Amen.
Jane Orient -- the leader of WND's COVID misinformers -- spent her June 15 column fearmongering about COVID vaccines and the idea that colleges may require students to be vaccinated before coming to campus:
Many young Americans and their parents believe that a college degree is the key to open doors to a successful future. So, when they get a letter from the college administration saying you must get this injection or you are barred from our campus, they rush to comply.
After all, vaccines are "safe and effective," and you've already had dozens of them, so what's one more? Our vigilant and world-renowned scientific and health agencies would never allow an unsafe product to be authorized, would they? The National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would never miss a safety signal or lie to us, would they? Look at the thousands of regulations they impose on us, and the warning label on everything from plastic bags to table salt. See the signs in the liquor section warning pregnant women not to take a sip lest their baby be harmed.
Orient went on to like the vaccine to thalidomide, hyped rare episodes of heart inflammation linked to the vaccine, then concluded by asking, "Would putting a hold on your college education be worth it? Is it even worth it to win the lottery if you lose your heart?"
Orient returned for more fearmongering in her June 23 column:
Many patients tell us that their doctors are pressuring them to get the COVID jab. The American Medical Association (AMA) claims that 96% of doctors are themselves fully vaccinated. So, if 9.6 out of 10 and not a mere 4 out of 5 doctors recommend something, it must be "right for you."
As far as I have heard, the message from state and local medical societies is "take the lead, get your shot, volunteer at a vaccination center, educate your hesitant patients."
[...]
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) decided to check out the AMA's 96% claim. We recall that the "one voice" has sometimes been wrong, and the 4% right.
[...]
Remember that your doctor may only see pro-vaccine material and may suffer repercussions from an employer or insurance panel for not meeting vaccine goals. You might ask him some questions, such as what does he think of the first autopsy report on a COVID-vaccinated patient, who had spike proteins in every organ?
General good advice for life applies here: 1) Don't fall for the hard sell. If you have to sign up immediately (before you look under the hood), or lose your once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, alarms should go off. 2) Don't take the word of the anointed "expert" on faith, especially when he won't let others peek behind the curtain.
Hanne Nabintu Herland declared in her June 30 column that "The COVID-19 scandal continues to transfer billions into the pockets of the already ultra-rich, while national economies are faltering under the weight of mass unemployment, bankruptcies, debt and despair." She went on to suggest nefarious links between Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, and Bill Gates, "the oligarch billionaire turned "world pandemic expert" paying millions into the WHO system, with particular interest in world vaccines and controlling public health."
WND recently devoted an issue of its sparsely read Whistleblower magazine to accusing Democrats of spreading fear. It would never hold its own columnists to the same scrutiny.
MRC Desperately Trying To Blame High Gas Prices On Biden Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center's Joseph Vazquez thought he had a big ol' gotcha for a May 27 post:
The Associated Press (AP) tried to run cover for President Joe Biden by gaslighting readers on his role in rising gas prices.
AP ran another one of its useless “fact-checks” headlined, “AP FACT CHECK: House GOP falsely blames Biden for gas prices.” The piece railed that “Biden's policies aren't behind the price increases.” It continued: “Gas prices are up because of a rapid and unexpected bounce-back in demand, and because of lingering problems from the forced shutdown early this month of the Colonial Pipeline, which provides 45% of the fuel consumed on the East Coast.” It’s too bad for AP then that Fox Business ran an April story, headlined “Biden's energy plan contributing to gas price increases: GasBuddy analyst.” [Emphasis added.]
The irony is that AP cited GasBuddy Head of Petroleum Analysis Patrick De Haan, to summarize how the Colonial Pipeline outage led to “more than 6,000 stations [running] out” of gas. That’s the same De Haan who Fox Business said labeled the Biden administration as a contributor “to the increase in gas prices.” Of course, AP ignored the Fox Business story.
But Fox Business quoted de Haan only as saying that "the Biden administration is not anywhere near as friendly with the oil and gas sector" as the Trump administration and that "motorists are going to be feeling the consequences of such a policy." He cited no specific Biden policy directly causing increases in gas prices at that specific point, and he also pointed out -- like AP did -- that demand was increasing, which also helps increase prices.
Vazquez also bizarrely argued that Biden deserved blame for gas price incrases because of ... coronavirus stimulus checks:
But AP continued its misdirection. The outlet had the audacity to say that prices can also be attributed to how “[s]timulus payments to American households, including $1,400 checks that were distributed in March, have helped Americans ramp up spending.” First, who exactly does AP think was behind the $1,400 free lunch stimulus payments? Also, CNN previously published a story in April headlined, “All that stimulus is sending inflation higher.” CNN said that the “biggest driver” behind the spike in the U.S. Producer Price Index — “which measures sale prices for goods and services” — was “a sharp 8.8% jump in gasoline prices.” [Emphasis added.]
Perhaps Biden redistributing money that spikes demand while companies are struggling to keep pace is a viable culprit behind rising gas prices. Not according to AP’s gaslighting.
Apparently, creating demand to boos the economy is a bad thing for Vazquez -- whose employer received as much as $2 million in redistributed stimulus money.
Vazquez tried to push this dubous narrative again in a July 13 post complaining that CNN also pointed out that gas prices are largely out of any president's control:
CNN’s knee-jerk reaction to spiking gas prices was to protect President Joe Biden, and Twitter users jumped all over the outlet for it.
CNN Business published a ridiculous story headlined, “Gas prices are above $3. Biden doesn’t have a magic wand to fix that.” CNN Business Lead Writer Matt Egan patronized readers by saying, “President Joe Biden is being attacked for $3 gasoline. But the truth is the White House isn’t to blame for high gas prices – and has few options to lower them.” The CNN Business tweet of Egan’s pro-Biden propaganda was heavily ratioed.
Did Egan forget that GasBuddy Head of Petroleum Analysis Patrick De Haan argued in April that Biden’s energy plan was contributing to rising gas prices? Also, Egan’s employer previously published a story in April headlined, “All that stimulus is sending inflation higher.” CNN said in the April story that the “biggest driver” behind the spike in the U.S. Producer Price Index — “which measures sale prices for goods and services” — was “a sharp 8.8% jump in gasoline prices.”
Vazquez didn't offer any facts to contradict any of the reporting in the CNN story, and he didn't acknowledge that the "Twitter users" who ratioed the CNN tweet are all right-wing activists and personalities who, like Vazquez, have an anti-Biden agenda.
As an actual fact-checker pointed out: That's not how it works, folks.
By contrast, when some tried to blame Trump for a crash in oil prices at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Vazquez complained that a reporter was "exploiting" the crisis to "get an amateurish zinger at the president." Kinda like what Vazquez is trying to do to Biden?
Failing Downward: Eric Bolling Ends Up At Newsmax Topic: Newsmax
An anonymously written June 28 Newsmax article put the best possible spin on the development:
Newsmax, America’s fastest growing cable news network, announced today that it is adding acclaimed television host and best-selling author Eric Bolling to its impressive talent roster.
Chris Ruddy, CEO of Newsmax, said: “Eric Bolling is a consummate media professional who isn’t afraid to ask tough questions, get provocative answers and challenge establishment thinking. His background in business and politics separates him from the competition.”
Bolling will begin as a guest host for shows on Monday, June 27, and is slated to host a new show in July with details to be announced soon.
Bolling said, “Like myself, Newsmax is concerned with the direction that Big Tech and Big Corporate Media have taken journalism and our nation. I’m excited to join an organization that delivers programming you can trust.”
[...]
Most recently, Bolling hosted a popular talk show called “America This Week With Eric Bolling.”
The show aired weekly across the Sinclair broadcast platform of 200 stations.
At Fox News, Bolling was its most visible and popular guest host, sitting in for Bill O’Reilly more than 200 times and guest hosting for top-rated “Hannity” more than 70 times.
Needless to say, Newsmax didn't tell readers why Bolling is no longer employed at those previous jobs. He was fired from Fox News in 2017 after allegations of sexual harassment surfaced in the form of sending lewd photos to colleagues, part of a wave of allegations against Fox News hosts and executives. He was fired from Sinclair Broadcast Group earlier this year after repeatedly getting busted for spreading misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic.
Newsmax did not provide an explanation of why it has chosen to hire a man with such a dubious track record.
WND Columnist Falsely Claims Biden Repeatedly Quotes Mao Topic: WorldNetDaily
Hanne Nabintu Herland ranted in her June 16 WorldNetDaily column:
The authoritarian Communist leader Mao Zedong, the founder of the People's Republic of China, is currently quoted again and again in President Joe Biden's speeches. "Mao qualifies as the greatest mass murderer in world history," says Frank Dikötter, an expert with unprecedented access to the Communist Party archives.
Dikötter explains in his book, "Mao's Great Famine: The Story of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe," that around 45 million people were starved, beaten to death or killed in prison camps in China between 1958-1962. Bear in mind that the death toll from World War II was around 55 million. The Hong Kong-based historian said he found that during the time Mao was enforcing the Great Leap Forward in 1958, in an effort to catch up with the economy of the Western world, he was responsible for overseeing "one of the worst catastrophes the world has ever known."
[...]
Since President Biden keeps quoting the Communist leader, one may humbly assume that Biden respects Mao and endorses his work, or else he would obviously not repeatedly have referred to the authoritarian leader. Black Lives Matter openly endorses atheist Marxism and the U.S. university systems are now being modeled after the same revolutionary thought. Let us therefore take a quick look at who Mao Zedong was.
This is a highly misleading -- not to mention dumb -- attack on Biden.Despite Herland's insistence that Mao has been "quoted again and again" by Biden, she offers no evidence that he has used multiple Mao quotes. In fact, all he has done is on several occasions use the phrase "women hold up half the sky." The phrase is actually older than Mao, though Mao popularized it, and there's nothing inherently communist or evil in the phrase.
Nevertheless, Herland spent the rest of her column rehashing Mao's history for shock value, then concluded: "The fact that Biden gladly and repeatedly quotes Mao speaks volumes." No, it doesn't, and all the right-wing ranting in the world will not make that happen.
Similar to what happened the previous month, the employment numbers were so good that CNSNews.com could find nothing to attack President Biden over, and it was shocked into reporting the news in a mostly straightforward manner. Susan Jones, however, still tried to emphasize the few not-so-good numbers in her lead story:
Total nonfarm payroll rose by 850,000 in June, the strongest number of the year so far, and well above the 583,000 (revised) jobs added in May. The 850,000 jobs added exceeds analysts' estimates, which ran as high as 700,000 for June.
But at the same time, the unemployment rate ticked up a tenth of a point to 5.9 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.
(Note: Total nonfarm payroll employment is the number of paid U.S. workers in all businesses, excluding proprietors, private household employees, unpaid volunteers, farm employees and the unincorporated self-employed. It includes about 80 percent of those who contribute to GDP and who are covered by unemployment insurance.)
On Friday, BLS reported that the number of employed Americans broke a 13-month upward streak, dropping by 18,000 to 151,602,000 in June from 151,620,000 in May.
At the same time, the number of unemployed Americans -- those who don't have a job but are available for work and have looked for work in the past four weeks -- increased to 9,484,000 in June, a gain of 168,000 from 9,316,000 in May.
This produced the higher unemployment rate.
The numbers were so good the previous month that CNS didn't bother to do any sidebars; this time, editor Terry Jeffrey served up his usual complaints about government employment: "Governments in the United States added a net total of 188,000 jobs in the month of June, even as the federal government decreased the number it employed by 5,000."
MRC Is Angry That Lingerie Is Getting Less Slutty Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center is concerned that women's lingerie isn't slutty enough. Veronica Hays expressed her concern in a June 17 post:
The Golden Age of Victoria’s Secret and the “Angels” has come to an end. Women everywhere will be excited to learn that the likes of lesbian Megan Rapinoe and a transgender woman are the brand’s new image. And if you don’t think that's sexy, you’re a bigot.
Victoria’s Secret has been in decline for some time now. Poor business management, scandalous associations between the owner Les Wexner and the late pedophile Jeffery Epstein, changing sensibilities with the toxic #Metoo movement, and a global pandemic the corporate giant has been faced with a plethora of internal and external issues.
Now, in their darkest hour, Victoria’s Secret is desperately grasping at a complete brand turn-around. Inclusivity is Victoria’s Secret do-or-die strategy. The classic allure, style, and femininity of their products are likely to be sacrificed in this endeavor. The iconic Victoria’s Secret Angels are now considered out of vogue, backwards, and unappealing to women’s modern feminist sensibilities.
[...]
Apparently Megan Rapinoe, the World Cup Soccer Champion and rabid leftist is what women want. The soccer star will be joined by actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Sudanese-Australian model Adut Akech, freestyle skier Eileen Gu, Brazilian transgender model Valentina Sampaio, plus-size model Paloma Elesser, and journalist Amanda de Cadenet in this rebrand attempt. Selecting a transwoman (a fake woman) to represent feminine beauty is deeply insulting to women everywhere.
Thank the Lord and His great mercies though, as none of these characters will actually model lingerie. Rather, they comprise Victoria’s Secret’s new initiative called “The VS Collective” -- “leading icons” and changemakers” to “shape the future of the brand.”
Remember, the MRC absolutely despises Rapinoe for committing the offenses of not being heterosexual and for having criticized Donald Trump. And we all know how much the MRC hatestransgenderpeople.
Hays was bizarrely amused by a fellow hateful right-winger claiming thet Victoria's Secret was targeting "the ugly commie demographic," then concluded by whining, "Usually, the saying goes 'go woke, go broke,' but in this case, Victoria’s Secret is broke and now going woke as if that is the best strategy towards renewing its success."
Interestingly, this isn't the only instance of Hays complaining about a disturbing lack of sluttiness in lingerie. She attacked a brand that isn't even sold in America in a June 23 post:
Ladies, is your underwear down with the struggle? Err, we mean, does your intimate apparel broadcast your politics? Err ...
British retail giant Marks & Spencer is honoring the memory of BLM Martyr George Floyd by adding five new shades to its collection of neutral or nude-colored underwear. This “inclusive” range is inspired by the “global conversation on racial inequality” prompted by the tragic death of Floyd while in police custody.
M&S is adding darker shades to the collection bearing gemstone names like Topaz, Amber, and Rich Quartz, adding further significance to “things that are special and precious.” Up to this point, the collection has focused too much on paler complexions.
Yes, a white woman is complaining that women's lingerie is being made in colors that reflect non-white people. She referenced her Victoria's Secret post, then sneered, "Let’s hope it backfires for both."
NEW ARTICLE: WND Adds To Its COVID Misinformer Army Topic: WorldNetDaily
Joel Hirschhorn uses his WorldNetDaily platform to lobby for dubious coronavirus treatments and to carry out a bizarre vendetta against Anthony Fauci. Read more >>
CNS Cheers Another Anti-LGBT Law In Authoritarian Hungary Topic: CNSNews.com
One of CNSNews.com's favorite countries is Hungary, because it's filled with right-wing authoritarians led by Viktor Orban who hate LGBT people as much as CNS does. So whenever Hungary promotes a new anti-LGBT initiative, CNS is there to praise it. That happened again in an anonymously written June 15 article:
In a vote of 157 to 1 on Tuesday, the National Assembly of Hungary passed a law that prohibits pro-LGBT materials from being used in schools educating people under the age of 18.
The new law was passed as an amendment to an anti-pedophilia bill, and it explicitly bans "content that depicts sexuality for its own sake, or promotes or displays deviations from the identity of the sex of birth, gender reassignment or homosexuality."
Explaining the reason for the law, a Hungarian government spokesman told The Guardian, “There are contents which children under a certain age can misunderstand and which may have a detrimental effect on their development at the given age, or which children simply cannot process, and which could therefore confuse their developing moral values or their image of themselves or the world."
The anonymous CNS writer turned quite gushy about Orban's party and his anti-LGBT crusade:
The ruling party in Hungary, an alliance of the Fidesz and KDNP, is committed to strengthening and preserving Hungary's Christian culture. The prime minister, Viktor Orban, is in his third term, having first been elected in 2010. The next election is in 2022.
Sounds like a press release for Orban, doesn't it? The anonymous writer that, even according to CNS' own reporting, Orban is an authoritarian whose party has rigged the country's laws to ensure he stays in power, even granting him powers to rule by decree. Hedoesn't sound like a person who cares about election results.
That's not the only defense of Hungary CNS has served up. In a July 12 article, Elizabeth Nieshalla went after United Nations "LGBT czar" Victor Madrigal-Borloz for standing up for LGBT rights and singling out Hungary for being hostile to them:
During the press conference, Madrigal-Borloz openly criticized Hungary for its Christian stance against promoting LGBT issues in schools.
According to Madrigal-Borloz, Hungarian laws in relation to sexual education follow an “upbringing based on Christian values” and “perpetuate stigma.”
“Comprehensive sexuality and gender education allow for the deconstruction of stigma” and it is helpful to “deconstruct stereotypes about sex, sexuality and pleasure,” Madrigal-Borloz said.
In order for a restriction of freedom to be justified, there must be a “valuable societal objective,” and he argued that there is none for a person altering their gender or sexuality.
“I see nothing within the limits of a democratic society that would justify restricting that freedom (to change one’s sex or gender),” said Madrigal-Borloz.
Additionally, he questioned Hungary’s eligibility to be part of the EU bloc, as membership in the bloc is based on the shared, pro-LGBTQ values of the bloc.
Nieshalla also weirdly suggested that Hungary wasn't as anti-LGBT as portrayed because "Hungary supported the creation of the position Madrigal-Borloz now holds as LGBT Czar of the U.N. in 2016." But she didn't cite what Hungary has done to further anti-LGBT sentiment, even though the "news" organization she's writing for has previously reported on and praised them.
WND Is STILL Blaming People's Deaths On Clinton Topic: WorldNetDaily
The Daily Beast highlighted how some "ghouls" in the right-wing media pounced on the death of a Georgia reporter to further hoary old "Clinton Body Count" narratives. The Daily Beast didn't mention it, but another one of those ghouls was WorldNetDaily, in a June 13 article by Joe Kovacs:
In yet another mysterious death with a connection of some kind to the Clinton family, the TV news reporter who broke news of the infamous "tarmac meeting" in 2016 between former President Bill Clinton and then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch is dead at the age of 45.
Christopher Sign, who authored a book about his big story titled "Secret on the Tarmac," was found dead Saturday, June 12, by police in Hoover, Alabama, after authorities received a report of a "person down."
The coroner's office says family members found Sign unresponsive, and police and Sign's employer say his death is being investigated as a suicide.
[...]
Sign's death is the latest in what has become known worldwide as the "Clinton Death List" and "Clinton Body Count," a tally of individuals associated with the Clintons who have died under mysterious circumstances, from falling off buildings to dying in plane crashes and freak accidents.
Of course WND has a compiled "Clinton Body Count" list -- back in the day, editor Joseph Farah bragged that he was the first to compile one -- but it will not tell you that the list has been longdiscredited. And despite the fact that Bill Clinton hasn't been president for more than two decades, WND has spent years trying to add to it:
It touted a random conspiracy theorist blaming the 2016 death of former United Nations official John Ashe on Hillary as well, repeating timeline falsehoods to boost its faulty case.
It suggested that Jeffrey Epstein was murdered in prison in 2019 by Bill Clinton.
That's how WND rolls. And that's what Farah wants you to give him money to continue to do.
MRC's Houck Buries Doocy's Screw-Up Topic: Media Research Center
Curtis Houck hates President Biden so much that it's apparently worse than his abject loathing for CNN, upon which he's been waging a petulant war against for years. So much so, in fact, that he actually defended a CNN reporter from Biden in a June 16 post:
Closing out his week-long European trip and Wednesday’s Geneva summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Joe Biden snapped at CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Wednesday for simply wondering “why” he’s “so confident [Putin will] change his behavior.”
Not to be left out, Biden also tussled with Fox’s Peter Doocy over China when he, like Collins, interjected once Biden worked through his list of six pre-approved reporters.
With Biden talking off-stage and his suit coat in hand, Collins shouted: “Why are you so confident he’ll change his behavior, President Biden?”
Biden suddenly became inflamed and yelled: “I’m not confident he’ll change his behavior. What the hell? What do you do all the time? When did I say I was confident?”
Undeterred, Collins added that she was alluding to Biden’s claim that he’ll need “six months” in order “to determine” whether Russia has improved its behavior, but that wasn’t enough for the President.
It wasn't until the 11th paragraph of his item that Houck got back to his man-crush, Doocy, and this is all he wrote about it:
Doocy was another one of the four reporters that grabbed Biden’s attention after he finished going through his staff’s pre-approved list and, once he did, he brought up the importance of standing up to China (click “expand”):
Because Houck buried the transcript in an expansion box, it takes some work to find out that Doocy rather stupidly asked Biden if he would talk to Chinese leader Xi Jinping "old friend to old friend," to which Biden retorted, "Let’s get something straight. We know each other well. We’re not old friends. It’s just pure business." Houck clearly knows Doocy screwed up because he buried this exchange so far in his item.
Instead, Houck whined that other reporters were "were given preapproval to ask the elderly Biden relatively benign and/or unobjectionable questions." Did Houck ever call Trump "elderly" though he's only a few years younger than Biden? Not that we know of.
But then, Houck is such a Doocy fanboy that he'll never admit he does anything wrong, as we saw in his defense of Doocy against a profile that didn't fawn over the reporter the way he would.
Meanwhile, when Biden took additional questions from reporters later on in his Geneva trip, Kyle Drennen claimed that Biden "bitterly complained that they weren’t being supportive enough of his foreign policy agenda," adding, "According to Biden, the leftist media are not sycophantic enough for his liking." Biden never said that, of cousre -- that's Drennen's active, and biased, imagination kicking in. And it's telling of Drennen's (and the MRC's) extreme bias that he thinks any media outlet not as right-wing as Fox News is "leftist."
CNS' Hot Pestering Intern Summer, Round 2 Topic: CNSNews.com
CNSNews.com kicked off its summer of sending its interns to pester members of Congress with gotcha questions by asking them about federal deficits (while not really caring about them when Donald Trump was president and Republicans controlled half of Congress). For the next round, the interns invoked the hot-button issue of abortion: "The Supreme Court this fall will review a Mississippi law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Is an unborn baby at 15 weeks a human being?" They also asked a follow-up gotcha for those -- namely, Democrats -- who did not give the conservatively correct answer: "If an unborn baby is not a human being, what species is it?" Democrats who declined to give a direct yes-or-no answer to CNS' questions -- undoubtedly recognizing the gotcha nature of these questions -- got the headline accusation that they "dodge[d]" the question.
Here are the senators wwho were the victims of this ambush:
Again, these questions are nothing a biased partisan exercise, designed to give Republicans a platform to virtue-signal on the evils of abortion and to shame Democrats for not restricting the rights of women or being eager to overturn a half-century of Supreme Court precedent.
CNS thought this was such an important question to attack Democrats with that it widened the scope of its targets. An intern was sent to Nancy Pelosi's weekly press conference to ambush her:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) did not directly respond to a question from CNSNews.com—predicated on the upcoming Supreme Court case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization—on whether a 15-week-old unborn baby is a human being.
“Let me just say that I’m a big supporter ofRoe vs. Wade,” Pelosi said.
[...]
Without answering that question, Pelosi turned and pointed to another reporter, who she recognized by saying: “Yes. Yes, ma’am.”
The goal of that exercise was to get bigger play out of the gotcha, and that's exactly what happened. Another media outlet noted the question, and Cruz bashed Pelosi for not answering the question, and CNS got an article out of that too.
CNS even sent what passes for an actual reporter, Melanie Arter, to White House press secretary Jen Psaki's daily press briefing to ask the question, wich got Psaki slapped with the "dodge" label:
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Monday dodged the question of whether President Joe Biden believes a 15-week-old unborn baby is a human being.
Instead, Psaki said Monday that Biden supports a woman’s right to choose.
At the White House press briefing, CNSNews.com asked Psaki: “Does the president believe a 15-week old unborn baby is a human being?”
“Are you asking me if the president supports a woman’s right to choose? He does,” Psaki replied.
This is the first time in recent memory that CNS has sent a reporter to a White House press briefing. The fact that it used that rare appearance to ask a politicized gotcha question says much about the state of journalism at CNS these days.
How Is The MRC Hating LGBT People On TV Now? Topic: Media Research Center
The rampantly homophobic Media Research Center reliablymeltsdown anytime the non-right-wing media refuses to hate LGBT people the way it does. Let's look at how it's been doing that lately, shall we?
Veronica Hays lashed out at Nickelodeon in a June 4 item:
Just in case kids haven’t gotten the message that gender confusion is cool, Nickelodeon is offering yet more LGBTQRX (and sometimes Y) propaganda for juveniles.
A new episode of the live-action series Danger Force will feature the first-ever transgender character and actor in Nickelodeon’s history. Sasha A. Cohen, a 13 year-old transgender boy, in reality, a biological female, was handpicked by the show’s creator Michael D. Cohen (no relation) to accomplish this groundbreaking moment in TV history.
The young transgender caught Cohen’s attention as one of the applicants for his Trans Youth Acting Challenge meant to help trans and binary youth excel in the entertainment industry. (And to promote the Trans agenda to teens.)
[...]
The poor girl-turned-boy is being used as a prop to further promote a system of insidious lies surrounding biological sex that manifests itself in the destruction of otherwise normal children.
Meanwhile, Hays clearly wants to destroy transgender people by keeping them from holding jobs and to make the world hostile (if not violent) to them.
Does the "+" in Disney+ stand for LGBTQ+? If we go by Disney+'s brief history of constantly inserting the LGBTQ agenda into its many shows, the answer would likely be yes. And now the streaming service has featured a lesbian kiss among underage girls (possibly its first) in its “family” sports drama Big Shot that has a target audience as young as age 8. We've sadly come a long way from innocent Mickey Mouse cartoons.
There have been hints of Disney’s agenda in the other “family” shows I watch on their streaming service, such as The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers in which one young character let everyone know he has two moms in almost every episode. But when they actually depict a physical, lesbian kiss between two minor girls for an eight-year-old audience, that’s definitely going too far.
Slusher didn't explain what this supposed "LGBTQ agenda" is.
Gabriel Hays, meanwhile, was mad that Fox Broadcasting, unlike its news division, doesn't hate LGBT people:
Pride month seems to be more like an obsession than a celebration this year with every media outlet, including those devoted to kids’ programming, pandering to the vegetable soup community.
The FOX TV network is the latest to go all in on the pro-gay programming, releasing very flamboyant advertisements for Pride Month teasing the gayest moments of recent and upcoming seasons over some “rainbow-themed” original music.
FOX TV hit the Pride Month ground running, featuring an ad on June 1st dedicated to the festivities. FOX posted the ad to its Twitter account with the caption, “Happy Pride Month! Join me and my FOX Fam in celebrating the LGBTQIA+ community and achievements. #TVForAll.”
Oh interesting. Know that “LGBTQIA+” stands for “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual/Aromantic/Agender,” so yeah FOX TV is not just about tolerance for different sexual persuasions, it’s about promoting the reality-denying transgender/non-binary/genderfluid tenets pushed by the extreme radical left.
Basically the floodgates have been opened, and huge mainstream channels like FOX are now down with whatever the LGBTQIA+ activists say they need to be down with. Will they be marketing to kids with cartoons promoting puberty blockers next?
Hays also referenced the "LGBTQ agenda," but like Slusher didn't explain what it supposedly is. Does it stop being a threat that scares the MRC's readers if it's explained?
On June 21, Eiise Ehrhard fretted about what is apparently an even bigger threat than the "LGBTQ agenda," -- the "LGBTQIA agenda" -- as she complained about a show on Hulu: "No doubt in the ideal radical activist LGBTQIA world, Christian rituals and theology would be replaced by the almost ritualistic celebration of homosexual activity that accompanies gay pride month, often without any regard for children present." Unspoken by Ehrhard: In the radical right-wing homophobic world she clearly wants, LGBT people would be suppressed, if not punished for their behavior.
And even though the MRC has no audience in Australia, Veronica Hays hates LGBT people enough to spend a June 22 post complaining about a show Down Under that failed to hate them:
Pay no attention to what you have down under, kids, gender is fluid! Australian public broadcaster ABC, funded by Aussie taxpayers is culpable for the latest instance of the LGBTQ’s targeting and indoctrination of children.
Courtney Act, a drag queen made famous by RuPaul’s Drag Race, guest stars alongside elementary school children for a segment called “Little Kids, Big Talk.” The five-minute long video was posted to the ABC Kids Community Facebook page. The flamboyant man dressed as a woman engages in a back and forth with little children about “gender fluidity” and other nonsense such as pronouns and cross dressing.
Some parents let their child hang around with a mentally ill man, and allowed a video of it, which was posted on Friday, to reach 900,000 viewers so far.
[...]
It's not “teaching tolerance,” it is abuse. If anything, children should be taught the harms of distorting true femininity and masculinity. It is more appropriate that we instill within them a holy fear of such immorality and unnatural behavior. Only then can there be a renewal within this increasingly decaying society.
Hays offered no evidence to support her assertion that drag queens are "mentally ill." And it's more than abundantly clear that she wants children to be taught to think they are -- and to hate them for it.
Nicholas Fondacaro tried to push the ol' "fake news" narrative on a new report in a June 9 post:
Newsmax just loves serving as Donald Trump's publicity agent, 
The Media Research Center 
WorldNetDaily columnists -- not exactly known for their thoughtful takes on amy issue, but particularly involving the coronavirus pandemic -- have continued to rage about various aspects of COVID.
The Media Research Center's Joseph Vazquez thought he had a big ol' gotcha for a May 27 
An anonymously written June 28 Newsmax 
Hanne Nabintu Herland ranted in her June 16 WorldNetDaily 
Similar to what happened 
The Media Research Center is concerned that women's lingerie isn't slutty enough. Veronica Hays expressed her concern in a June 17 
One of CNSNews.com's 
The Daily Beast 
Curtis Houck hates President Biden so much that it's apparently worse than his abject loathing for CNN, upon which he's been waging a petulant war against for years. So much so, in fact, that he actually defended a CNN reporter from Biden in a June 16 
CNSNews.com 
The rampantly homophobic Media Research Center 
