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Sunday, June 26, 2022
CNS' Homophobic Managing Editor Pushes Anti-Transgender Attacks
Topic: CNSNews.com

In talking about transphobia at CNSNews.com, we can't ignore the contributions from its notoriously homophobic managing editor, Michael W. Chapman.We've already noted his freakout over a transgender flag being flown outside the building for a federal agency, but there's so much more.

In a March 29 article, Chapman cheered his favorite right-wing homophobic minister, Franklin Graham, for helping to advance CNS' war on Ketanji Brown Jackson by endorsing the gotcha question Republicans asked her regarding the defintion of a woman: "Where are we going as a nation when a nominee for our highest court will not define what a woman is?" Graham also took a swipe at transgender college swimmer Lia Thomas, and Chapman concluded with a series of cherry-picked Bible verses designed to suggest transgender people are evil and going to hell.

Chapman used an April 19 article to try to shove transgender people back into the closet because they're purportedly not enough of them to be concerned about:

Although many liberal activists and lawmakers, including President Joe Biden, use their influence to promote transgender people throughout society -- see sports, modeling, cable TV, public schools, government, military -- the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that nearly 1 million people identify as transgender in the U.S., which is 0.3% of the population, or less than 1%. 

According to the Census Bureau, the U.S. population is 331,893,745 (as of July 1, 2021). One million transgenders equals 0.3% of the total population.

Chapman then smeared transgender people as filthy disease vectors:

The CDC also reports that in 2019 (latest data available), there were "36,801 total new HIV diagnoses in the U.S. and dependent areas."  Among those diagnosed with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, 671 people were transgender, about 2% of the total diagnoses. 

On a related note, gay and bisexual men made up 69% of the new HIV diagnoses: 25,552 people. 

For the transgender women (biological males) newly diagnosed with HIV -- 625 total -- blacks made up 46% of the cases, or 289 people. Hispanic trans women made up 35% of the cases, 221 people, and white trans females comprised 13% of the new diagnoses, 80 people.

For the HIV-positive among trans men (biological females) -- 46 total -- 41% (19 people) were black, 26% (12) were Hispanic, and 24% (11) were white. 

According to the CDC, "there are several challenges that place transgender people at higher risk of HIV." This includes transphobia, racism, HIV stigma, and lack of knowledge.

Chapman loves portraying LGBT people as worthless HIV carriers.

In addition to rehashing hic complaint that "Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra had the transgender flag flown outside HHS headquarters in Washington, D.C.  ... the first time in U.S. history that the trans flag had been displayed outside a federal building," Chapman also cited right-wing anti-transgender psychiatrist Paul McHugh as well as the anti-LGBT Family Research Council without identifying the anti-LGBT ideology; he did, however, identify the Human Rights Campaign as "pro-LGBTQ."

Chapman wpent an April 25 article ranting that Notre Dame refused to hate LGBTQ people as much as he does, claiming the school can't really be Catholic unless it does:

Although the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., is supposed to be a Catholic institution "defined by its Catholic character," it sponsors an LGBTQ+ alumni group that held a campus event this month to honor one of the plaintiffs in the Supreme Court case that legalized "gay marriage." The alumni association also gave an award to South Bend transgender activist Meghan Buell.

[...]

An alumni group of faithful Catholics that oppose the Notre Dame sponsorship of the ARC, the Sycamore Trust,  is headed by 1952 alumnus William Dempsey. He told the National Catholic Register that the ARC ND awards event was a "scandal of the first order."

“Notre Dame’s official blessing of an LGBT alumni group hostile to Church teaching on sex, marriage and gender has had its predictable result,” he said.  “The very first act of the new official LGBT organization is sponsorship of an ‘LGBT Awards Weekend’ to celebrate prominent proponents of same-sex marriage and gender change."

Dempsey also cited a document issued by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops entitled Catholics in Public Life. It partly reads, "The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions."

Chapman doesn't explain where, exactly, it is "Catholic character" to spew hatred at LGBT people as he demands, or why one can only be "faithful" if you spread that hate. And, again, he ended with some Bible verses.


Posted by Terry K. at 11:09 AM EDT
Updated: Sunday, June 26, 2022 11:27 AM EDT
Saturday, June 25, 2022
MRC Can't Stop Defending Lara Logan's Bad, Biased Journalism
Topic: Media Research Center

Is there any depth to which Lara Logan will sink that the Media Research Center won't defend? It seems not.

The MRC hid her misdeeds in reporting a false claim about the Benghazi attack for "60 Minutes," then continued to promote her even as she spread Antifa hoaxes. When Logan outrageously likened Anthony Fauci to notorious Nazi doctor Joseph Mengele in a Fox News appearance late last year, the MRC refused to criticize her without resorting to lame whataboutism, even as it has whined about conservatives being likened to Nazis. When the New York Times documented Logan's descent into far-right conspiracy theories, it wasthe MRC's Clay  Waters rushing to her defense against the "hit job" in a May 23 post:

The New York Times ran a hit piece on former CBS journalist Lara Logan by Jeremy Peters, who is the paper’s go-to reporter for criticism of conservative media figures: “Former Star At CBS News Follows Path To Far Right.

After introducing Logan as someone who had “reached the heights of American journalism….as the chief foreign affairs correspondent for CBS News,” he lamented “today Ms. Logan cuts a far different figure in American media. Instead of on national news broadcasts, she can be found as a guest on right-wing podcasts or speaking at a rally for fringe causes, promoting falsehoods about deaths from Covid vaccines and conspiracy theories about voter fraud.”

Peters characterized her supposed decline as “one of the most puzzling in the modern history of television news.” But more interesting than what Peters had to say about Logan was his assumptions about what a mainstream journalist is allowed to believe.

More than half a dozen journalists and executives who worked with Ms. Logan at “60 Minutes,” most of whom spoke anonymously to discuss private interactions with her, said she sometimes revealed political leanings that made them question whether she could objectively cover the Obama administration’s military and foreign policy moves. She appeared increasingly conservative in her politics over the years, they said, and more outspoken about her suspicions of the White House’s motives and war strategy.

Wasn’t it a requirement for any reputable journalist to be suspicious of the “White House’s motives and war strategy” when George W. Bush was president and the Iraq War was raging? Is doubting presidential motives only a problem when the president is a Democrat?

Waters made sure to hide the exact deeds that caused people to doubt her objectivity -- namely, she uncritically promoted the claims of a self-proclaimed first-person witness to the Benghazi attack who, it turned out, had told his employer he wasn't. Waters also censored her descent into Antifa conspiracy theories. And like his MRC co-workers, he played whataboutism to dismiss Logan's Nazi smear:

Peters noted Logan comparing Dr. Anthony Fauci to Nazi doctor Josef Mengele, which got Logan canned from Fox Nation. If we can agree that contemporary Hitler comparisons are bad, perhaps the media (including Times reporters) will stop comparing Republicans to Hitler or Nazis.

If Waters must resort to whataboutism, he can't possibly be sincere about ridding the world of Nazi comparisons.


Posted by Terry K. at 9:32 AM EDT
Updated: Saturday, June 25, 2022 9:34 AM EDT
WND Cheers Ruble's Value To Own Biden
Topic: WorldNetDaily

Art Moore was effective rooting against America and for Russia in a May 19 post:

The hard economic figures indicate President Biden's effort to crush the Russian economy in response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine isn't working.

The ruble hit a four-year high this week.

In March, Biden touted the sanctions and other measures to punish Russia economically.

"You need 200 rubles to equal $1 today. Two hundred," he said.

The president said the "totality of our economic sanctions and controls are crushing, crushing the Russian economy."

Now, it takes about 62 rubles to equal $1.

As a dishonest reporter, Moore made sure not to report on why the ruble is doing so well. Meanwhile, an honest news outlet reported on why -- turns out it's being driven by Russia demanding that foreign companies still trading with it convert its currency to rubles -- which it can do because many countries have no easy substitute for Russian oil and gas -- as well as an initial ban on Russian citizen from transferring money abroad, which has since evolved to a $10,000 per month limit.Even so, Russia just barely managed to avoid a financial default with an 11th-hour bond payment.

While the ruble has continued to do well, financial experts say that's all artificial; one expert says the current exchange rate 'is really a Potemkin rate, because sending money from Russia abroad given the sanctions — both on Russian individuals and Russian banks — is incredibly difficult, not to mention Russia’s own capital controls."

The ruble is still a mess but the numbers currently look good, and that's all Moore cares about because hating Biden is more important than reporting facts. He doesn't see that rooting against America to own the libs is one reason his employer is going down the tubes.


Posted by Terry K. at 12:40 AM EDT
Updated: Saturday, June 25, 2022 12:43 AM EDT
Friday, June 24, 2022
MRC's Houck Cranks Up The Hate For Jean-Pierre
Topic: Media Research Center

After taking several days off around Memorial Day weekend, the Media Research Center's Curtis Houck was back in full denigrating form to attack new White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre with his overly quick narrative of incompetence in his hyperbolic (and Doocy-fluffing-filled) writeup of the May 31 briefing:

After K-Pop band BTS led Tuesday’s White House press briefing, economic adviser Brian Deese and Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre faced questions about the economy, gas prices, gun control, inflation, and student loans. In the case of Jean-Pierre, she continued using her briefing binder as a clutch.

Deese went first and dealt with mostly open-ended questions and softballs such as one from Team Biden potted plant Kelly O’Donnell of NBC about whether the recent pickup in administration outreach on the economy has been an “implicit...acknowledgement that you have not been telling the story of the economic picture in a way that has been satisfactory to the President.”

[...]

Things didn’t let up for the former MSNBC political analyst as it was Doocy Time, which began with a simple question:“Canada is making it impossible to buy, sell, transfer, or import handguns anywhere in that country. Would President Biden ever consider a similar restriction on handguns here?”

Jean-Pierre retreated to her notes and meandered about other gun control proposals (including Biden’s demand there be a “ban on the sale of assault weapons”) before insisting “[h]e does not support a ban on the sale of all handguns, to answer your question.”

Doocy moved onto gas prices and the fact that gas prices are now above the minimum wage. Predictably, Jean-Pierre insisted Biden knows what it’s like to struggle as ordinary Americans are currently (even though Biden’s been part of the D.C. elite since 1974) and, in response to a Doocy follow-up, Russia and Vladimir Putin are to blame[.]

[...]

Doocy wrapped with another basic question: “Does President Biden take any responsibility for his policies potentially contributing to inflation?”

Jean-Pierre replied with what could be described as reckless abandonment for basic grammar: “His policies has [sic] helped the economy gets back on its feet. That's what his policies has [sic] -- his policies has [sic] done.”

Houck continued to mock and insult Jean-Pierre the next day, as well as falsely putting words in President Biden's mouth:

Amid White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s worst press briefing yet as she faced questions Wednesday about the baby formula shortage, the economy, inflation, and presidential leadership, Bloomberg’s Justin Sink came from the left on abortion by twice wanting to know why Biden hasn’t made abortion more of a focus in his administration following the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion striking down Roe v. Wade.

[...]

Jean-Pierre replied that she didn’t “have anything to preview on his schedule, but the President is clear on this....that a woman has the right to make their own decisions when it comes to their own healthcare and their own health and their own reproductive rights.”

In other words, it’s that Biden supports abortion on-demand, up to the moment of birth.

Houck went full hate-blast for the June 1 briefing in order to fluff Doocy yet again for peddling right-wing narratives:

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre suffered the first of what could be many terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days as reporters from conservative and liberal outlets as well as the front and back of the room hammered away with questions about the baby formula shortage, inflation, and presidential leadership. For Jean-Pierre, she had little in the way of answers besides lengthy, pre-written notes she used as a heavy crutch.

[...]

Fox’s Peter Doocy cut to the chase:“[W]ho is the person, in the West Wing, who decided after six or eight weeks that this baby formula shortage was finally something that somebody should tell the President about?”

Obviously, Jean-Pierre didn’t answer and instead said she’ll need “to go back and talk to the President.” Following more meandering, Doocy moved to inflation: “When are you guys going to admit that you were wrong about inflation?”

A flustered Jean-Pierre then offered up this quip that went over like a lead balloon: “No easy questions today. Huh?”

Doocy persisted:“The Treasury secretary says that she was wrong. So why doesn’t anybody here at the White House?”

Jean-Pierre blamed supposedly unforseen events like COVID-19 and Russia, so Doocy gave her one more chance to give a different answer (which she didn’t): “Just so that I understand the treasury secretary says that she was wrong but the White House was not wrong about inflation.”

We again remind you that Houck had nothing but praise for McEnany's " binder of facts," meaning that Houck is being utterly hypocritical in criticizing Jean-Pierre for similarly using a binder.


Posted by Terry K. at 10:02 PM EDT
Updated: Friday, July 8, 2022 12:41 PM EDT
CNS Did Other Narrative-Pushing After Buffalo Massacre
Topic: CNSNews.com

CNSNews.com defended the honor of the right-wing replacement theory after the racist Buffalo shooter invoked it in his manifesto, but that wasn't the only place it went into defense mode. A May 17 article by Susan Jones complaining that President Biden was going to Buffalo defended the theory without using its name (while also complaining that some critics wouldn't mention Fox News by name):

As some leftist pundits on cable television blame a rival conservative-leaning network for promoting racist "conspiracy theories," White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre on Monday refused to name names -- even when the reporter did.

Note that in Jones' world, the critics are "leftist" while Fox News is merely "conservative-leaning."

Melanie Arter served up a perfunctory stenography piece on Biden's appearance in Buffalo. Meanwhile, a May 19 article by Craig Bannister helped scandal-tarred lawyer Alan Dershowitz play whataboutism over the massacre by criticizing Democrats and non-white people, declaring that he said taht "Biden needs to take the next – and more difficult – step, by going to other cities and calling on Black leaders to denounce Black-on-Asian and Black-on-Jewish crime" and "In particular, Biden should also call out radical Democrats in Congress, like those who call themselves 'The Squad,' who represent 'bigotry, anti-Semitism and racism.'"

CNS also took a stab at sending its interns out to pester senators about the right-wing issue du jour. This this one, the question -- based on the fact that the Buffalo shooter and the one who perpetrated the massacre in Uvalde, Texas, were both 18 -- started out by asking: "Federal law sets the legal drinking age at 21. Should federal law also make 21 the legal age for buying guns?" These senators got that question:

But then, the question got flipped around: "Under federal law, a person can buy a rifle at 18, but can’t buy alcohol until they’re 21. Should the drinking age be lowered to 18?" These members got that question:

The interns didn't ask that question in either form after that, apparently deciding it didn't sufficiently serve right-wing narratives.


Posted by Terry K. at 6:58 PM EDT
Updated: Tuesday, August 30, 2022 8:05 PM EDT
WND's Kupelian Expands An Old Book Of His
Topic: WorldNetDaily

Back in 2005, WorldNetDaily managing editor David Kupelian wrote a book called "The Marketing of Evil," in which he he used less-than-honest methods (one might even say evil) to promote his thoughts about how everything that isn't as right-wing and Christian as he is is "evil." He even used a synergystic relationship between WND and the right-wing legal group Alliance Defense Fund (now the Alliance Defending Freedom) to hype a legal case involving the book in an apparent effort to boost sales. Now the book is back and bigger (in size, anyway) than ever, as Kupelian explained in a May 20 article:

I’m pleased to announce that "The Marketing of Evil" has just been re-released in an expanded paperback edition including brand-new chapters explaining exactly how today’s truly unprecedented level of insanity, psychosis and evil has been skillfully sold to America.

In case you're unfamiliar with it, "The Marketing of Evil" essentially explains why and how so many millions of today's Americans have come to strongly embrace and defend ideas and behaviors that horrified every previous generation of Americans since its founding.

[...]

In the brand-new chapters, I dive right into the Trump and Biden eras, shining a bright light on the secret workings of today’s “marketers of evil” who figured out how to convince so many Americans that the least racist nation on earth is somehow actually the most racist, that Trump is comparable to Hitler, and so on. But even more fundamentally, I explore and document how the Left is able to brainwash huge numbers of people into believing – and acting on –  literally anything, no matter how obviously insane, destructive or evil.

This coming from a guy who has been brainwashed into supporting the corrupt and amoral Donald Trump -- thus violating the Christian principles he purports to uphold -- and uses the WND website to spread lies about election fraud designed to help Trump. Further, Kupelian's complaint about people likening Trump to Hitler -- something he has repeatedly whined about --is utterly hypocritical because he and WND spent eight years likening Barack Obama to Hitler and other various and sundry Nazi, and he in fact is the one who's guilty of doing "literally anything, no matter how obviously insane, destructive or evil" to try and destroy Obama, including eight years of lies about where he was born.And one need only to look at how WND is teetering on the brink of financial failure to see how Kupelian's falsehood-laden war on Obama ended up as blowback on him.

So, there's nothing really new there -- unless Kupelian confesses to his own hypocrisy, which is highly unlikely.

Also of note is where Kupelian's updated book is being published. It was originally published by WND's in-house book division, which went defunct early in the midst of WND's financial troubles (and, of course, that Paul Nehlen thing). The updated edition is being published by company called Republic Book Publishers, a house dedicated to right-wing tomes co-founded by longtime right-wing book publisher Alfred Regnery. According to Republic's website, it's also serving up a "revised and expanded" edition of Kupelian's 2015 book "The Snapping of the American Mind," which was also published by WND and, again, is unlikely to discuss the snapping of Kupelian's mind into a slavish Trump-bot. Republic has also picked up one more former WND title: "The Antidote" by Jesse Lee Peterson, a right-wing black guy who sounds like a white supremacist and has issues with women and Barack Obama and who apparently gone so far afield that he isn't even a WND columnist anymore.


Posted by Terry K. at 1:58 PM EDT
NEW ARTICLE: An MRC Writer Cashes In On His Transphobia
Topic: Media Research Center
Gabriel Hays' years of spewing anti-LGBT hate from his perch at the Media Research Center earned him a new job doing pretty much the same thing for Fox News. Read more >>

Posted by Terry K. at 1:11 AM EDT
Thursday, June 23, 2022
MRC Pushes Republican Playbook Downplaying Hearings On Capitol Riot
Topic: Media Research Center

The Media Research Center had its marching orders from the RNC or whatever dark-money right-wingers run the show: Pretend that the public hearings being put on by House committee looking into the Capitol riot are meaningless and biased, and conservatives should spend more time being fed right-wing propaganda instead of watching them. The flagship piece for this narrative was a June 6 item by Curtis Houck lashing out at non-right-wing outlets for covering the first hearing, which carried the desperate-sounding headline "No One Cares":

Amid a decaying culture, rampant crime, record-high inflation, struggling wages, and surging gas prices (among other things), Monday’s CBS Mornings and NBC’s Today want Americans to focus this week on a different issue: primetime hearings from the House Select Committee on January 6. On Monday’s shows, the two combined for five minutes and 37 seconds of coverage doing the bidding of their loyal source, Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA).

CBS co-host Tony Dokoupil boasted that come Thursday, his fellow liberals are “promising to show Americans never-before-seen evidence of the most violent assault on the capitol in more than 200 years.”

[...]

NBC’s Today was also enthused at a pet project that matters little to those outside insufferably elite and liberal newsrooms and The Swamp.

A post the same day from Tim Graham complained that the committee made use of a former ABC News executive to help polish their presentation:

Now imagine if the Republicans stacked an investigative committee and then hired a Fox News president as an "unannounced adviser" for prime-time hearings. The liberal outlets would all scream that there's no difference whatsoever between the GOP and Fox. So, in this case, there's no difference whatsoever between Pelosi's hand-picked committee and ABC, and CBS, and CNN, and so on. ABC News apparently has no concern that Goldston's advising will hurt the image of ABC News.

Actually, the Trump administration did hire former Fox News executive Bill Shine as an adivser. Graham was mad that people pointed out that this revolving door showed just how tight Trump and Fox were.

Three days later, Alex Christy dismissed the hearings as a "made-for-TV spectacle" becaiuse of the ex-ABC executive's hiring. He didn't mention that Trump also hired a TV executive to help turn his administration into a made-for-TV spectacle.

A post by Kevin Tober groused that CNN's Brian Stelter pointed out that right-wing outlets Fox News and  Newsmax would not be airing the first hearing live despite the word "news" in their channels' names:

CNN and particularly Stelter always want to dictate what the rest of the media should or should not be covering. Why would Fox News cover a hearing where Republican congressional leadership’s appointments to the committee were rejected by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi? 

Also the committee and their Democrat allies have repeatedly lashed out at Carlson and his network, so why would they give them airtime? Stelter doesn’t get to demand what Fox News puts on air.

Um, isn't the MRC's main job lashing out at non-right-wing media outlets for not covering things that advance right-wing agendas? Graham similarly played dumb in a June 6 podcast echoing Tober's Stelter-bashing.

The MRC did a lot of other whining about the hearings both before and after the first hearing:

And as usual, the MRC also tossed around agenda-driven ratings numbers. A June 10 post by Bill D'Agoistino cherry-picked numbers to portray the first hearing as a failure:

The preliminary broadcast network ratings are in for last night’s January 6 committee hearings, and they paint a disappointing picture for Democrats and their media pals.

Based on the most recent ratings data, January 6 hearing coverage on broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) drew significantly smaller audiences than those networks’ own evening newscasts generally do on a standard weekday. Evening newscast audiences on any given night last week were 1.6 times larger than the total number of broadcast viewers who tuned into the hearings on Thursday.

[...]

Perhaps CBS morning host Tony Dokoupil was right when he proclaimed on Friday morning: “Obviously, January 6 is the big story today.” But based on the numbers, it certainly wasn’t the big story last night.

Graham pushed the same talking point in his podcast that same day, sneering: "Democrats talked all the networks (except Fox News) into a breathless hearing (or retelling) of January 6. But it felt like a summer rerun."

Meanwhile, back in reality, the first hearing drew more than 19 million viewers across all channels that aired it, dwarfing Fox News' non-coverage.And Fox News was so afraid that viewers might be distracted enough to change channels to the hearing -- and, thus, learn that Fox News has been lying to them about the riot and the events (and bogus claims of election fraud) that led up to it -- that it didn't run any commercials while the hearing was on, costing it hundreds of thousands of dollars if not millions in revenue.


Posted by Terry K. at 10:52 PM EDT
WND Ghouls Can't Stop Blaming People's Deaths On Clinton
Topic: WorldNetDaily

The "Clinton Body Count" -- a list of people tangentally associated with Bill and/or Hillary Clinton who have died, causing hate-filled right-wingers to tie their deaths to purported misdeeds by one or both of the Clintons -- was discredited a long time ago, well before we did an exploration of it way back in 2005. Unfortunately, the hatred at WorldNetDaily for all things Clinton is so virulent and irrational that it's no surprise to see it has insisted on perpetuating the bogus list for lo these many years. (It still hasn't apologized to its readers or to Seth Rich's family for cynically spreading lies about his death in 2016 in order to add him to the list.) And it's still adding to it today. Bob Unruh wrote in a June 6 article:

The family of a onetime Clinton family associate is working to keep concealed the circumstances of his recent death, adding fodder to the longtime suggestions that the "Clinton Body Count," as Wikipedia describes it, has risen again.

The death of Mark Middleton – he reportedly was found hanging from a tree in Arkansas with a shotgun blast to his chest – prompted the Daily Mail to say, "His death adds to the number of close associates of the former president and first lady who have died unexpectedly, many in small plane crashes. The phenomenon has led to a conspiracy theory called Clinton Body Count which even has its own Wikipedia page."

According to reports, Middleton was a Bill Clinton adviser who admitted Jeffrey Epstein to the White House at least seven times.

Now his family, including father Larry and widow Rhea, are fighting to keep photographs and other investigative content about his death away from the public.

They have filed for an injunction that alleges blocking the release would halt what they describe as "unsubstantiated conspiracy theories."

The reports so far have said the married father-of-two, who lived in Little Rock, Arkansas, shot himself at the Heifer Ranch in Perryville, a half hour's drive from his home.

The Middleton family's reason for hiding images of their loved one's suicide is abundantly clear: to keep ghouls likje WND and the Daily Mail from splaying them all over the internet solely because they still -- after 30 years -- are nursing a grudge against the Clintons and are still des[perate to destroy them efen if the lives of innocent people get damaged or destroyed.

Unruh went on to lovingly and ghoulishly detail the method of Middleton's death -- as if he gets some sort of sick pleasure from it -- and further hype the purported connection to Clinton and Epstein. Unruh also rehashed a WND from last year when it tried to add another name to the list. Unruh concluded:

The actual "list" of Clinton Body Count individuals now totals well over 30.

See the "Clinton Death List" here.

Middleton's name had not yet been added to the list, but that's presumbly coming.

Yep -- Unruh and WND are nothing but sick ghouls.


Posted by Terry K. at 5:51 PM EDT
Updated: Sunday, March 26, 2023 11:38 PM EDT
Newsmax Joined ConWeb Spin On Durham's Failure
Topic: Newsmax

Like the Media Research Center, WorldNetDaily and CNSNews.com, Newsmax didn'dt take it well when its beloved biased special counsel John Durham's prosecution of Democratic lawyer Michael Sussman failed with him receiving a quick acquittal. A May 31 article by Eric Mack repeated Jonathan Turley's conspiracy theory that the jury was too liberal because the trial was held in Washington, D.C., as well as rantings from the MRC's Curtis Houck:

Special counsel John Durham thanked the Michael Sussmann jury for their service, but critics are blasting the Washington, D.C., judge and jury for the verdict Tuesday.

Constitutional law expert Jonathan Turley denounced a stacked jury that delivered the verdict, including admitted donors to Hillary Clinton, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and even a woman whose daughter plays sports with the Sussmann's daughter.

"I mean, he is facing a jury that has three Clinton donors, an AOC donor, and a woman whose daughter is on the same sports team with Sussmann's daughter," Turley said in a video posted to Twitter. "With the exception of randomly selecting people out of the DNC [Democratic National Committee] headquarters, you could not come up with a worse jury."

[...]

"Breaking: Ultra-liberal D.C. jury acquits their friend and former Hillary Clinton attorney for having concocted collusion between Donald Trump and Russia," Newsbusters Managing Editor Curtis Houck tweeted Tuesday.

Former federal prosecutor Brett Tolman said Americans should not be surprised a D.C. judge and jury followed the politics instead of the law.

As with his fellow ConWeb outlets, Mack did not mention that Durham had the opportunity to remove jurors he thought were biased during jury selection, and he also had the option to attempt to move the trial to a jurisdiction he thought could be more favorable to his prosecution.

An article by Sandy Fitzgerald turned to a Republican congresswoman to complain about the verdict:

Rep. Nancy Mace, speaking to Newsmax after a Washington, D.C., court's verdict that former Hillary Clinton-connected attorney Michael Sussmann was found not guilty of lying to the FBI, said she does not feel that special counsel John Durham or his prosecutors got their fair day in court, and that "no one is ever held accountable" for breaking laws.

"No one is ever held accountable in this country for breaking the law, particularly in the highest echelons of campaigns and the federal government," the South Carolina Republican said on Newsmax's "John Bachman Now." "It's inexcusable, really, and the frustration of the American people I'm sure will be palpable with this verdict. We just want someone, anyone, to be held accountable for the laws that they're breaking."

Speaking of politicians who haven't been held accountable for the laws they broke, Jay Clemons gave Donald Trump an article to rant about the verdict and other stuff. Clemons made no attempt to fact-check anything Trump said.

Dick Morris called in from bad take-ville for a June 1 column:

The acquittal of attorney Michael Sussmann by a Washington D.C. jury effectively means that no Democrat can ever be convicted of any crime involving corruption as long as the crime has political implications and the trial is before a D.C. jury.

We now have one-party justice in America.

Despite overwhelming evidence that he lied to the FBI, Sussmann was found not guilty by a jury filled with Democrats.

Hillary Clinton got 91% of the votes of the residents of Washington D.C. in 2016.

Biden got 95%, proving that the jury pools are so highly partisan there that they're  incapable of judging the facts and acting impartially in a criminal case involving political charges against prominent Democrats.

Since the Department of Justice (DOJ) is located in the nation's capital, this effectively means there is no way to hold Democrats responsible for their corrupt activities.

Morris went on to huff that "Defense attorneys must be allowed to successfully pursue motions to change venue" -- which ignores the rfact that Durham was the prosecutor, not the defense, and he apparently made no effort to seek a change of venue. He went on to ignore Sussmann's actual defense to assert that "The case against Sussmann was overwhelming" and "His perjury could not be more obvious."

Larry Bell used his June 3 column to rant about the purportedly biased jury, then praise Durham for advancing right-wing narratives:

Durham must have recognized slim odds in a Washington, D.C., court venue where 91% of the electorate voted for Hillary; presided over by an Obama-appointed judge whose attorney wife has represented related scandal compromised former FBI attorney Lisa Page; and with a jury with one member whose daughter is on a high school rowing team with Sussmann’s daughter and as many as three were Hillary Clinton donors — including one who also supported U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Whereas a small rodent was set free, we can safely bet that Durham’s larger plan was always to use the trial as means to release information already in his possession as bait to bag much larger game in upcoming indictments and hearings.

Horace Cooper sung from the same choirbook as his Newsmax compadres in his June 4 column:

The evidence presented at trial was overwhelming.

By many accounts, Michael Sussman had indeed lied to the FBI about his reasons for meeting with FBI general counsel James Baker.

He did so to cover up his part in an elaborate role to weaponize the FBI against candidate Donald Trump.

On the other hand, the trial, to use G. Gordon Liddy’s term, was "stacked and packed."

Several Clinton campaign donors were seated on the jury and the presiding judge, an Obama appointee, issued rulings that prohibited Durham’s case preventing him from showing how Sussman’s false statement fit in as part of a far larger narrative.

This greatly affected the trial’s outcome.

[...]

Jury nullification is a poison that having been unleashed by the left could harm everyone.

Regardless of political sympathies, our legal system works best when all citizens — whether in blue or red states — truly do their duty and not simply follow their political allegiances.

Cooper failed to point out that Durham could have tried to move the trial but apparently did not, and also that Durham could have done a better job of keeping allegedly biased jurors off the jury but also apparently did not.


Posted by Terry K. at 2:33 PM EDT
CNS Intern Writes Fake-News Article
Topic: CNSNews.com

CNSNews.com summer intern Ben Kelley wrote in a June 6 article:

The Oak Park and River Forest High School in Chicago reportedly will change its grading system next year to “equitable grading,” an approach that eliminates such grading factors as class participation and turning homework in on time because underprivileged students may not be able to master those skills.

According to the school’s Strategic Plan, dated May 26, 2022, the school has found that “traditional grading practices perpetuate inequities and intensify the opportunity gap.” The presentation goes on to explain that teachers have begun implementing equitable grading practices such as “eliminating zeros from the grade book” and that the school “will continue the process necessary to make grading improvements that reflect our core beliefs.”

Supporters of “equitable grading,” such as educator Ken Shelton, claim it minimizes grading biases, which are “rooted in racism, anti-Blackness, sexism, transphobia, and ableism.” Critics, however, say “equitable grading” hurts students of color and “impede[s] their success as adults” – it is “bigotry of low expectations,” remarked Wesley J. Smith, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute.

As reported on May 30, 2022 by the West Cook News, “Oak Park and River Forest High School administrators will require teachers next school year to adjust their classroom grading scales to account for the skin color or ethnicity of its students.”

Just one problem: that's not true. The story was effectively manufactured by the West Cook News -- a anonymously written "pink slime" website run by right-wing dark-money operatives (the leader of which has his own shady journalistic history) posing as legitimate local news. As a legitimate news operation pointed out:

But the erroneous story cited no actual policy changes, and the school said in a statement that the claim is false. “OPRFHS does not, nor has it ever had a plan to, grade any students differently based on race,” the statement said.

The article instead mischaracterized a May 26 school Board of Education meeting, at which a committee focused on grading and assessment presented an initial report. The report noted at one point that “traditional grading practices perpetuate inequities and intensify the opportunity gap.”

At “no time were any statements made recommending that OPRF implement a race-based grading approach,” the school’s statement continued.

Bizarrely, Kelley violated journalistic ethics by waiting until the sixth paragraph of his story to explain that the previous five were false:

On May 31, following criticism of the school’s reported decision, the Oak Park and River Forest High School announced that a final decision to implement a race-based grading system had not been made.

The school said the West Cook News article contained “a variety of misleading and inaccurate statements,” and explained that before any grading changes are made they must first be “made to the Board at a public meeting.”

Kelley then tried to justify spreading this lie by adding: "So, although Oak Park and River Forest High School has not made a final decision, it is discussing and considering 'equitable grading.'"

Again: Despite the fact that the real story is that an secretive right-wing website spread a falsehood, Kelley spread the falsehood and downplayed the fact that it was false.

It's hard to know who to blame for this. This story was debunked a few days before Kelley's story was published, so there's basically no possible way he could not have known that.Which leaves two explanations: 1) Kelley knew the story was false and wrote it up anyway, and 2) Kelley was made to do a bogus story by his CNS overlords. Neither of which makes CNS look good.

If Terry Jeffrey and Co. are going to force interns to write stories they know are false, what exactly is the value of a CNS internship? It certainly has nothing to do with "news" -- it's all about forwarding right-wing narratives no matter their accuracy.

If CNS is knowingly publishing false stories, that's a black mark on the organization and a reason nobody should trust its work.

We've contacted CNS to give it a chance to respond to our concerns. We'll let you know if it responds.


Posted by Terry K. at 1:06 AM EDT
Updated: Thursday, June 23, 2022 2:32 PM EDT
Wednesday, June 22, 2022
After Texas Massacre, MRC Goes To Kneejerk Defensive Pro-Gun Stance
Topic: Media Research Center

The bodies weren't even cold in the school in Uvalde, Texas, when the Media Research Center kicked in its usual right-wing post-massacre stance: protect the guns, attack anyone who calls for even the slightest bit of gun regulation or criticizes the pro-gun absolutism of Republicans as an extreme radical who wants to take all weapons away from everybody.

A May 24 post by Kevin Tober got mad at Michael Moore for pointing out that stance and saying that "we love our guns more than we love our children," going on to whine that "Moments later he ghoulishly suggested that the parents should leave the caskets of the children who were shot to death open for the world to see their wounds. The thesis is that this would force Americans to support Moore’s beloved gun control."Tober didn't mention, even though Moore did, that this is how Emmitt Till's mother got America's attention on the issue of racism, or that his employer has endorsed the publishing of graphic images in one specific instance, so that "The world needs to see these images and know about the true tragedy of abortion." Tober apparently does not believe the world needs to see what gun violence does to children.

Nichoklas Fondacaro desperately tried to flip the script, bizarrely claiming that anyone who criticized the Uvalde massacre was getting off on the violence:

As their coverage of the tragic shooting in a Uvalde, Texas elementary school progressed into the night Tuesday, things on CNN got downright ghoulish and disgusting as paid analysts and guests were allowed to take things to dark and terrible places. Between former Homeland Security official Juliette Kayyem showing a bizarre satisfaction in talking about the “destroyed” “little bodies” of the 18 students killed in the attack and radical anti-gun Parkland parent Fred Guttenberg calling Republicans “evil,” the network was in a downward spiral.

While speaking with host Erin Burnett, Guttenberg praised Democratic Senator Chris Murphy (CT) for acting “heroic” today with his screed on the Senate floor. He then attacked Republicans by claiming they don’t love their kids.

[...]

For this go around, Kayyem flaunted a sick satisfaction with talking about the mutilated bodies of the young children. “I think it's important to be graphic. I think the word shooting can sound sanitary since we're dealing with them so often,” she argued as her justification. 

Fondacaro also lashed out at Kayyem for calling the weaponry the killer used "heavy artillery," insisting that it really wasn't:

Claiming they were killed by “heavy artillery” was a gross exaggeration that went unchallenged by Cooper. The school was not shelled from miles away. Reports are conflicting but we believe the shooter had a handgun and a rifle.

Do you know whose schools are getting shelled by artillery and multi-launch rocket systems? Ukraine’s, by Russian invaders. And Cooper should have known better since he’s been there recently.

Well, that artillery was certainly heavy enough to put the body count in double digits, wasn't it, Nick? Poor guy doesn't understand that insisting guns aren't really deadly in the wake of a massacre is not only a losing argument, it makes him look like an idiot. Maybe Fondacaro finds some kind of sick satisfaction in doing that.

Margaret Buckley complained that Republicans pro-gun absolutism was called out:

On Wednesday, most people are mourning the losses of young innocent lives along with two teachers at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. However, that did not prevent those on MSNBC’s Morning Joe from continuously blaming Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Governor Greg Abbott, and the rest of the Republican Party for the school shooting that took place.

The show started out with its main host Joe Scarborough going after Republicans, branding them as cowards, liars, hypocrites, barbarians among other things. Scarborough compared their reactions to those on 9/11 and January 6, expressing how “they want you to forget about it”, or simply think “that’s just the cost of freedom.”

However, the blaming did not stop there, as MSNBC contributor Mike Barnicle remarked that you get Cruz and Abbott “when you mix insanity with hypocrisy.”

Scarborough even went after Fox News. He accused them of spreading paranoia across America, alerting gun owners that the government is coming for their guns and scaring these “freaks” and conspiracy theorists as a result. “We also hear something really gross from the same people who will desperately seek, to find any crime that an illegal immigrant causes and then run it on the TV network for 24 hours a day,” he added.

Buckley didn't dispute anything being said, instead rather lamely tried to distract by huffing, "It is easy to determine that the media will not get anywhere by tirelessly blaming the GOP on the mass shooting."

Tober concluded the day with a post headlined "WATCH: Tucker Reacts to Biden's Divisive Speech in the Way Only He Can." He thinks Tucker ranting and spewing hate "in the only we he can" is a good thing, of course:

Fox News host Tucker Carlson blasted President Joe Biden in the immediate aftermath of his bitterly partisan and divisive speech to the nation on the tragic elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas in which 18 elementary school children and one teacher were killed.

Carlson, who suspected Biden might decide to further divide the country during his speech warned viewers moments prior to the President coming to the podium that “if the President uses the deaths of children to try to make himself more powerful, he really is a loathsome man unworthy of leading this country.” But if he doesn’t, Carlson hedged, “he will get praise from us and from every American.”

Sadly, Biden did the former.

Instead of giving a speech to unite and calm a heartbroken nation, Biden decided to go after his political opponents and the “gun lobby.”

Only in Tucker's -- and the MRC's -- world is trying to stop future massacres considered "divisive." They, of course, deny that there's anything divisive about their pro-gun absolutism.


Posted by Terry K. at 10:21 PM EDT
CNS Sticks To Right-Wing Spin After Durham's Trial Failure
Topic: CNSNews.com

Even though the Media Research Center obsessed over John Durham's prosecution of Michael Sussmann, its "news" division CNSNews.com largely ignored Sussmann's trial. Prior to the trial, an April 5 article by Craig Bannister hyped how "In a court filing Monday night, Special Counsel John Durham presents an alleged text message from Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann falsely telling the FBI that he was not working on behalf of any client when he delivered anti-Trump research in 2016," citing biased website Just The News, and a May 6 article by Bannister touted how Republican Rep. Jim Jordan proclaimed that Durham "wants jurors to know the truth about the origin and handling of the FBI’s so-called 'Trump-Russia Collusion' investigation."

CNS devoted no "news" coverage to Sussmann's trial while it was going on; the only mention came in a May 26 column by R. Emmett Tyrrell promoting campaign operative Robby Mook's testimony at the trial. then unironically complaining that "I looked through The New York Times and The Washington Postwith my legendary thoroughness and could find no hint of Mook's testimony. Not even in the Help Wanted sections, not even in the much-vaunted Style section." He wouldn't have found it at  CNS either, but he didn't mention that part. In an apparent bit of pre-verdict spin, Tyrrell then declared, "Once again, Hillary has been caught in a lie, perhaps the most shocking lie of her career. She tried to throw an election."

After the verdict -- in which Sussmann was acquitted -- a "news" article finally discussed the trial, in a June 2 stenography piece by Melanie Arter quoting former Trump attorney general Bill Barr spouting the approved talking points, that the jury was biased Durham advanced right-wing talking points:

A federal jury in Washington, D.C. -- a jury that included Hillary Clinton donors and supporters -- on Tuesday acquitted Washington attorney Michael Sussmann on a charge of lying to the FBI in 2016 about his actions on behalf of the Hillary Clinton campaign.

The case was prosecuted by Special Counsel John Durham, who was asked three years ago by then-Attorney General Bill Barr to investigate the origins of the Trump-Russia "hoax," as President Donald Trump called it.

Barr on Wednesday praised Durham for doing "an exceptionally able job, both digging out very important facts and presenting a compelling case to the jury."

Barr told Fox News's Jesse Waters [sic] on Wednesday that although Durham did not persuade a D.C. jury to convict Sussmann, "I think he accomplished something far more important, which is he brought out the truth in two important areas.

[...]

“And in government cases, that means a D.C. jury, which is a very favorable jury for anyone named Clinton and the Clinton campaign. Those are the facts of life, and to get mad at law enforcement people because proving these cases beyond a reasonable doubt is difficult work --it's childish.”

[...]

"There are two standards of the law. And we've had to struggle with that," Barr said. "And people have done, I think, a very good job trying to develop this case in the face of very strong headwinds.

“And part of this operation is to try to get the real story out. And I've said from the beginning, if we can get convictions, if they're achievable, then John Durham will achieve them," Barr said.

Since this was only a stenography piece, Arter made no effort to balance her article with someone who supported the verdict and the rule of law, let alone mention that it was Durham's responsibility to keep potential jurors he thought were biased off the jury or to try and move the trial to a jurisdiction he believed might be more favorable to his case.

No other articles have since discussed the trial or its verdict, leaving Arter's biased piece as the only one, despite CNS' own pledge in the money beg at end of her article that it "covers the news as it should be, without fear or favor."


Posted by Terry K. at 6:17 PM EDT
Joel Hirschhorn COVID Misinformation Watch
Topic: WorldNetDaily

How is prolific COVID misinformer Joel Hirschhorn misinforming people now? Let's take a look! He ranted in his April 28 column:

Here are the latest data from CDC:

Many billions of dollars spent. Not that much accomplished.

Despite massive use of COVID vaccines, COVID in 2021 was again the third-leading cause of death in the United States. COVID stayed the third-leading cause of death for the second year in a row, according to provisional mortality data collected by CDC from death certificates.

Not only has mass COVID vaccination not stopped high death levels, those who are fully vaccinated including booster shots, like Vice President Harris, keep getting new COVID infections.

hirschoorn didn't mention the anti-vaxxer movement he's part of that deliberately held down the number of COVID vaccinations, making that number less "massive" than he wants you to think it is.He also forgot to mention that the Omicron variant is much more contagious, making vaccines less effective against infection -- but that current vaccines do, in fact, protect against an infected person becoming hospitalized or dying, so it's not like the vaccine is a waste.

Hirschhorn used his May 12 column to return to the issue of long COVID, specifically focusing on the symptom of brain fog -- but, again, he tried to blame it on vaccines despite scant evidence to support it. Hirschhorn's May 16 column looked at those who didn't catch COVID despite "high exposure" to the virus; he dubiously declared that "They had no need for COVID vaccine shots."

Hirschhorn was back to misinformation mode in his May 27 column:

This is the big ugly truth many people will have trouble facing:

Only a small fraction of physicians have been heroic during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In some of my past writings, I have spoken about the failure of most physicians to truly understand pandemic issues and think and act independently to serve the public. Instead, they have served the interests of Big Pharma, their corporate employers and government agencies, most clearly as big pushers of COVID vaccines. They do not follow or know the medical research on many pandemic issues. They either do not have the time or interest or skills to independently follow medical research. Instead, they rely on big medical societies and government agencies.

However, the first "heroic" doctor he cited was Robert Malone -- a prolific misinformer in his own right.The second one was Vladimir Zelenko, a right-wing darling for his early advocacy of hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID despite his lack of credible documentation to back it up. He continued to whine:

One terrible pandemic impact is the rational view by many people that their doctors have let them down. The many millions now suffering from long COVID and getting very little help from the medical establishment. Doctors had a choice to challenge what federal agencies were telling the public. They could have done what only a handful of doctors did, namely respect the considerable data showing ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine really did effectively prevent COVID infection when given early enough to stop viral replication. A number of other nations did what the Fauci-controlled U.S. government refused to do: namely promote early home treatment with generics. Instead, Fauci pursued a wait-for-the-vaccine strategy. And then as a lacky of Big Pharma, he lied to the public about the safety of COVID vaccines.

Doctors did not live up to their ethical commitment to first do no harm. They did harm by following the government dictates. They share the blame for 1 million dead and hundreds of thousands harmed by both COVID and vaccines. They take refuge in narrowly helping their patients with conventional illnesses, but they ignore what is all around them, namely the death and harm from COVID and vaccines.

Meanwhile, in the real world, studies claiming the efficacy of ivermectin in treating COVID continue to be retracted. Hirschhorn doesn't say how many people have died of COVID because they were deceived by charlatans and put misplaced faith in ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine.

Hirschhorn had a new anti-vaxx conspiracy theory to  peddle in his June 16 column:

If you are a critical thinker who appreciates truth-telling about COVID vaccines, then you should be deeply concerned that there are data indicating the vaccines can produce one of the deadliest diseases known to medicine.

The disease is always fatal. Normally, only about a thousand Americans die from it annually. But now? Who knows? The government is not working hard to track Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), which is known as a prion disease.

[...]

The mainstream media have ignored truly amazing research linking CJD to COVID vaccines.

A recent French pre-print on CJD and COVID vaccination has indicated that the COVID vaccine may have contributed to the emergence of a new type of sporadic CJD disease that is a lot more aggressive and rapid in progression as compared to the traditional CJD.

The French found that within days of receiving a first or second dose of Pfizer or Moderna COVID vaccines, patients got the disease.

Hirschhorn's link for this went to the anti-vaxxer Children's Health Defense, another COVID misinformer. Meanwhile, actual fact-checkers pointed out that the French preprint -- which has not been peer-reviewed -- did not establish a causal link, with a medical researcher adding, "if there was any kind of link, it would be much more present than in one patient in Turkey and in 26 cases in France."

Nevertheless, Hirschhorn went on to cite unverified anecdotal cases and huff that "many vaccine-related deaths may have been CJD and gone undiagnosed because it takes a large effort to confirm CJD."


Posted by Terry K. at 2:05 PM EDT
Updated: Wednesday, June 22, 2022 2:40 PM EDT
NEW ARTICLE: Psaki-Bashing And Doocy-Fluffing At The MRC, April 2022
Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center's Curtis Houck has nothing but contempt for Jen Psaki and nothing but cookies for Peter Doocy and other biased reporters who advance right-wing narratives. Read more >>

Posted by Terry K. at 1:38 AM EDT

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