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Friday, July 8, 2022
Fake News: WND Blames COVID Vaccine For Sudden Adult Deaths
Topic: WorldNetDaily

WorldNetDaily COVID misinformer extraordinaire Art Moore is at it again in a June 8 article:

A report that healthy young people are dying suddenly and unexpectedly from a mysterious syndrome has caught the eye of epidemiologists and analysts who have documented an alarming rise in excess deaths they believe is connected to the COVID-19 vaccines.

DailyMail.com reported Wednesday that in Australia, where some 95% of the population has been vaccinated for COVID-19, people under the age of 40 are being urged get their hearts checked because they may be at risk of what is being called Sudden Adult Death Syndrome, or SADS.

t's an "umbrella term to describe unexpected deaths in young people," according to the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, and it occurs in people who are otherwise healthy.

There's a U.S.-based SADS Foundation that has recorded this phenomenon for many years. And it isn't new to Australia.

But the question is why a syndrome that few people have ever heard of is being spotlighted by health officials and why young people are being urged to get a heart exam.

Moore then cited one of his favorite fellow COVID misinformers:

Dr. Peter McCullough, a world renowned cardiologist and a leading critic of the mRNA vaccines, wrote Wednesday on the website America Out Loud that because "so many physicians were duped into the taking one of the COVID-19 vaccines, they are having a hard time coming to terms with the reality that their patients are developing complications that indeed a physician could develop, including well-recognized problems such as myocarditis, blood clots, bleeding, and skin rashes and immune system problems."

"The most worrisome of all complications is death after vaccination," he wrote.

As we've come to expect from WND's COVID coverage, this story is bogus. An Australian fact-checker documented:

Some social media users have claimed “sudden adult death syndrome”, a term describing abrupt death from cardiac arrest where no specific cause can be found, is a “new disease” emerging since the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines.

The claim is false. Sudden cardiac death – also known as sudden arrhythmic death syndrome (SADS) or sudden adult death syndrome – has been documented since the 1800s and the subject of medical research since at least the 1970s. There is no evidence to suggest any link between COVID-19 vaccines and SADS.

Another fact-checker documented:

As for the Daily Mail story that sparked the claims on social media, “There was some mis-reporting,” Dr. Elizabeth Paratz — who was referenced in the story but wasn’t contacted for comment — told us by email.

Although both the story and the headline claimed that Australia had a “new national register” for tracking SADS, it doesn’t. That project was started in 2019 in the Australian state of Victoria.

[...]

There has been no increase in SADS since the COVID-19 vaccines became widely available in 2021, Paratz said.

Furthermore, she said, “There is no signal that any vaccine, including the COVID-19 vaccines, are behind SADS cases.”

Paratz also noted that, although the Daily Mail referred to SADS as “Sudden Adult Death Syndrome,” the “A” actually stands for arrhythmic, not adult.

So: Another fake-news story from a "news"  story from an outlet that has published so many of them. Is anyone surprised?


Posted by Terry K. at 6:57 PM EDT
Newsmax's Kessler Falsely Blames Marijuana For Mass Shootings
Topic: Newsmax

Ronald Kessler wrote in a June 1 Newsmax column:

President Biden and Democrats favor stricter gun controls when virtually none of the Democrats’ proposals would have stopped any of the mass shooters who have plagued this country in recent years.

Instead, virtually everyone ignores the obvious reason for the dramatic increase in these tragedies: Democrats push legalizing marijuana, which has become three to four times more potent than it was only a few years ago, and according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse leads to psychosis at a rate five times greater than among those who do not smoke pot — not to mention a reported link between marijuana use and schizophrenia, paranoia, and other psychotic disorders.

But marijuana use has been linked to more and more mass shooters, including the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter who killed 17 people; the Aurora movie theater shooter, who killed 12; the Umpqua Community College shooter, who killed nine; the Texas church shooter, who killed 26 people; and the Pulse nightclub shooter, who killed 49 people.

A 2020 U.S. Secret Service study of mass attacks found that nearly half of the perpetrators had a history of substance abuse, including with marijuana and illicit drugs.

Kessler then politicized the issue by blaming Democrats for loosening marijuana laws:

Pushed by Democrats, 18 states plus D.C. have legalized recreational use of marijuana.

Almost universally, Democratic presidential candidates have favored legalizing marijuana at the federal level. Indeed, as Politico has said, "Legalizing pot is the new Democratic litmus test."

[...]

Democrats who push stricter gun control measures as a solution to mass shootings are "completely oblivious to what the legalization of marijuana has done and is doing to an entire generation of Americans — with violent consequences," [Fox News host Laura] Ingraham said.

It's sadly indicative of the right-wing media bubble that Kessler thinks Ingraham is a credible source on anything. In fact, there's no proven link between marijuana and violence, and anyone who's claiming there is is confusing correlation and causation. Further, as Media Matters has noted, a lot of people use marijuana, so if there was a direct link, there would be much more violence -- but there isn't.

It seems that Kessler is looking for a way to blame anything but guns for mass shootings.


Posted by Terry K. at 2:45 PM EDT
Updated: Friday, July 8, 2022 2:52 PM EDT
NEW ARTICLE: The MRC Flip-Flops On Russian Disinformation
Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center cheered when Russian propaganda channel RT got shut down (though it hid the fact that its fellow conservatives had shows on it) -- then complained that a search site was flagging Russian disinformation. Read more >>

Posted by Terry K. at 11:22 AM EDT
Thursday, July 7, 2022
The MRC's Loud, Lame War On NewsGuard Slogs Along
Topic: Media Research Center

It's been a while since we checked in on the Media Research Center's loud and lame war against NewsGuard for committing the offense of documenting how conservative websites are less credible than non-conservative ones. Catherine Salgado nonsensically cheered NewsGuard for proving it wasn't biased -- despite the MRC's narrative to the contrary -- in an April 28 post:

Leftist internet traffic cop NewsGuard surprisingly put the left-wing Daily Beast in the doghouse by knocking its rating down 30.5 points for false reporting. 

[...]

The service downgraded The Daily Beast in two categories, “Gathers and presents information responsibly” and “Regularly corrects or clarifies errors.” The NewsGuard “nutrition label” for The Daily Beast claims that the site “is often accurate and well-sourced,” but presents several examples deemed exceptions. Now, NewsGuard discredits The Daily Beast ’s reporting on acquitted Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse, on Florida’s mislabeled “Don’t Say Gay” bill and on the New York Post exposé of Hunter Biden. The ratings firm contacted The Daily Beast regarding the false reporting in April 2022, but had not received a response or seen a correction of the articles on the site, according to the company’s nutrition label for The Daily Beast.

By that standard, the MRC should be downgraded for mislabeling that Florida bill as an "anti-grooming" law. BBut being a greedy right-wing activist, Salgado demanded more:

The Daily Beast’s. MRC Free Speech America previously reported on how multiple leftist outlets that tried to quash the Hunter Biden laptop story still have perfect NewsGuard scores, even after The New York Times verified the story. Even more egregious, NewsGuard co-CEO Steven Brill himself tried to discredit the story, calling it a “hoax.” Does NewsGuard now have to downgrade itself? Outlets including Axios, BuzzFeed News, USA Today and The Washington Post still have 100/100 NewsGuard ratings, despite their inaccurate reporting on the Hunter Biden scandals.

As we pointed out the last time the MRC whined about this, there was plenty of reason to doubt the laptop story given its October surprise nature and the fact that it was advanced by pro-Trump pararisans like Rudy Giuliani in the midst of a heated presidential campaign; further, the New York Post offered no independent corroboration of its story, making it easy to dismiss as a political stunt.

The MRC also continued to try and interfere with NewsGuard's business affairs by hyping attacks it inspired on other companies working with NewsGuard:

  • An April 22 post by Joseph Vazquez gushed that "Nineteen organizations demanded Congress investigate the Orwellian partnership between leftist website ratings firm NewsGuard and the anti-parent American Federation of Teachers." Vazquez described none of those organizations as conservative -- as that would have given away the partisan nature of this attack -- but he was quite happy to point out that the demand referenced the MRC's previous attacks on NewsGuard.
  • An April 29 post by Salgado similarly gushed that "Tucker Carlson slammed the Pentagon’s $750,000 contract with leftist ratings firm NewsGuard on his Fox News show," huffing that "NewsGuard is not to be trusted." She also let Carlson rant that "NewsGuard is currently preparing a black list of sites that contradict the national security state’s talking points on Ukraine and Russia" without mentioning the fact that Carlson has effectively been a pro-Russia propagandist.
  • Salgado parroted yet another attack on the NewsGuard-AFT deal (using MRC talking points, of course) in a June 3 post citing a letter by three right-wing members of Congress condemning the deal, adding that "The letters ended with a list of questions seeking transparency around the AFT-NewsGuard partnership and the two organizations’ business practices."

Vazquez dragged NewsGuard into its war on Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz for reporting on right-wingers in a June 8 post complaining that the Post "still enjoys a perfect score by leftist news ratings firm NewsGuard" despite a minor kerfuffle over whether someone was actually sought for comment in a Lorenz story -- again, not about the story's contents regarding how YouTubers covered the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard. Vazquez called Lorenz's article a "smear piece" without identifying what, exactly, the "smear" was.

Meanwhile, Salgado groused in a June 24 post:

USA Today recently removed over 20 articles after publication leadership found one of their reporters fabricating sources. Yet ratings firm NewsGuard still gives USA Today a stunning 100/100 score for “credibility,” even after acknowledging the scandal.

NewsGuard’s “nutrition label” for USA Today still gives the outlet a perfect “credibility” score, 100/100. This means that NewsGuard scored USA Today perfectly on categories including “Regularly corrects or clarifies errors,” “Gathers and presents information responsibly,” and “Does not repeatedly publish false content.” This comes even after  USA Today became embroiled in a scandal after former reporter Gabriela Miranda fabricated sources.

USA Today removed 23 stories from its site after an audit of Miranda’s work revealed multiple discrepancies. Miranda resigned from her position. NewsGuard, which touts itself as the online “credibility” arbiter, has not adjusted USA Today’s 100-percent score, despite having added the information about the source fabrication scandal to its nutrition label for the outlet. 

How does NewsGuard justify maintaining USA Today’s score while openly acknowledging the outlet’s self-identified massive fail?

Perhaps because it identified the problem and corrected the situation while explaining to readers what happened. By contrast, the MRC still has yet to make any sort of public statement about the Brent Bozell ghostwriting scandal or how one of its bloggers used white nationalist links to flesh out his posts.

And that's why the MRC is lashing out at NewsGuard -- because it wants its fellow right-wingers to get away with the same kind of shoddy journalism it practices, and it can't handle being held up to the same standard it demands non-right-wing operations follow.


Posted by Terry K. at 9:20 AM EDT
Updated: Friday, July 8, 2022 11:23 AM EDT
CNS Jim Jordan Stenography Watch
Topic: CNSNews.com

Another of CNSNews.com's highly quotable right-wing congressmenn is Republican Rep. Jim Jordan, whom CNS promotes while staying silent on his alleged failure to do anything about a doctor who had been accused of sexual abuse by wrestlers on a college team where Jordan was a coach. The stenographic love for Jordan's narrative-advancing rants has continued over the past three months:

That's 12 articles, for a total of 20 so far this year. We've already noted how CNS couldn't be bothered to fact-check Jordan's conspiracy theories about the Capitol riot and the House committee investigating it.


Posted by Terry K. at 2:49 AM EDT
Updated: Sunday, October 9, 2022 9:45 AM EDT
Wednesday, July 6, 2022
MRC Can't Stop Attacking Transgender Swimmer
Topic: Media Research Center

The Media Research Center just can't stop hating transgender college swimmer Lia Thomas. When Thomas did an interview with ABC, Michael Ippolito was in full rant mode in a May 31 post:

Men are not women, and women are not men. Ten years ago, that statement would need no elaboration. Now this phrase can get you called transphobic, ignorant, fired, or shunned from civil society. 

Now christened Lia Thomas, William Thomas interviewed with Good Morning America to defend his intrusion into women’s sports in March. Thomas’s participation was the subject of a massive controversy when he became the first man to win the 2021-2022 NCAA Division I Individual National Title in the 500-yard freestyle. After stealing the title from the hardworking women competing, Will Thomas is now defending his decision to compete.

[...]

“Trans people don't transition for athletics,” Thomas said, “we transition to be happy.” It seems Thomas’ understanding of being happy is robbing young women of their ability to compete freely and fairly.

[...]

How backward has our country become that a hulking male can be crowned the champion of women’s sports? Only from the left can you find the defense of the destruction of what a woman is.

Ippolito censored the fact that Thomas also said that the hormone treatment she underwent as part of the transition meant that "I lost muscle mass and I became a lot weaker and a lot, a lot slower in the water." Of course, that inconvenient fact disproves a key right-wing narrative about Thomas, that she is using full-male-strength muscles to compete with other women.

So offended was the MRC that Thomas was allowed to tell her side of the story regarding the controversy over her swimming that it took two posts to fully express their hatred of it. Curtis Houck attacked the interview again later that day:

On Monday, Good Morning America aired their delayed ABC News/ESPN exclusive interview with transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, who switched genders and crushed actual female swimmers to win an NCAA Division I Swimming title. And, as predicted, the Disney-owned channel largely laid it on thick for Thomas.

“Breaking her silence...College swimmer Lia Thomas, who made history as the first transgender athlete to win a national title in her first sit-down interview...Her journey and what's next,” boasted co-host George Stephanopoulos in the first of two teases. Later in the show after the interview, Stephanopoulos swooned over how Thomas is a “strong woman.”

Nightline co-host Juju Chang conducted the interview and she set the tone early by lamenting that Thomas’s “success as a trans athlete...landed her smack in the center of a heated culture war over trans rights...as people try to balance the core values of inclusion versus fairness.”

Chang then gave a sympathetic backstory about Thomas being trapped in a boy’s body and that depression and suicidal thoughts culminated in Thomas deciding to be a woman.

Chang said that, following years of hormone therapy, Thomas joined the women’s team and that subsequent “success in the water was met with outrage leading up to the NCAA championships.”

After a softball about how “there are some” that “look at the data and suggest that you're enjoying a competitive advantage,” Thomas cartoonishly credited an improved mental state for dominating women’s swimming while Chang brushed aside teammates who were uncomfortable by noting they were done anonymously (without pointing out the pressure to comply)[.]

We don't recall the MRC being concerned about "pressure to comply" when it previously criticized anonymous sources. Houck left Thomas' statement about becoming slower and losing muscle mass buried in a transcript and otherwise ignored.

In a June 1 post, homophobic MRC sports blogger Jay Maxson found a former Olympic swimming champion to attack Thomas: "Three-time Olympic women’s swimming gold medalist Nancy Hogshead-Makar criticized males competing in female sports Tuesday and told TMZ Sports they can’t out-run biology. Transgender wannabes like Will “Lia” Thomas, the man who swam for the Penn University women’s team this past season, can’t out-swim it either. On June 14, Maxson dug up some anonymous person who claims to be Thomas' roommate for some Thomas-bashing:

A former teammate of Penn U transgender swimmer William “Lia” Thomas asserted the controversial athlete is “mentally ill.” The anonymous Thomas critic made her remarks in an exclusive interview with Christopher Tremoglie of the Washington Examiner. 

The ex-teammate was responding to an interview Thomas recently conducted with Good Morning America. The male swimmer, who was allowed to compete on the Penn women’s swim team during his senior year of college, said his so-called transitioning from male to female brought him true happiness.

[...]

Thomas is also faulted, in the interview, for his lack of empathy and concern for the women forced to sacrifice their rights and happiness. They were uncomfortable with a man in their locker room who flaunted his male genitals. They questioned why their happiness was discounted. 

Maxson did not mention any purported "pressure to comply" regarding why this alleged ex-teammate remained anonymous. After all, if she's no longer on the team, there's no reason to stay anonymous, is there?


Posted by Terry K. at 12:08 PM EDT
Updated: Friday, July 8, 2022 11:57 AM EDT
WND Finally Gives Up On The Proud Boys To Protect Trump
Topic: WorldNetDaily

Prior to the Capitol riot, WorldNetDaily did a couple of fluffy profiles of the Proud Boys to attempt to dispel the not-inaccurate idea that they're a bunch of violent white supremacists. That didn't work. But interestingly, on the day after several Proud Boys leaders were charged with seditious conspiracy for their roles in the Capitol riot, WND's Art Moore devoted a June 7 article to trying to parse the words of Donald Trump in telling the Proud Boys to "stand by" during a debate:

The Biden Justice Department's charges this week of seditious conspiracy against five members of the Proud Boys group suggests the Jan. 6 committee's televised hearings will feature reruns of President Trump saying "stand by" during a 2020 campaign debate as purported evidence of an organized plot.

The FBI found no evidence of any coordinated conspiracy to overthrow the election, Reuters reported last August. But Democrats and establishment media continue to call a riot that disrupted Republican efforts to use the constitutional process for Congress to certify Electoral College votes an "insurrection."

[...]

After the Sept. 29, 2020, debate, establishment media took Trump's use of the term "stand by" to mean the Proud Boys should wait for his command to attack. But Trump clearly meant "stand down," as he explained to reporters the next day. It was the term moderator Chris Wallace used in his question. And it was Wallace who invoked the Proud Boys as he prodded Trump to denounce white supremacists – which the president had done many times before and which he did at that time during the debate, contrary to the media's headlines.

Moore is WND's leading purveyor of the "Charlottsville lie" lie.

Moore then rehashed his earlier article letting Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio defend himself, then moved on to the task at hand of trying to discredit the House committee looking into the riot, invoking its new favorite fraudulent filmmaker to do so:

Filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza contended Tuesday that the True the Vote investigation of illegal ballot trafficking in the 2020 election presented hard data that "has blown up" the committee's "underlying premise."

"The 'big lie' turns out to be a documented truth," he said, referencing his film "2000 Mules." "The 2020 election was demonstrably stolen by the Democrats. Patriots came to DC on January 6 to complain about that!"

So it seems Moore is throwing the Proud Boys under the right-wing bus in order to deal with issues that currently fit the needs of its right-wing, pro-Trump agenda. Poor Enrique.


Posted by Terry K. at 1:27 AM EDT
Tuesday, July 5, 2022
MRC Still Censoring All Mention Of Bozell's Son Arrested At Capitol Riot
Topic: Media Research Center

When Brent "Zeeker" Bozell IV, son of Media Research Center chief Brent Bozell, was arrested for his participation in the Capitol insurrection, the MRC censored all mention of it on its websites. That put the MRC in a bit of a pickle, since Bozell pere effectively endorsed the riot on Fox Business (a MRCTV headline claiming that he condemned it notwithstanding). Well, it's been more than a year since Zeeker's arrest, and the MRC is still in full censorship mode. But it's not like there hasn't been any news on that front.

In March 2021, Bozell IV had four additional charges added to his crimes -- obstruction of an official proceeding, destruction of government property, entering a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building, disorderly conduct in the Capitol building, acts of physical violence in the Capitol and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building -- after video surfaced of him breaking a window and entering the Senate floor. Despite the clearly incriminating evidence against him, Bozell rejected a plea deal prosecutors offered him in July 2021. His then-new lawyer is John Pierce, who has represented killer Kyle Rittenhouse and other Capitol insurrectionists. We've noted that Pierce has been accused of harassing his ex-wife and of using a defense fund he created for Rittenhouse to promote himself. Pierce later went AWOL on his clients and got blamed by Rittenhouse for his infamous hangout in a bar with the Proud Boys. Way to pick 'em, Zeeker!

(Insert Michael Avenatti hypocrisy reference here.)

Bozell's attorneys then tried to get the charges against him dropped over purported technicalities; that motion was dismissed in February. That's the latest update we've found, and his case is still apparently slogging through the courts.

But Zeeker's dad and the rest of the MRC don't want you to know about this (let one question who is paying for Zeeker's attorneys). We'd say it would be bad for business, but the MRC is already backtracking on its denunciations of the insurrection and attacking the Jan. 6 House committee for looking into it.


Posted by Terry K. at 10:28 AM EDT
CNS Ted Cruz Stenography (And Lack of Disclosure) Watch
Topic: CNSNews.com

CNSNews.com loves promoting Republican Sen. Ted Cruz -- who just so happens to employ the daughter of CNS editor Terry Jeffrey -- with 17 articles of stenography devoted to him in the first three months of this year alone. How much stenography did CNS lavish on Jeffrey's daughter's boss in April, May and June? Let's tally it up:

That's 18 articles in this three month period, and 35 articles so far this year. None of these disclosed the conflict of interest of Jeffrey's daughter working for Cruz.


Posted by Terry K. at 8:31 AM EDT
Monday, July 4, 2022
MRC Cheers Ricky Gervais' Latest Round of Transphobia
Topic: Media Research Center

The last time we checked in, the Media Research Center had flip-flopped on Ricky Gervais, from hating for criticizing Christians to loving him for hating transgender people like it does. That newfound love affair has continued: A July 2020 post by Randy Hall touted Gervains ranting that "cancel culture" is "a new, weird sort of fascism," going on to deny that "people who want free speech want to say awful things all the time." Of course, we've documented how the MRC has eagerly defended right-wingers who love to say awful (and factually false) things all the time, as if there was a constitutional right to lie and mislead.

In a December 2020 post, Gabriel Hays cheered that Gervais "shows no fear in the face of his and his fellow comedians’ arch-nemesis, cancel culture. In a recent interview, the British comic declared that he’ll never stop saying whatever he wants, even if he has to 'stand up on a bench and shout shit.'" Some might say he's participating in that act right now.

Fast forward to May, when Gervais released a comedy special on Netflix chock full of anti-transgender insults; one reviewer noted that "Four minutes into the special, Gervais dives into material about the trans community seemingly calculated to draw controversy." Naturally, the MRC got off on this and couldn't wait to proclaim Gervais' hate as the new "free speech." Elise Ehrhard gushed in a May 25 post:

Ricky Gervais' is one of those rare left-of-center comedians who revels in mocking woke cancel culture and elite arrogance. In SuperNature, his new Netflix comedy special released on Tuesday, he makes sure to offend everyone left, right or center in pursuit of constructing actually funny jokes.

Some of the jokes work, some don't, but none tiptoe around anyone's feelings, no matter how sensitive the subject. There are no "safe spaces" in a Ricky Gervais show.

Straight out of the gate in the opening minutes, the comedian offends feminists by making jokes about a lack of good female comedians. He tries to think of a funny living female comedian and comes up with....Dame Edna Everage, a legendary British character performed by a man.

He soon segways into the topic that's currently unleashing the most left-wing hate against him - transgenderism.

[...]

Gay Inc. has reacted angrily to Gervais' special. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) called it "dangerous" and Pink News labeled it an "anti-trans garbage fire."

During the special, Gervais alludes to tranny anger over his comedy.

"I talk about AIDS, famine, cancer, the Holocaust, rape, pedophilia, but the one thing you mustn't joke about is identity politics," the 60-year-old said. "The one thing you should never joke about is the trans issue. 'They just wanna be treated equally.' I agree. That's why I include them."

Needless to say, the hour-long show includes plenty of subjects usually forbidden by social justice warriors, from ethnic jokes to laughing about fat people. 

In fact, there's little Gervais considers out-of-bounds. For Gervais, political correctness is more dangerous than personal offense.

Ehrhard didn't explain what, exactly, "Gay, Inc." supposedly is; perhaps she wants it to be some sort of secret group that only becomes more sinister by being so vaguely defined. She continued with a complaint about a branch of Gervais' humor she actually didn't like, presumably because it didn't involve making fun of the political enemies she's paid to hate:

Notably, SuperNature also targets conservatives, such as when Gervais brings up the issue of abortion. After repeatedly touting the wonders of nature, Gervais is surprisingly cavalier about the anti-nature practice of killing unborn life.

He decries what he calls "this propaganda machine that goes, 'Liberals, they're aborting babies at nine months, pulling them out of the vagina, liquidizing them.' Like, crazy conspiracy theory, right?"

Partial-birth abortion and other late-term abortions aren't conspiracy theories. It may shock Europeans, but in the United States Roe v. Wade allows abortion up to birth. Perhaps Gervais should learn about Kermit Gosnell or Planned Parenthood's baby parts business in the U.S.

As an atheist, Gervais also likes to skewer religious believers. His routine includes mockery of Christians, Muslims and even Hindus (there is a snippet about reincarnation). No religion is off-limits.

We're guessing that Ehrhard thinks the tranny and fat jokes are the ones that worked, and his jabs at conservatives are the ones that didn't. That might cost him future right-wing brownie points that his transphobia might not be enough to overcome.


Posted by Terry K. at 11:36 AM EDT
Updated: Saturday, July 9, 2022 10:17 AM EDT
Joseph Farah's Biden Derangement Syndrome
Topic: WorldNetDaily

WorldNetDaily editor Joseph Farah just loves to rant about President Biden, spewing all sorts of hate at the guy. Let's see how that has been going lately, shall we?

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are a joke – a dangerous joke for the American people.

But how do we escape them?

We cannot wait until Election Day 2022.

And even then we won't have the full truth about Election Day 2020.

-- March 17

When Joe Biden took the oath of office to become president – or, should we say, presidential pretender – I was morose.

It was not an easy rigged election to take. Come on, man! Do you really think Biden got an astonishing record 81,284,666 votes – more than Barack Obama did? I believe the last three numbers – but no way did he win legitimately. He probably got half that many. He didn't even campaign. He never left his house.

[...]

Since the earliest days of the Biden occupation, I have been dreaming, fantasizing and thinking about what might be coming next. Three days after Biden became the Impostor in Chief, it came to me. Four days to get it in print – Jan. 24, 2021, to be exact, at 5:48 p.m. It was called "Why wait for 2024?"

Trump is seemingly more popular than ever. He's beloved by ordinary Americans. They know that Joe Biden is simply serving the ruling class he has so loyally served to undo everything Trump put into place. The true uprising Donald Trump began will not simply fade away. He not only made America great again, he gave America hope again.

Nobody but Trump is up to the challenge.

-- March 28

There's no doubt about it.

Joe Biden will face a series of impeachment attempts to his "presidency" as soon as the new 2023 session of Congress begins – the first day!

Republican representatives are literally queuing up for the fight of a lifetime. And, though no president has ever been successfully convicted of a crime in the Senate resulting in expulsion from office, Biden could break the mold. He's a historic case.

[...]

Biden may be the most unpopular president EVER. Trump says he's at least three times worse than any other president of the United States. I say he's a total joke – and is discrediting every other man who occupied the office. His vice president, Kamala Harris, is even more hapless as the first "black" woman to hold the office.

There's a new expression designed for the pair by Steve Bannon. "Elections have consequences. Stolen elections have catastrophic consequences." In other words, both of them must be dispatched quickly to save the nation. The order of the impeachments must be considered carefully, meticulously, prudently and thoughtfully.

Why? Because it will result this time in a complete regime change. That's important. It has never been done before. It must be thought through – not in haste.

-- April 4

Come on, man! Who is it?

They claim it's Joe Biden – ask anybody who works at CNN, the New York Times, MSNBC, the Washington Times, even Fox News.

But it's becoming a sick joke.

Biden is too old, too demented, too cognitively challenged, too MEAN and hopelessly unpresidential to be in the running. And Kamala – his vice president? That would be an even bigger joke.

It wasn't that long ago that this question was seriously asked about the president.

In fact, it was just four years ago – with President Donald J. Trump.

[...]

Wayne Allyn Root, a syndicated columnist for WND and Townhall, called Biden in October "a brain-dead zombie puppet, incapable of knowing the difference between his wife and sister. I'm certain his wife, Jill, feeds him baby food in the White House basement – in a mask."

Root has two candidates for the acting president – Barack Obama and George Soros.

-- April 20

Joe Biden has said it. I think he really means it. And this, once again, proves his own illegitimacy.

Last week he slammed the MAGA movement, led by his worst enemy, Donald J. Trump, who called it simply Make American Great Again. How truly subversive!

Biden labeled MAGA, which he alternatively called MEGA, the "most extreme political organization that's existed in recent American history."

Really.

I would have to say that today's Democratic Party is the "most extreme political organization that's existed in recent American history." We should bury it once and for all in real, untampered-with, old-fashioned elections for at least 100 years.

[...]

"The message has been repeated like a drumbeat: The ends justify the means."

It always has with the hard left. And that's what Biden has become. Either that, or he's lost his mind.

-- May 10

Folks, we have another Israel-hater in the White House. We have another Communist in the White House. We have another God-hater in the White House.

These are incredibly confusing times, lots of lies being told, lots of misinformation and disinformation being spewed by the media and Big Tech.

Do you want to know where America is today in historical and biblical terms?

It's where ancient Israel was before being destroyed by God.

[...]

We can learn from every verse of the Bible – and need to – especially when they speak to us about our own experiences. That's why they were written. That's why they were recorded. That's why God spoke them. That's why the Bible is the bestselling book in the history of the world. That's why these ancient words, above all others, have been preserved for us today.

Joe Biden, on the other hand, will be with us just a little while.

-- May 13

You know, come to think of it, Biden is possibly mentally ill.

Think about it. We had a communist living in the White House and we never knew if he was eligible for the office.

Now we have a mentally ill president living in the White House who hasn't found anyone who is ineligible.

What's next?

-- June 14

Before Joe Biden thoroughly ruins our lives, here's another scandal you should know about.

I know there have been plenty of "bad judgments" that have severely affected us in the U.S., from the Afghanistan withdrawal, his insistence on canceling fossil fuel opportunities in America to fight "climate change," the inflation nightmare, his secretive "don't ask, don't tell" policy of inviting a record invasion of illegals from all over the globe into our country, the supply chain crisis, the baby formula shortage, record crime, blaming Donald Trump and his supporters for an "insurrection" in the Capitol that Nancy Pelosi planned and … well, lots of additional embarrassing decisions we can't even take the time to get into here.

Oh, let's not forget that Biden is an illegitimate president to start. He had to know what the "2000 Mules" film proved while the rest of the media covered it up for the Democrats who actually planned to rig his election.

The FBI did dirty work on cleaning up another walking Biden scandal. No, that does not include the "investigation" of Hunter Biden, which seems never to be completed or acknowledged. This time it was his daughter, Ashley.

[...]

Will this be enough for the new Republican super-majorities expected next year to impeach "creepy Joe" and replace him and Kamala Harris as president and vice president with President Donald Trump? See tomorrow's column on just how that can actually be accomplished.

You can make it happen, America!

-- June 20

 


Posted by Terry K. at 12:28 AM EDT
Sunday, July 3, 2022
MRC Lashed Out At Beto O'Rourke For Channeling Anger Over Texas School Massacre
Topic: Media Research Center

The Media Research Center went into kneejerk gun defense mode after the Texas school massacre. When Texas Democratic gubertnatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke confronted Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and accurately pointed out that he was "doing nothing" to prevent further mass shootings, the MRC quickly pivoted to attack O'Rourke and anyone who noted the accuracy of his remarks. Alex Christy kicked off the whining:

After Texas Democratic gubernatorial nominee Beto O’Rourke made a fool of himself by selfishly interrupting the Wednesday press conference where Texas officials updated the public on the Uvalde school shooting, MSNBC’s Katy Tur declared the officials were wrong, because it is partisan and Chuck Todd added Republicans should be aware that they live in a glass house.

Coming out of the press conference, Tur declared America doesn’t care about murdered children, “It is not a good day to be with you. It cannot be a good day when we live in a country that shrugs its shoulders children as are being murdered.”

Christy also claimed that "Tur also falsely added that AR-15s are designed for war." In fact, they were.

Curtis Houck nonsenically used O'Rourke's real first name in an attempt to dismiss him as a "failed presidential candidate":

Wednesday afternoon’s press conference on the Uvalde, Texas school shooting descended into shenanigans during what should have been a solemn occasion to update the public on the investigation when Democratic gubernatorial candidate Robert O’Rourke heckled Governor Greg Abbott (R) and other elected officials, blaming them for the murder of 19 children and two teachers. Naturally, the broadcast networks refused to speak out against O’Rourke’s antics and barely acknowledged O’Rourke’s party ID.

[...]

To her credit, correspondent Janet Shamlian conceded that not only was O’Rourke’s stunt “very clearly staged,” but it was planned well in advance thanks to “two people across the aisle from me” who saved him seat so he only had to enter just prior to the start of the press conference.

[./..]

ABC also chose to not give [Lt. Gov. Dan] Patrick the light of day and instead followed O’Rourke’s charade woutside. While carrying his remarks, ABC included a (D) in a chyron.

We don't recall Houck ever calling Ted Cruz by his real first name, Rafael.

Christy returned to whine that late-night TV hosts "praise[d] Beto O’Rourke’s stunt in the push for gun control. P.J. Gladnick thought it was a big deal that a reporter admitted that O'Rourke's interrpution of Abbott was planned (as if that has never happened in politics) and also insisted on using his first name:

On Wednesday, just as a press conference about the tragic school shooting in Uvalde featuring Texas Governor Gregg Abbot was commencing, it was rudely interrupted by Democratic gubernatorial candidate Robert Francis O'Rourke who attempted to upstage the event. Was this a highly inappropriate political stunt by a losing candidate? Well, according to CBS reporter Janet Shamlian it was "very clearly staged" by the O'Rourke campaign.

[...]

As could be predicted, this case of honesty by a CBS reporter on what transpired at the press conference caused outrage by many on the left.

Michael Ippolito, meanwhile, melted down over Teen Vogue defending O'Rourke:

Following the horrific shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Governor Greg Abbott (R) held a press conference Wednesday that provided details about the deadly shooting. As important information was being discussed, Beto strode to the front of the audience and interrupted Governor Abbott bawling that the mass shooting was his fault.

He’d turned a grim press conference into political theater. Beto was escorted out of the conference, booed by parents and community members. To Teen Vogue, though, Beto is a hero. 

[Writer Emma] Specter depicted Beto as the voice of an angry community. “It was cathartic to see O’Rourke express some fraction of the frustration and rage that people across the country are feeling in the wake of the shootings in Uvalde, Buffalo, Laguna Woods, and every other U.S. city that has become associated with a senseless and unimaginably traumatizing mass shooting,” she wrote.

[...]

Teen Vogue is sensationalizing those who stand on massacred children.

Days after the incident, Clay Waters was still whining about O'Rourke in a June 5 post:

It looks like Democratic hopeful Beto O’Rourke’s run to unseat Republican Gov. Greg Abbott will be greeted with the same partisan enthusiasm by the New York Times that it showed when O’Rourke failed to knock off conservative Sen. Ted Cruz despite massive out-of-state help in 2018.

Witness reporter Jazmine Ulloa’s piece in Saturday’s paper, “For Beto O’Rourke, Talk of Gun Control Has Become Both a Political Risk and Reward.” Beto's grandstanding at a press conference now looks....good?

Waters went on to sneer, "His talk of confiscating your AR-15 doesn't sound so tone-deaf any more?" and denied that O'Rourke's anger was "resonating" in the state. On the other hand, if it wasn't resonating, the MRC would not have devoted so much time and space to repeatedly attacking him or anyone else who's just as angry about mass shootings as he is.


Posted by Terry K. at 11:36 PM EDT
Updated: Monday, July 4, 2022 11:31 AM EDT
CNS Mark Levin Stenography Watch
Topic: CNSNews.com

Since CNSNews.com has decided to devote less time to Mark Levin stenography (not enough interns, apparently?), we're going to reduce our Mark Levin Stenography Watch to quarterly instead of bimonthly. But first, we have four months of Levin stenography to document since we last checked in. How did they go for CNS' favorite right-wing radio host? Let's tally up the stenography:

That's 19 articles from April through June, for a total of 25 through the first half of the year -- well off CNS' usual pace. And nine of these came between late May and the end of June, meaning that its Levin stenography is still heavily reliant on interns. Wonder how Levin feels about that.


Posted by Terry K. at 9:07 AM EDT
Updated: Sunday, July 3, 2022 9:08 AM EDT
Saturday, July 2, 2022
MRC Still Complaining That TV Shows Critique Cops
Topic: Media Research Center

The Media Research Center is keeping up its recent narrative of attacking TV shows that don't praise law enforcement unconditionally. We've already noted its hate for the crime drama "61st Street," and it has attacked other shows as well. Dawn Slusher complained in a Feb. 27 item:

It’s no secret how CBS’s Magnum P.I. reboot feels about police officers. They’ve previously defended BLM violence as “patriotism,” labeled police as “the bad guys,” and claimed good cops are “guilty by association.” On Friday, they continued their hateful bias with a storyline so far-fetched it would almost be laughable if it weren’t for the serious repercussions it could have on this dangerous anti-cop climate in which a record number of police officers are being attacked and murdered across the country.

Slusher glossed over the fact that cops in this storyline are crooked and working to protect their corrupt boss; instead, she's mad that a policeman in uniform -- despite being clearly corrupt -- was shot by Magnum:

Magnum suggests they celebrate “taking down a bunch of crooked cops.”

I guess we should be grateful they aren’t promoting an ACAB message, but this storyline is still dangerous because it adds fuel to our hateful anti-cop culture at a time when ambush attacks against police officers were up 91% in 2020 and an historic number of officers were shot in the line of duty in 2021 - 346. Of those shootings, 63 were fatal.

No one’s rooting for bad guys, but knowing how many good cops have been gunned down makes this show’s tone-deaf depiction of a uniformed officer being shot in cold blood very unnerving. Thank God Magnum P.I. is followed by Blue Bloods, which has consistently backed the blue and accurately depicted the sacrifices police heroes make for our protection. Hopefully their messaging will cancel out Magnum P.I.’s anti-cop agenda.

Slusher is lying, of course. It's clear from the episode (even if Slusher doesn't make it so) that "Magnum" is not "anti-cop" -- it's anti-corrupt cops. Of course she would like the pro-cop propaganda of "Blue Bloods"; indeed, the following week she praised an episode of "Blue Bloods" for having "touched on the challenges faced by officers in today’s anti-cop culture and delivered a powerful storyline that defended the honor of our heroes in blue."

A March 7 post by Elise Ehrhard complained that "The Equalizer" didn't follow right-wing narratives on anti-Asian attacks by blaming black people for them:

The CBS series The Equalizer became a hit last year by keeping its focus on entertaining an audience. This year, it's determined to abandon that successful strategy in order to hector its viewers with left-wing ideology instead.

In this week's episode, 'Chinatown,' on Sunday, the show tackled the issue of anti-Asian attacks in New York City. It portrayed the culprits as ignorant, working-class white guys who get away with crimes because of a racist and indifferent police system. The episode avoided an elephant in the room -- the majority of anti-Asian attacks in major U.S. cities are black-on-Asian crimes, according to U.S. Justice Department statistics. 

But uncomfortable conversations were out-of-the-question in the episode. The show instead relied on a clichéd woke narrative about a group of working-class white males stalking Asians in New York City's Chinatown.

Ehrhard went on to complain that "In 2020, Democrats falsely accused then-President Trump of scapegoating Asians because he criticized communist China's role in the Covid-19 pandemic" -- but she didn't explain how it was "false."

A May 9 post by Ehrhard complained that an episode of "S.W.A.T." featured a right-wing militia that was anti-cop:

The "no cops" part is an intriguing addition to the list, considering there is a real domestic terrorist organization that has called for the abolition of police. Oddly, the episode never mentions Black Lives Matter (BLM) when discussing anti-cop rhetoric. Is Hollywood now going to pretend that this is a right-wing issue instead?

By contrast, more than 50 active or retired law enforcement, military or government service employees took part in the Capitol riot, so that plotline may not be as far-fetched as Ehrhard wants you to think.


Posted by Terry K. at 9:32 AM EDT
WND's Lively Has Another Rainbow Meltdown
Topic: WorldNetDaily

Every authentic Christian (and Torah-faithful Jew) knows that the rainbow belongs to God, not the "gays." But how many realize that the hijacking of the rainbow by the LGBT movement is a leading sign of the imminency of the last days Antichrist kingdom? Cloaking itself in God's rainbow represents far more than just arrogant disregard for God's teachings in the Bible; it is living proof that Lucifer himself is the spiritual head of the triumphal "pride" celebrations taking place across the world this month.

Satan's obsession from the beginning has been to take God's throne for himself – and that is exactly what the "pride" movement represents. Indeed, the only glimpse the Bible gives us of what God's throne in Heaven actually looks like is the Apostle John's testimony in Revelation 4:3: "At once I was in the Spirit, and I saw a throne standing in heaven, with someone seated on it. The One seated there looked like jasper and carnelian, and a rainbow that gleamed like an emerald encircled the throne."

The rainbow signifies the presence and authority of God, which is why He chose that symbol to seal His covenant with mankind after Noah's flood.

[...]

The rainbow is your warning sign. If you condone, let alone celebrate, "gay pride," you choose the side of Lucifer against God and earn for yourself a share of the wrath to come. Moreover, even if you consider yourself righteous in believing the Bible about LGBT sins, failure to meet your Watchman duty to warn the wicked of these truths puts their blood on your hands.

From Genesis to Revelation the Bible shows that God does not mess around when it comes to this category of sin. Please remember that, and your duty to speak plain truth, whenever you see His rainbow being defiled.

--  Scott Lively, June 6 WorldNetDaily column

(Lively loves melting down over rainbows.)


Posted by Terry K. at 1:16 AM EDT

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