MRC's Double Standard On Sex Scenes In Politicians' Books
Topic: Media Research Center

The Media Research Center's Kevin Tober proved that Hillary Derangement Syndrome is still alive and well after all these years in a June 29 post:

You could’ve gone your entire life without witnessing this and you probably would be better off too. On Wednesday’s CBS Mornings, co-anchor Gayle King sat down with former first lady, Secretary of State, and failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for part two of a gushy softball interview about her new fiction political thriller called State of Terror. At one moment in the interview, most sane viewers were probably driven to a state of terror and revulsion when King read aloud from a sex scene in the book which Clinton and co-author Louise Penny wrote. 

[...]

While King seemed to be having a blast laughing while Hillary cackled and screeched with her friend Louise, it’s safe to say that even the CBS audience was repulsed over the thought of a sex scene written by Hillary Clinton.

Yet, the band of leftists at CBS Mornings loved it, and even after the interview was over, couldn’t stop swooning over Clinton and Penny like a group of preteens at a Justin Bieber concert. 

Yes, the MRC really thought this merited a full-length post from one of its full-time "media reserarchers."

By contrast, a sex scene by another female politician got treated differently by the MRC. Back in 2006, when the MRC and its "news?" division CNSNews.com were trying to smear Democratic Virginia Senate candidate James Webb as a pedophile (and thereby boost the Republican candidate, George Allen of "macaca" fame) by cherry-picking out of context certain passages from fiction novels he wrote and portraying them as his personal beliefs. In response, some folks noted that then-second lady Lynne Cheney wrote a steamy book that included a lesbian sex scene. The MRC dismissed it as whataboutism:

• Noel Sheppard whined that "CNN was extraordinarily expedient in finding examples of Republican writings to deflect criticism from Webb" by offering "examples of other Republicans doing exactly what the Democrat is accused of doing."
• A couple days later, Sheppard huffily included the sexy excerpt as an addendum to a post about a CNN interview of Cheney: "What follows is a full transcript of this segment. Also, for those that are interested, a blog called OC Chronicle discovered the part of Lynne Cheney’s 1981 book that is being equated to the sex-scenes in Jim Webb’s novels." Sheppard didn't seem grossed out by it at all.

It's quite entertaining to see the MRC whine about whataboutism when that's pretty much what it runs on these days.

WND's Farah Uses His Wife To Play Victim
Topic: WorldNetDaily

Joseph Farah just loves to play the victim when it comes to absolving himself from responsibility for any bad thing that happens to his WorldNetDaily. And he did it again in his July 4 column:

My wife, Elizabeth, was leading a small Bible study, seen by no more than 50 people, as she does every Saturday. Last Saturday was no exception.

I was moderating as usual.

She was delivering a livestream presentation via YouTube on the little book of Haggai.

Elizabeth has a heart for the lost. She spends countless hours every week researching the Bible and learning from the original texts, Hebrew and Greek, and other sources. She loves to share this information. She's more gifted at this than I am – and I've been doing it for over 45 years.

Suddenly, about 30 minutes after starting the streaming Bible study, with no warning, the program was called to an abrupt end – replaced by a message that said Elizabeth had violated "community standards" and was getting a timeout until Sept. 29.

But it wasn't for something she was talking about last Saturday. It was for an earlier YouTube video in May on the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

They said it was "MISINFORMATION."

That's a scary word for Democrats.

Of course, they never spread "MISINFORMATION."

t was apparently "MISINFORMATION" about the election of 2020.

Elizabeth just wanted to thank President Donald J. Trump for fulfilling his promise to nominate all pro-life justices to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Apparently, that was a "sin" against Big Tech.

Note that Farah doesn't directly quote what his wife said or explain why it wasn't misinformation. Perhaps that's because we know he and WND have been prolific sources of misinformation about the 2020 election in promoting false and discredited claims that there was election fraud.

So rather than actually defend his wife, it was time to cry victimhood yet again with a told orld story: "Earlier, YouTube completely and permanently demonetized WND. Google, which owns YouTube, also completely and permanently demonetized WND, costing us millions of dollars in annual revenues." As we've documented before, Google has stopped doing business with WND -- as any private business has the right to do -- because it no longer wants to be associated with a website that spreads hate, lies and misinformation. He went on to whine that WND was targeted because it supported Trump, ending with this odd declaration:

I've been nagging Elizabeth to use a different platform – one that respects other opinions. YouTube, Google and Big Tech do not. She doesn't plan to go through the agony of answering the charges this time. Never again. Why humiliate yourself?

In retrospect, WND was always right about Trump.

And we stand with him yesterday, today and tomorrow.

All he ever wanted, in good faith, was to make America great again.

Join with me in prayer that he gets another chance to do just that.

And, to my darling Elizabeth, I respect you and love you for what you are doing with God's Word.

Who needs YouTube?

Actually, Farah is looking for a different platform that will tolerate her lies and misinformation. And, actually, what Elizabeth Farah is "doing with God's Word" is spreading hate and lies. In videos before the 2020 election, she repeatedly smeared Joe Biden while bizarrely proclaiming that Trump was appointed by God to the presidency. She is not a good person, let alone a person anybody should be taking Bible lessons from.

 

 

MRC's Jean-Pierre-Bashing, Doocy-Fluffing Watch
Topic: Media Research Center

The Media Research Center's malicious narrative of new White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre as an incompetent diversity hire continued with attacks at the end of July. Kevin Tober subbed for Curtis Houck on the July 25 briefing:

For the second press briefing in a row, the White House took a beating from reporters due to President Joe Biden’s personal physician hiding from hungry reporters’ questions on the state of Biden’s COVID treatment, recovery, and overall health. You know it's bad when reporters from CBS News, The New York Times, and NewsMax all grilled the White House COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha on the administration’s lack of transparency. 

Due to Biden’s bout of COVID, and the fact that White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre can’t take questions from the media without stepping on rakes, Jha was trotted out to handle all questions related to Biden’s illness and other public health-related topics.

Of course, Tober served up the obligatory Doocy-fluffing:

Later on in the briefing, Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy brought up the subject again by asking if “this a situation where Dr. O'Connor does not want to come and talk about the President's health or where the President doesn't want Dr. O'Connor talking about his health?” 

In response, Jha claimed he’s “spoken both to the President and to Dr. O'Connor on an ongoing basis and neither of them has expressed a preference. Dr. O'Connor at any point has not said he doesn't want to come and the President has not at any point said he doesn't want Dr. O'Connor to come. So, I would say neither of those is correct.” 

Proving once again why he’s one of the best reporters in the briefing room, Doocy went after Biden’s photo ops taken during his time in quarantine:

We don't recall the MRC complaining about the obviously staged photos taken by the Trump White House when Donald Trump had a bout of COVID.

Houck returned to attack Jean-Pierre anew over the July 27 briefing by quibbling over the definition of a recession:

Wednesday’s White House press briefing wasn’t smooth sailing for Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre (as most if not all are for someone in way over their head) with Fox’s Peter Doocy and a select few others reporters who pressed her on the Biden administration’s disinformation campaign to redefine what a recession is ahead of what’s expected to be a dour second quarter number on Thursday.

Doocy began with the premise that the American Rescue Plan contributed to inflation, but Jean-Pierre wasn’t having it. Instead, she claimed Biden came into office facing a litany of crisis, but he still “turned the economy back on” and created “a stronger labor market” “outside factors.”

Doocy used her answer to then corner her on defining a recession: “If things are going so great, though, then why is it that White House officials are trying to redefine recession?”

Jean-Pierre predictably walked right in to the trap, insisting “we’re not redefining a recession,” leaving Doocy to hit back:

So Doocy is a layer of "traps," not an actual reporter. Got it.

Tober returned for even more Doocy-fluffing over the July 28 briefing:

During Thursday's train wreck known as the White House press briefing, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre got demolished by Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy after Jean-Pierre accused Republican governors of using migrants as political pawns by bussing them to Washington D.C. The always floundering Jean-Pierre mumbled and stumbled her way through multiple grillings by Doocy. 

The first question out of the gate was whether "President Biden ask[ed] President Xi anything about getting to the bottom of the origins of COVID." Naturally, this simple question completely flummoxed Jean-Pierre who began frantically flipping through her notes in her binder for an answer to Doocy's question.

[...]

Changing topics, Doocy asked "The DC Mayor sent the White House a letter asking for National Guard help with migrants who have been bussed here from Texas and Arizona. Is the President gonna approve that request for the National Guard?" 

In response, Jean-Pierre ducked by referring him to the Department of Defense. She went on to whine how "Republicans using migrants as a political tool, and that is shameful, and that is just wrong."

[...]

Doocy shot back: "There’s a process and they come to a big city and now the Mayor says she needs the National Guard?" 

Realizing she's running out of non-answers, Jean-Pierre replied: "That’s because Republicans are using, they’re using migrants who are coming here for who knows? Because they’re dealing with humanitarian issues back in their country. They’re coming here for a better life and they’re being used, Peter, they’re being used by Republican governors. That is what’s happening." 

Doocy managed to get in one question before she frantically called on another reporter to get out of Doocy's line of questioning: "Does any of this make the President want to say 'this is causing a lot of burdens on small cities, big cities, maybe I should just close the border?’"

Fox News must have given Tober a nice little kickback for spending an entire post fawning over Doocy (and, of course, denigrating Jean-Pierre). He earned another one for even more Doocy-worship the next day:

On Friday’s White House press briefing, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre got into another battle with Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy because of her apparent inability to answer simple questions put to her. 

The first question from Doocy came in light of comments made by the former chief editor of the Chinese state media outlet the Global Times, who suggested China would shoot down House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s plane if she visits Taiwan.

This is an extremely serious situation, so Doocy attempted to get a response from the White House: “an official who is associated with Chinese state media is suggesting that if Speaker Pelosi tries to go to Taiwan her plane could be shot down. Does the President have a response to that?” 

Jean-Pierre’s response was that this was “something that we’re just not going to speak to” adding that it’s “a hypothetical, we are not we're just not going to speak on her schedule.”

You would think this would be a topic the White House would make a statement about since if China shot down the plane of the woman second in line for the presidency it would lead to a war between the United States and China. 

Realizing he’s not going to receive an answer from Jean-Pierre, Doocy switched gears to the news that the Biden administration quietly approved construction of former President Trump’s border wall in Arizona asking “why is the Biden administration building a border wall in Arizona?”

[...]

Doocy came prepared as always because he dug up comments made by Jean-Pierre from 2019 in which she called the border wall racist, and now three years later she’s in an administration that is attempting to finish building part of the wall: 

“Is this racist? Because in 2019 when the former guy was proposing a wall, you said that it was his racist wall. So how is this any different? I'm just having a hard time understanding how this is any different” Doocy asked.

Doocy will be happy to have Tober's writeups in his scrapbook.

WND Melts Down Over Call For COVID Boosters
Topic: WorldNetDaily

Bob Unruh ranted in a July 12 WorldNetDaily "news" article:

Just when things were getting back to normal, mostly. People could do their shopping without wearing a face covering in most retailers. The masks still are being demanded in doctors' offices, but, heck, that's where sick people are anyway.

In light of that, Joe Biden's director of the Centers for Disease Control, Rochelle Walensky, has unleashed a new demand – for seniors to get their second booster shot against COVID-19 "right away."

"Many Americans are under vaccinated, meaning they are not up to date on their COVID-19 vaccines. Not all people over the age of 50 have received their first booster dose…" she started out.

Of those over 50 only 28% have gotten their second booster after lining up to take their first, she said. Those over 65 are even worse.

"So my message right now is very simple: It is essential that these Americans … get their second booster shot right away."

Unruh appears to be gleefully unaware that the reason "things were getting back to normal, mostly" is precisely because of those vaccinees and booster. Because Unruh lives in WND's world of anti-vaxxer fearmongering, he followed up with anti-vaccine propaganda:

Meanwhile, an MIT study as tied COVID shots to cardiac arrest among young patients. And the CEO of the maker of the Astrazeneca shots was caught saying millions of people should avoid them completely.

Previously, Joe Biden's medical adviser, Anthony Fauci, said he really doesn't know how many shots ultimately will be recommended, but studies have shown they're virtually ineffective for children.

And the FDA has warned Joe Biden may end up demanding annual shots.

First: The AstraZeneca vaccine isn't even available in the U.S. Second: As we've documented, WND and other anti-vaxxers have misrepresented not only the the findings of that study (the study itself states it does not establish "causal relationships" between vaccines and heart problems) but also the link to MIT; two of the researchers were associated with the MIT Sloan School of Management and not a medical organization.

Unruh kept up the fearmongering, declaring that "WND reported earlier this year when New York Times reporter Alex Berenson called for the "dangerous" shots to be withdrawn." In fact, Berenson hasn't worked for the Times in a couple of years, and he too is a documented liar and anti-vaxxer. (Funny how WND hates the "liberal media" but will invoke the Times to put a veneer of credibility on a right-wing narrative.)

Unruh also named checked "renowned cardiologist and medical scientist Dr. Peter McCullough," who "told WND in a video interview the official pandemic narrative is 'completely crumbling' and the vaccines 'should be pulled off the market.'" Calling McCullough "renowned" doesn't wipe away the fact that McCullough too is a dishonest anti-vaxxer whom, of course, WND loves for his lies.

CNS Promotes Anti-Transgender Study, Buries Criticism Of It
Topic: CNSNews.com

CNSNews.com gave plenty of attention to an anti-transgender study put out by the right-wing Heritage Foundation. The first step was a June 13 promotional column by Heritage's Jarrett Stepman:

State policies that allow children to access so-called gender-affirming care without parental consent have created a significant increase in suicides, according to a new Heritage Foundation study.

The Heritage study released Monday found that 2020 saw 1.6 more suicides per 100,000 residents ages 12 to 23 in states that allow minors access to puberty blockers and other gender-reassignment procedures without parental consent. (The Daily Signal, where I write, is Heritage’s multimedia news organization.)

Jay Greene, a Heritage research fellow in education, found little evidence that such procedures prevent suicide. In fact, they may be fueling an increase in suicide among young people, the study finds.

A common argument of those in favor of so-called gender-affirming care is that such medical procedures prevent suicide. 

Two days later, intern Lucy Collins was tasked to crank out a "news" article on the Heritage study, which sounded not unlike Stepman's column:

A new study by the Heritage Foundation, Puberty Blockers, Cross-Sex Hormones, and Youth Suicide, shows that states which give children easier access to puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones have a youth suicide rate that is 14% higher than states which require parental consent for such access.

Jay Greene, a senior research fellow for the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Education Policy, released a report on June 13 claiming that when children have easier access to cross-sex medical interventions, it not only fails to decrease suicide rates, as transgender activists claim, but “is associated with a significant increase in the adolescent suicide rate.”

[...]

Greene looked at the research supporting claims that increased access to “gender-affirming care” lowers suicide rates. He found that only three studies had been conducted on the link. These studies' were flawed, in Greene’s opinion, because they compared suicide rates between those who were approved versus those who were denied cross-sex hormones, without factoring in that those who were denied were likely already at an increased risk for suicide as mental health is a reason for denial of treatment.

Greene saidmanother flaw was that the studies were conducted or aided by activist groups who likely only sampled those who were pleased with their gender transition.

Greene then conducted a study of his own by observing states that allow minors to access health care without parental approval and comparing them to states that do not have these provisions. Greene looked only at age groups that would be candidates for hormone blockers (12-23) during the years 2001 and 2020.

As limited data are available showing availability of cross-sex hormones to children by state, Greene looked at states with legal provisions allowing children to access routine health care without the consent of their parents as a proxy. He juxtaposed these states with those that do not have similar provisions, and thus children would presumably be less able to access these drugs.

Claims from transgender activists that increased access to cross-sex hormones should decrease rates of suicide do not manifest in Greene’s data. Rather, the data show the opposite: suicide increases correlated to greater access to transgender medicine.

Despite noting Greene's complaint about research  being conducted by "conducted or aided by activist groups, Collins didn't note that Greene's employer is an activist group that pushes anti-LGBTQ arguments and policies, which by his own defintion should mean his own research must be qustioned for bias. And it was not until the second-to-last paragraph of her 17-paragraph article that Collinsgot around to mentioning that Greene's study has been criticized:

His study has faced backlash on Twitter around claims that his methodology was flawed, a claim Greene has responded to, saying that although his study is not the “gold standard” due to limited data resources on the subject, it is still a “superior research design” than the studies citied by transgender activists. Greene plans on submitting his findings for peer review.

Collins could not be bothered to further detail any of that criticism, however. even though those critics have offered much more detailed criticisms , not only on the quality of the data Greene used but also that the data could not have been used to get the results Greene claimed. As Jesse Singal wrote:

In short, this data definitely cannot be used to assert that many kids obtained access to blockers and hormones without the knowledge of their parents. If Greene is making a “by Turban’s logic”  argument, sure, whatever — at this point, anyone who has even briefly perused the U.S. Transgender Survey data knows it’s ridiculous how much Turban and other researchers are extrapolating from it. “Water from a stone” is an understatement.

But Greene’s own argument does rely on the idea that fairly large numbers of kids could access these treatments without parental consent. If for a sizable chunk of that 2010 to 2020 span there was very little of this going on in much of the country, then of course it’s bunk, definitionally, to point to changes in suicide trends and to not only attribute them, but attribute them entirely, to kids going on blockers and hormones.

Dave Hewitt served up his own critique of Greene's study:

The core claim is that suicides in under-24s are increasing in states that have minor access provision for healthcare and that therefore this access is the cause. One thing to remember is that - because of the difficulty of determining what access is available - the selection criteria are a proxy for access to paediatric medical transition. As such, the whole report is based on minor access to healthcare generally on the assumption that this translates to minor access to puberty blockers. But how sound is that?

But because neither Collins nor any other CNS writer followed up, CNS readers don't know that Greene's study has been seriously debunked. Indeed, it continued to promote the study: A June 22 article by Craig Bannister claiming that President Biden is forcing states to "embrace LGBTQ+ gender ideology" complained that gender-affirming care for transgender youth "is listed in the White House fact sheet as a means of “Preventing LGBTQUI+ Youth Suicide,” a claim that is contrary to results of a new study conducted by the Heritage Foundation, which found that the youth suicide rate is 14% higher in states with greater youth access to GAC than it is in states where access is more limited." Bannister censored the fact that the study has been credibly debunked.

NEW ARTICLE: Joseph Farah's Blame Game
Topic: WorldNetDaily
The WorldNetDaily editor is desperate to blame everything and everyone for his website's financial problems -- except, of course, himself and WND's editorial agenda of fake news and conspiracy theories. Read more >>

MRC Still Rooting For Surveillance State To Stop Women From Having An Abortion
Topic: Media Research Center

The Media Research Center has already endorsed the state-level Orwellian monitoring of women lest they have an abortion. That has grown to demanding that the normally hated "big tech" also montior women and hand those records over to thestate when women think about having an abortion. Tierin-Rose Mandelburg, the MRC's chief promoter of the abortion-surveillance state, wrote in a May 25 post:

As our nation preps for the overturn of Roe v. Wade, baby killing enthusiasts are freaking out. They’ve been protesting, pouting, and rallying all across America and now they're even calling for ways to abort kids illegally - and get away with it. 

In a May 24 letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, dozens of Democrats demanded that Google stop collecting location data so that women can abort their babies without getting in trouble, according to Insider.

42 Dems penned the plea where they claimed, “Google's current practice of collecting and retaining extensive records of cell phone location data will allow it to become a tool for far-right extremists looking to crack down on people seeking reproductive health care.”

People who don't support killing babies are "far-right extremists" apparently. Cool.

The letter indicates that lawmakers want Google to keep location private so that women who live in states where abortion is or becomes illegal can kill their babies without getting caught. It’s ironic that lawmakers want to help people break the law.

Mandleburg doesn't menion the obvious: Information isn't illegal and can't be stopped from crossing state lines, and it's perfectly legal for a woman to have an abortion in a state where it's legal, even if the state she's from has outlawed it. Again, Mandelburg doesn't explain the structure or cost of the state surveillance apparatus that would be needed to monitor every woman in a state to make sure she's not thinking about having an abortion -- which would also, presumably, involve imprisoning or otherwise physically restraining a woman who wants to go to another state or is simply thinking about doing so -- nor does she point to any court ruling that would legalize such a massive state surveillance apparatus.

A July 7 post by Catherine Salgado lamented that Google would not entertain the MRC's surveillance state fantasies:

Following pressure from Democratic Party lawmakers and the liberal media, Google announced that it would make a new exception for retaining users’ location history—users visiting abortion clinics.

After the U.S. Supreme Court Dobbs v. Jacksondecision that struck down Roe v. Wade, multiple tech companies and executives rushed to voice their support for baby killing. Google has now joined the ranks of pro-abortion businesses.

The Big Tech platform received considerable pressure from Democratic Party lawmakers, with 42 demanding that Google help those seeking illegal abortions by not collecting their location data.

14 senators and seven House lawmakers -- all Democrats -- also signed a letter to Google pressuring the company to remove crisis pregnancy clinics from abortion-related search results. Following such pressure, lo and behold, the platform announced that it will delete user location data for abortion clinic patients.

LIke Mandelburg, Salgado did not explain how this anti-abortion surveillance state would work, let alone how it would be legal given that how it would fly in the face of longstanding rulings upholding the freedom to travel, or why simply searching for information should be treated as a crime. Instead, she played whataboutism:

Google didn’t appear so concerned about user data privacy in the past. Free Speech Alliance member Project Veritas presented evidence in April alleging that Google had complied with secret government court orders and gave the government detailed private data from Project Veritas employees’ Gmail accounts.

Perhaps Project Veritas shouldn't have been committing crimes if it didn't want its communications to be surveilled.

Joseph Vazquez tried a different kind of whataboutism in a July 13 post:

Leftist outlets warning about potential data privacy infringements for those seeking abortions pushed for the surrender of people’s privacy when it came to COVID-19.

MRC Free Speech America found at least eight major publications that seemed to have respective major epiphanies on the importance of data privacy. Once the news broke that the U.S. Supreme Court would — and eventually did   overturn the infamous pro-abortion Roe v. Wade( 1973) decision, liberal outlets like The Washington Post, The New York Times, BuzzFeed News and Fortune went into apparent shock and hypocritically warned about Big Tech’s threat to women’s abortion-related data privacy.

But these same outlets sang a different tune when it came to data privacy and contact tracing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vasquez clearly doesn't understand the difference between a medical procedure that is legal in many states and a communicable virus that is spread by close contact with people, thus making contact tracing a helpful to in prevention and treatment. And, like the others, Vazquez didn't explain why a massive anti-abortion surveillance police state is needed (let alone legal) or why simply searching for information must be made a crime. Instead, he whined that one publication "sounded the Big Brother alarm for women seeking abortions" while refusing to explain why it wouldn't be.

As much as the MRC whines about "big tech," it knows it can be used to advance its policy objectives -- like an anti-abortion surveillance state.

WND Wildly Accuses Soros Of Declaring 'War' On America
Topic: WorldNetDaily

WorldNetDaily has its own particuarly virulent brand of Soros Derangement Sydrome, which has symptoms like Joseph Farah desperately calling for Soros' American citizenship to be revoked. Now, WND's Art Moore has had a derangement-fueled freakout over a commentary Soros wrote, hyperbolically declaring in a July 6 "news" article:

On Independence Day, billionaire activist George Soros effectively declared war on the United States Supreme Court and the Republican Party

"The American public has been alarmed and aroused by the US Supreme Court’s growing extremism," Soros wrote in a piece on his site Project Syndicate that was spotlighted by the Gateway Pundit.

"But voters need to recognize the Court's radical majority for what it is: part of a carefully laid plan to turn the US into a repressive regime."

Soros made no declaration of war, effectively or otherwise, and Moore knows it. He's paid by WND to spread lies about the declared enemies of far-right politicans, and that's what he's doing here -- and that's why he's citing the Gateway Pundit, a notoriously unreliable website (even more than WND) who's currently being sued for defmation over the lies and hate it spread in promoting Donald Trump's Big Lie about election fraud.

Moore made no attempt whatsoever to rebut or challenge anything Soros wrote; instead, he played whataboutism, declaring that "Meanwhile, violent crime has risen substantially in major cities with progressive district attorneys whose campaigns were bankrolled by Soros" -- which has nothing to do with anything Soros wrote about.

Moore's highly inflammatory article was accompanied by a poll asking, "Is George Soros evil?" Unsurprisingly 99 percent of the 1,395 respondents -- a decidedly paltry number that seems to indicate WND's declining readership -- said yes.

UPDATE: Moore also got it wrong when he called Project Syndicate Soro's website. In fact, it's an independently run commentary and analysis site to which Soros is only one of several donors.

MRC's Fondacaro Heathers Alyssa Farah Griffin Again
Topic: Media Research Center

We've shown how the Media Research Center turned against occasional "View" guest host Alyssa Farah Griffin -- whose right-wing credentials are impeccable, given that her father is right-wing hater, Obama birther and WorldNetDaily founder Joseph Farah -- for committing the offense of insufficient loyalty to Donald Trump. Unlike the MRC, Farah found the Capitol riot andhis Big Lie about election fraud to be a bit of a turnoff. As this summer continued, the MRC -- mainly misoygynistic writer Nicholas Fondacaro -- continued to give Farah Griffin the Heather treatment. He sneered in a June 14 post:

Former Trump White House official-turned-self-serving sellout Alyssa Farah Griffin once again joined ABC’s The View on Tuesday to commiserate about the January 6 Committee hearings and bash the party she claims to still be a part of. And at the start of a conversation about potential 2024 nominees for both sides, Griffin slipped and seemingly announced she was interested in pushing a Democratic candidate. And co-host Sunny Hostin announced her primary requirement for a candidate is that they’re hot.

With co-host Whoopi Goldberg kicking off the segment by fretting that former President Trump would run again in 2024, Griffin noted that inflation, gas prices, the tumbling stock market, and his advanced age were bad news for President Biden. She soon pivoted to asking about who the Democrats would put up and flashed her interest in pushing them as her candidate.

“I’m curious. Like who are the Dems going to run? Where is like the Obama energy that we could bring?” she asked the liberal cast. She caught what she said and quickly tried to walk it back, adding, “That you guys could bring.”

Fondacaro is so filled with hate for anyone who does not follow in rigid lockstep with his right-wing ideology or offers even the slightest reasonable criticism of Trump -- deviation equals treason as far as he's concerned.He's desperate to read treason into Griffin's mild comments solely as an excuse to spew hate at her. His hatred for her is so irrational that he even attacked her for something he might actually agree with, which he did the next day:

The cast of ABC’s The View was in something of a panic Wednesday after several congressional primaries revealed which Republican candidates would be squaring up against Democrats in November in what’s likely to be a massive red wave victory for the right. But the coven was in such denial that they aggressively shot down any mention of the red wave and completely ignored the historic win by Latina Republican Mayra Flores in a special election flipping a seat occupied by Democrats for over 100 years.

“I'm a conservative. I'm a Republican. And listening to Russell Fry who unseated Tom Rice, a principled conservative who voted to impeach Donald Trump,” whined guest co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin. “But here's what I would warn. The red wave is coming. Republicans are going to win the midterms short of something unforeseen that I cannot predict now.”

Fondacaro didn't mention Flores' far-right QAnon-curious leanings.

In a June 17 post, Fondacaro tried to gloat over another "View" host bashing people who worked for Trump (which Farah Griffin did):

It appears as though the likes of former Trump administration officials Alyssa Farah Griffin and Stephanie Grisham sold out their “conservative” principles for The View’s blessing for nothing (not like it was worth anything to begin with). During Friday’s edition of the ABC show, co-host Joy Behar lashed out at them, calling them “recovering addicts” and complaining about them coming on the show; essentially exposing how the liberal cast doesn’t even want mediocre opposition on the program.

“So, I do think he needs to be commended for his actions that day,” self-proclaimed Republicans and staunch Never Trumper Ana Navarro said of former Vice President Mike Pence’s actions on January 6. “That does not erase four years of complicity.”

That was that comment that set off Behar. “Exactly. These people who are now all, like, recovering addicts – recovering addicts in the Trump world that come on, even on this show. They come on this show, they go on other shows and they're turning on Trump,” she whined.

It’s obvious who she was talking about as Griffin and Grisham are part of the rotation for the “conservative” seat and are the only ones who used to work in the Trump administration. Griffin has even been on the show multiple days earlier in the week. And both are seemingly okay with relegating themselves to being punching bags for the liberal cast members.

Fondacaro added: "Griffin has been widely accused of selling out to enrich and ingratiate herself with influential people on from the left." He didn't mention that his definition of "widely" is limited to rigid ideologues like him who are unable to handle even the slightest deviation from right-wing, pro-Trump dogma.

When Farah Griffin was reportedly a candidate for a full-time slot on "The View," Fondacaro rehashed his previous attacks on her in a July 5 post:

Eager to please and be the punching bag for the Hollywood liberal cast that will never really accept her, Farah is the obvious choice when examining her performance.

[...]

And Griffin has been roundly criticized for the self-flagellation she’s undergone in an attempt to receive praise from the radical leftist co-hosts. Former Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway once confronted her on the show and declared: “we're supposed to think that you've seen the light and not just see your name in lights.”

Again, Fondacaro's criticisms focus more on not toeing thehard-right line, not on her suddenly becoming a Whoopi Goldberg-level liberal. And Conway is hardly a credible source of criticism, given how she has profited handsomely off her years in the Trump administration with a new book and frequent Fox News appearances; she clearly loves seeing her name in lights, even more than Farah Griffin.

Fondacaro clearly can't handle a woman who thinks for herself,and that those thoughts might be different from his, even if she's unquestionably a conservatives. That's why he's lashing out so viciously at Farah Griffin.

CNS Can't Stop Obsessing Over Canceled Keystone XL Pipeline
Topic: CNSNews.com

CNSNews.com has long been obsessed with the Keystone XL pipeline and pushing the fiction that building the pipeline would lower gas prices in the U.S. (it won't). And it's still popping up in CNS talking points. In mid-July, CNS interns went on another congressman-pestering mission to asked biased questions of senators designed to advance right-wing narratives. Four senators -- Mitt Romney, Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz and Sherrod Brown, all Republicans except Brown -- were asked, "Is it appropriate for President Biden to travel to Saudi Arabia and meet with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman?" The boilerplate copy in each article brought up the Keystone ghost again:

When campaigning for office in 2020, Biden said, “I guarantee you, we’re going to end fossil fuels.” Once in office, Biden took action to reduce domestic oil production, including revoking the permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline, which was expected to carry 830,000 barrels per day of Alberta oil sands crude to Nebraska, according to CNBC.

The boilerplate didn't mention that, as we've pointed out, most of the petroleum products made from the oil that would be exported, not saved for use in the U.S. Additionally, some of that proposed oil volume from Canada to the U.S. is already being transported by rail to the Gulf Coast.

(Update: The question was also asked of several other senators -- Rob Portman (R), John Kennedy (R), Lindsey Graham (R), Ron Johnson (R), Bill Hagerty (R) and Dianne Feinstein (D) -- but without the Keystone boilerplate.)

Another intern article allowed Republican Sen. Steve Daines to virtue-signal on the question by referencing Keystone, in addition to the boilerplate:

Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) disapproves of President Joe Biden’s trip to Saudi Arabia this week in an attempt to combat inflated gas prices, asserting that Biden first needs to meet with U.S. oil producers to discuss “how we can increase production and to restore the Keystone Pipeline.”

At the U.S. Capitol on Monday, CNS News asked Senator Daines, “Is it appropriate for President Biden to travel to Saudi Arabia to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman?”

Daines replied, “The first meetings President Biden should have—should’ve had—are with U.S. oil producers talking about how we can increase production and to restore the Keystone pipeline. He should be staying home, talking to U.S. producers.”

Like the others, this article failed to report that the most of pipeline's products would likely be exported.

MRC Cranked Out Even More Gun Defenses
Topic: Media Research Center

The Media Research Center loves defending guns by any means necessary, and it was busy doing just that, what with all the recent gun massacres. In between the massacres, the MRC did its best to defend guns and attack anyone who criticized them or advocated for sensible (or any) gun regulation.

In a May 26 post, Margaret Buckley whined that MSNBC's "Morning Joe" detailed what it called "The Conservative Playbook for Deflecting Anger After Mass Shootings" -- which, of course, is exactly what the MRC has been following:

New York magazine writer Jonathan Chait then joined in on the conversation with Brzezinski reading an excerpt from his article: "The Conservative Playbook for Deflecting Anger After Mass Shootings." She went on reading that through the steps of this “playbook”, Republicans attempt to “to locate solutions outside of gun control. And blame Democrats for opposing them.”

When asking Chait about this article he replied “That's a great point on mental health.”, agreeing with Brzezinski that conservatives love to use it as an excuse for mass shootings, labeling mental health as a “distraction” from what really has to be done.

Do Joe Scarborough and friends really think that ranting and whining about the GOP will bring about positive solutions? Or are they just trying to fill up their three-hour duration by throwing harmless insults at those who don’t agree with them?

Throwing insults at those you don't agree with? Buckley just described the content of the vast majority of NewsBusters posts.

Alex Christy spent a May 27 post whining that a CNN host fact-checked Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's false statements about gun violence and insisting it was unfair that he was taken literally:

While attempting to fact check Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday on his claim that there is no correlation between gun laws and gun deaths, CNN Newsroom host Alisyn Camerota failed to not only consider what Abbott actually said, but cherry-picked her statistics in an attempt to prove him wrong.

During an interview with State Rep. Nicole Collier, Camerota read a quote from Abbott, “One of the things that your governor said on Wednesday was that ‘there are more people shot,’ he said, “’every weekend in Chicago than there are schools in Texas. We need to realize that people who think maybe we can just implement tougher gun laws, it hasn't solved it in Chicago and L.A. and New York, it disproves that thesis,’ he said.”

Abbott’s point was about gun violence that occurs so often in Chicago that national reporters have stopped talked talking about it, but a rare school shooting gets all the headlines.

However, Camerota decided to talk about all gun deaths in the entire state, “Actually, he's wrong, Texas is the state with the highest amount of gun deaths. Here's the graphic. Texas is number one. Far and away, of all of the states with gun deaths. Then California, Florida, Georgia, Ohio. And so it seemed as though he was casting a lot of blame in different directions, but he wasn't talking about guns in Texas changing anything.”

Christy offered no evidence that Abbott was speaking metaphorically or that he should be judged only by whatever his "point" allegedly was and not by what he actually said -- which is what Camerota did.

Another May 27 post by Aidan Moorehouse declared that nobody had any right to deny guns to the shooter who racked up quite the body count in a Uvalde, Texas, classroom because he pased his background check:

The shooter, tragically, passed his background check and was of age to buy a gun, and an 18-year-old buying a gun on his birthday in much the same way a 21-year-old would go to a bar would not be seen as unusual in rural Texas. Sure, it's easy for Costas to say “we know now” that the shooter was a deeply disturbed individual, but to call it insane for the gun dealer to have sold legal firearms to someone who had passed his background check is lunacy. 

Just as it did after his speech following the Buffalo massacre, the MRC lashed out at President Biden again for making a speech following the Uvalde massare, bashing news coverage of it for not spewing hate at the president like a loyal right-wing outlet would in a June 3 post by Curtis Houck:

On Friday, the “big three” broadcast networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC each led off their morning newscasts with laudatory praise for President Biden’s latest remarks calling for mass gun control, trumpeting it as “an impassioned” “urgent plea” for Republicans to capitulate to the demands of this “emotional” President.

ABC’s Good Morning America was the most insufferable. Co-host and former Clinton official George Stephanopoulos boasted: “President Biden's address to the nation on gun violence. Emotional and urgent. The President called on Congress to act, saying we cannot fail the American people again.”

Loyal Biden supporter and White House correspondent Mary Bruce replied that “Biden knows the fight” for gun control “well...and he’s trying to use the power of the presidency to keep up the pressure on Republicans in Congress” “emotionally pleading with Washington to do something and asking the question that so many Americans ask themselves after every one of these shootings: will this finally be enough?”

Bruce continued to lament as she did nothing to offer even a scintilla of a Republican response: “After three decades of congressional inaction, Biden is painfully familiar with the difficulties of gun reform, blaming Republicans who have been standing in the way.”

Houck did not explain why he tagged Bruce as a "loyal Biden supporter." after all, he would never tag Peter Doocy as a "loyal Republican supporter."

Houck returned for a June 6 post complaining once again that one measure of gun violence made guns look bad:

On the Monday morning broadcast network newscasts, ABC, CBS, and NBC continued to promote the inflated definition of mass shootings from the Gun Violence Archive in light of weekend shootings in Chattanooga, Tennessee and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, claiming there were 13 weekend mass shootings. And, worse yet, they absolved far-left cities and prosecutors from being a reason for spikes in crime.

The Gun Violence Archive defines a mass shooting as an event in which four or more people are shot and/or killed (minus the gunman), but as we’ve discussed “confusing” with the definition of gun violence even includes things such as home invasions, accidental shootings, using a gun in self defense, “and everything else.”

For one story, our Nick Fondacaro spoke with The Reload’s Stephen Gutowksi, who said Gun Violence Archive’s measuring stick “increases the number of mass shootings by a factor of ten or more.”

The MRC, of course, can't have that kind of increase, so it attacks the numbers. As we've documented, the MRC did more than "discuss" the Gun Violence Archive's numbers -- it falsely called them lies even though they are a perfectly valid way to measure mass shootings and their numbers are fully documented.

Buckley, meanwhile, returned for a June 9 post to whine that people were still talking about guns:

The upcoming January 6 hearings are not the only subjects being unnecessarily dragged on and on by the liberal media. On Thursday’s edition of Morning Joe, viewers had the privilege of seeing Scarborough and friends once again continue ranting about the GOP as monsters unmoved by children killed in mass shootings.

When reacting to Congressman and assassination attempt survivor Steve Scalise’s (R-LA) speech about gun control, where he compared banning guns to banning airplanes after 9/11, the show’s hosts acted absolutely appalled; with Mika Brzezinski commenting that it was “unspeakably stupid.”

[...]

Scarborough then circled back to Congressmen Scalise’s 9/11 comparison attempting to throw TSA regulations in his face. “TSA regulated the hell out of air travel,” Scarborough exclaimed, “You would get checked at the gate. Like, you had to get patted down. You're still getting patted down. Liquids -- Mika and I just traveled. Liquids taken out.”

Gun reform and post-9/11 are completely different things, Joe. It is widely accepted that those TSA “pat-downs” are mostly theatrics. Not only that, but when tested for the real thing, the TSA actually fails to catchmost prohibited objects.

Of course, Buckley won't make the parallel argument that if we shouldn't have gun laws because people will violate them, then abortion shouldn't be outlawed because women will still have abortions regardless. Instead, she whined further: "Viewers always get the same spiel from these people: Republicans equal bad, Republicans equal evil." Change "Republicans" to "Democrats," and you have the daily spiel put out by Buckley and the MRC.

With New Book To Promote, Dick Morris In Full Trump Suck-Up Mode
Topic: Newsmax

Because he has a new (Newsmax-published) book out making the low-stakes prediction that Donald Trump will run for president in 2024, Dick Morris is n full Trump suck-up mode.He gushed in a July 20 Newsmax TV appearance:

Ivana Trump was "dignified, proper, and almost noble," Dick Morris told Newsmax on Wednesday, as Donald Trump's first wife was about to be buried in New York City following her death last week.

Morris, an adviser to Donald Trump, told "John Bachman Now" that he met Ivana decades ago when she came to dinner with her husband at the house of his parents.

"Ivana had just broken her leg and it was in a cast," Morris recalled, saying that he remembered how he and his wife Eileen "were both struck at how considerate Donald was in the way he dealt with her, helping her in the chair, helping her up. He was really a doting husband."

Morris made sure to mention that Donald Trump cheated on Ivana, then dumped her for Marla Maples. He did, however, push his dubious evergreen prediction that Hillary Clinton will also run in 2024.

Morris used an Newsmax TV appearance the next day to defend Trump against a conservative Washington Post columnist who opposed a Republican coronation for Trump in 2024:

Political strategist and bestselling author Dick Morris Thursday on Newsmax accused The Washington Post of reporting "fake news" with an opinion piece stating it would be better for former President Donald Trump to have several opponents in the 2024 GOP primary than it would for him to be unopposed. 

"That is pure fake news and propaganda by the Washington Post," Morris, the host of Newsmax's show "Dick Morris Democracy" and author of the book "The Return: Trump's Big 2024 Comeback," said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America." "That's just [owner] Jeff Bezos trying to gin up a primary against Trump."

He added that in the latest poll by Trump pollster John McLaughlin, "who I trust," the matchup between Trump and his nearest potential contender Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has a wide gap, with 59% backing Trump and 15% for DeSantis.

"That's a 44-point gap," said Morris. "Only a moron runs in the face of a 44-point gap."

Columnist Mark Thiessen wrote in his column for the Post that if there is a divided field with a dozen or more candidates, he will "likely prevail" for the nomination with a plurality of Republican voters.

Thiessen further pointed out that support for a future Trump candidacy has dropped by 29 points in the past nine months.

Morris didn't mention that Thiessen is a solid conservative, nor did he produce any evidence that the column was mandated by Bezos -- or even that Bezos plays any sort of active role in running the paper.

Morris complained about Democratic gamesmanship in a July 24 TV appearance:

Democrats are not only paying up to try to boost candidates they think they can beat in 2022 midterms, but they are also funding potential 2024 GOP presidential primary challengers against former President Donald Trump, fearing his return, according to political strategist Dick Morris on Newsmax.

Morris' new book "The Return: Trump's Big 2024 Comeback" was recently released and has become an instant best-seller.

"I think we Republicans have to basically say that Donald Trump wants this – which he clearly does, and is going to run, which he clearly will – that we have to tell our people, 'No primary fight,'" Morris told Sunday's "Wake Up America Weekend." "Don't let the Democrats say, 'let's you and him fight.'

"Don't let them divide and conquer. Don't let them drain the resources of our ultimate candidate by setting up primary fights that go nowhere."

We don't recall Morris ever complaining about Rush Limbaugh's "Operation Chaos" plan to have Republicans meddle in Democratic primaries, so his concern here is a bit hypocritical.

Morris was back in defender mode in a July 25 appearance, this time insisting that thte Capitol riot was no big deal and Trump shouldn't be blamed for it:

Anyone who "wants to blow the Jan. 6 thing out of proportion" to say former President Donald Trump is unworthy of being president, "they're absolutely almost sick," political strategist and author Dick Morris told Newsmax.

[...]

"He told me that he's going to win the nomination and I think, win the election, but Republicans are increasingly doing the bidding of the Democratic Party," Morris said. "They have a master plan that I reveal in this book to divide the [Republican] Party.

"It's the old Roman slogan, divide and conquer, and what they're trying to do is to lure other Republicans into the primary fight against Trump."

One way to do that is with "exaggerated stories about how damaged he is from the Jan. 6 commission," Morris said. "Every time any of those people sneezes, they get a front page cover."

Morris' comments come in response to an editorial in The Wall Street Journal slamming Trump in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol protest, and another appearing in The Washington Post.

"We have to realize that Trump is going to be the nominee," Morris said. "You either help him or hurt him."

Morris added, "My God, look at what the man has achieved," which we presume he meant in a good way.

Root Gone Wild: Impeach Biden, Try Him For Treason
Topic: WorldNetDaily

Wayne Allyn Root seems to have loaded up on crazy pills in preparation for writing his July 8 WorldNetDaily column:

It's all out in the open now. We have a traitor and figurative suicide bomber in the White House.

No one is even bothering to hide it. President Joe Biden is clearly a suicide bomber, owned by the Chinese Communist Party and the Mexican drug cartel, and put in place to destroy America, American exceptionalism, capitalism and most importantly, the great American middle class.

I learned this plan at Columbia University, Class of '83, alongside my classmate, future President Barack Obama (who, as far as I know, was never actually seen in any class at Columbia – but that's a story for another day). The plan we learned at Columbia was called "Cloward-Piven." The goals of Cloward-Piven were about overwhelming the system, collapsing the U.S. economy, destroying capitalism and turning America into a socialist/communist country.

It's happening right now – with Biden as the frontman and brain-dead puppet, and Obama as the real president, lurking in the shadows, pulling all the strings.

Except now Obama has updated Cloward-Piven to include open borders and massive inflation to bankrupt the middle class.

Root is lying about Obama not attending Columbia, but you know that already. And unless Root was a student in social work, where Cloward and Piven taught at Columbia -- he studied pre-law and political science -- it's highly unlikely he would have learned much about that particular strategy. Please continue:

Biden is destroying America by opening its borders to millions of migrants and, worse, criminals from all over the world. This is about bankrupting our country and raising the national debt to levels that overwhelm the system and collapse the economy. 

Biden denies this is all about the "great replacement." But this isn't about replacing white voters. It's far worse than that. All American citizens are a threat to Biden's agenda. This is about replacing all American citizens: white Americans, black Americans and Hispanic Americans. We all need to be replaced, or at the very least overwhelmed and outvoted to usher in a socialist-communist government and economy.

Biden's actions since day one of his presidency have been open treason.

America's borders are not open -- Root simply thinks they are because Biden is not acting as draconian as his beloved Donald Trump did toward immigrants. Sorry you were ranting?

Now add in what I call the "inflation pandemic." This includes the intentional destruction of the oil and energy industry, as well as farmers and the trucking industry. All done to cause massive inflation of gas, home heating oil, groceries and virtually every product brought to market. This is the purposeful bankrupting and destruction of the middle class.

Then, only hours ago, Biden signed an executive order protecting abortion at the federal level – something the U.S. Supreme Court just struck down. No president can overrule the Supreme Court. Biden just knowingly committed a crime against the U.S. Constitution.

The oil and gas, farming and trucking industries have not been "destroyed," intentional or otherwise -- indeed, the top five oil companies are generating record profits, not usually a sign of an industry being "destroyed." And Biden's executive order to protect access to abortion is perfectly legal and doesn't "overrule" the Supreme Court.

Biut Root was winding up for his finale:

They aren't even hiding it anymore. What does all this tell you?

A) This is a communist takeover of the United States, aided and abetted by open borders and intentional voter fraud.

B) They don't care who knows. What else could explain why Biden and Democrats don't care if the entire middle class hates their guts? This is a sign Democrats know elections are rigged and stolen. Your vote no longer matters.

Biden is escalating. This is treason on a grand scale never before imagined in the history of the United States. I believe we have a suicide bomber in the White House out to destroy our country and make our own citizens into serfs and slaves dependent on a tyrannical socialist/communist government.

It's time to impeach Biden, then remove him on grounds of treason. Then he must be indicted for his crimes against America and the American people.

The trillion-dollar question is: When will the GOP leadership step up and publicly denounce Joe Biden as a traitor?

Disagreement on political views is not the same as "treason."

NEW ARTICLE: The MRC vs. White House Press Secretaries
Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center can't stand it when other media outlets won't hate Jen Psaki or Karine Jean-Pierre as much as it does -- but it sees no irony in its gushing over Peter Doocy or tossing softballs to Kayleigh McEnany. Read more >>

MRC Can't Stop Pushing Lie That Networks Accused Border Patrol Of 'Whipping' Migrants
Topic: Media Research Center

The saga of Border Patrol agents being accused of whipping migrants may be over -- but the Media Research Center's misinformation campaign about it isn't. An April 25 post by Scott Whitlock began with a lie:

All three broadcast networks in the fall of 2021 smeared border patrol agents as monsters who “whipped” illegal immigrants in “horrific,” “alarming” video. The footage showed a small number of agents on horseback struggling to stop migrants from crossing the Rio Grande. 

As we documented, the MRC never quoted the broadcast networks accusing Border Patrol agents of "whipping" migrants. Whitlock continued to mislead:

Back in the fall of 2021, ABC hammered the story for five days straight (From September 20th through the 24th) on Good Morning America and World News Tonight, smearing the agents for seven minutes and nine seconds. CBS Mornings and the CBS Evening News came in second with three minutes and 12 seconds and NBC pushed the now-false claims for three minutes and four seconds on Today and Nightly News. 

With no evidence of malice, the networks uncritically assumed the worst. On the September 21, 2021 Today, co-host Hoda Kotb scolded, “But this morning, a new controversy: Shocking images of border agents appearing to whip migrants.” 

The September 23, 2021 CBS Mornings featured radical Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters, sliming the agents as racist: “We witnessed cowboys, with their reins again, whipping black people, Haitians, into the water.”

Kotb's observation is factually correct: It did, in fact, look like Border Patrol agents were whipping migrants. And CBS merely quoting Waters is not the same as Whitlock's false claim that the netework itself made the "whipping" claim.

Whitlock went on to praise Fox News for adhering to right-wing poliical narratives by hyping the clearing of the Border Patrol agents and whining that the Biden White House should apologize to them, when added: "It would also be nice if journalists would come out and apologize for smearing these border agents with accusations of racist whipping attacks. They highlighted the accusations, claims that have now fallen apart. They need to cover the story, even if it makes Joe Biden — and the press — look bad."

It would also be nice if Whitlock and the MRC stopped lying and apologized for their previous lies, but that's not what they do. Indeed, Curtis Houck perpetuated the lie in a July 11 post:

On Friday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a report through Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) that cleared the agents maligned and falsely accused of using horse reins as whips against illegal immigrants from Haiti trying to cross into the U.S. while also proposing punishment for using “poor judgement” and “vulgar” language.

But given that first part debunking the liberal media-led push to claim the illegals were whipped, the flagship morning and evening newscasts and ABC and NBC steered clear of this report and have yet to give it a second.

CBS Mornings and CBS Saturday Morning also ignored it, which left the CBS Evening News as the lone newscast to cover the findings for a measly 21 seconds (not including a nine-second tease). Even that, however, was tilted and chose not to exonerate the agents.

As expected, Houck cited no evidence to back up his claim that the networks accuwed the agents of "whipping" migrants -- because there isn't any. Instead, he sucked up to Fox News for pushing the narrative: "Over on the Fox News Channel’s Special Report, the indefatigable Bill Melugin showed viewers that there are still a few great journalists left, giving one minute and 38 seconds to the report."

Nowhere in the exerpt that Houck reproduced did Megulin specifically cite any example of someone else claiming the agents "whipped" migrants, simply calling it a "false narrative." But then, as far as Houck is concerned, if a right-wing journalist is pushing right-wing narratives -- and, more importantly, doesn't step on the MRC's own false narrative -- he must be considered "great."