CNS Joins MRC Parent In Cheering DeSantis Migrant Stunt
Topic: CNSNews.com

Like its Media Research Center parent, CNSNews.com loved Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' own-the-libs stunt of flying migrants to Martha's Vineyard.

Melanie Arter kicked off CNS' coverage with a surprisingly balanced article that also noted DeSantis' Democratic opponent, Charlie Crist, accurately calling it "just another political stunt that hurts our state." Arter also wrote an article noting that Prseident Biden "accused Republicans of using migrants as 'props'" after this and other similar incidents.

Then it was bias time. Highly biased reporter Susan Jones, writing about the same Biden speech that Arter covered, huffed: "On Thursday night, President Joe Biden indignantly slammed Republicans for interfering with the administration's efforts to make sure the border 'process' is 'safe and orderly and humane,'" and gave space to a Republican senator, Tom Cotton, attacking him. Arter also devoted an article to Cotton's attacks.

Then it was time for some snarkiness from the highly partisan Craig Bannister, who wrote:

When about fifty illegal aliens were flown into Martha’s Vineyard from Florida this week, claims of a erupted in the largely-liberal vacation spot for the wealthy, prompting the suggestion that some of the empty rooms at the island’s guest lodges be put to use.

Democrats have condemned governors, like Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, for not welcoming illegal aliens into their states, so DeSantis relocated fifty migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, to give the liberal bastion a small taste of the severity of the problems faced by his state.

[...]

So, why doesn’t affluent Martha’s Vineyard follow their lead when it comes to migrants, a piece in The Federalist Friday suggested, providing a list of 12 luxury rental establishments that, together, could house more than twice the population of the fifty migrants from Florida.

Bannister followed that with a complaint that The migrants flown into Martha’s Vineyard Wednesday by Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Wednesday were relocated to a military base in Cape Cod Friday, ending the affluent vacation spot’s two-day 'humanitarian crisis.'" Bannister also fawningly transcribed a rant by CNS' favorite right-wing radio host, Mark Levin:

Biden, his party, and the corrupt media are sickening,” conservative commentator Mark Levin said Friday, upon learning that Martha’s Vineyard’s limousine liberals had already shipped off the fifty illegal immigrants flown in on Wednesday by Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

DeSantis flew the fifty illegal immigrants to the iconic vacation spot to give the wealthy, largely-liberal community a tiny taste of what his state is suffering as a result of the Biden Administration’s open-borders policy.

[...]

“Turns out Martha’s Vineyard is the trigger for the Democrats when it comes to Illegal aliens! 50 aliens!  Home of the Obamas, Kennedys, and so many other leftwing Democrat millionaire hypocrites,” Levin wrote in a Twitter thread, warning that the liberal elites couldn’t care less about the harm inflicted on average Americans by unbridled illegal immigration:

Arter returned to complain that "White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre accused Republicans of sowing chaos and division by sending migrants to Democratic-led cities, even comparing them to human smugglers."

As reports surfaced that the migrants DeSantis shipped to Martha's Vineyard were deceived by their handlers, who claimed jobs and housing would be waiting for them, Jones tried to do damage control by citing a completely different effort by the city of El Paso, Texas, which has a policy of busing migrants elsewhere. She quote the El Paso mayor (who she made sure to point out was a Democrat) saying that "we don't send anyone where they don't want to go" and "we always continue to treat people like human beings."

Jones followed that with a Sept. 20 article that uncritically quoted DeSantis  spinning away allegations of deception and cheering his own-the-libs stunt:

The 50 Venezuelans shipped to Martha's Vineyard "all signed consent forms" before departing Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis told Fox News's Sean Hannity Monday night.

DeSantis said the illegal border-crossers, most of them adults, were also provided with maps and phone numbers for various social and immigration services available on Martha's Vineyard and in the rest of Massachusetts.

[...]

DeSantis noted that Democrats have accused the governors of Arizona, Texas and Florida of "political stunts," but he said the biggest stunt was Joe Biden reversing President Trump's immigration policies, Biden knowing full well what would happen.

DeSantis said immigration is now a "front-burner issue," and one where Republicans have the advantage. "So run on it, and then if we do get majorities in the Congress, do something with that power," he said.

Jones did not allow anyone to respond to DeSantis' spin. Meanwihle, Bannister returned with another bit of stenography for Levin, touting his promotion of" the parody song, 'The Martha’s Vineyard Invasion,' which mocks how the liberal community quickly ousted the fifty illegal aliens sent to the supposed sanctuary by Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis."

MRC Peddles Falsehood That Newspaper Chain Canceled 'Dilbert' Over Politics
Topic: Media Research Center

Count the falsehoods in the opening of this Sept. 22 post by the Media Research Center's John Simmons:

Progressives really have no sense of humor.

The famous comic strip “Dilbert,” a fictional story about a character with the comic’s name that serves as a satirical commentary on office politics and workplace culture, has been removed from over 80 newspaper publications. Lee Enterprises, the company that distributes the comic, has not commented on why it was discontinued.

However, Scott Adams, the creator of the comic, believed it was cut from publications because of his tendency to poke fun at woke agendas that have found a home in the American corporate world.

The first falsehood is that Lee Enterprises is not a distributor of comics -- it's a company that owns newspapers. The second, and more important, falsehood is that Simmons and Adams are lying about the strip's purported targeting of progressives being the reason the comic was dropped from these Lee newspapers.

As a reliable media outlet reported, Lee is moving to a smaller comics package, using the same set of comics across all its newspapers instead of each paper choosing their own, as a money-saving move. Many other comics were canceled by Lee papers as a part of this move. But Simmons would rather  lie to readers in order to falsely portray Adams as a victim because it fits right-wing narratives.

It's not until the final paragraph that Simmons sort of admits he's not telling the truth, but he portrays what is actually happening as "framing":

Of course, Lee Enterprises is not framing it that way, since other comics were discontinued as well. But with how sensitive and anti-humor the left can be, it wouldn’t be surprising if it were erased largely because of its content.

Again: Simmons has no proof whatsoever that "Dilbert" was canceled by Lee papers beause of its or Adams' politics. But who needs facts when you have a narrative to push?

WND's Mercer Hated Biden's Speech, Complains GOP Isn't Helping White People
Topic: WorldNetDaily

Ilana Mercer began her Sept. 22 WorldNetDaily column by whining about President Biden's speech calling out the extremism of MAGA Repubicans (just like the rest of WND):

Against a sinister, hellfire-and-brimstone background, outside Independence Hall, Philadelphia, flagged by Damien's own foot soldiers – President Joe Biden convened to convulse against MAGA America in the tradition of Linda Blair of "The Exorcist" fame.

An inartful mouthful, perhaps, but so was Biden's address.

The president of these disunited states has accused my fellow MAGA brothers and sister of constituting "a threat to [your] personal rights, to the pursuit of justice, to the rule of law, to the very soul of this country. … Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic," barked Biden.

"MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution. They do not believe in the rule of law. They do not recognize the will of the people. They refuse to accept the results of a free election, and they're working right now as I speak … to undermine democracy itself," the addled-brained demon of a man added.

The only fitting verbal response to such unmitigated hate speech are the fighting words of the late Andrew Breitbart: "F–- you, war."

Were I a politician serving my MAGA constituents, I'd right away launch a complaint with the civil rights division of the Department of Justice. My brief would accuse Biden, a man with considerable sway, of inciting hatred against millions of his countrymen.

The correlation between being a MAGA normie and losing your job, your banking and free-speech privileges, and being kicked out of the offices of medical malpractitioners is likely statistically significant.

Mercer's rant then evolved into compaining that her fellow right-wingers were not pushing back hard enough against Biden -- and more importantly, as befits someone with a soft spot for apartheid, not doing more to help white people:

Low-grade civil war is underway, certainly by emboldened blacks against learned-helpless whites. But in my state of Washington, the lukewarm ads Republicans are running revolve around comfortable kitchen-table issues: inflation, taxation, state spending and cost of living. The end.

To that end, run-of-the-mill Republican Mike Huckabee seconded the "gasoline, groceries and God" campaign message as exhaustive.

That's the GOP. Running on safe economic issues, looking-away from matters of life-and-death.

These are:

• Black-on-white hate crimes sanctioned.
• Institutionalized anti-white indoctrination.
• Learned helplessness inculcated in whites through hostile institutions, abetted by parents, pedagogues and politicians. (Ongoing, see "Sacrificing Kids To PC Pietism," written in 2011.)
• Violating the law of the land by inverting morality – rewarding evil, punishing good – in violation also of natural and constitutional rights.
• Continued COVID tyranny as a means of ferreting out and isolating the populist Right.
• The systemic silencing, deplatforming and depersoning of MAGA America, via loss of work, speech rights and banking privileges, courtesy of Deep Tech, in collusion with the state.
• No right or democratic opportunity to defend against these depredations.

On these defining issues the GOP is relatively silent.

Mercer's lengthy screed then moved on to cheering that GOP Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is "the only elected official smart and dedicated enough to grasp and govern in accordance with first principles" by spending state money to send migrants from Texas to Martha's Vineyard, then whining (italics in original):

The migrants of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, now have civil rights attorneys, arrayed against Gov. DeSantis. The protesters of January 6 don't so much as have decent attorneys. That's all you need to know about the Republicans' fealty to their own.

Rest assured that migrant legal representation is likely backed by Democrats.

The "protesters of January 6" put their crimes on video and uploaded them to social media, making them that much easier to document and convict. Even a decent attorney has trouble trying to argue that away. The old adage applies: If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.

Catching Up On The MRC's Kanye Flip-Flop
Topic: Media Research Center

Back in 2018, we documented how the Media Research Center suddenly started loving Kanye West when he became a buddy of Donald Trump -- and forgot about how it spent the previous several years attacking him as a foul-mouthed, misogynstic rapper. Well, um, recent events (which we'll get to in the very near future) are prompting us to look at that relationship a little closer, and it seems that the MRC continued its newfound Kanye lovefest.

A June 2019 post by Rachel Peterson and Alexa Moutevelis gushed over an interview West did with David Letterman, which involved "an enlightening conversation about Trump supporters getting bullied and media groupthink that liberals like Letterman don't often get to hear," adding: "Trump supporters are shunned and treated like they don't deserve to even be a part of the national conversation. The media buy into this and push their narrative that automatically assumes anyone wearing a MAGA hat must be a bigoted bully (think of the news reaction to the Covington Kids and Jussie Smollett). Kanye can be off the wall sometimes, but it’s still nice to see a celebrity not afraid to speak up against the liberal media and trigger them by wearing a MAGA hat in public.

An October 2019 post by Gabrie Hays kept up the Kanye slobbering:

In what many have seen as one of his more provocative moves to date, the larger-than-life rapper, producer, and clothing designer Kanye West has decided to take his new Christian-themed concerts to historically African American Howard University, prompting more of the “Kanye, what are you doing?” responses from his former lefty colleagues who can’t stand that he’s the owner of a “Make America Great Again” hat.

Kanye is Hollywood’s highest profile Trump supporter. He's taken plenty of heat for having an oval office visit with the president himself, and has been "bullied" by SNL cast members and producers for trying perform on the sketch comedy show while wearing the red Trump hat.

Despite all that, West has doubled down in support for certain “right wing” things, like Trump, and notably, Christianity. In the last few months, Kanye has focused on a new series of Christian-themed concerts he calls “Sunday Services” and has expressed his desire to forgo making future secular rap albums, and only make Gospel music from here on out. Yeah it ain’t orthodox, but you can’t fault the man for trying to make Jesus relevant in a hip hop kind of way … right?

Later that month, Moutevelis cheered West engaging and Democrat-bashing while also praising his new Christian-themed album, "Jesus Is King," and bashing its critics: "Among the unspeakable horrors Jesus Is King has produced, New York Daily News reported, “Kanye praises notoriously anti-LGBTQ Chick-fil-A in new song.” Pardon me as I listen to Kanye’s new album while picking up Chick-fil-A on my way to the next pro-life rally."

When West album hit the top of the charts the following month, Hays gushed:

If there’s one thing Kanye West shouldn’t be worried about, it’s the elitist music critics who claim his most recent album is a bust. The hip hop artist and fashion-designer has just topped the official Billboard Music “Artist 100” Chart for the second time thanks to the influence of his recently-released Jesus Is King hip hop/Gospel album.

This must be a sweet victory for Ye and his newfound Christian fans who have been told recently that Kanye’s Christo-centric production would bomb and that his Gospel message isn’t fit for the mainstream.

[...]

While we know that music quality isn’t necessarily tied to chart success (here’s to most of the “Top 40” for the last two decades) it is nice to see that audiences aren’t deterred from listening to the album, even though it promotes what mainstream culture deems highly-controversial content.

It’s not everyday that a rap album about Jesus Christ is number one on secular airwaves. At any rate, we’ll take it.

In a February 2020 post, Peterson complained that a character on the Hulu show "High Fideltiy" mocked West for wearing a MAGA hat and said that he showed he had "shitty politics and a second-grade understanding of American history," then further groused that the character "defends Kanye by saying that he 'has a mental health issue.' Because that is the only reason that a reasonable person would willingly wear a MAGA hat and like Trump."

Hays gushed over Hays again in a March 2020 post:

Rapper-turned-Gospel-music-producer Kanye West refuses to let the media have the final word on his support for President Donald Trump.

The 42-year-old musician and clothing designer has generated his fair share of controversy in the last year, primarily for his support of the current president (someone many in Hollywood wouldn’t get caught dead praising,) and for turning his artistic ambitions to the message of Jesus Christ.

[...]

But as XXL reported, Kanye says it’s just 'cause he’s “out of their control.” He thinks for himself: “Anything I do, three times a year, people say, ‘Whoa, that’s the end. That’s the last we’ll see of him!’ People say I’m out of control. I’m not out of control. I’m out of their control.”

And we all know how much the left hates those who refuse to think like them.

Hays served as West's PR agent again the following month:

Some say Kanye West doesn’t matter anymore, since finding Jesus and donning a MAGA hat. Yet there he is, on the cover of liberal men’s magazine GQ. Inside, West is saying he will be voting for Trump in November and calling out the media and Hollywood for trying to pressure African Americans to vote blue. Seems pretty consequential, doesn’t he?

The rapper, fashion designer, and “born again” Christian had an interview with the men’s style magazine where he talked about life on his Wyoming ranch, his newfound relationship with Christ and,of course, his political leanings, which buck celebrity peer pressure and media expectations.

A July 2020 post by Hays cheered West claiming that “Planned Parenthoods have been placed inside cities by white supremacists to do the Devil’s work.”In fact, as we've noted, most Planned Parenthood clinics are located in majority-white black neighborhoods.

In August 2020, as we've noted, the MRC tried to pretend that an effort to run West as a presidential candidate wasn't a Repiublican trick -- though it actually was.

The MRC mostly lost interest in Kanye after tha, serving only passing references to him -- until he resurfaced earlier this month to spout more right-wing-friendly things. We'll get to that soon.

CNS Continued To Not Take Biden Speech Well
Topic: CNSNews.com

CNSNews.com didn't take President Biden's speech calling out "MAGA Republicans" as the extremists they are very well, and it continued to complain about Biden's assessment of its fellow right-wingers days after the Sept. 1 speech. Patrick Goodenough whined about Labor Day speeches by Biden in a Sept. 6 article:

In back-to-back speeches marking Labor Day on Monday, President Biden again waded into political waters, slamming his predecessor and “MAGA Republicans” and in one instance telling a lone heckler who disagreed with him, “Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

The speeches, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Pittsburgh, Pa., were billed by the White House as “Remarks by President Biden Celebrating Labor Day and the Dignity of American Workers,” but they had the tone of campaign events in the key swing states, two months out from the midterm elections.

[...]

As he did in his prime-time “soul of a nation” address last week, Biden characterized “MAGA Republicans” – or “Trumpies,” as he called them in Milwaukee – as a threat to democracy in America.

“They’re extreme,” he said in Pittsburgh. “And democracy is really at stake.”

“Trump and the MAGA Republicans made their choice,” Biden said. “We can choose to build a better America or we can continue down this sliding path of oblivion to where we don’t want to go.”

Although he drew a distinction between “MAGA Republicans” and the “mainstream” party – as he did in last Thursday’s controversial speech in Philadelphia – he painted the Republican Party at large as obstructionist, noting repeatedly in both speeches that not a single Republican had voted for the American Rescue Plan Act last year or the Inflation Reduction Act last month.

Editor Terry Jeffrey devoted his Sept. 7 column to nitpicking the speech and indulging in his anti-abortion and obsession, with some homophobia for added measure:

When President Joe Biden stood in front of Independence Hall last Thursday night, he started his speech by inaccurately paraphrasing these words.

"This," said Biden, "is where America made its Declaration of Independence to the world more than two centuries ago with an idea, unique among nations, that in America, we're all created equal."

No, the Founders did not say "that in America, we're all created equal." They said "all men are created equal."

They also said it is our Creator who endows all men with rights, including "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."

Biden did not mention our Creator in this context.

Nor, as Biden claimed, was this "an idea, unique among nations."

The Declaration imposed no geographical or temporal limits on the rights that God had granted all human beings.

Indeed, as this column has noted before, Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration, insisted it was based on ancient principles that were broadly embraced by the American people.

[...]

But near the beginning — in euphemistic language — he did talk about a "right" to kill an unborn child and a "right" for two men to marry each other.

He argued that "MAGA" Republicans wanted to take these "rights" away.

"MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards — backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love," said Biden.

The problem with Biden's alleged "right" for two men to marry each other or for a doctor to kill an unborn child is that such acts can never be reconciled with the Laws of Nature and Nature's God that our Founders invoked when declaring our independence and that Cicero invoked when defending the rights of Romans.

Killing an unborn child violates the natural law, as does same-sex marriage.

[...]

Biden is attacking the immutable principles of natural law on which this nation was founded — and on which our continuing freedom depends.

The same day, CNS published a column by Pat Buchanan complaining that Biden was "hypocritically denouncing as "backward" moral stands championed by his own Catholic faith — opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage — that he himself held not so long ago." After touting Donald Trump's inevitable criticism of Biden's speech, he added that "In an earlier time, this exchange between the two presidents might have been settled with pistols at dawn."

A Sept. 9 article by Melanie Arter noted that Biden said in a later speech that "Not every Republican is a MAGA Republican. Not every Republican embraces the extreme ideology."

WND's Lively Tries To Whitewash Gab Founder's Anti-Semitism
Topic: WorldNetDaily

Vladimir Putin isn't the only unsavory person WorldNetDaily columnist Scott Lively has been defending lately. His Sept. 22 column is an open letter to Gab's Andrew Torba:

Dear Brother Andrew. I am a Hebraic-oriented evangelical Christian attorney, pastor and historian who has devoted my entire adult life in Christ to Christian social, cultural and political activism. I bought your book "Christian Nationalism" to support the mission of Gab Social and want to offer you some constructive criticism.

At the outset, I want to commend you for your courage and vision in taking on the powers and principalities of the present age by working to break the chains of censorship and suppression of free speech, particularly of the biblically informed views that so powerfully contradict the secular humanist dogma of our Marxist would-be masters. They are the true enemies of "Judeo-Christian" civilization, and of course I choose that phrase intentionally to respectfully contradict your well-intentioned but misguided representation of its meaning and purpose relative to our national identity and heritage.

I will also add that I am both a member of Gab and a vehement defender of your right to address the distinctions between Judaism and Christianity. I do not consider you an anti-Semite and in fact believe that the secularized ethnic Jews working to destroy your work are actually far more anti-Semitic than they claim you are in that they deny and/or defy the Torah, whereas you worship and revere its Author.

What defines a "Semite" (Shemite) if not Yahweh-worship? It certainly can't be an ethnic connection to Shem (or Abraham or even Jacob), which virtually all humanity now shares because of genetic diffusion over millennia. No, it must be the practice of true Judaism, whose terms are defined by the Torah and Tanach (Old Testament Scripture), NOT the Talmud (commentaries on the Scripture by various Hebrew scholars with widely divergent views, values and validity).

Lively may not consider Torba to be anti-Semitic, but everyone else does. Media Matters reports that Torba has reposted claims that Jews are “subversive”; that they’re in control of the government, media, and financial institutions; and that they’re Christ killers. He also reposted a conspiracy theory blaming Jews for “white genocide” and praise of Gab for offering “differing opinions” on the Holocaust. The ADL notes that Torba reposted statements agreeing that "the nation of Israel is not in rebellion against God" and that "Talmudic zionists want to crush the Gentiles." And as one might expect, Gab itself has become a cesspool of anti-Semitism and far-right conspiracy theories.

Doug Mastriano, the Republican candidate for governor in Pennsylvania, got in trouble for hiring Torba as a consultant.  And when Torba reposed an article from a Jewish newspaper in Pittsburgh noting detailing the anti-Semitism directed toward a Jewish state representative on Gab, users then directed their hate toward the newspaper itself(with a bonus reposting by Torba of an article headlined "Federal Reserve: A Private Jewish Bank Strangling America").

So, yes, Torba is quite the anti-Semite. Livey doesn't address any of this, of course; instead, he quibbles with things Torba wrote in his self-published "Christian Nationalism" book, which has been called "a radically caustic if ambiguously plotted attempt to formalize and add some discipline to the nascent Christian nationalist movement." At one point, Torba and co-author Andrew Isker call Judaism a "false religion." Rather than calling that out, Lively held out his version of an olive branch to someone he's already admitted he largely agrees with:

I don't expect you to change your theology based on one letter from me, but I do hope you will reconsider your gratuitous exclusionary rhetoric regarding our spiritual cousins in the House of Judah, treating at least the many who share our cultural values and all-important Creationist paradigm with the same basic respect and camaraderie you show to atheists in the MAGA and conservative movements. And I offer my assistance in making this necessary course correction if you care to accept it.

If Lively can't see that Torba is a raging anti-Semite, there's little hope of his attempt at "course correction" succeeding.

NEW ARTICLE -- New Press Secretary, Same MRC Hate: August 2022
Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center continues its orgy of Doocy-fluffing and degradation of White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. Read more >>

MRC Plays Defense, Whataboutism To Distract From Herschel Walker Abortion Scandal
Topic: Media Research Center

The Media Research Center has been a Herschel Walker apologist ever since he voiced his interest in running for a Senate seat as a Republican -- from actually arguing the domestic violence charges made by his ex-wife weren't true because criminal charges weren't filed to playing whataboutism to distract from his unsavory past. So when it was exposed that Walker had paid for an abortion for a former girlfriend, the MRC quickly assembled to play defense for him again (unlike its "news" division CNSNews.com, which has censored the story) -- even though the MRC is a hive of anti-abortion extremists (to the point that it wants an Orwellian surveillance state to monitor women who might have one).

Scott Whitlock made the usual MRC claim in a Oct. 4 post that non-right-wing media covered the story with added whataboutism regarding his Democratic opponent, Raphael Warnock:

Less than 12 hours after being posted on a liberal website, the ABC, CBS, MSNBC and CNN morning shows on Tuesday devoted 24 minutes and three seconds to Daily Beastclaims that Republican Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker paid for an abortion in 2009. Back in 2020, the networks weren’t interested in domestic dispute police video of Walker’s Democratic opponent. 

CBS Mornings hyped the accusations against the pro-life Walker for two minutes and 23 seconds. Co-host Nate Burleson touted, “Turning to the midterms where there's a new twist in the pivotal Senate race in Georgia. The website The Daily Beast is reporting Republican candidate Herschel Walker paid for a woman he was dating to get an abortion in 2009.”

[...]

Back in 2020, the networks buried a domestic dispute video involving the Democratic (and pro-abortion) Senator of Georgia Raphael Warnock.

Whitlock didn't explain why right-wing operations like his are trying to distract from the Walker scandal despite abortion being a hot-button right-wing issue.

Mrk Finkelstein played whataboutism of a different sort, while dismissing the story as nothing but a biased "October surprise":

"Hypocrisy?" We got your hypocrisy right here, Morning Joe!

With control of the Senate at stake in next month's elections, Republicans have been bracing for the Democrat/liberal-media complex to drop an "October surprise" on one of the GOP candidates engaged in a tight race.

And, sure enough, the left-wing Daily Beast yesterday published an article alleging that Herschel Walker, the Republican candidate for Senate from Georgia, who has taken a strong pro-life stance, paid for a girlfriend's abortion 13 years ago.

[...]

So, let's turn to another story regarding a Republican. When Rep. Jackie Walorski died along with two of her aides in a car accident in August, Morning Joe prominently featured Pres. Biden's expression of condolences. Biden said that he and Dr. Jill were "shocked and saddened" by Walorski's death.

And Willie Geist mentioned that Walorski had made a very large "impact on Washington."

But Biden was obviously not "shocked" enough by Walorski's death, nor did it "impact" Biden sufficiently, for him to remember it less than two months later. At an event in late September, Biden called out, "Jackie, are you here? Where's Jackie?"

[...]

So, after featuring Biden's "shocked and saddened" condolences at the time of Walorski's death, how much time did Morning Joe ever devote to Biden's gaffe? None, of course. 

Hypocrisy, thy name is Morning Joe.

Of course, by Finkelstein's logic, the non-right-wing media were right to dismiss stories about Hunter Biden's laptop because they were an "October surprise" issued by a partisan right-wing publication, the New York Post -- but that's not the argument the MRC is making. Finkelstein then bizarrely attacked Scarborough for going from "a perfect pro-life voting record" as a congressman to having "sounded more like a Planned Parenthood spokesman," inventing a conspiracy theory: "Could there be something in Scarborough's past that would expose him as a hypocrite regarding his erstwhile pro-life position?"

If Finkelstein can't substantiate his conspiracy theory, perhaps he should shut up lest Scarborough slap him with a defamation suit.

The next day, Whitlock again invoked Warnock whataboutism to whine about the coverage:

The media-backed October surprise is finally here. In the 24 hours since the liberal Daily Beast posted an accusation that Georgia Republican senatorial candidate Herschel Walker paid for an abortion in 2009, the ABC, CBS and NBC morning and evening newscasts devoted almost 21 minutes to hyping the allegations. 

These same networks weren’t interested in a 2020 domestic abuse police video of Walker’s opponent, the radically pro-abortion Senator Raphael Warnock (D). But they can’t get enough of the charges against the pro-life Republican.

Whitlock didn't explain the relevance of the Walker story coming from a "liberal" (or "left-wing," according to Limbaugh) outlet if the story is true -- and there has been no evidence it isn't. LIek Finkelstein, he also didn't note that the "October surprise" argument justifies non-right-wing media ignoring the Hunter laptop story.

Finkelstein returned for another post attacking Scarborough to distact from Walker, complaining that while Scarborough is "upset that pro-lifers would stick to supporting Herschel Walker in the U.S. Senate race in Georgia," Sarborough himself didn't list opposition to abortion as an attribut that makes him conservative: "So why do you think Scarborough markedly omitted abortion from his list of conservative credentials?" Finkelstein, meanwhile, made no argument in favor of conservatives sticking with a man credibly accused of paying for an abortion.

Whitlock also complained that James Carville pointed out how Republican indifference to abortion when one of its candidates get caught paying for one "exposes the massive, staggering humanity of conservative evangelicals. I’m not going to call these people Christians, because I don’t think they embrace very much of Christianity." He didn't rebut Carville's remarks, just complained that he said them, putting the word "HATER" in all-caps in the headline to describe him.

Sports blogger Jay Maxson tried his (or her) own form of whataboutism in an Oct. 6 post, then gave Walker a pass for purportedly having changed:

Ex-ESPN reporter Darren Rovell on Monday slammed the supporters of conservative Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker as “vile,” and he labeled the former Heisman Trophy winner possibly the worst political candidate ever. Rovell and Walker’s opponent, Senator Raphael Warnock (D), have skeletons in their own respective closets, but those were ignored.

[...]

If the claim is true, the alleged abortion was not an honorable act on Walker’s part. But 13 years later, he’s on the right side of the sanctity of life issue. Warnock, on the other hand, would have unlimited tax-payer funded abortions.

Yes, Maxson is cheering that "he’s on the right side" of the issue, his personal history to the contrary.

Maxson then attacked Rovell for having "issues of his own" that are completely irrelevant to the issue at hand. Leave it to the MRC to turn a critique into a personal attack.

WND's Root Takes Credit For DeSantis Stunt, Wants To 'Make It Rain Illegals Wherever Rich Liberals Live'
Topic: WorldNetDaily

The Media Research Center isn't the only ConWeb division getting off on the own-the-libs stunt of GOP Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis deceiving migrants into flying to Martha's Vineyard. Wayne Allyn Root was way too excited about this stunt -- and is even trying to take credit for it -- in his Sept. 17 WorldNetDaily column:

Most importantly, over a decade ago, I wrote the column urging GOP governors to ship illegal aliens to deep blue Democrat towns. If Democrats love these people so much, let them live with them. Over the years I've repeated this idea hundreds of times on my TV and radio shows. 

My idea was to ship illegal aliens by the thousands to exclusive, elitist wealthy towns and neighborhoods filled with rich liberal hypocrites. And to the lawns of Democratic politicians.

Places like Martha's Vineyard.

Finally, someone had the balls and common sense to listen. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis just did it. DeSantis carried out both ideas. He shipped migrants to fancy Martha's Vineyard and to the lawn of Vice President Kamala Harris' home. Bravo.

And once again, I'm proud to report liberals are melting down.

Why is the left going bonkers over just a few hundred illegal aliens being shipped to their fancy neighborhoods? Because this is a BULL'S-EYE. A grand-slam home run. We've got them on the run.

The left is melting down over 50 illegal aliens shipped to a tony island filled with rich liberal millionaires and billionaires (including former President Barack Obama). At the same time, they've claimed for years President Joe Biden letting in almost 5 million illegals into America is just fine and dandy.

We've exposed liberals for the frauds they are. This is just like John Kerry and Leonardo DiCaprio screaming hysterically about "climate change" being the end of the world, while flying around the world in private jets emitting tons of carbon.

They want open borders. They want to wave millions of illegals into America. But the left doesn't want to live anywhere near them.

[...]

DeSantis has hit a home run. I should know; it's my idea. But now we have to double down. Put it into overdrive. Put the pedal to the metal. Every other GOP governor needs to join the fight. It's time for national expansion. 

We have to make it rain illegals wherever rich liberals live.

First, don't stop at Martha's Vineyard. Let's hit all the rich, woke, liberal, spoiled-brat Democrat towns. Send thousands of migrants each week to the Hamptons, Scarsdale and Great Neck, New York; Beverly Hills, Malibu, Palo Alto, La Jolla and Napa Valley, California; Beacon Hill in Boston, the Gold Coast of Chicago, the Upper East Side of Manhattan and Georgetown in Washington, D.C.

Bury all the rich liberal towns with migrants from the border. Make sure elitist, woke, liberal Democrat hypocrites have to step over hordes of these people to get into Starbucks, their hairdresser, nail salon, supermarkets, restaurants and their kids' schools. Make them scream "Uncle."

Of course, Roote cares nothing about the humanity of the migrants he's treating likepolitical pawns -- for the likes of him and DeSantis, it's all about partisanship, not about compassion. Indeed, he concluded by declaring that cynical stunts like this are "how we win a midterm landslide."

Root seems to be counting on most voters to be as cynical and vengeful as he is. Is that any way to live a life?

MRC's Graham Still Can't Stop His Cynical Hypocrisy Over Election Meddling
Topic: Media Research Center

The Media Research Center (and its "news" division CNSNews.com) have been wildly hypocritical about Democrats meddlling in Republican primaries, given that they had no problem with Republicans meddling in Democcratic primaries via Rush Limbaugh's "Operation Chaos." Chief hypocrite Tim Graham had even more to say on the subject in his Sept. 16 column:

The Democrat-enabling media are currently highlighting a Republican tactical rift on whether or not to support a national ban on abortions in the later stages of pregnancy. They are not spending much time on an obvious tactical rift among Democrats. Should Democrats be boosting “MAGA Republicans” as Biden screams in speeches that they’re killing democracy?

On September 12, PBS NewsHour reporter Laura Barron Lopez laid out just how cynical Democrats are in backing these alleged monsters. In New Hampshire’s GOP Senate primary, they spent $3.2 million attacking more moderate candidate Chuck Morse as a Mitch McConnell stooge to smooth the path for Trump-loving Don Bolduc to win. Now they think the re-election of Sen. Maggie Hassan is a fait accompli.

This is happening all over the country. In Maryland, Democrats spent $627,000 to elevate “election denier” Dan Cox, so they can finally elect a Democrat governor in a state that Biden won by 33 points.

But the snow-topped summit of cynicism came in Michigan’s 3rd congressional district, where Democrats poured $435,000 into promoting “election denier” John Gibbs. Gibbs then beat freshman Congressman Peter Meijer, who boldly voted for the second impeachment of Trump after the Capitol riot.

Um, wouldn't the real "snow-topped summit of cynicism" be Graham continuing to whine about this while staying silent on his employer's enthusiastic support of "Operation Chaos"? You'd think so, but Graham would rather perpetuate the hypocrisy:

Democrats cynically backed candidates that their media buddies can paint as scary “hard-right” kooks while they pose preposterously as the sensible essence of moderation. They are so aerobically cynical that they can align this whole exercise with Joe Biden’s “restoring the soul of the nation.”

These trashy tacticians should just admit they would do just about anything to win. That's where their moral compass is pointed.

Graham is certainly not about to admit that turnabout is fair play. Otherwise, he's have to concede how hypocritical and cynical he is, and there's no way he'll do that.

CNS Unemployment Coverage Distortion Watch
Topic: CNSNews.com

The employment numbers are still too good for CNSNews.com writer Susan Jones to complain about (not that CNS hasn't tried). So her article on September's employment numbers led with future job losses before she got around to the relevant (and actual) numbers, then cherry-picking her favorite number to try and make the overall picture look bad:

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned last month that raising interest rates to cool inflation is likely to dampen economic growth -- "and there will very likely be some softening of labor market conditions," he said.

But there's no significant softening evident in Friday's jobs/employment report.

On Friday, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the number of employed Americans in September rose by 204,000 to 158,936,000, a record high. The previous record, 158,735,000, was set in December 2019 when Donald Trump was president.

But another key indicator of economic health -- the labor force participation rate -- dropped a tenth of a point to 62.3 percent from 62.4 percent in August.

This number reflects the active workforce -- the percentage of civilian, non-institutionalized workers available for the production of goods and services, so the higher, the better.

And it wouldn't be Jones if she wasn't gushing over how much better things were under her favorite president: "The participation rate was 61.4 percent when Joe Biden took office as the pandemic raged. Today's number, 62.3 percent, is still below the Trump-era high of 63.4 percent recorded in February 2020, just before COVID shut things down." She did surprisingly admit, though, that the lower labor force participation rate can't be blamed on a Democratic president, conceding that it "peaked in early 2000 at 67.3 percent and subsequently trended down. In recent years, baby-boom retirements have contributed to the decline in the overall participation rate."

This month also continued CNS' recent trend of Jones' story being the only one, with editor Terry Jeffrey abstaining from his usual sidebar on manufacturing jobs.

MRC Immaturely Gloats That CNN's Lemon Is Being 'Demoted' To Mornings
Topic: Media Research Center

The immature glee the Media Research Center shows to CNN whenever something even mildly unpleasant happens to the network or one of its employees reared its ugly head again, this time in the form of a Sept. 15 post about some schedule-shuffling:

CNN announced Thursday morning that, after a nine-year run, their morning show New Day would be canceled this fall as new CNN boss Chris Licht and new parent company Discovery continue to remake the far-left, low-rated network and replaced with a yet-to-be-named newscast starring longtime CNNers Don Lemon and Poppy Harlow and chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins.

CNN said in a statement that current New Day co-hosts John Berman and Brianna Keilar would “continue to anchor New Day until the new program premieres” when they will thereafter “assume new roles at the network later this year.”

The obvious highlight and takeaway from this new trio is Lemon, the far-left, deeply partisan evening host who had helmed anywhere from one to two hours of primetime starting in 2014. Originally borne as CNN Tonight, it became Don Lemon Tonight in May 2021.

Chronicled with diligence and humor (with a side of fact-checking) by our Nick Fondacaro for seven years, Lemon had established himself as a home for rampant partisanship, snarky commentaries ,yelling, and venom toward conservatives.

Partisanship and venom? Is Houck actually talking aboaut Fondacaro, who we've chronicled for years and found him to be humorous or factually diligent?Houck also aoffered no evidence to back up his assertion that both CNN and Lemon are "far-left."That's just name-caling to pander to the MRC's right-wing audience.

The headline of Houck's piece insisted that Lemon was being "demoted" by moving from prime time to mornings, and the MRC was deadly serious about keeping it, so it was pleased when its favorite right-wing media critic on Fox News embraced it, as documented in a Sept. 18 post by Kevin Tober:

With the news this week of low-rated leftist CNN host, Don Lemon's demotion to mornings, Fox News MediaBuzz host Howard Kurtz noted the glaring double standard in media coverage of the move. Kurtz pointed out how there was barely any mention of Lemon's divisive and hyper-partisan commentary nor mentions of how being moved from primetime to early mornings is a serious demotion for Lemon. 

"CNN is throwing out its third-place New Day and launching a new morning show with Poppy Harlow, Kaitlin Collins, and Don Lemon. It’s a big move by new CNN boss Chris Licht who once helped create Morning Joe," Kurtz reported.

[...]

The Fox anchor then pointed out that: "The press sure is giving him a pass. Maybe most of the writers agree with Lemon’s anti-Trump stance" adding "can you imagine the reaction if one of Fox's most conservative opinion hosts was suddenly reinvented as a morning personality?" 

If Sean Hannity or Tucker Carlson were moved to mornings, the media would make sure to mention every chance they got to say it was a demotion, and they would be right. The media refuse to say anything critical of Lemon because he is a Democrat Party [sic] propagandist like them. 

Tober doesn't mention that Kurtz is never going to criticize Hannity or Carlson because, like them (and Tober), he's a right-wing propagandist as well as a fellow Fox News employee. Also, being a morning host does require a certain set of skills that nobody has ever accused Hannity or Carlson of having -- and neither Kurtz nor Tober (or Houck, for that matter) offer any evidence that Lemon does not have those skills.

Talking trash is not "media research." The MRC does not seem to understand that.

Newsmax's Hirsen Fearmongers About Digital Currency That Doesn't Actually Exist
Topic: Newsmax

Aside from his dishonest moral projection -- specifically, his insistence on pushing right-wing virtue-signaling while refusing to apologize for the election fraud lies he peddled after the 2020 election -- Newsmax columnist has been getting into more esoteric conspiracy theories, such as claiming that you lose your soul if get yourself microchipped. For his Sept. 19 column, Hirsen peddled a slightly less esoteric conspiracy theory that has also been embraced by the likes of WorldNetDaily's Joseph Farah:

The Biden administration is pursuing something called a central bank digital currency (CBDC), also sometimes referred to as the “digital dollar.”

In March 2022 an executive order was issued, calling on federal agencies to research a number of topics that include the pros and cons of the digital dollar.

The Treasury, Justice Department, Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, Securities and Exchange Commission as well as other agencies were asked to contribute to the reports.

[...]

With regard to the inherent dangers of these developments, there is a whole lot to be concerned about.

CBDCs are very different from cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin are private and untraceable. CBDCs are controlled by government.

Not only are CBDCs able to collect personally identifiable financial information and track the transactions of each and every individual, they are also programmable.

Programmable digital currency gives government leaders something they have never had before — the ability to limit or even stop altogether the purchases of all persons engaged in the digital currency’s use.

Money spent on things that for whatever reasons are deemed by government as “inappropriate” could be restricted, or said purchases could be totally halted.

How could a plan such as this be implemented? With the flick of a virtual switch.

Programmable currency has the capacity to have a built-in off switch. The government powers that be could then de-activate such digital currency and render it worthless, if they so choose.

Additionally, use of CBDCs would enable all shopping records to be stored in government databanks. Records could then be evaluated and measured against government-created standards.

As we documented when Farah pushed this conpsiracy, none of this is happening. Biden's executive order simply authorized analysis of the risks and benefits and what legislative changes would be needed if such a system went forward.Despite that inconvenient fact, Hirsen concluded with mroe fearmongering:

Should the digital dollar arrive in our virtual wallets, the longstanding U.S. motto that has graced our coin and paper currency is unlikely to be visible.

But it will prove to be more important than ever.

Apparently, Hirsen has decided that scaring his readers is easier than apologizing to them.

WND Can't Stop Pushing The 'Charlottesville Lie' Lie
Topic: WorldNetDaily

WorldNetDaily is highly invested in the "Charlottesville lie" lie, and it's never going to tell its readers the truth. Thus, Art Moore is at it again in a Sept. 18 article:

Promoting his United We Stand Summit at the White House – an event intended to "counter the corrosive effects of hate-fueled violence on our democracy and public safety" – President Biden repeated the false "very fine" people claim against former President Trump.

"I decided to run for president after Charlottesville because I believed our story is to unite as one people, one nation, one America," Biden said on his Twitter account Thursday.

"Today, we convened a first-of-its-kind United We Stand Summit held at the White House to make that story clear."

In fact, Trump made it clear during his remarks on the Charlottesville riot in 2017 that he was not referring to "the neo-Nazis and white nationalists" as "fine" people, explicitly declaring "they should be condemned totally."

His reference – as a CNN contributor pointed out in a rebuke to his network colleagues – was to the people on both sides of the issue of whether or not to maintain statues of Robert E. Lee and other Confederate figures.

As we've documented, the group that was protesting the removal of the Confederate statue and Robert E. Lee park renaming in Charlottesville was a group calling itself American Warrior Revolution, which considers itself a militia and later effectively blaming liberal counterprotester Heather Heyer for her own death in getting mowed down by a car driven by white supremacist James Fields Jr.

Moore tried to play whataboutism by noting that "Biden, for his part, weighed in on the controversial Confederate flag issue in a 1993 Senate session, declaring that 'many fine people' display it." Again, that was nearly 30 years ago when Americans as a whole were more sanguine about the Confederacy, and his source for the Biden video clipis something called the "Trump War Room," an opposition research Twitter feed run by Trump supporters -- hardly an objective source of information.

Moire keeps trying to make this counter-narrative happen, but he can't fight the facts.

NEW ARTICLE: The Heathering of Alyssa Farah
Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center is quite upset that the daughter of WorldNetDaily's Joseph Farah and a former Trump administration official left the Trump cult and wants to co-host "The View" -- as is her father, apparently. Read more >>