NEW ARTICLE: It's Not Book Banning When The MRC Does It! Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center embraced right-wing attacks on books that don't push preferred narratives -- but it's upset at being called censors for supporting the bans. Read more >>
MRC Continued To Lash Out At Expelled (And Reinstated) Tenn. Legislators Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center just couldn't stop lashing out over the fact that the Tennessee legislators who were expelled for taking part in an anti-gun protest following a gun massacre in Nashville got media attention (though they downplayed the fact that if the Republicans in the Tennessee legislature hadn't rushed so quickly to expel them, they wouldn't have received all that attention). Tim Graham spent an April 11 post complaining people said nice things about the expelled legislators returning:
In Tennessee, the Bullhorn Justins -- ousted state legislators Justin Jones and Justin Pearson -- routinely employ the metaphor of crucifixion in reference to their expulsion, and now resurrection. Lindsey Kornick at Fox News reports these same metaphors comparing the Democrats to Jesus are broke out Monday night on MSNBC.
On The Beat with Ari Melber, Rev. Mark Thompson, who hosted a leftist talk show for Sirius/XM satellite radio for almost 20 years, spoke live from a rally for the two men, after Jones are voted back in by the Nashville Metro Council (a similar vote is expected for Pearson in Memphis on Thursday).
Thompson said: "The word is right. It’s jubilant. Last week they sent these two gentlemen home, but it’s Easter weekend. So they’ve been resurrected. They’re back in their seats. And whatever the Republicans here were up to has been thwarted for now."
Guest host Melissa Murray agreed, "This is an Easter miracle of sorts, the resurrection of the political careers of these two men, or what will be two men if Memphis does the same thing." Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson merely hailed them as "mega-political stars," not quite Jesus.
Graham didn't mention that Kornick is a former MRC employee who is part of the great exodus of employees to Fox News.
On April 13, Kevin Tober grumbled that it was pointed how bad a look it was for a group of white Republican politicians to expel two black legislators:
On Wednesday night, The Grio's April Ryan spent her time on MSNBC's The 11th Hourgloating and hurling allegations of racism at Republicans in the Tennesee legislature because they held two of the three Democrat insurrectionists accountable for stirring up a mob on the House floor. Leftists in the media like Ryan apparently believe insurrections are a good thing so long as it's in pursuit of their agenda. If you try to hold them accountable, they cry racism.
Host and MSNBC's resident dunce Stephanie Ruhle teed up Ryan by proclaiming "Both of these then-expelled, now soon to be reinstated, lawmakers have a huge national platform." Ruhle then asked "Did this whole thing completely backfire on Republicans? Did they not know how the rules even worked?"
"Yeah, it completely backfired," Ryan agreed before smearing Republicans as racist: "They wanted their guns by any means necessary, even if it meant expelling two young African Americans who are fighting for the right for children to be able to live and learn in school. And just people to be able to live."
[...]
This is the kind of commentary you get on MSNBC. Everything is racist. But if everything is racist, then nothing is racist.
Does that mean if everything is biased, as the MRC repeatedly tells us, then nothing is biased?
The same day, Clay Waters groused that a PBS host "used PBS’s favorite euphemism for gun control, 'gun safety,' while NPR’s [Tamara] Keith fiercely defended the left-wing legislative disruptors and emphasized race, while wondering why the Biden administration didn’t do so initially as well." He made sure to add that the shooting was perpetrated "by a trans-man (i.e., a biological woman) at a Christian school."
An April 14 post by Brad Wilmouth tried to push back on the fact that Republicans have heavily gerrymandered the Tennessee legislature to their advantage:
On Tuesday'sCNN This Morning, the show used the recent expulsion (and eventual reinstatment) of two Democratic state legislators in Tennessee as an opportunity to promote the discredited liberal trope that Republicans were only able to solidly majorities in some states because of gerrymandering, which then allegedly leads them to enact extreme agendas against the will of voters who were unable to vote them out.
[...]
What went unmeantioned was the 2020 presidential election results when Donald Trump defeated Joe Biden in the state by a whopping 61 to 37 percent. Trump also won 92 of the 95 counties in Tennessee. The three counties that Biden did win -- Davidson, Shelby, and Haywood -- contain only 24 percent of the state's population, so it's not shocking that Democrats only hold about one in four seats in the state house.
But as observers have noted, Republicans hold 27 of the 33 seats in the state Senate (82%) and 75 of the 99 seats in the state House (76%) -- clear evidence of gerrymandering.
It wouldn't be the MRC if there wasn't a coverage-count item, and Geoffrey Dickens predictably whined that non-right-wing channels didn't follow right-wing narratives attacking the legislators:
The Big Three (ABC, CBS, NBC) fell in love with their new heroes, the so-called “Tennessee Three” as they devoted a full week to cramming their evening and morning shows with clips of the unruly gun-grabbing trio and their supporters.
MRC analysts looked at92 minutes, 22 seconds of network evening and morning coverage of the ousting of the disruptive and disrespectful Democrats from April 6 to April 13 and discovered a whopping disparity in clips with the leftist Tennessee threesome and their supporters overwhelming conservative Republicans by a 107 to 24 count.
Yes, viewers of these programs were four times (4 to 1) more likely to hear from the leftist Tennessee State Representatives Justin Jones, Justin Pearson, Gloria Johnson and their vocal supporters like Vice President Kamala Harris than Tennessee Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton and State Representative Sabi Kumar.
Instead of focusing on how the three Democrats had flouted the rules, network anchors and hosts largely spent their time advancing the narrative that these two Democratic black legislators and one white female were bravely facing down a bunch of racist pro-gun GOP lawmakers.
Not only did the networks quickly brush-past the disorderly conduct of the “Tennessee Three,” they completely ignored State Representative Justin Jones’ charges for misconduct for his assault of a driver at a 2020 “racial-justice” protest.
As usual, Dickens failed to document how Fox News covered the story to provide an example of how he believes the story should have been handled (you know, with lots of right-wing bias).
WND Tries To Whitewash Another Capitol Insurrectionist Topic: WorldNetDaily
The latest in WorldNetDaily's series of attempts to whitewash the background of Capitol riot criminals and falsely portray them as victims was served up in an anonymously written March 30 article:
There's a lot of review going on now of the Jan. 6, 2021, events at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, where hundreds of supporters of President Donald Trump followed his instructions to go to the Capitol and protest the suspect Joe Biden election victory peacefully.
Of course, there were a few who got out of hand, breaking windows to enter and then vandalizing.
Democrats for the last two years have released cherry-picked segments of video to try to portray the events as an actual attempt to overthrow the U.S. government, even though there was no plan, no military involved, no leader and such.
Now, the Republican party, in the majority in the U.S. House, is releasing more video, and it shows that the "insurrection" storyline is anything but true.
Likewise are the facts of some individual cases misleading.
For example, the Gateway Pundit cited the case against Jake Lang, who attended the protest and rally "because he believed the election was stolen from Donald Trump."
After Trump's rally, he "walked to the U.S. Capitol where he was gassed and trampled when Capitol Police pushed Trump supporters down the stairs. Jake was nearly killed. The woman next to him was gassed, knocked down, trampled and then beaten with a stick by police. She died on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. Her name is Rosanne Boyland."
The report continued, "Jake Lang was next to Rosanne when she died. Being a former wrestler, Jake was able to crawl out of the pile. He then went back and saved Phillip Anderson who was knocked unconscious next to Rosanne Boyland. Jake was not able to rescue Rosanne but he saved the life of another man that day."
The result that he was accused of taking "swipes" at police after they killed Boyland, and was arrested.
He's been held in prison without trial ever since – a total of 800 days.
Of course, what Lang actually did is much worse than the whitewash WND attempted:
Lang is allegedly seen on video picking up a police riot shield and slamming it to the ground near law enforcement, according to prosecutors. He is also accused of swinging a baseball bat at police officers multiple times, striking the officers’ shields.
Lang, for his part, seemed proud of his actions, according to court filings.
“This is me,” Lang reportedly posted on Instagram, using an animated finger symbol to point himself out at the front of the crowd facing off against police.
Funny that WND didn't mention the shield or baseball bat.
WND went on to falsely claim that Lang faces "misdemeanors " -- in fact, the chrges against him include multiple counts of civil disorder and assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement, which are felonies. WND also repeated Gateway Pundit's assertion that Lang is "a political prisoner of the regime," which is also not true. He was denied release last year pending trial because he assaulted police officers:
The Appellate Court upheld the Sept. 20 decision by Judge Carl J. Nichols, writing: “The evidence proffered by the government shows that, over the course of two and a half hours on January 6, 2021, appellant repeatedly pushed, punched, and kicked at police officers defending the Lower West Terrace entrance to the Capitol building. He also slammed a door against one officer’s head and struck other officers first with a stolen riot shield and later with a metal baseball bat.”
The Appellate Court referenced another Jan. 6 case, United States vs Munchel, in their ruling: “As we explained in Munchel, ‘those who actually assaulted police officers ... are in a different category of dangerousness than those who cheered on the violence or entered the Capitol after others cleared the way.’”
WND is so desperate to minimize the Capitol insurrection that it feels it must lie to and mislead its readers in order to keep a bogus narrative alive.
MRC Gives Violent Athlete A Pass For Loving Trump, Hating Biden Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center regularly rages against athletes who talk about politics -- but only if those political views don't agree with those of the MRC. (See: Brittney Griner.) For a glimpse of how the MRC treats athletes with conservatively correct views, here's an April 10 post by Jay Maxson:
Saturday’s Ultimate Fighting Championship 287 event in Miami will likely be remembered far more for its politics than what happened in the octagon. With former President Donald Trump in attendance, ultimate fighting fans gave him a huge ovation and chanted “USA!” Trump fan Jorge Masvidal, a 20-year UFC star who lost his fight and immediately announced his retirement, praised the former president and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Fans chanted for the USA when the ex-president stood and waved to them. UFC fight audiences are also no friend to President Joe Biden, and they affirmed that sentiment as well.
As for the UFC fight card, Masvidal suffered his fourth consecutive loss, to welterweight rival Gilbert Burns. After his loss, he praised the ex-prez and Florida’s governor, during an interview with Joe Rogan. Pointing to Trump, he said:
"I wanted to say, greatest president in the history of the world sitting right there. I love that guy.
"We also got the greatest governor of all time here in Florida. Let’s keep Florida free, a red state. And let’s take back – you know who, Let’s go, Brandon motherf***er … replace him."
The “Let’s go Brandon” chant is a direct insult aimed at President Biden and actually means “F--- Joe Biden.”
Trump previously tweeted his support for Masvidal, calling him a “Great fight Champ!”
By contrast, an April 23 post by Maxson cheered former NBA coach Phil Jackson for criticizing the NBA for bein, in Maxson's words, "ridiculously woke," approvingly adding that "Jackson said politics should stay out of the game because “it doesn’t need to be there.” Indeed, Maxson used the word "woke" seven times in this post as well as in the headline.
Masvidal's political rant appears to have earned him forgiveness by Maxson for bad behavior. Maxson waited until the very last paragraph to note that "Masvidal had also gotten into previous legal trouble when he attacked rival Colby Covington, another Trump supporter, and seriously injured him." By contrast, Maxson has been much more willing to criticize bad behavior; a Feb. 27 post cheered right-wing sports guy Jason Whitlock for blaming a "culture of death" for an incident in which a Alabama college basketball was allegedly linked to a murder, which Whitlock blamed on "racial idolatry" and "gang culture" that allegedly hates police. Maxson further huffed regarding the incident in a March 13 post:
It was one of the ugliest, most disgusting, abominable moments in recent sports history. An Alabama fan attending the Southeastern Conference (SEC) men’s basketball tournament wore a shirt stating, “Killing our way through the SEC.” The fan was referring to the fact that a former member of the Crimson Tide basketball team – rated among the top teams in the nation -- has been arrested for murder, and the current star of the team provided the murder weapon.
Has the fan no sense of shame? No, apparently none whatsoever.
But apparently, athlete violence and rowdy fandoms are OK if the athlete and fans love the correct right-wing politicians and hate the same people Maxson does.
This is far from the only instance in which Maxson has given the UFC a pass on bad behavior for political reason. Maxson and the MRC have regularly lavished praise on UFC commissioner Dana White for his support of Trump. Maxson himself (or herself) repeatedlytouted how White was "taking a leaf out of President Donald Trump's book on media criticism" over his attempts to evade health restrictions during the early days of the COVID pandemic by continuing to state fights. But at a New Year's Eve party, White slapped his wife during an argument caught on video; he faced no discipline from UFC for doing so. Maxson (along with the rest of the MRC) has been silent about the incident.
It seems loving -- and hating -- the right people allows one to get away with all sorts of things as far as the MRC is concerned.
After Arraignment, CNS Still Defended Trump, Attacked Bragg Topic: CNSNews.com
As Donald Trump moved toward arrignment last month, CNSNews.com continued to do what it did when indictment talk started swirling around him: Defend the guy and attack the prosecutor, district attorney Alvin Bragg.
The day before the arraignment, an article by Craig Bannister complained that Bragg "is known for being soft on crime – but, not in the case of a 61 year-old bodega worker who fatally stabbed an attacker last July." He went on to misleadingly claim that "Alvin Bragg’s DA campaign received a $1,000,000 donation from far-left billionaire philanthropist and activist George Soros through a political action committee called 'Color of Change.'" As we've documented, Soros didn't make a direct donation to Bragg -- he donated to Color of Change, which had pledged to support Bragg. An article by Susan Jones complained that a CNN anchor asked a Trump lawyer "the questions that will have some Trump-haters salivating," such as if there would be a "perp walk" for Trump. (Jones is clearly a Trump-lover.)
The morning of the arraignment on April 4, Jones served up some pre-emptive defenses:
Coverage of the arrignment itself was left to Bannister, who chose to give more attention to a separate legal judgment against Stormy Daniels, a hush-money payment to whom is the focus of the criminal charges against Trump:
On Tuesday, former President Donald Trump was arraigned in one court on charges related to payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels – which prompted Daniels to post a vulgar tweet – while another court ordered Daniels to pay Trump more than a hundred thousand dollars.
Trump attorney Harmeet Dhillon tweeted news of the award to Trump, noting it is based on Daniels’ previous “meritless litigation” against Trump:
For her part, the porn actress responded to the news of Trump’s arraignment by posting a vulgar tweet, saying she’d rather have sex than be arrested.
“Stormy Daniels gloats over Trump arraignment with X-rated tweet,” Fox News headlined one article, which notes that Trump pled not guilty to all charges of 34 felony counts stemming from an investigation into alleged hush money payments to former Playboy model Stormy Daniels.
By contrast, Jones devoted an article to Trump's post-indictment whine-fest, complaining that non-right-wing networks didn't air it in its entirety:
Cheers and chants of "USA! USA!" greeted former President Donald Trump as he spoke to friends, family and all Americans who tuned in last night to hear his reaction to a legal case that even his detractors describe as flimsy.
In what was essentially a campaign rally, the declared presidential candidate discussed the many ways Democrats have tried to undermine him with their "fraudulent investigations"; he called out his political enemies by name, including his latest nemesis, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg; he derided other, ongoing investigations into his activities; and he warned that "our country is going to hell" under President Joe Biden.
Notably, CNN cut away from the speech about 23 minutes into it as Trump described "where we are as a nation."
MSNBC refused to air the Trump speech, because, as Rachel Maddow put it, it was "basically a campaign speech in which he is repeating his same lies and allegations against his perceived enemies."
Despite presenting herself as a journalist, Jones made no effort to fact-check anything Trump said, preferring to serve as his stenographer instead.
The Trump defenses continued in the following days:
Jones did write an article that purported to attempt balance -- Two Views – Bolton: Don't Delay Trial, It Benefits Trump; Barr: The Case Seems to Lack 'Any Legal Basis' -- instead, she devoted only four paragraphs to the views of John Bolton (whom she called a "bitter Trump foe") but lavished 15 paragraphs on the pro-Trump views of William Barr, whom she identified only as his title as former attorney general.
An anonymously written article complained that Bragg's office website states that "Our office is a safe place for undocumented immigrants to report crime." The anonymous writer didn't explain why this statement was so offensive. More attacks followed:
Meanwhile, CNS editor Terry Jeffrey wrote an April 5 column that appeared to be an exercise in whataboutism by rehashing the impeachment of President Clinton and complaining he wasn't hauled into court for perjury for "intentionally false" testimony regarding his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.
MRC Cheers Right-Wing Campaign To Destroy Bud Light For Not Hating Dylan Mulvaney Topic: Media Research Center
One of the Media Research Center's biggest targets in its dishonest war on transgender people has been Dylan Mulvaney, who has committed the offense of being popular oni TikTok while detailing her transition journey. So popular, in fact, that she worked on a promotion for Bud Light -- which prompted right-wingers to wage war against Bud Light. Matt Philbin cheered this war in an April 6 post:
You know things are really messed up when a singer changing the kind of beer served backstage looks like a brave act of civil disobedience. But here we are.
Country star Travis Tritt is nixing anything related to Budweiser or Bud Light from his concert green rooms. The move is a reaction to a newly-announced Bud Light partnership with transgender “influencer” (God help us) and activist Dylan Mulvaney, who recently had surgery to help him pretend he’s a woman.
"I will be deleting all Anheuser-Busch products from my tour hospitality rider. I know many other artists who are doing the same," Tritt tweeted on Wednesday.
Sure, it’s not "Letter from Birmingham Jail," nor is it nearly as dramatic as Kid Rock’s protest, but it’s something, and it’s well-deserved.
Yeah, it is something -- but it's definitely not the "brave act of civil disobedience" Philbin wants you to think it is. More like the reactionary tantruam of an ideologue who's so filled with hatred for transgender people that the mere thought of someone he doesn't like drinking the same brand of beer as he fills him with bizarre revulsion. Nope, no bravery there. Still, Philbin tried to link Mulvaney beingn allowed to drink beer to a massacre:
It was only last week that a transgender lunatic murdered six people in a Christian school in Nashville. The media and the LGBT mob has spent the days since arguing that the real victims were transgender people, not the three nine year-olds and three adults she purposely targeted. Against that background, Bud Light’s announcement is a middle finger to grieving families, Christians, and anybody else unwilling to genuflect to the fashionably mentally ill.
Philbin didn't explain why he believes all transgender people are potential spree killers, nor why he believes that all transgender people must be punished for the actions of one.
The MRC's chief transphobe, Tierin-Rose Mandelburg, raged at Bud Light's maker for the Mulvaney promotion in an April 10 post -- and at Mulvaney herself, maliciously likening her to a drug addict :
We say this time and time again. Get woke, go broke.
Bud Light’s Marketing Vice President Alissa Heinerscheid sparked nationwide controversy when she explained her strategy to implement more "inclusive" marketing the Bud Light brand, including spotlighting a man who pretends to be a woman.
As you’re probably aware by now, Dylan Mulvaney, a biological man who gets paid to act like a little girl, became the new face of Bud Light beer. Earlier this month, Mulvaney posted a video saying Bud Light sent him a commemorative can with his face on it to celebrate his “365th day of girlhood. Mulvaney also filmed himself bathing in a bubble bath while drinking the beer - but, as MRCTV’s Brittany Hughes put it, “there’s not enough bleach in the world.”
When I picture Bud Light’s demographic, I think of men (actual men) outside, maybe shooting, likely listening to country music, maybe even on a boat with an American flag in the background. I don’t picture Dylan Mulvaney, with his bulge tucked into a mini skirt, dancing around like a child on crack cocaine.
Yet, that’s apparently exactly who Bud Light’s VP of marketing was trying to reach.
Mandelburg referenced Tritt's tantrum and also noted that "Kid Rock shot up a few cases of Bud Light in a video and then proclaimed 'f**k Bud Light and f**k Anheuser-Busch' with his middle finger raised."Why does she think these hate-filled people is a desirable target audience for any product? (She didn't mention that Kid Rock presumably had to buy all that Bud Light he shot up, so company still profited.)
To quote Mandelburg herself, it's almost laughable.
Mandelburg went on a tirade about a different promotion involving Mulvaney in an April 13 post:
If you haven’t heard of Dylan Mulvaney, you’re better off for it, but, if you have, you’re probably well aware by now how he’s one of the most popular he/she’s on the market.
Mulvaney is a biological man who transitioned to a girl a little over a year ago. He recently celebrated his 365th day of “girlhood” and even endured a facial feminization surgery. Word on the street (and according to photos where he’s in tight fitting pants) he’s still got his dinglehopper intact but that hasn’t stopped him from fully embracing girlhood and companies and the media are helping him.
Mulvaney was recently sponsored by Olay makeup, Bud Light, Kate Spade, Tampax and none other than Nike which I personally think should be renamed as Wokie. As a form of protest, a Ban Bra Challenge began trending on social media where women would burn their Nike sports bras to show their disapproval of using Mulvaney for their ads.
She happily reposted someone spewing hateat Mulvaney, engaging in similar rage that Nike selected "a little boy with no breasts and some junk in his pants to represent real women." No evidence was offered that Nike fired any female spokespeople to make room for Mulvaney, which tells us that Nike hasn't stopped working with "real women."
When Axios pointed out the utter transphobia behind right-wingers lashing about at Bud Light over the Mulvaney promotion, Curtis Houck objected in an April 18 post:
Axios used its lead story Tuesday morning to shack up with trans provocateur and leftist god Dylan Mulvaney, Anheuser-Busch InBev, and trans people against conservatives for the crime of tanking Bud Light sales after its endorsement deal with Mulvaney.
Worse yet, they suggested conservatives need to be held to account for holding deadly political views that contain a “lack of perspective or grace,” “toxicity,” and “viral vitriol” toward trans individuals.
Co-founder Mike Allen and writer Eleanor Hawkins bemoaned the lack of universal adulation and saintly endorsement of Mulvaney as proof of “How Bud Light became a microcosm of America in 2023” with still too many Americans possessing “cultural, political and social toxicity.”
As Erick Erickson has preached (and despite any attempts to claim otherwise), you will be made to care. And not only care, but celebrate certain behaviors and views.
The trans gyrating was turned up a few notches in a section entitled “what this captures.” In point one, Allen and Hawkins huffed this incident illustrated “[t]he inflamed politics around transgender rights,” which was an artful way of bellyaching that people weren’t bending over backwards to celebrate someone playing god with their anatomy.
Point two was the worst as they said this showed “[t]he lack of perspective or grace from vocal transgender opponents.”
“Lack of perspective” about lopping off your genitals? That’s rather hard to pull off.
And a “lack of...grace?" Since when does one have to warp their religion to support funding someone’s selfish ambition? Then again, this is the same side that believes Christians should be forced to fund abortions and bake cakes for trans celebrations.
Houck got even more enraged when Axios called transgender people "marginalized":
How was it that a group can be “marginalized” when their “issues are talked about a lot now,” especially in the press? And was there a group that’s more celebrated, defended, and glorified in the corporate liberal press today than trans people?
[...]
Rewind to the beginning and they led off a recap of what happened with Mulvaney receiving “an influencer package — a glorified swag bag — to celebrate the one-year mark...coming out as trans,” and, in response, conservative disgust “radically changed beer sales and stock prices — literally overnight.”
“That set conservative, anti-trans pockets of social media on fire,” they whined, citing a count from NewsWhip of “5,600 news articles...published...in two weeks” with the company losing $6 billion.
Houck didn't explain why all transgender people must be hated and destroyed, and that any company that does business with them must receive the same vicious fate.
What Is 'Token Team,' Which Is Buying Pro-Guo Articles At Newsmax? Topic: Newsmax
We've documented how Newsmax is among right-wing websites that are running "sponsored" articles publicizing and defending Guo Wengui, who was recently arrested for financial fraud. The name listed as serving as a "sponsor" for the Newsmax articles is "Token Team," which we have assumed is a shady, mysterious Guo front company -- but it appears it may be more than that. A November 2018 Newsmax press release declared:
Newsmax TV, the fastest-growing cable news channel in the nation, announced today it is joining with blockchain ad-tech innovator The Token Team, LLC, for accepting advertising payments.
The relationship immediately provides Newsmax TV with access to a cutting-edge portfolio of blockchain and digital asset technologies and services.
[...]
“More and more we have seen companies in the crypto business seeking to advertise with us, or make payments with us,” said Christopher Ruddy, CEO of Newsmax Media, Inc. “The Token Team brings the expertise with their suite of crypto, blockchain, and digital asset services and technologies that will expand the playing field for both our companies.”
The Token Team, a digital marketing and ad-tech company, services the cryptocurrency, blockchain, and digital asset communities. With this agreement, Newsmax TV gives The Token Team exclusive access to its television and digital distribution channels for crypto, blockchain, and digital asset advertisers.
Token Team Chairman Vito Fossella said, “As Newsmax Media, especially Newsmax TV, continues to grow and break ground, The Token Team is proud to join forces and provide blockchain technology and crypto entities the opportunity to tell their stories.”
Newsmax TV has continuously pushed the boundaries to establish itself as a leading provider of new age, innovative digital multimedia advertising.
“This new venture with Newsmax TV is an exciting development for our company as we continue to define ourselves as THE go-to crypto-blockchain-focused ad-tech/media and marketing company. This monumental venture allows our company to further expand our service offering to the rapidly growing crypto community,” said Token Team founder John Tabacco. “We are excited to see what other innovations this joint venture will spark for the global digital asset community.”
If the names associated with Token Team sound familiar, they should. John Tabacco had a show on Newsmax TV for a while, "Table Talk," which Newsmax claimed was a "political reality show" purporting to take viewers "behind the scenes and to dinner tables of regular everyday Americans" (but only if they were conservative, apparently). He also filled other host roles on the channel, most notably when he was designated to read an on-air statement trying to stave off defamation claims by voting-tech companies Dominion and Smartmatic after the channel falsely accused them of taking part in voting fraud in the 2020 presidential election.Tabacco is currently working as the VP of "digital asset strategy" for a "cannabis holding company" called MJ Holdings and is trying to launch a cryptocurrency aimed at conservatives.
Fossella is a politician whose career as a member of Congress infamously imploded in 2008 when an arrest for DUI led to the revelation that he was living with a woman and their child in Washington while also maintaining a wife and family back home in Staten Island. Fossella has since wormed his way back into politics, currently serving as Staten Island borough president.
The link between Newsmax, Token Team and crypto is interesting because one of the schemes Guo was arrested for involved a cryptocurrency scam.
Are Tabacco, Fossella and Token Team linked to Guo or his scam? Is Tabacco and Fossella's Token Team the "Token Team" buying this propaganda? We have no idea. But it's weird that the buyer of the pro-Guo paid articles would have the same name as Tabacco and Fossella's company and that they have a previous relationship with Newsmax.
Side note: One of the authors of the Guo propaganda, aside from Dan Bongino lackey Matt Palumbo, is a right-wing podcaster named Kelly John Walker. It appears that Walker was arrested and convicted last year for threatening to zip-tie an elementary school principal because a friend's child missed a school field trip because had to quarantine due to COVID exposure. That's the caliber of people who are moonlighting by spreading Guo propaganda.
Like the restof theConWeb, WorldNetDaily reacted to the idea that Donald Trump might be held criminally liable for his behavior by attacking the district attorney prosecuting him, Alvin Bragg. An anonymously written March 20 article was quick to play the Soros card on Bragg:
One of a slew of "Soros DAs" – prosecutors whose election campaigns have been bankrolled by far-left billionaire George Soros, and whose tenures in office are characterized by being radically soft on actual crime while often prosecuting innocent conservatives – Bragg was the recipient in 2021 of $1.1 million from Soros’ Color of Change PAC for his campaign, enabling him to win election as the district attorney of Manhattan. His term as DA began Jan. 1, 2022.
In fact, while Color of Change has received donations from Soros interests, it's not a "Soros PAC." Another article the same day, by Bob Unruh, spread more fearmongering about Bragg:
It's never happened before so the impact of a prosecutor's move to charge a former president with a crime remains uncertain.
But former congressman Trey Gowdy, now a commentator of Fox News, has a warning.
It's that the agenda Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg is pursuing against President Trump, charges that federal authorities and election officials both rejected, could bring down the nation.
"Now we’re a nation where politics reigns supreme," Gowdy said in a commentary. "The end justifies the means. Use the system to reward friends and punish foes. If this persists, the greatest experiment in self-governance the world has ever known will surely fail."
Gowdy didn't explain why it would kill America to hold Trump accountable for his actions.
Unruh mocked Bragg for responding to his (right-wing) critics in a March 21 article:
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the far leftist who wants to take a case previously tossed out by multiple investigations and turn it into a felony against President Trump, has issued a statement claiming he is working "fairly" to apply the law.
Bragg reportedly has been developing a case against Trump over a lawyer's payment to a porn star – many years ago, purportedly as hush money to keep details of an affair with Trump secret.
Federal prosecutors and election investigators, during the 2016 race, both dismissed the claims as not prosecutable.
Those circumstances prompted members of the U.S. House to call for Bragg to explain to them what is going on with the apparently "political" prosecution, as Democrats have been working for years to find some allegations with which to prevent Trump from seeking the 2024 presidential nomination.
Their earlier work included ex-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's multiple failed attempts to impeach him and remove him from office. Further, they keep insisting the Jan. 6, 2021, events at the Capitol were an "insurrection" as they want to tar Trump with that label.
Now Fox News says Bragg's office has released a statement responding to Congress.
"We will not be intimidated by attempts to undermine the justice process, nor will we let baseless accusations deter us from fairly applying the law," the statement said.
"In every prosecution, we follow the law without fear or favor to uncover the truth. Our skilled, honest and dedicated lawyers remain hard at work," it added.
The statement didn't explain what accusations are "baseless," except that that is how Trump has described Bragg's allegations, which reportedly could result in an indictment as early as this week.
Unruh went on to rant that Bragg's "record in office has been scandalous."
WND's columnist defended Trump and attacked Bragg as well. Jonathon Moseley spent his March 20 column arguing that the hush money Trump paid to Stormy Daniels wasn't a crime, and even if it was the statute of limitations has expired. Joseph Farah used his March 21 column to huff that Bragg "is backed financially by Democrat mega-donor George Soros," adding:
Make no mistake – the Radical Left is trying to use this latest witch hunt to intimidate you.
We now know this entire investigation is about one thing and one thing only: It's an unprecedented attempt to intimidate Trump's MAGA base. They want to SCARE you into silence. But don't let them silence you! Because as Trump often says, they're really coming for you.
Our Constitution provides ample remedies for the problems facing our nation. Instead of waiting for the impending indictment of Donald Trump by the New York County District Attorney, our elected representatives can and should act swiftly to smoke out how improper this prosecution is.
[...]
Bragg has reportedly based his charges on an incident that was well known to the Americans who elected Trump in 2016 and voted for him again in 2020. Other prosecutors who had already examined the same widely publicized facts found them not to be criminal, yet this Democrat D.A. has dredged up ancient history in an obvious effort to impede Trump's reelection in 2024.
The next day, Farah framed a Trump indictment as a career move ... for Trump:
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., says this about Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg: "The prosecutor in New York has done more to help Donald Trump get elected president than any single person in America today."
Hype? Exaggeration?
Surely, Graham wouldn't intentionally give Bragg more credit than himself. It's clearly a good soundbite. But could Trump get a big boost for his renewed presidential campaign from Bragg's likely arrest and indictment?
That's the big question.
Could it be the best thing that ever happened in Trump's third bid for the presidency?
[...]
Is Bragg running scared? Has he been warned off filing an indictment? Are Democrats having second thoughts?
Trump leads Joe Biden in early polls for the 2024 race by between 5 and 20 percentage points. It's just possible Bragg could make it a runaway election.
Is arresting President Trump on a twisted, fabricated charge, that is beyond its statue of limitations, so he can be put on trial an attempt to convict him of a federal crime to knock him out of the 2024 presidential race? Or is it really that Trump haters are trying to get their hands on the 45th president to permanently stop the MAGA movement by a heinous act that very likely could result in ending that movement, permanently? After all, Biden stated, "Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundation of our republic." If that is the opinion of mumbling, bumbling Biden, then what do you think is the opinion of all the little liberal Democratic "yes-men" in New York?
[...]
Is it really justice to allow President Trump to be surrendered and taken into the custody of people who hate him?
You know, I'll bet that if you cut the light on in the White House kitchen at night you would get to see Joe Biden scurry across the floor.
Carlier in his column, Blakley had called Biden, Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren "roaches" who "potentially commit[ted] treason," either "for money or just out of hatred of America, or both."
NEW ARTICLE -- The MRC's Dirty War Against George Soros Continues Topic: Media Research Center
In addition to the usual attacks, the Media Research Center is freaking out that a company tangentally linked to Soros is buying Spanish-language radio stations -- and it still bizarrely believes that Soros controls content on (user-written) Wikipedia. Read more >>
MRC Slowly Rushes To Clarence Thomas' Defense Topic: Media Research Center
Last year, the Media Research Center tried to defend Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, against questions about her aggressive efforts to overturn the 2020 election (some of which involved cases her husband ruled on) -- at least until the evidence of her activism became so voluminous that it stopped trying to defend her.
But when it was revealed by ProPublica that Clarence Thomas had accepted decades of luxury vacations from right-wing billionaire Harlan Crow and refused to note them in his required financial disclosures, the MRC's first instinct was to lay low. Its first reaction to it was not a regular post but, rather, a column by Jeffrey Lord on April 8 -- two days after the story broke -- trying to play whataboutism by suggesting that scrutiny of Thomas was worse than the threats that Trump fanboys unleashed on Juan Merchan. the judge overseeing Donald Trump's criminal indictment, as well as the judge's family:
Now the liberal investigative journalists at ProPublica are painting Justice Thomas as unethical for going on trips with conservative billionaire Harlan Crow. This has been a big issue for liberal Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Conn.), and the federal judiciary is now requiring more disclosure.
Conservatives could point out that ProPublica's larger donors look like a roll call of leftist foundations, the same kind that love NPR (the original gangsters of anti-Thomas journalism). The list includes the Emerson Collective (run by Laurene Powell Jobs, who owns The Atlantic and has donated to Mother Jones), as well as the Joyce Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Knight Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation.
So as the Easter break begins, the land swarmed in chocolate, decorated eggs and bunnies, perhaps it is a good time to reflect on just what the liberal media itself has brought down on the heads of Trump judge Merchan.
Perhaps the most succinct way to summarize this newest imbroglio would be “sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.”
Lord seems not to understand that buying a judge is not the same as funding journalism the facts of which even Lord didn't dispute), and critiizing a judge for accepting (and hiding) luxury vacations is not the same thing as threatening a judge and his family for doing his job.
|Tim Graham whined about the story in his April 10 podcast:
Meanwhile, the liberal journalists at ProPublica prepared a report that allowed the Left to cry for the impeachment of Justice Clarence Thomas. On the April 7 NBC Nightly News, anchorman Lester Holt tipped at the top: "Clarence Thomas speaking out, saying he did nothing wrong by accepting and not disclosing luxury trips over two decades paid for by a Republican megadonor." Legal reporter Laura Jarrett worked in all the adjectives -- lavish, swanky, luxury, superyacht. Maximum embarrassment was the goal.
It wasn't until April 11 -- five days after the ProPublica story appeared -- that kneejerk reflex finally kicked in and the MRC started defending Thomas in earnest. Clay Waters complained that the story was the "news hook" for a commentator to discuss "alleged conservative judicial activism" while ignoring "decades of actual liberal judicial activism." A post by Alex Christy later that day groused that Crow's penchant for collecting Nazi memorabilia got attention from Stephen Colbert, insisting it wasn't a big deal because it's old news and, besides, he has non-Nazi stuff too:
Reacting to Thomas’s defense that there is nothing corrupt or improper with his relationship with Crow because the two are friends, Colbert shot back “He's your close personal friend that you know everything about, so I guess it would be really embarrassing to learn that Harlan Crow has a collection of Adolf Hitler artifacts and Nazi memorabilia, including two paintings by Hitler.”
While collecting artifacts from your fallen enemies is not for everyone, it is not unheard of and news of Crow’s collection isn’t new. A 2013 report on the matter also revealed that Crow has artifacts from SS Athenia, the first British ship sunk by the Germans in World War II and that his mother was aboard at the time of its sinking. Crow also has plenty of artifacts that have nothing do with Nazis or communism.
Joseph Vazquez tried to insist that a guy who takes luxury vacations with a right-wing billionaire is somehow not "some kind of elitist," but that anyone worth more than Thomas who criticized him somehow is one:
Insufferable New York Timeseconomics columnist Paul Krugman apparently didn’t think his strategy through before he tried to caricature Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as some kind of elitist.
Krugman’s latest drivel celebrated the George Soros-funded ProPublica’s so-called “remarkable” attack piece against Thomas for his allegedly luxurious relationship with billionaire Harlan Crow. The ProPublica piece tried to artificially generate a phony scandal over things related to Thomas’ “lavish” trips on Crow’s yacht and private jet. Krugman used the report to pontificate about inequality: “It turns out that over the years Thomas, who has portrayed himself as a man of modest tastes who likes to hang out in Walmart parking lots, has taken many lavish — and previously undisclosed — vacations at Crow’s expense,” Krugman sneered. “[This] got me thinking about big yachts and what they tell us about the state of society.” “Inequality Ahoy,” Krugman bellowed in his headline.
Krugman must have forgotten that he is a millionaire. In fact, he’s worth $5 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth (CNW), which is $4 million more than Thomas who has an estimated net worth of $1 million. In addition, CNW estimated that between The Times, speaking engagement, media commentator and teaching salaries, Krugman “routinely earns $300,000 – $500,000 per year.” Thomas, by contrast, only earns an annual salary of $220,000 as a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. The average U.S. annual salary, according to Indeed.com, is only $55,640. Hey Krugman, “Inequality Ahoy!”
But millionaire Krugman — suffering from an extreme lack of self-awareness — spewed nonsense at Thomas for daring to take yacht trips, and at Crow for buying one. “Indeed, yachts are a highly visible indicator of inequality, the concentration of income and wealth in the hands of the few,” he lectured. Krugman also seemed to forget that Thomas’ life story is literally a rags-to-riches tale.
[...]
The only person in denial here is Krugman, who enjoys a lucrative Marxist career bashing the bourgeoisies while he enjoys the benefits of being one himself.
Vazquez seems a little jealous that Krugman is doing better than he is.
Christy returned to complain in an April 18 post that people were still talking about Crow's Nazi stash, this time during an interview "Daily Show" guest host Jordan Klepper did with frequent MRC target Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, which also featured Christy trying to play whataboutism with AOC on ethics issues:
While AOC has her own disclosure problems to worry about, Klepper was not about to ask about those, “Can you empathize, though? Beyoncé came through here, wanted to take you on a sweet vacation? Wouldn’t you say yes and let her show you her Nazi memorabilia?”
Again ignoring her own sketchy gift-accepting history, AOC responded, “You got to tell someone about it! But hey—hey-- don't put Bey's name on that like that.”
Klepper continued to try insist Crow, whose mother was almost killed by Nazis, is a Nazi, “I'm not saying she has Na— I’m saying if she invested in Nazi memorabilia to show that she hates Nazi memorabilia. She’d want to show it off.”
Despite the fact that it has been the left that has desperately trying to make the Thomas-Crow-Nazi conspiracy theory a real thing and that she and Klepper proceeded to ramble on about Nazi linens, AOC replied, “This is the distraction of that whole issue.”
Jorge Bonilla also played the AOC whataboutism card in an April 19 post:
The nation’s Spanish-language media appear to have made some (D)istinctions as to which ethics stories they choose to cover. Allegations against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas were covered extensively, but an actual ethics scandal surrounding Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez drew nary a mention.
Recall that a 2020 MRC Latino study found that allegations of sexual improprieties against then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh drew a staggering 38 times more coverage than did similar allegations against Joe Biden on Spanish-language media. We find ourselves similarly situated three years later.
That "actual ethics scandal" regarding AOC, by the way, involves whether or not a dress she wore to the Met Gala was considered a gift -- hardly on the same level as decades of luxury vacations lavished on Thomas by a right-wing billionaire.
WND Columnist: We Shouldn't Care That Uganda Wants To Imprison Gay People Topic: WorldNetDaily
There is no end to the opportunities for us to wonder at what goes on in the mind of President Biden regarding the policies of our government.
Just a look at daily headlines and you are constantly surprised at what is going on. Who knew?
Now we find out that what the country of Uganda – that's in Africa in case you are geographically deficient – is doing concerning the treatment of gay people and how it relates to us.
After years of debate and discussion, a parliamentary vote was taken last week in Uganda, on a bill that calls for a life sentence for anyone engaging in gay sex in that majority-Christian country.
The law includes a provision that if someone just tries to engage in gay sex, they would face a prison term of seven years. The Guardian reported that there were 389 votes in favor and 2 opposed.
[...]
Where does the U.S. fit in all of this? Biden has declared that it's the policy of this country "to lead by the power of example in the cause of advancing the human rights of LGBTQ+ persons around the world."
"Around the world"??
As I said earlier, "Who knew?!"
[National Security Council official John] Kirby referenced the Ugandan vote and said, "We're never going to shy away or be bashful about speaking up for those rights and for individuals to live as they deem fit, as they want to live. And that's something that's a core part of our foreign policy and that will remain so."
Karine Jean-Pierre, White House press secretary, also had an opinion on the issue, saying the law "would impinge on universal human rights" and "damage Uganda's international reputation."
[...]
It remains to be seen what the outcome of this will be. What will Biden do. if anything? What will the U.N. do, if anything? Essentially, does anyone care – and if so, what will happen?
The reality is that Africa is a long distance away, and most Americans don't pay any attention to what happens there. The politicians care only about their world image and, of course, the money involved in our relations with them.
If we go by what Joe Biden has done so far, we are being kept in the dark about why we should care about what is happening in Africa, Uganda specifically.
What worries me is what the ramifications will be when we DO find out.
Newsmax Continued To Try And Take Advantage Of Carlson's Firing Topic: Newsmax
When Tucker Carlson got fired by Fox News last month, Newsmax flip-flopped on its previous attacks on him over his pro-Russia stance and fawned over him -- partly to stick it to its competition but also as a ploy to try and woo Carlson to its channel. Indeed, there were reports that Newsmax was offering to give Carlson not only his own show but also control over Newsmax's entire programming schedule.
That explains Newsmax's coverage decisions on Carlson. In the days after his firing, Newsmax continued to suck up to him and bash Fox News:
An April 26 article by Sandy Fitzgerald noted that Rupert Murdoch's empire used "their wholly owned television news outlet in Australia" to forward the idea that Carlson was "sacked essentially for thinking that he was bigger than Fox News," and another article cited Carlson's "combativeness toward Fox executives and other colleagues" as a reason he was fired. But it also touted Donald Trump claiming that Carlson's firing "is going to have a big impact and a very negative impact on Fox."
Newsmax also tried to exploit the situation for explicitly for its own gain. Brian Truesdell touted an endorsement of sorts in an April 28 article:
Former Fox News Channel show host Megyn Kelly told her podcast audience on Thursday that FNC's decision to fire prime time anchor Tucker Carlson is driving its viewers to Newsmax.
The statement during her Thursday program, "The Megyn Kelly Show," came in a conversation with Melissa Francis, another a former Fox News and Fox Business anchor and host who left News Corp.
[...]
As Kelly noted, Newsmax, conversely, has seen its average audience at 8 p.m. with "Eric Bolling The Balance" soar by 261% to an average 534,000 viewers.
Nielsen data indicates that Newsmax was drawing 57% of Fox's audience on a proportional basis Wednesday at 8 p.m.
An unbylined April 28 article (credited only to "Newsmax Wires") served up more ratings hype, while repeating the Newsmax bump from the Megyn Kelly story:
After Tucker Carlson's firing from Fox News this past Monday, the network has witnessed a collapse in ratings — especially in its 8 p.m. ET prime-time slot.
For years Tucker Carlson owned this prime time for Fox, drawing an average 3.2 million viewers a night.
Not anymore.
This week, Fox News Channel saw its audience during the Carlson hour plummet, with 2.6 million tuning in Monday to watch.
Things got even worse for Fox on Tuesday, with 1.7 million viewers tuning in.
But Wednesday, Fox saw a catastrophic drop to just 1.3 million viewers — a 59% drop from Carlson's average rating.
Neither article disclosed Newsmax's efforts in trying to woo Carlson.
CNS Circled The Right-Wing Wagons Around Trump As Indictment Loomed Topic: CNSNews.com
After Donald Trump floated the idea in March that his arrest was imminent, CNSNews.com unsurprisingly rushed to publish numerous articles about right-wingers defending him and attacking the district attorney investigating him, Alvin Bragg (whom CNS curiously makes sure to note is based in Manhattan):
A March 20 article by Susan Jones touted CNS' favorite right-wing radio host defending Trump:
First of all, whatever payment was made to Stormy Daniels, it's not "hush money," Mark Levin told the Fox News audience on Sunday morning. Nor were campaign funds used, he added.
"Every one of these cases is bogus, just like the Mueller case was bogus, just like the phone call to Ukraine was perfectly fine, two bogus impeachments -- this is outrageous," Levin said.
"Donald Trump today is the leading candidate for the Republican nomination for president. Can you believe a local D.A. knows that he doesn't have the law, state or federal, on his side, and is trying to cripple the nomination for the presidency?"
Never mind of course. that none of thesepoliticians or commentators had seen any of the evidence Bragg had against Trump.
Editor Terry Jeffrey used a March 22 column to cheer the widow of a New York City police officer kiled in the line of duty for using her eulogy to attack Bragg (though without mentioning Trump).
As Trump's self-declared arrest date passed without incident, CNS and Trump's supporters (but we repeat ourselves) started feeling a little cocky. A March 24 article by Craig Bannister happily touted how Hannity flip-flopped on Bragg (but didn't note that's what he did) by declaring that "the case died this very week" and that "it seems he can’t indict a ham sandwich."
But when news of Trump's actual indictment broke on March 30, CNS led with an article by Melanie Arter that quoted the reaction of only Trump and one of his lawyers, then went into full meltdown (and Trump defense) mode:
Managing editor Michael W. Chapman also wrote a roundup item hyping how "conservatives and Republicans across the country denounced the step as a 'political witch hunt' designed to try to keep Trump from running for president in 2024 against Democrat Joe Biden." By contrast, CNS published only one article critical of Trump -- quoting Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff denouncing Trump's threat of "death and destruction" -- and one neutral article, quoting the Biden White House stating it had no advance knowledge of Trump's indictment.
Jeffrey also expanded his praise for the police officer's widow trashing Bragg into a full "news" article on April 3 and touting that she got a "standing ovation" -- never mind that this had happened nearly three months earlier and was not actually "news." Perhaps this contrarian definition of what constitutes "news" is one reason why CNS was shut down by its Media Research Center parent on April 20.
MRC Lashes Out At Expelled Tenn. Legislators, Still Laughably Portraying Anti-Gun Protest As 'Insurrection' Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center first tried to distract from a gun massacre at a Nashville by hyping the shooter's alleged transgender identity. Then it falsely framed an anti-gun protest at the Tennessee capitol building followig the massacre as an "insurrection" (though nobody was arrested and nobody was trying to overthrow the government). Tim Graham invoked all of this in his April 7 podcast:
When leftist agitators storm state capitols, you can’t use those words. Leftist media won’t use labels for their own kind, and they won’t use “storm” for a left-wing disturbance inside a state capitol building, unless someone is shot by police. Two black legislators in Tennessee became instant media heroes when the Republican House majority expelled them for creating a disturbance on the House floor and violating House rules.
On NPR, Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep was upset when the Republican leader of the Tennessee House of Republicans compared the screaming and shoving matches with the January 6 riot. No policeman shot a protester in Tennessee's state capitol. But Inskeep grew snarky and minimized the Nashville circus to “three lawmakers talked out of turn.” That sounds a lot like comparing January 6 to a Capitol tourist trip.
The scrum did help the liberal media try to change the subject from a transgender shooter murdering six at a Christian school. The words "transgender" and "Christian" are being dropped out of the narrative.
From there, the MRC's main focus of complaint was that the two expelled legislators got attention. An April 8 post by Alex Christy complained that one outlet noted that the two expelled legislators were black:
NBC Today hosts Peter Alexander and Kristen Welker welcomed recently expelled Tennessee State Rep. Justin Jones on to the Saturday show by putting the ball on the tee for him to routinely denounce Republicans as racist for his role in shutting down legislative proceedings with a bullhorn.
[...]
Ideally, Welker would also have asked how the minority party shutting things down constitutes democracy because after Jones doubled down on the race card, he laughably claimed what he did was “good trouble” and “First Amendment activity.”
Neither Welker no Alexander followed up by challenging that absurdity, how holding people accountable for their actions is racist, or with any meaningful distinction between the actions of three representatives, instead choosing to move onto gun control.
The "meaningful distinction" Christy claims exists is that, according to the link he supplied, the lawmaker who wasn't expelled didn't make use of a bullhorn. Of course, the meaningful distiction that everybody noted was that the non-expelled lawmaker was white, while the two expelled ones were black.
Another April 8 post, by Kathleen Krumhansl (also in Spanish), claimed that a Spanish-language news anchor told "the truth" about the expulsion of the lawmakers after the demonstration because of areference to "incitement of violence very similar to what happened during the January 6th assault on the Capitol." But she didn't cite an example of any lawmaker issuing any "incitement of violence."
Kevin Tober spent an April 9 post being upset that one of the expelled lawmakers appeared on TV:
On ABC’s This Week, co-moderator Jon Karl invited Justin Pearson, one of the expelled former Democrat Tennessee representatives on the program to let him play the victim because he was held accountable for his actions. Opening the program on Easter Sunday, Karl still insisted on lying on this holy day.
Karl claimed the “two young black lawmakers [were] expelled from the state house of representatives after they took a stand on gun violence.” As NewsBusters Executive Editor Tim Graham noted on Twitter earlier on Sunday in response to Karl’s comments, it was like claiming “January 6 being ‘a stand for Trump's victory.’ You're moving the goalposts on shooting up a Christian school.”
Introducing the disgraced radical former representative, Karl asked the leading question: “You have spoken with great passion on the issue of gun violence. And I was wondering if you can tell us. I know you lost a classmate of yours to gun violence shortly before you were sworn in as a representative, what can you tell us about how that motivates you?”
This led Pearson to tell his sob story about experiencing so-called “gun violence” and how “over two thousand cars have gotten broken into” in his city. Which ironically is another reason why more Americans should be allowed to own firearms.
ABC's Good Morning America kicked off their Easter Sunday broadcast by hyping so-called "growing community outrage" over the two insurrectionist Democrat Tennessee state representatives who were expelled for whipping up a mob on the House floor. Not only did Good Morning America parrot the Democrat Party line on this controversy, but they barely aired any opposition from Republicans. The only soundbite played was a brief clip of Tennessee Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton from his interview on Fox News Channel's morning show Fox & Friends.
Nicholas Fondacaro repeated the bogus "insurrection" narrative again in an April 10 post:
Judging from the liberal media’s behavior, insurrections are good when leftists carry them out. That’s the gist of the tone shared by the broadcast networks on Monday as ABC’s Good Morning America, CBS Mornings, and NBC’s Today celebrated the likely return of former Democratic state Representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson after they led a violent and disruptive takeover of the Tennessee State Capitol two weeks ago.
Fondacaro's evidence the protest was "violent" was a link to an earlier post of his in which he embedded a tweet from a reporter who stated that "This was a peaceful protest" and cited only "shoving" by protesters. Nevertheless, he presented the falsehood again in another post that day, laughably calling the protest a"violent insurrection" and dismissing the expelled legislators as "disruptive and disrespectful Democrats"who "have a history of disruptions and got insulting with their defense speeches before the vote," while the media was "smearing the Tennessee GOP with false claims of racism."
Tober raged that one of the ousted legislators was reinstated by other officials in another April 10 post:
On Monday night's CBS Evening News, senior national correspondent Mark Strassmann stuck his finger in the eyes of Tennessee Republicans who voted to oust two of the three attempted insurrectionist Democrat legislators. The obnoxious gloating came after one of the misbehaved Democrats, Justin Jones, was reinstated by the Nashville council.
Suddenly interrupting a legislative session is a good thing, according to CBS. Anything goes so long as it's in pursuit of the Democrat Party's [sic] radical anti-American agenda.
Tober doesn't seem to realize that deliberately getting the name of the Democratic Party makes people want to take him less seriously as a credible "media researcher."
Graham did something similar in his April 10 podcast, huffing that "the networks continue to bathe the Bullhorn Justins -- radical black Democrat [sic] legislators Justin Jones and Justin Pearson -- in glory for being expelled by the Republicans in the Tennessee House of Representatives. They completely downplayed the screaming on the House floor about "no action, no peace," making it sound like the Republicans would expel them just for gentle protesting. The goal remained to make Americans forget that a crazed transgender 'man' shot and killed six inside a Christian school."
The shooter being transgender is the only thing that Graham wants his right-wing listeners to take away from all this -- certainly not that guns are a problem.
Right-wing media have been embracing Robert Kennedy Jr.'s announced campaign for president because he would be riding his family as a spoiler to President Biden's re-election campaign. CNSNews.com played along as well, with an April 6 article by managing editor Michael W. Chapman touting his campaign:
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., son of the late U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy, filed papers with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Apr. 5 declaring his intention to run for president of the United States in 2024. RFK Jr. is a Democrat and likely would be challenging Joe Biden for the nomination.
In early March, Kennedy spoke at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire where he was asked if he planned to run for president. He said, "I'm thinking about it. I've passed the biggest hurdle, which is my wife has green-lighted it."
In a March 10 tweet, Kenendy said that if he runs, his "top priority will be to end the corrupt merger between state and corporate power that has ruined our economy, shattered the middle class, polluted our landscapes and waters, poisoned our children, and robbed us of our values and freedoms. Together we can restore America's democracy."
Chapman then felt the need to downplay Kennedy's anti-vaxx extremism:
Kennedy also is an outspoken critic of uncessary vaccines -- not all vaccines -- and has sharply criticized the COVID policies pushed by Dr. Anthony Fauci and the Biden administration.
Kennedy, an attorney, is the founder and chairman of Children's Health Defense, a non-profit organization that seeks "to end childhood health epidemics by working aggressively to eliminate harmful exposures, hold those responsible accountable and establish safeguards to prevent future harm."
Chapman did not explain which vaccines Kennedy purportedly approves of -- despite the fact that it's clear he opposes pretty much all of them. As Stat News summarized:
His outright disbelief in established science is demonstrated most vividly by his crusade against vaccines and vaccine science. He has produced and endorsed pseudo-documentaries that are chock-full of exaggerated, unsupported claims and then held screenings of them for legislators, though few showed up. He held rallies against vaccines on the steps of state capitol buildings and injected himself into discussions about licensing for doctors, keeping children healthy at schools, and Covid vaccines. He has amplified disinformation agents and even quacks who push false vaccine narratives. He has held fundraisers for politicians who reject public health protection.
That doesn't sound there's much leeway in Kennedy's anti-vaxx crusade.
Chapman went on to hype some of Kennedy's views, which include calling the U.S. support of Ukraine against Russia's invasion a "Neocon project," raging against the Federal Reserve for purportedly planning to issue a digital currency (which is actually just a payment system), ranting about the "exploding Autism epidemic far more devastating than COVID?" -- which is actually part of his anti-vaxxer crusade -- and declaring that liberal want to establish "a surveillance + security state to suppress dissent as billionaires gorge themselves on the bleached carcasses of our ruined middle class."
That sounds much more like a fringe right-wing ranter than a Democratic candidate. But, again, Chapman wants to set Kennedy up as a spoiler, so he apparently had a mandate to treat Kennedy as a serious candidate.
The Media Research Center just 
The latest in WorldNetDaily's 
The Media Research Center regularly rages against athletes who talk about politics -- but only if those political views don't agree with those of the MRC. (See: 
As Donald Trump moved toward arrignment last month, CNSNews.com continued to do 
One of the Media Research Center's biggest targets in its 
We've documented
Like 
Last year, the Media Research Center 
There is no end to the opportunities for us to wonder at what goes on in the mind of President Biden regarding the policies of our government. 
When Tucker Carlson got fired by Fox News last month, Newsmax 
After Donald Trump floated the idea in March that his arrest was imminent, CNSNews.com unsurprisingly rushed to publish numerous articles about right-wingers defending him and attacking the district attorney investigating him, Alvin Bragg (whom CNS curiously makes sure to note is based in Manhattan):
The Media Research Center first 
Right-wing media 