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Tuesday, September 26, 2023
MRC Gushes Over Ben Shapiro Using Its Talking Points To Smear NewsGuard
Topic: Media Research Center

The Media Research Center has been on a NewsGuard-bashing bender for a while now, using increasingly lame "media research" to whine that the website-rating service points out how shoddy right-wing media is. But all this shoddy work got a boost when right-wing columnist Ben Shapiro regurgitated it in his Aug. 2 column:

NewsGuard is an organization that formulates ratings for American media. They rank news sites on a 0-to-100 scale based on nine supposedly apolitical criteria. These criteria are anything but apolitical. They often align with left-wing positions.

[...]

The Media Research Center, a free-speech nonprofit, studied NewsGuards’ ratings. The study found glaring examples of bias by NewsGuard.

The Left’s BuzzFeed managed a 100 out of 100 perfect score, despite its reporting on the Steele dossier and alleging collusion between former President Donald Trump and Russia.

The study found that The Global Times, a Chinese propaganda government outlet, scored a 39.5 -- that is 27 points higher than the U.S.-based conservative outlet The Federalist. Despite a scandal at USA Today revealing the publication of multiple fabricated sources in their stories and their own fact-checking operation misleading readers on the history of the Democratic Party and the KKK, USA Today maintained the 100 out of 100 rating by NewsGuard.

As we noted when the MRC previously attacked USA Today over the "fabricated soources" scandal, it identified the problem and corrected the situation while explaining to readers what happened. And that fact-check was correcting a false claim that the Democratic Party created the KKK, which even the MRC sorta conceded (while still trying to blame all Democrats for the KKK). Also, Shapiro's description of the MRC as a "free-speech nonprofit" is laughable considering how it works to censor speech that doesn't advance right-wing narratives.

A post later that day by Catherine Salgado gushed over how Shapiro did even more work to boost the MRC's dishonest anti-NewsGuard narrative:

The Daily Wire host Ben Shapiro championed research against leftist ratings firm NewsGuard during a July 29 segment exposing globalist organizations that try to control online narratives and ad money.

Shapiro noted in the first episode of new series “Facts” that there’s clear bias when one compares NewsGuard’s ratings of right-leaning versus left-leaning outlets. He cited exclusive research from the Media Research Center’s MRC Free Speech America, published January 6, 2023. MRC Free Speech America found that the average score for left-leaning outlets was 91/100, versus 66/100 for right-leaning outlets. That’s a 25-point difference. This comes over a year after MRC originally exposed NewsGuard’s bias, and the ratings firm claimed to have corrected mistakes in downgrading 21 outlets during the COVID-19 pandemic.

[...]

“[NewsGuard] help[s] ensure that ad-buyers and users looking for news can be in safe and suitable places,” Shapiro said sarcastically. As MRC Free Speech America exposed, NewsGuard is politically biased, not an objective arbiter.

“The [MRC] study found glaring examples of bias by NewsGuard,” Shapiro said. “The left’s BuzzFeed managed a 100/100 perfect score, despite its reporting on the Steele Dossier and alleging collusion between Trump and Russia.” These stories were not substantiated and ultimately proved false.

As we've pointed out, while BuzzFeed published the Steele dossier, it never vouched for its accuracy, stating that it "includes specific, unverified, and potentially unverifiable allegations" and that it published the full document so that Americans can make up their own minds about allegations about the president-elect that have circulated at the highest levels of the US government."

The MRC and Shapiro teamed up again a couple weeks later when Shapiro's video was briefly demonetized by YouTube for pushing conspiracy theories. Luis Cornelio huffed in an Aug. 11 post:

YouTube is working overtime to punish individuals who dare to expose groups that seek to suppress conservatives.

Ben Shapiro, the editor emeritus of the Daily Wire and popular podcast host, decried YouTube on August 11 for reportedly demonitizing the first episode of his new series called “Facts.” Citing an MRC Free Speech America exposé on NewsGuard, the video blasted organizations like NewsGuard for unleashing rating systems aimed at discouraging readers and advertisers from right-leaning outlets. When MRC Free Speech America reached out to YouTube for an explanation the platform admitted no wrong but claimed the video is now monetizable.

It can't possibly be that the MRC's "exposé" is so shoddy that we were able to easily debunk it. The issue was resolved a few days later, so Cornelio cheered in an Aug. 16 post:

MRC Free Speech America successfully confronted YouTube after the platform targeted a bombshell video by Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro, exposing entities aiming to manipulate Americans.

Shapiro praised MRC Free Speech America on Tuesday for successfully challenging YouTube’s demonetization of his video, which led to the platform reversing its arbitrary punishment. Researchers at the Media Research Center confronted the platform over dubious claims that the video, which blasts leftist internet traffic cop NewsGuard, violated YouTube’s policies on conspiracy theories.

“Media Research Center pressed YouTube about why monetization was suppressed,” Shapiro said. “Apparently, YouTube effectively refused to acknowledge the platform had limited the video in the first place. A YouTube spokesperson said. ‘In order for a video to monetize on YouTube, it must comply with our advertiser-friendly guidelines, which are publicly accessible and apply to all creators. Upon review the video in question is currently monetizing.’”

In other words: the MRC's lame and dishonest attacks on NewsGuard continue, albeit with a somewhat larger megaphone.


Posted by Terry K. at 1:27 PM EDT
Updated: Tuesday, September 26, 2023 2:59 PM EDT
WND Defended Trump Again On His (Third) Indictment
Topic: WorldNetDaily

Just as it did over his first two indictments, WorldNetDaily ran to Donald Trump's defense again on his third indictment. Joe Kovacs kicked things off in an Aug. 1 article, quoting only pro-Trump sources and the Trump campaign:

Former President Donald Trump was indicted Tuesday in connection with the investigation by Special Counsel Jack Smith into the mayhem at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, prompting fresh calls of "election interference" from the Trump campaign.

Fox News reported Trump was indicted "on four federal charges out of the probe, including Conspiracy to Defraud the United States; Conspiracy to Obstruct an Official Proceeding; Obstruction of, and Attempt to Obstruct an Official Proceeding; and Conspiracy Against rights."

It's the second indictment of Trump by the special counsel, and the former president who is the leading Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential nomination has already pleaded not guilty to 37 counts for his alleged improper retention of classified records.

Reaction from Trump supporters was swift.

"Jack Smith is the enforcer for the Biden Crime Family," said Karoline Leavitt, spokeswoman for Make America Great Again Inc.

Bob Unruh devoted an article the next day to attacking Smith:

Among Jack Smith's claims in his most recent indictment of President Donald Trump is one in which he alleges Trump "knew" his claims of election fraud were wrong and he pushed them anyway.

And Smith, whose claims against Trump suspiciously have been revealed right after major accusations have developed against Hunter Biden, and the involvement of his father, Joe Biden, in his international business schemes, cited one case as an example.

[...]

But Smith may have set himself up to be proven false.

A report from Just the News documented there has been a federal indictment accusing a pair of Iranian hackers of successfully breaking into a state elections computer system.

And they are charged with stealing voter data and using that to intimidate Republican lawmakers.

That case was originally reported in 2021, which Unruh failed to mention. Federal officials stated at the time that the goal of the hackers was to "undermine voter confidence and sow discord" -- something WND has arguably been doing for years on Trump's behalf.

An anonymously written Aug. 2 article played whataboutism, citing the highly discredited Gateway Pundit:

President Donald Trump is facing his latest court case, from prosecutor Jack Smith, over what he said and did to challenge the 2020 presidential election count – the one influenced by the FBI's decision to falsely tell media organizations to suppress details about the Biden clan's international business schemes because it was Russian disinformation.

The same election that was influenced by Mark Zuckerberg's decision to hand out some $400 million plus to local elections officials, who often used it to recruit voters in Democrat districts.

Charges filed by Smith include conspiracy and obstruction.

But a report in the Gateway Pundit is openly asking whether Joe Biden, Merrick Garland and Jack Smith will hold "Democrats to the same standards as Trump?"

As usual, WND is misleading about the money Zuckerberg donated to election efforts in 2020. As we've previously noted, any election office could have gotten that money if they had simply requested it. The fact that some election offices used that money to reach out to voters and help make it easier for them to vote during a pandemic does not mean that money "stole" the election, because it is not illegal to want more people to vote.

Another Aug. 2 article by Unruh touted a writer for the right-wing Federalist hyperbolically claiming that "Jack Smith's court papers name President Donald Trump as the defendant, the DOJ prosecutor actually is coming after the American voter. If they support Trump." Unruh again misleadingly referenced "the $400 million Mark Zuckerberg handed out like candy to various local elections officials, who often used it to recruit voters in Democrat districts." Unruh played gotcha in another article that day:

In a development that has more than a little irony involved, Jack Smith, Joe Biden's point man on the campaign to file charges against President Donald Trump, has admitted he lied in court.

He apparently failed to provide to the defense all of the video material that he was supposed to. And then he said in court that it had been done.

"The government's representation at the July 18 hearing that all surveillance footage the government had obtained pre-indictment had been produced was therefore incorrect," he admitted in a court filing.

Unruh offered no evidence that Smith knowingly "lied"; a statement later found to be incorrect is not necessarily a lie.

Unruh turned his stenographical efforts to Trump himself in yet another article that day, complete with overdramatic introduction:

President Donald Trump right now is in the cross-hairs of the Deep State, the establishment, the power structure, whatever name fits.

The latest is a series of charges from the Department of Justice over his comments made about his belief that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

In fact, there's significant evidence of wrongdoing, including that the FBI interfered in the election by falsely telling social and legacy media to suppress accurate reporting about the international business scheming of the Biden clan, apparently including both Hunter and Joe.

Essentially, he's been accused of trying to undermine America by challenging the 2020 results.

But it actually was the other side, the Democrats, who actually staged a "de facto coup," he wrote in a commentary at Newsweek.

 Trump explains: "The report by Special Counsel John Durham makes clear beyond a shred of doubt that the Russia Hoax was the most atrocious weaponization of our government in American history. It was a crime like no other.

As in all of his articles, alternative points of view were not allowed. In one more article that day, Unruh got even more unhinged, with an assist from Trump:

Joe Biden's Department of Justice is going after his chief political rival in the 2024 presidential race with a vengeance, listing charges that could bring him centuries in prison.

Or even the death penalty.

A report at the Gateway Pundit cited the latest complaint from Jack Smith, of Biden's Department of Justice.

It accuses Trump of conspiracy and obstruction regarding his comments about the results of the 2020 election, that vote influenced by the false claims by the FBI, to media outlets, that the reporting about the Biden family's international business schemes was Russian disinformation.

Further, Mark Zuckerberg handed over $400 million plus, to local elections officials, who largely used it to recruit voters in Democrat districts.

Trump's response? "With Crooked Joe’s corrupt DOJ having unlawfully INDICTED yours truly yet again, reports indicate that I could now face a combined 561 YEARS in prison from the Left’s witch hunts. 6 LIFETIMES…"

Trump explained, "There’s only ONE MESSAGE someone can send by trying to throw you in jail for 6 lifetimes, and that’s FEAR. The fear that if you vote for the ONLY candidate who puts you FIRST, you too could be harassed, indicted, and even ARRESTED by the current Marxist regime in Washington."

Peter LaBarbera served up his contribution to the cause by attacking the judge who will be handling this particular indictment, Tanya Chutkan, whom he described in the headline as a "left-wing activist" who "gave serious campaign donations to Obama" -- but he cited only a $1,500 donation she gave to an Obama-related PAC "during the Democrat's first presidential run," before she became a federal judge. LaBarbera's evidence that Chutkan is a "left-wing activist" is just as thin, largely through guilt by association with a law firm where she once worked and has supported abortion rights, which led her to call her "somewhat of a ... zealot" on the issue. He also didn't like that she allegedly gave out "very harsh punishments to J6 prisoners who protested the 2020 election."

Unruh returned for more Trump stenography in an Aug. 4 article, with additional dishonesty about what Trump was charged with:

President Donald Trump, indicted yet again by Joe Biden's Department of Justice for having and expressing his own beliefs about the 2020 election in a move that has left analysts gasping for breath at the First Amendment violations it would demand, wants the Supreme Court to become involved.

Because the repeated attacks by the Biden DOJ on Biden's primary opposition in the 2024 election are "election interference."

Trump, in fact, on Truth Social social media, said, "CRAZY! My political opponent has hit me with a barrage of weak lawsuits, including, D.A., A.G., and others, which require massive amounts of my time & money to adjudicate. Resources that would have gone into Ads and Rallies, will now have to be spent fighting these Radical Left Thugs in numerous courts throughout the Country. I am leading all Polls, including against Crooked Joe, but this is not a level playing field.

"It is Election Interference & the Supreme Court must intercede. MAGA!"

Unruh went on to write that "Many analysts explain the series of cases against Trump by Biden's DOJ is just a way to try to remove him from the race, giving Biden a better chance at re-election." As usual, no dissenting views were allowed.


Posted by Terry K. at 12:40 AM EDT
Updated: Tuesday, September 26, 2023 9:09 AM EDT
Monday, September 25, 2023
MRC's DeSantis Defense Brigade Watch, Black History Edition
Topic: Media Research Center

When it became public that new standards in Florida for teaching black history involved teaching that slaves "developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.” the Media Research Center's DeSantis Defense Brigade knew it was time for assemble once again.Alex Christy complained in a July 20 post:

Florida has come out with their new curriculum guidelines for African-American history and MSNBC’s Ana Cabrera invited Vanderbilt Prof. Michael Eric Dyson on to her Thursday show to talk about how they allegedly are comparable to teaching that there were good things about the Holocaust.

Before introducing Dyson, Cabrera cited the two most controversial aspects of the new standards, “the new standards say students should learn that enslaved people developed skills that, quote, ‘could be applied for their personal benefit.’ And that during lessons about mob violence against black residents, teachers should include “acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans.’”

Christy served up a kneejerk defense of that talking point:

It would not be totally unreasonable to look at the part that related to skill acquisition and say that Florida is making it seem as if slavery had a redeeming quality, which would be a mistake on the state’s part, but a more charitable explanation would be that the state is pointing out that slaves performed various tasks, such as tailoring or blacksmithing in addition to manual agricultural labor, that were used after emancipation. 

Intern Ana Schau similarly grumbled in a post the same day:

Thursday’s CNN This Morning featured a segment where hosts Abby Phillip and Phil Mattingly expressed how appalled they were at Florida’s new standards for education in black history. Joined by CNN national correspondent Athena Jones, they spoke about how these “inaccurate” and “ahistorical” changes would disable teachers from teaching “the proper history,” and how they were “very disturbing when it comes to actually teaching accurate history in the schools.”

[...]

It is just a fact that many of the skills, especially agricultural skills, that these people acquired while working on plantations probably benefitted them immensely when they gained emancipation and were able to work their own land and earn money for themselves.

Schau offered no evidence to back up her claim; perhaps she felt she didn't need to since she declared to be "just a fact." She continued to insist that the standards were being misrepresented (bolding in original):

Jones then continued to complain about another change, which was the requirement for teachers to teach about “acts of violence perpetrated by African Americans” during various historical massacres and riots that targeted black people.

When pointing this out, she omitted the two words, “against and” included in the Academic Standards, which required education on “acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans.” Seems like an important thing to note, since this just entailed equal and honest instruction about all the acts of violence performed in these massacres, regardless of the race of those who committed them.

This was one detail that Jones clearly didn’t know about, since she complained that “these standards say you have to talk about acts of violence perpetrated by blacks,” as though that was all they said.

Again, no evidence was offered that crimes committed by blacks were "equal and honest" to those commited against them.

When Vice President Kamala Harris criticized the new standard, there were more complaints. Alex  Christ whined in a July 22 post that there are many more references to slavery in the standards and not all them treat it positively:

Washington Post contributor Gary Abernathy and associate editor Jonathan Capehart joined PBS NewsHour’s Geoff Bennett to recap the week that was by not only excluding any mention of the House hearing on IRS whistleblowers alleging improper interference in the Hunter Biden investigation, but finding consensus that Vice President Harris is correct to attack Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state’s new history standards.

Bennett put the ball on the tee for Abernathy by noting “I want to raise the trip that the vice president, Kamala Harris, made to Florida today. It was a last-minute trip, and she was tackling changes to the state's education standards that appear to play down the horrors of slavery.”

Specifically, “The Florida Board of Education voted this week to approve revised Black history curriculum that includes instruction how slaves actually benefited from slavery because they learned some skills.”

In Florida’s new guidelines, there are 191 references to “slave,” “slaves,” or “slavery,” and the media is hyper-focused on only one of them. Nevertheless, Abernathy replied, “Yeah, it's ridiculous. I don't know what the fear is of teaching Black history, of teaching the horrors of slavery, of teaching what a horrible chapter in our history was. There's nothing to be afraid of with that teaching. It's — you know what? We’ve downplayed it too much in the past.”

Kevin Tober launched a major rantfest over Harris' criticism:

Late last week, Vice President Kamala Harris told one of the most heinous lies the Biden regime has ever uttered, which is quite the accomplishment considering this regime has zero regard for the truth as long as it gets in the way of the left's agenda to bring the United States to its knees. It was so important to Harris that she got on a plane to Jacksonville Florida to maliciously spread the foul claim that Florida is teaching that slavery had some good aspects and had many benefits to those enslaved. This is obviously a flat-out lie and during Sunday's edition of State of the Union on CNN, senior political commentator Scott Jennings had enough of the propaganda and called it out. 

After the other panelists simply regurgitated the lies about Florida's new educational curriculum, Jennings jumped in to express his outrage at the irresponsible statements from the Vice President "It’s amazing to me that how little Kamala Harris has to do that she can read something on Twitter one day and be on an airplane the next to make something literally out of nothing," Jennings exclaimed.

"This is a completely made-up deal. I looked at the standards, I even looked at an analysis of the standards, in every instance where the word slavery or slave was used. I even read the statement of the African American scholars that wrote the standards. Not Ron DeSantis, but the scholars," he added.

And where did that "analysis of the standards" come from? The right-wing National Review, which can be relied upon to be biased in favor of Republicans like DeSantis. Tober described the National Review article as a "fantastic piece" but did not disclose its right-wing bias.

When a token Fox News liberal spoke out against the standards, Tim Graham huffed in a July 24 post that "Juan Williams took the Democratic hot takes to a new level, that Florida was teaching something like 'Jews picked up some skills in concentration camps' and 'engineers learned a lot" from 9/11.'" He touted that right-wing panelist "Katie Pavlich also noted the Florida standards talk a lot about teaching the horrors of slavery. But Williams could only try to suggest Ron DeSantis & Co. were like whitewashers of 9/11 and the Holocaust."

When an MSNBC "Morning Joe" panelist said that "we can't teach the correct history of this country, because it makes white kids uncomfortable," Mark Finkelstein retorted: "That is patently untrue. In Florida and in other states, kids of all races are taught about the evils of slavery. What DeSantis and others object to is kids being taught that slavery is the essence of the American story, and that every aspect of American life must be viewed through the lens of systemic racism that never ends." Finkelstein offered no proof that slaery is not part of "the American story" or that racism has completely ended.

Nicholas Fondacaro melted down when "The View" tacked the subject:

Disney and ABC’s The View was flooded with racism again on Monday, as the liberal ladies reacted to Florida adopting new standards for their black history courses and pushed misinformation peddled by Vice President Kamala Harris (D). During their unhinged and profanity-laced hot takes, racist co-host Sunny Hostin attacked ALL white people by insisting they “continue to reap the benefits” of slavery. Meanwhile, moderator Whoopi Goldberg suggested Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) was trying to bring back slavery.

Largely ignoring (in one case scoffing) the fact the curriculum was written by multiple black scholars, Goldberg claimed they put it together without talking to any black people. “I feel like they didn't talk to any African Americans because we could have told them about the history, and nor have any -- anyone seemingly gone to the Smithsonian to find out anything,” she decried.

Yes, Fondacaro thinks talking about racism means you're racist (and he didn't disprove anything the co-hosts said), and he still thinks Hostin is a "racist" because he doesn't understand how metaphors work.

Cassandra DeVries complained that DeSantis was criticized for doubling down on those dubious standards:

CNN This Morning disparaged Presidential Candidate Ron DeSantis on Monday for commenting on a Florida curriculum update on slavery. Political commentator Errol Louis called DeSantis’s brief explanation a “disgraceful hash of history” and a “disgraceful pander.” Mario Parker, Bloomberg’s national politics team leader, alleged DeSantis was “disgraceful to defend slavery — to double down on it.” Despite the harsh backlash for his explanation, DeSantis never condoned or supported slavery.

CNN’s anger arose from Florida’s slavery curriculum summary. In a list of 191 points about the horrible truths of slavery, one read, “Instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”

DeVries then botched a fact-check:

When DeSantis offered a list of people who proved the clause was historically accurate, Anchor Erica Hill claimed he manipulated the truth. “Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good narrative here, right?” Hill said.

“Don’t let the facts get in the way of a disgraceful pander in the case of Ron DeSantis,” Louis replied, after claiming 12 out of 14 of the people were listed as freedmen, not slaves, and thus could not serve as examples. He conveniently forgot the term freedmen referred to freed slaves, who did, in fact, fit the description DeSantis offered.

We're not sure what list DeVries is referring to, but two of the members of the workgroup that developed the standards released a list of 16 people whom they claimed were former slaves who allegedly learned skills in slavery they applied later in life. As one researcher documented, nine people on the list were born free and never enslaved, several were listed in the wrong industry, most did not use the skills learned in slavery later in life, and one was the (white) sister of George Washington.

Of course, Graham made sure to whine about all of this in his July 24 podcast.


Posted by Terry K. at 8:19 PM EDT
Updated: Tuesday, September 26, 2023 10:20 AM EDT
WND Republishes Wildly Dishonest Gateway Pundit Articles Defending Proud Boy Capitol Rioter
Topic: WorldNetDaily

WorldNetDaily has long been apologists for the violent thugs in the Proud Boys, but that was taken to a new, wildly dishonest level when it republished an Aug. 3 article from the highly discredited Gateway Pundit, written by onetime WND reporter Alicia Powe under the even more dishonest headline "J6 political prisoner faces 10 to 12 years in prison for walking into Capitol for a few minutes":

Zachary Rehl, a J6 political prisoner and former Proud Boys leader who was found guilty of seditious conspiracy, vows to fight for his innocence until he is “fully exonerated and so no one has to live in fear of persecution for exercising their 1st Amendment rights again.”

The 37-year-old Marine Corps veteran was apprehended by the Federal Bureau of Investigations on April 17, 2021, for “his role in the Capitol riot.” His wife was six months pregnant when the bureau’s stormtroopers terrorized their home in a pre-dawn raid — the shock and trauma that nearly resulted in the loss of their unborn baby.

On January 6, Rehl committed no violent crimes.

Rehl and his co-defendants, two-time purple heart recipient Stf. Sgt. Joseph Biggs and Washington Proud Boys leader Ethan Nordean merely walked into the Capitol building for approximately 20 minutes after choking on clouds of tear gas and dodging the rubber bullets and flash grenades police indiscriminately fired at the crowd of unarmed protesters.

Enrique Tarrio, the former national chairman of the Proud Boys and another of Rehl’s co-defendants found guilty of seditious conspiracy, ie. thoughtcrime, is the only J6 political prisoner who wasn’t even in Washington, DC on January 6 during the Capitol riot.

Powe is lying. Rehl didn't merely walk around the Capitol "for a few minutes" -- he assaulted law enforcement by spraying a chemical irritant at them, lied about doing that during his trial, broke into a senator's office where he smoked and posed for pictures, then expressed pride for the Proud Boys assault he helped lead afterwards in a message to his mother: ""Seems like our raid of the capital set off a chain reaction of events throughout the country."

But rather then tell her readers the truth, Powe continued to dishonestly portray Rehl as a victim and the Proud Boys as nothing but a "drinking fraternity":

Rehl has been incarcerated for two and half years, most of which has been in isolation in a six by eight-foot cell at the Alexandria Detention Center. In June, he and his co-defendants were finally released from solitary confinement and are currently housed in the “patriot pod” of the DC Gulag.

Organizing patriotic events in Philadelphia, including the “March for Trump,” “Back the Blue” demonstrations and rallies to “Celebrate the Constitution at the Liberty Bell” led to Rehl becoming Philadelphia’s leader of the Proud Boys, a drinking fraternity that was prompted to safeguard patriots at free speech and prayer rallies as they constantly fended off violent attacks from fascist Antifa anarchists.

For his leadership in the Proud Boys, a conservative group demonized as “xenophobic” by the corporate press, and his military service, Rehl faces more severe retribution by the DOJ.

Powe also included a self-serving letter by Rehl to the Gateway Pundit in which he "describes how he cultivated courage and resilience through the tragic loss of his father when he was just 12, the nationwide “brotherhood” he found as leader of the Proud Boys after his service in the Marine Corps and how emerging victorious in the fight for his freedom will prevent every American from being persecuted for exercising their God-given, inalienable rights."

When Rehl was sentenced, WND once again to Powe, reprinting another wildly dishonest article on  Sept. 1 rehashing per previous false claims and insisting that he was sentenced merely "for being in the wrong place at the wrong time — walking through the Capitol building for approximately 20 minutes during the Capitol riot on Jan. 6." She went on to rage:

These evil men in Washington D.C. condemned Zachary Rehl, a young father and Marine veteran, to prison for attending a rally and walking in the open doors at the U.S. Capitol.

This is the definition of evil.

We can no longer fool ourselves. The America we once knew is long gone. We now live under the boot of the regime.

The role that Rehl and Tarrio, Nordean, and Biggs played in “organizing” the Jan. 6, 2021 “attack” on the U.S. Capitol “threatened the bedrock principles of our country’ and warranted the significant punishment,” government lawyers argued in a court filing late Thursday.

[...]

Zachary Rehl cried today on the stand before his sentencing. They are going to destroy this man and his family.

They forced this man to repent in his struggle session.

Why shouldn't a violent criminal face accountability for his crimes? Powe was not interested in answering that question. She also didn't consider the likelihood that Rehl's tears were self-pity for having to face that accountability.

One more point: If WND is republishing wildly dishonest articles like this -- from a far-right website that is currently being sued for defaming election workers by falsely accusing them of adding election ballots from a suitcase -- what does it say about WND's commitment to journalism? Nothing good. It merely shows that WND still hasn't learned the lesson that its longtime embrace of fake news and conspiracy theories caused its current and ongoing precarious financial situation.


Posted by Terry K. at 6:02 PM EDT
MRC Loves Whataboutism Over Trump Indictment -- But Hates When It's Called Out
Topic: Media Research Center

The Media Research Center had been playing whataboutism over Donald Trump's (third) indictment, so it was more than happy when a fellow Republican did the same thing on TV. Kevin Tober got all gushy over it in an Aug. 6 post:

The media demands everyone be as obsessed with Trump as they are, and if we don’t comply, leftists like George Stephanopoulos will scold you. More evidence of this came during ABC’s This Week when co-anchor Stephanopoulos had North Dakota governor and GOP presidential candidate Doug Burgum on the show to presumably discuss his campaign and instead insisted on haranguing him about the latest indictment of Trump. Burgum didn’t take the bait and instead pointed out how Hunter Biden and his endless list of crimes haven’t been mentioned on the show. This only set Stephanopoulos off further. 

Stephanopoulos again asked Burgum his thoughts on the allegations that Trump forced then-Vice President Mike Pence to not certify the 2020 election. “Was Donald Trump wrong when he pressured Mike Pence not to certify? Was Mike Pence right when he certified?”

Burgum replied in frustration that he had just “listened to 15 minutes of legal debate on this thing and I'm sure you could run it again 7/24. But what I know is that I'm running against Joe Biden and that's what we're going to be talking about.”

“Of course, not a mention in the last 15 minutes of, you know, Hunter Biden or the laptop,” Burgum observed. “There are people on the ground that are not watching these Sunday programs that are saying, you know, why is the DOJ defending Hunter Biden and why are they attacking President Trump?”

[...]

This forced an irritated Stephanopoulos to interject: “I'm asking you what you think. Do you have an opinion on the fact that President Trump tried to overturn the election as alleged in the indictment this week by special prosecutor Smith?”

Burgum just ignored his demands and explained that President Biden loves this talk about Trump 24/7 “because then we don't have to talk about inflation or Afghanistan or the Russian invasion, the fact we're in a cold war with China. And who else loves it, China loves it when America’s divided like this and talking about the past.”

But when this right-wing whataboutism gets called out, the MRC is less than pleased. Clay Waters spent a Aug. 6 post complaining about it:

In a dream world, liberal reporters would like to beat Republican candidates with a scandal shovel and pretend there are no Democrat scandals. Bring them up? Then you're guilty of "whataboutism." 

New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker penned a Thursday “news analysis” downplaying the corruption accusations against President Biden and his son Hunter, while denigrating Republicans and conservative media for daring to suggest the cases were in any way comparable. The headline: “In the Court of Public Opinion, Trump Relies on a Whataboutism Defense.”

Baker led off in full snark mode, playing up Trump's issues and playing down Biden's, like a good Democrat. It doesn't matter whether the indictments or lawsuits will end up victorious. Just Democrats pressing them equals victory.'

Tober did his own whining in another Aug. 6 post:

On NBC’s Meet the Press, moderator Chuck Todd openly fretted to Maryland Democrat Congressman Jamie Raskin that the upcoming general election for president will be filled with what he described as “whataboutism” from Republicans pointing to the mountain of crimes by Hunter Biden as a way to distract from the indictments of Donald Trump. Todd worried that the appearance of what Hunter is accused of “is not good.” To Todd, it’s all about optics, not the actual crimes by both Hunter and Joe Biden. 

“We're gonna have a campaign that is gonna be filled with a lot of ‘whataboutisms’. We know the Republicans are gonna talk about Hunter Biden here,” Todd worried. “And I know that the—a lot of the technical defense of the President with Hunter Biden is well, the President didn't do anything wrong.”

Todd then observed that “Michael Kinsley once said: the real scandal in Washington is not what's illegal, it’s what's legal.” Turning to Raskin, he then asked: “should there be a code of conduct, something for family members here? Because the appearance of what Hunter Biden did is not good.”

The partisan anchor chose to ignore all the evidence of actual wrongdoing by the Biden crime family and instead focused on the optics.

Is that like howTober is ignoring all the evidence of actual wrongdoing by the Trump crime family?


Posted by Terry K. at 1:38 PM EDT
NEW ARTICLE -- Michael Brown's Deceptive Anti-LGBTQ Attacks, Part 3: 2022
Topic: WorldNetDaily
The WorldNetDaily columnist claims he understands "why some LGBTers call us hateful" -- then went on to prove those LGBTers correct. Read more >>

Posted by Terry K. at 2:03 AM EDT
Sunday, September 24, 2023
MRC Fluffing Both Trump, RFK Jr. Over Twitter Stuff
Topic: Media Research Center

Yes, Elon Musk is still handing out selective "Twitter files" documents to hand-picked reporters, and yes, the Media Research Center is still serving as Musk's servile stenographers in promoting them. A July 25 post by Gabriela Pariseau touted an installment starring the MRC's favorite vaccine conspiracy theorist-slash-Democratic presidential candidate, building on attempts a few days earlier to bestow victimhood on him:

The latest Twitter Files installments implicated a new culprit in the assault against Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s free speech and provided evidence that government requests to censor were more like orders.

The most recent Twitter Files by Andrew Lowenthal, author of the Network Affects Substack, referred to a House hearing last Thursday at which Democrat [sic] presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. provided testimony. Lowenthal noted that The Twitter Files corroborated Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan(R-OH)’s accusations of Government-Big Tech collusion to censor Kennedy, adding that not only did the White House ask Twitter to muzzle Kennedy but Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz (HI) apparently did the same.

During the hearing before the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, Jordan pointed out that the Biden administration emailed Twitter sternly asking the platform to silence Kennedy’s views on COVID-19 vaccines two days after the president took office. “Wanted to flag the below tweet and am wondering if we can get moving on the process for having it removed ASAP,” an email from White House Digital Director for the COVID-19 Response Team Clarke Humphrey to Twitter reads according to screenshots Lowenthal included.

What did Kennedy say that was so objectionable? He noted his opinion of how professional baseball player Hank Aaron died. “Hank Aaron’s tragic death is part of a wave of suspicious deaths among elderly closely following the vaccine. He received the vaccine on January 5 to inspire other black Americans to get the vaccine,” Kennedy wrote, according to Jordan’s readout at the hearing.

Pariseau refused to tell her readers that Kennedy is an anti-vaxx conspiracy theorist with no credibility, or that he was lying about the COVID vaccine killing Aaron (who died of natural causes). Pariseau also failed to explain why a medical misinformation during a pandemic shouldn't be countered or corrected.

Pariseau went on to tout the latest rantings from "independent journalist Matt Taibbi," failing to disclose that 1) Taibbi split acrimoniously from Elon Musk from the "Twitter files" project, and 2) if Taibbi was uncritically repeating what Musk told him to write about, he's not an "independent journalist."

Autumn Johnson served up more  stenography for Taibbi in an Aug. 4 post:

Twitter Files journalist Matt Taibbi sounded the alarm on government collusion with Big Tech in a recent discussion with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.

Taibbi discussed his initial bombshell findings blowing the lid off the backdoor channels that the government used to coordinate censorship with Big Tech in addition to the impact the discoveries had on his life. Taibbi said he was “thankful,” for the Missouri v. Biden lawsuit that reached the same conclusions about the Biden administration’s collusion with Big Tech that he did, albeit independently. The bombshell lawsuit cited original research database to track the extent of Big Tech's efforts to censor Biden detractors. When asked what Twitter Files finding surprised him the most, Taibbi said he and his team were shocked to see that the U.S. government “briefed” social media companies on world trends like the war in Ukraine. “That was shocking to me because that showed the entire arrangement in one picture,” he said.  

Taibbi also warned against the jargon used by Big Tech social media companies, like the term “de-amplify,” that in reality is just censorship.

[...]

The Twitter Files continue to expose intentional censorship efforts by the government overwhelmingly. MRC Free Speech America reported last month that the latest Twitter Files drop by Andrew Lowenthal, author of the Network Affects Substack, implicated members of the United States government in colluding with Big Tech social media platforms to censor Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

LIke Pariseau, Johnson refused to tell readers that Kennedy is a discredited conspiracy theorist or that Taibbi is no longer part of Musk's "Twitter files" projecct.

Salgado gushed that Donald Trump returned to Twitter after his (fourth) indictment in an Aug. 25 post:

Former President Donald Trump has returned to Twitter, now called X, two years after the platform banned him.

Trump was arrested Thursday in Fulton County, Georgia, on highly controversial charges related to his challenging the officially announced 2020 election results. After his arrest, Trump released his mugshot both on his own TruthSocial platform and on X with the message “ELECTION INTERFERENCE NEVER SURRENDER!” It was Trump’s first tweet since he was “permanently banned” in Jan. 2021.

In Dec. 2022, The Twitter Files revealed what happened behind the scenes when the platform banned then-President Trump in January 2021. Employees compared him to Hitler, despite internal assessments that Trump had not violated the platform’s rules, according to screenshots included in The Twitter Files. The Twitter Files on the platform’s rule-twisting against Trump came soon after the platform’s new owner, Elon Musk, restored Trump’s account.

Musk himself quote-tweeted Trump’s mugshot with the comment, “Next-level.”

Salgado didn't mention that Trump's  "NEVER SURRENDER!" tweet was accompanied with a mugshot taken when he was literally surrendering to justice. Instead, she gushed further that "Trump’s X post of his mugshot has already gained 154 million views, 1.2 million likes, and 287,000 reposts as of the publication of this piece."


Posted by Terry K. at 10:11 PM EDT
Updated: Sunday, September 24, 2023 10:50 PM EDT
What's Mychal Massie Melting Down Over Now?
Topic: WorldNetDaily

If an award were to be given for the person(s) who has done the most to destroy America from within, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George Soros and Barack Obama would be tied at the top with Biden making a valiant effort to climb into the ignominious groupage. Notwithstanding the behind-the-scenes efforts, Bush, Clinton and Obama are contributing from the shadows to pull the dead-from-the-neck-up Biden down the ladder into the godless abyss so-called American leadership is determined to render the United States.

Aided and abetted by the apparatchiks masquerading as a trustworthy media, the aforementioned have done more to destroy America from within than activist courts and public schools. Jimmy Carter deserves honorable mention.

[...]

Apart from assembling Mao, Marx, Stalin, Lenin and W.E.B. du Bois into one organization for the supposed purpose of community well-being, it would be hard to imagine a more demonic camarilla of marplots than those I reference.

-- Mychal Massie, May 8 WorldNetDaily column

Fox News would have people believe that reparations are: "monetary compensation for slavery." Not only is that a demonstrably asinine and incorrect definition of the word, it's foundational ignorance that fosters antipathy.

Reparations are defined as: repairing or keeping in repair; the act of making amends or giving satisfaction for wrong(s). There's not a single person in the U.S. who claims African as a prefix that deserves monetary reparations from America. I contend that everything these persons deserve they have in equal portion and more compared to others, beginning with the ability to murder their children, which I argue is a disparate measure for them.

The people in America whose self-worth and esteem is singularly based upon the prefix African have the same Constitution as others, with additional amendments added specifically to benefit them. They have civil rights and voting rights that they can be wield as instruments of complaint in the blink of an eye. Add to that they've the super weapon called "hate crimes" that can be leveled with great tenacity and falsity.

If these people want monetary reparations, let them get it from the countries responsible for their distant ancestors being slaves in the first place. That would be the Ashanti Empire and Dahomey tribes that dominated the Ivory Coast areas of Africa.

-- Mychal Massie, May 15 WND column

I consciously use Google as little as possible. That said, today Google had a mural of sorts on its search engine page depicting a young "something" carrying the rainbow flag. The person in the depiction appeared androgynous, which I'm certain was no accident. The other depictions were same-sex young people coupling, and I suppose the other two depictions were intended to be trannies.

The attempt to portray insanity as normative is an attempt to anesthetize the masses vis-à-vis media, public school classrooms and teachers, and shaming people into silence. The silence then masquerades as acceptance. Albeit, I suspect the acceptance is often fatuous.

The question is: Why is this being promoted on such a massive scale at this time? Why this relentless attempt to convince the weak-minded public that hebephrenia, schizophrenia and dysmorphia are entirely normal and acceptable, when in reality they're emotional and psychological disorders that require treatment?

A question that begs an answer is: If this supposed madness is normal, why has it taken millennia for the abnormal behavior to present itself? Homosexuality, lesbianism, pedophilia and bestiality have been known for millennia before the birth of Christ. But, a quick research into sexual abnormalities dating back to antediluvian period finds no quantifiable zeitgeist of the uncontrolled urge for men to identify as women and vice versa. I'm addressing all of recorded history. What makes humans in this period of the 21st century suddenly aware that they suffer from being in the wrong body?

Obviously, sexual perversion and debauchery isn't something new, having been around since not long after Eve succeeded in having Adam disobey God. That the homosexual activists err in their attempt to claim erasure of the record of this sexual perversion conceals the record of heterodoxy distinctive from that which has been understood to be true throughout time. It isn't concealed nor has it been erased. It never existed! And if it did, it was an immeasurable fantasy. 

-- Mychal Massie, May 22 WND column

There's an old saying: "When a woman is hideously unattractive and uncouth, she cannot afford to be grotesquely ignorant as well." Apparently, TV host Joy Behar doesn't grasp the truth of said bromide. But then again, when she looks around the seating arrangement on the set of her television calamity called"The View" and sees Whoopi Goldberg, it's easier to understand why she would feel superior as a liberal lowlife.

As long as I'm on the subject, add the Obama woman and "Otis" Winfrey (my name for Oprah). They comprise the gold medal team of real-life horror characters. They make the "Weird Sisters" in "Macbeth" look cherubic by comparison.

[...]

Behar represents the two types of Erebusic malevolents who are doing injury to the fabric of unity We the People truly desire. Her kind at their core are racist bigots who assuage their consciences by allowing themselves to have so-called black superiors in their workplace.

-- Mychal Massie, May 29 WND column

(Massie is lying; Behar did not use that term to describe Scott and Thomas.)


Posted by Terry K. at 2:09 AM EDT
Updated: Sunday, September 24, 2023 2:12 AM EDT
Saturday, September 23, 2023
MRC's Toto Pushes Right-Wing Narrative About 'Canadian Fascism'
Topic: Media Research Center

Christian Toto -- the movie critic who really wants to be a right-wing pundit -- began his July 29 Media Research Center column by complained that Bill Maher isn't fully buying into his preferred right-wing narratives:

Bill Maher makes a living mocking political elites, but he has major gaps in his Beltway knowledge.

For example, he admitted last year that he still believes President Donald Trump colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election. That’s despite the Mueller Report finding no evidence of such collusion and major investigations concluding the same.

We know even more today how Hillary Clinton concocted the faux scandal and various government bodies doubled down on the lies.

Maher didn’t know the truth, in part, because he likely ingests a steady diet of Mainstream Media misinformation.

Of course, it's not a "faux scandal" that  the 2016 Trump campaign met with Russian operatives dozens of times, or that then-campaign manager Paul Manafort gave internal polling data to another Russian operative, or that Russia rooted for Trump to win in 2016. But those facts are inconvenent to Toto's narrative, so he won't bring them up. Anyway, this was all just a setup for Toto to hype how Maher was "schooled" by right-wing influencer Jordan Peterson about "Canadian fascism":

Maher broached the subject with this week’s “Club Random” guest, Canadian professor and Daily Wire contributor Jordan Peterson. Maher, knowing his guest’s native roots, brought up a “dumb” quote from Trudeau about the truckers who protested the country’s pandemic policies.

Maher paraphrased Trudeau’s quote with shock.

“We have a vibrant democracy here in Canada and we value protests… but when you use protests to object to the policies of the government I think you’re going too far,” Maher said.

“What the f*** is protest for except to object to the policies of the government,” Maher added, laughing.

Canadian truckers rebelled against the nation’s draconian lockdown measures which impacted their livelihoods and, as we learned later, had little actual science behind them.

Neither Peterson nor Toto mentioned that the fact that, as one analysis noted, most Canadians supported the country's measures to combat the spread of COVID, and that the trucker protest was little more than a right-wing temper tantrum in which protesters were calling for civil war. When the truckers occupied the streets of the capital, Ottawa, area residents were threatened or assaulted, and fences were torn down around the capital's hallowed Tomb of the Unknown Soldier so protesters could dance on it.

Toto hyped how Jordan stated that the Canadian government "seized the bank accounts of 200 Canadians." But the accounts were not "seized"; they were frozen because they were used to help fund the increasingly unruly protests. Most of those accounts were unfrozen after the protest ended. We doubt that Toto would consider government efforts to quell rioting after the death of George Floyd to be "fascism."

Toto continued uncriticially quoting Jordan:

“I can’t imagine a politician doing anything more inappropriate than that … No trial. No real investigation,” Peterson said before adding how Trudeau even blamed MAGA Republicans for allegedly funding the protests.

“It’s completely preposterous,” Peterson noted. “Why would MAGA Republicans foment dissent in Ottawa? Even if they knew where it was, which they don’t, why would they?”

Maher laughed through those comments.

In fact, American right-wingers did help fund the Canadian protests, and high-profile right-wing U.S. politicians like Ron DeSantis and Ken Paxton aligned themselves with them. But, again, those are inconvenient facts that don't mesh with Toto's preferred narrative, so they were ignored.

Whatever happened to all people sacrificing together to work toward a common good, such as trying to reduce spread of a deadly disease? Toto didn't say anything about that either.


Posted by Terry K. at 11:31 AM EDT
Joseph Farah's Obama Derangement Syndrome Flares Up Again
Topic: WorldNetDaily

It doesn't take much to send WorldNetDaily editor Joseph Farah into paroxysms of Obama Derangement Syndrome -- that was WND's bread and butter for years, after all -- and he went there again in his June 28 column:

Remember Barack Obama? I'll never forget him. He always thought more of himself that others did. But I digress.

I was just musing about a recent Politico story that carried the following headline: "Is Barack Obama Ready To Reassert Himself?" It was written by Jonathan Martin, Politico's politics bureau chief and senior political columnist. (How is that title for overdoing the use of the root word "politics"?)

Imagine my fear and loathing about the aforementioned headline. As far as I am concerned, the best thing about America politics since Obama left the presidency is that … he left, and would not be returning. Now it appears he's about to reassert himself. Should I be alarmed?

Naturally, this turned into rage against President Biden:

When it comes to Obama's old sidekick, 29 months into his illegitimate term in the White House, Biden has allowed approximately 5.5 million illegal aliens to enter our nation, a record, admitted without any oversight. It could be more. We just don't know.

Is that an issue for Obama? No, it was planned all along.

Does he regret anything Biden has done as president?

Nope.

So what regrets does he have? Well, he regrets that Donald J. Trump might become president again – and nothing can stop him this time – no amount of cheating between now and the 2024 election, barring the unmentionable, Trump's assassination, God forbid.

After all, that can become a dreaded reality, especially to those who have witnessed them. John Kennedy … Bobby Kennedy … Martin Luther King Jr. … Gerald Ford's attempted assassination … Ronald Reagan's attempted assassination – all took place in many of our lifetimes.

What's to say it couldn't happen again?

Why does it seem that Farah is rooting for someone to assassinate Obama or Biden?

Then, of course, this evolved into rehashing yet agian discredited claims of election fraud:

Think about it. In 2020, the Democrats cheated. Since then, they have indicted Trump twice. Before that they conspired to impeach him twice. They also attacked him mercilessly during his presidency. During the 2020 election, Democrats conspired to get Joe Biden over 81 million "votes" – by far more than anyone, including Obama, ever got. Other than that highly inflated tally of Biden's, no president candidate ever achieved more than Trump's 74 million.

[...]

We can't even imagine how many Democrats expect an ending. We can't even imagine what they have at stake. They've even accused Trump of formulating an "insurrection," arresting some 2,000 of his supporters. Jan. 6 was nothing of the kind. Most see it as a "Fed-surrection" – among the dirtiest tricks ever done in the history of American politics.

We collectively shudder to see how this ends in 2024.

God protect Donald J. Trump.

No call of protection, of course, for Obama and Biden, further suggesting that he has a death wish for them.

Farah then spent his Aug. 2 column rehashing WND's bogus birther crusade:

Aug. 4, 1961, is, for many, a day that will live in infamy – even in these dark days of Joe Biden. It's Barack Obama's birthday – or so we believe.

At the height of its notoriety, it attracted controversy with as many as 50% of the nation and caused the book, "Where's the Birth Certificate?" by Jerome Corsi, a writer at WND and WND Books, to become a No. 1 bestseller.

Obama, himself, had raised questions about his birthplace when it was fashionable – as in his literary bio (below, right) from 1991 to 2007 in which his place of birth was Kenya. Coincidentally, 2007 was the year he began his presidential aspirations. I raise the moot question once again to play angel's advocate.

It ended, for all intents and purposes, in 2011 – the third year of his presidency – when he publicly released his "long-form birth certificate." Why did he take so long? Did he do it to set up a controversy or end one? Or to make us forget about it?

Today, it's as though we never had a debate. We don't even recall what the debate was about. Let me remind you: It was about who is constitutionally eligible to become president of the United States and vice president of the United States.

I don't remember much of a debate taking place around whether Kamala Harris was eligible in 2020 when she was on the presidential ballot. Her mother was born in India and her father in Jamaica. That issue was part of the debate involving Obama – there was a serious constitutional question of who confers birthright citizenship. In Obama's case, some contended that his mother conferred it since his father was born in Kenya. The founders were strict enough to think seriously about these matters – until Obama seriously confused the question and made it toxic to even discuss.

Well. we remember that WND suddenly stopped caring about birther issues in 2016 in order to avoid having that conversation about Ted Cruz, who was born in Canada (and who, not conicidentally, was endorsed by Farah for president that year prior to his embrace of Trump).That tells us that Farah was never concerned with having a legitimate debate about constitutional eligibility -- only with trying to stop Obama by any means possible.

Farah then decided that Obama's birth certificate never really mattered anyway:

It was never really about the birth certificate, anyway. As we have found out over the years, they are unreliable in most states, notably in Hawaii. There are two problems with them – even when we are talking about an original. I contend that no one has seen Obama's original. All we have seen is a copy – probably even Obama. An original is something wholly other. It was once one of the most personal documents we owned. Not so much in the age of digital everything and the iPhone.

We did an enormous amount of work on Obama. Others did too. I'm afraid it all ended without any serious resolution or conclusion.

Think of all the plans that were made earnestly. They continued right through the opening of 2011 state legislative sessions. A headline on a Politico story read: "Birther debate alive across U.S."

Yet Farah still whined, "In 2008, John McCain was asked to show his original birth certificate. Obama was not." As we documented, Obama showed a copy of his birth certificate that was certified by the state of Hawaii, which should have sufficed (and which even WND initally admitted was "authentic"). Then, somehow, Farah concluded by steering things toward Trump and Biden:

But the states couldn't agree on much in 2011. They agree on even less today.

Today, the Justice Department disagrees whether they think Biden should be investigated for taking bribes or whether Donald Trump should face at least four major felony indictments while seeking reelection. And today the Republicans are sure that Joe Biden didn't really get 81 million votes in the 2020 election. Meanwhile, the Democrats think Trump shouldn't be allowed to run ever again – even if it takes locking him up for 400 years to prevent it.

Farah will never admit he was wrong about his birther crusade because it help successfuly tar Obama -- no matter how untruthful the crusade was. And still he doesn't understand why his WND is struggling to survive when it continues to embrace such untruthfulness.


Posted by Terry K. at 12:50 AM EDT
Updated: Saturday, September 23, 2023 1:34 AM EDT
Friday, September 22, 2023
MRC Keeps Up Distraction, Whataboutism Over (Third) Trump Indictment
Topic: Media Research Center

The Media Research Center distraction-and-whataboutism complaints about Donald Trump's third indictment continued in more whining from Kevin Tober in a Aug. 3 post:

All day long Thursday, as reported extensively by NewsBusters, the big three evening news broadcasts were beside themselves with glee over the third arraignment of President Joe Biden's political opponent Donald Trump. Between the motorcade chases broadcasted live, and breathless coverage of every detail large and small, it's clear this was seen by the networks as a ratings-grabbing television production rather than the federal government prosecuting the leading challenger to the Biden regime's power in the upcoming elections. The show continued during the big-three evening newscasts, where each network's anchor relayed the day's events to anyone who wasn't already watching.

All in all, the networks were so obsessed that their total coverage of the Trump indictment was now up to 132.5 minutes (2 hours, 12 minutes, and 28 seconds). 20 minutes and 31 seconds of that total occurred on Thursday alone.

Curtis Houck got mad that it was pointed out how Republicans failed to do their job in refusing to convict Trump in an impeachment trial for helping to incite the Capitol riot:

Amid the O.J. Simpson Bronco chase-like idiocy on the broadcast and cable networks Thursday afternoon surrounding former President Trump’s third criminal arraignment, NBC’s Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd suffered a near-emotional, weapons-grade meltdown seething at the Republican Party for putting America on the precipice of collapse because the GOP “refused to do” what was right and remove Trump from office in 2021 so he can never run again.

Worse yet, he claimed that, by not listening to “the Founders” who “created a process” to do right, Republicans (and not Democrats running urban hellscapes) are the reason there could be an irreparable “erosion of the rule of law”.

[...]

Sounding like he was near tears, the former Senate Democratic staffer blasted the GOP as having made “the wrong call for the Republican Party,” “the American public,” and< “the justice system.”

Houck didn't rebut anything Todd said -- he simply complained that it was said at all.

Houck served up yet more Biden whataboutism in an Aug. 4 post, though he did concede that a former president being repeatedly indicted is "a huge story":

Through four days and three installments each of the flagship morning and evening news shows on the major broadcast networks, ABC, CBS, and NBC have eagerly doled out astounding 162 minutes and 16 seconds through Friday morning salivating over the third criminal indictment of former President Trumpthat has the potential to either land him in prison or propel him to the White House in 2024.

These numbers represent a network tally that is 19 times larger than what these same networks gave (eight minutes and 32 seconds) to Monday’s closed-door House Oversight Committee hearing featuring Hunter Biden’s former business partner, Devin Archer.

The indictment of a former President is undoubtedly a huge story, but scant attention for a person heavily involved in Hunter Biden’s life of ruin amid allegations of bribery involving Burisma, where both Archer and Hunter were on the board? Of course, the networks don’t have any time for the bribery claim.

Alex Christy served up his own whataboutism-laden count:

Former President Donald Trump was arraigned for the third time on Thursday and the cable networks of MSNBC and CNN once again obsessed over the matter to the detriment of coverage of any other topic.

A study of the two networks from 5:00 a.m. Eastern to midnight Eastern on MSNBC and from 6:00 a.m. Eastern to midnight on CNN found that 91.32 percent of their news-related coverage focused on Trump’s alignment [sic], other legal problems, or reaction and analysis. The networks combined for 26 hours, 48 minutes, and 23 seconds of news coverage on Thursday, 24 hours, 28 minutes, and 50 seconds of which was devoted to all things Trump. This marks yet another instance of CNN and MSNBC spending over 90 percent of their day on a Trump arraignment.

Joe and Hunter Biden’s scandals received only 13 minutes and 59 seconds. Put another way, Trump’s problems got 105 more times the coverage than the Bidens’ or 1 percent of the total time.

Christy didn't explain why he omitted Fox News from his cable news analysis.

Houck and Nicholas Fondacaro regurgitated these complaints in the MRC's Aug. 4 podcast: "As they flood the zone with coverage, they also fill the airwaves with flaming hot takes proclaiming their anticipation of Trump behind bars or even exiled."

Jeffrey Lord went back in time in his Aug. 5 column to serve up some good ol'-fashioned Clinton equivocation (like the MRC did on Trump's second indictment):

The media love fest for the Trump-investigating Jack Smith was curiously absent when the name of the prosecutor was - Ken Starr. That would be the Special Counsel assigned to investigate Democrat President Bill Clinton. Somewhere along the way I crossed paths with him at a conservative event. A nicer, more decent and smarter guy it would be hard to find. Not that you would have learned that from the media that covered his most famous case in the mid 1990’s.

Lord went back even further to criticize special counsels for Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon before returning to present-day complaints:

In short, as is frequently the case with the liberal media, the more things change the more they stay the same. 

Special Counsel Jack Smith is now on his way into the liberal media hall of fame.

Shocking.

Not.

Tim Graham spent an Aug. 6 post having a fit that the contrast between our current president and our previous one, under the headline "As Trump went to court, Biden went for a bike ride," was pointed out. Graham lashed out at the reporter who made the observation, declaring that he is "one of the most flagrant Biden publicists in the White House press corps" and huffing: 'In the Trump years, White House reporters competed to see which could be more bombastically anti-Trump. Under Biden, they compete to see which one can sound the most like a White House press secretary."

Clay Waters huffed that some people see Trump's criminality more harshly than he does in an Aug. 7 post:

What's Amanpour & Co’s idea of a balanced segment on the news of former President Donald Trump’s third indictment for “conspiring to defraud” the United States for contesting his loss in 2020? Hosting a sitting liberal Democrat, Representative Joe Neguse (CO), and the ex-Republican (in all senses) Representative  Joe Walsh, who ran against Trump in the 2020 primary and remained fiercely opposed.

Amanpour’s Tuesday (August 1,2023) evening show promised both sides, which turned out to be one sitting and one former congressman, both adamantly unsympathetic to Trump. From host Christiane Amanpour's show introduction: Then, how Republicans are reacting to the newswith former GOP congressman and presidential candidate Joe Walsh….”

Neguse was positively placid in comparison to former congressman Walsh’s theatrically rabid attack on Trump.

Picking Walsh of all people to deliver the Republican opinion on Trump was just more evidence that Amanpour & Co. was more concerned about piling on the former President than any sense of journalistic balance.

[...]

Amanpour showed no feel for counter-arguments about an indictment that some have called an example of a two-tiered justice system, one for Republicans, and a more lenient one for Democrats like Hunter Biden.

We don't recall Waters ever demanding that Fox News show concern about having "any sense of journalistic balance."


Posted by Terry K. at 7:54 PM EDT
Updated: Saturday, September 23, 2023 10:51 AM EDT
Newsmax Pushed Bogus 'No Comment' Attack On Biden Over Maui Wildfire
Topic: Newsmax

Brian Freeman huffed in an Aug. 14 Newsmax article:

President Joe Biden refused to comment on the rising death toll in Hawaii after he spent several hours on Sunday relaxing on the beach in Delaware during his vacation, the Daily Mail reported.

As Biden left the beach, he was asked for his response to the wildfires that have killed 96 people, to which he replied, "No comment."

During a bike ride earlier in the day, Biden gave a similar answer when asked about the tragedy, which is Hawaii's worst natural disaster ever, saying, "We're looking at it."

Just one problem: there's no proof he said that. As the White House press pool report stated (h/t Robert Mackey), reporter and pool report writer Rob Crilly of the Daily Mail -- a right-wing anti-Biden content mill -- never actually heard those words but claim that "lip readers in the pool" claimed he said it. But that was enough for the fellow Biden-haters at Newsmax to manufacture a controversy. Mark Swanson followed up later in the day:

The White House on Monday tried to beat back criticism of President Joe Biden in the aftermath of his "no comment" regarding the wildfires in Maui that have left 96 dead, to this point.

The president is "deeply concerned," the White House assured.

A vacationing Biden invited the criticism with his responses to questions about the rising death toll from reporters on Sunday. He also gave an obtuse "we're looking at it" when asked about the worst natural disaster in Hawaii's history. It left many thinking the president couldn't be bothered amid his relaxing day in Rehoboth, Delaware.

And, yes, Donald Trump was given a chance to weigh in, as Charles Kim wrote:

Former President Donald Trump called out President Joe Biden in a video Monday for saying "no comment" when asked about the deadly wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui that officials confirm killed 99 to date with hundreds of people still missing.

"Our government was not prepared, and very importantly, the aftermath is going very poorly," Trump said in a video post on social media site X Monday. "Crooked Joe Biden, the most incompetent president in the history of our country, with a laugh and a smile, said that he had 'no comment' on the death and the tragedy."

While Trump said there are times that response is appropriate, using it in this situation was "horrible and unacceptable."

"It is a disgraceful thing that Joe Biden refuses to help or comment on the tragedy in Maui just as he refused to help or comment on the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, for a very, very long time."

Neither Swanson nor Kim disclosed that Biden's words were divined for attempted lip-reading, not anyone actually hearing him say it.

Nicole Wells wrote in an Aug. 17 article that "President Joe Biden has been blasted for relaxing on a beach in Delaware and telling reporters he had 'no comment' on the situation in Maui." In an Aug. 23 article, Wells wrote that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said that "President Joe Biden telling reporters he had 'no comment' on the Maui fires while on vacation in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, is 'unacceptable.'" She also failed to tell readers that no reporter heard him say it.

An Aug. 23 article on the first Republican presidential debate by the apparently unironically named Charlie McCarthy uncritically quoted Ron DeSantis saying, "Biden was on the beach while those people [in Maui] were suffering. He was asked about it [and] he said no comment. Are you kidding me?" Again, there was no mention that the remarks are based on alleged lip-reading, not anyone actually hearing the words.


Posted by Terry K. at 4:48 PM EDT
WND Dismisses Winners Of Climate Change Lawsuit As 'Whining Teens'
Topic: WorldNetDaily

WorldNetDaily sure hates it when people it doesn't like score legal victories. Bob Unruh whined in an Aug. 16 article, headlined" Judge bends to whining teens on climate change, makes huge ruling":

A judge in Montana has ruled that teen angst over the possibility that "climate change" may impact their lives is so important it overrides a state policy that energy decisions should not be made on that ideology, and it is being appealed.

The ruling came in a case brought by the Oregon-based Our Children's Trust which has brought similar complaints in every state, with most of the complaints failing.

The rare victory in Montana came because the state's constitution says the state must supply to residents a "clean and healthful" environment, and the plaintiffs claim that oil and coal projects don't do that.

Internationally, a court said several years ago that the Netherlands must cut greenhouse gas emissions. In the U.S., the Supreme Court earlier rejected a case that Our Children's Trust was pushing, although two other lawsuits from the organization still are moving forward.

Those are pending in Hawaii and Oregon.

A report from Legal Newsline reported the judge decided in favor of a "passionate skier" who felt like "a part of him is lost" after a wildfire at one Montana location, a woman "who believes the deteriorating climate has hurt her ability to play competitive soccer," and another woman who wonders if having children "is an option in a world devastated by climate change."

It wasn't until the 10th paragraph of the article that Unruh got around to noting that "At issue were energy industry permitting decisions by the state," and he never specifically stated what, exactly, the issue entailed. As a less biased news organization reported, the judge ruled that Montana's refusal to factor in environmental effects when evaluating fossil fuel permits violates thte state's constitution, which states that citizens have a right to a clean and healthful environment. Unruh waited until the 15th paragraph to mention that "Lawmakers in the state limited consideration of both in- and out-of-state "climate effects" in permitting processes."

Rather than do relevant factual reporting up front, Unruh continued to obsess over the students pointing out specific effects of climate change:

The judge noted most of the injury from the situation to the plaintiffs involved "anxiety, despair and depression."

"Plaintiffs’ injuries will grow increasingly severe and irreversible without science-based actions to address climate change," the judge claimed.

The report explained that the skier, "'Badge,' for example, loves skiing but 'climate change is reducing Badge’s ability to participate in this important recreational activity.'"

Other concerns cited by the judge were that Olivia Vesovich of Missoula "experiences bouts of depression when she thinks about the dire projections of the future" and Claire Vlases, a ski instructor, "said reduced snowfall is reducing her work days and ability to hike and practice cross-country running."

Unruh didn't expllain why explaining such direct effects of climate change must be mocked, nor did he make any effort to disprove those concerns.


Posted by Terry K. at 12:56 PM EDT
Updated: Friday, September 22, 2023 12:58 PM EDT
NEW ARTICLE: Dragphobia Is (Still) All The Rage At The MRC
Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center wants you to hate and fear drag queens as much as it does, and its attacks on them at the start of this year continued that narrative (but Milton Berle and "Bosom Buddies" have been deemed exempt from criticism). Read more >>

Posted by Terry K. at 1:27 AM EDT
Thursday, September 21, 2023
MRC Complains That Trump's (Third) Indictment Is Considered News
Topic: Media Research Center

As it had before with previous indictments, the Media Research Center rushed to defend Donald Trump after his third indictment with the usual distractions and whataboutism. An Aug. 1 post by Kevin Tober whining that that the non-right-wing media covered additional charges under a previous indictment:

Late Tuesday afternoon, Biden DOJ-appointed special prosecutor Jack Smith announced yet another indictment against former President Donald Trump on four separate counts. This time related to his alleged actions in the run-up to the January 6 riots at the United States Capitol. In stark contrast to their dismissive coverage of Hunter Biden’s criminal activity, the three networks spent a combined 24 minutes and 36 seconds on the third indictment of Trump. 

ABC’s World News Tonight was the worst offender when it comes to the obsessive network coverage. In total, the network spent 11 minutes and 56 seconds harping on the news. Their total airtime dedicated to reporting the news (minus teases and commercials) was 19 minutes flat, which meant over 60 percent (62.8%) was about Trump.

Tober didn't explain why a former president getting indicted yet again wasn't newsworthy. An Aug. 2 post by Alex Christy similarly complained about newsworthiness:

If CNN has a line on hyperbolic rhetoric about former President Donald Trump, law enforcement analyst and former D.C. police officer Michael Fanone almost crossed it on Tuesday’s CNN Tonight when he compared Trump’s new indictment related to the aftermath of the 2020 Election to the death of Osama bin Laden. Even liberal host Laura Coates was shocked by the comparison.

After Coates asked Fanone his thoughts, he recalled that, “When I first learned about the indictment, I had a long conversation with a friend of mine, Ryan Reilly, and I told him how proud I felt to be an American at that moment. Much in the way that I did when I learned that our military had killed Osama bin Laden. I just felt incredibly proud.”

Amid some crosstalk, a confused Coates sought clarification, “These two seem comfortable to you?... I'm sorry, I don't want to cut you off, but why that comparison in particular?... In what way?”

Doubling down, Fanone declared, “Osama bin Laden was a terrorist who committed a horrific act against American people and against our republic. And I believe that Donald Trump is a terrorist who committed horrific acts against the American people.”

Curtis Houck played Hunter Biden whataboutism on indictment coverage:

With Tuesday’s third indictment of former President Trump, the “big three” networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC had their ticket out of having to acknowledge the scandals surrounding the Biden family, including reasons to continue skipping Burisma bribery claims and no longer probe Monday’s testimony from Hunter Biden’s former business partner, Devon Archer.

Between their flagship Tuesday evening (24:36) and Wednesday morning news shows (46:05), they’ve spent a whopping 70 minutes and 41 seconds obsessing over the charges filed against Trump relating to January 6 riot and claims about the 2020 election.

All three networks were within two minutes of each other with NBC at 22 minutes and 17 seconds, CBS at 23 minutes and 28 seconds, and then ABC on top at 24 minutes and 56 seconds. Each of these networks far exceeded what all three put up for post-Archer hearing coverage, which was only eight minutes and 32 seconds.

Mark Finkelstein groused about another Osama bin Liden reference to Trump's indictment:

On Wednesday's Morning Joe, liberal historian Michael Beschloss said that the indictment of former President Trump "fits perfectly into the American story" because there has been a history of "monsters" seeking to destroy American democracy. Beschloss cited the Confederacy, the attack on Pearl Harbor, and Osama Bin Laden.

In the context of commenting on the new indictment of Trump relating to January 6th, an apparently panicked Beschloss [see screencap] described Trump as a "monster" like Bin Laden. And in a bit of unhinged scare-mongering, Beschloss warned that if elected, Trump will institute a "presidential dictatorship" and "take away our democracy."

"9/11/2001, Osama bin Laden and other terrorists hated our democracy, tried to destroy it. You see where I'm going," he proclaimed.

Finkelstein was giddy at the prospect that his fellow normally law-and-order right-wingers won't accept their their favorite presidential candidate is a criminal:

Beschloss didn't offer any evidence in support of his claim that Trump has said that the would institute a "presidential dictatorship," or that he would "take our democracy away."

As for the indictment somehow saving America from Trump being elected: even a conviction would not legally bar Trump from running and serving, and Trump has indicated that would be his intention. Indeed, this indictment, which even the National Review has editorialized "shouldn't stand," could be the very thing that propels Trump back into the White House.

Be careful what you wish for, Michael Beschloss and the rest of the liberal establishment!

Houck took over the MRC's Aug. 2 podcast to rehash his complaint about "the astounding totals of coverage on ABC, CBS, and NBC" of the Trump indictment," again claiming that this "has given the networks the perfect excuse to wave goodbye to any and all Biden scandals for an indefinite period of time."

Houck whined again that Trump's indictment was treated as news, with added Biden whataboutism, in an Aug. 3 post:

On Wednesday afternoon, NewsBusters brought you the tally of broadcast network coverage of the third Trump indictment as having stood at roughly 70 minutes (70:41) on the flagship morning and evening newscasts of ABC, CBS, and NBC. Unsurprisingly, the coverage ballooned ahead of Trump’s arraignment Thursday afternoon on charges relating to his conduct on and prior to January 6. The total this time? Roughly 112 minutes (111:57).

Another pattern held serve as, thanks to this third Trump indictment and the liberal media’s obsession with all things Trump (including elevating his 2024 candidacy), the networks again had nothing on Wednesday night and Thursday morning about any of the scandals pertaining to the Biden presidency, Hunter Biden’s life of ruin, or allegations of corruption against President Joe Biden.

The three remained in close touch on the stop watch with ABC still in first place with 38 minutes and 48 seconds.

Houck didn't explain why he apparenty thinks Trump's indictment should be censored.

Nicholas Fondacaro melted down over the ladies of "The View" -- whom he once again smeared as a "cackling coven" -- had an opinion on Trump's latest indictment:

With 2024 on the horizon, the Cackling Coven of ABC’s The View really wanted former President Trump out of the picture. So much so that co-host Sara Haines was flabbergasted on Thursday by the notion that he would get a fair trial and not have any potential jury pool poisoned by the Justice Department releasing information pre-trial. They also fantasized about what his imprisonment situation would be like with Joy Behar saying she would settle for him being exiled somewhere, anywhere.

Referencing an interview Trump Attorney General Bill Barr gave to CNN the previous night, Haines couldn’t wrap her mind around why Trump deserved to have a fair trial, admitting it “blew my mind”:

Fondacaro again referenced "Racist co-host Sunny Hostin," apparently still under the delusion that his inability to understand how metaphors work justifies the smear.

Tober returned to rant that someone said nice things about Smith:

During CBS’s live coverage of former President Donald Trump’s arraignment on charges related to the January 6 riots at the United States Capitol and his alleged attempt to “overturn” the results of the 2020 presidential election, anchor Norah O’Donnell and correspondent Robert Costa heaped sycophantic praise for the corrupt anti-Trump prosecutor Jack Smith. O’Donnell took a break from analyzing the multiple indictments Trump was facing as they were speaking to Beclown herself by swooning over Smith and his so-called “grit” and “determination.”   

“Also in the courtroom is a special counsel, Jack Smith,” O’Donnell observed. “He is essentially who Donald Trump is up against in multiple of these indictments,” she said referring to Smith. “The two of course the classified documents and the January 6 one. And they're sitting across from each other inside this courtroom.”

Tober offered no evidence to back up has assertion that Smith is "corrupt," unless he's arguing that merely indicting a Republican is evidence of "corruption." Instead, he closed by huffing: "The media is enjoying this saga way too much. They can’t be trusted to report on these indictments and trials objectively. It’s all a game to them." But that falsely suggests that Fox News is somehow not part of "the media" -- Tober didn't tell us how Fox News is covering the indictment -- and it ignores that Tober and the rest of the MRC can't be trusted to report on Trump's indictments objectively because its anti-media agenda is nothing but a game to them.


Posted by Terry K. at 8:24 PM EDT
Updated: Thursday, September 21, 2023 11:23 PM EDT

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