AP’s propaganda piece on SEAL trial
On Thursday, the Associated (with Terrorists) Press published an article on a military jury finding Navy SEAL Petty Officer Julio Huertas not guilty of covering up an alleged detainee beating.
But the AP just couldn’t help but turn a story where justice prevailed into a propaganda piece attacking the U.S. military. Kay Day at The US Report writes:
Things were going pretty good until I got to this part: “The case has drawn fire from at least 20 members of Congress and other Americans who see it as coddling terrorists to overcompensate for the notorious Abu Ghraib prison scandal. Thursday’s verdict was met by anger and sad shrugs from Iraqis who said they no longer expect to see U.S. troops held accountable for atrocities or other abuses.”
At least 20 members of Congress? Try at least 40 members, and just for fun, add in the fact they are Republicans who supported the SEALs based on evidence compiled by Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.). I know that puts a small grimace on most wire service writers’ faces, but it’s a fact and journalists love facts, right?
Day continues (emphasis mine):
And naturally this social justice loving AP writer had to bring up Abu Ghraib—the word ‘notorious’ does seem a bit ‘overkillish’ to me, however. The very name of the place connotes ‘notorious.’ But to compare [Abu Ghraib with] an alleged punch to a detainee who suffered no real injury and whose story … changed with the wind is akin to comparing a firm handshake to a punch thrown by the great Muhammad Ali.
The AP writes, “In his closing argument, [the prosecutor, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Jason Grover] pleaded with the jury to hold Huertas responsible as an example of ‘why we’re better than the terrorists.’”
To hell with justice – let’s show the Iraqis that we will do whatever it takes to please them! The trouble with that logic is the Obama administration has turned placating other nations and our enemies into our foreign policy platform, and it clearly doesn’t work.
Sidenote to Grover and the AP: There’s a thing called justice. That’s one key asset that makes us better than the terrorists.
Then there’s this thing called a jury trial which should never have happened in the first place.
Then there’s another thing called a head. The so-called detainee still has his on top of his body. I’d say that’s the biggest thing making us better than the terrorists.
And why does this lawyer – who happens to be in the Navy – think we need to prove to the Iraqis that we are better than the terrorists? Justice aside – who dethroned their tyrannical government, allowing a democracy to take its place – al Qaeda or the United States? Who destroys infrastructure and terrorizes the population, and who repairs and builds infrastructure and protects the population? Perhaps Lt. Cmdr. Grover should refresh his memory. Or perhaps he is just following orders. Who knows any more?
While trying to paint the alleged crime as revenge for the 2004 grisly massacre of four Blackwater security contractors- of which the alleged victim is believed to have been the mastermind – the AP mistakenly claimed that at least two of the slain Americans were SEALs. In fact, three of the four were former Army. Only one was a SEAL. It’s pretty bad when a blog has more accurate reporting than the AP.
But the real kicker is what the news service wrote next: “‘These trials are just propaganda for their justice and democracy,’ sneered Abdul-Rahman Najim al-Mashhadani, head of the Iraqi human rights group Hammurabi.’”
Time magazine reported that Hammurabi was linked to the (George Soros-linked) Human Rights Watch. When Time used Hammurabi statements during a story on Haditha, they issued a retraction. In closing, here’s what Day had to say:
I’d like to congratulate the AP for continuing a level of reportage I’ve come to expect from an organization that runs content from partisan non-profit organizations without disclosing it to the reader. You did the usual sorry job on informing the reader and you managed to once again slap the very men and women that keep this country free enough for you to write your garbage.
If you would like to let the AP what you think of what they consider “journalism,” their phone number is 212-621-1500, and their email address is info@ap.org
In: Media, Military · Tagged with: Associated Press, media bias, Navy SEALs, SEAL 3
The media’s Constitutional double standard
Which does the mainstream media hold in higher regard: the Constitution or Democratic party interests? After reading Jerome Corsi’s latest article exposing the media’s double standard on presidential eligibility, it would appear to be the latter.
The same media outlets that sounded the alarm in 2008 over McCain’s eligibility are now marginalizing the growing concerns whether our current president is constitutionally qualified to hold office.
When McCain became the Republican nominee, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, FactCheck.org, Snopes.com, the Times of London, and many other media outlets questioned his eligibility to serve, as he was born in the Panama Canal Zone.
Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution states that “No person except a natural born citizen … shall be eligible to the office of President.” But according to U.S. law, McCain was in fact eligible to serve, as he was born on a Navy base to American parents.
McCain appeared before Congress with his actual birth certificate (not a “Certification of Live Birth,”, which Obama and the media wrongly portray as a birth certificate), thereby averting a possible Constitutional crisis. However, FactCheck.org still maintains that “If McCain wins the presidency, the constitutionality of these congressional statutes could be challenged in the courts.”
Why didn’t Congress also bring in Obama, who has sealed nearly all of his records, to testify as McCain did? Obama’s refusal to release the very documents that would resolve the matter has cost an incredible $1.7 million in order to fight requests to release the information according to World Net Daily. If our president has nothing to hide, then why doesn’t he release his actual birth certificate as McCain did? After all, there aren’t separate versions of the Constitution for Republicans and Democrats.
My view is that the media was right to investigate McCain’s eligibility. But they should have given candidate Obama the same scrutiny. While the media – and these supposed “fact-checking” websites – wrote piece after piece questioning the validity of the Republican candidate, those who questioned the Democratic candidate were – and continue to be – attacked and smeared by the same. Their efforts to label concerned citizens “birthers” and “racists” is nothing more than a diversionary tactic to shift the focus from where it belongs.
Whether you think the so-called “birther” movement is nuts or not, what is truly ridiculous is that our president has allowed this controversy to continue for nearly two years. Government officials swear an oath to “support the Constitution,” not to selectively apply the law when it is politically expedient for them.
In: Media, Politics · Tagged with: Barack Obama, birthers, Constitution, media bias
A lesson in how to defeat slander
Dennis Prager thoroughly annihilates Conservative turncoat Charles Johnson in this open letter. I am not very familiar with Johnson, but I have come across a lot of his former supporters expressing their disappointment with his decision to apparently abandon all that he stood for.
But if I had to guess, the man is just looking for – and will likely find – a paycheck (didn’t MSNBC host Ed Schultz do the same thing?). There is little to no money on the conservative side of the media, while he will have a lucrative future ahead of him on CNN, MSNBC, or any number of liberal-leaning print publications. Unless that is what has already happened – I don’t follow the politics of the blogosphere.
In: Media · Tagged with: Charles Johnson, Dennis Prager, Ed Schultz, media bias
Dianne Sawyer: Continuing in the Footsteps of Cronkite
The Media Research Center has compiled a report that exposes ABC News’ future anchor Dianne Sawyer’s political bias. As evidenced in the report, ABC’s viewers will be treated to more soft-soaping of our enemies, more globalist propaganda, and more proof that the profession of journalism is dead (Walter Cronkite would be proud).
As we learned from CBS’s apologists with the drop in viewers following Katie Couric’s promotion, any drop in ratings will not be due to America’s disgust with the political activism by the network – it will be because ABC’s audience are Sexist! As Rush Limbaugh says (and I paraphrase), “media is the only profession in which the customer is always wrong.”
Remember that ABC is the network that aired an Obama infomercial from the White House, with no rebuttal from the Republicans.
Surely John Podesta’s Center for American Progress will compile a report addressing the “Structural Imbalance of Political Coverage in Journalism.”
In: Media · Tagged with: CBS, Center for American Progress, Dianne Sawyer, media bias, Rush Limbaugh, Walter Cronkite
AP: Obama’s a Jock
In case you didn’t know, this is what passes as journalism at the AP (emphasis mine):
[Obama has] spent his adult life in big cities — New York, Chicago and, now, Washington. Basketball, golf, and bodysurfing are how this jock rolls. Indoor daily gym workouts are the norm.
How this “jock” rolls? I don’t know how he rolls, but I remember how he bowls: a very non-jock-worthy 37. And afterwards he had the audacity to make fun of special olympians.
Isn’t this the same jock that threw out the first pitch to the All-Star Game? The Fox Network cameras were positioned so that they would not show the actual pitch. MLB cameras however did show the entire pitch. Albert Pujols was positioned on top of the plate, rather than behind it, and the ball still hit the ground.
Not quite what I would call a jock, but I am not an active duty member of the White House Press Corps, either.
From my AP Style Manual (the only thing written by the AP worth the ink):
jock Used when describing athleticism of Democratic presidents.
See Barack Obama.
In: Media · Tagged with: Associated Press, Barack Obama, baseball, media bias
Un-Ed-ucated
MSNBC commentator Ed Schultz (whom I have never heard of previously) took to insulting Americans opposed to Obama’s socialist healthcare policy (video here).
ED SCHULTZ: Oh, there’s a lot going on. Tonight: it’s an uprising! Angry old white folks are storming into town halls all across the country spewing lies about health care reform. Let me set the record straight early on: these folks, I think, they’re dumber than Joe the Plumber.
. . .SCHULTZ: Mr. President, you have the people behind you. I’ve done enough of these [town halls] to know that there’s a fraction of Americans out there who are, you know, the old right wing, they’re playing on the old, angry white uneducated misinformed Americans to go out there and carry the torch in the Republican party right now. To shake it up to defeat. That’s why they use “failure.” This is how they’re trying to generate it!
We must be pretty effective if they are attacking us in this manner.
Can you imagine the fallout if Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck talked about liberal protesters (think ACORN) in this manner? Networks would be apologizing, pressure would be put on advertisers to pull from the shows (and a few always seem to), and in Rush’s case, Congress would get involved.
If a Fox News host said that “poor angry black folks with ACORN are once again using mob-style tactics and spewing their lies…” the program would end right there, and so would the career of the host. There might be race riots. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that it would be the end of Fox thanks to government action. But this Schultz clown gets away with insulting people who exercise their constitutional right to assemble peaceably?
Specifically what “lies” are we “old, angry white uneducated misinformed Americans” spewing, Schultz? Always attacking the messenger, but never the message.
In: Media, Society · Tagged with: media bias, MSNBC
White House threatens to sick press corps on bank?
A leading bankruptcy attorney (and Democratic donor) Thomas Lauria claimed that the White House threatened the investment bank Perella Weinberg Partners that it would sick the press corps on them if they opposed Obama’s plans.
Audio here from NewsTalk 760 on the Frank Beckmann show.
Mark Whittington at Associated Content writes:
Steve Rattner, the leader of the Obama administration’s Auto Industry Task Force, threatened one of the firms, an investment bank, that if it continued to oppose the administration’s Chrysler bankruptcy plan, the White House would use the White House press corps to destroy its reputation.
The plan would require creditors to accept 29 cents on the dollar for the $6.8 billion owed by Chrysler.
The scary thing here is that if what Lauria is saying is true, the media are now a quasi-official arm of the state. It goes (or rather went) without saying that the press corps are not working for the White House.
Both Perella Weinberg Partners and the White House deny Lauria’s charges.
Maybe Obama missed the fact that the Marine Corps are at his disposal, NOT the press corps.
In: Politics · Tagged with: media bias, Obama administration, state-run media
Santelli on Tea Parties
CNBC “Squawk Box” co-host Joe Kernen asked Rick Santelli – who may have given birth to the Tax Day Tea Parties in an on-air rant Feb. 19 – what he thought of the “cultural phenomenon” he inspired.
“I don’t know about cultural phenomenon, but I’ll tell you what,” Santelli said. “I think that this tea party phenomenon is steeped in American culture and steeped in American notion to get involved with what’s going on with our government. I haven’t organized. I’m going to have to work to pay my taxes, so I’m not going to be able to get away today. But, I have to tell you – I’m pretty proud of this.” Santelli also defended the tea parties from attacks from MSNBC, who called the movement “astroturf.”
“I think from a grassroots standpoint, I’m sure some of the media out there is not going to peg it that way, but isn’t it about as American as it gets – for people to roll their strollers and make their signs and go voice their opinion about the direction of the country?” Santelli said. “Good, bad or indifferent – that’s a great thing. There’s not a lot of countries, of course, that afford their people that, that type of right. It’s a great thing.”
In: Media, Politics · Tagged with: CNBC, media bias, MSNBC, Rick Santelli, Tea Party
CNN calls Tea Parties “Anti-Government”
Can you imagine CNN giving this kind of coverage to a liberal protest? Audio isn’t that good, but you can pick up the reporter’s resentment loud and clear.
It’s amazing to see what passes for journalism today.
In: Media, Politics · Tagged with: CNN, media bias, Tea Party
Sarkozy’s Speech to Congress
A fantastic speech from France’s president, Nikolas Sarkozy. If a Republican had delivered a speech like this, he would be president today. The word “freedom” is used 14 times! But unfortunately our politicians don’t talk about freedom, so we have to hear it from the French.
Madam Speaker,
Mr. President,
Ladies and Gentlemen of the United States Congress,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The state of our friendship and our alliance is strong.
In: Media, Politics · Tagged with: media bias, Tea Party
