Melissa Mullins is a freelance writer and public relations professional living in the Washington, D.C. area. 

Latest from Melissa Mullins
October 15, 2015, 4:06 PM EDT

Actress Julianne Moore has launched a campaign she insists is aimed at raising gun-safety awareness and enacting enhanced background checks for those seeking to purchase firearms.

On October 13, People magazine reported that Moore started her group Everytown Creative Council -- which consists of members of the "creative community" and is affiliated with gun-rights opponent Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown Gun Safety -- because she is "shocked and saddened by the loss of life, and the daily increase of gun violence in our beautiful country."

October 6, 2015, 8:27 PM EDT

No sooner than President Obama jumped the gun (no pun intended) and literally said he was politicizing the mass shooting in Oregon, John Oliver took to his Comedy Central show on Sunday and accused GOP presidential candidates as using mental illness as a “means of steering the conversation away from gun control.”

September 30, 2015, 11:05 PM EDT

President Obama may criticize and rail against those nasty one percenters, but he certainly loves them when he’s looking to raise money.

The Hollywood Reporter relayed that on October 1, a Q&A session will be held at the Los Angeles home of Hollywood producer/director J.J. Abrams and wife Katie McGrath to benefit the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.  The cost to enjoy the presence of such elitists?  A paltry $33,400 per person – for many people across America, that’s an annual salary.

September 30, 2015, 9:23 PM EDT

Ultraliberal Senator Barbara Boxer appeared on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell show on Tuesday,  doing her darndest to try and create another fictional case of “the war against women” by defending Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards and her almost-$600,000 salary and taking pot-shots at presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina.
 
Mitchell gently asked Boxer “Do you think that that is an inappropriately high salary for someone working in women’s health services?” Boxer responded: “Absolutely, I do not think it is. If you look at CEO salaries across the board, and Cecile Richards essentially puts her life on the line in this job.”

September 28, 2015, 1:03 PM EDT

On CNN’s State of the Union, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi was asked by Jake Tapper if she had seen any of the undercover videos that showed Planned Parenthood executives casually talking about selling body parts of aborted babies.

In true Pelosi fashion, she replied that “I don’t stipulate these videos are real,” and just as President Obama hears news first from the media, Pelosi told Tapper “I’ve seen some news reports on it, but I also know that some of it is not real and you can create any reality that you want.”  

September 25, 2015, 6:25 PM EDT

Supporters of Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump are used to being criticized whether it be their own party or Democrats. One charge often hurled at them is that Trump supporters are racist.  But a new Fox news poll on the 2016 presidential election should put that claim to rest. Currently the poll finds the New York real-estate developer is still on top with 26 percent of voters, followed by retired neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson at 18 percent, businesswoman Carly Fiorina and Florida U.S. Senator Marco Rubio tied for third place.  Many voters are tired of politicians and that is why “outsider” candidates such as Trump and Carson are in the lead.  Part of Trump’s appeal is his shoot from the hip style of speaking – he’s not one to mince words.

September 25, 2015, 12:56 PM EDT

Comedian and Daily Show co-creator Lizz Winstead threw a hissyfit when initially Apple rejected her feminist app “Hinder,” a satirical rip-off of the dating app “Tinder”: it allows a user to swipe “anti-women” politicians, much like Tinder users can reject potential dates they find objectionable.

Apple has since backed away from its initial ban on the app after Winstead went and whined to the Daily Beast that she was “short-shrifted” by the company.

September 24, 2015, 10:26 PM EDT

Did you hear about how a self-appointed political correctness activist forced Netflix to rewrite their synopsis of the plot of a Disney movie?

You can’t make this up.

September 22, 2015, 9:32 PM EDT

So liberal-leaning Vanity Fair apparently has no problem with the all-male club that is late-night comedy programming.

The October 2015 issue cover is clad with the usual suspects of late-night television, which included Stephen Colbert,Conan O'Brien, Trevor Noah, James Corden, Jimmy Kimmel, John Oliver, Seth Meyers, Larry Wilmore, Jimmy Fallon and Bill Maher. That’s fine and all, but where are the women?  Aren’t liberals – especially in Hollywood and the media - always the ones harping on how comedy acts are still too heavily dominated by dudes?

September 21, 2015, 11:45 PM EDT

Dr. Drew Pinsky, host of HLN’s Dr. Drew, is often seen on television as a calm and mild-mannered person, but that wasn’t the case on last Thursday’s show when he nearly had to cut his show short when a rude Black Lives Matter protester tried to hijack the program to push her agenda.

September 15, 2015, 9:11 PM EDT

How’s this for a dose of irony? Dan Rather promoting a movie called Truth that is nothing but a bunch of lies.

The former CBS anchorman was on hand this past Saturday at the Toronto Film Festival where he praised Robert Redford who stars as Rather in a film that depicted a 2004 controversy that would later become known as Rathergate.

September 10, 2015, 9:09 PM EDT

New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan posted a blog on Wednesday acknowledging those who support Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders are right to be upset over the lack of meaningful coverage on his campaign.

September 9, 2015, 8:15 PM EDT

As if this story didn’t leave Americans enough to argue about, CNN’s Don Lemon yesterday thought it would be a great idea to play, of all things, a clip from The West Wing that had gone viral earlier this week in reaction to Rowan County Kentucky Court Clerk Kim Davis (D) and her religious stance on gay marriage.

September 9, 2015, 4:44 PM EDT

After interviewing Democratic presidential front-runner Hilary Clinton on Monday, veteran NBC reporter Andrea Mitchell admitted the following day that she couldn’t ask everything she wanted to because she was afraid Clinton would abruptly halt the interview and leave.

September 8, 2015, 7:53 PM EDT

It got a little heated yesterday when MSNBC host Thomas Roberts interviewed former Gov. Howard Dean (D-Vermont) over whether or not Hilary Clinton’s email controversy is a made-up media obsession or a legitimate point of concern for the Democratic presidential candidate. In fact, it got so contentious between the two that Susan Del Percio, a Republican strategist, sat quietly the last eight minutes of the segment.

September 8, 2015, 3:49 PM EDT

Time magazine selectively edited Pope Francis’ significant words on the issue of abortion recently.

Last week ABC News organized a “virtual town hall” for Americans across the country to ask Pope Francis questions about faith, life and their struggles.  This forum was meant to give a little preview on what to expect when Pope Francis arrives in the United States in about two weeks.

September 6, 2015, 11:41 PM EDT

There have been many conservatives coming to the defense of Kim Davis, the county clerk in Kentucky who refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, but there is one unlikely supporter coming to her defense – Christopher Ciccone – otherwise known as Madonna’s brother, and who happens to be gay.

Taking to his Facebook page, Ciccone believes Davis should be allowed the right to refuse licenses to gay couples due to her “religious freedom.”

September 6, 2015, 9:11 PM EDT

This is something you don’t see often – Fox News contributor and unofficial advocate of illegal immigrants, Geraldo Rivera actually defended GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump on “gotcha questions” on foreign policy from an interview he did with radio host Hugh Hewitt.

Rivera was on this morning’s Fox & Friends when he told the hosts...

September 4, 2015, 4:03 PM EDT

Earlier this summer, in advance of the fall premiere of a new Muppets TV show on the ABC network, fictional characters Kermit the Frog and longtime partner Miss Piggy – who told MSNBC’s Irin Carmon she is a pro-choice feminist  -- announced their separation to the public via Facebook, with the porcine half of the famous couplet kicking her beloved Kermie to the curb.

September 4, 2015, 12:18 PM EDT

David Axelrod is jumping ship to CNN.  After serving as a senior political analyst for MSNBC and NBC since 2013, Axelrod will make the move to CNN as a senior political commentator. 

Prior to his work at the Lean Forward network, Axelrod was best known for his role as a senior advisor to Obama during the president’s first term, and playing an important role in getting Obama elected twice.