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

Latest from Melissa Mullins
August 13, 2015, 6:21 PM EDT

The Newsweek website was so impressed by historian Rick Perlstein of The Washington Spectator declaring war on a historic flag that they republished him. He’s talking about a flag that is deemed as racist, “one that supposedly honors history but actually spreads a pernicious myth, and is useful only to venal right-wing politicians who wish to exploit hatred by calling it heritage….”

Surely he means the Confederate flag, given the uproar over the past two months for something that has been around since the Civil War.  Wrong.  Perlstein is talking about the POW/MIA flag, and in an attempt to remain newsworthy, Newsweek actually published this pile of manure.

August 12, 2015, 8:20 AM EDT

The Washington Post reported yesterday that parenthood has a negative impact on an individual’s happiness.  Apparently, parenthood is so devastating that it’s even “worse than divorce, worse than unemployment, and worse even than the death of a partner.”

Now what pollster would ever ask the public: “Which is worse? The birth of a child or the death of a spouse?” But along came Post reporter Ariana Eunjung Cha just passing along the clickbait.

August 9, 2015, 8:22 PM EDT

There’s a new trend among us!  It’s called “free bleeding” – where a woman doesn’t use feminine products when she’s menstruating.  Yes.  This is apparently a thing, and People magazine thinks it’s great.

Take Kiran Gandhi, a drummer for several dance and hip-hop acts. Gandhi decided to run the London Marathon “free bleeding” style to “raise awareness,” reported People. Yep. That’s right!  She ran the entire race – just letting it all flow –– and she didn’t even have the decency to wear black running pants.

August 8, 2015, 6:45 PM EDT

If 2014 was the year of the first openly gay player to be drafted in the NFL, the count 2015 as being the year of the first open nonbeliever to come out in the NFL. Tim Keown of ESPN The Magazine interviewed star Houston Texan running back Arian Foster for its upcoming August 18 issue.          

It's a shock: "Playing in the sport that most closely aligns itself with religion, in which God and country are both industry and packaging, in which the pregame flyover blends with the postgame prayer, Foster does not believe in God."

August 8, 2015, 7:24 AM EDT

He may be 72, but Geraldo Rivera is threatening people with violence once again! Just last month, it was fellow Fox host Eric Bolling. Now it's former GOP consultant and current Donald Trump adviser Roger Stone, who insulted Ana Navarro and Roland Martin as "quota hires" as CNN pundits.

August 6, 2015, 7:00 AM EDT

Oh here we go again. Not long ago, the snarky radical feminists at Jezebel posed a question on their site asking, "Is Office Air Conditioning a Sexist Conspiracy?"

Now, not even two weeks later, Pam Belluck of The New York Times wrote an article for the front page of the paper titled, “Chilly at Work? Office Formula was Devised for Men.”

August 1, 2015, 9:53 PM EDT

Did anyone tell Ed Schultz he missed his final episode on Friday?

The Ed Show was cancelled along with three other MSNBC shows, and although the entire gang was there for the last episode of The Cycle, and Alex Wagner had a few laughs at the conclusion of her show, Mr. Ed was nowhere to be found. The reason, MSNBC say it was due to “pre-existing scheduling conflicts.”  Somehow I don’t believe that.

August 1, 2015, 3:24 PM EDT

Fox News Channel personality Geraldo Rivera recently weighed in on Cecil the Lion and the controversy surrounding Walter Palmer, the Minnesota dentist who killed the beloved lion.

Geraldo took to twitter and tweeted the following: "Is it penis envy?"

July 31, 2015, 11:07 PM EDT

Here’s something you don’t hear very often.  CNN political commentator Sally Kohn seems to think “white privilege” encompasses white murderers.   

Kohn wrote a piece for the Washington Post titled, “We blame minority groups for individual crimes. Why do white conservatives get a pass?” The article is about James Houser, the man who opened fire in a Lafayette, La., movie theater, and how white privilege allows society and the media to treat him as an individual who committed a crime, and not holding a certain group accountable for one person’s actions like is often done with minorities.

July 31, 2015, 7:28 PM EDT

It’s not hard to make Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz look dumb. But she probably didn’t expect it on MSNBC. When liberal Hardball host Chris Matthews stumps her, it’s a gift that keeps on giving.

Matthews asked if Sanders lost the nomination, if there be a place for him to speak at the DNC convention.  Wasserman-Schultz lauded Sanders on his “progressive populist message” that some in the party like, but ducked the question.  It’s when Matthews asked Wasserman-Schultz the difference between a socialist and a Democrat that things got awkward:

July 31, 2015, 6:11 AM EDT

Fox & Friends host Elisabeth Hasselbeck got some passionate support from an old friend for a recent question she asked that turned into a Twitter frenzy. On Monday morning, Hasselbeck asked a former NYPD officer if it were possible that Sandra Bland could’ve used her lit cigarette as a weapon against her arresting officer.  

Twitter went crazy, with many calling Hasselbeck a racist for asking such a question.  Her former colleague at The View, Whoopi Goldberg, wasn’t having any of that on Wednesday – she shut down the Twitter haters:

July 30, 2015, 8:07 PM EDT

According to The New York Times, Will Dana, the managing editor who oversaw Rolling Stone’s trumped up UVA gang rape story, is leaving the magazine.

July 29, 2015, 2:01 PM EDT

John Oliver, host of HBO’s Last Week Tonight, used the Iran Deal as his opening segment this past Sunday and ridiculed both Republicans in Congress and the Obama administration.

Oliver wasn’t using his vaunted troops of researchers to investigate whether the Iran Deal was good or bad. He just made fun of Republicans for saying Obama was “bamboozled," and mocked the Obama administration for creating a Twitter account called @TheIranDeal. 

July 28, 2015, 7:29 AM EDT

On Sunday, Time Africa bureau chief Aryn Baker filed a gushy report from Nairobi: “Obama Electrifies Kenyan Youth With a Speech From the Heart.” Baker seemed to be harkening back to the first Obama campaign eight years ago.

Using words such as "electrifying," "youth," "future," and descriptive phrases such as "exuberant welcome," "spoke from the heart," "explosion of applause," "shouts of 'I love you!'," Baker can only remind a reader of when Obama became the first black presidential nominee of a major party.

July 26, 2015, 9:08 AM EDT

“White People” – the long awaited and hyped up MTV documentary about white privilege in America, debuted Wednesday night, and the results are in; not only did it fail to captivate the audience, but liberals complained it barely touched the surface of race in America.

The Twitterverse lit up during the documentary with #WhitePeople.  Many tweeted their opinions that Jose Antonio Vargas – the illegal alien and Pulitzer-winning reporter who made the documentary – wasn’t “hard enough” on “white people” or shamed them enough. Tough crowd!

July 25, 2015, 4:29 PM EDT

Jon Stewart's last day of hosting The Daily Show will be on August 6, and while many will miss the oftentimes controversial satirst, one writer in particular will not.  That's because Wyatt Cenac, a former writer and correspondent for the show, recently revealed that he didn't get along with the famous host.        

Speaking with Marc Maron on his "WTF" podcast, Cenac told Maron  He also spoke about an explosive confrontation between Stewart and himself -- one that happened in 2011 when Stewart was making fun of black presidential candidate Herman Cain by doing "a voice" Cenac said sounded liked a character from the 1950s sitcom Amos & Andy, which prodded Stewart into a profane rage.

July 23, 2015, 3:41 PM EDT

When Jon Stewart leaves The Daily Show, he will be replaced by contributor and South African comedian Trevor Noah.  When the announcement of Stewart’s replacement hit the news, it had a lot of people scratching their heads, asking themselves “Trevor who?”  

GQ magazine is there to prepare the public for acceptance. But first, writer Zach Baron must admire the glorified liberal castle that’s now preparing for a new king. 

July 22, 2015, 10:12 PM EDT

It’s been a little over two months since Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz sat down with Bloomberg Politics co-host Mark Halperin in what became known as one of the most cringe-worthy interviews of Halperin’s career.  During the interview, Halperin audaciously asked Cruz his favorite Cuban dish, music, and even commented on the fact that his last name “Cruz” should be enough for Hispanic appeal. 

July 21, 2015, 10:15 AM EDT

Less than a week ago, four Marines were murdered, and a now a sailor has also succumbed to his injuries from the shooting. On Monday, Fox News reporter John Roberts said there have been many displays of respect and heart-warming support for the victims of Chattanooga, but they’re not quite all there at the White House: 

 “Across Chattanooga and the area… we’re seeing signs, big electronic billboards, saying ‘Chattanooga Strong.’ All the flags are at half-staff here…And a lot of people in Chattanooga are questioning; if flags are half-staff here, why are they not at half-staff at the White House?”

July 20, 2015, 11:09 PM EDT

MSNBC’s hot-headed host Lawrence O’Donnell is backpedaling recent comments he made when he questioned how much NBC paid Donald Trump for starring in The Apprentice. O’Donnell, host of The Last Word, was on Morning Joe Thursday when he told show host Joe Scarborough that Trump was a “hired hand” and lied about how much NBC paid him.

By day's end he was walking away, lamenting he "stupidly" jumped into raising an unserious issue he doesn't care about.