Moments before the start of Thursday evenings CNN town hall forum on guns, liberal presidential historian Douglas Brinkley forecast that President Obama would take the proverbial stage seeking to be a "minister" to grieving families who lost loved ones to "gun violence." For the term-limited president, it is a "yes, we can moment" as he winds down his president, Brinkley offered.
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By Ken Shepherd | January 7, 2016 | 8:56 PM EST
By Curtis Houck | January 7, 2016 | 8:48 PM EST
In the days leading up to President Obama’s Guns In America townhall on CNN Thursday night, the network bent over backwards to hail the President’s side on gun control and belittle those in favor of the Second Amendment. The hour leading into the event at George Mason University was no different as Erin Burnett OutFront and fill-in host Kate Bolduan hailed the upcoming event as “historic event” that could fundamentally change the trajectory of the President’s legacy.
By Brad Wilmouth | January 7, 2016 | 7:48 PM EST
Appearing as a guest on Wednesday's The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, MSNBC political analyst Jonathan Alter -- also of the Daily Beast -- tried to link GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz to the anti-Obama birther movement to make the Texas Senator appear hypocritical in brushing off Donald Trump's questions about Cruz's qualifications to serve as President.
Alter, who has a history of demonizing Cruz as a "dark and dangerous figure," suggested that Cruz's famous "jump the shark" tweet signaled approval of Trump when birtherism was aimed at President Barack Obama but not when aimed at Cruz himself.
By Randy Hall | January 7, 2016 | 6:46 PM EST
While a guest on The Late Show on CBS Wednesday evening, Killer Mike -- a hip hop artist and social activist -- told liberal host Stephen Colbert that the American government in several levels is successful at isolating poor people and minorities by putting them "in communities that can be controlled.”
“If white people are just now discovering that it's bad for black or working-class people in America, they're a lot more blind than I thought,” the rapper whose real name is Michael Render stated, “and they're a lot more choosing to be ignorant than I thought.”
Matthews: Trump, Other GOPers Figuratively Bash Clinton's Head Into Pavement By Bringing Up His Past
By Ken Shepherd | January 7, 2016 | 5:49 PM EST Ever the cinemaphile, Chris Matthews last night reached for a movie reference to describe what he considered Donald Trump's relentless and savage attack on Bill Clinton, dredging up the former president's infidelities and general sleaziness. It's like, the Hardball host groused, a scene in Good Will Hunting where the title character bashes another characters head into the pavement in a fight scene.
By Matthew Balan | January 7, 2016 | 3:59 PM EST
Don Lemon acted less as an anchor and more like a liberal activist during two segments on Wednesday's CNN Tonight — tag-teaming with Igor Volsky of Think Progress to repeatedly interrupt and shout down conservative radio host Ben Ferguson over his support for gun rights. This was an escalation from the previous evening, where he merely granted Volsky the heckler's veto. Lemon dismissed Ferguson's concern over President Obama's executive orders: "Does anybody in their right mind out there in America actually believe that the President is going to take away guns in America? It's never, ever, ever going to happen."
By Katie Yoder | January 7, 2016 | 3:55 PM EST
It’s called a double-standard. While media have happily hyped the political “War on Women,” two networks won’t say a word about the shocking story of women assaulted by migrants.
During their broadcast morning and evening news shows, both ABC and NBC turned a blind-eye to a New Year’s Eve story of 1,000 migrant men who allegedly gathered outside Cologne’s main train station to sexually assault, rob and even rape female passers-by.
By Ken Shepherd | January 7, 2016 | 3:45 PM EST
Whining that the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution "has been contorted, misinterpreted, and applied in a way that destroys its intended meaning and threatens the safety and stability of our nation," self-described "race-and-culture journalist" Barrett Holmes Pitner set out to explain today at the Daily Beast's website that no, "President Obama Isn’t Taking People’s Guns—But Maybe He Should."
By Scott Whitlock | January 7, 2016 | 3:13 PM EST
The journalists at Good Morning America once again touted the dire consequences of climate change. On Thursday, co-host Lara Spencer featured an emotional child worried that global warming would keep polar bears from eating. Spencer talked to Bernadette Woods Placky of the website climate central and hyperventilated: “Is this the kind of thing that people who live on the coastline should be panicking and moving inland?”
By Kyle Drennen | January 7, 2016 | 2:59 PM EST
On Thursday, NBC’s Today and CBS This Morning joined ABC’s Good Morning America in promoting Donald Trump questioning Ted Cruz being a natural born U.S. citizen. On Today, co-host Savannah Guthrie proclaimed: “Donald Trump is escalating his attacks on Republican rival Ted Cruz, reiterating questions about the Texas senator's eligibility to run for president. And now another prominent Republican is suggesting the issue is worth looking into.”
By Matt Philbin | January 7, 2016 | 2:19 PM EST
Ann Brown thinks you’re stupid, and that’s not just because she’s a former chairman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (motto: “Saving American from Themselves for More Than 40 Years.”) No, it’s because even though you reject liberal gun control measures, she’s sure you’d be A-okay with liberal bullet control measures.
Writing in The Washington Post January 6, Brown called for the federal regulation of ammunition, noting correctly that Obama’s new raft of executive actions on guns had little “chance of achieving even a small reduction in this carnage.”
By Brad Wilmouth | January 7, 2016 | 1:46 PM EST
Wednesday's Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN ran a report by correspondent Drew Griffin fretting over NRA-inspired laws in some "conservative" states that forbid police departments from destroying confiscated guns, with such laws aiming to encourage the police to sell the weapons and use the funds raised to help pay for law enforcement activities.
Griffin at one point hinted at the NRA having a sinister relationship with elected officeholders as he asserted that, in Tennessee, the NRA "found its own state legislator to push its own legislation." The on-sceen clock graphic counting down the hours, minutes and seconds until CNN's special town hall on guns with President Barack Obama continued running as it has done since first appearing Tuesday afternoon after the President's speech on guns.
By Sam Dorman | January 7, 2016 | 11:27 AM EST
When it comes to raising the minimum wage, networks minimize balance and maximize bias.
After a year of protests clamoring for a $15 minimum wage, Christian Science Monitor reported that 14 states and several cities increased minimum wages or planned to in 2016. Several more cities and states are expected to consider a $15 minimum wage with ballot or legislative initiatives, according to USA Today.
By Katie Yoder | January 7, 2016 | 11:20 AM EST
Churches must not be afraid to speak out against abortion in the 2016 election, according to one prominent pro-life group.
On Wednesday, Priests for Life hosted a press conference on abortion in light of the upcoming 2016 elections at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The event centered on the question “How political can the Catholic Church be?” under its tax-exempt status and highlighted that “restrictions on political activity by churches are misunderstood” -- even by the media.
By Scott Whitlock | January 7, 2016 | 11:20 AM EST
In 2011 and 2012, the journalists at Good Morning America railed against birther claims relating to Barack Obama, assailing the conspiracy theory as “bizarre” and “nonsense.” Yet, the same program lacked outrage on Thursday as Donald Trump promotes a form of birtherism against Ted Cruz.