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By Tom Blumer | December 30, 2015 | 9:56 PM EST

The temperature in the Fairbanks, Alaska suburb of North Pole earlier today was apparently in the low-40s Fahrenheit.

It was then that Alexandra Sifferlin at Time.com reported the Alaska town's temperature as if it came from the North Pole. The only current evidence of Sifferlin's original grievous error at Time.com is a deliberately vague correction at the bottom of her post telling readers that "This article originally misidentified a temperature reading as belonging to the North Pole." Fortunately, ever-alert blogger Patterico excerpted the post as originally written (the link to North Pole, Alaska's conditions at Weather.com is in the original):

By Tom Johnson | December 30, 2015 | 9:14 PM EST

If you’re looking for the ultimate contradiction in terms, it’d be hard to top “Christian narcissist.” Nonetheless, David Masciotra alleged in a Tuesday Salon piece (originally published on the left-wing site AlterNet) that “conservative evangelical Christianity” somehow “encourages narcissism,” and that this unholy communion explains Donald Trump’s relatively high level of popularity on the religious right.

“In order to appeal to evangelical voters, candidates…have to project narcissism and selfishness,” asserted Masciotra. “Having perfected his personality through years of reality television performance, Trump is able to successfully sway evangelicals to his side, despite his lack of Christian credentials, because narcissists take comfort in each other.”

By Curtis Houck | December 30, 2015 | 7:37 PM EST

Discussing his marriage to longtime girlfriend Siri Pinter while guest-hosting Wednesday’s Today, Carson Daly offered a rather surprising reason for finally getting married to Pinter after having been together for the past decade. Speaking of how tying the knot over Christmas has already changed his life, he explained he feels that being married has affected him “in a more profound way” due to “the sacrament of marriage, you know, be a part of our lives.”

By Tim Graham | December 30, 2015 | 5:19 PM EST

For days now, the major media and left-wing blogs have followed an arson at a Houston mosque on Christmas Day. Some were briefs, but some carried statements from the local chapter of the Council on Islamic-American Relations (CAIR) calling for a “hate crime” investigation.

Online, NBC News is reporting that the arsonist was a Muslim who attended services at the mosque. Another phony “hate crime” stunt meant to embarrass the “haters." Some national media outlets connected dots between this crime and Republican rhetoric on the campaign trail. Will they retract that line? But the winner for obnoxious left-wing blogging goes to Wonkette, which posted under the headline: "How Many Mosques Did You Burn For Jesus’s Birthday?"

By Randy Hall | December 30, 2015 | 5:16 PM EST

People place a higher priority on preserving the religious freedom of Christians than for other faith groups, ranking Muslims as the least deserving of the protections, according to a new survey released on Wednesday. A skeptic might think the Associated Press did this poll less to explore the question of religious liberty than to make mischief about Muslims being less favored in America.

The poll, which was conducted by the Associated Press and the National Opinion Research Center in Chicago, showed that solid majorities said it was extremely or very important for the U.S. to uphold religious freedom in general.

However, the percentages varied dramatically when respondents were asked about specific faith traditions, according to an article written by Rachel Zoll and Emily Swanson.

By Curtis Houck | December 30, 2015 | 2:51 PM EST

While the left constantly goes after conservatives for any and all rhetoric they view as inciting violence, they almost never follow their own prescriptions and that was certainly the case on Tuesday night as MSNBC’s The Last Word featured liberal Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson warning that Trump has marked the end of the Republican as he’s been “driving a truck bomb into the middle of the Republican Party.”

By Sarah Stites | December 30, 2015 | 2:13 PM EST

In a November roundtable conducted by Stephen Galloway of The Hollywood Reporter, Jennifer Lawrence revealed some refreshing news. She felt uncomfortable and guilty in her first sex scene with a married co-star.

Encircling the table with Lawrence were eight leading ladies including Cate Blanchett, Helen Mirren, Jane Fonda, Carey Mulligan and Kate Winslet. After some discussion about the wage gap between male and female actors, Executive Editor Stephen Galloway asked, “What’s been your toughest moment as an actress?” 

By Kristine Marsh | December 30, 2015 | 1:32 PM EST

It’s not everyday that someone out of Hollywood contradicts the liberal status-quo, or challenges demagoguery with good old-fashioned common sense. But this year there were a few instances where that did happen. Below are five times a celebrity surprised us with their viewpoints:

 
By Tim Graham | December 30, 2015 | 1:27 PM EST

Wednesday’s Washington Post front page carried a story headlined “For Muslims and neighbors, the fear sets in.” Online, it’s more political: "Trump’s effect on Muslim migrant debate reverberates in heartland.”

Political reporter Robert Samuels – the same guy who wrote that Ben Carson ruined his image among blacks by going Republican – heavily implied an arson at a Somali restaurant in Grand Forks, North Dakota was caused by Donald Trump’s rhetoric.

By Tom Blumer | December 30, 2015 | 12:48 PM EST

Establishment press pundits often wring their hands over how supposedly far to the right the Republican Party and conservatives in general have moved since the presidency of Ronald Reagan, that flaming moderate, to the point of claiming that Reagan would never be accepted by today's "wingnuts." They seem to actually believe this amusing nonsense.

In a classic example demonstrating where the real ideological shifts have taken place, the New York Times Editorial Board on Saturday expressed its wish to impose a $15-an-hour minimum wage on the entire nation. That really isn't a surprise to those who have seen so-called "progressives" move ever further to the left and out of the realm of common sense in recent times. But it might surprise many readers that the Times advocated a minimum wage of zero — that's right, expressed as "$0.00" for emphasis — in January 1987, during Reagan's second term.

By Curtis Houck | December 30, 2015 | 12:09 PM EST

With the year winding down and the news cycle slowing (aside from the weather), Wednesday’s CBS This Morning found it proper to reserve 59 seconds for fawning over Hillary Clinton receiving a question on Tuesday from a young boy about equal pay. Spinning it in the on-screen headline as some “pay perspective” from Clinton, fill-in co-host Margaret Brennan started the brief by making clear that the former secretary of state “did not mention Trump by name at a rally in New Hampshire” and instead “argued the economy does better when a Democrat is president.”

By Kristine Marsh | December 30, 2015 | 10:28 AM EST

It’s a given that the majority of Hollywood’s top stars are outspoken liberals. But this year, a few celebrities in particular made the media go ga-ga (and conservatives groan) over their pushy politics and their perpetual time in the spotlight.

 
By Sam Dorman | December 30, 2015 | 10:04 AM EST

The Atlantic needs a reminder that journalists should mention both sides when covering stories. The Society of Professional Journalists says the media are supposed to “support the open and civil exchange of views.” That includes climate change.

Ignoring that standard, Atlantic writers bypassed objectivity and went straight to alarmism by asking a number of “experts” “Can the Planet Be Saved?” in a Dec. 28 article.

By Rich Noyes | December 30, 2015 | 9:54 AM EST

Today’s installment of the Media Research Center’s “Best Notable Quotables of 2015,” as selected by our 39 expert judges, the “The Barbra Streisand Political IQ Award for Celebrity Vapidity.” Winning this award, former Star Trek actor George Takei, who in a local news interview on June 30 spluttered out a racist condemnation of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas after being asked about Thomas’s dissent in the gay marriage ruling:

By Tim Graham | December 30, 2015 | 7:39 AM EST

The New York Times is transparently panicking about Republican-backing billionaire Sheldon Adelson’s secretive purchase of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. In a Monday article by Barry Meier and Sydney Ember, they strongly imply that it’s okay when billionaires buy newspapers, as long as they don’t tilt the political playing field to the right.

Adelson has used his Israeli media holdings as a "powerful weapon" for Bibi Netanyahu, so that's very troubling to the lefties in Times Square.