'The Player': Super-Rich People ‘Gamble on Crime’ Instead of Trying to Prevent It
By Julia A. Seymour | September 24, 2015 | 2:36 PM EDT

Entertainment is full of plotlines that make wealthy people look evil, or like criminals, or even cold-hearted. NBC’s new “pulp” The Player just takes a new approach with an Illuminati-level conspiracy.

The Player, which premieres tonight on NBC, asks viewers to accept the unusual premise that there is a strange and secret conspiracy. Because “ordinary games become stale,” the world’s richest people bet on crime with the help of a secret organization run by Mr. Johnson (Wesley Snipes). Snipes’ acting career was put on hold by a three-year prison sentence for intentionally failing to file tax returns for three years. He was released in April of 2013.

Liberal Media Differs from CNBC on Diagnosis of Pharma ‘Price Gouger’ Problem
By Michael Greibrok | September 23, 2015 | 2:25 PM EDT

The left is up in arms over the pharmaceutical CEO who raised prices for a drug mostly used by AIDS patients by more than 5,000 percent, but experts CNBC interviewed said regulatory barriers helped make it possible.


Founder and CEO of Turing Pharmaceutical, Martin Shkreli bought the generic drug Daraprim, which is used for parasitic infections in pregnant women and immunocompromised individuals. He hiked its cost from $13.50 a pill to $750, a whopping 5,455 percent.

Right Wing Watch Proves Norman Lear is No 'Conservative'
By Alatheia Larsen | September 23, 2015 | 10:22 AM EDT

Famed TV producer Norman Lear came out as “a bleeding-heart conservative,” in an Aug. 1, Entertainment Weekly interview. But much like Lear’s shows All In The Family, The Jeffersons and Maude, it’s fiction.

Lear’s pet organization, People For the American Way, proves it. The group (which is both funded and led by Hollywood figures) claims to stand up for freedom of speech and religion -- two core tenets of America’s founding. In practice however, People For the American Way attacks nearly any group or person whose views don’t align with its progressive agenda.

Salon and Huffington Post Agree With Krugman But Lament His Repetition
By Michael Greibrok | September 23, 2015 | 10:06 AM EDT

Paul Krugman’s anti-austerity, pro-Keynesian views sounds like a broken record, even to the left-wing publications that agree with him.


Mike Pesca, who has a daily podcast for Salon called “The Gist,” said that the Nobel Prize-winning economist’s opinion columns for The New York Times are getting tiresome because he mostly talks about the same three things. Pesca noted, “He says austerity is bad, inflation fears are overblown and Keynes was right. I get it. I agree.”

5 Hard Left Issues Where Journalists Show Their Love for Pope Francis
By Julia A. Seymour | September 21, 2015 | 10:17 AM EDT

Pope Francis is kicking off his American tour and attracting attention not just from Catholics, but the liberal news media that love everything the pope does that they agree with.

If history repeats itself journalists will praise the pope for every liberal thing he says during the visit, especially about the economy, capitalism and wealth. The networks have called him “a different kind of pope” and one “breaking the mold” that view has been evident in their news coverage of Pope Francis since he was named pope March 13, 2013.

Democrat House Campaign Incorrectly Claimed CNN Executive Donated Money
By Alatheia Larsen | September 21, 2015 | 8:34 AM EDT

Democrat Rep. Juan Vargas’s campaign incorrectly claimed a top CNN executive had given it a $1,000 contribution. The campaign now admits its error and has filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to correct the mistake.

According to both FEC and OpenSecrets records, CNN’s Executive Vice President of News Standards and Procedures Richard Davis gave the campaign $1,000 in a donation listed on Nov. 4, 2014. The campaign now admits that isn’t accurate. Campaign Treasurer Nancy Haley stated on Sept. 18: “We realize a clerical error was made and we have corrected it immediately upon discovering the error and have fled [sic] an amended report with the FEC today.”

HuffPo Ignores Its Anti-Vaxxer Past While Blasting GOP Candidates on Vaccines
By Julia A. Seymour | September 18, 2015 | 1:20 PM EDT

The healthy living editor for The Huffington Post reacted to the CNN GOP debate by criticizing Donald Trump and others for “peddling dangerous and bad ideas about health,” because of their remarks about vaccinations.

Criticism of “anti-vaccination” stances is rich coming from Huffington Post, which has repeatedly been a platform for anti-vaxxer opinions including actor Jim Carrey’s. In 2009, Carrey insisted that there was still uncertainty about the safety of vaccinations. Over the years, others also stoked fear about vaccination safety including David Kirby, Dr. Bob Sears and comedian Bill Maher.

Cuban on Trump: ‘I Would Crush Him’
By Michael Greibrok | September 15, 2015 | 3:23 PM EDT

Businessman and reality TV star, Mark Cuban, seems to be jealous of the attention Donald Trump has received while campaigning for the GOP presidential nomination. In an email exchange with CNBC, Cuban discussed how presidential campaigning has changed and how he would structure his own campaign.


When he was asked whether he would run for president, he responded: “I get asked every day. It's a fun idea to toss around. If I ran as a Dem, I know I could beat Hillary Clinton. And if it was me vs. Trump, I would crush him. No doubt about it."

ABC’s 'Blood & Oil' This Fall’s New Take on Dirty Dealings by Oilmen
By Julia A. Seymour | September 13, 2015 | 1:30 PM EDT

What is the result when Hollywood combines oil prospecting, a young couple chasing the American dream, family feuds and crooked officials?

This fall television season, the result is Blood & Oil, ABC’s wannabe-Dallas set in the fictional oil boom town of Rock Springs, North Dakota. The show stars Don Johnson, Chace Crawford and Rebecca Rittenhouse. The trailer even resembled TNT’s Dallas commercials and included plenty of sex.

Judging by the first episode, which will premiere on ABC Sept. 27, viewers can expect many of the same old anti-oil attacks that have been done by TV and movies before including an oil “baron” who is hated by many people in town and has done unethical things to become rich. Oilmen are called “oil thieves” by another character and there’s gambling, swindling, theft and betrayal.

Railroad CEO: ‘We Don’t Need Government in Our Business’
By Michael Greibrok | September 11, 2015 | 5:06 PM EDT

This morning, on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Canadian Pacific CEO Hunter Harrison urged the government to stay out of the railroad industry and allow businesses to upgrade the infrastructure and manage the system themselves.


Harrison also called into question the railroad’s common carrier obligation, which forces railroads to haul goods, even if it is not profitable. His comments also fly in the face of the media’s ongoing push to spend billions on infrastructure. Whenever there are bridge problems, train crashes and more, journalists push hard to spend.

Media Still Ignore Hillary’s Call for a 25% Gun Tax
By Michael Greibrok | September 10, 2015 | 3:40 PM EDT

As part of its HighTaxHillary campaign, Americans for Tax Reform has rediscovered video of Hillary Clinton supporting a 25-percent tax on gun sales. She lent her support for the gun tax during a Senate Finance Committee hearing back in 1993, while she was First Lady.

ATR released a story and accompanying video on Sept. 8, but the major media have yet to cover the story in the two days since.

Former CEO Shocker: Chinese Premier Closer to U.S. Private Sector Than Obama
By Michael Greibrok | September 10, 2015 | 12:28 PM EDT

You know there’s a problem when a former CEO of a major American company says American CEOs are probably closer to the Chinese premier than they are to President Obama.

This morning on CNBC’s Squawk Box, the hosts and guest were discussing the upcoming visit by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to meet with President Obama and a number of American CEOs. They were explaining how there may be mixed messages and difficulties with the premier meeting with the president, and then business executives.