Corporate Liberalism

MSNBC to Starbucks Baristas: Write That America Has Always Been Based on 'White Supremacy' on Coffee Cups
By Tom Blumer | March 22, 2015 | 10:45 PM EDT

Paging Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. Your "conversation about race" idea has hit a bit of a brick wall among those you seem to believe are on your side — unless your idea of a "conversation" is talking down to anyone who doesn't buy into the idea of "diversity" uber alles, or that this country's founding and history have been predominantly noble.

On Melissa Harris-Perry's show this weekend, the host resoundingly approved when a guy who said that his mission in life is to "get white people to talk about whiteness" suggested that baristas at Starbucks should write “White supremacy has been the organizing principle of America since it was founded” on customers' coffee cups.

Starbucks, USA Today Claim Their 'Race Together' Intentions 'Are Pure,' But Their Race Knowledge Test Isn't
By Tom Blumer | March 21, 2015 | 11:49 PM EDT

The Associated Press's most recent story on the controversial Starbucks USA Today "Race Together" campaign came out Wednesday evening.

In that story, AP Food Industry Writer Candice Choi quoted Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz at his company's annual shareholders' meeting predicting that "Some in the media will criticize Starbucks for having a political agenda," but that "Our intentions are pure." Perhaps they are, but I suspect that certain materials company and USA Today have produced in connection with the campaign won't pass any readers' "pure intentions" test. Take USA Today's "How Much of What You Know About Race Is True?" test. Full contents follow the jump.

Campbell Brown Nixes Dennis Miller for Daily Show: 'Hasn't He Gone Right Wing?'
By Mark Finkelstein | March 9, 2015 | 6:09 PM EDT

Did Campbell Brown just give away a dirty little secret: that conservatives are blacklisted in the entertainment business?    

On today's With All Due Respect, Brown and John Heilemann were kicking around the results of a poll as to whom Americans prefer to replace Jon Stewart as Daily Show host.   Tina Fey came in first, with Dennis Miller a close second.  Said Brown: "I can't imagine Dennis Miller. Hasn't he gone right wing?" Heilemann agreed: "that's not going to work."

Wow, What Chutzpah: SNL 40th - on NBC - Mocks 'Fake News' - on Fox
By Jack Coleman | February 16, 2015 | 3:40 PM EST

The weather has been so brutal in the Northeast this winter that those involved in preparations for Saturday Night Live's 40th anniversary special were apparently cut off from any news over the last two weeks.

How else to explain the show's laughable piety when it aired last night, and at the dead-whale weight of four and a half hours (including a red-carpet preview), and mocked what was deemed "fake news" from the Fox News Channel.

Rush Limbaugh on Brian Williams' Suspension: NBC No Longer a News Organization
By Jack Coleman | February 11, 2015 | 7:09 PM EST

A seismic shakeup in media yesterday with NBC News announcing a six-month suspension without pay for serial fabulist Brian Williams, while Comedy Central's Jon Stewart revealed he's leaving The Daily Show at the end of this season.

The two departures are indirectly connected, Rush Limbaugh told radio listeners today, and bolster his long-held belief that "NBC is not a news organization any more."
 

D'oh! A Rough Week For Corrections at the NY Times
By Jack Coleman | January 23, 2015 | 6:45 PM EST

Some of its readers turn first to the op-ed pages, or the sports section, or the news out front. Then there are those who waste no time and get right to the corrections in the New York Times.

Aficionados of this journalistic art form were rewarded over the last few days with an array that was especially satisfying.

Politico's Hounshell: No One 'Credible' or 'Authoritative' Has Shown That 'WH Knowingly Pushed a False (Benghazi) Narrative'
By Tom Blumer | April 30, 2014 | 11:15 AM EDT

NewsBusters commenter "bkeyser" at my Benghazi-related post last night pointed to a tweet from Politico Magazine Deputy Editor Blake Hounshell that is at the same time breathtakingly ignorant and astonishingly insolent.

Reacting to the contents of Benghazi-related emails finally obtained and published by Judicial Watch, Hounshell asked, "Can you point me to a credible, authoritative story saying the WH knowingly pushed a false narrative?" Well Blake, on the off-chance that you're really interested in the truth instead of serving as one of your organization's lead Obama administration lapdogs, I give you the Tuesday night writeup from an investigative journalist who, per her "about" page, has won four national Emmy Awards and has been nominated for eight others.

NARAL Successfully Lobbies Google to Ditch Crisis Pregnancy Center Ads
By Ken Shepherd | April 28, 2014 | 4:45 PM EDT

The nation's staunchest pro-abortion lobby has successfully pressed Google to take down numerous crisis pregnancy center ads, Hayley Tsukayama of the Washington Post reported this afternoon (emphasis mine):

There They Go Again: Kickstarter Blocked ANOTHER Pro-Life Documentary Pitch
By Ken Shepherd | April 23, 2014 | 6:22 PM EDT

There they go again. The suits at Kickstarter once again blocked, albeit briefly, a pro-life film maker's fundraising campaign.

They had a change of heart after the documentarian in question opted to try his luck with a more open-minded crowdsourcing website. Brad Slager at The Federalist has the story (excerpt below, emphasis mine):

MSNBC Once Again Attacks Pro-Religious Liberty Conservatives as 'Anti-Gay'
By Ken Shepherd | March 21, 2014 | 3:40 PM EDT

MSNBC is at it yet again, slandering conservatives wishing to protect the religious liberties of business owners as "anti-gay" bigots.

The latest example comes with the headline for Adam Serwer's March 21 story, "Georgia Republicans tack anti-gay amendments onto unrelated bills."  To his credit, Serwer himself avoided needless invective, giving a rather fair description of the controversy at hand, even though it was a bit paltry in space devoted to those favoring the legislation. What's more, Serwer seemed rather incurious as to how the average Georgian feels about corporate interests -- you know, the bad guys in the eyes of the Left when they favor tax cuts and other pro-business moves -- being a significant factor in scotching the bill (emphasis mine):

Daily Beast Hails 'Mighty Mouse' Disney for Dumping 'Anti-Gay' Boy Scouts
By Ken Shepherd | March 3, 2014 | 11:56 AM EST

To the Daily Beast, the Walt Disney Company is a "Mighty Mouse" that has roared with a recent declaration that it is cutting off the Boy Scouts of America for daring to maintain forbid openly-gay adults from serving as scoutmasters.

"It's a small world after all, which is why word travels fast when you maintain anti-gay policies," snarked the Daily Beast in a "Cheat Sheet" item this morning celebrating the fact that the entertainment giant -- which, by the way, owns the ABC broadcast network -- has announced it will not give any monies to the Boy Scouts of America in 2015 [see screen capture below page break]:

Guns & Ammo: NFL Vetoes Gun Company's Super Bowl Ad, Even Though Ad Follows Guidelines
By Ken Shepherd | December 2, 2013 | 7:09 PM EST

Guns & Ammo magazine is reporting that the National Football League has nixed a prospective Super Bowl ad produced by Daniel Defense, a firearms manufacturing company based in Georgia, despite the fact that the ad in question does not even violate the league's official advertising policy. [h/t Stephen Gutowski, formerly of NB sister site MRCTV.org, now with Capitol City Project]

"The commercial, which focuses on themes of personal protection and fundamental rights, was originally created by Daniel Defense to run in any network TV station at any time," G&A editors noted in a November 27 post,  adding (emphasis mine; WATCH video embedded below the page break):