Crime

WSJ and WashPost's Marcus Agree: Bill Clinton's Sexual History 'Is Fair Game'
By Tom Blumer | December 29, 2015 | 11:46 PM EST

Just one week after CNN's Don Lemon shut down a guest who dared to raise the issue, there is now an agreement across the ideological spectrum that if Hillary Clinton is going to use her husband Bill as a campaign surrogate and go after her opponents' real or imagined sexism, then, as the headline at liberal Ruth Marcus's Monday evening Washington Post column says, "Bill Clinton's sordid sexual history is fair game."

Meanwhile, a Wall Street Journal editorial, while citing Marcus's column, agrees: "if Mrs. Clinton wants everyone to forget about Bill’s harassment of women, she ought to stop playing the sexism card, or drop Bill as surrogate, or both."

Michael Moore: The Republican Party Is ‘Dead,’ and Self-Righteous America Needs a ‘Timeout’
By Tom Johnson | December 28, 2015 | 10:06 PM EST

In his new documentary, Where to Invade Next, Michael Moore jaunts around Europe showcasing what he deems enlightened social and economic policies, including Italy’s lengthy paid vacations, Norway’s treatment of prison inmates, and France’s school-lunch program. New York Times reviewer Stephen Holden observed that Moore’s “examples…are cherry-picked to make American audiences feel envious and guilty.”

On Monday, Salon ran an interview with Moore in which he talked about the movie as well as the U.S. presidential campaign. One of his comments: "I also think it’s a little gauche for Americans to point out to anybody in the world what their problems are at this point…I think we need a little time in the timeout room, you know what I’m saying? A little chill-down from running around the world: ‘You need democracy! Now you need democracy!’”

Year-End Awards: The Dopiest News Media Quotes of 2015
By Rich Noyes | December 28, 2015 | 9:02 AM EST

Starting last week, NewsBusters has been revealing the winners and top runners-up for each category in the MRC’s “Best Notable Quotables of 2015,” our annual awards for the year’s worst journalism. Today, the “Audacity of Dopes” award, for the wackiest analysis of the year. Winning this “honor,” Vox.com writer Dylan Matthews, who wrote a piece just before the July 4 Independence Day holiday calling the American Revolution a “mistake” because it led to things like the 2nd Amendment (horrors!) and a federal government that spends less (scandalous!) than the typical European parliamentary government.

AP Ignores Minnesota Terror Suspect's Involvement With Airport De-Icing
By Tom Blumer | December 25, 2015 | 11:58 PM EST

In a year-end interview with National Public Radio, President Barack Obama largely blamed "a saturation of news" coming from a media which "is pursuing ratings" for growing concerns in America over the ability of ISIS and other terrorists to conduct attacks on U.S. soil, and indicated that "it's up to the media to make a determination about how they want to cover things."

It's reasonable to believe that Obama was telling the press corps, which already works furiously to prop him up, that they need to cut back on their reporting of domestic terrorist activities, arrests and court proceedings. It seems fair to say that the Associated Press, aka the Administration's Press, quickly took that advice to heart in its selective coverage of the saga of Abdirizak Mohamed Warsame, and that its selectivity has kept a noteworthy story very quiet.

Investor's Business Daily: Media Blackout of FitzGibbon Sex Harassment Scandal Shows Double Standard
By Tom Blumer | December 23, 2015 | 8:59 PM EST

On Monday, I posted on the virtually complete lack of establishment press interest in the story of Trevor FitzGibbon, the former owner of far-left PR firm FitzGibbon Media. Fitzgibbon folded on Thursday after allegations of serial sexual harassment and sexual assault were reported in the Huffington Post. From there, the establishment press did virtually nothing with the story.

It will surprise no regular reader that non-coverage is still the norm. Searches this evening at the Associated Press's main national site and at the New York Times returned nothing and no recent stories, respectively. While I'm also sure deliberate refusal to cover an obviously relevant story doesn't surprise the editorial board at Investor's Business Daily, it has infuriated them enough to write a stinging editorial justifiably decrying the situation — especially the press's double standard.

CNN's Cuomo: 'Despite Stats on Christian Terrorists,' 'White Kid' Can Bring Clock to School
By Brad Wilmouth | December 23, 2015 | 5:20 PM EST

Near the end of Wednesday's New Day on CNN, during a segment about the top five stories on social media for 2015, co-host Chris Cuomo oddly declared that, "despite all the stats about Christian terrorists," if a "white kid" had brought a homemade clock to school, unlike a "brown" Muslim kid like Ahmed Mohamed, there would have been no assumption that it was actually a bomb.

USA Today Reporter Announces He’s Decided to Purchase a Handgun
By Brent Baker | December 22, 2015 | 4:08 PM EST

Headline atop the page two “Voices” column in Tuesday's USA Today by Trevor Hughes, the Denver-based correspondent for the newspaper: “How I came to decide to buy a gun.” “After months of soul-searching, I’ve decided to buy a handgun,” Hughes began, later making an obvious point so many journalists would prefer to avoid: “You don’t see terror attacks in this country on areas where there’s lots of armed men and women. Instead, it’s those soft targets that get hit.”

Press Yawns As Univ. of Louisville Advertises Asst. Prof Position For Blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans Only
By Tom Blumer | December 21, 2015 | 10:55 PM EST

Did you hear about the university which advertised for "a tenure-track Assistant Professor position that will be filled by a White American or Asian American"? Of course you didn't, because it didn't happen. But it's not difficult to imagine the outrage which would justifiably ensue if such an ad were ever placed.

Well, last week it became widely known that the University of Louisville placed an ad for a "tenure-track Assistant Professor position" which specified the racial/ethnic makeup of who would be considered eligible. It was removed after appearing for almost two months. Thanks to the wonders of Google cache, readers can see the relevant portion below (HT Progressives Today):

Leading Far-Left PR Firm Closes Over Sex Harassment and Assault Allegations; Press Coverage Is Minimal
By Tom Blumer | December 21, 2015 | 12:52 AM EST

A leftist flack who has been waging his own personal war on women for at least a decade has been exposed. As a result, his far-left public relations firm, a leader in the field, has closed.

FitzGibbon Media shut down on Thursday. That's because Trevor FitzGibbon, the firm's founder and owner, who also was "a communications director for (now-President Barack) Obama’s 2008 campaign," has been accused by several now-former employees of sexual assault and sexual harassment. Though the defunct firm's client list reads like a Who's Who of "progressive" and radical causes, and despite how sensational charges such as these are usually considered ready-made clickbait in the press, the FitzGibbon shutdown has received minimal press exposure. The obvious comparative point, raised at TruthRevolt on Friday: "Just imagine if this were a GOP PR firm."

Washington Monthly Blogger: ‘Gun Nuts’ Too ‘Irrational’ to Understand Meaning of Reagan Assassination Attempt
By Tom Johnson | December 18, 2015 | 11:02 AM EST

Starting with the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007, several mass shootings have brought about considerable debate regarding restrictions on access to firearms for the mentally ill. D.R. Tucker argued last Sunday that denying guns to “deranged individuals” should have been a special cause for conservatives long before -- specifically, since March 1981, when John Hinckley tried to assassinate President Reagan.

“You’d figure that the folks who worship Reagan like he’s a second Jesus would have been so shocked by the attempted murder of their hero that they would join progressives in calling for comprehensive gun reform, to make sure no deranged person could ever do something like this again,” wrote Tucker. “Of course, you’d figure wrong.”

Clueless Cosmo Tweets About Making Buying a Gun in Missouri As 'Hard' As Getting an Abortion
By Tom Blumer | December 18, 2015 | 1:22 AM EST

The people who run Cosmopolitan Magazine's Twitter account really stepped in it today — and they're so utterly clueless that they doubled and tripled down on their ignorance.

Cosmo's tweeters have thrown themselves behind legislation drafted by Missouri State Representative Stacey Newman. Newman, a Democrat, actually believes that it is more difficult to get an abortion in the Show Me State than it is to buy a gun; her legislation would supposedly remedy this horrible situation. Cosmo is on board with horribly unhinged proposed legislation. The good folks at Twitchy pointed that out this afternoon, but that didn't stop Cosmo from doubling and tripling down on their ignorance (original tweets here, here and here) in the past 10 hours:

AP: San Bernardino Terrorist Massacre Was a 'Mass Shooting'
By Tom Blumer | December 17, 2015 | 10:04 AM EST

Pity the poor folks at the Associated Press, aka the Administration's Press.

The Obama administration, usually hyper-reluctant to characterize a domestic terrorist attack on U.S. soil as, well, a domestic terrorist attack, has actually had to admit in the face of overwhelming evidence that the San Bernardino massacre on December 2, during which 14 were killed and two dozen injured, was indeed a terrorist attack. Failing to adapt at sufficient speed, the headline writers, tweeters and Obama fans disguised as journalists at the AP, so used to avoiding the T-word at all costs, have made fools of themselves.