Daniel Stone

Newsweek's Stone Asks 'Is Gun Violence the Cost of Freedom?'
By Ken Shepherd | January 14, 2011 | 2:58 PM EST

"The Second Amendment that guarantees the right to bear arms is part of America’s founding fabric. So is senseless violence brought about by guns also American?" asked Newsweek's Daniel Stone in a January 13 post at the magazine's website.

Stone noted that his question was inspired by a similar query posed recently by a Russian journalist Andrei Sitov to White House press secretary Robert Gibbs.:

Is occasional violent tragedy a distasteful byproduct of a free society? I walked out of the briefing room with Sitov, who appeared to realize the impact that his question had on the roomful of Americans. “It’s an obvious question and nobody asks that question,” he told me through his thick Russian accent. “This is a cost that your country pays for freedom.”

Of course the cost of freedom with any right is that evil and/or deranged people will abuse it to the harm of others, but Stone's piece seems to focus on civilian gun ownership as though it is mostly a societal liability without considering the real benefits private gun ownership have in protecting life, liberty, and property.

For example, since 1958, the National Rifle Association has been collecting news clippings from across America of everyday citizens using a firearm to defend their lives and property.

Wishful Thinking by Newsweek: Jon Stewart's Mock Rally on 10/30 Will 'Absolutely' 'Gain Traction'
By Ken Shepherd | September 17, 2010 | 4:15 PM EDT

Comedy Central's Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have announced dueling D.C. rallies on October 30 aimed at satirizing the August 28 "Restoring Honor" rally held by rival network Fox News Channel's Glenn Beck.

Newsweek's Daniel Stone is apparently stoked about it, predicting that the gimmick will "absolutely" be a success (emphasis mine):

You’ve got to hand it to Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, social critics that they are, for keeping us attuned to the absurdity in our political discourse these days....

Newsweek 'Thought Experiment': Why Not Cut Alaska Loose From the Union?
By Ken Shepherd | August 19, 2010 | 3:42 PM EDT

Back in September 2008, MSNBC's Chris Matthews floated a specious allegation that then-Governor Sarah Palin had ties to an advocate of Alaskan secession named Joe Vogler. Although the charge was roundly discredited, it was one of the many early attempts to smear Palin as a wacky extremist.

Two years later, it appears at least one writer for a liberal magazine thinks Alaskan secession would be a fun little topic to bat around the Web.

"Thought Experiment: Should Alaska Secede From the U.S.?" asked the headline for Daniel Stone's August 18 The Gaggle blog post at Newsweek.com:

August is slow around Washington, so we figured it’d be high time to toss around the idea of kicking Alaska out of the union—or the state leaving on its own accord.

The reason? Those darn Alaskans are too conservative, too critical of federal government intrusion, yet they are net recipients of federal aid from Washington spending:

Downplaying Brown's Win: Newsweek's Stone Says It's Just a Washington Obsession
By Ken Shepherd | January 20, 2010 | 6:28 PM EST

Move along folks, nothing to see here.

Is that the impression you're getting from some in the media regarding the results of yesterday's special election in Massachusetts?

That's definitely the one Newsweek's Daniel Stone wants to leave his readers.

From his The Gaggle blog post "Does Most of America Even Care About the Mass. Election?":

Newsweek: Lay Off, America -- President Obama Deserves The Nobel Peace Prize
By Mike Sargent | October 9, 2009 | 5:13 PM EDT

Newsweek has a blog called “The Gaggle.”  I’ll skip the tired jokes about how I didn’t know either, and just get to the main point: Ben Adler and Daniel Stone, writers for this blog, are defending the Nobel Prize Committee’s choice of President Barack Obama as the 2009 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.As you can see, not much is needed in the way of extra humor.Here are the reasons they give for President Obama’s worthiness:

Newsweek Highlights Woman Who Claims Industrialization Enslaved West Virginians
By Ken Shepherd | April 22, 2009 | 1:05 PM EDT

Oh for the good old days when West Virginia was full of mountaineers who lived off the land. You know, before those evil coal companies came and enslaved the state to its grimey grasp.

That's the view of Julia Bonds, an environmental activist from the Mountain State whom Newsweek's Daniel Stone featured in an April 21 Web-exclusive interview.

Not once in his story did Stone press Bonds on specifics about how she expected to replace jobs lost due to the anti-mining regulations that she pines for, nor did he raise an eyebrow to Bonds practically suggesting that West Virginians would be better living in shotgun shacks without electricity (emphasis mine):

You're Not Cheap, You're Just Being Green; Newsweek Trumpets 'Regifting'
By Ken Shepherd | December 18, 2008 | 12:20 PM EST

Newsweek screen captureIn what's certain to be an article that can be recycled every Christmas season, Newsweek's Daniel Stone offers Ebenezer Scrooges throughout the land an easy excuse for regifting. You're not being cheap, you're just being green.

His story was originally published on December 13, but is being cycled through the top headlines on the magazine's Web site today (see screencap at right), with just seven days left to Christmas:

Newsweek: Gun-banning Mayor 'Weighs Options' Post-Heller Ruling
By Ken Shepherd | June 27, 2008 | 11:05 AM EDT

Mayor Adrian Fenty (D-D.C.) in Newsweek.com screencap | NewsBusters.orgThe ink was hardly dry on the June 26 ruling overturning Washington, D.C.'s handgun ban when Newsweek started the hand-wringing about how the city's political establishment would react.

Rather than profiling D.C. resident Dick Heller, the victor in the lawsuit, or officials from gun rights groups on their next move in challenging other gun bans with yesterday's precedent, Newsweek sought to press D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty (D) on how he can blunt the scope of the Heller decision.

The teaser headline and caption from the Web page read:

"D.C.'s Dilemma: Washington's mayor weighs options after gun ban overturned."

That's right, the high court ruled that a near-total gun ban is a blatant violation of an individual's right to keep and bear arms as guaranteed by the Second Amendment. Given the mainstream media's history of vigorously defending its freedoms of speech and press from any abridgement or "common sense" restriction, you'd think consistency would compel a little bit of a slant or a tip of the hat to the court upholding the plain language of another article in the Bill of Rights.

MSM Papal Trip Postmortem: Benedict Did 'Better Than Expected'
By Ken Shepherd | April 21, 2008 | 1:59 PM EDT

NewsBusters.org | Screenshot of Newsweek.comWith Pope Benedict back in Rome, the media are rendering their verdict of the pontiff's U.S. visit. The pontiff did "better than expected" seems to be the verdict coming from secular journalists, who, of course, found that the pontiff bested the low expectations of unnamed "experts."

Take the following from Washington Post staffers Michelle Boorstein and Jacqueline L. Salmon (emphasis mine):

NEW YORK, April 20 -- After thanking the United States for his "many memorable experiences of American hospitality," Pope Benedict XVI headed back to Rome on Sunday night, ending a six-day visit in which he directly confronted the clergy sex-abuse crisis and surprised many by drawing large, enthusiastic crowds.

[...]