Thursday at the end of Morning Joe, the roundtable invited Darcy Olsen of the free-market think tank. the Goldwater Institute. to discuss Gov. Jerry Brown's veto of “Right to Try” legislation in California. The discussion centered on the book “The Right to Try” and the legislation surrounding the effort. Mika Brzezinski began by inquiring of Olsen "why is it so hard? What gets in the way?"
Euthanasia/Assisted Suicide
By Karen Townsend | October 26, 2015 | 5:15 PM EDT
With this month’s passage in California of the “End of Life Option Act,” CBS’s latest episode of The Good Wife paints a perfect picture of liberal support for physician-assisted suicide. Drawing a line in the sand, the show’s writers point to the “Catholic and conservative lobbies” as the foes of freedom – the freedom of doctors to kill their patients.
By Tom Blumer | October 21, 2015 | 6:55 PM EDT
On October 2, the government's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that U.S. payroll employment increased in September by a seasonally adjusted 142,000 jobs. That was disappointing enough, but then the BLS's regional and state report for September released on Tuesday showed a combined total of 21,000 jobs lost in all 50 states and DC.
In his coverage of the state report, the Associated Press's Christopher Rugaber didn't report this wide variance, even though the monthly national vs. total state difference is usually much smaller. The closest he got was reporting that more states lost jobs than gained them, which should have piqued his curiosity about how that result could happen when the nation somehow gained as many jobs as it did during the month, but apparently didn't (bolds are mine):
By Matthew Balan | October 7, 2015 | 6:37 PM EDT
Tuesday's All Things Considered on NPR followed the lead of CNN earlier in the day in spotlighting a pro-euthanasia activist's reaction to California Governor Jerry Brown signing the "End of Life Option Act." Host Kelly McEvers allowed only a brief mention of opponents calling the governor's move "a dark day for California." McEvers then gave guest Christy O'Donnell, who has terminal lung cancer, the kid glove treatment. O'Donnell appeared on CNN's At This Hour earlier on Tuesday, where anchor Kate Bolduan thanked her for her "strength" and "courage."
By Matthew Balan | October 6, 2015 | 6:15 PM EDT
CNN wasn't interested in balance on Tuesday, as three straight programs brought on pro-euthanasia activists to tout California's new "End of Life Option Act," which was signed into law on Monday. All three also left out opponents of the legislation. CNN Newsroom featured a man whose wife was the subject of a HBO documentary titled How to Die in Oregon. On At This Hour, Kate Bolduan hyped the "groundbreaking move," and interviewed a "right to die advocate" with terminal cancer. Legal View turned to the widower of pro-euthanasia activist Brittany Maynard, who took her life in November 2014.
By Curtis Houck | September 11, 2015 | 12:34 AM EDT
On Thursday, the CBS Evening News pushed a heavily slanted report on assisted suicide a day before the California State Senate will vote on whether or not to legalize the matter in the Golden State that would be modeled after Oregon’s law allowing doctors to provide lethal medication to extremely ill patients. In the three-minute-and-three-second segment, only 32 seconds were devoted to the pro-life cause against euthanasia that chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook ruled will not be settled anytime soon.
By Tom Blumer | June 26, 2015 | 1:48 PM EDT
The left routinely ridicules "slippery slope" arguments from sensible people who recognize that when you establish a dangerous principle or precedent in one area, the fallout will spread to others. The long since sadly vindicated prolife argument made 40 years ago warning that legalizing abortion would lead to wider acceptance of euthanasia is one such example.
Most advocates for same-sex "marriage" have (at least in public) consistently argued that their attempts to legalize it would not in any way, shape or form open up the possiblity of legalizing polygamy. Well, the ink isn't even dry on today's Supreme Court ruling imposing the legal recognizion of same-sex "marriages" in all 50 states, and, lo and behold, we have Fredrik deBoer at Politico Magazine telling us that "It’s Time to Legalize Polygamy."
By Tim Graham | June 25, 2015 | 11:01 PM EDT
Wesley Smith at Lifenews.com pointed out that the Associated Press is modifying its Stylebook to show some sensitivity to the “assisted suicide” lobby.
The AP Stylebook account on Twitter issued these instructions: "A new entry [in the Stylebook] covers suicide in news reports – 'committed suicide' should be avoided except in direct quotes from authorities."
By Tom Blumer | June 24, 2015 | 5:22 PM EDT
Vox's David Roberts, who describes himself at his "drvox" Twitter page as a "Seattleite transplanted from Tennessee," clearly does not have a lot of love for his region of origin.
Tuesday afternoon, in the wake of Dylann Roof's racially motivated massacre in Charleston, South Carolina, Roberts tweeted his belief that "The American South has always been the most barbaric, backward region in any developed democracy." He then asked, "Can we admit that now?" No we can't, David, and we won't.
By Tom Blumer | April 25, 2015 | 5:59 PM EDT
You can usually set your watch to it.
First, you learn about a "progressive" or liberal darling who makes a controversial, over-the-top statement which would get him or her in serious trouble with the general public if widely known. About 24 hours later, you visit establishment press coverage of the event, especially at the Associated Press, and find not a hint that anything controversial occurred. Such is the case with Hillary Clinton's comments yesterday at the annual Women in the World summit in Washington. Video, a transcript, and a portion of Julie Pace's AP whitewash follow the jump.
By Tom Blumer | April 22, 2015 | 3:00 PM EDT
So when is a recession not a genuine recession? Apparently when it's "technical."
Unfortunately, the term "technical recession" appears to be well on the way to devolving into what has long been considered the real definition of a recession for the purpose of discounting its validity.
By Tim Graham | February 15, 2015 | 6:02 PM EST
Last July, we reported that NPR talk-show host Diane Rehm helped her husband John commit suicide by choosing not to eat or drink, then agitated for “right to die” laws in an NBC News story, where she suggested we euthanize “little animals,” so why not our family members?
Rehm’s crusade made the front page of Sunday’s Washington Post, under the headline “Rehm’s topic: Death with self-determination.” Online it was “NPR host Diane Rehm emerges as a key force in the right-to-die debate.” The words “assisted suicide” were missing on purpose