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Cuomo to Pam Geller: 'You're Throwing A Stone;' 'Overt Provocation'
June 4th, 2015 1:41 PM
CNN's Chris Cuomo pressed Pam Geller on Thursday's New Day over her leadership of "a group that does take shots at Islam on a regular basis." Cuomo underlined that "you can show the cartoon. People have the equal right to criticize your showing the cartoon as an overt provocation of a religion." He also wondered, "Why go slight for slight with the Muslims?" The anchor later asserted, "It just…
Foreign Affairs Writers: Stop Saying 'ISIS Is on the Rise'
June 4th, 2015 12:26 AM
Foreign Affairs is "a multiplatform media organization with a print magazine, a website, a mobile site, various apps and social media feeds, an event business, and more." It is published by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), an influential organization which has caught flak for decades, predominantly from the right, for undermining and misrepresenting U.S. interests.
One doesn't have to be…
AP: 2 Men Killed at Texas Cartoon Contest Were 'Would-Be Terrorists'
May 30th, 2015 11:35 PM
On Friday, Jessica Gresko at the Associated Press reported on the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority board of directors' Thursday vote to "suspend issue-oriented advertisements until the end of the year." Though they wouldn't admit it, the board's move was obviously a reaction to Pamela Geller's request to post an ad from her American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) which included a…
New Yorker June 1 Cover Excludes Black, Female GOP Candidates
May 28th, 2015 8:31 PM
Old stereotypes die hard — especially the ones which have long been false.
The June 1 cover of The New Yorker Magazine depicts the Republican Party's current crop of declared and undeclared 2016 presidential candidates as an all-white-boys affair, showing seven of them in different locker-room postures, with Hillary Clinton peeping in through a window. How is this possible, you ask? Where are…
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AP Fails to Report Obama's Claim That 'Our War in Afghanistan' Is Over
May 25th, 2015 4:58 PM
Today at Arlington Cemetery, President Obama said — not kidding — "For many of us, this Memorial Day is especially meaningful; it is the first since our war in Afghanistan came to an end." He immediately added: "Today is the first Memorial Day in 14 years that the United States is not engaged in a major ground war."
At the White House's twitter account, one finds the first of those two sentences…
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'SNL' Awkwardly Notes (Not Mocks) Fear of Drawing Muhammad
May 10th, 2015 3:40 PM
NBC's Saturday Night Live awkwardly made fun of things you just cannot depict at risk of death. In a TV game show called Picture Perfect -- that looked a little like Pictionary and a little like NBC's own Hollywood Game Night -- cast member Bobby Moynihan (complete with Chris Farley-esque hair) was asked to draw an image of "The Prophet Muhammad." "Hilarity" ensued when he and fellow cast…
Politifact Rules Chris Cuomo's First Amendment Claims Were 'False'
May 8th, 2015 5:02 PM
The reliably liberal Politifact (through its Punditfact site) surprisingly took CNN’s New Day co-host Chris Cuomo took task on Thursday for his rather suspect claim on Twitter from Wednesday that “hate speech is excluded from protection” under the First Amendment. Through its Punditfact site, Politifact’s Lauren Carroll noted his numerous attempts to clarify his remarks and citations of case law…
AP Tweet: Geller ‘Has No Regrets’ About Event 'That Ended in 2 Deaths'
May 8th, 2015 1:40 AM
In a tweet from the Associated Press (AP) on Thursday evening, the AP charged that American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) President Pamela Geller had “no regrets” about holding a Prophet Mohammad “cartoon contest” in Texas Sunday “that ended in 2 deaths” in the form of two Islamic extremists shot by security as they tried to carry out a terrorist attack.
Cuomo Dubiously Claims: 'Hate Speech is Excluded from Protection'
May 6th, 2015 11:44 AM
CNN's Chris Cuomo made an eyebrow-raising argument about the First Amendment in a Wednesday post on Twitter. Cuomo replied to a post that decried that "too many people are trying to say hate speech (isn't equal to) free speech," and claimed that "it doesn't. hate speech is excluded from protection. don't (sic) just say you love the constitution...read it."
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CNN Wonders If Muhammad Cartoon Group is 'Looking for More Violence'
May 5th, 2015 3:50 PM
On Tuesday's At This Hour, CNN's John Berman wondered if American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), which organized the Muhammad cartoon conference that was attacked by two Islamists on Sunday, was only provoking more terrorist violence by planning to hold similar events in the future. Berman asked AFDI vice president Robert Spencer, "By holding more events, then, I suppose you could continue to…
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NBC Skips 'Islamic Extremists' or 'Terrorists' Labels for TX Shooters
May 5th, 2015 1:20 AM
In covering the failed terrorist attack at a Prophet Mohammad cartoon event in Texas, NBC neglected to describe the two gunmen on Monday evening as “Islamic extremists” or “terrorists,” while ABC, CBS, and NBC prominently touted the Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC) description of AFDI as an “anti-Muslim” or “anti-Islamic” “hate group.”
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Matthews Blames the Victim: AFDI 'Caused' Attack in Garland, Texas
May 4th, 2015 10:25 PM
Taking a classic blame-the-victim posture on his May 4 Hardball program, host Chris Matthews joined terrorism expert Evan Kohlmann in blaming The American Freedom Defense Initiative for the would-be terror attack at the Garland, Texas, event on Sunday.
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CNN Touts 'Hate Group' Claim Against Group Targeted in Texas Attack
May 4th, 2015 5:31 PM
On Monday's New Day, CNN's Alisyn Camerota played up how the leftist Southern Poverty Law Center labeled the group targeted by two suspected Islamists in Texas a "hate group." Camerota underlined that "other people say" that Pamela Geller's American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) is "even a hate group, and that they're vehemently anti-Islam....They talk about Islam, and they talk about it with…
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MSNBC’s Roberts Lets SPLC’s Potok Compare AFDI to Klan
May 4th, 2015 3:18 PM
In the wake of an attempted mass shooting at a free speech event hosted by the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) in Texas, on Monday MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts hosted Mark Potok of the far left Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and allowed him to equate them with a “Klan group that decides to hold a cartoon contest satirizing black people.”
