Crime

During the Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman saga, the press was widely and deservedly criticized for repeatedly and almost exclusively using a photo of Martin as an innocent-looking 13 year-old over others more recently taken which were readily available. Perhaps they're at it again with alleged murderer Alton Nolen. On Saturday morning, the Associated Press described Nolen as having "beheaded a…

The establishment press, and now apparently the FBI, have a problem on their hands: an alleged killer who converted to Islam; expressed sentiments favored by terrorists; killed a woman by employing terrorists' favored method, i.e., beheading; shouted Islamic slogans while carrying out his evil deed; and was trying to kill someone else when another armed person shot and wounded him. Their problem…

UPDATED (18:10 Eastern): Daily Beast now describing attack as "Like ISIS" Yesterday in Moore, Oklahoma, a woman was brutally murdered and decapitated by a former coworker, Alton Nolen, who reportedly had repeatedly proselytized folks in the company, urging them to convert to Islam.  But when the liberal Daily Beast picked up the story and teased it in their Cheat Sheet digest, they tagged the…

Mere hours before President Obama announced Attorney General Eric Holder's resignation, Sharyl Attkisson reported on Thursday that U.S. District Court Judge John Bates ordered the Justice Department to "turn over a list of withheld Fast and Furious documents by Oct. 22 [2014]." CBS Evening News mentioned Fast and Furious in their coverage of the Holder announcement that evening, but NBC Nightly…

USA Today, gave the equivalent of almost a full page to Eric Holder's resignation in Friday's print edition. The paper's primary story by Gregory Korte, at the top right of the front page, described him as having "championed gay, civil, voting rights." The item's continuation on Page 8A included a quote from Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, which calls itself "America's…

On Saturday, Trymaine Lee at MSNBC.com, who fancies himself as an "expert" on "race, poverty, and guns," was aghast at the current "current social and political mess" in Missouri. He wasn't talking about glass-strewn streets of Ferguson or Show-Me State Governor Jay Nixon's feckless, irresponsible handling of that situation. No, the real problem is the state's "rapid rightward shift." A cursory…

Areva Martin brought in the specter of Jim Crow on Monday's Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN, as she commented on the child abuse case against NFL player Adrian Peterson. Martin contended that "corporal punishment, in any form, is abusive," and emphasized, "We used to not wear helmets when we rode bikes. Women used to smoke when they were pregnant. We used to send our kids to segregated schools. So,…

What's next, Mika?  Giant alligators in the sewers of New York City?  On today's Morning Joe, Mika Brzezinski perpetuated the hoary urban legend that domestic violence spikes on Super Bowl Sunday. Brzezinski's blunder came in the context of the panel's discussion of the NFL's domestic violence mess. Arguing that football is a violent game and that "there's a connection" with what happens at home…

Ever since the Ray Rice elevator video went public, Morning Joe has been in a state of sustained moral outrage over the NFL's mishandling of the issue of domestic violence.  All well and good.  But things turned testy this morning when a New York Times reporter turned the tables on Joe and Mika. Allen Schwarz asked if they should march into the office of the NBC Chairman and demand that the…

PBS's Tavis Smiley shamelessly invoked Dr. Martin Luther King on Thursday's CNN Tonight, as he commented on the ongoing controversy surrounding the shooting of Michael Brown: "It underscores that Martin [Luther] King was right about what he called the 'triple threat' almost 50 years ago....He said what's threatening our very democracy is what he called the triple threat of racism, poverty, and…

The soap opera that played out in Richmond these last weeks and ended with the convictions of former Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, on multiple counts of fraud and conspiracy charges is a tragedy for them, their children and the voters of Virginia.

The New York Post's Jamie Schram reported on Tuesday that NBC News digital producer Carlo Dellaverson is facing criminal charges after "for secretly making a video of his girlfriend having sex with him on Valentines Day — and posting it on a porn web site." Schram cited anonymous sources in law enforcement, and detailed the alleged sexual misconduct by Dellaverson, who was charged with "…

Few lower forms of life exist, at least to MSNBC, than the humble, hard-working owners of small businesses in Ferguson, Mo., that were looted last month in civil unrest after the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black teen. Indifference is worse than hatred, the old saw goes, and ignoring the travails of these business people since their livelihoods were destroyed has become pronounced among…

Imagine a sex scandal centered on a small area, involving decades of abuse, with hundreds of children raped, assaulted and prostituted. Authorities suspected or knew of the crimes but did nothing, preferring to protect the abusers than aid their victims or see justice done.  If that city were in, say, Ireland, and the abusers Catholic priests, the U.S. networks would report it immediately and…