Sunday Shows Go Full Out On Immigration

April 6, 2013 | Filed Under ABC, CBS, CNN, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Fox News, Government, Corruption, Immigration/Immigrants, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, NBC, President, Progressives, Regulation, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

It looks like the Sunday morning political shows got the same memo that Immigration is the topic of the day for April 7.

The big three networks and CNN are all hosting guests that certainly lean toward amnesty for illegals if not out right in support of the same.

CBS’ Face the Nation

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State

NBC’s Meet the Press

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
Bill Richardson, former U.N. Ambassador and New Mexico governor (D)
Michele Flournoy, former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy

Fabulist Matthews Says Hillary Best Since Eisenhower

April 5, 2013 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Government, Hillary Clinton, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, MSNBC, Progressives, Redistricting, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

MSNBC fabulist Chris Matthews has made a new pronouncement, this time that Hillary Clinton is in the most “commanding position” to be anointed president since the general of all the U.S. Armies in WWII, Dwight D. Eisenhower, ran for President in 1952. Matthews also gushed that she is the “most celebrated woman leader” in the entire world.

Matthews began his April 1 broadcast pushing hard on a Hillary for 2016 campaign and his latest comments were aimed at building Hillary up to the level of smartest-woman-in-the-world status. Matthews also likened Mrs. Clinton to WWII hero Dwight D. “Ike” Eisenhower.

Interestingly, Matthews also seemed to apologize for making such an effusive statement because he’s a man.

Matthews noted that woman have been forced to vote for “men of uneven quality, uneven character and uneven greatness” their whole lives and now the urge to vote a woman into the White House will be too much to resist.
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NBC’s Chuck Todd: Is Gay Marriage Issue a Sign the Economy is Coming Back?

April 5, 2013 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Freedom, Gay Marriage, Gays, Journalism, Liberals, Liberty, Marriage, Media, Media Bias, NBC, Progressives, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Chuck Todd presented an odd premise on last Sunday’s Meet the Press. Since the issue of gay marriage is now before the Supreme Court of the United States, Todd wondered if this meant that the economy is back on track because people’s attention has drifted from the economy to gay marriage?

During the March 31 broadcast, Todd noted that we are suddenly beset by a major debate on gay marriage and abortion. The NBC newser then pointed out that in the past the “big polarizing issues of the last two generations” have benefited Republicans.

Panelist Peggy Noonan of the Wall Street Journal didn’t really think that we were exactly seeing any new focus on social issues because these fights have been going on for half a century. It was just part and parcel to our political climate, she pointed out.
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Arianna Huffington Being Sued for Trashing NY Apartment

April 4, 2013 | Filed Under Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Huffington Post, Liberals, New York City, Progressives, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The owner of a tony New York apartment building is suing liberal media queen Arianna Huffington for what he claims is wide spread damage to a loft she rented in Chelsea. Huffington rented the showy space to give parties and entertain business partners and guests visiting the Big Apple.

Building owner Eric Steel claims that Huffington left the 4,400 square foot, seven-story apartment in rough shape causing $275,000 in damages and he is suing to recover his losses.

According to the lawsuit, destruction ranged from “gouged, stained and otherwise damaged” walls, “scratched, punctured” wood floors, bloodied mattresses and broken appliances.
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Iowa Newspaper Posts, Then Pulls Interactive Map Showing Schools With No Security Officers

April 3, 2013 | Filed Under Budget, Children, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Ethics, Government, Gun Control, Guns, Iowa, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Newspapers, Progressives, Property Taxes, Security/Safety, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Des Moines Register courted controversy on Wednesday by posting on the Internet an interactive map featuring the locations of Iowa schools that didn’t have security guards. But after a wave of criticism, only hours later the newspaper pulled the map down and reworked it to eliminate the names and addresses of the specific schools. The map was re-launched later that evening.

Initially the map featured flag pins which when clicked would bring up detailed information about the school the flag represented. Each flag had the name of the school, the location of the school and its security situation when known. Red flags were schools with no security guards, green flags were schools with guards, and gray were schools that had not supplied the paper with enough information to delineate whether there were guards or not.

But almost immediately Iowans began to complain, alarmed that the newspaper would set up a map to every school that was totally unprotected. Citizens accused the paper of putting thousands of kids in danger.
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Glenn Beck Goes ‘Wobbly’

April 3, 2013 | Filed Under Chuck Busch, Conservatives, Entertainment, Ethics, Fox News, Glenn Beck, GOP, Government, Corruption, Journalism, Media, Media Bias, Republicans, Rush Limbaugh, Talk Radio, TV | No Comments

-By Chuck Busch

To: Mr. Larry Klayman of Freedom Watch

I just received your recent newsletter in which you related what Glenn Beck said on his Internet Broadcast program concerning inane ideas about “surrender.” I was not aware of his statement as I make it a point to not tune into Glenn on the Internet or on his radio program. Initially, I thought he was doing a service by bringing out controversial information on little discussed subjects that all American’s should be aware of. However after a time, he lost believability, was let go by FOX News and his radio program dissolved into silliness. This is not a time for frivolity and jokes. It is time for a serious effort to educate a misguided populace.

I have been concerned for some time that the host of conservative commentators on radio and TV, with the exception of Rush Limbaugh, have become entirely too harsh and strident contributing to the characterization that conservatives are uncaring and cold-hearted. Anger (and we all have reason to be angry) is too strong of an emotion to sustain over the long term and it is Obama’s strategy to wear us out. Rather than engaging in a personal shouting match with our opponents, we need to meet the challenges to our liberties with a steadfastness, confidence and calmness that will convince people of the soundness of our arguments. The face of conservatism and the Republican Party must attract more listeners and entreat them to consider objectively the major issues of the day. Instead of people reacting to the personality of the talk show host, let them focus on the substance of the debate. (See article on Fox News programming by Michael Reagan titled “New Song, New Singers” March 21, 2013.)

I have already mentioned Rush Limbaugh who founded conservative talk radio and is, without doubt, the master of the trade. He has an uncanny way of being critical of the administration but doing it in a good-natured humorous manner. Ridicule can be a good weapon against these uptight liberals but only if used in a skillful way. Rush, in this post-election cycle, has also made it his objective to connect with the “low information voter” which is a brilliant strategy. The people must be convinced that the supposed benefits of a generous federal welfare state are not only corrupting, but are unsustainable and are not worth the lost of liberties that they entail. They must also learn that this administration does not have their best long-term interests are heart and it’s social and economic policies have produced this ongoing distress in all aspects of American life.
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Politico Tries to Sink Another Perry Campaign

April 2, 2013 | Filed Under Conservatives, Elections, GOP, Government, Journalism, Media, Media Bias, Politico, Rick Perry, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

In a March 28 article, Politico made to report on the situation in Texas Governor Rick Perry’s inner circle but instead of a concise report this long and oddly repetitive piece was seemingly more interested in constantly reminding readers that the Governor didn’t fare too well in the 2012 Presidential election.

The quixotic piece by Politico’s Alexander Burns is ostensibly about a lightly manned Perry campaign staff. Many older Perry staffers, Burns reports, have now left the Governor’s employ and there seems to be some confusion as to public knowledge of who is doing what inside Perry’s organization.

But Burns’ motivation for the long piece is questionable. For one thing, he notes several times that Perry is in a “different” phase of his work as Governor in that being governor is his chief job at the moment. Therefore, future campaigns have taken a back seat to governing. This, of course, would be a good reason why Perry has thinned his campaign staff. He just doesn’t need an entire retinue of advisors and campaign staffers to do his job as Governor. In fact, this point seems to make much of Burns’ speculations rather moot, yet his reporting leads readers to imagine that Perry’s staffers are like rats leaving a sinking ship.
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CNN Opinion ‘You are a Bigot if You Oppose Gay Marriage’

April 1, 2013 | Filed Under CNN, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Family, Gay Marriage, Gays, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Nanny State, Progressives, Warner Todd Huston | 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

CNN recently launched a new podcast project headed by Dean Obeidallah and in its second episode the trio of hosts pondered whether or not one is a bigot for opposing gay marriage.

Obeidallah, who bills himself as a “political comedian,” co-hosts the podcast with CNN commentator, GOP consultant, and gay rights activist Margaret Hoover and John Avalon, who is billed as a “centrist” despite that he is an employee of CNN and the left-wing Daily Beast website. There are no strictly conservative contributors on CNN’s new The Big Three podcast, but it seems apparent that gay rights advocate Hoover is supposed to be representing the right.

In this episode, Obeidallah wonders, “Is it fair to label a person a bigot simply for arguing that marriage should only be between a man and a woman?” Naturally he concludes that, yes, anyone that opposes gay marriage is a bigot.

To illustrate his point, the comedian contends that being against gay marriage is exactly like being against interracial marriage. This contention has been called a strawman argument by commentators such as Dennis Prager who notes that opposing interracial marriage was always a bigoted notion because there was no aspect of the proscription that wasn’t based merely on race.
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Report: BBC’s Doctor Who Staffers Used Show to Sexually Exploit Young Male Fans

March 28, 2013 | Filed Under BBC, Britain, Crime, Media, Media Bias, Sex Offenders/Rape, TV, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

In the wake of the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal, the British Broadcasting Service (BBC) is being hit with new allegations that behind the camera staffers–this time from the Doctor Who kiddy sci-fi show–sexually abused youngsters who visited the famed broadcasting studios.

First airing in the early 1960s, Doctor Who is Britain’s longest running science fiction TV series and was until recently was considered a kid’s show. The allegations are over events that took place in the 1980s.

In a new book on the life of Doctor Who producer John Nathan-Turner, fan writer Richard Marson claims that he was propositioned and assaulted by the producer when he was a teenaged visitor to the Doctor Who studios in 1984.
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VIDEO: Basketball’s Magic Johnson: ‘Obamacare is Working’

March 28, 2013 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, MSNBC, Nanny State, President, Progressives, Sports, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Former NBA great Earvin “Magic” Johnson has seen Obamacare and has pronounced it good. According to Johnson, “a lot” of CEOs at hospitals have told him that Obamacare “is working.”

Johnson was invited on MSNBC to talk about the sport’s March Madness tournaments, but as the interview ended, he had an off topic and unsolicited assessment of Obamacare.

“Obamacare is working,” Johnson suddenly said. “I talk to a lot of CEOs of hospitals–it is working. And I’m glad Governor Scott down in Florida accepted Obamacare because it will work”

This is an interesting assessment seeing as how the President’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010–dubbed Obamacare–doesn’t really kick in fully until 2014. In fact, the current phase of the law, the Health Insurance Marketplace which was supposed to be ready by now, is being put off because of poor planning, confusion, and other problems among the various states.
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Phyllis Schlafly On the GOP Establishment, Karl Rove, Mitt Romney and Other ‘Losers’

March 27, 2013 | Filed Under Congress, Conservatives, Constitution, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Karl Rove, Mitt Romney, President, Senate, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

This year at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), I was fortunate enough to get some time to interview one of the most redoubtable conservative activists in the nation, Phyllis Schlafly. In this eighteen minute video you will encounter a woman that is extremely vital and at 89-years-of-age still sharp as a tack.

As is her wont, Schlafly eschewed kid gloves with her frank discussion of the GOP establishment and how those effete, east coast, country clubbers are at war with the conservative, Midwestern grassroots.

Take Schlafly’s description of “the establishment,” for instance:
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Race Card: New York Times Distorts NYPD Commander’s Words

March 27, 2013 | Filed Under Constitution, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, New York, New York City, Progressives, Race, The New York Times, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

In a front page story, The New York Times intimated that race was a deciding factor in how the New York Police Department determines who to stop in it’s proactive stop and frisk policy that has helped drive crime down to its lowest rate in many decades. The Times reports the words of a police commander secretly recorded during an evaluation with a patrolman but “the paper of record” distorts his words and leaves key parts of the recording out of its analysis making the commander seem to be basing his criteria solely on race.

In the March 21 piece, the Times sonorously informs readers that, “a recording suggests that, in at least one precinct, a person’s skin color can be a deciding factor in who is stopped,” and goes on to selectively report what is on that recording leading readers to think the policy is all about race.

This recording was played during a class action lawsuit questioning the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policy, a tactic that NYC officials in both the police department and city government credit for the huge drop in crime across the Big Apple. The suit also alleges that there are racial quotas in the policy that “encourage officers to stop people unlawfully.”

The Gray Lady, reports that the police commander, Deputy Inspector Christopher McCormack, urged the officer, Patrolman Pedro Serrano, to stop and frisk “the right people at the right time, the right location.”

The criteria for this policy, the Times leads readers to believe, is race-based.
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Law & Order: SVU’s ‘Legitimate Rape’ Episode

March 26, 2013 | Filed Under Crime, Entertainment, Media, Media Bias, NBC, Sex Offenders/Rape, TV, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The next episode of NBC’s Law & Order: SVU will feature another story “ripped from the headlines.” This time, the show that mines controversy will tackle “legitimate rape” ala former Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin.

The promo for the episode clearly gives the gist of the show.

A woman (The Walking Dead’s Lauren Cohan) is raped by a co-worker (David Marciano, Homeland) but she decides to keep the child. The episode features the rapist being tried for the crime. An “expert” witness is then seen uttering the Akinesque line.

The voice over says: “Ripped from the headlines. Words that set off a national controversy.”

A character sitting in the witness box then says, “It’s nearly impossible for a victim of legitimate rape to become pregnant.” This is followed by looks of disgust by the two female lead detective characters sitting in the courtroom gallery.

Clearly the jury accepts the expert’s testimony hence all the grimacing by the show’s stars,
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Despite Wide Appeal to Middle America, Jay Leno Out at ‘Tonight’

March 26, 2013 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Conservatives, Democrats/Leftists, Entertainment, Government, Liberals, NBC, President, Progressives, TV, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Despite solid ratings and wide appeal to middle America, NBC is poised to replace Jay Leno with Jimmy Fallon as the host of the Tonight Show as Leno’s contract nears its end.

Leno was off the show for six months between 2009 to 2010 when Conan O’Brien briefly hosted the Tonight Show, but as the news breaks that he’s to be replaced, this time by Fallon, some news outlets are calling Leno the “conservative’s” TV host.

Politico reported on March 22 that the “Right bemoans possible Jay Leno exit,” and asks, “Could Jay Leno become a new conservative hero?”

Politico features a Tweet from Matt Drudge saying, “Left cheering Leno exit typical, he dared to entertain and offer jokes for the other 50% of country. Unacceptable in ‘New America’…”
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Fox News Mentions Me About Jay Leno Being Fired by NBC

March 25, 2013 | Filed Under Cable, Entertainment, Fox News, Journalism, NBC, TV, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Today at 11:45 AM, Fox Newser John Scott of Happening Now read my story posted to Breitbart’s BigHollywood.com. My piece was headlined, “Despite Wide Appeal to Middle America, Jay Leno Out at ‘Tonight’.”

Ted Turner’s Son: CNN So Far Left, ‘I Have a Hard Time Watching’

March 24, 2013 | Filed Under CNN, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Progressives, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Ted Turner’s son, Teddy, recently appeared on the Steve Malzberg show for a visit and when the topic turned to CNN, his dad’s cable TV network, he didn’t hold back. The network is “pretty much to the left,” Teddy Turner said.

The Turner scion then went on to note that because CNN is so far left, “I have a hard time watching them a lot of times.”

Teddy Turner also says he once warned the executives at CNN that the, “left is not the way to go in talk radio or in talk TV because that’s not who’s listening.”

(The segment is about 7:40 into the show.)

Media Attack Fox for Airing Teenage Rape Victim’s Name, Ignores That CNN, MSNBC, Others Did Too

March 23, 2013 | Filed Under CNN, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Fox News, Huffington Post, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, MSNBC, Progressives, Sex Offenders/Rape, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Always looking to find some reason to smear Fox News, the website Raw Story slammed the network for airing the name of a 16-year-old rape victim in a March 18 broadcast of America’s Newsroom. But in its zeal to slap Fox, the website neglected to note that other news outlets did the same thing.

Just before noon on March 18, Raw Story reported that during Fox reporter Mike Tobin’s segment on the guilty verdicts in the Steubenville rape case that morning, the name of the victim was broadcast without being censored.

In its original piece, though, Raw Story did not point out that several other mainstream media outlets also aired the victim’s name and did so before Fox News did on Monday.

It has been a long-standing, voluntary tradition that reporters redact the names of rape victims and once Raw Story’s report began to circulate, several other websites jumped on the story to attack Fox for violating that sensible tradition.

By 2 PM that day, Huffington Post jumped on the bandwagon to slam Fox for airing the name of the victim. Not long after that, the progressive site Think Progress also moved to attack Fox over the lapse as did the left-wing site Jezebel.
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Columbia Journalism School Tuition Costs a Whopping $83,884 A Year

March 22, 2013 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Education, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Progressives, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The median income for a journalist these days is around $34,000 annually and starting pay is often in the $25,000 range. But if a budding journalist takes his education at the Columbia School of Journalism, he’ll pay a whopping $84,884 for his one-year Master of Science j-school degree, far more than he’ll make in his first few decades as a working journalist.

This shocking tuition cost was reported recently in a story on the elevation of journalist Steve Coll to the position of dean of Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism. According to the report, Coll is “concerned” by the exorbitant costs.

“I want to assess our model and look at the value proposition for students — that’s the first priority of any dean at a school like this,” the newly minted dean said.
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NBC Was Disappointed That Asian Cardinal Was ‘No Reformer’

March 22, 2013 | Filed Under Catholicism, Christianity, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, NBC, Progressives, Religion, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Catching up on how the media treated the days before Pope Francis became the new leader of the Catholic Church, as the Vatican hosted its conclave, NBC looked into the work of Asian Cardinal Luis Antonio “Chito” Tagle–a possiblePapal candidate–and came to the sad conclusion that he was just as traditional as any other cardinal. As NBC ruefully noted, Tagle is “no reformer.”

NBC started out on a hopeful note: “On the face of it Philippine Cardinal Luis Antonio ‘Chito’ Tagle has a lot going for him as a contender for pope. He’s young: At 55, the second youngest of the cardinals. He sings and preaches on television, and has 120,000 followers on Facebook.”

He was hip, young, and he’s into technology. And apparently, simply because he’s Asian, NBC wondered if he would toe a liberal line and be one who would institute “social reform” if he became Pope.

But NBC went on to note that Cardinal Tagle is as staunchly against contraceptives as any other traditional cardinal, a stance that is a chief tenet of the Church.
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VP Biden Apologizes for Deleting Student Reporter’s Photos

March 21, 2013 | Filed Under 1st Amendment, Barack Obama, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Joe Biden, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, President, Progressives, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The office of the Vice President issued an apology to a University of Maryland student for staffers having forcefully deleted photographs the young man took of Biden at a public event.

Jeremy Barr, a student reporter for University of Maryland’s Capital News Service, attended Biden’s announcement of another new domestic violence initiative but sat in a section meant for the general audience, not reporters. The reporter was seen taking photos of the Vice President speaking from the podium. After the speech, he was confronted by a Biden staffer who demanded that he delete the photos and stood by making sure he did so.

In short order, Lucy Dalglish, dean of the University of Maryland’s journalism school, filed a formal complaint with Biden’s office.
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Charges That Wall Street Journal Bribed Chinese Officials Appear Unproven

March 21, 2013 | Filed Under China, Journalism, Media, The Wall Street Journal, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Charges that the Wall Street Journal bribed Chinese officials in exchange for inside information on the Chinese government appear unsubstantiated according to an internal investigation conducted by the paper. The investigation was conducted with an outside investigative firm and was mandated by the federal government.

The Journal reports that an internal audit of financial records “found no evidence to support the claim,” according to “government and corporate officials familiar with the case.”

These allegations came to light during the federal government’s wider probe into WSJ’s parent corporation, News Corp., in connection with the wire tapping and bribery probe allegedly perpetrated by the company’s tabloid papers in the United Kingdom.

According to WSJ, the allegations of bribery of Chinese officials came from a “whistleblower who claimed one or more Journal employees had provided gifts to Chinese government officials in exchange for information.”
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The Next Attack on Pope Francis

March 20, 2013 | Filed Under Catholicism, Christianity, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Newspapers, Progressives, Religion, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Old Media has been looking for ways to attack the new Pope, Francis I, since he was introduced to the world. Initially, the media attempted the needle the new Pontiff into “reforming” the Church or face failure, but this week it seems that there is a new line of attack: he is an advocate for dictators.

Of course, by “reform,” the Old Media means that they want the new Pope to change Church doctrine on such things as ordination of women, support of gay marriage, and other liberal shibboleths. But discussion of what the Old Media thinks is “reform” is yesterday’s snipe.

This week the Pope is being portrayed as a supporter of the so-called “Dirty War” waged between political factions in Argentina and The New York Times is the chief proponent of the idea that Pope Francis faces “entanglements” in that War.

In a piece headlined, “Starting a Papacy, Amid Echoes of a ‘Dirty War’,” the Times associates Pope Francis with several priests who unfortunately supported government officials guilty of oppression and violations of civil liberties in the Dirty War and notes he has “never apologized” for the fact that the Argentine Church never came out vociferously against the military Junta between 1976 and 1983.
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NBC Suits Criticize Jay Leno for Late Night Jokes

March 20, 2013 | Filed Under NBC, TV, TV News, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Host of the The Tonight Show, Jay Leno, has come under fire from NBC executives for making jokes about the network’s recent slide in the ratings during his monologues.

Reports suggest that Robert Greenblat, Chairman of Entertainment, fired off a series of emails slamming the late night comedian for daring to lampoon the ratings slide. Leno gave back as good as he got, insiders say, and bristled against the PC, company line criticism.

What offended Greenblat? On February 28, for instance, Leno kicked off his NBC ratings segment saying, “For the first time in history NBC is going to finish fifth in the ratings period. We are behind the Spanish-language network Univision — or as we call it here in Los Angeles: Cinco de Ratings.”

He went on to joke that, “It’s so bad, ‘The Biggest Loser’ isn’t just a TV show anymore; it’s our new motto.” And: “It’s so bad, NBC called Manti Te’o and asked him to bring in some imaginary viewers.”
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Matt Lauer to Replace Alex Trebek on ‘Jeopardy!’

March 20, 2013 | Filed Under Entertainment, NBC, TV, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Matt Lauer, co-host of NBC’s struggling morning news show, Today, may have a new job offer. Reports are the Lauer is being considered as a replacement for Alex Trebek as host of the long-running game show, Jeopardy!.

Trebek has suffered repeated health scares, recently suffering a second heart attack, and is expected to retire from his game show hosting duties sometime in the next few years.

Sources say that Sony Pictures, producers of the lucrative game show, have reached out to Lauer to replace Trebek starting in the 2016 season.

Lauer has experienced steeply falling popularity on the set of Today, after the mishandling of the firing of co-host Ann Curry–an action that many assume Lauer helped initiate. In 2012, Lauer’s “Q Score,” an industry measure of popularity, took a sharp dive.

NBC’s Today has also suffered in the ratings ever since.

Another name under consideration to replace Trebek is CNN’s Anderson Cooper.
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ABC’s Latest Misleading Gun Poll

March 18, 2013 | Filed Under 2nd Amendment, ABC, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Gun Control, Guns, Journalism, Media, Media Bias, President, Regulation, Warner Todd Huston | 5 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

ABC has released the results of another gun poll claiming that support for background checks at gun shows has “vast public support.” But neither the poll nor ABC’s report notes that background checks already routinely occur at gun shows.

The poll focused on the various gun control bills currently coursing through Congress with one question asking whether or not respondents support “requiring background checks on people buying guns at gun shows.”

Pointing out that Congress is considering a bill (S. 436) that would expand background checks, ABC reports that “a nearly unanimous 91 percent favor mandatory background checks on gun show sales.”

This question pertains to the so-called “gun show loophole” and misleads people into imagining that background checks are not required at gun shows simply because they are gun shows. The fact is, though, that every licensed gun dealer is required to perform background checks on every gun sale whether he sells his wares at a gun show or from his own shop.

In other words, the gun show itself has nothing to do with this issue.
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Reuters Regurgitates Democrat Talking Points on Budget Plan

March 18, 2013 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, President, Progressives, Reuters, Senate, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

On March 12, Representative Paul Ryan (R, WI) released the GOP’s budget proposal sparking an afternoon of analysis and criticism. By Tuesday evening Reuters was contrasting Ryan’s budget with one sponsored by Senator Patty Murray (D, WA). But there is one problem with Reuters’ analysis. The Democrats didn’t actually release any budget for Reuters to analyze at the time of publication. So, Reuters simply regurgitated Murray’s talking points.

In the Reuters report, the pair of budgets were deemed difficult to pass because they appear “crafted to appeal to their respective party bases.”

Reuters claimed that the problem with Ryan’s budget is that it is likely aimed at getting Rep. Ryan the 2016 GOP Presidential nomination as opposed to being a serious attempt to solve Washington’s budget problems.
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Reuters Regurgitates Democrat Talking Points on Budget Plan

March 14, 2013 | Filed Under Budget, Business, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Journalism, Liberals, Media Bias, Paul Ryan, President, Progressives, Reuters, Senate, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston, Washington, Wisconsin | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

On March 12, Representative Paul Ryan (R, WI) released the GOP’s budget proposal sparking an afternoon of analysis and criticism. By Tuesday evening Reuters was contrasting Ryan’s budget with one sponsored by Senator Patty Murray (D, WA). But there is one problem with Reuters’ analysis. The Democrats didn’t actually release any budget for Reuters to analyze by the time the news service had published its story. So, Reuters is simply regurgitating Murray’s talking points.

In the Reuters report, the pair of budgets are deemed difficult to pass because they appear “crafted to appeal to their respective party bases.”

Reuters claims that the problem with Ryan’s budget is that it is likely aimed at getting Rep. Ryan the 2016 GOP Presidential nomination as opposed to being a serious attempt to solve Washington’s budget problems.

Piers Morgan: We All ‘Need The Nanny State Occasionally’

March 13, 2013 | Filed Under Bill of Rights, Britain, CNN, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Nanny State, New York City, Progressives, Regulation, Socialism, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

CNN’s Piers Morgan sees no reason why America shouldn’t turn into a nanny state. During his March 11 broadcast, Morgan insisted that, “people need the nanny state occasionally.”

With guest Christine Quinn, on his late evening CNN talk show Morgan lamented what he felt was a bad decision by a New York judge who shut down Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s soda ban. Morgan was all in for a politician deciding for all of us what we are and what we aren’t allowed to eat.

During the discussion, Quinn said she disagreed with banning foods saying that the focus should be on expanding choice for healthy foods not just having government “say no” to the supposed bad choices. Interestingly, Quinn is a Bloomberg ally, a Democrat, and the President of the New York City Council, yet was still arguing against this particular nanny state action.

Regardless, Morgan, a British citizen, disagreed with his guest.

“This is where I disagree with you. I think people need the nanny state occasionally. Particularly on issues like smoking, drinking, guzzling sodas that are too big for them, you know, eating sixteen Big Macs a day, whatever it may be, the reality is we all need a bit of nannying about that that’s why so many people are on diets. That’s a form of nanny state,” Morgan said.

The CNN talker also took to Twitter to ask why Mayor Bloomberg’s nannyism is such a bad thing.

“If a Mayor can’t do things to make his city’s populace healthier – what’s the point of his job? Bloomberg’s 100% right on supersized soda,” he Tweeted on March 11.

Just as the soda ban was to kick in, New York state Supreme Court Judge Milton Tingling put a halt to the rule saying Bloomberg’s new ban was illicit because he went around the City Council to implement it.

The ban, Judge Tingling said, would “not only violate the separation of powers doctrine, it would eviscerate it.”

This is why so many Americans look askance at immigrants like Morgan. They come here and bring their socialist ideas with them from their armpit countries instead of coming here to learn how to be an American. Go back to Britain, Piers. Your socialist, nanny-state nonsense is not wanted here.

____________
“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson

Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, RightPundits.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.

For a full bio, please CLICK HERE.

Joy Behar Leaves ABC’s ‘The View’

March 11, 2013 | Filed Under ABC, Entertainment, TV, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Joy Behar, one of the original couch members of ABC’s late morning gabfest, The View, has confirmed that she is leaving the long-running show.

Billed as a comedienne when she first hit The View’s couch 16 and 1/2 years ago, Behar livened the show with her progressive perspective and sharp tongue.

Aside from Barbra Walters, the show’s originator, Behar is the show’s last remaining original cast member.

Behar will finish out this season before she moves of to “other things” that she has wanted to do.

“You reach a point when you say to yourself, ‘Do I want to keep doing this?’ There are other things on my plate I want to do–I’ve been writing a play, I’ve been neglecting my standup,” Behar said Thursday in an interview posted at Deadline.com.
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Juan Williams Uses Work Unattributed, Blames Assistant

March 9, 2013 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Fox News, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, NPR, Progressives, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Juan Williams has had to admit that a recent column he wrote contained full sections of a report by the liberal Center for American Progress and that he failed to attribute the source.

Williams used CAP’s work, in some cases word-for-word, in a February 18 column on immigration but failed to note that the information came from the liberal advocacy group.

When Salon’s Alex Seitz-Wald initially reported the incident, Williams blamed an assistant for the omission.

On March 7, Williams said that a “young man” in his office gave him the information from the CAP report but Williams claimed he thought it was his assistant’s work and he included it in his own piece on that basis. “I had never seen the CAP report myself,” Williams said.
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