Tag: mainstream media

As support for Israel drops, the mainstream media is becoming even more Zionist

During a recent appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher, CNN’s Van Jones told the studio audience that young people protesting Israel’s genocide are actually falling for an Iranian-Qatari disinformation campaign.

Jones proceeded to do an impression of a young person’s social media feed. “Dead Gaza baby, dead Gaza baby, dead Gaza baby, Diddy, dead Gaza baby, dead Gaza baby!,” he joked.

Jones’s callous attempt at humor was condemned across social media, and he quickly apologized for the comments, acknowledging that they were “insensitive and hurtful.”

However, as Howard University law professor Ziyad Motala notes in an Al Jazeera op-ed, Jones’s apology failed to engage with a dark reality at the root of his joke: the consistent dehumanization of Palestinians.

“A true apology would have confronted the deeper problem: the instinct, common in US media, to distrust evidence of Palestinian pain unless it is filtered through Western validation,” wrote Motala. “It is an impulse rooted in hierarchy, the same hierarchy that divides the grievable from the disposable, the innocent from the suspect.”

That hierarchy has been on full display in recent days, as the mainstream media has centered stories of released Israeli captives while largely ignoring stories of Palestinians.

In a Middle East Eye, Doha Institute professor Mohamad Elmasry identifies a number of such examples.

“Since Trump announced his plan two weeks ago, western coverage has focused heavily on Hamas’s requirement to release the remains of 28 dead Israeli captives,” points out Elmasry. “Much less attention has been devoted to Israel’s obligation, under Article 5 of the plan, to return the remains of 420 Palestinians it has long withheld.”

Such bias has been par for the course throughout the genocide. Media critic Adam Johnson recently noted that the Sunday cable news shows have not featured a single Palestinian guest since October 7.

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Minnesota’s Largest Newspaper Completely Ignores Somali Fraud Scandal in Year-End Review and There’s a Likely Reason for That

The Minnesota Star Tribune is the largest newspaper in the state. You would think that they would be at least mildly interested in the Somali fraud scandal engulfing the state right now, wouldn’t you?

Well, as is often common in media bias, it is not only what the media does report but what they do not report, and they obviously do not want to report on this story.

The Star Tribune just did a year end review of the biggest stories and did not mention the fraud scandal at all.

For the left, there are a few problems with this story. First, there are no Republicans to blame for the scandal. Minnesota is run by Democrats and has been for decades. Second, the story involves the Somali community in Minnesota and liberals in the media are terrified of being called racists. Finally, the Minnesota Star Tribune has a direct connection to Governor Tim Walz.

A man named Steve Grove is the publisher of the Minnesota Star Tribune and before he got that job, he worked for the Tim Walz administration. You could not make this up.

This is from the Niskanen Center (bolding is ours):

Steve Grove is the publisher and CEO of the Minnesota Star Tribune. For many years, he had been a high-flying executive in Silicon Valley, working for firms like Google and YouTube. Then in 2018, he and his wife — who worked for a venture capital firm investing in startups outside of the coasts along with AOL founder Steve Case and now-Vice President JD Vance — decided to return to Minnesota, where Grove had grown up. His recent book, How I Found Myself in the Midwest: A Memoir of Reinvention, is about leaving the global hub of innovation for what’s often disparaged as “flyover country.” It’s also a story of recommitting to civic and political involvement, as Grove went to work for Minnesota governor (and future Democratic vice-presidential nominee) Tim Walz as head of the state’s departments of economic and workforce development. He was in this role when the pandemic struck the state, making him the principal liaison with a business community struggling to cope with restrictions meant to stem the spread of COVID.

This is from a 2023 press release put out by Walz’s own office:

Governor Tim Walz and Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan today congratulated departing Commissioner Steve Grove and thanked him for his years of service at the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). Grove will depart from his position to serve as CEO & Publisher of the Star Tribune. Commissioner Grove was appointed by Governor Walz in January 2019.

“Commissioner Grove has truly exemplified what it means to be a public servant and advocate for the state of Minnesota,” said Governor Walz.

Do you think that might have something to do with the paper’s disinterest in a story that has the potential to end Walz’s career and even get him prosecuted?

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Here’s What the Useless ‘Mainstream Media’ Was Focused on While a Citizen Journalist Uncovered More Massive Somali Fraud in Minnesota

If you read the Gateway Pundit, by now you are familiar with the story of more massive Somali fraud in Minnesota related to daycare centers, which was exposed by citizen journalist Nick Shirley.

At the time of this writing, the tweet with the video that Shirley published on December 26th has been viewed 56 million times.

Shirley’s work here was good, old-fashioned, shoe leather reporting. He really deserves all of the praise he is getting for this.

What about the so-called mainstream media? This is the job they used to do. What have they been up to for the last few days? Well, in addition to completely ignoring this story, they have been focused on a bunch of other completely pointless stories.

By the way, when we say they’re ignoring the Minnesota story, that is not an exaggeration. None of the outlets below have tweeted a single thing about what Nick Shirley uncovered, despite the enormity of the story.

Over at the Washington Post, they did a story about Trump putting too much Christ into Christmas.

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Politico Claims That The ‘Far-Right’ Has “Stolen” Christmas By Daring To Call It Christian

A Christmas Eve screed from Politico has ignited online mockery, with the outlet claiming ‘far-right’ leaders are weaponizing the holiday by emphasizing its Christian origins amid secular pressures and immigration debates.

The article spotlights Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and others for framing Christmas as a “marker of Christian civilization” being under threat. It accuses far-right parties in Italy, France, Spain, and Germany of repurposing seasonal cheer into a culture war tool, positioning themselves against a “hostile, secular left.”

Roberts highlights Meloni’s defense of traditions, quoting her past remarks: “How can my culture offend you?” in reference to nativity scenes in public spaces. The piece notes Brothers of Italy’s lavish Christmas festival, complete with Santa and ice-skating, as a “spectacle” to rally supporters.

So called ‘experts’ like University of Surrey professor Daniele Albertazzi are cited, explaining how post-2010 Islamic terror attacks shifted the radical right to embrace “cultural Christianity” as an identity marker against perceived threats.

The piece notes how in Germany, the AfD warns of Christmas markets losing their “German character,” while in Italy, right-wing figures attack schools for scrubbing religious references from songs. Brothers of Italy MP Marta Schifone is quoted: “For us, traditions represent our roots, who we are, who we have been, and the history that made us what we are today. Those roots must be celebrated and absolutely defended.”

Politico claims those on the right are not really religious, but use Christianity as “civilizational shorthand” to draw boundaries, framing it as manipulative, while glossing over leftist efforts to neuter Christmas with “holiday season” jargon for “inclusivity.”

Online, the backlash was swift and savage, with users dismantling the premise that acknowledging Christmas’s Christian roots is some radical act.

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Here’s What’s Wrong With the Shelved 60 Minutes story ‘Inside CECOT.’

I viewed the version of the 60 Minutes report “Inside CECOT” that was distributed to Canada’s Global TV app and circulated online, then pulled due to copyright claims. Based on my viewing of that version, here’s my critique.

Bari Weiss was correct: the story wasn’t ready for air.

Read on for details.

By way of background, the 60 Minutes segment titled “Inside CECOT,” reported by correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, was originally scheduled to air on CBS on December 21. But editor-in-chief Bari Weiss abruptly pulled it just hours before broadcast saying that more work needed to be done.

The report investigated El Salvador’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), a massive maximum-security mega-prison built in 2022 under President Nayib Bukele as part of his aggressive anti-gang crackdown.

The prison is known for harsh conditions including allegations of torture, no outdoor access, and overcrowding.

The 60 Minutes report focused on the Trump administration’s deportation of over 250 mostly Venezuelan men to CECOT under a paid agreement with El Salvador, invoking wartime powers to shortcut normal due process. The 60 Minutes reporter interviewed two men who claim to have served time in CECOT but were released. They described enduring months of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse.

CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss postponed the segment, citing the need for additional reporting and stating it did not sufficiently advance prior coverage.

Alfonsi and her supporters allege Weiss’s decision was politically motivated.

After watching the report as edited, here’s my feedback on why it wasn’t ready for prime time.

Considering the subject matter, the story needed to explain:

  • How 60 Minutes located the two alleged former CECOT inmates interviewed. If the two men were brought to 60 Minutes by the human rights group featured, that needed to be disclosed.
  • How 60 Minutes confirmed, firsthand, that the men were CECOT inmates. If 60 Minutes did not confirm this critical fact, firsthand, that needed to be disclosed, as well as what assurances the reporter felt she had that the men are who they were presented themselves to be.

Other shortfalls that needed to be addressed or admitted in the story:

The bulk of the story was based on the word of an illegal immigrant with no stated independent verification of his key claims. It’s akin to taking the word of an alleged murderer that he’s innocent and a good guy who’s being unfairly persecuted for no reason. Maybe it’s true, but certainly the claims deserve to be treated with a dose of rational skepticism. In the 60 Minutes report: they were not.

60 Minutes characterized the main interviewee as a good guy with no criminal background or gang affiliation, based on his own word and the supposed absence of his name in a gang database.

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The New York Times ignores an essential part of the Jeffrey Epstein story — Israel

If you want to understand why conspiracy theories about Jeffrey Epstein flourish, then you must read the interminable investigation the New York Times published, purporting to explain how Jeffrey Epstein clawed himself to the pinnacle of the financial/political/social world. “The Untold Story of How Jeffrey Epstein Got Rich” concludes that Epstein was the greatest conman and swindler that ever lived, and charmed the pants off of every powerful man he met. Some of his marks still curse Epstein for fleecing them. But the paradigm of the article is the execs at Bear Stearns back in the 70s who found out that the former math teacher at Dalton School had invented college degrees from “two California universities” but didn’t fire him because they wanted to give a humble kid from the outer boros a second chance. 

“You lied about your education,” [senior exec Michael] Tennenbaum said.

“Yes, I know,” Epstein calmly replied. He had never graduated from college. Tennenbaum recalls being disarmed by the admission. Decades later, he would regard it as an example of Epstein’s ability to manipulate his marks — in this case, him.

“Why did you do it?” Tennenbaum stammered.

Without an impressive degree or two, Epstein said, “I knew nobody would give me a chance.”

This resonated with Tennenbaum.

That’s a great story, and there is great reporting in this article. But the premise of the article is a stupid myth the NYT wants to believe– That Epstein was just the canniest, boldest con man that ever lived, and he left everybody swooning. The talented Mr Ripley. 

It’s a myth not because Epstein was not a bold and crafty con man – no doubt he was. But even a conman can have an ethos. Look at Gatsby, a mobster with romance. Look at Trump’s fascistic populism. And Jeffrey Epstein had an ethos that he played on over and over again as his racket grew; and that ethos was the love of Israel in the rising Jewish meritocratic establishment of the 70s. 

Almost every player in the Times story is a Jewish success story who lobbied for Israel in prestigious circles, from Dershowitz to Larry Summers, Leon Black, Lynn Forester de Rothschild, and Epstein’s most famous associations, Robert Maxwell and Les Wexner.  

Love of Israel was a lead criterion for inclusion in Epstein’s circle. I don’t think Epstein’s “marks” were even fooled by him. They knew he was a conman who played fast and loose. But they also knew that the Israel lobby has a need for charmers who break the rules, so they looked the other way.   

Epstein did numerous chores for Israel that investigative sites have documented and the Times does not touch: he helped Israel broker financial deals with neighbors, he had an Israeli spy living in his house for a time, and he had a close relationship with former Israeli PM Ehud Barak that included business ventures and politics in Israel.

“It’s well past time to ask questions about the billionaire pedophile’s links to Israel,” Jacobin says. 

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The Swalwell Files: Fake News Reuters Scrambles to Save Swalwell, Still No California Address, Still Dead Broke

California Congressman Eric Swalwell has accumulated an extraordinary record of controversy: his well-documented association with the Chinese intelligence asset known as “Fang Fang,” his removal from the House Intelligence Committee over national-security concerns, and his unforgettable on-air incident during a 2019 Hardball with Chris Matthews interview.

These episodes alone raise questions about judgment. But recent disclosures expose something even more fundamental.

Eric Swalwell appears unable to meet the basic legal, financial, and residency requirements of the office he now seeks, Governor of California.

As I reported in The Gateway Pundit (‘DISQUALIFIED! – Congressman Eric Swalwell Names Washington DC Home as ‘Principal Residence’), Swalwell’s own mortgage filings designate his Washington, D.C. property as his principal residence.

Under Article V, Section 2 of the California Constitution and California and Elections Code §349, that admission alone disqualifies him from running for governor.

Five years of residency prior to an election is a constitutional requirement, and Swalwell’s Deed of Trust in D.C. and lack of any California address disqualify him.

The situation escalated when Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte referred Swalwell to the Department of Justice for potential mortgage fraud.

Swalwell responded by filing a civil lawsuit against Pulte and FHFA, absurdly claiming in the lawsuit that his mortgage listed on the public database mytax.dc.gov was private, while falsely claiming he included an affidavit with his mortgage claiming it was only his wife’s home.

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‘A Lie And Propaganda’: Gabbard Fact-Checks Reuters’ Russia Scaremongering In Real Time

On Saturday afternoon, Reuters posted an anonymously-sourced story pushing the idea that Russia is bent on reconstituting the Soviet Union. Before the metaphorical ink had dried, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard pounced, condemning the story as “a lie and propaganda” on behalf of “warmongers” seeking to derail President Trump’s drive to end the long and bloody Ukraine war.  

From selling the Iraq invasion to achieving a news and social media lockdown on Hunter Biden’s laptop, the Deep State has long used major media outlets like Reuters, the New York Times and Washington Post to inject their agenda-advancing narratives into America’s town square. Displaying the typical modus operandi with its Saturday night story, Reuters vaguely attributed the purported US intelligence conclusions about Russia to “six sources familiar with US intelligence.” 

According to those sources, “US intelligence reports” are warning that, despite Putin’s outwardly earnest claims that he wants to end the Ukraine war — claims credited by Trump — Russia not only wants to conquer all of Ukraine but also other European territories that were part of the Soviet Union. “The reports present a starkly different picture from that painted by…Trump and his Ukraine peace negotiators,” wrote Reuters journalists Jonathan Landay, Erin Banco and John Irish. Shortly after Banco promoted the story on X, Gabbard lashed out: 

“No, this is a lie and propaganda Reuters is willingly pushing on behalf of warmongers who want to undermine President Trump’s tireless efforts to end this bloody war that has resulted in more than a million casualties on both sides. Dangerously, you are promoting this false narrative to block President Trump’s peace effort, and fomenting hysteria and fear among the people to get them to support the escalation of war, which is what NATO and the EU really want in order to pull the United States military directly into war with Russia.

The truth is the US intelligence community has briefed policymakers, including the Democrat HPSCI member quoted by Reuters, that US Intelligence assesses that Russia seeks to avoid a larger war with NATO. It also assesses that, as the last few years have shown, Russia’s battlefield performance indicates it does not currently have the capability to conquer and occupy all of Ukraine, let alone Europe.”

The “Democratic HPSCI member” (House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence) is Illinois Rep. Mike Quigley, who told Reuters that intelligence has “always” said “Putin wants more…The Europeans are convinced of it. The Poles are absolutely convinced of it. The Baltics think they’re first.”

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Chuck Todd: Big Tech, Algorithms to Blame for Public Mistrust of Press

During an appearance on Saturday’s broadcast of Newsmax TV’s “America Right Now,” political commentator and former moderator of NBC’s “Meet the Press” Chuck Todd addressed the public’s apparent decline in trust in the media.

Todd attributed it to Big Tech and algorithms.

“Well, I think the short answer is yes, and I think, look, we haven’t had reliable political leadership,” he said. “And I think one of the things I like to remind people is one of the reasons I think trust in media has fallen to so low is remember what the media is. It’s a reflection of — I say I’m as good as the sources I have, not necessarily the sources I want at times, to borrow a phrase from the late Donald Rumsfeld, meaning, if you’re getting untrustworthy sources, you may be reporting untrustworthy information right? You get my drift here. And so, I think that the collapse of trust in overall institutions, the media in some ways is a reflection of that distrust and so that we may be reporting what the quote, unquote ‘experts’ tell us.”

Todd continued, “But if the public doesn’t trust those experts and then we in the media, are quoting those experts, they don’t trust us, too. It’s sort of across the board. And what you have now, I would argue, Tom, is essentially the left doesn’t trust the media now and the right doesn’t trust the media. We are in this siloed world. I put the blame on Big Tech and algorithms that sort of, I think, make it too easy for too many people to live in a bubble, a filter bubble. And I do think in some ways, there’s too many people — I always say we have too many journalists in Washington and New York, and not enough everywhere else.”

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Media ‘complicity’ blamed as feds say Minnesota fraud crisis could reach $9B: ‘Shown their true colors’

Minnesota’s sprawling fraud crisis has garnered national headlines in recent weeks, but several critics say the problem festered for years, aided by local media that appeared uninterested in holding people in power accountable. 

“In newsrooms, they’re told, ‘We can’t run that because we’re going to be accused of being racist,’” Townhall columnist Dustin Grage recently told Fox News Digital about news outlets in Minnesota essentially enabling the fraud by not calling out shocking taxpayer waste occurring primarily within the local Somali community.

The outlet that is considered by many the top news source in the region, the Minnesota Star Tribune, has faced criticism on social media in recent days over some of its headlines, including “Minnesota Somali community grapples with fraud cases while pushing back against stereotypes” on Nov. 26 and “Trump claims Minnesota lost billions to fraud. The evidence to date isn’t close” on Dec. 11. 

On Thursday, federal prosecutors held a press conference where they revealed that the true scope of the fraud scandal could end up costing taxpayers around $9 billion, prompting some conservatives on social media to point out the Dec. 11 headline.

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