Tag: mainstream media

Media Lies! No, Pritzker Did Not Just Balance the Illinois Budget

According to a press release from the office of the governor, the Illinois General Assembly passed Governor JB Pritzker’s eighth consecutive balanced budget, totaling $55.9 billion for Fiscal Year 2027. The plan focuses on making Illinois more affordable for working families, fully funding the state’s pension obligations, and investing in education, all while keeping discretionary spending increases below 1%.

Senate President Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) praised the budget, calling it a choice for “stability, responsibility and compassion” amid economic uncertainty and federal spending cuts. He said the plan supports working families, protects access to hospitals and health care, provides more than $300 million in new funding for public education, and includes a sales tax-free shopping holiday for parents, while avoiding increases in the state income tax or sales tax.

Similar to many Democratic spending claims, it includes terms such as “protects access to hospitals and health care.” Of course, no one was denying anyone access to hospitals. Hospitals are open, they remain open, and no one was being denied entry. Ostensibly, this is code for taxpayer-funded welfare programs continuing.

It is also telling that Democrats often refer to federal spending cuts as irresponsible. Just as Democrats become angry about the termination of temporary programs, such as the temporary free lunch program or temporary protections under DACA, once money has been spent or a particular policy has been put in place, they argue that it must continue indefinitely.

Pritzker claims that although he is reducing government revenue through tax cuts and increasing government spending through expanded social-benefit programs, he has produced a balanced budget. His office frames this as “fiscal discipline,” but a quick review of the state’s books shows that while he cut taxes in some areas, he increased them in others. The state continues to carry both massive debt and a deficit. Additionally, state pension contributions are structured under a ramp formula that underfunds what actuaries actually require.

A “balanced budget” in state government parlance means only that projected revenues equal projected expenditures for that fiscal year,  an annual operating measure, not a gauge of overall fiscal health. Illinois is constitutionally required to pass a balanced budget each year, so the claim is partly definitional. It says nothing about accumulated obligations.

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CBS Fires Professional Prevaricator Scott Pelley

Longtime readers of mine know that I don’t often do news stories. I’m the verbal bomb-throwing opinion guy here at the PJ Media Ranch; my colleagues handle the heavy news stuff much better than I do. Once in a great while, however, I come across a story that just makes me happy. Also, this one broke around 11 p.m. EDT, which is prime time in my Morning Briefing work day. 

The New York Times:

CBS News fired Scott Pelley on Tuesday, jettisoning one of the network’s best-known journalists in a clash over the future of “60 Minutes,” the country’s top-rated news program.

Mr. Pelley, 68, a “60 Minutes” correspondent and a former anchor of “CBS Evening News,” joined the network in 1989. At a staff meeting on Monday, he accused the network’s editor in chief, Bari Weiss, of “murdering ‘60 Minutes,’” citing the ouster last week of the program’s leadership team and two on-air correspondents.

“We have parted ways with Scott Pelley,” Nick Bilton, the tech journalist who was hired last week as the new “60 Minutes” executive producer, wrote in a memo to the show’s staff on Tuesday night.

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Canadian MS NOW Host Says He Feels “Deep Unease” About Celebrating America’s 250th Anniversary Because of Racism, Says America “Never Fully Reckoned With Slavery”

MS NOW’s Ali Velshi, during a recent segment, gave an insane take on America’s upcoming 250th anniversary, insinuating that Americans should have “conflicting feelings” about celebrating the Fourth of July this year because of slavery. 

Velshi, a Kenyan-born Canadian citizen who just got his US citizenship in 2015, felt the need to lecture Americans about “racial dynamics” and attack our history.

“Anniversaries are imperfect records of the thing which is being celebrated,” the America-hating foreigner.

“In America’s case, anniversaries often gloss over the racial dynamics underlying much of America’s history and politics, issues that remain unsolved because America has never actually fully reckoned with its racist past and its original founding sin of slavery.”

Velshi went on to tell viewers of the failing news network that he feels “deep unease” celebrating “our so-called democracy,” because of… “unresolved racial politics.”

“omen and black Americans have seen their rights taken away. The Voting Rights Act has effectively been gutted. A number of states are continuing to gerrymander their congressional maps ahead of the midterm elections, with the explicit effect of taking away political power on black Americans,” he continued.

“If you’ve got conflicting feelings about America’s upcoming anniversary, like you want to celebrate the ideals that America strives for, which are noble and should be celebrated, but lament the state of the country, you’re not alone. At least I’m with you on this.”

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Far-Left Media Claims Trump Unloaded on Netanyahu During Heated Call Over Lebanon Conflict

President Donald Trump is once again demonstrating that he is the only world leader capable of preventing a wider Middle East war while simultaneously protecting America’s interests and maintaining peace through strength.

On Monday, President Trump announced that he personally intervened to stop a major Israeli operation targeting Beirut, Lebanon, stating that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to reverse course after a direct conversation between the two leaders.

Trump announced on Truth Social:

“I had a conversation with Bibi Netanyahu today, asking him not to go into a major raid of Beirut, Lebanon. He turned his Troops around. Thank you Bibi! I also had a conversation with Representatives of the Leaders of Hezbollah, and they agreed to stop shooting at Israel, and its soldiers. Likewise, Israel agreed to stop shooting at them. Let’s see how long that lasts — Hopefully it will be for ETERNITY!”

The president’s remarks came amid rapidly escalating tensions along Israel’s northern border after renewed fighting between Israel and Hezbollah threatened to derail ongoing diplomatic efforts in the region. Reuters, CBS News, and other outlets reported that Trump publicly claimed Israel had turned back troops heading toward Beirut following his conversation with Netanyahu.

But while Trump publicly celebrated a temporary de-escalation, Netanyahu made clear that Israel’s military posture has not fundamentally changed.

In a statement posted on X, Netanyahu said:

“Tonight, I spoke with President Trump and told him that if Hezbollah does not cease attacking our cities and citizens—Israel will attack terror targets in Beirut. This stance of ours remains unchanged. In parallel, the IDF will continue to operate as planned in southern Lebanon.”

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CBC report failed to inform readers that “tribunal” on residential schools is symbolic

The CBC is standing by its reporting on a self-described human rights tribunal that is “indicting” the Canadian government for alleged abuses and “genocide” in the residential school system, despite failing to note that the group’s lead prosecutor has a suspended law licence and that the organization has no legal authority in Canada.

The article, written by CBC reporter Joy SpearChief-Morris, profiles an activist group known as the “Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal” and its “trial” of Canada’s residential school system.

The report states that “seven international judges” would be “hearing evidence” during the proceeding as part of an investigation into missing Indigenous children and alleged “unmarked burials” associated with residential schools.

The hearing comes five years after the reported discovery of potential unmarked graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. On May 27, 2021, the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation announced that a preliminary investigation had identified what were believed to be the remains of 215 children who attended the school.

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BAD NEWS FOR PLATNER: Even the Ladies of ‘The View’ Are Turning on Him, Call Him a Racist, Liar, and Homophobe

Graham Platner, the Democratic Socialist (communist) running for U.S. Senate in Maine, has some serious problems. In addition to the Nazi tattoo, the vile Reddit comments, and now a sexting scandal, the ladies of The View are turning on him.

How bad of a Democrat candidate do you have to be to lose the support of the hosts of The View? These people will defend a Democrat for anything, but even they are backing away now.

Did a memo go out on the left that it’s time to dump this guy? How else can this be explained?

This is what Alyssa Farah Griffin said, via Mediaite:

To be honest, his sexting is the least of my concern. Graham Platner trashed a Purple Heart recipient — said he didn’t deserve to live — defamed fallen Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, downplayed how hard it is to report sexual assault in the military, repeatedly used anti-gay slurs and homophobic posts as recently as 2021, called himself an avowed communist, and has a Nazi tattoo for 20 years he has since covered up. This guy seems like a guy of not very good character. And there are a lot of options in this country and other paths for Democrats to win. Just win a different state. You need four seats. Look at Alaska, Iowa, look at Texas. Don’t die on the hill of a guy who is going to be a headache for years to come.

Then Sunny Hostin chimed in:

“Yeah, you know, I am conflicted,” Hostin said. “They asked Cory Booker how he felt about this because, I think all the allegations are true. The sexting with other women while married is definitely true because his wife…disclosed it. Why would she lie about that? So, that part is true.”

Hostin continued, “He’s also made racist remarks against African Americans. So he’s a cheater, he’s an antisemite — because the fact that he had that tattoo for 20 years and ‘didn’t know what it was’ is a lie. So he’s a liar, a racist, an antisemite…he’s a homophobe. So, he’s all the things, and character does matter.”

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Dirty Trick Alert: The REAL Reason Why the (Latest) Graham Platner Scandal Broke Now — and Not in October

Exactly one month before Election Day 2025, National Review broke a major scandal about Jay Jones, Virginia’s Democratic nominee for attorney general: Jones, it seems, had fantasized about murdering his political enemies — along with their young children.

Jones’ blood-soaked fantasies weren’t anonymously posted on Reddit. There were no pseudonyms; no GOP detective work was necessary. Remarkably, Jones sent his texts directly to a Republican legislator named Carrie Coyner.

From National Review:

On August 8, 2022, a Republican state legislator received a disturbing string of early-morning text messages from a former colleague, Jay Jones, this year’s Democratic nominee for Virginia attorney general.

[…]

“If those guys die before me,” Jones wrote, referencing the Republican colleagues who were publicly honoring the deceased Johnson’s memory, “I will go to their funerals to piss on their graves” to “send them out awash in something.”

Jones then suggested that, presented with a hypothetical situation in which he had only two bullets and was faced with the choice of murdering then-Speaker of the House Todd Gilbert or two dictators, he’d shoot Gilbert “every time,” prompting pushback from his former colleague:

Jones: Three people, two bullets

Gilbert, hitler, and pol pot

Gilbert gets two bullets to the head

Spoiler: put Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people you know and he receives both bullets every time

Coyner: Jay

Please stop

Jones: Lol

Ok, ok

Coyner: It really bothers me when you talk about hurting people or wishing death on them

It isn’t ok

No matter who they are

This meant that Coyner had been sitting on this scandal since August of 2022. She could’ve released Jones’ damning text messages whenever she wanted!

Yet she patiently waited until exactly one month before the 2025 election.

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Busted! Leftist Media Wants You to Think Talarico Is Polling Ahead of Paxton in Texas

There are two kinds of political polls. The first is curated propaganda for your consumption. Its goal is not to reflect public opinion but to shape it. It’s designed to shape your opinion, and in a sense manipulate you in the most cynical of ways. The second is the internal poll, where the campaign pays for it and keeps the results out of the public eye. This is the information and data the campaign uses to plan for, initiate, and respond to the day-to-day events of the campaign.

Since all campaigns conduct their own internal polling, you have to know that if their behavior and messaging seem slightly out of step with the general tone of news coverage, this is the reason. They know something the media does not, and you do not.

The Senate race in Texas has just served up a great example of how the left and their partners in the legacy media like to use polls to manipulate public opinion.

According to a poll from an organization called Texas Public Opinion Research (TPOR), Texas state Rep. James Talarico (D), who definitely eats meat and definitely likes females, has a three-point lead over Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R). TPOR reports that Talarico is favored 47% to Paxton’s 44% among likely general election voters.

The totally unbiased people at The Hill reported that the poll sampled voters in the wake of Paxton’s defeat of Sen. John Cornyn (R) in the Texas primary election.

Nearly a third of the respondents who voted for Cornyn in the runoff indicated in the poll that they will support the Democratic nominee in the November election. A plurality — 44 percent — of these voters said they will now choose Paxton, and 23 percent were undecided, The Hill Reported.

The pollsters and The Hill, apparently, would have you believe that roughly 33% of Cornyn voters switched over to Talarico. Before taking this seriously, take a step back and ask yourself if this makes any sense. Chances are, if it doesn’t make sense to you, then it doesn’t make sense.

Texas is a solidly red state. Cornyn, while seen as a RINO and a squish by many conservatives, is still largely regarded as very, very far to the right of Talarico. On his campaign website, Cornyn bragged that he had a “more than 99.2% voting record with President Trump.”

Do the people who voted for that sound like the kind of people who would now vote for a man-child who is working very hard to try to convince voters that he eats meat and is a heterosexual male? He even has a girlfriend, according to the latest reports.

The New York Post reported that she is “Brianna Menard, 30, (who) describes herself as a ‘committed vegan,’ yoga buff and cat mom who likes ‘dancing the night away’ at local gay bar Cheer Up Charlies in Austin.”

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Brutal Media Split Screen Emerges as New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill Begs Anti-ICE Rioters to “Bring the Temperature Down” and Demands Closure of ICE Facility 

Fox News has gone viral after utilizing a devastating split screen regarding New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherill and the ongoing riots in Newark, which will remind some of the images from the George Floyd riots back in the Summer of 2020.

As The Gateway Pundit reported, the protests outside the ICE detention facility in Newark have spiraled into chaos.

Demonstrators have confronted law enforcement, federal officers have been targeted, journalists have faced hostility, and authorities have been forced to respond as crowds escalated near the facility.

The Gateway Pundit also revealed that independent journalist Nick Sortor, who blew the lid off years of taxpayers’ abuse at the hands of Somali fraudsters, infiltrated an Antifa camp at the Newark, New Jersey, ICE protests.

As he moved through the camp, he found tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment, food, and even riot gear. Hot meals are delivered every hour. Clearly, there is a massive, shadowy infrastructure behind the movement that is providing funding.

When one combines this with the open encouragement of Democrat politicians to bully ICE agents, it’s no wonder that Antifa is so emboldened.

During a Saturday press conference, Sherill begged the Antifa protesters to “bring the temperature down” and to protest “peacefully.”

Then, she vowed to work toward “better conditions at Delaney Hall” until it was closed for good.

But while Sherill was ranting, a Fox News producer put up a devastating split screen showing exactly what the New Jersey Governor was presiding over.

In the split screen, one can see agitators getting violent with law enforcement officers and throwing projectiles.

Smoke bombs are also deployed.

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Dr. Jill Repeatedly Claims She Never Saw Signs that Joe Biden Was Falling Into Cognitive Decline – And CBS Mornings Host Isn’t Even Buying It

Dr. Jill insisted that she had never seen anything to indicate that Joe Biden was in cognitive decline during an interview with CBS Mornings host Rita Braver.

Jill Biden sat down for an interview with CBS Mornings to discuss life after the White House.

“Did you ever see signs that [Biden] was falling into cognitive decline?” Rita Braver asked Jill Biden.

“No,” Jill Biden said.

Rita Braver was not buying Jill Biden’s claim.

“No?” Rita Braver asked.

“No,” Jill Biden insisted.

“Truly?” Rita Braver asked.

“No,” Jill Biden said.

“Oh, he was definitely aging; I mean, we were all aging,” Jill added. “So, yes, he was slowing down.”

“People were saying he wasn’t the same Joe Biden,” Rita Braver said.

“Well, I don’t think that’s true,” Jill said.

She continued, “He was the same, the essence of the same Joe Biden, but yeah, he was slowing down. He was getting older.”

“It’s a very intense job. I think it ages you quickly. Look at the other presidents, I mean, in comparison, when they started in office and got out of office. It was natural aging,” Jill Biden insisted.

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