Tag: mainstream media

Follow the Scientism

Because we would all prefer to forget the Covid crisis and move on, the following may have already faded from our collective memory. Only a few years ago, Australia rounded up citizens exposed to Covid, including asymptomatic people, and shipped them involuntarily to detention facilities against their will. Videos of Australian quarantine centers made their way onto social media before tech censors, at the behest of governments, dutifully scrubbed them from the internet. Many provincial governors in Australia abused their emergency powers: while not every Australian state chose full-throated authoritarianism, several of them did. Canada likewise built detention facilities for infected persons, and the state of New York fought an ongoing legal battle to do so.

Authoritarian measures during the Covid crisis went beyond forced detainment of suspected or actual cases. The Medical Indemnity Protection Society (MIPS) in Australia, which provides medical malpractice insurance to all the country’s physicians, published twelve commandments for physicians on their website to avoid disciplinary “notifications”—an Orwellian euphemism for investigations overseen by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulatory Agency, the governing entity overseeing all physicians. The MIPS Commandment #9 instructed Australian doctors as follows:

Be very careful when using social media (even on your personal pages), when authoring papers or when appearing in interviews. Health practitioners are obliged to ensure their views are consistent with public health messaging. This is particularly relevant in current times. Views expressed which may be consistent with evidence-based material may not necessarily be consistent with public health messaging.

Read that last sentence one more time: “evidence-based material” refers to peer-reviewed scientific papers or other sources of credible medical information. So, if Australian doctors mention findings of a published study which are not consistent with “public health messaging”—i.e., the approved views of the public health bureaucrats in power—these physicians could potentially lose their ability to practice medicine. Notice that this applies also to physicians “authoring papers,” meaning that if a doctor conducts research and his findings contradict “public health messaging,” he’d better think twice before publishing the results.

Likewise, in the US, the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB), an authority on medical licensure and physician discipline, passed a policy in May 2022 on medical misinformation and disinformation that guides all state medical boards and the nation’s physicians they license. My home state of California took up the FSMB’s suggestion to codify these recommendations in law with Assembly Bill 2098. I traveled to Sacramento to testify against this legislation when it was debated in the State Senate.

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No, That Wood-Chopping Illegal Alien in Washington State Is Not a ‘Firefighter’ or ‘Victim’

Friday night, a relative sent me a text. That wasn’t unusual. He’s recently discovered texting as a vehicle to rant, and specifically, to rant at me. The context also wasn’t unusual. It was a rant about “fascist Trump.” Trump, he wrote, had sent his stormtroopers to Washington state and they had pulled two, brave firefighters off the front lines of a forest fire. Fascist! He cried – they are pulling  firefighters away from fighting fires!  What amount of children and puppies will die because of Trump?!  

This relative is a card-carrying leftist. I don’t know the source of his Kool-Aid. I could guess. Maybe it’s just ghosts in his head, but he’s not alone. Politicians who know better disseminate nonsense and half-truths to agitate the base. Gavin Newsom has been stumping lately, claiming that Trump will “cancel” the 2026 elections. 

After I got the text from my relative (and sighed deeply), I looked up what actually happened. This is from a  U.S. Customs and Border Protection news release:

Due to the remote location of the work site, BLM requested USBP assistance verifying the identities of all personnel present. The work crews, totaling 44 individuals, required identity verification to ensure that the individuals on-site matched the contractor rosters.

…

USBP agents supported BLM rangers in verifying the identities of the contracted personnel. Several discrepancies were identified, and two individuals were found to be present in the United States illegally, one with a previous order of removal. The two individuals were arrested and transported to the Bellingham Station on charges of illegal entry and 8 US Code 1326 – Reentry of removed aliens. Forty-two individuals were released from the scene and escorted off Federal lands. 

The contract termination and enforcement action did not interfere with firefighting operations or the response to any active fires in the area, nor did it pose any danger to the surrounding community. 

Border Patrol had been alerted that those illegal aliens had been hired by an independent, third-party contractor based in Oregon. They were “firefighters” on paper but neither were fighting fires. Border Patrol checked records, and the contractor’s records didn’t match the people on site. Officials found two guys who had entered the US illegally and detained them. 

Those two were not out on the fire line stopping a fire. They weren’t saving babies. They weren’t rescuing puppies. They were chopping wood. Those two were detained and transported to a detention center. But legacy media turned the narrative into CBP and ICE pulling heroes away from the front lines. My relative bought that myth, like every myth he’s consumed since Trump was sworn in.  

Dem politicians are fond of pouring gas on the fire. They are also fond of lying. 

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Canada’s Experience Provides Evidence Marijuana Legalization Doesn’t Fuel Gun Violence

On Fox News this week, Laura Ingraham and Alex Berenson pushed the narrative that marijuana use is fueling violent crime and mass shootings, with Berenson claiming cannabis is regularly found in autopsies and warning that rescheduling would put “public safety at stake.” It’s a familiar line from prohibition-era talking points — and one that falls apart when you look at Canada.

Canada legalized recreational marijuana for adults 18 and older in October 2018. In the years since, millions of Canadians have consumed marijuana legally, with usage rates climbing steadily. If marijuana truly triggered psychosis and mass violence on the scale Ingraham and Berenson suggest, Canada would have seen a dramatic rise in gun deaths and shootings. That hasn’t happened.

Statistics Canada data shows the homicide rate in 2019 — the first full year after legalization — actually declined slightly from 2018. Gun deaths have fluctuated year-to-year, but there has been no sudden increase linked to cannabis policy, with mass shootings remain exceedingly rare. The country’s worst modern mass shooting, in Nova Scotia in 2020, involved illegal firearms and police have confirmed that it had nothing to do with marijuana. In response, Canada tightened gun laws further, banning more than 1,500 models of assault-style weapons.

Meanwhile, cannabis consumption has grown. Surveys show that adult use climbed from around 22% in 2018 to about 27% in 2021. Emergency room visits related to cannabis rose somewhat, but public health experts attribute this to more people being willing to disclose use, not to a sudden surge in dangerous outcomes.

In short, Canada provides years of data proving that legalizing marijuana does not drive psychosis-fueled gun deaths or mass shootings. Claims to the contrary are rhetoric, not reality.

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JD Vance Accuses Politico of ‘Journalistic Malpractice’ Over New Report: ‘It’s a Foreign Influence Operation’

Vice President JD Vance has taken a blistering shot at one of the White House’s most notorious rivals: the media.

On Friday, Politico released a critical report that took aim at one key member of President Donald Trump’s administration — and Vance wasn’t standing for it.

Alongside the blaring headline of “‘His inexperience shines through’: Steve Witkoff struggles to manage Russia as Trump peace envoy,” Politico spilled quite a bit of digital ink calling out the alleged inefficacy of Trump’s special envoy for Peace Missions.

Specifically, Politico’s Felicia Schwartz chronicled the struggles that Witkoff was purportedly having while trying to bring about an amicable end to the Russia-Ukraine war.

“Some frustrated U.S., Ukrainian and European officials say part of the problem is the go-it-alone style of Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy for peace missions and go-to negotiator on Ukraine,” Schwartz reports. “He has refused to consult with experts and allies, leaving him uninformed at times and unprepared at others, according to seven people familiar with internal discussions.”

The report added, “Two said he misses the mark by viewing the conflict through a real estate lens, like a land dispute.”

Enter: Vance.

The vice president took to X shortly after the report’s publication and did not mince words when it came to what he thought of the Washington, D.C.-based outlet — and Schwartz.

“This story from Politico is journalistic malpractice,” Vance posted Friday. “But it’s more than that: it’s a foreign influence operation meant to hurt the administration and one of our most effective members.

“Notice how all of the people attacking Steve are on background? That means it’s two or three deep staters who are angry that Witkoff has succeeded where they’ve failed.

“You know what this ‘reporter’ left out to make room for anonymous quotes? The full quote from the sitting vice president, on the record. A quote from the secretary of the state, on the record. A quote from Jared Kushner, on the record.

“The full quote from the UK’s Jonathan Powell, one of the most respected national security people in the Western World, who defended Steve vigorously from these malicious smears.”

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The War On Reality is Over

Unwittingly, that New York Times headline is a wondrous case of the self-solving mystery. You come here to understand the many social and political mysteries of the day. I will attempt to unravel this hairball.

Most obviously, the suspect, now dead, in Wednesday’s Minneapolis school shooting was not a “her.” He was a him, a 23-year-old male, Robert Westman, who had been pretending to be a female for some years since undergoing puberty, with the encouragement of his parents and the cultural leaders of his city, including Governor Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey, backed by the expressed principles of the national Democratic Party.

The essence of all that was a gigantic game of pretend, a broad and deliberate dissociation from reality for the purpose of maintaining a political racketeering operation, which is what the Democratic Party had become. Pretend that men can become women. Pretend that Covid vaccinations are safe and effective. Pretend that national borders don’t matter. Pretend that crime is not a social problem. Pretend that riots are mostly peaceful. Pretend that our elections are free and fair. Pretend that “Joe Biden” is president. Pretend that Ukraine is fighting for democracy. And so on. All pretend.

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MSNBC Panel Talks Banning All Firearms After Trans Shooter Targets Catholic School: ‘Do What Australia Did’

When modern liberals casually reveal their true authoritarian natures, believe them.

They did it during the COVID scare, when they embraced lockdowns, masks, and vaccine mandates. And they do it in the wake of every mass shooting.

Rarely, however, do they go as far as journalist Mike Spies of the anti-gun outlet The Trace.

Wednesday on MSNBC, Spies appeared in a round table discussion with host Katy Tur and others. Earlier in the day, a transgender murderer had opened fire at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, killing two children and injuring 17.

Thus, the panelists discussed the shooting and how to prevent such violence moving forward. Naturally — this being MSNBC — they focused on the weapons and not the mental-health crisis at the root of transgender ideology.

“You have to be honest and say what will actually work, which is what nobody wants to hear, which is that there are just simply way too many firearms, and they are way too accessible,” Spies said.

“And they’re too powerful?” Tur asked.

“And they’re too powerful,” Spies replied, “even handguns too. Again, that’s why in Australia — it doesn’t matter if it’s not politically acceptable to say it. I’m not here as a politician or anyone who works in politics. I’m a journalist — whether or not you like it, the only thing that really works, if you really wanted to bring down gun violence, was to do what Australia did and to do what many other countries in Europe do.”

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The Disaster That Was George W. Bush

In a recent New York Times column, David French in one of his usual anti-Trump screeds, created a hagiographic picture of the presidency of George W. Bush, comparing him to Donald Trump’s current term of office. Wrote French:

Bush was interventionist; Trump is far more isolationist. Bush expanded the social safety net with Medicare Part D; Trump cut Medicaid. Bush implemented PEPFAR, the successful program to combat AIDS in Africa that has saved more than 20 million lives; Trump has gutted PEPFAR. While both men nominated pro-life judges (a Bush appointee, Justice Samuel Alito, wrote the Dobbs decision), Trump ran on a watered-down platform that removed traditional Republican support for a “human life amendment” to the Constitution that would effectively outlaw abortion.

Bush is a devout Christian. Those words, to put it mildly, are not how one would describe Trump.

Indeed, the Trump presidency has so unnerved his opposition to the point where many of his former opponents have praised him, contrasting his so-called unifying presidency as opposed to the Trump White House, which has created division:

Bush’s video was part of “The Call to Unite,” a 24-hour livestream featuring Oprah Winfrey, Sean Combs, Bill Clinton, and a host of other celebrities. Clinton’s message struck similar notes: “We need each other, and we do better when we work together,” he said. “That’s never been more clear to me as I have seen the courage and dignity of the first responders, the health care workers, all the people who are helping them to provide our food, our transportation, our basic services to the other essential workers.”

The message is clear: whether one agrees with everything about the Bush presidency, at least Bush is a decent, Christian guy (not like Trump) and is a humanitarian to boot. Although the political rhetoric from Democrats during the administration of POTUS 43 was anything but unifying, it seems that all is forgiven as Democrats and Never-Trump Republicans join to fight Trump.

Although some may be nostalgic for Bush, perhaps we should be reminded of his disastrous record as president, a record that still is creating negative dividends to this very day. Forget the rhetoric about how “this guy is decent.” The term “decent” is no way to describe Bush’s two terms in office.

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The Media Dismissing The Transgender Factor In This School Shooting Are Enabling Another One

It’s truly as if the news media wish for more transgender psychotics to commit mass murders before offing themselves. Why else would they look at what happened in Minneapolis this week and continue insisting there’s no correlation at all between a potentially violent mental break and the irrational belief that a man can become a woman?

After a gunman identified as 23-year-old Robin Westman — originally Robert before his mother apparently allowed him to legally change his name at 17 — shot up a Catholic school’s church in Minneapolis on Wednesday, the media got to work, both treating the suspected killer as if his gender dysphoria was entirely incidental and belittling anyone who suggested otherwise.

The New York Times captured that dynamic best under the headline, “Minneapolis Suspect Knew Her Target, but Motive Is a Mystery.” The “her” was a deliberate word choice for a person we’re still learning about a day later. And what we did learn was that, according to the New York Post, Westman deeply regretted his attempts to become female, writing in a journal, “I only keep [the long hair] because it is pretty much my last shred of being trans. I am tired of being trans, I wish I never brain-washed myself.”

But the Times wants the public to believe there’s nothing significant about being a shooter who tried swapping his gender, so — it’s ma’am!

Throughout the article, the Times refers to Westman as “she” and “her” and then, nine paragraphs in, attacks the people who dared notice that this isn’t the first, second, or third time in recent years where a “transgender” person has committed mass violence. “On social media,” the article said, “some conservative activists have seized on the shooter’s gender identity to broadly portray transgender people as violent or mentally ill.”

Or, more accurately, people who have a memory recalled that similar tragic episodes were carried out by individuals identified as being deep into pronoun play and gender bending ideologies. That includes: 36-year-old Genesse Ivonne Moreno in February of last year (also went by “Jeffrey Escalante”); 17-year-old Dylan Jesse Butler the month prior (suspected gender queer activist); 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale in March 2023 (used male pronouns); 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich in November 2022 (claimed to be “nonbinary”); 16-year-old Maya “Alec” McKinney in May 2019 (identified as male); and 26-year-old Snochia Moseley (suspected to be transgender).

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The NYT Just Nuked the Left’s Narrative About the Bolton Raid

When news hit last week that federal agents had raided John Bolton’s Maryland home and Washington office, the reaction was as predictable as it was hysterical. The left immediately leapt into hysterics, spinning the story as proof of Trump’s alleged obsession with revenge, tying it to Bolton’s bitter falling-out with him. Within hours, the usual chorus was screeching the same tired lines: Democracy is under attack! Trump is a dictator! This was pure political retribution!

Only it wasn’t.

A new report from—if you can believe it—the New York Times has thrown cold water on that absurd little storyline. According to their reporting, the roots of this investigation don’t trace back to Trump at all. In fact, the probe gained traction under the Biden administration—an inconvenient truth that blows up the liberal media’s theory of political retribution. 

The investigation into President Trump’s former national security adviser, John R. Bolton, began to pick up momentum during the Biden administration, when U.S. intelligence officials collected information that appeared to show that he had mishandled classified information, according to people familiar with the inquiry.

The United States gathered data from an adversarial country’s spy service, including emails with sensitive information that Mr. Bolton, while still working in the first Trump administration, appeared to have sent to people close to him on an unclassified system, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive case that remains open.

Sources say the emails at the heart of the case were written by Bolton himself and contained information pulled from classified documents he had access to while serving in the White House. Even worse, those messages were allegedly sent to people close to him as he pieced together his infamous 2020 anti-Trump book, The Room Where It Happened.

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Even the media’s Gaza ‘investigations’ hide the real story of Israel’s atrocities

An investigation by CNN into Israel’s strike on the Nasser Hospital this week – an attack that killed more than 20 people, including emergency workers and five journalists – is a case study in how even well-intentioned journalism, ostensibly examining Israeli crimes, ends up concealing more than it reveals.

CNN’s detailed examination of footage of Monday’s strike on the hospital in Khan Younis found that Israel’s so-called “double-tap” actually involved three missiles.

The first strike hit a fourth-floor stairwell close to a hospital upper balcony. Then, 10 minutes later, as emergency crews and journalists scrambled to help the victims, a second and third strike hit precisely the same spot.

A munitions expert who examined the footage notes that the second and third missiles were almost certainly fired from two different tanks in very close succession.

As he and CNN conclude, that removes any last trace of doubt on whether the attack on the hospital was, as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims, “a tragic mishap”. Rather, it was a highly coordinated precision strike.

CNN reiterates a further and important contextual point that should obliterate Israel’s subsequent justification for its attack, following what Israel terms an “initial investigation”.

Let us note in passing that the Israeli military is pretending to investigate itself only to dampen the rare furore that has erupted over the strike, chiefly because the new atrocity was caught on camera and killed journalists working for major western news organisations. Israel has abandoned almost all of its previous investigations as soon as the western media could be provided with a fresher atrocity to report on. And Israel seems to have an endless production line of atrocities with which to distract them.

All too predictably, Israel’s “initial investigation” found a “Hamas” excuse.

According to the Israeli military, it hit Nasser Hospital’s stairwell because it had identified a camera there supposedly being used by Hamas.

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