Tag: media

MSNBC Fires Matthew Dowd For Suggesting Charlie Kirk Had It Coming; Liz Warren, Jen Psaki Double Down

MSNBC has fired political analyst Matthew Dowd, after he suggested that conservative activist and TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated on Wednesday, had it coming – Variety reports.

During coverage of Kirk’s shooting, anchor Katy Tur asked Dowd about “the environment in which a shooting like this happens” – a disgusting framing in itself, to which Dowd replied: “He’s been one of the most divisive, especially divisive younger figures in this, who is constantly sort of pushing this sort of hate speech or sort of aimed at certain groups. And I always go back to, hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions. And I think that is the environment we are in. You can’t stop with these sort of awful thoughts you have and then saying these awful words and not expect awful actions to take place. And that’s the unfortunate environment we are in.”

Dowd’s comments set off a firestorm online – resulting in a public apology from MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler, who called the statement “inappropriate, insensitive and unacceptable.”

“We apologize for his statements, as has he,” Kutler said from MSNBC’s X account. “There is no place for violence in America, political or otherwise.”

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Leftist Rag Jezebel Scrambles to Add Editor’s Note to Article Boasting About Paying Witches to Curse Charlie Kirk Days Before His Assassination

Far-left feminist website Jezebel added an editor’s note to an article where they bragged about paying Etsy witches to place curses on conservative activist Charlie Kirk, just two days before he was assassinated at a Turning Point USA event.

The original piece, published on Monday, detailed how the outlet hired online spellcasters to hex Kirk over his criticisms of modern feminism and women’s independence.

The article, bylined initially to writer Claire Guinan but later changed to simply “Jezebel,” was titled “We Paid Some Etsy Witches to Curse Charlie Kirk.” In it, the author lambasted Kirk as a “far-right misogynist with a bad haircut” who promotes “regressive rhetoric” and idealizes the 1950s for women.

To “reclaim” the label, the writer described searching Etsy for curses, purchasing options like a “Karmic Revenge” spell, a “Same Day Bad Luck Curse,” an “Insanity Hex,” and a “POWERFUL HEX SPELL” that required Kirk’s birthdate for accuracy.

It states:

For the “POWERFUL HEX SPELL,” I had to provide Kirk’s date of birth for “accuracy.” The witch performed the hex, but her response was unsettling: “I just completed your spell, and it was successful. You will see the first results within 2–3 weeks. However, I did notice disturbances… negative energy not only from you, but projected at you. Likely from toxic family members, co-workers, or new acquaintances.”

The article continues:

The next day, the Priestess sent me her proof of cast: a photograph in flames, the edges slowly curving inward, engulfing Charlie’s ridiculous scrunched-up little face. She whispered (I imagine), “Trust the unseen.” Chills.

I’d timed the purchase perfectly with the August new moon in Virgo. According to the astrology girls on TikTok, this specific new moon is the perfect time for forming new habits and aligning goals. My personal goal? Cursing Kirk. The stars were aligned.

Sunday, August 24, passed. Nothing. Monday, still nothing. Tuesday rolled around, and I began to wonder if I’d been scammed. But then I reminded myself: this is witchcraft, not Amazon. The forces operate on their own schedule.

Kirk was assassinated on Wednesday during an appearance at Utah Valley University. He was shot in the neck from approximately 200 yards away while inviting people to debate him. He was rushed to the hospital but succumbed to his injuries shortly after.

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Manhunt for Charlie Kirk assassin underway in Utah as campus goes on lockdown

Utah authorities have not yet identified a suspect in the shooting of Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk Wednesday afternoon.

The 31-year-old father of two later died from his injuries.

While a school spokeswoman initially said campus police had a suspect in custody, she later indicated he wasn’t the gunman.

The school had more than 46,000 students as of last fall. Campus authorities are urging anyone still on school grounds to call them to be escorted to safety. 

“To the best of my knowledge, that individual has been released,” Ellen Treanor, the associate vice president of strategic communication management at Utah Valley University, told Fox News Digital. “Our campus police are currently investigating in conjunction with the Orem police.”

Orem authorities declined to confirm an active manhunt for the gunman but told Fox News Digital a shelter-in-place order was in effect. 

A single gunshot rang out around 12:20 p.m. local time, she said, about 20 minutes into a speech from Kirk on campus.

Graphic video shows he was struck before panic ripples through the large crowd in attendance, with people screaming and running for cover. 
An event organizer told Fox News Digital that 1,400 people RVSP’ed for the event. The organizer said that many people came from out of the state to see Kirk speak.

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Charlie Kirk Dead at 31 After Utah Shooting, Officials Confirm

Charlie Kirk, the 31-year-old founder of Turning Point USA, has died after being shot during a speaking event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, according to three officials who confirmed his passing.

The university confirmed in an emergency alert that “a single shot was fired on campus toward a visiting speaker. Police are investigating now, suspect in custody.” An earlier statement from UVU said the shot appeared to have come from the top of the Losee Center.

Video footage showed Kirk speaking under a tent before being violently thrown from his stool. Witnesses reported he was struck near the neck.

Deseret News reported that bystanders saw the gunshot hit Kirk during a Q&A with students, a detail also confirmed by Newsweek. Fox News initially reported Kirk had been hospitalized.

Former Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz, present at the event, said he heard a single shot just after a question was posed to Kirk. “As soon as I saw Charlie go back, you realize that it was a shot,” he told Fox News.

A suspect is in custody, though authorities have not released their identity or motive.

President Donald Trump responded on Truth Social, writing: “We must all pray for Charlie Kirk, who has been shot. A great guy from top to bottom. GOD BLESS HIM!” Conservative commentator Benny Johnson also called for prayers in an X post.

Vice President JD Vance wrote: “Dear God, protect Charlie in his darkest hour.” Leaders across the political spectrum condemned the attack, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, and former Vice President Kamala Harris. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu added, “Praying for @charliekirk11.”

Videos verified by the Associated Press showed Kirk clutching his neck as blood streamed heavily, while attendees screamed and fled. The shooting took place in UVU’s Sorensen Center courtyard.

Kirk, who co-founded Turning Point USA in 2012, rose to national prominence as one of the most visible conservative activists of his generation and a close ally of President Trump.

Classes at Utah Valley University have been canceled until further notice as the investigation continues.

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Trump cracks down on drug ads on TV, social media that he says mislead people

President Trump went after pharmaceutical companies Tuesday by accusing them of intentionally concealing dangerous side effects when marketing their drugs on TV and social media.

He sent roughly 100 cease and desist letters and thousands of warning letters to companies about their advertising.

He also granted broad authority to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary to rein in the companies and their social media influencers.

Among the measures pharmaceutical companies can take are increasing the amount of information about risks associated with the medicine in advertisements and actions to “ensure truthful and non-misleading information in direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertisements

The president hardened the government’s stance against Big Pharma with a proclamation he signed Tuesday in the Oval Office. He did not add new enforcement action but ordered the government to more stringently ramp up enforcement of existing regulations covering drug commercials.

“Our goal is to ensure that patients have proper information about drugs that have potential harms,” a senior administration official said. “I think people are seeing ads sometimes not even realizing that they’re pharmaceutical ads.”

The White House declined to say which companies or influencers would receive the letters, but the official referenced a weight loss drug commercial that ran during the Super Bowl and drew the ire of senators on both sides of the aisle.

Hims & Hers, a telehealth company, faced scrutiny from Sens. Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Democrat, and Roger Marshall, Kansas Republican, for an ad promoting the active ingredient in the weight loss drug Ozempic, but not the drug itself. The two senators said the TV ad “risks misleading patients by omitting any safety or side effect information.”

Under Federal Trade Commission guidelines, Hims & Hers did not have to provide side effect information because it did not advertise a specific drug or medication. Instead, it urged consumers to consult with a doctor, which was consistent with FTC regulations.

Drug advertising aimed at consumers has exploded since the FDA relaxed its policies in 1997. The loosening of restrictions allowed pharmaceutical companies to boast of health claims while disclosing only a drug’s “most important” health risks. Before the policy change, drug companies had to disclose a lengthy list of possible side effects or avoid identifying the purpose of the drug in the first place.

However, enforcement of those guidelines has slacked in recent years. The FDA typically sends roughly 100 letters yearly, taking drug companies to task for their advertising. However, in 2023, the FDA sent only one such letter and did not send any last year, according to the White House.

“There are also regulations that speak very clearly that an ad must present a fair balance of information … but despite these regulations, enforcement has been increasingly lax over recent years [compared with] in the past when ads were far less frequent,” the official said.

Prescription drug ads account for hundreds of billions of dollars in advertising dollars spent each year. Through this summer, prescription drug brands accounted for 24.4% of ad minutes across evening news programs on NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox News, MSNBC and CNN, according to data from iSpot, which tracks television advertising.

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Ignored by media, enabled by Dems: how soft-on-crime policies unleashed murder of Ukrainian refugee

According to most legacy mainstream news outfits, the horrific murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska was not worthy of a headline. The attention from “MAGA influencers seeking to elevate the issue of violent urban crime and accuse mainstream media of under-covering” is instead the focal point of reporting by outlets like Axios. 

On August 22, Iryna Zarutska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee who escaped war to start anew in the U.S., was viciously stabbed to death with a pocket knife in what appeared to be a random attack on a Charlotte, North Carolina light rail train. The suspect, 34-year-old Decarlos Brown Jr., a homeless black man with a long history of evading serious charges due to mental health claims, was apprehended and charged with first-degree murder, fueling public outrage over lax crime policies and judicial failures.

The media blackout was shocking to many in the independent news sphere. The murder took place two and a half weeks ago, on August 22. CNN, Reuters, The New York Times, Associated Press, NBC News, ABC News and The Washington Post took 17 days to report on it. It took North Carolina’s Democrat Mayor Josh Stein the same amount of time to comment on the murder. 

Leftists try to flush Zarutska’s murder down the memory-hole

Wikipedia is under fire for trying to remove a page about the murder. Editors at the site are feuding internally after attempts to suppress the story by proposing the newly created page about Zarutska’s killing be deleted, arguing it lacked sufficient notability for inclusion.

Critics, including Elon Musk, who called the murder a “hate crime,” and Piers Morgan, who condemned the “senseless, unprovoked” murder, have slammed Wikipedia’s deletion attempt as censorship, pointing to minimal mainstream media attention. 

The radio-silence from traditional media up until Monday reflects a broader attempt to ignore crime when the victim is white and the alleged perpetrator is black. 

In another instance over the weekend, beloved Auburn University veterinary sciences professor Dr. Julie Gard Schnuelle was hacked to death with a machete while walking her dog in Kiesel Park, Alabama—a location she frequented daily. The 59-year-old retired professor’s red Ford F-150 truck was stolen by the attacker. The following day, a black male, 28-year-old Harold Rashad Dabney III from Montgomery, was arrested and charged with capital murder after police located the stolen vehicle nearby and linked him to the homicide.

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A Woman Is Murdered, And The Media Rush To Defend Democrats By Calling It ‘Political’

Here’s a truly jaw-dropping headline in Politico this week: “Ukrainian refugee killed in North Carolina gets dragged into political messaging war.”

Now let’s reimagine that same headline but the year is 2020 and it’s about George Floyd getting “dragged into [a] political messaging war,” as if we weren’t talking about a greatly disturbing death caught on video but a trifling partisan squabble. Of course no such headline would have ever made it to print, because the dying news media were all in on turning Floyd into a national crisis with President Trump to blame.

By contrast, the appalling murder of a “Ukrainian refugee” in Charlotte last month — her name was Iryna Zarutska — is a really, really bad look for all the Democrats (plus the dying media) who spent recent days swearing on their lives that metropolitan crime is virtually nonexistent. They did that purely out of spite for Trump sending National Guard troops into Washington, D.C., to quell the violence and danger that has plagued that city for years.

Look, The New York Times did it, too: “A Gruesome Murder in North Carolina Ignites a Firestorm on the Right.” So did the Washington Post and Associated Press: “Charlotte leaders criticized over killing of Ukrainian woman as Trump, MAGA target another Dem city.”

Remember, kids, there is no crime! And when there is, it’s Republicans and “the right” you should hate for noticing!

They’re losing this little game they’re trying to play, but they’re so dug in on opposing every single thing Trump does that they’re willing to literally watch people die and call it nothing. It’s one thing for them to scream bloody murder when their precious “foreign aid” is put on hiatus, but it’s seriously ghoulish for them to dismiss an actual murder as a Republican fixation.

This is how Democrats and the dying media are going to deal with the crime problem for the foreseeable future. They don’t care about the tragic murder of Iryna Zarutska, and they’re willing to risk all of our lives to seize power again.

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Fake news is growing at an alarming rate during Trump’s second term in office

The Epstein case, the Trump assassination and Russian double agents being poisoned in the UK are all stories which read like spy novels. How much of these stories which we read about are actually true?

With the recent interview by prosecutors of Ghislaine Maxwell shocking some with its whitewash of Donald Trump with regards to the Epstein saga, one truth rings out for those who worry about the West’s democratic legitimacy. Fake news is unquestionably on the rise. For Maxwell to have struck a deal with Trump there must have been a media mind-set there all along which could distort a narrative so much that it makes Trump come out of the Epstein saga as innocent, despite the proven close proximity of these two men for decades.

It is believed that it was Maxwell who revealed details of a letter or note written to Epstein by Trump which included a drawing of a naked women. Trump, stupidly denied this and claimed he never did ‘doodles’ which only pushed a number of amateur hacks to dig up further examples of his doodles. But the jab at Trump was well thought out. It hit home as she was soon transferred to a lower security jail with better privileges and swiftly, it would seem, is being processed so that Trump can pardon her and she can leave the U.S.

The U.S. media, in reporting on the hours of interviews and the tome of a transcript which was leaked to them, are simply unable to do the most elementary thing that all journalists should do naturally when being offered information: be sceptical.

There is no trace of any scepticism though whatsoever which gives a clue just how journalists have sunk in the west as a profession which it was believed, once upon a time, was supposed to hold elites to account. What we are witnessing with the Maxwell interview is the most disingenuous pack of lies crafted specifically to clear Trump, Prince Andrew and Bill Clinton being packaged by journalists who know they are playing a nefarious role in re-writing the whole Epstein story. A whitewash on a grand scale which will probably work to get Trump, Clinton and Prince Andrew off the hook as it will be the media itself which repeats and endorses it over a longer period. It will stick.

Yet in recent times, such a scandal as Maxwell’s stunt, hardly stands alone. There have been a number of major media distortions to serve as a convenient support mechanism for elites both in the U.S. and in the UK.

Just recently in the US, fringe media outlets and their social media accounts have been looking at the so-called Trump assassination attempt in July 2024, questioning whether the President was actually shot at all or faked it using a trick mastered by Hollywood actors.

A retired police detective lieutenant named Duane Lee Proctor alleged U.S. President Donald Trump applied fake blood from a “blood capsule” during the assassination attempt that famously bloodied his ear at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

It’s hardly surprising the shooting has stirred such conspiracy theories though given the sheer level of media manipulation Trump is capable of and, perhaps also importantly, the willingness for big media to comply with the narrative offered.

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Media Fail: So-Called ‘Firefighters’ Arrested by ICE Agents in Washington Are Actually Criminal Illegal Aliens

Democrats and their allies in the establishment media are falsely claiming that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have arrested a pair of “firefighters” in the sanctuary state of Washington. In actuality, the two men are not firefighters, but rather illegal aliens with past criminal records.

Last week, the establishment media ran wild with a story claiming that two firefighters were arrested by ICE agents in Bear Gulch, Washington, amidst an ongoing fire.

Jose Bertin Cruz-Estrada of Mexico, one of the illegal aliens arrested, has previously been charged with delivering and selling methamphetamine. Cruz-Estrada has been encountered by Border Patrol agents a total of 15 times.

Cruz-Estrada was ordered deported by a federal immigration judge in April 2015 and deported by ICE agents on February 27, 2016. After his last deportation, Cruz-Estrada crossed the southern border again on an unknown date.

The other illegal alien arrested by ICE agents was previously charged with illegally carrying a concealed weapon. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials told Breitbart News that the pair were not firefighters and had been working for a company that was involved in cutting firewood, not actively fighting the Bear Gulch fires.

The facts of the case did not stop Democrats from turning the arrests into a false talking point that the establishment media breathlessly picked up.

A headline from NBC News reads “Trump’s immigration crackdown sweeps up 2 firefighters battling a wildfire in Washington state,” while a piece from Reuters reads “Two firefighters held at Washington ICE detention center amid wildfire, US representative says.”

Democrats were quick to latch onto the unfounded claims.

“Donald Trump ran his campaign on sending out the worst of the worst,” Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson (D) wrote on X. “I’m not sure who’s more the best of the best than our firefighters, actively fighting the largest fire in Washington.”

Rep. Emily Randall (D-WA) did an interview with Reuters where she suggested that ICE agents were potentially trying to hide information from her regarding the arrests.

Rep. Andrea Salinas (D-OR) similarly posted on X that she had detailed knowledge of one of the illegal aliens arrested, continuously referring to him as a firefighter and omitting his criminal record.

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CNN’s Brian Stelter Thinks the Real Tragedy in Murder of Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska is the Racism of People Who Noticed it

Every time you think CNN can’t drop any lower, somehow, they manage to do it.

In the case of the brutal murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, CNN’s Brian Stelter seems to think that the real tragedy in this situation is racism, specifically, the racism of Trump supporters for noticing this crime.

This is a new low for him, which is really saying something.

Transcript via Real Clear Politics:

BRIAN STELTER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: Most murders in the U.S. never become national news. This one’s garnered attention for a couple of reasons. Number one, first and foremost, the recent release of that gruesome video.

Second, the energy from pro-Trump activists. They picked up on this video from local news and ran with it. It’s a little bit like the times when civil rights groups have raised attention about police-involved shootings.

In this case, it is Trump-aligned influencers who are posting up a storm about this case on social media. Really, over the weekend, Elon Musk, Charlie Kirk, other Trump-aligned figures succeeded in making this senseless death a symbol of big-city crime. We heard President Trump asked about it yesterday when he was heading home from New York City.

He didn’t seem to know much about it. He said he would get briefed. And then today, Trump did know all about it.

And that’s exactly what has happened here. This story has trickled up from local news to social media and now to the president’s attention. And it’s being used, as you said, Brianna, as a political symbol, with MAGA media calling for more forceful punishments and more incarceration.

I have to say, some of the replies to Musk, some of the comments around this story are baldly racist, stoking fear of African-Americans because this man attacked a white woman. The open racism on sites like X Today, it’s eye-popping. But there are also legitimate questions about this so-called career criminal, someone who had been a repeat offender.

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