Fake News
February 12, 2021 — John Hinderaker
I rarely look at the New York Times, since it abandoned any pretense of being a real newspaper years ago. Still, I was shocked when I saw the Times’s online front page a little while ago. Here is a screen shot of the top of the page: Trump’s defense is “incendiary”? I guess that means his lawyers aren’t going along with the absurd charge against him. And by “reframing Trump’s
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January 8, 2021 — Steven Hayward
There remains a lot more to be said about the events of the week and the new circumstances now facing us. Herewith a few observations that I may expand into longer treatments at some point. • The events of the week have emboldened the vindictive and radical spirit of the Democrats and their allies in the media-academic-cultural complex—not that they weren’t radical enough already. You can see this in things
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January 2, 2021 — Steven Hayward
Guess which state has been more successful fighting back COVID-19—Florida or New York? According to the media, the answer is obvious: New York, on account of its totally awesome Gov. Andrew Cuomo. In fact the death rate per 100,000 people in Florida is about half that of New York (96 per 100K for Florida, versus 188 per 100K in New York). Over on Twitter, DC communications pro Drew Holden has
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January 1, 2021 — Steven Hayward
Whatever else might have once been said about liberal bias at the New York Times, at least you could say that they covered the elites. What else can you say about their wedding announcements section, which, as I think David Brooks once joked, reads more like a mergers and acquisitions page, since the couples spotlighted are invariably ivy league uber-overclass climbers. But now it seems the Times mission is to
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December 27, 2020 — Steven Hayward
I know, taking note of media double standards is an insult to shooting fish in a barrel, but every now and then you find something that stands out for special recognition. One of the things we hear endlessly from the media is that the Trump Administration has been hostile in unprecedented ways. Oh? As it happened, I stumbled across an account of the Kennedy Administration’s treatment of the media as assembled
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December 13, 2020 — Steven Hayward
From time to time for recreation, amusement, and the never-ending quest for self-improvement, I will browse through Fowler’s Dictionary of Modern English Usage. Fowler is an unappreciated source of subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) social commentary, as well as source of reproach to sloppy writing. Fowler has a wit as dry as a martini if you pay close attention. And he often keeps alive archaic words that ought to
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December 8, 2020 — Steven Hayward
In the Annals of Ridiculous Headlines and Fake News, this one may be the all time winner: Dan Rather Creates Graphic Novel To Unite Us In March 2019, First Second Books launched a new line of political graphic novels, World Citizen Comics, to bring in names such as Dan Rather, Seth Abramson, Jennifer L. Pozner, and more. Legendary news anchor Dan Rather provides a voice of reason and explores what it means
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November 21, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
The Washington Post claims that the “Black community” is angry over claims of vote fraud by President Trump and his legal team. It’s true that some of the claims of fraud center on precincts that are populated almost entirely by Blacks. However, I doubt that many Blacks care about the Trump campaign’s allegations of fraud and I suspect that even fewer are outraged by them. The Post cites five Blacks
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November 10, 2020 — Steven Hayward
We knew things at the New York Times were bad, but hoo-ey boy we had no idea just how bad! New York magazine is out with a deep dive into the internal Maoist struggle sessions going on inside the Times, and get a big bowl of popcorn ready for this long piece. The piece could be called “Annals of the Liberal Self-Obsessed,” as it contains many nuggets of pure comedy
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November 5, 2020 — Steven Hayward
You have to love this Tweet from PBS: “Trusted source.” That’s the funniest thing I’ve read in a long time. If you have to proclaim that you are a “trusted source,” um, I have some fake news to sell you. Meanwhile, this, from comedian Angelo Tsarouchas, is worth a read: Early November is finally here. I have seen a lot of hate spewed in recent days about a man who
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November 2, 2020 — Scott Johnson
I think it was William F. Buckley, Jr. who pointed out the problem with New York Times corrections. The typical Times correction will note that an article gave the name of so-and-so’s son as Albert when it should have been given as Alfred. Buckley (if it was Buckley) observed that the problem with such corrections is that they imply everything else in the Times is accurate. Let’s call it the
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November 1, 2020 — Steven Hayward
It was over a year ago that we presented one of the first really impressive versions of “deep fake” videos, with Bill Hader transforming into Tom Cruise and Seth Rogan on Letterman. Well, now Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the geniuses behind South Park and Team America: World Police, have gotten into the game, with this 14-minute deep fake video that sends up Trump, Al Gore, and several other figures. It’s
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October 31, 2020 — Steven Hayward
Back in the late 1990s, The New Republic suffered from serial scandals with writers who made things up, most spectacularly Stephen Glass, but also Ruth Shalit, who was fired from TNR in 1999 after she was discovered to have plagiarized and “reported inaccurately.” Lately Shalit, now married and using her married name “Ruth S. Barrett” as her byline, has been attempting a comeback in journalism. Her latest feature about meritocracy
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October 7, 2020 — Scott Johnson
David Rutz and Collin Anderson tuned in earlier this week to the NBC town hall featuring Joe Biden answering questions posed by supposedly “undecided voters.” They now report in some painful detail at the Washington Free Beacon: “NBC News’ ‘Undecided’ Voters Previously Featured as Biden Supporters on MSNBC.” Please read the whole thing. They support their analysis with ocular proof in the video below.
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October 6, 2020 — John Hinderaker
The media freakout over President Trump’s 1) contracting COVID, 2) quickly recovering, apparently, from COVID, 3) returning to the White House, and 4) urging Americans not to allow our lives to be devastated by the virus, has likely been unprecedented in its absurdity. There is no point in dissecting all or any large number of the ridiculous press accounts (although you should check out CNN’s prize-winning entry), but I will
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September 22, 2020 — Steven Hayward
Trump hasn’t even named his pick to succeed Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court, and already the media is stepping up to fulfill its role as the propaganda adjunct for the Democratic Party and its leftward-most pressure groups. • Like this NBC “News” story: Trump front-runners ‘antithetical” to Ginsburg’s legacy, critics say “Critics” say! Which critics? I’m surprised they don’t say “experts” just to give it that special CDC
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September 10, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
Yesterday, Steve discussed Bob Woodward’s bit about President Trump allegedly downplaying the Wuhan coronavirus. Calling for a shutdown of the U.S. economy seems like an odd way to downplay something, but I suppose Trump could have highlighted the threat by hiding in a bunker. Woodward wants us to believe that Trump intentionally deceived the American people. He knew how serious the virus was, but hid its seriousness from the public
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