Media
April 15, 2019 — Scott Johnson
George Mason University Professor Tim Groseclose wrote yesterday to advise that the Star Tribune staff report on Ilhan Omar’s Colbert appearance last week is worse than I noted. He writes: “The Star Tribune did not provide accurate quotes. Most important, in the Colbert interview she doesn’t even mention the word ‘marriage,’ much less criticize her critics for the married-her-brother claim. I posted some tweets [starting here] with a few more
»
April 14, 2019 — Scott Johnson
In a staff report on Minnesota Fifth District Rep. Ilhan Omar’s appearance on Stephen Colbert’s late-night show last week, the Star Tribune refers parenthetically to “a false accusation that she had married her own brother[.]” The Star Tribune has published a few stories on Omar’s tangled marital history. None of them resolve the issues implicit in her marriage to husband number 2. Earlier this year one Bethania Palmer of Snopes
»
April 9, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Before the opening statements of the parties this morning Judge Quaintance announced her decision on the First Amendment issue raised by the motion of the Media Coalition challenging her pretrial order from the bench on March 29. I have discussed this order at length in previous installments of this series in which I described it as lawless. Judge Quaintance announced that on further review she was reversing her order. She
»
April 9, 2019 — Scott Johnson
I’m on my way to the courthouse this morning for opening statements in the trial of Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor. In the opening statements the parties are to summarize the evidence they anticipate introducing at trial. They are not to argue their cases. The beginning of the trial is highly anticipated. It comes nearly two years after Noor’s killing of Justine Ruszcyk (or Justine Damond, as she called herself).
»
April 8, 2019 — Scott Johnson
The lawyers have completed voir dire and jury selection in the trial of Mohamed Noor. Judge Kathryn Quaintance is seating a panel of 16 jurors (four are alternates). She excused the parties and jurors following the completion of jury selection this morning. The trial resumes with opening statements tomorrow morning. Minnesota’s foremost organ of liberal opinion — I’m talking about the Star Tribune, of course — wants you to know
»
April 7, 2019 — Scott Johnson
The trial of former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor continues this week with the completion of jury selection and the attorneys’ opening statements tomorrow. Noor is charged with second and third degree murder and second degree manslaughter in the killing of Justine Ruszczyk (known as Justine Damond) in July 2017. Ms. Ruszczyk had called 911 to seek police intervention in what she feared might be a rape occurring in the
»
April 6, 2019 — Scott Johnson
I spent Thursday and Friday at the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor for the 2017 murder of Justine Rusczczyk. Both days were devoted mostly to jury selection. Yesterday afternoon, however, Judge Kathryn Quaintance (“KQ,” as her colleagues on the bench refer to her) held a hearing on the Media Coalition’s objection to her order suppressing part of the bodycam footage that will be admitted into evidence early
»
April 4, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Ivy Bernhardson is the Chief Judge of the Hennepin County District Court. She has co-signed the trial conduct orders in the Mohamed Noor murder case with trial judge Kathryn Quaintance. Here, for example, is the court’s second amended order on conduct at trial (governing press access and other issues). Yesterday morning I published my published my message to Judge Bernhardson briefly summarizing my issues seeking one of the assigned seats
»
April 3, 2019 — Scott Johnson
On Sunday morning I briefly previewed “The trial of Mohammed Noor.” Jury selection is now underway in Hennepin County District Court. The criminal case has been assigned to Hennepin County District Judge Kathryn Quaintance. Judge Quaintance and Chief Judge Ivy Bernhardson have issued a highly restrictive set of media guidelines for press coverage of the trial. The order has now been amended twice. The court’s second amended order is posted
»
April 2, 2019 — Scott Johnson
I want to reiterate my complaint about the drive-by mugging New Yorker staff writer Benjamin Wallace-Wells administered to me in the profile of Ilhan Omar that was posted online this past Wednesday. In one paragraph of the profile, W-W defamed me with the straightforward implication that I was peddling hate and conspiracy theory in raising the question whether Omar’s husband number 2 is her brother. I emailed W-W on Wednesday
»
April 2, 2019 — Scott Johnson
According to the Democratic hacks and talking heads on cable news, Attorney General’s Barr’s summary of the Mueller report has brought nothing to an end. The Washington Free Beacon’s David Rutz has compiled another of his supercuts video depicting the herd of independent minds revealing their mindless inanity in unison: “The Mueller Report: Media Say This Is Just the Beginning.” In the words of the old Carpenters song, they’ve only
»
April 1, 2019 — Steven Hayward
So it’s April Fool’s Day—the day when you’re supposed to fall for . . . fake news. Which means it’s just another day for CNN. Yet another great American custom the media has ruined for everyone. (Though I am still skeptical of today’s news that Mick Jagger is getting a heart valve replacement operation soon. I think this is a deep cover story for his unfolding plan to become the
»
April 1, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Isn’t it ironic that, at the same time Robert Mueller completed his investigation of the signature alleged scandal of the Trump presidency, Valerie Plame, the key figure in a Bush era alleged scandal that led to the appointment of a special counsel, is back in the news. Plame moved to New Mexico. Reportedly, she will offer its residents her services as a U.S. Senator. Plame told the Washington Examiner, without
»
April 1, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Politico London Playbook’s Jack Blanchard reminds me: This is the day you’re meant to spot the absurd, fictional, no-way-can-this-actually-be-happening stories hidden away among the real news in each newspaper. Blanchard adds: Good luck with that this year. I think this proposition applies to a story originally reported by Yashar Ali in a lengthy Twitter thread (also compiled in David Rutz’s Free Beacon story). I’m a long-time follower of Ali on
»
March 31, 2019 — Scott Johnson
The long-awaited trial of former Minneapolis police office Mohammed Noor for murder begins tomorrow in Hennepin County District Court before Judge Kathryn Quaintance. In an egregious example of police incompetence, Noor killed Justine Damond on July 15, 2017. Noor should not have been on the force. His killing of Damond represents an utterly needless tragedy that exposed Minneapolis’s kakistocracy for the world to see and now, in the words of
»
March 30, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Among the high former Obama administration officials who have disgraced themselves by their public comments since leaving office, John Brennan deserves special recognition. Marc Thiessen has done us the favor of making the case in the Washington Post column “The Trump-Russia collusion hall of shame” (accessible via the link at Jewish World Review). Thiessen renders this damning judgment: Put aside the rogues’ gallery of reporters and pundits who assured us
»
March 29, 2019 — Steven Hayward
Scott’s two posts on his and Victor Davis Hanson’s treatment by The New Yorker calls to mind one of the first and most important lessons I learned from my mentor in journalism, the great M. Stanton Evans. Most “mainstream” journalists are not merely biased, but have a narrative story line in mind when they begin “reporting,” so that when they call you on the phone, they aren’t looking for actual
»
