02.20.24
Blue-Anon – MSNBC
Is preemptive denialism considered acceptable?
On her Monday broadcast, Jen Psaki had on former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and things went just about as sideways as you would expect. The ladies were discussing – get this – Donald Trump, and they wandered into the expected fever swamps that usually entails.
.@jrpsaki: "We're all wondering... What do you think Putin has on Trump?" @SpeakerPelosi: "I don't know what he has on him, but I think it's probably financial." pic.twitter.com/w5hfRPyfp2
— Inside with Jen Psaki (@InsideWithPsaki) February 20, 2024
Remember when the media would tell us how conspiracies were dangerous, questioning the integrity of elections was a risk, and anything but fact-based reporting was a threat to our democracy? (That took place as far back as a week ago...) Yet, these two hens can warble on about some theory that Russian Dictator Vladimir Putin carries leverage on Trump.
This despite Biden giving Putin his pipeline to Europe, stepping aside to allow him to invade Ukraine, and so on.
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Presentation Paradox – NEW YORK MAGAZINE
Look, there is a measure of sympathy for anyone who gets duped by scammers, especially to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars. (The hit film "The Beekeeper" is a good catharsis for this practice.) But at the same time, there is a bit of head-scratching "what the hell" reactions in reading the account of Charlotte Cowles getting scammed out of tens of thousands of dollars by phone scammers.
Cowles goes into lengthy detail about her experience with a team that had her convinced that she was being hit with identity theft and was wrongly accused of numerous crimes. In her detailing, she admits that more than a few times she checked into the details of what she was being told, and those claims did not check out, yet she continued to buy the scam. Even if people are of varying levels of skepticism about how they would react, I am relatively certain most would probably balk when it came to a claimed CIA agent telling you to drain a bank account of $50,000, stuff that money in a shoe box, and then an unmarked SUV will pull up to the house and you are to toss the box of cash into the backseat window as it speeds away.
To make this story more audacious? Cowles is the Financial Advice Columnist for New York Magazine!
Everyone who thinks they're too smart, too financially aware, too tech-savvy to have this happen to them is wrong. Sorry. https://t.co/iR8MMj1dwY
— Jessica Roy (@jessica_roy) February 15, 2024
DNC PR Firm – NEWS NATION
On the topic of Biden's mental slide and the complicity of the press, we have Leland Vittert of News Nation making quite the serious confession – whether he realizes it or not. Vittert, in his newsletter, attests to the fact that in Washington, D.C., he noticed this past weekend a tidal shift in the press occurred. More reporters have begun to speak to the concept of Biden's mental health when, all the while, the press has long been having discussions about the president's mental faculties – what Leland calls "age problems."
So, all this time, the press would boldly condemn this kind of talk when they have been having the very same conversations amongst themselves and refusing to report honestly about it to the public. This is just blatant partisanship on display.
Over the weekend, two things happened: (1) what were once Washington parlor whispers of #Biden’s age problems are now open conversations, and (2) the #WhiteHouse decided it would try to fix it. Read more of this in today's War Notes: https://t.co/JU5JpAvuU9
— Leland Vittert (@LelandVittert) February 19, 2024
News Avoidance Syndrome – VARIOUS OUTLETS
When a shooting actually erases many of the narrative checkboxes, it will go unreported.
It is possible you heard something about a shooting in Minnesota where a pair of police officers and a fire department member were all killed in a shootout. There are several influences to a shooting that will have the press screeching with outrage over these incidents: Gun laws, race, police bias, and any adverse social influences. Any or many of these will be justification for loud lectures – unless any of those details are canceled out by inconvenient details.
In this case from Burnsville, all four are canceled out by a black shooter who targeted cops after a social media history proclaiming a desire to kill whites while being a felon who was illegally in possession of a weapon. And this is why the press outrage today is nearly non-existent.
Several sources have identified Shannon Cortez Gooden, 38, as the deceased suspect in the shooting today that killed 2 Burnsville police officers and a fire medic. He petitioned to have his gun rights restored in 2020 in relation to a 2008 felony assault conviction. pic.twitter.com/dqtDo6VHrX
— Alpha News (@AlphaNewsMN) February 19, 2024
Low Octane Gas Lighting – NEW JERSEY MONITOR
The continuing lie in the media about books being "banned" when they are being removed from some schools due to age-appropriate material or outright sexualized content has extended to New Jersey. In a piece regarding legislation to monitor these books, reporter Dana Difilippo is clearly on the side of the liberal position that books such as the graphic novel filled with sexual imagery "Gender Queer" should be inserted in schools – the book is featured as the header photo.
Difilippo litters her coverage with completely sympathetic approaches and framing, with her scant inclusion of Republican/conservative involvement only casting those positions in a negative light:
Books are banned.
She says "libraries" are being targeted, not specifying it is only in "school libraries."
She cites a Texas activist by name but never spoke with him while quoting numerous officials from the left.
A library group from Texas aiding in the book reviews is regarded as unwanted outsiders; another library group pushing to include the sexualized material is never called such, even though it is based in Illinois.
A librarian states she fights for the books to remain for the community's interest while parents from the community are criticized for calling for those to be removed.
New bill targeting book censorship at New Jersey libraries delayed in state senate | @njmonitor https://t.co/KPwtkvWMSX
— Publishers Weekly (@PublishersWkly) February 15, 2024
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"Riffed from the Headlines" is Townhall's daily VIP feature with coverage of the deeply flawed aspects of journalism in the nation, where Brad Slager looks to bring accountability to the mishaps, malaprops, misdeeds, manipulations, malpractice, and manufactured narratives in mainstream media.
