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Axios and Other Outlets Believe Noticing Murder Is a Partisan Act

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Sep 08, 2025
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

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Pounce of Prevention – AXIOS

  • Are you concerned with commuter murders? You might be a MAGA.

It is a regular feature of late to note that when the press declares that wanting to fight crime and noticing violent activity is a conservative practice. They have fought back by both relying on slanted crime data and avoiding outright the reporting of criminal activity.

Many have been jarred by the video from a commuter line, where a female passenger was murdered unprovoked by a male. It seems clear that this would undermine many of the press narratives that crime is overstated. So we have actually arrived at the point where Axios actually delivers the report that MAGA is overstating these instances, as well as engaging in the unacceptable practice of accusing the press of covering up these examples…as this report effectively does that very thing by trying to minimize the gravity of this story.

News Avoidance Syndrome – VARIOUS OUTLETS

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  • When reporting on it would make the prior narrative seem impotent.

After weeks of the press declaring and insisting that crime in D.C. was negligible arising at the same time was a rather uncomfortable reality. The story of the shooting death of a Congressional intern, Eric Tarpinian, stands in stark contrast to the insistence in the press that D.C. is a safe district. 

Then, on Friday, the announcement came that a pair of arrests connected to the shooting had been made. While many outlets dutifully reported on the arrests, few have been willing to frame this violence, and the fact that the pair were 17-year-olds, against the issues that had been cited by the president to justify sending troops into the district to aid in curtailing the violence in the capital.

Prose and Contradiction – CBS NEWS

  • This level of denial from the avowed “Justice Correspondent” is quite stark.

That Scott MacFarlane is highly respected in journalism circles while displaying patently biased reports can be rather grating. Apparently, his stentorian delivery has him automatically regarded as a serious reporter, all while his slanted approach is apparent to anyone not bowled over by his serious appearance.

In reporting on the developments of the D.C. crime issue, Scott delivers a twofold crime in this report. First, he tries to deliver the grave impression supposedly made by having 2,300 troops stationed in the nation's capital, but he then undermines his very premise with the detail he supplies.

  • “Some of them are armed, but the Guard is not making arrests - that’s left to local and federal agents on the street.”

That hardly sounds like a threat or a disruptive invading force, but more like a secure presence, Scott. But then he turns even worse in his report.

He spends much of the time impugning the law enforcement efforts by detailing how the courts and grand juries have been dismissive of the arrests made and charges brought to many cases. He then showed Jeanine Pirro in a press conference, using this as a means of showing her combative nature with the courts. 

But notable is what MacFarlane omitted. It was that very presser where Pirro announced the arrest of the two intern murderers, something that the justice correspondent somehow felt was not vital to his report on the crime fighting in the district.

Low Octane Gas Lighting – MSNBC

  • Say gang, the ratings are really taking a hit, so we need you to ramp up the hysteria, please.

In a completely unhinged segment this weekend, Alex Witt had a panel discussing the concept of Trump making a move on Chicago for the sake of security and battling the violence in that town, and the effects it might have. They calmly and rationally declared this would be a case of Trump declaring war on an American city. (See?! We told you it was calm and rational!)

Better still was the always reliably off-kilter Molly Jong-Fast, making the leap that the only reason Trump was targeting Chicago was because that was where Barack Obama hails from. (Then why not “attack Martha’s Vineyard, Molly???) We will just call it unfortunate that, as she referenced America’s former black president, she chose to use the phrase “Let’s call a spade a ‘spade’.”

Blue-anon – CNN

  • Now we seem to recall that Jake resents any mention of voting conspiracies.

Also addressing the imminent move of troops into Chicago was Jake Tapper, who had on his show the recently disgraced Terry Moran (formally of ABC News), with a video assist from Illinois Governor Pritzker. Of course, both men were opposed to the idea of Trump making the effort to curtail violence in America’s foremost gun murder capital. What made less-to-zero sense was the conspiracy theory trotted out that this move by Trump was being made in order to sway the 2026 midterm elections.

We’re sorry Mr. Newsman, but we require some dose of firm evidence before we entertain going down that rabbit hole with you.

Presentation Paradox – ABC NEWS

  • You folks did not seriously think this one through, did you?

On “ABC This Week” there was a panel discussion regarding some of the moves made recently by Robert Kennedy Jr., and there was quite the contradiction on display.

When discussing matters of public health, maybe having the corpulent Chris Christie delivering the messaging was not the “weigh” to go.