Edward Murrow would be proud

Shot: "It’s Important To Be Honest About What Today’s Media Actually Are - They are Democrat propagandists and should be treated as such.

Chaser: "NBC's Lester Holt says we don’t need to hear both sides to define truth: ‘Fairness is overrated’."

This statement is 100% true

Kevin Williamson: "Elizabeth Warren Is a Ridiculous, Power-Hungry Crackpot." - "And tyranny is what Senator Warren plainly desires — if we take her at her own word. Of course, there are lots of reasons not to take her at her own word, beginning with the fact that she is a habitual liar."  

Chauvin case - Day 1

Legal Insurrection: "Chauvin Trial Day 1 Wrap-Up: Opening Arguments & Three State Witnesses" - "State Witnesses: 911 dispatcher, grocery worker witness, martial arts witness."  

Hypocrisy theater: Barack and Joe on the filibuster

Extra - Jonah Goldberg: "Democrats claim filibuster is a racist tool — but only when Republicans use it."

Get back into those metal cans

Pirate's Cove: "NY Times Seems Pretty Upset That Riders Are Abandoning Public Transport, Which Hurts Climate (scam) Fight."

Why can't more people think about Mother Earth than their own personal health and safety? - wonders the NY Times.

Best website since "Is Lost a repeat?"

Is that ship still stuck?  

All political persuasions agree: the media sucks

I didn't see Biden's press conference but everybody from the New York Post, to Byron York, to the New Yorker, to the Columbia Journalism Review thinks the Washington press corps did a horrible job.

Unity at last!

Extra - Joe Concha: "The disgrace that was the Biden press conference."  "President Biden called on 10 reporters to answer 30-some questions during his long-awaited first formal press conference on Thursday. But the hour-plus event was a disgrace for some in the press and a dubious performance by the president."

Let's rewind

Twitchy: "Thread takes a look at some of Vice President Kamala Harris’s statements about kids in cages and more."

I'm curious if Border Czar Kamala Harris will be present for Biden's press conference tomorrow.

The buck stops elsewhere

Fox News: "Biden says migrant surge at southern border started under Trump."

He certain learned this technique at the feet of the master.  

Oh that would be just terrible

Hot Air: "Margaret Sullivan Hopes Reporters Don’t Grandstand At President Biden’s First Press Conference" - "But I think the bigger point here is that we had four years of this nonsense from Jim Acosta, Yamiche Alcindor and others who made careers out of this sort of thing. After all of that, it’s a bit odd to suddenly worry that someone might do the same to the current president." 

Related: Ace: "Biden's Got More Kids in More Cages Than Trump Ever Did, But the Democrat Propaganda Organs Suddenly Don't Find It Worth Condemning."  

Portlandia

Reason: "The Dream of the '90s Died in Portland" - "Once an up-and-coming city, Portland was destroyed from within by radical activism and political ineptitude." 

Open borders

That's what we have now.  Hot Air: "Migrant Tells ABC: I Came To The Border Because Biden Is President Now Instead Of Trump."  Here's an excerpt from the Washington Post:

During the transition period, career officials at U.S. Customs and Border Protection tried to issue sober alarms to the Biden team about the likelihood of a crisis at the border that could quickly overwhelm the nation’s capacity. Senior CBP officials delivered Zoom briefings to the Biden transition team that included modeling projections showing a steep increase in the arrival of unaccompanied minors if Trump’s policies were suddenly lifted, according to one current and two former Department of Homeland Security officials…

Biden transition officials understood the risks, as well, identifying a surge of unaccompanied minors and a dearth of shelter space exacerbated by the pandemic as the most pressing problems.

Yet Biden immediately embarked on an aggressive strategy to roll back Trump administration policies.

But no mean tweets are awaiting the 15,500 unaccompanied minors at the border.  

On a side note: although I didn't see Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas on the Sunday news shows, it sounds like his attempts to blame Trump for the challenges crisis on the border didn't go over too well.  Of course, awful Chuck Todd who is terrible, called it a "political crisis" which is another way of saying "Republicans pounce." 

All race, all the time

Andrew Sullivan: "When The Narrative Replaces The News" - "How the media grotesquely distorted the Atlanta massacres."

But this story has also been deeply instructive about our national discourse and the state of the American mainstream and elite media. This story’s coverage is proof, it seems to me, that American journalists have officially abandoned the habit of attempting any kind of “objectivity” in reporting these stories. We are now in the enlightened social justice world of “moral clarity” and “narrative-shaping.”

....

Well, you know what’s coming. Accompanying one original piece on the known facts, the NYT ran nine — nine! — separate stories about the incident as part of the narrative that this was an anti-Asian hate crime, fueled by white supremacy and/or misogyny. Not to be outdone, the WaPo ran sixteen separate stories on the incident as an anti-Asian white supremacist hate crime. Sixteen! One story for the facts; sixteen stories on how critical race theory would interpret the event regardless of the facts. For good measure, one of their columnists denounced reporting of law enforcement’s version of events in the newspaper, because it distracted attention from the “real” motives. Today, the NYT ran yet another full-on critical theory piece disguised as news on how these murders are proof of structural racism and sexism — because some activists say they are.

I've been listening to NPR in the morning and every story on this shooting is a master class in "begging the question."  The fact don't matter: they just feel that it's a hate crime and so it is.

Related: "The Media Got It Wrong: Police Captain Didn't Say the Atlanta Spa Killer Was Having a 'Bad Day'." 

Bracket buster

NY Post: "Oral Roberts shocks Ohio State in massive March Madness upset."

Only the ninth time that a #15 seed knocked off a #2 seed.

Crisis at the border

How it started: "Smoking Gun: Here's Joe Biden Basically Inviting Illegal Aliens to Surge the Border"

How it's going: "NY Times reports Biden admin quietly reverts to ‘echoing Trump-era policy’ to slow migrants heading to US."  

"There is no crisis!" --sends FEMA

"There is no crisis!" --reopens camps

"There is no crisis!" --converts NASA facilities

"There is no crisis!" --begs Mexico to stop the flow.#BidenBorderCrisis https://t.co/yDffmvDfb3

— Chesty Puller's Ghost 🇺🇲 (@ChestyPullerGst) March 18, 2021

Filibuster follow-up

The Week: "Why the talking filibuster won't work." - "The talking filibuster worked for Jimmy Stewart, but it probably won't work for Democrats."

I forget where I saw it but somebody said that, in addition to dragging out the legislative session, the talking filibuster means that - at any time - a Senator can note a quorum is not present.  So if Ted Cruz is filibustering at two in the morning and asks for a quorum call, either the Democrats need to get 51 Senators on the floor or the Senate adjourns.  

So the filibuster ain't goin' anywhere.

Filibuster

Federalist: "Democrats Plot To Kill Filibuster Because They Only Care About Power."

Friends of the conservative persuasion keep sending me panicked emails and texts about the Democrats eliminating the legislative filibuster in the Senate.

I just don't see it happening.

Getting rid of the filibuster would be a "crossing the Rubicon" moment in American history.  The Democrats already triggered the "nuclear option" on judicial nominees and it blew back on them spectacularly with Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett.  At this moment, the Democrats hold a 50-50 "majority" in the Senate with the midterms coming up in 2022, where the President's party typically loses several seats in Congress.  Do the Democrats really want to kneecap minority rights in the Senate right before they lose it?  Who knows, man, those cats are wild.

Aside from Joe Manchin and Kristin Sinema, I suspect there are other established Democrats who understand the consequences of eliminating the filibuster and, silence aside, will not vote to cut their own throats.

Florida man

Ace: "Leftwing Media Admits The Man They Defamed for Months as "DeathSantis" Might Have Been Completely Right In His Covid Response."

Twitchy: ‘The media needs an intervention’: CNN is utterly aghast that GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis has the nerve to ‘[take] credit’ for Florida’s success."

Hard to believe, but sometimes people take credit for their own actions, unlike Joe Biden who spreads the blame around.

Endgame time for Cuomo

ABC News: "Cuomo should resign if allegations confirmed: Biden in exclusive ABC News interview."

Cuomo is now in the position where he's going to have to contend that seven women are making it up.  Unlike the charge against Brett Kavanaugh, there's actual evidence that Cuomo and these women have met.

Let's not forget about all the dead grandparents, too.

Extra - Politico: "Biden: If allegations confirmed, Cuomo should resign and could face prosecution."

Journalism dies in dumbness

Fox News: "Washington Post panned for massive correction to Trump-Georgia election story: 'So, they made up quotes'." 

As Instapundit notes, all the other useless media mouthpieces claimed they independently confirmed this bogus story.  

Packing them into the "soft-sided facilities"

Associated Press: "Children packed into Border Patrol tent for days on end."

Despite concerns about the coronavirus, the children are kept so closely together that they can touch the person next to them, the lawyers said. Some have to wait five days or more to shower, and there isn’t always soap available, just shampoo, according to the lawyers.

Maybe somebody can ask Joe Biden about this at his next press conference.

Extra - Red State: "Report: Biden CBP Facilities Are a Horror Show With Kids Sleeping on the Floor and Going Hungry, and It Gets Worse."  

Glorious leader is beneficent to all!

Today's must-read is from Rolling Stone writer Matt Taibbi: "The Sovietization of the American Press" - "The transformation from phony "objectivity" to open one-party orthodoxy hasn't been an improvement."

Reality in Soviet news was 100% binary, with all people either heroes or villains, and the villains all in league with one another (an SR was no better than a fascist or a “Right-Trotskyite Bandit,” a kind of proto-horseshoe theory). Other ideas were not represented, except to be attacked and deconstructed. Also, since anything good was all good, politicians were not described as people at all but paragons of limitless virtue — 95% of most issues of Pravda or Izvestia were just names of party leaders surrounded by lists of applause-words, like “glittering,” “full-hearted,” “wise,” “mighty,” “courageous,” “in complete moral-political union with the people,” etc.

Some of the headlines in the U.S. press lately sound suspiciously like this kind of work:

— Biden stimulus showers money on Americans, sharply cutting poverty

— Champion of the middle class comes to the aid of the poor

— Biden's historic victory for America

Of note in this essay is the compare and contrast in the New York Times' coverage of the exact same executive decision on America's posture towards Saudi Arabia after the Jamal Khashoggi murder.  Revulsion turned to statesmanship just. like. that.

We can't say we didn't see this coming.

The North Korean media is cringing at the obsequiousness of this. https://t.co/wyV2eRJj88

— Howard Wall 💰📈📝 (@HJWallEcon) March 12, 2021

The dam is breaking

Earlier today, I had a conversation with an old friend from Long Island who opined that Andrew Cuomo would ride out his sexual harassment/killing Grandma scandal.  I replied that: I dunno but these things tend to take on a momentum of their own.

Tonight: "New York Sens. Schumer, Gillibrand call for Gov. Cuomo's resignation."  So, along with AOC and Gerry "Gerry Gerry Gerry!" Nadler, the most prominent Democrat politicians from New York have all joined together to throw Cuomo overboard.

You and me both, brother

Jim Treacher: "I Am Really Freaking Sick of Anthony Fauci":

This isn’t science. This is religion. Fauci has styled himself as the Pope of COVID, and his enablers in the media have been more than happy to confer him with papal infallibility. He’s established himself as the only true mediator between the unwashed masses and God Science. And whenever he says something that doesn’t make sense or he contradicts himself, well, don’t you fret your little head about it. You just need to have faith. Pope Anthony the First would never lie to you.

This guy was supposed to be the face of Science in this time of uncertainty and he just engendered more uncertainty by contradicting himself at every turn. 

She's very bad at her job

Hot Air: "Psaki Dodges When Asked About Surge Of Migrants At Border: That’s Not Our Program, That’s DHS’s Program."

Jen is going to circle back after she checks to see if DHS is an Executive branch responsibility.  It's probably run by some guy over in that outfit over there.

Extra - From Twitchy.  

Ladies and gentlemen, the New York Times

Federalist: "The New York Times Is Having An Embarrassing Meltdown Over Josh Hawley’s Existence."

As silly as the whole thing is, the Times’ Elaina Plott and Danny Hakim debased themselves further by — and I’m in no way joking here — asking Hawley’s high school prom date for her thoughts. His prom date. HIS PROM DATE.

Twitchy: "Pulitzer watch: NY Times blows lid off what Sen. Josh Hawley’s prom date & middle school principal think of his job performance."  

Jury selection starts (or not) in George Floyd case

This is a really excellent review of the legal challenges in the case against Derek Chauvin from Andrew McCarthy: "The George Floyd Murder Trial: A Charging Nightmare."

In short, McCarthy breaks down the legal distinctions between manslaughter and murder.

Update - Fox News: "Derek Chauvin trial jury selection delayed amid wrangling over 3rd-degree murder charge."  McCarthy explained how third-degree murder is reserved for depraved indifference like shooting into a crowd. 

Blogging is killing the mainstream media? Good.

Here's former conservative Jonah Goldberg mouthing off about blogging (safe link):

Conservatives were complaining about liberal media bias decades before Spiro Agnew was decrying “pusillanimous pussyfooters” and “nattering nabobs of negativism.” But in the blogging age, the complaints metastasized into cancerous obsessions. Yes, part of the story is the way in which the mainstream media often strived to earn much of the contempt conservatives have for it (a development that also has a lot to do with the influence of blogging). But part of it was simply structural. Blogging encouraged writers to focus less on the news than on the way it was presented and those who presented it. Commenting intelligently and quickly on actual news is pretty hard. Finding fault in others is much easier—and more fun.

Goldberg is now a favorite on NPR since every appearance is him bemoaning the state of the Republican party.  But there's two reasons why bashing the media has become so much easier: 1) the bias is real and 2) the Internet allows for quick cross-referencing on how stories are covered.  To take a very recent example, here's "WaPo Puts Out Full-On Biden Propaganda Tweet That Just Might Blow Your Mind."  Compare and contrast how the Washington Post headlined covid relief packages:

the democracy defenders have logged on. pic.twitter.com/wk6xitYio8

— Logan Hall (@loganclarkhall) March 7, 2021

When Trump was President, the border "crisis" was a 24/7 affair with kids in cages and false claims of migrants drinking water out of toilets.   This past weekend, it was announced that due to a huge influx of new migrants, the Biden administration was suspending their covid protocols and filling up facilities to 100% capacity.  This morning I did a search on CNN and any mention of this story was buried as the last highlighted story in the "Politics" section.

Don't even get me started on the hagiography of Andrew Cuomo, prolific killer of grandmas.

After Trump's surprise election in 2016, there was about a week where the mainstream media was questioning their own bias as they wondered how they could have missed the revolt so badly.  But they soon fell back on their own ways culminating in the full-on coverup of any stories that might reflect badly on Candidate Not Trump.

Media criticism is easy, Jonah?  It sure is...it sure is.  

Nick Sandmann says "hi". 

The details

The Senate just passed the latest covid relief bill and the Associated Press has the rundown.  

"Kids in cages" is hereby banished

Ace: "With Border Crisis Growing, Biden Seeks to Rename Detention Centers as "Reception Centers"."

Watch how the compliant media will pick up on this new terminology.  

Call the social workers!

Hot Air: "San Francisco Reporter Went To Cover Car Break-Ins And Was Robbed At Gunpoint." 

This is totally normal

Breitbart: "Joe Biden has not held a solo press conference in 42 days, setting 100-year record."

Fox News: "Biden won't deliver speech to Congress until after vote on coronavirus bill, Psaki says."

Gateway Pundit: "White House Cuts Feed of Virtual Event After Joe Biden Says, “I’m Happy to Take Questions if That’s What I’m Supposed to Do"  

Who could have seen this excuse coming?

Ace: "The Bulwark's Molly-Jong Fast: I Have an Excuse Why I Gave My Mouth to Andrew Cuomo Last Year.

Trump Made Me Do It." 

This was a tough quiz!

Babylon Bee: "Can You Find All 17 Instances Of Racism On This Page From A Dr. Seuss Book?"

I missed the tiny Hitler in the tuba.

That escalated quickly

Wow, this whole Andrew Cuomo scandal is blowing up and his support is drying up.  Today's news: "NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo accused by third woman of unwanted sexual advances."

Hot Air: "De Blasio Knifes Cuomo Repeatedly: Sure, I Can Believe That He Sexually Harassed His Staffers, And If He Did He Should Resign."

Reason: "Cuomo Asks America To Hold Off on Believing Women This Time."

Frankly, I thought Cuomo would ride it out but suddenly the long knives are out.