Newsbusters

‘What the H***?’; Biden FLIPS OUT at CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Over Putin Question

June 16, 2021 MadMadNews Reposted Filed Under: INVESTIGATIONS, Newsbusters

Closing out his week-long European trip and Wednesday’s Geneva summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Joe Biden snapped at CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Wednesday for simply wondering “why” he’s “so confident [Putin will] change his behavior.”

Not to be left out, Biden also tussled with Fox’s Peter Doocy over China when he, like Collins, interjected once Biden worked through his list of six pre-approved reporters.

With Biden talking off-stage and his suit coat in hand, Collins shouted: “Why are you so confident he’ll change his behavior, President Biden?”

Biden suddenly became inflamed and yelled: “I’m not confident he’ll change his behavior. What the hell? What do you do all the time? When did I say I was confident?”

Undeterred, Collins added that she was alluding to Biden’s claim that he’ll need “six months” in order “to determine” whether Russia has improved its behavior, but that wasn’t enough for the President.

Collins again didn’t budge, so Biden concluded with another verbal grenade about how she’s “in the wrong business” (click “expand”):

BIDEN: I said — I said — what I said was — let’s get it straight. I said what will change their behavior is if the rest of the world reacts to them and they diminish their standing in the world. I’m not confident of anything. I’m just stating a fact.

COLLINS: But given his past has not changed and in that press conference sitting down with you for several hours, he denied any involvement in cyberattacks, he downplayed human rights abuses, he even refused to say Alexi Navaly’s name. So, how does that account to a constructive meeting as President? President Putin —

BIDEN: If you don’t understand that, you’re in the wrong business.

Afterward, Biden spoke with a handful of reporters who were at that press conference and, while Collins didn’t appear to have been present, Biden apologized “for having been short with her” when the journalism profession consists of “the brightest people in the country.”

However, Biden only did so in context of trashing reporters for being so “negative,” “never ask[ing] a positive question,” and possessing “a negative view of life.”

But since Biden apologized, all was forgiven and democracy had not, in fact, died a little on Wednesday. In other words, there was no need for the comfort animals at CNN (or at least at the houses of Jim Acosta and Brian Stelter).

Doocy was another one of the four reporters that grabbed Biden’s attention after he finished going through his staff’s pre-approved list and, once he did, he brought up the importance of standing up to China (click “expand”):

DOOCY: In the spirit, Mr. President, of you saying there is no substitute for face to face dialogue and also with what you said at NATO that the biggest problems right now are Russia and China, you’ve spoken many times about how you have spent perhaps more time with President Xi than any other world leader, so is there going to be a time where you might call him, old friend to old friend and ask him to open up China to the World Health Organization investigators who are going to try to get the bottom of COVID-19?

BIDEN: Let’s get something straight. We know each other well. We’re not old friends. It’s just pure business.

DOOCY: I guess my question would be you’ve said you were going to press China, you signed onto the G7 communiqué that said the G7 were calling on China to open up, to let the investigators in. But China basically says they don’t want to be interfered with anymore. So what happens now?

BIDEN: The impact, the world’s attitude towards China as it develops. China is trying very hard to project itself as a responsible and very, very forthcoming nation that they are trying very hard to talk about how they’re taking and helping the world in terms of COVID-19 and vaccines. And they’re trying very hard. Look, certain things you don’t have to explain to the people of the world. They see the results. Is China really actually trying to get to the bottom of this? One thing we did discuss, as I told you, and the EU and at the G7 and with NATO, what we should be doing and what I’m going to make an effort to do, is rally the world to work on what is going to be the physical mechanism available to detect early on the next pandemic and have a mechanism by which we can respond to it and respond to it early. It’s going to happen. It’s going to happen. And we need to do that.

Along with Collins and Doocy, ABC’s Cecilia Vega and one other reporter spoke up and got Biden to answer questions.

Before that, the following reporters were given preapproval to ask the elderly Biden relatively benign and/or unobjectionable questions (presented in order): AP’s Jonathan Lemire, New York Times’s David Sanger, Bloomberg’s Jennifer Jacobs, PBS’s Yamiche Alcindor, Reuters’s Steve Holland, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Free Liberty’s Igor Sevryugin.

To see the transcript of the questions from the preapproved reporters, click “expand.”

Biden press conference
June 16, 2021
1:31 p.m. Eastern

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I’ll take your questions. And as usual, folks, they gave me a list of the people I’m going to call on. So Jonathan, Associated Press.

JONATHAN LEMIRE: Thank you, sir. U.S. intelligence has said that Russia tried to interfere in the last two presidential elections and that Russia groups are behind hacks like Solarwinds and some of the ransomware attacks you just mentioned. Putin, in his news conference just now, accepted no responsibility for any misbehavior. Your predecessor opted not to demand that Putin stop these destructions. So, what is something concrete, sir, that you achieved today to prevent that from happening again and what were consequences that you threatened?

(….)

1:33 p.m. Eastern

LEMIRE: Mr. President, just a quick follow-up on the same theme of consequences. You said just now that you spoke a lot to him about human right. What would you say happens if opposition leader Alexei Navalny dies?

(….)

1:36 p.m. Eastern

DAVID SANGER: Thank you, Mr. President. In the runup to this discussion, there’s been a lot of talk about the two countries spilling down into a — into a Cold War. And I’m wondering if there was anything that you emerged from in the discussion that made you think that he —

BIDEN: With your permission, I’m going to take my coat off, the sun is hot.

SANGER: — anything that would make you think that Mr. Putin has decided to move away from his fundamental role as a disrupter, particularly a disrupter of NATO and the United States? And if I could also just follow up on your description of how he gave him a list of critical infrastructure in the United States. Did you lay out very clearly what it was that the penalty would be for interfering in that critical infrastructure? Did you leave that vague? Did he respond in any way to it?

(….)

1:39 p.m. Eastern

JENNIFER JACOBS: Is there a particular reason why the summit lasted only about three hours? We know you had maybe allotted four to five hours? Was there any reason it ran shorter? Also, did — President Putin said that there were no threats or scare tactics issued. Do you agree with that assessment that there were no threats or scare tactics?

BIDEN: Yes.

JACOBS: And also did you touch on Afghanistan and the safe withdrawal of troops?

(….)

1:41 p.m. Eastern

JACOBS: There were no threats?

(….)

1:42 p.m. Eastern

JACOBS: Did you ask about [INAUDIBLE]

(….)

1:43 p.m. Eastern

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Did — you say that you didn’t issue any threats. Were there any ultimatums made when it comes to ransomware? And how will you measure success, especially when it comes to these working groups on — on Russian security and cyber security?

(….)

1:45 p.m. Eastern

ALCINDOR: When Mr. Putin was questioned today about human rights, he said the reason why he’s cracking down on opposition leaders is because he doesn’t want something like January 6th to happen in Russia. And he also says he doesn’t want to see groups like Black Lives Matter form. What’s your response to that, please?

(….)

1:45 p.m. Eastern

STEVE HOLLAND: President — sorry — President Putin said he was satisfied with the answer you — he — comment about him being a killer. Can you give us your side on this? What did you tell him?

BIDEN: He’s satisfied. Why would I bring it up again?

HOLLAND: Now that you’ve talked to him, do you believe you can trust him?

(….)

1:46 p.m. Eastern

IGOR SEVRYUGIN [Radio Free Europe/Radio Free Liberty]: So, I think you know attacks on civil society and the — the free press continue inside of Russia.

BIDEN: Yes.

SEVRYUGIN: For example, Radio Free Europe —

BIDEN: Yes.

SEVRYUGIN: — Radio Free Liberty, Voice of America, Current Times, where I work, branded foreign agents and several other independent media, so we are essentially being forced out in Russia, 30 years after President Yeltsin invited us in. My question is, after your talks with President Putin, how interested do you think he is in improving the media climate in Russia?

Chuck Todd Worries: Banning Critical Race Theory to Lead to False History?

June 16, 2021 MadMadNews Reposted Filed Under: INVESTIGATIONS, Newsbusters

MTP Daily host Chuck Todd and reporter Ben Collins asserted, but didn’t prove, on Tuesday that state legislatures and school boards seeking to ban Critical Race Theory are really interested in teaching an incorrect version of U.S. history at the behest of right-wing propagandists.

Todd welcomed Collins by stating that CRT is a pseudo-controversy drummed up by right-wing agitators, “You have been at this nexus of sort of online propaganda and how online propaganda is used to create issues out of thin air and frankly, buddy, this issue is like something that was created out of thin air by a couple of producers at right-wing media outlets and all of a sudden, now school boards all across the country are dealing with something they did not know was an issue.”

That issue, he would go on to declare, is akin to “30 or 40 years ago, it’s Christian, Christian Coalition groups started targeting school boards in different ways trying to ban things in public schools or limit certain teachings. It feels like they are using the same tactics here.”

Collins agreed and accused conservatives of not defining CRT and just using it as a Get Out The Vote tactic, “The good thing is, the Critical Race Theory could mean whatever you want it to mean, so if you get people really riled up in conservative media, you can win those [school board] seats back.”

Todd then moved to Florida, which is one of the state’s with new anti-CRT regulations. Todd was concerned that Florida teachers will no longer be able to accurately teach history:

I was talking to some school teachers who happen to be in Florida, and who live and work in the state of Florida, and they are a bit confused by the law. Does this mean — can they not teach American history correctly? There’s a real fear among civics teachers that they are going to the front lines, and the Tucker Carlsons of the world will character assassinate them?

If Todd had taken 60 seconds to actually read Florida’s new rule, he would discover that there are certain things that Florida teachers are required to teach including, “the Holocaust, slavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction, the civil rights movement and the contributions of women, African American and Hispanic people to our country.”

And contrary to Collins’ claim that for critics CRT is an ill-defined catch-all phrase, Florida’s rule specifically defines it as, “the theory that racism is not merely the product of prejudice, but that racism is embedded in American society and its legal systems in order to uphold the supremacy of white persons.”

Still, Collins concluded by declaring the GOP fight against CRT is just a show, “it has something to do largely with national politics.”

This segment was sponsored by Citi.

Here is a transcript for the June 15 show:

MSNBC
MTP Daily

1:52 PM ET

CHUCK TODD: You have been at this nexus of sort of online propaganda and how online propaganda is used to create issues out of thin air and frankly, buddy, this issue is like something that was created out of thin air by a couple of producers at right-wing media outlets and all of a sudden, now school boards all across the country are dealing with something they did not know was an issue.

…

TODD: There’s obviously school board members, some of who have been elected are being targeted as recalls, you know, Ben it, this looks very familiar, you know, 30 or 40 years ago, it’s Christian, Christian Coalition groups started targeting school boards in different ways trying to ban things in public schools or limit certain teachings. It feels like they are using the same tactics here.

COLLINS: Steve Bannon said in the “path to save the nation is to save the school boards.” You don’t have to win a lot of votes at the school board level. Also, you don’t have to win, you know, you need to engaged voters, you need people who are laser focused on one specific idea. The good thing is, the Critical Race Theory could mean whatever you want it to mean, so if you get people really riled up in conservative media, you can win those seats back. It didn’t win back that situation in Maine, but it does win all throughout the country, and it’s having this impact where it’s being saturated nationally and having a downstream affect.

TODD: Well Ben, I was talking to some school teachers who happen to be in Florida, and who live and work in the state of Florida, and they are a bit confused by the law. Does this mean — can they not teach American history correctly? There’s a real fear among civics teachers that they are going to the front lines, and the Tucker Carlsons of the world will character assassinate them?

COLLINS: Yeah, that’s the worry. I talked to the superintendent, and he said “the biggest worry for me is the kids,” they don’t want to be in the background of a viral YouTube video where a guy is screaming at a school board meeting or graduation about Critical Race Teachings, but that’s the biggest worry is the children, the close people, but the biggest worry for state legislatures and for school boards is not, it has something to do largely with national politics.

Biden Whines to Reporters: ‘You Never Ask a Positive Question’

June 16, 2021 MadMadNews Reposted Filed Under: INVESTIGATIONS, Newsbusters

Following a rather contentious formal press conference with reporters in Geneva, President Biden again engaged with the media just before boarding Air Force One and bitterly complained that they weren’t being supportive enough of his foreign policy agenda. The exchange came shortly after Biden’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin that seemed to accomplish little, if anything.

While the President took a few additional questions from reporters on the airport tarmac before heading back to Washington after his European trip, New York Times White House correspondent Michael Shear pressed him on a heated back and forth he had with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins earlier:

Mr. President, Kaitlan’s question that you answered at the very end there, that you came over to talk about. I think at the heart of it was this question of whether or not you seem overly optimistic given what we all listened to, President Putin essentially say the same old things that he said forever, you know, rejecting all responsibility for all that stuff. And I guess the question that she was trying to get to, and maybe you can take another stab at it, is what concrete evidence do you have from these three-plus hours that suggests that any movement has been made?

Given Biden’s previous harsh reaction to Collins, Shear felt compelled to add: “And I don’t mean that to be a – it’s not meant to be a gotcha question.”

The Democratic President actually whined that supportive liberal journalists were too “negative” and didn’t ask him any “positive” questions: “…look, to be a good reporter, you’ve got to be negative. You gotta have a negative view of life, okay, it seems to me. The way you all – you never ask a positive question.”

Biden proceeded to rant that the media was supposedly against him at every turn:

But what do you – the thing that always amazes me about the questions, and I apologize for having been short. If you were in my position, would you say, “Well, I don’t think, man, anything is going to happen, it’s going to be really rough. I think it’s going to really be bad”….There’s a value to being realistic and put on an optimistic front, an optimistic face. Look, you all said the same thing about the – you know, what was going to happen when we had the first meeting of the [G]7, “Oh, Biden, they’re not going to buy Biden’s stuff”….When I went to meet with NATO, “Oh, boy, they’re not going to be happy, they’re all going to be against Biden meeting with Putin, they’re not going to want that”….And the same way when I met with the EU, “He’s not going to like the way Biden is operating.”

According to Biden, the leftist media are not sycophantic enough for his liking.

Here is a transcript of the June 16 exchange as it aired on MSNBC:

2:24 PM ET

(…)

MICHAEL SHEAR [NEW YORK TIMES]: Mr. President, Kaitlan’s [Collins] question that you answered at the very end there, that you came over to talk about. I think at the heart of it was this question of whether or not you seem overly optimistic given what we all listened to, President Putin essentially say the same old things that he said forever, you know, rejecting all responsibility for all that stuff. And I guess the question that she was trying to get to, and maybe you can take another stab at it, is what concrete evidence do you have from these three-plus hours that suggests that any movement has been made? And I don’t mean that to be a – it’s not meant to be a gotcha question.

JOE BIDEN: I know, but you’re all – look, to be a good reporter, you’ve got to be negative. You gotta have a negative view of life, okay, it seems to me. The way you all – you never ask a positive question. Why, in fact, having agreement – we’ll find out. We have an agreement to work on a major arms control agreement. I started working on arms control agreements back all the way during the Cold War. If we can do one in the Cold War, why couldn’t we do one now? We’ll see. We will see whether or not it happens.

SHEAR: So there’s a value to –

BIDEN: There’s a value to being realistic and put on an optimistic front, an optimistic face. Look, you all said the same thing about the – you know, what was going to happen when we had the first meeting of the [G]7, “Oh, Biden, they’re not going to buy Biden’s stuff. They’re not really – ” Any of you find that? Did that happen, any of it? A little bit. Just a little sliver of it? When I went to meet with NATO, “Oh, boy, they’re not going to be happy, they’re all going to be against Biden meeting with Putin, they’re not going to want that.” Did you hear a single, solitary syllable? And what would have happened if I had said, before I went into those negotiations, “You know, I think it’s going to be really hard, I think it’s going to be really difficult. I’m not so optimistic about it, I don’t see anybody really changing.” And the same way when I met with the EU, “He’s not going to like the way Biden is operating.”

FRANCO ORDONEZ [NPR]: But this is Vladimir Putin, I mean, can you be optimistic about his –

BIDEN: Sure it’s Vladimir Putin, but look, it was also – I don’t compare him to Putin, but it was the French president said he would never go for more money for NATO. Guess what? He’s agreed. I mean, look, guys, I’m going to drive you all crazy because I know you want me to always put a negative thrust on things, particularly in public, and negotiate in public. I don’t have to trust somebody. We didn’t have to trust somebody to get START 2.

(…)

BIDEN: I don’t see any benefit ever to begin a negotiation – and I mean, you’re the brightest people in the country, you’re the most important people in my detail. I’m not being solicitous, you are. But it makes no sense for me to negotiate with you, it makes no sense for me to tell you what I’m about to do, not because I want to hide anything from you. Why would I telegraph that?

(…)

NewsBusters Podcast: Young Conservatives and Movement’s Future Fighting the Left

June 16, 2021 MadMadNews Reposted Filed Under: INVESTIGATIONS, Newsbusters

Welcome, welcome, NewsBusters listeners! We have reached the penultimate episode of the “Dad isn’t home” mini-series of the NewsBusters podcast with yours truly and weekday evening and Sunday analyst Nick Fondacaro.

For Wednesday’s show, we led off by recapping where we’ve been over the last few episodes in exposing how more and more corners of the liberal media have shown a blatant disregard for sobriety and showing that they actually care about people who disagree with them.

We also plugged two fantastic NewsBusters studies from our research team. First, Bill D’Agostino released on Wednesday morning his latest NewsBusters explainer video and it covered the disinformation campaign by the left over the For the People Act that would make even China and Russia blush. And secondly, we highlighted a study from Rich Noyes about the broadcast network evening news coverage of the For the People Act and GOP voter integrity measures.

As part of that disinformation campaign, Joy Reid and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) spent Tuesday night on MSNBC whining about how conservative groups had to be not only stopped, but crushed because these supposedly scary organizations oppose their dangerous, election-rigging legislation.

In part two, Nick and I spoke with Joe Chalfant only a month after he took over as president of the conservative news and opinion site Lone Conservative from founder Kassy Dillon. In addition to talking about his journey into the conservative movement, we dove into the objectives, mission, and successes that Lone Conservative has had in its short, four-year history.

Lone Conservative has proven itself to be a thriving community of young conservatives looking for their first break in politics and, by providing over 400 students the opportunity to begin their professional writing career, translated into an extensive alumni network in campaign, media, and policy realms.

Listen below or wherever you get your podcasts.

SWOON: MSNBC Enchanted By ‘Professor Biden’ Educating Us

June 16, 2021 MadMadNews Reposted Filed Under: INVESTIGATIONS, Newsbusters

The Joe Biden Protection Team sprung into action on Wednesday as soon as the President finished his press conference after meeting with Vladimir Putin. MSNBC’s Chuck Todd gushed over “Professor Biden.” On CNN, Jeff Zeleny was enchanted by the Democrat… taking his jacket off.

A very impressed Todd reacted to Biden’s press conference by marveling, “At one point I wrote Professor Biden because I thought he was basically trying to be above it, be above the meeting.” The Meet the Press host enthused, “He clearly had a posture of — the phrase I want to use which is pragmatic diplomacy.”

Todd’s colleague Kasie Hunt was equally excited, lauding, “So that phrase ‘rise above’ is exactly the one I was going to use.”

Over on CNN, Jeff Zeleny sounded like a Biden 2024 campaign, hyping the Democrat for taking his jacket off in the heat. Somehow, Zeleny also decided this meeting was the whole reason Biden ran for president:

He certainly he was comfortable in that moment, taking off his jacket, answering these questions from top foreign policy reporters in the audience that he doesn’t always call on. Wolf, as we assess this trip, this is why Joe Biden ran for president. This is why he decided to come back into the arena, to challenge former President Donald Trump, because he wanted to strengthen the transatlantic alliance.

This is the same Zeleny who, in 2009, asked Barack Obama what “surprised, troubled, enchanted and humbled” him about the White House.

There were no commercials in the 1 PM or 2 PM hour, but Verizon and Oscar Meyer regularly sponsor shows on MSNBC. Click on the links to let them know what you think.

Partial transcripts are below. Click “expand” to read more.

MTP Daily
6/16/2021
1:54

CHUCK TODD: I was about to use the phrase pragmatic diplomacy, and then we got a somewhat — I think the president got his back up there a little bit, Kasie —

KASIE HUNT: He was angry.

TODD: — about the implication that somehow he was expressing confidence that Putin would change his behavior. And then pretty dismissive of the follow-up question as if “you don’t understand how diplomacy works.” And I think — I feel like that was him saying — and there’s perhaps going to be some — we had some folks in our ear who said he really has to push back on the what-aboutisms and he has to do this, and some saying maybe he didn’t do it. He clearly had a posture of — the phrase I want to use which is pragmatic diplomacy, like, “look, he is who he is. We know where we stand. I think I know where he stands. We expressed this and we’ll see what happens, right?” It was this, “I’m not going to sit here and say it’s going to go great, but I still believe in this one on one.” Look, he tried to embrace the areas where he thought Putin did want to embrace as well. It was — it’s just an interesting posture. I viewed it — at one point I wrote Professor Biden because I thought he was basically trying to be above it, be above the meeting and explain, “Guys, he’s got a game, the Russians have this China issue, they think we have a China issue, essentially? Russia is going to have a China issue soon.” I actually thought for quite a while it was very effective.

HUNT: So that phrase “rise above” is exactly the one I was going to use, because he even walks out onto the stage, looks at the reporters and says, “Oh, I just finished my last meeting. I know you guys were most interested in this one but I had all these other meetings.” That was so carefully choreographed to show he was em embracing our allies in a way the previous administration, the previous president didn’t. He kept using the phrase “Strategic ability,” basically trying to rise above all the ways in which Vladimir Putin was trying to get a rise out of him, create his own reality. He had a very brief answer response on January 6 which of course Putin raised, even when he was talking about cyber-crimes. Putin came out there and said, “oh, we’re not even on the list of people who are engaged in this.” Obviously not the case, but Biden tried to rise above it. At the end there, that flash of anger, I thought, was extraordinarily telling in that he had sort of kept his cool all the way up until then, and then, of course, he finished his list of actual reporters. He could never quite get off the stage without trying to take that last question.

CNN Newsroom
6/16/2021
2:01

JEFF ZELENY: He did not go point by point rue butting everything that Vladimir Putin said. There was a discussion among White House aides what he should talk about, but in the end he talked about essentially what he had planned to going into it. You know, certainly he certainly he was comfortable in that moment, taking off his jacket, answering these questions from top foreign policy reporters in the audience that he doesn’t always call on. Wolf, as we assess this trip, this is why Joe Biden ran for president. This is why he decided to come back into the arena, to challenge former President Donald Trump, because he wanted to strengthen the transatlantic alliance.

Bozell BLASTS Election Law Smears By Nets: Press Is Hiding the Truth

June 16, 2021 MadMadNews Reposted Filed Under: INVESTIGATIONS, Newsbusters

Media Research Center President Brent Bozell appeared on Fox Business, Wednesday, to hammer the networks for hiding the truth about state election laws and, at the same time, ignoring the radical attempted takeover by the Democrats of elections.

Citing a new study by the MRC, Bozell noted the overwhelming support by Americans for voter ID: “That is the key issue. You are not hearing anyone in the media talk about the fact that the election laws in the United States will be turned upside down if what the Democrats want goes through.”

Bozell explained what the Democratic talking points are and that the networks are echoing this spin: “The Democratic talking points that Republicans are racist restricting voting rights, Jim Crow, voter suppression laws, those are now the talking points of the media.”

Regarding Joe Biden’s summit in Geneva with Vladimir Putin, Bozell contrasted it with Donald Trump and reminded how obsessed our press is with the former President:

They’re all over Trump during Helsinki, all over Trump about Helsinki during Geneva. There are three stages in a news story. There is the pre-news, there is the hard news, there is the analysis. The pre-news about Biden going to Putin is how awful Trump was. Everything they do has to be how awful Donald Trump is.

A transcript of the segment is below. Click “expand” to read more.

Varney and Co.
6/16/2021
10:24 AM ET

[Clips from Putin/Biden summit]

STUART VARNEY: I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Because it really is funny. It is tragic too. That is the media all over Trump after the Helsinki meeting but praising Biden for the Geneva meeting. Pathetic, isn’t it? Brent Bozell joins me. All right, Brent. This coverage is vastly different. It couldn’t be more different, could it?

BRENT BOZELL: No, no but they’re all over Trump during Helsinki, all over Trump about Helsinki during Geneva. There are three stages in a news story. There is the pre-news, there is the hard news, there is the analysis. The pre-news about Biden going to Putin is how awful Trump was. Everything they do has to be how awful Donald Trump is.

VARNEY: It is fantastic, isn’t it. It is laughable. You’re laughing too. I don’t blame you, Brent. Now, listen to this, Hillary Clinton was on the air this morning, not on our air, but she on TV talking about Biden’s meeting with Putin. You have got to watch this. Roll tape, please.

HILLARY CLINTON: We’ve lost four years and the fact that President Biden will come very well-prepared. He has a very strong team. We expect an open, you know, straightforward conversation. That is Joe Biden writ large. Let’s talk about what we’re going to do going forward,

VARNEY: Oh, he is going to come well-prepared.

BOZELL: Two points, two points. Come on. Who do you think Putin respects and fears more? Donald Trump or this president that we have? He is going there to chitchat. They’re doing cyberattacks on us. There is all sorts of bad stuff going on. This is Jimmy Carter 2.0. And the media are loving the fact that he is going to chitchat.

VARNEY: Yeah. Okay. I think we’ve done this enough. I’m going to move on to a different subject. I want you to take a look, I know you have seen this, Brent, this is worth seeing this again. Jon Stewart pushing the Wuhan lab leak theory. You got to watch this again. Roll it.

[Clip of Jon Stewart on Colbert.]

VARNEY: Brent, take that one on too.

BOZELL: Pure dishonesty. Donald Trump and conservatives spent a year saying that this probably came from a lab and we were all attacked as racists for doing that, as being anti-Chinese, racist for doing that. Guess what? The evidence is now coming out that we were right. Here comes Jon Stuart, everybody news this, you’re an idiot if you didn’t know this like the enlightened people, like we knew this. It sounds very funny but also very dishonest.

VARNEY: Another subject, you’re covering a lot of ground this morning, Brent. We thank you for that, but here is another one. We have a study that says 96 percent of mainstream media coverage on Republican backed election laws was negative. This is just in the past three months.

VARNEY: Break this down for us, Brent.

BOZELL: It is 96. 75 negative stories and three positive stories. By the way with the Democrats not a single negative story that we could find. The Democratic talking points that Republicans are racist restricting voting rights, Jim Crow, voter suppression laws, those are now the talking points of the media but the media will not report, two pivotal things.

One is that state laws in 36 states are being overridden by the federal government if the Democrat’s law comes through. But much more importantly the key element of this voting rights law is voter ID where the Democrats say there will not be voter I.D. 85 percent of Americans are furious when they’re going to learn about this. Because 85 percent of Americans want voter I.D. That is the key issue. You are not hearing anyone in the media talk about the fact that the election laws in the United States will be turned upside down if what the Democrats want goes through.

VARNEY: Deliberately misleading.

BOZELL: Deliberately. Deliberately. Deliberately.

VARNEY: Totally deliberate. There’s no question about it. Brent, thank you very much indeed.

Sam Bee Goes ‘Full Mental’: Says Intersex People Prove Sex Is ‘Not Binary’

June 16, 2021 MadMadNews Reposted Filed Under: INVESTIGATIONS, Newsbusters

Despite what our biology textbooks tell us, we all just need to accept the fact that sex is not binary. This is what the crazy lefties want, at least. In Samantha Bee’s latest episode of Full Frontal, she espouses one of her most radical ideas, and that’s saying a lot for her. If you didn’t already know that she needs serious help, you will now.

In a June 9 segment, Bee began to discuss the importance of “LGBTQIA+ rights” and how there is “one segment of the community that’s still far under protected – intersex people.” Although, being intersex is not a choice, it’s a medical condition which cannot be prevented. Being trans or gay or anywhere else on the “spectrum” is a personal decision and often a mental illness. It’s ignorant to lump them all together.

The title of her latest clip, “Intersex Rights Are Human Rights” is completely ignorant and unnecessary. This is a common tactic that is abused by the left, to throw the phrase “human rights” into any title in hopes of convincing viewers that there is a problem which doesn’t actually exist.

We need less medically unnecessary surgeries on intersex children and more acknowledgment that sex isn’t binary. pic.twitter.com/Z77I6kwuU5

— Full Frontal (@FullFrontalSamB) June 15, 2021

“While the majority of humans appear to exist at one end of the sex spectrum or the other, the word intersex refers to anyone who doesn’t fit the typical binary,” Bee said. Of course, this doesn’t include the people claiming the trendy identity of “non-binary.”

Bee further claims that the percentage of intersex adults is “much higher” than people realize, saying it is 1.7%. Unfortunately for Bee, she is wrong yet again. The medical condition of being intersex is only estimated to affect 0.018% of the population.

A medical variation that effects that small of a percentage of the population does not mean that sex isn’t binary. Despite what the manipulative Bee tells you, there are still only two genders. This definition of intersex states that it is “the term that a person may use when they have both male and female sex characteristics.” It doesn’t say that the individual does not have a gender, it is very specific in noting that the deformity leads to attributes of BOTH genders, meaning there are only two.

Before you begin questioning basic science and the entire field of biology maybe you should do your homework, Bee.

CBS’s Shocking Spin for Shoplifting Crime Wave: ‘Act of Desperation,’ ‘Not Getting Rich’

June 16, 2021 MadMadNews Reposted Filed Under: INVESTIGATIONS, Newsbusters

A shocking crime wave of shoplifting is sweeping the country, but CBS’s Tony Dokoupil on Wednesday excused it as an “act of desperation” because the people doing it are “not getting rich.” The wealthy This Morning host in the past has cheered socialism and ranted about the wealthy leaving “us” with crumbs.

Correspondent Vladimir Duthiers played video of a man on a bicycle inside a Walgreens in San Francisco. Security and customers looked on as he stuffed what appeared to be hair products into a giant trash bag. Dokoupil began his defense by insisting, “So crime is never justified, of course —.” He was interrupted, but you could feel the “but” coming on.

Dokoupil spun, “That reads as an act of desperation. You’re not getting rich off what you take from a Walgreens. You’re getting probably something you need. I don’t know the details of that particular case.”

This was too much even for Dokoupil’s co-hosts. They skeptically responded:

VLADIMIR DUTHIERS: I mean, a bag full of — they looked like hair products?

ADRIANA DIAZ: That’s what it says. Hair products. Which are valuable.

DUTHIERS: Which are valuable. He’s filling his bag.

None of this is particularly shocking coming from Dokoupil. On January 31, 2019 he used real pies to convince unwitting mall customers that socialism was the way to go. Yelling at the patrons, “We got some free pie here! Free pie!” he then ranted about how the wealthy consolidate power while the middle class “got some crumbs.”

On June 9, 2021, he ranted about the “super rich” leaving “us” with “crumbs.” Dokoupil, it should be pointed out, is a millionaire.

The excusing of shoplifting on Wednesday was sponsored by Toyota and Progressive. Click on the links to let them know what you think.

A transcript is below. Click “expand” to read more.

CBS This Morning
6/16/2021
7:48 AM ET

VLAD DUTHIERS: Here are stories we think you’ll be talking about today. This video shows a guy in San Francisco stuffing items into a garbage bag inside a Walgreens drug store even as two people, including a security guard recorded him on their cell phones. The suspect seems unfazed. You see him hopping on the bike, pedals between the two. One guy tries to grab the bag, manages to keep hold of the stolen loot while riding the bike outside the store. This happened on Monday. Just watch the brazenness. He puts the bag on what appears to be a Lyft bike.

ADRIANA DIAZ: Wow.

DUTHIERS: Tries that — nope. And out the door he goes. So at a recent meeting, Walgreens officials said thefts at its San Francisco locations have risen to four times the chain’s national average over the past 12 months. They’ve also had to close 17 stores in the city over the past five years, largely due to the impact of thefts on their business.

TONY DOKOUPIL: So crime is never justified, of course —

MASON: will say I think — could have made a better effort to stop the bicycle. You could have disrupted the bike.

DUTHIERS: You never know, and I think that there has been a movement in some retail locations to not put people’s lives in jeopardy —

DOKOUPIL: Yeah. Don’t be a hero or toothbrushes —

DIAZ: Should the security guard be videotaping when a woman next to him is videotaping? You would think he would try to approach the guy.

DUTHIERS: Yeah. And also why did you let him in the store with a bicycle. That was my first thought.

DOKOUPIL: That reads as an act of desperation. You’re not getting rich off what you take from a Walgreens. You’re getting probably something you need. I don’t know the details of that particular case.

DOKOUPIL: I mean, a bag full of hair products?

DIAZ: That’s what it says. Hair products. Which are valuable.

DUTHIERS: Which are valuable. He’s filling his bag. In New York City I’ve mostly seen off-duty New York City police officers in Walgreens and CVS. Probably bigger deterrents than security.

So Much for Childhood: 30 Kids Shows, Toys Push LGBTQ Agenda Over A Year

June 16, 2021 MadMadNews Reposted Filed Under: INVESTIGATIONS, Newsbusters

Once upon a time, parents could feel okay about letting their children watch cartoons or ogle the shelves of toy stores. Chances were good they’d come away with their innocence intact. No more. Progressive LGBT etc. propaganda now litters the cartoons, commercials and even the toy aisles.

Don’t believe it? MRC Culture found that within the last year, from June 2020 to June 2021, at least 30 different pieces of mainstream media and consumer products – many of them children’s TV episodes – assaulted kids with extreme lefty propaganda, mostly focused on promoting the LGBTQ agenda.

Nickelodeon’s Blue’s Clues for example — a show for toddlers — featured a colorfully-animated gay pride march complete with transgender beavers. A new Captain America comicbook series featured the iconic hero re-imagined as a gay man. A PBS station actually broadcast a drag queen performance to kids in the “3-8” age range living in New York City, and LEGO is now making its “first LGBTQ-themed set.”

And if you think that was bad, Nickelodeon opened Pride month 2021 with a video of RuPaul’s Drag Race star drag queen Nina West singing about pride to kids. And since this was the 2021 version of Pride, West educated young viewers about being proud of “transgender people of color,” singing while a BLM fist showed up onscreen in front of the LGBTQ flag.

Also a reboot of early-2000s Disney Channel classic, The Proud Family, was announced this year. The new show will feature new woke characters, like interracial gay fathers, who have a “non-binary” activist child. TeenVogue also pimped out “pronoun”-themed jewelry to its young readers this year, encouraging them to think trans ideology is cool and stylish.

Included in this number are also bits of media, which although may not be aimed at children’s consumption directly, featured kids in homosexual situations or other radical roles, which of course normalize this weird behavior in the public consciousness. One NBC program featured two 13 year-old lesbians engaging in intimate behavior, for example.

And of course, who could forget Netflix’s Cuties, a 2020 movie which put underage female actresses in problematic situations, like being scantily clad on camera while performing erotic dances. Of course the film’s apologists said it was making a point about the dangers of sexualizing children, but did they really need to sexualize children in order to do that?

In addition, HBO took a sympathetic look at trans children with a documentary titled “Transhood.” One of the stories in the film featured a “trans” four year-old named Phoenix who is shown being taken to a woke Christian church, where the community fawns over him wearing girls’ clothing and wanting to be a princess.

This number also includes some programming directed at parents to help them deal with kids who are radically LGBTQ, or to help them make sure their kids turn out that way. A Time Magazine article offered a guide to “Gender Creative Parenting.” The Washington Post featured social justice books and toys for toddlers as well.

In addition to the 30 instances of entertainment/media pushing for the destruction of childhood innocence, several main children’s programming networks shared a total of 89 social media posts over Instagram and Twitter over the course of that year, which demonstrated their commitment to far-left, LGBTQ ideology. Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and Disney each shared many social media posts promoting Pride Month and other LGBTQ causes.

This is what children’s programming is doing, and time will only tell what the real damage to society is. Seeing the transgender beavers in Blue’s Clues makes us fear it will be worse than we could imagine.

Column: Exposing Media Bias Is a ‘Bad Faith’ Argument?

June 16, 2021 MadMadNews Reposted Filed Under: INVESTIGATIONS, Newsbusters

The arrogance of the liberal media can be measured by their dismissal of all conservative criticism as “bad faith” attacks on the press. Assuming that conservative critics are dishonest and disreputable cynics is a common trope of CNN’s Brian Stelter when liberal journalists become mired in scandal.

In a June 15 “Academic Minute” podcast, Marist University professor Kevin Lerner explicitly defined the entire conservative movement as bad-faith media critics.

“These bad-faith attacks on the press began to rise most recently in the 1960s and 70s, led by a concerted effort among conservative journalists and critics,” Lerner argued. “Along with efforts to create a conservative counter-balance to the mainstream press, they engaged in attempts to delegitimize legacy news organizations by painting them as irredeemably biased. This strain of bad-faith criticism is alive and well today.”

“Good faith” criticism, he insisted, is “based on the premise that a strong, independent press, responsive to the needs of an engaged citizenry, is essential to the functioning of a democratic society.”

There are several obvious flaws in this argument.

First, conservatives don’t see “legacy news organizations” as “independent.” They are not watchdogs of both parties. They are savage destroyers of one party and cuddly defenders of the other. They are not “responsive to the needs” of all citizens, but to the political needs of one party. This argument is somehow in “bad faith” regardless of the evidence.

Second, conservatives dare to argue that the “press” is not synonymous with the “mainstream press.” Lerner’s side always implies that there is not a liberal media and conservative media, but a mainstream media and an extreme media.

Third, criticizing liberal news organizations is part of the “functioning of a democratic society.” We want a vibrant press, but media criticism is not anti-democracy. It defines democracy. Liberals like Lerner believe that democracy functions best when “legacy media” never lose public trust, no matter what kind of partisan hackery they foist on the public.

Take the recent network coverage of voting-integrity laws, which the Democrats despise, and surprise! So do the “strong and independent” networks.

Rich Noyes of the Media Research Center studied ABC, CBS and NBC evening news coverage from March 1 through June 10, and identified nearly 52 minutes of airtime spent on Republican-sponsored state election laws. That compares to just 2 minutes, 40 seconds for the Democrat-sponsored federal legislation called the “For the People Act.”

Then there’s the tone of this “news” reporting. Taking into account statements from reporters, anchors, and non-aligned sources (soundbites from voters and experts), but excluding identified Democrats and Republicans, Noyes found just three positive comments about the Republican-sponsored laws versus 75 negative statements.

It was routine to categorize these laws as a conspiracy to “restrict voting access.” Some of these reporters could be described as “delegitimizing” the Republicans. “It’s the new election law that many tonight are calling racist,” ABC’s Steve Osunsami said about the Georgia law on March 26. “Black and brown voters are screaming that this is voter suppression.”

That “screaming” is treated not as one side of the argument, but as the Right Side of History, the heroic forces organizing for democracy and against “systemic racism.”

Liberals imagine that “legacy news organizations” must never be “delegitimized” by calling them partisan, even as these “news” people seek to delegitimize every politician and critic they want to defeat. Their “independent press” has sought to delegitimize the Republicans, the police, our border guards, our military, our national anthem, even the “triggering” flag.

But liberals insist you must never delegitimize their media strongholds. You must never undermine the underminers.