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MEDIA

The Real News the Media Ignored This Week By Chris Buskirk

https://amgreatness.com/2018/10/26/the-real-news

Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes? That should be the Democrats’ midterm motto.

Brett Kavanaugh appeared to be a modest, self-effacing family man with a lovely wife and two daughters. He’d devoted his career to the law and taught at Yale where he had earned the respect of colleagues. But really, he’s an especially promiscuous satyr who had somehow managed to avoid detection for decades. So committed was he to his disguise that he managed to live his entire adult life as a model of personal piety and family devotion.

Then there is Trump’s war on the media that makes it unsafe to be a journalist in America. How do we know this? Because these intrepid journalists brave their way to the studios of CNN and MSNBC to tell us about how repressed they are. They tell us about the unprecedented violence brought on by President Trump’s incendiary language. For most of this week, the media couldn’t find time to talk about how the Senate Judiciary Committee referred creepy porn lawyer Michael Avenatti and his client Julie Swetnick to the Justice Department for criminal investigation for lying to Congress about Kavanaugh.

They couldn’t be bothered to cover the House interview with George Papadopoulos which Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) said showed “the blatant double standard for the politically connected” like Andrew McCabe, who lied to the FBI and not only walked free but got a full pension. Nor was there any interest in new polls showing Republicans gaining ground in congressional races across the country.

A few weeks before an election that should be big news. But it wasn’t. Instead there was wall to wall coverage of a dozen packages sent to prominent Democrats containing devices that look like a particularly inept third grader’s approximation of a bomb. Not even the recipients thought they were in danger as evidenced by the fact that the folks at CNN took the time to unwrap theirs and lay it out on the counter in the office kitchen, photograph it, and send some indignant tweets about it, before going outside and telling each other how brave they were.

In the meantime though there has been a rash of political violence. Against Republicans. Kellen Michael Sorber has been charged with setting fire to the Albany County Republican headquarters in September. On October 11, the windows of the Metropolitan Republican Club in New York City were smashed and a message was left stating, “Our attack is merely a beginning.” The Nebraska Republican Party’s headquarters had their windows smashed and “Abolish ICE” was spray painted on the wall [say when]. The windows at House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s Bakersfield office were also broken.

Roger Franklin What Fun! The NYTimes Killing of Donald Trump

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2018/10/fun-killing-donald-trump/

It goes without saying the mainstream US media would immediately blame the wave of letter bombs on Donald Trump, whose words are said to have whipped some right-wing loon into action. But when the Times imagines the assassination of the president, that’s fine and dandy.

In the United States just now, a spate of what appear to be rather amateurish letter bombs has been turning up in the mailboxes of prominent Trump critics. These have been widely bemoaned, not least by CNN, which blamed the evacuation of its New York office on — yes, you guessed it — the coarsening of public life for which the low-rated cable network blames — yes, you guessed that too — Donald J. Trump.

Even as Lower Manhattan came to a halt yesterday, when another of the bombs arrived at the TriBeCa eatery of actor Robert DeNiro, who famously expressed a desire to punch Trump in the face, the Times handed a slice of its op-ed page to Alexander Soros, son of the infamous George, for another Trump-bashing. In a further op-ed prompted by the pipe bombs, author and abortion advocate Eyal Press writes:

… it is Mr. Trump who has called journalists “scum” and “enemies of the people” … These are just words, some would say…

Accept as a given that anything Trump says or does will be the butt of criticism. Were he to cure cancer, the Times could be expected to lambast him for putting nurses out of work. Thus are the pipe bombs his doing because, as Press suggests, “just words” aren’t just words at all.

Nolte: NBC News Hid Information that Would Have Cleared Kavanaugh of Avenatti Rape Allegations

https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2018/10/26/nolte-nbc-news-hid-info-wouldve-cleared-kavanaugh-avenatti-rape-allegations/

On September 16, Kavanaugh and his loved ones were dropped into a pit of hell due to allegations of sexual assault from Christine Blasey Ford. Although her story quickly fell apart during public testimony, for the three-plus weeks that would follow, in an effort to derail his confirmation, Democrats and their allies in the establishment media did everything in their power to personally destroy this man as a drunken serial rapist.

NBC News and Avenatti played a huge role in this obscene smear campaign. One notable example was NBC breathlessly publishing and airing an assault allegation against Kavanaugh that was quickly exposed as a hoax. NBC did not even bother to independently corroborate this allegation prior to airing it. A Democrat handed NBC the smear, and NBC ran with it.

To make matters worse, we now know NBC News withheld crucial information that undermined the allegations made by Swetnick, the Avenatti client who accused a high school-aged Kavanaugh of spiking punch bowls at house parties so he and his buddies could engage in serial rapes.

And we know NBC deliberately withheld this crucial information because NBC is now admitting it had this information all the way back on September 30.

On September 30, a week prior to Kavanaugh’s confirmation, during the most intense days of this scandal, when Kavanaugh’s confirmation was still very much in doubt, here is what NBC did not want the public to know…

If you recall, although he withheld the name, Avenatti tweeted out a sworn statement from a woman who backed up Swetnick’s outrageous rape allegations. In her statement, this second woman swore that she, too, had witnessed Kavanaugh spike punch bowls and take sexual advantage of girls.

The Comment Awards Fiasco written by Claire Fox

https://quillette.com/2018/10/25/the-comment

The issue of press freedom has been making headlines in recent days—for all the wrong reasons. Murdered journalists are a visceral reminder of the risks that many around the world take to tell the truth. It is one of the reasons that whenever I am asked to judge media awards, I say yes. Over the years, I have judged the Foreign Press Association Awards, the Society of Editors’ National Press Awards and, most recently, Editorial Intelligence’s Comment Awards, now in its 10th year. I am happy to read dozens of articles, to spend time really thinking about who should be shortlisted, get the accolades and so on because it seems important to honor great journalism, to give credit to those scribblers who make a difference through their writing.

Mainstream media (MSM) and, indeed, many new media outlets are a crucial part of our public square. It is true that, in recent years, the much derided MSM regularly stands accused of self-congratulatory smugness. All the more reason to shake up any complacency by congratulating those whose writing cuts through, that enlightens, entertains, drags us screaming out of our comfort zones. At a time when screeching tweets can replace well-argued analysis, and trolling is given as much credence as thoughtful commentary, finding ways of encouraging stand-out commentators on all sides of the political spectrum who share their thoughts in trying to make sense of a world riven by change and challenge is a worthy cause. With the brutal tragedy of Jamal Khashoggi’s murder as a backdrop, publicly acknowledging the achievements of journalists is one modest way of pressing home why a free press matters. Which is why the tawdry tale of how identity politics has turned the 2018 Comment Awards into a vehicle to attack nominated journalists is rather tragic and self-defeating.

Firstly, two of the shortlisted nominees for the Society and Diversity award, Guardian journalists Gary Younge and Nesrine Malik, demanded that they were removed from the shortlist, because Times columnist Melanie Phillips appeared on the same list. We have become accustomed to people refusing to share platforms with others. But refusing to be on the same shortlist? They argued that shortlisting Phillips “legitimizes her offensive attacks on immigrants…and Muslims” and that her “body of work…amounts to bigotry and divisiveness.” I don’t agree, but I accept that it’s fair comment if that is what those journalists believe. But to conclude that they don’t even want their name next to hers on a list compiled in good faith by the awards’ judges? That seems itself to be an example of divisiveness and a snub to one form of diversity: that of diverse opinion.

While Demanding ‘Civility,’ NYT Publishes Fan Fiction Depicting Trump’s Assassination Should The New York Times, which published Trump-killing fan fiction, be held to the same standard it expects of the president? By Bre Payton

http://thefederalist.com/2018/10/25/demanding-civility-nyt-publishes-fan-fiction-depicting-trumps-assassination/

The New York Times published a fictional essay fantasizing about President Trump getting assassinated the same week that explosive devices were sent to prominent political figures across the country.

After explosive devices were sent to prominent Democrats and liberal political figures — Maxine Waters, Joe Biden, George Soros, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Brennan, and others — New York Times opinion columnist Charles M. Blow blamed Trump for creating a “toxic environment” that led to these attempted acts of terrorism.

“Trump doesn’t operate on an intellectual plane, but an emotional one, and the emotions he has learned to manipulate in politics are the darker ones,” Blow wrote, adding a summary of Trump’s speech at a rally for Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in Texas during which the president said Democrats want to “destroy American communities.”

“This is the rhetorical backdrop as we await an investigation and answers about who sent bombs to Democrats and the CNN offices,” Blow wrote.

Here’s some of the rhetorical backdrop being painted by The New York Times. In a collection of fictional essays published Tuesday, one author fantasized about a Secret Service agent helping the Russians assassinate Trump.

The Russian waited until they were a few steps past before he drew the gun. He sighted on the center of the president’s back, and squeezed the trigger.

he Makarov misfired.

The Secret Service agent at the president’s shoulder heard the click, spun into a crouch. He registered the scene instantly, drawing his own weapon with razor-edge reflexes.

The Russian tasted failure. He closed his eyes and waited to pay the cost.

It did not come.

He opened his eyes. The Secret Service agent stood before him, presenting his Glock, butt first.

‘Here,’ the agent said politely. ‘Use mine. …’

Should The New York Times, which published Trump-killing fan fiction, be held to the same standard the it expects of the president? Or do they get to paint a rhetorical backdrop of bloodshed and get to be viewed as blameless for the fractured and hostile environment we all find ourselves in?

The Pipe-Bombs Story: Another Example of Why No One Trusts the Media By Andrew C. McCarthy

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/pipe-bombs-story-why-no-one-trusts-media/

The political Left has been known to orchestrate frame-up attacks designed to make it appear that right-leaning opponents are responsible for violent acts and plots.

If I wrote the paragraph above in the context of reporting or commenting on the pipe bombs that were reportedly sent by an unidentified person or persons to prominent Democrats, many people would react angrily, and rightly so. After all, there is no evidence that the atrocious but thankfully unsuccessful targeting of the Obamas, the Clintons, CNN, George Soros, and Eric Holder (as well as Debbie Wasserman Shultz, whose Florida office was given as the return address on some of the packages) was carried out by political leftists. There is no proof that any Democrat was hoping to cast suspicion on Republican supporters, to suggest to voters, less than two weeks before the midterms, that Trump and GOP rhetoric incites violence. To intimate, in the absence of any proof, that left-wing agitators may be responsible would be a condemnable smear.

That’s why this paragraph, by the usually sensible Will Rashbaum in the New York Times’s report on the apparent attempted bombings, is so infuriating:

Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Obama, Mr. Soros and CNN have all figured prominently in conservative political attacks — many of which have been led by President Trump. He has often referred to major news organizations as “the enemy of the people,” and has had a particular animus for CNN.

The report goes on to say that the CNN bomb package was addressed to former Obama CIA director John Brennan (who is actually a commentator at MSNBC, not CNN). The Times then adds, gratuitously, that Brennan “is a harsh critic of Mr. Trump,” who revoked Brennan’s security clearance “in what was seen as an act of retribution.”

Prosecution Gives Remarkable Glimpse of Hezbollah Inside America — and Media Yawns By Todd Bensman

https://pjmedia.com/homeland-security/prosecution-gives-remarkable-glimpse-of-hezbollah-inside-america-and-media-yawns/

A purposefully ambiguous “association of western intelligence organizations” hosts a unique public website titled “Stop 910”. Whoever runs it solicits information — in English, Spanish, and Arabic — to out sleeper agents of the notorious external terrorism service of Hezbollah, known by the nom de guerre “Unit 910.” The “association” offers reward money, photos of suspected operatives it wants identified, and instructions on how to anonymously inform.

The site’s stated purpose is “to end Hezbollah-perpetrated terror in Lebanon and abroad.” It’s mere presence hints at a desperate spy-versus-spy global intelligence war playing out between Iran and Israel and its allies. Not much was commonly known about contemporary Unit 910 operations inside the United States — until now.

The purveyors of the Stop 910 website are no doubt gleeful about what’s coming out of two rare U.S. Department of Justice prosecutions of reputed Unit 910 members. Most notably, the federal terrorism case against a Brooklyn resident by the name of Ali Kourani, 34, is producing a crush of remarkably detailed revelations emblematic of how 910 has been operating in America in recent years.

Missing the Story

Among the documents pouring out of the Kourani case, for instance, are lightly redacted, normally classified internal FBI reports known as “FD-302 forms.” These publicly name 15 people whom Kourani fingered as probable Unit 910 operatives or Hezbollah-linked sympathizers in New York, New Jersey, Florida, and Canada. The 302s name a Queens mosque Kourani told them was aligned with Hezbollah, and lists the names of reputed sympathizers involved in credit card fraud, counterfeit clothing businesses, an auto parts theft scam, and exporting cars to West Africa (a familiar Hezbollah global money-laundering hallmark). The other prosecution, not yet clearly connected to Kourani, names Samer El Debek of Dearborn, Michigan, as a 910 operative. Both were arrested in June 2017, but the El Debek proceedings have been purposefully delayed for unspecified reasons, so no new filings there.

An American Journalist Just Died After a Racist Beating, and the Washington Post Didn’t Even Report It Daniel Greenfield

https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/271697/american-journalist-just-died-after-racist-beating-daniel-greenfield

Search for Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi-Turkish Islamist activist who hated Jews and backed Hamas, and the results are legion.

Search for Jerry Wolkowitz, an American Jewish journalist, at the Washington Post and you get zero results.

While the Washington Post weeps and wails over Khashoggi, an anti-Semitic foreign Islamist, it has no interest in the murder of a Jewish journalist in the United States.

Jerry Wolkowitz, a longtime EMT, photojournalist and son of Jewish Holocaust survivors who was the victim of a vicious racially-motivated attack, has died at age 56 after nearly six months on life support.

On May 1, 2018, 25-year-old Jamil Hubbard allegedly approached Wolkowitz from behind and punched him in the head and face. He then allegedly pulled Wolkowitz’s body into the parking lot of his Freehold, New Jersey apartment building and ran him over with his car, leaving him for dead.

Wolkowitz was a freelance journalist and photographer for numerous publications including the Asbury Park Press. He was also an EMT and ambulance driver and volunteer with the Freehold First Aid and Rescue Squad.

There are more details and they’re horrifying.

Jerry Wolkowitz, a longtime EMT and journalist, has died nearly six months after a brutal, allegedly racially motivated beating left him on life support. He was 56.

Wolkowitz, described as an “innocent soul” by younger medics he took under his wing, was walking near his Harding Road apartment on the morning of May 1 when authorities believe 26-year-old Jamil S. Hubbard of Sayreville beat him and dragged him into a parking lot

Wolkowitz was hospitalized for weeks before being taken to a long-term care facility, where he stayed until his kidneys failed, friends said. Family members took turns to visit him each week until he died.

In the months that followed the assault, Wolkowitz’s loved ones remained by his side through infections and organ failures.

Bret Stephens and Bari Weiss — Lara Alqasem’s enablers: Caroline Glick

http://carolineglick.com/bret-stephens-and-bari-weiss-lara-alqasems-enablers/

For the past two weeks, Israel-bashers have had a brand-new poster child. Her name is Lara Alqasem.

Alqasem is an American citizen registered in a masters degree program at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She is also a key operative in the so-called BDS or “boycott, divestment and sanctions” campaign against Israel.

Alqasem flew to Israel two weeks ago. Upon landing at Ben Gurion Airport, in accordance with Israeli law, which bars BDS activists from entering Israel, Alqasem was denied entry and immigration officials attempted to deport her.

Rather than agree to go home, Alqasem called in a battery of attorneys to appeal the decision in court. The move went from one judicial body to another, gathering the force of a massive media storm from day to day until it landed on the laps of three justices in Israel’s radical Supreme Court.

The three justices, who care more about looking good to the Left — and the New York Times — than the law, predictably ignored the law and let her in.

How did an expulsion order against a 22-year-old graduate student cause such a maelstrom? How did it come about that Alqasem was immediately defended by a battery of lawyers? Why did Israel’s leftist media outlets and the world media immediately embrace her as a heroine, and so ensure that Israel’s radical justices would pounce at the opportunity to prove their leftist credentials and let her into the country?

To understand how Lara Alqasem became an instant celebrity for Israel-haters and an attractive victim worth saving for Israeli leftists, we need to understand a few basic truths.

Ben Weingarten: Why Is Khashoggi Being Made The Defining Issue Of U.S. Foreign Policy? The alleged killing of Jamal Khashoggi reveals far more about the nature of the American press and political establishment than it does foreign policy.

https://thefederalist.com/2018/10/19/khashoggi-made-defining-issue-u-s-foreign-policy/

Why has the media and much of the political establishment made the presumed murder of an Islamist Saudi dissident on Turkish soil a defining issue in American foreign policy?

Jamal Khashoggi is not a U.S. citizen, despite his past residence in Virginia, nor is he a lover of liberty, despite his criticism of Saudi Arabia’s despotic regime. He previously served that regime as a mouthpiece for, and adviser to, the alleged al-Qaeda-tied Saudi intelligence leader Turki bin Faisal. Khashoggi mourned the death of Osama bin Laden, whom Khashoggi had been granted unusual levels of access for numerous interviews. Khashoggi was also an ardent proponent of political Islam and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Needless to say, one wonders why Khashoggi was permitted to enter the United States and handed a column at The Washington Post given this background, particularly at a time our media claims acute sensitivity to foreign influence. One also wonders why so many in the media are quick to fawn over such a figure given his regressive views.

This is not to dismiss Khashoggi’s alleged gory assassination at the hands of his supposed Saudi captors by characteristically sketchy unnamed Turkish sources. If Mohammad bin Salman’s regime did execute this grisly murder, risking all the capital it had accrued in the West to send a signal to its political opposition, it should have to deal with the consequences.

But surely our media and political establishment are not blind to the brutality and censorship that characterizes the regimes of the Islamic world, whether in Riyadh, Ankara, or Tehran. Nor are they deaf to the proxy war taking place in any of a number of theaters with Iran, intense jockeying for relations with the Trump administration and much else that divides Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Arab nations like Egypt and the United Arab Emirates on the one hand, and Turkey and Qatar on the other.
3 Reasons Khashoggi Is Suddenly a BFD