A police station in Minneapolis was torched last night as looting and rioting continued in that city. The escalating violence and looting has magnified controversies over how networks are describing the scenes.  Earlier, Craig Melvin, an MSNBC host and co-anchor of “Today,” shed some light as to how his network is framing its reporting. Melvin tweeted a “guide” that the images “on the ground” are not to be described as rioting but rather “protests.”  That framing has been used on other networks, including some segments where the reporting seems bizarrely out of sync with the scenes in the background. Update: CNN appears to be drawing a distinction in an even more curious way.

Continue reading “NBC Today Anchor and MSNBC Host Tweets Directive To Use “Protests” Rather Than “Riots” In Reporting [Updated]” →

We have been discussing the struggle of Democratic members and various commentators in rejecting sexual assault allegations against former Vice President Joe Biden while also opposing any review of his papers for past allegations, including those at the University of Delaware.  Some members and feminist figures, including most recently Iihan Omar, have declared that they believe that Biden did rape his Senate aide Tara Reade and is continuing to lie about it publicly.  However, they still support him to be the next President of the United States.  Now, former George Bush ethics lawyer Richard Painter has chastised Omar for publicly stating that she believes Reade because it could cost the Democrats the election. It is a curious ethical line to draw.  If a member believes that Biden is not just a rapist but continuing to lie about the rape, one would hope that the member would publicly voice their view.  Just as I find Omar’s position to be morally incomprehensible, I find Painter’s position to be ethically incomprehensible.

Continue reading ““Are Democrats Trying To Lose This Race?”: Bush Ethics Head Slams Omar For Saying That She Believes Biden Accuser” →

Former Vice President Joe Biden had a bad day yesterday after his statement during an interview with Charlamagne tha God on the radio show “The Breakfast Club” that “if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.”  To Biden’s credit, he came out an apologized. (Something President Donald Trump has consistently refused to do for comments like his statement that Jewish voters who voted for the Obama Administration “do not like Israel too much”). However, Atlantic staff writer Jemele Hill has kept the controversy brewing with her insistence that Biden’s statement that over a million such Black voters in recent polling are not really (as opposed to “technically”) black was “accurate.”  The controversy raises some of the issues addressed recently in a column on the stereotyping of Trump supporters.  [Biden is also facing a push back from the NAACP which said that, despite his repeated statements to the contrary, it has never endorsed Biden or anyone else.]

Continue reading ““Technically Black”: Atlantic Columnist Supports Biden’s Statement That Black Trump Supporters Are Not Really Black” →

We have been discussing the hypocrisy in the response of Democratic politicians, media outlets, and many commentators in their response to the allegations of sexual assault by former Vice President Joe Biden as compared to their position against Justice Brett Kavanaugh.  This has included an opposition to simply opening up the Biden papers for a search of any sexual harassment or assault allegations made against him.  This has included statements from leading figures that they believe Biden did sexually assault Biden staffer Tara Reade but would still endorse him.  None however have gone quite as far as Nation columnist Katha Pollitt who has declared that she would support Biden “if he boiled babies and ate them.”  Biden has not issued any position on such infanticide but politicians have long opposed the practice since the demise of Cronus.  Putting any humor aside, the statement does show how rigid and fanatical both sides have become in this election.  While Democrats have long denounced Trump for saying he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue, Biden supporters like Pollitt have said equally disturbing things about their blind loyalty.  More importantly, this sense of a mission is manifested in much of the legal and media analysis that we have discussed on this blog on both sides of the political spectrum.

Continue reading “Columnist: “I Would Vote For Joe Biden If He Boiled Babies And Ate Them”” →

We have previously discussed how the media and many Democrats have struggled to address not only their largely muted response to the sexual assault allegation against former Vice President Joe Biden but also the support shown Bill Clinton who was accused by a long list of women for everything from sexual harassment to rape. Many have noted that the Clinton allegations were before the “MeToo” movement as if rape allegations were shrugged off in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Many insist that they would oppose him today based on the accounts of these women. The media however continues to contradict these claims by featuring Clinton prominently.  Today CNN will feature Clinton as role model for young people across the country as part of a graduation special.  A+E Networks Group President Paul Buccieri has announced that the company has given Clinton a series on how presidents show leadership in times of crisis. Clinton was also featured as part of the “Call to Unite” special with Oprah. Thus, despite the spin on the Biden allegations, it really does not matter how many women come forward or a proven case of an affair with a young intern in the White House.  Clinton remains someone that the media feels should be emulated by young and old alike.

Continue reading “CNN and Other Media Outlets To Feature Bill Clinton Despite A History Of Sexual Misconduct” →