Category: Media

CNN Analyst and Yale Lecturer Asha Rangappa Under Fire For Doxxing A Journalism Intern

200px-yale_university_shield_1svgRecently, we discussed a bizarre attack by CNN Legal Analyst and Yale lecturer Asha Rangappa on former Ambassador Nikki Haley for using her middle name.  Rangappa declared that the use of “Nikki” rather than her real first name was proof that America is racist and Haley was yielding to it.  Nikki however is Haley’s legal middle name and the Hill’s Saagar Enjeti noted it is “a Punjabi name.” Moreover, Rangappa also uses her middle name as have leaders from Mitch Romney to Boris Johnson. Now Rangappa is under fire for doxxing a young intern who wrote Yale about the incident. Twitter took down Rangappa’s tweet and the CNN Analyst then suggested that the doxxing incident was fun. Continue reading “CNN Analyst and Yale Lecturer Asha Rangappa Under Fire For Doxxing A Journalism Intern”

CNN Criticized For “Fiery But Mostly Peaceful” Reporting On Violent Protests

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Yesterday, we discussed the personal attacks against speakers at the Republican National Convention by CNN analysts, including a false attack on former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. The concern is the increasingly personal attacks against anyone who seems to counter a narrative in the media. That adherence of a story line was evident in a much ridiculed graphic from last night where CNN national correspondent’s Omar Jimenez was reporting live from Kenosha, Wis. with a raging fire in the background over a chyron reading, “FIERY BUT MOSTLY PEACEFUL PROTESTS AFTER POLICE SHOOTING.”  Not to get “all mavericky,” but claiming these protests are  “fiery [but] peaceful” seems a tad oxymoronic.

Continue reading “CNN Criticized For “Fiery But Mostly Peaceful” Reporting On Violent Protests”

CNN Analysts Unleash Personal Attacks On RNC Speakers In Twitter Storm

This-is-cnn-We have previously discussed the case of former Covington Catholic High School student Nick Sandmann who was repeatedly and falsely called a racist in an encounter with a Native American activist in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Various media organizations have apologized or settled cases with Sandmann for their unfair coverage, including CNN. However, when Sandmann spoke at the Republic National Convention, CNN’s political analyst Joe Lockhart again attacked him personally after he criticized how the media got the story wrong.  CNN’s Jeff Yang also attacked the teenager and even suggested that his speech proved that he was not innocent. Fellow CNN analyst Asha Rangappa attacked former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley as yielding to a racist America for not using what Rangappa suggested was her real name as opposed to “Nikki.” It turns out that Nikki is her lawful middle name and the Hill’s Saagar Enjeti noted it is “a Punjabi name.” That however is an appeal to reason not rage which seems to have little place in our national discourse or media coverage.

Continue reading “CNN Analysts Unleash Personal Attacks On RNC Speakers In Twitter Storm”

The Falwell Fiasco and the Curious Absence of a Defamation Lawsuit

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The media coverage of the scandal involving Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. has been overwhelming.  That is to be expected. An evangelical figure leaves his post at a religious university after a photo with his pants unzipped on a yacht owned by a Nascar mogul who received lucrative deals with the university. Then came the allegations of Giancarlo Granda that he had a long time sexual relationship with Falwell’s wife Becki and Rev. Falwell liked to watch the sexual trysts. Falwell has alleged that Granda was extorting money.  Michael Cohen, the thuggish former counsel for President Donald Trump, is even involved. In this tsunami of coverage, the interesting element is the one that is missing: no one has threatened a defamation action. Such a lawsuit could raise some interesting issues under the common law. Continue reading “The Falwell Fiasco and the Curious Absence of a Defamation Lawsuit”

Mary Trump Releases Recording Of Trump Sister As Source For SAT Allegation

“Gosh Almighty”: Democrats Call to End Durham Investigation Despite Proven Criminal Conduct

440px-John_H._DurhamBelow is my column in the Hill on the announced criminal plea by former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith and the continued calls by Democratic leaders to end the John Durham investigation. This week I discussed the call of Andrew Weissmann, one of the top prosecutors with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, for DOJ lawyers to refuse to help in the investigation despite his own conflict of interest. When the Clinesmith plea was announced, Weissmann proceeded to deride the charge and make spurious legal and factual claims about its basis.  The Weissmann call for DOJ lawyers to hinder this investigation is unprofessional and unwarranted but hardly uncommon in this rage-filled environment.

Here is the column: Continue reading ““Gosh Almighty”: Democrats Call to End Durham Investigation Despite Proven Criminal Conduct”

Did The FBI Mislead The Senate Intelligence Committee On The Steele Dossier? The Media Is Not Interested

136px-US-FBI-ShadedSealsenate_large_sealI recently wrote a column concerning a pattern of willful blindness by the media as new evidence emerges of serious wrongdoing by the FBI in the origin and continuation of the Russian collusion investigation. The latest information comes from the Senate Intelligence Committee which released a declassified briefing report to the Senate Intelligence Committee in 2018 on the Steele dossier’s Primary Sub-source. It is hard to read the document linked below and not conclude that the FBI misled the Congress on the subject.  This occurred after the FBI misled the FISA court, including the submission of falsified documents to continue the surveillance.

Continue reading “Did The FBI Mislead The Senate Intelligence Committee On The Steele Dossier? The Media Is Not Interested”

No, Sen. Casey Calling Police Kidnappers Is Not “Mostly Right”

440px-Bob_Casey_Jr._official_photoI was recently called by the Philadelphia Inquirer on a fact check of Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.) claim that officers in Portland of “kidnapping and holding citizens without charges.” I explained that the common hyperbolic claim of kidnapping is legally unfounded. The newspaper still found that Casey was “mostly right.”  This is why I believe he was wrong. He was not alone however in his judgment.

Continue reading “No, Sen. Casey Calling Police Kidnappers Is Not “Mostly Right””

Gallup: Almost Three-Fourths Of Americans View Media As Too Biased

Yellow journalismFor years, we have been discussing the rapid loss of objectivity and neutrality in the media where most viewers no longer trust what they read or hear.  Various cable networks and newspapers have openly embraced the echo-journalist model, including the shocking actions of the New York Times recently to apologize for publishing a dissenting view of the protests by the U.S. Senator.  Figures like CNN’s Jeff Zucker have openly abandoned any semblance of objectivity to seek ratings from viewers who only want to see and hear news that confirms their political preferences. This week, a leading producer at MSNBC became the latest journalist to quit due to the pressure to shape coverage to such bias. I testified in the Senate yesterday of this trend as part of the erosion of free speech in the United States. Now a Gallup poll has confirmed what these owners and editors have done to journalism in the United States. Almost half of those polled said that they viewed media as “very biased.” Continue reading “Gallup: Almost Three-Fourths Of Americans View Media As Too Biased”

‘This is Kidnapping”: MSNBC Host and AOC Denounce Use Of Unmarked Van By NYPD In Arrest

500px-MSNBC_2015_logo.svg440px-Alexandria_Ocasio-Cortez,_official_portrait,_116th_CongressWe have been discussing the controversy of the use of unmarked cars by federal officers to arrest people in Portland. As I have written, the use of unmarked cars and (even those these officers worn police markings) plain clothes is a common practice and not unconstitutional. Now an arrest by the NYPD using an unmarked carhas led to similar objections.  MSNBC host Chris Hayes even declared that the view below constitutes a “kidnapping.” It isn’t. It is not even illegal or improper to use an unmarked vehicle.  The basis for the arrest can be challenged but the rhetoric of the coverage is outstripping the reality of the law. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has declared the video to be evidence of an authoritarian takeover.

Continue reading “‘This is Kidnapping”: MSNBC Host and AOC Denounce Use Of Unmarked Van By NYPD In Arrest”

Did CNN’s Stelter Shatter The Sandmann Confidentiality Agreement?

SUNY-Binghamton Sued After Activists Assault College Republicans And Block Speak By Economist

 

State_University_of_New_York_at_Binghamton_SealThe State University of New York-Binghamton is the defendant in a new lawsuit over its failure to protect College Republicans and a leading conservative economist in public events last year. The Binghamton University College Republicans and the Young America’s Foundation (YAF) is suing Binghamton University President Harvey Stenger, Vice President for Student Affairs Brian Rose; Chief of Binghamton University Police Department John Pelletier, the College Progressives, and Progressive Leaders of Tomorrow (PLOT) for the denial of First and Fourteenth Amendment violations.

Continue reading “SUNY-Binghamton Sued After Activists Assault College Republicans And Block Speak By Economist”

Willful Blindness: New Damaging Information On The Russian Investigation Is Promptly Unseen By The Media

Pandora_-_John_William_WaterhouseBelow is my column in The Hill on the recent disclosure of a document showing that the FBI used an agent to gather information for Crossfire Hurricane during campaign briefings of Trump during 2016.  The document directly contradicted the long-standing denial that the investigation to Russian collusion was ever used to gather intelligence on Trump or his campaign.  At the same time, the credibility of the Steele Dossier was further undermined this weekend with the release of new information that Steele misrepresented the sources and information used as the basis for this report, which was funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee.  The source for the most alarming allegations was revealed as Igor Danchenko, 42, as confirmed to The New York Times,  He was not the “Russian-based” source claimed by Steele and the FBI learned that Steele took third-hard rumors and presented them as hard intelligence in the report used to help justify the Russian collusion investigation. This source was used in the last two renewal applications to the FISA court as a “truthful and cooperative” and “Russian-based,” according to the Justice Department Inspector General report found. So it turns out that the primary “source” of Steele’s dossier was “not a well-connected current or former Russian official, but a non-Russian-based contract employee of Steele’s firm.”

None of this has made any difference to the coverage.  On ABC Sunday, George Stephanopoulos had Chris Christie as a guest but his involvement in the very meeting discussed in the document did not merit a single question from the host.  In the meantime, Democratic leaders, who once mocked the idea of any investigation of Trump or targeting of the campaign, now say that it really doesn’t matter. Rep. Eric Swalwell says that it was actually “the right thing to do.” 

Here is the column: Continue reading “Willful Blindness: New Damaging Information On The Russian Investigation Is Promptly Unseen By The Media”

“They Were Right To Do It”: Swalwell Praises FBI For Using Campaign Briefing To Investigate Trump [Updated]

440px-Eric_Swalwell_114th_official_photoAs I discussed in a column this weekend, Democratic members have spent years mocking allegations that there was any spying or surveillance of Trump or his campaign by the FBI. That was just a conspiracy theory. Now however there is proof that the FBI used a briefing in August 2016 of then candidate Trump to gather information for “Crossfire Hurricane,” the Russia investigation. It turns out that it did not really matter after all and Rep. Eric Swalwell did not miss a step. He simply declared that such targeting of the opposing party and its leading presidential candidate was the right thing to do. That’s it. A conspiracy theory suddenly becomes a commendable act. Continue reading ““They Were Right To Do It”: Swalwell Praises FBI For Using Campaign Briefing To Investigate Trump [Updated]”

No, Pelosi’s “Stormtrooper”Attack On Federal Officers Is Not Libel

440px-Ken_Cuccinelli_official_photoLike many, I have criticized Speaker Nancy Pelosi for calling federal officers in places like Portland “stormtroopers.”  It is highly offensive on a myriad of different levels and serves to fuel attacks on federal officers who have suffered significant levels of injuries in the rioting.  However, the recent statement from Ken Cuccinelli, acting deputy secretary of Homeland Security, on the possibility of libel lawsuits is unsustainable under current tort law.

Continue reading “No, Pelosi’s “Stormtrooper”Attack On Federal Officers Is Not Libel”