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  4.    <title>Newsbusters - Welcome to NewsBusters, a project of the Media Research Center (MRC), America’s leading media watchdog in documenting, exposing </title>
  5.    <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/</link>
  6.    <description/>
  7.    <language>en</language>
  8.    
  9.    <item>
  10.  <title>Kirk's Assassination: The Left’s Big Denial</title>
  11.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/larry-elder/2025/09/18/kirks-assassination-lefts-big-denial</link>
  12.  <description>Despite data showing the willingness of the “very liberal” to support violence to achieve political ends, Democrats like Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.) deny that calling political opponents “fascists” or “Nazis” or “Hitler” contributes to the “overall problem.”
  13.  
  14. Ryan said: “I actually don’t think it does. I think people are trying to grapple with a really unprecedented time in our country where we’re seeing maybe history not fully repeat, but history rhyme at some of the darkest times in our world’s history and struggling in good faith to try to put some intellectual thought into that and find the right language ... I think not being honored by this president, that’s hard to figure out how to, how to put word to that in a way that is constructive.”
  15.  
  16. In short, how would one describe a “fascist” without calling him and, by extension, his supporters, “fascist”? Quite the dilemma. At this point, it’s probably useless to point out how Adolf Hitler, unlike President Donald Trump, murdered his political enemies; controlled the media and the arts through censorship, intimidation and propaganda; arrested and detained adversaries indefinitely and without trial; murdered 6 million Jews and 5 million others; and ignited a world war that resulted in an estimated 50 million civilians dead worldwide.
  17.  
  18. Virtually every policy Trump enacts or attempts to enact ends up in court. He appeals unfavorable district court decisions, many of which end up at the Supreme Court, where Trump usually wins. Still, Trump’s critics call him a “tyrant” and a “dictator.”
  19.  
  20. Examine the judicial system under Hitler’s Germany. The Holocaust Encyclopedia writes: “... Like most areas of public life after the Nazi rise to power in 1933, the German system of justice underwent ‘coordination’ (alignment with Nazi goals). All professional associations involved with the administration of justice were merged into the National Socialist League of German Jurists.”
  21.  
  22. Comparing Trump, a democratically elected leader, to Hitler is, was and always will be insanely and profoundly ignorant. It is insidious.
  23.  
  24. Former Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, “People don’t have the intention of saying something that will lead to something dangerous (so) we cannot take responsibility for the minds that are out there and how they hear it.”
  25.  
  26. How did Charlie Kirk’s suspected assassin, Tyler Robinson, “hear it”?
  27.  
  28. After Robinson shot Kirk, he texted his roommate/partner, a man transitioning to be a woman. Robinson told his partner to find and read a message Robinson left before the assassination. It read: “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it.”
  29.  
  30. Partner: “You weren’t the one who did it right????”
  31.  
  32. Robinson: “I am, I’m sorry.”
  33.  
  34. When asked why, Robinson responded: “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.”
  35.  
  36. On the ammunition found with his rifle were several phrases including, “Hey, fascist! Catch!”
  37.  
  38. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) insists her party comes to the debate with clean hands because, well, you know, Trump. Warren said: “Oh, please. Right. Why don’t you start with the president of the United States? Right? And every ugly meme he has posted and every ugly word ...”
  39.  
  40. Let’s start with the president. It was former President Joe Biden who said, “It’s not just Trump, it’s the entire philosophy that underpins the -- I’m going to say something, it’s like semi-fascism.”
  41.  
  42. Vice President and then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris, when asked whether she considered Trump “a fascist,” responded: “Yes, I do. Yes, I do. ... He’s saying to his generals, in essence, why can’t you be more like Hitler’s generals? Come on!”
  43.  
  44. A YouGov poll taken after Kirk’s assassination found that 25% of the self-described “very liberal” believe political violence is sometimes acceptable to achieve political goals. This is eight times the number of the self-described “very conservative” who feel likewise. Last year, a report affiliated with Rutgers University called “Assassination Culture” wrote: “Over half of those who self-identified as left of center (56%) reported that if someone murdered Donald Trump, they would at least be somewhat justified ... This includes 14.1% who said this murder would be ‘Completely Justified.’”
  45.  
  46. In 2008, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama, accused of merely uttering empty words, said: “Don’t tell me words don’t matter. ‘I have a dream’ -- just words? ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal’ -- just words?”
  47.  
  48. Larry Elder is a bestselling author and nationally syndicated radio talk-show host. To find out more about Larry Elder, or become an “Elderado,” visit www.LarryElder.com. Follow Larry on X @larryelder. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.</description>
  49.  <pubDate>September 18th, 2025 4:42 PM</pubDate>
  50.    <dc:creator>Larry Elder</dc:creator>
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  52.    </item>
  53. <item>
  54.  <title>Charlie Kirk: ‘Diversify Thought on Campus,’ the ‘Least Diverse Place in America’ U.S.</title>
  55.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/cnsnews/craig-bannister/2025/09/18/charlie-kirk-diversify-thought-campus-least-diverse-place</link>
  56.  <description>The college campus is “the least diverse place in America” – a place where it’s dangerous to express different points of view – slain conservative Charlie Kirk once warned in a video he hosted for PragerU. Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, was assassinated on September 10 of this year while speaking at Utah Valley University.
  57.  
  58. Today, while they’ve obsessed over and achieved many types of diversity (race, sex, gender, etc.), college campus across the U.S. have virtually eliminated the freedom to express differing points of view, Kirk explains in his five-minute video:
  59.  
  60.  
  61. “At most colleges today, that’s a dangerous, revolutionary idea – if that different point of view is not on the left.”
  62.  
  63. …
  64.  
  65. “College is a place where they want everyone to look different, but think exactly the same. It’s like a freaking cult.”
  66.  
  67.  
  68. “And God forbid if a conservative speaker should show up on campus” and praise America’s virtues, Kirk says. If conservative ideas didn’t have merit, there’d be no need to protest and forbid them, because they’d just die out on their own, Kirk notes.
  69.  
  70.  
  71.  
  72. What’s more, obsession with diversity can actually prevent a person from obtaining education, Kirk explains:
  73.  
  74.  
  75. “If you don’t study Shakespeare because he was a white male, you have been deprived of learning from the most brilliant playwright who ever lived.”
  76.  
  77.  
  78. “At some point you have to stand up, separate yourself from the crowd, and say, ‘Enough!,’” Kirk concludes, issuing a call to action:
  79.  
  80.  
  81. “It’s time to diversify thought on campus. It’s time to demand a real education. God knows, you’re paying for it.”
  82. </description>
  83.  <pubDate>September 18th, 2025 4:17 PM</pubDate>
  84.    <dc:creator>Craig Bannister</dc:creator>
  85.    <guid isPermaLink="false">292034</guid>
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  87. <item>
  88.  <title>Vittert: Liberals Are 'Drunks' Who's 'Drug of Choice Is Trump Hatred’</title>
  89.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/nicholas-fondacaro/2025/09/18/vittert-liberals-are-drunks-whos-drug-choice-trump-hatred</link>
  90.  <description>In the wake of ABC suspending late night host Jimmy Kimmel Wednesday evening, NewsNation anchor Leland Vittert kicked off On Balance by calling out the “liberal elites” acting like “drunks” who’s “drug of choice is Trump hatred.” He also took a victory lap for the responsible management of Nexstar in blocking Kimmel’s show.
  91.  
  92. Vittert popped a whole in the liberal media’s swiftly cobbled together narrative that Kimmel was fired for telling jokes. He pointed out that Kimmel wasn’t doing a bit, instead lying to his ABC audience about Charlie Kirk’s assassin being part of the “MAGA gang”:
  93.  
  94.  
  95. VITTERT: It comes after Kimmel went out of his way to suggest the suspect in Charlie Kirk's murder was actually part of MAGA.
  96.  
  97. [Cuts to video]
  98.  
  99. KIMMEL: We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.
  100.  
  101.  
  102.  
  103.  
  104.  
  105.  
  106.  
  107.  
  108.  
  109.  
  110. “What Kimmel said wasn't controversial. It was just plain wrong. It's the drunk who grabs a bottle and takes another swig to prove to you that they don't have a problem,” Vittert chided, with an analogy he would return to. “Kimmel embodied the liberal elite of America. And what you saw in that clip fully display the liberal elite of America and their drunken-like he training of Donald Trump and Trump's followers.”
  111.  
  112. Vittert poured another round for his “drunks” analogy by calling attention to how Kimmel and the other liberal elites (including the liberal media) couldn’t get enough of hating Trump and his supporters, which was why they thought Kimmel’s lies were jokes:
  113.  
  114.  
  115. Drunks famously say they don't have a problem. They play the victim and they blame everyone else. Everyone has somebody like this in their lives. So now replace what I just said with Democrats. Their drug of choice is Trump hatred. And that kind of explains America today because Democrats – and not all but the liberal elite of America, the Jimmy Kimmel's, refused to admit they have a problem.
  116.  
  117.  
  118. Despite the fact “[p]rosecutors say they know who did it and why” and how the evidence “is clear, convincing, and undisputed,” “it feels like almost half of America and most of the media refused to admit,” Vittert lamented. He then played a clip of washed up day-time TV host Montel Williams falsely claiming Kirk’s assassination was a “crime of passion,” as Vittert paraphrased.
  119.  
  120. “Montel is entitled to his opinion. He is not entitled to his own facts,” he scolded. “For example, and we know this, two of the shell casings referenced fascists. ‘Hey, fascist’ was written on one. That's a label we hear often given to Trump and his supporters.”
  121.  
  122. He also called out Democratic Congressman Dan Goldman (NY) for returning to the stochastic terrorism America had been condemning for leading to Kirk’s murder:
  123.  
  124.  
  125. VITTERT: Even in the wake of Charlie Kirk's murder, members of Congress are still painting Republicans and their supporters as Nazis and fascists. The latest comparison comes today from New York Congressman Dan Goldman.
  126.  
  127. [Cuts to video]
  128.  
  129. GOLDMAN: This is the authoritarian playbook. And then it gets worse because he's politicizing and weaponizing the Department of Justice as his own personal revenge and retribution arm. That is how our democracy gets degraded. And ultimately his goal is very clearly to take it over as his own authoritarian rule.
  130.  
  131. [Cuts back to live]
  132.  
  133. VITTERT: Goldman said that today after everybody had already said we need to turn down the temperature.
  134.  
  135.  
  136. Before going to his first guest, Vittert stated that the current wave of political violence is “coming from the left” and that “[t]he liberal elite are drunk hating on Trump. It is a drug of tight for them. And for the first time now they have been made to pay a real price.”
  137.  
  138. He also commended NewsNation’s parent company for deciding to pull Kimmel’s show from their network of ABC affiliates:
  139.  
  140. Our parent company Nexstar announced this afternoon that it would not carry his show on our ABC affiliated stations for the foreseeable future. After Nexstar made the announcement, the ABC network pulled Kimmel off the air completely.
  141.  
  142. The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
  143.  
  144.  
  145. NewsNation’s On Balance
  146. September 17, 2025
  147. 9:00:35 p.m. Eastern
  148.  
  149. LELAND VITTERT: I think it is now fair to say the breaking news, things in America are changing rapidly and we start with the news from ABC, not ABC News, but the network says they are suspending Jimmy Kimmel, he's the late night host. It comes after Kimmel went out of his way to suggest the suspect in Charlie Kirk's murder was actually part of MAGA.
  150.  
  151. [Cuts to video]
  152.  
  153. JIMMY KIMMEL: We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.
  154.  
  155. [Cuts back to live]
  156.  
  157. VITTERT: What Kimmel said wasn't controversial. It was just plain wrong. It's the drunk who grabs a bottle and takes another swig to prove to you that they don't have a problem.
  158.  
  159. Our parent company Nexstar announced this afternoon that it would not carry his show on our ABC affiliated stations for the foreseeable future. After Nexstar made the announcement, the ABC network pulled Kimmel off the air completely.
  160.  
  161. Kimmel embodied the liberal elite of America. And what you saw in that clip fully display the liberal elite of America and their drunken-like he training of Donald Trump and Trump's followers.
  162.  
  163. We have Trump ally Benny Johnson on what sobriety might look like in America. Also this hour, General Mark Kimmit tells us if the west is ready for a drone war in Russia. Hint: We're not. Congressman Jason Smith on the dangers of Republicans ignoring the economic pain. Plus NewsNation's Brian Entin with an exclusive look inside the collapse of Hollywood. Our last story is closely related to our first one. And here it goes.
  164.  
  165. Drunks famously say they don't have a problem. They play the victim and they blame everyone else. Everyone has somebody like this in their lives. So now replace what I just said with Democrats. Their drug of choice is Trump hatred. And that kind of explains America today because Democrats – and not all but the liberal elite of America, the Jimmy Kimmel's, refused to admit they have a problem. And that's our Why It Matters segment tonight.
  166.  
  167. A week ago. Hard to imagine it's been a week. Charlie Kirk was murdered. Prosecutors say they know who did it and why. They have shown us the evidence. It is clear, convincing, and undisputed. Yet, it feels like almost half of America and most of the media refused to admit. For example, Montel Williams told CNN's highest-rated show the assassination was a crime of passion.
  168.  
  169. [Cuts to video]
  170.  
  171. MONTEL WILLIAMS: I don't believe he was motivated politically. I think this is motivated emotionally. I think this was a emotionally stunted person who literally – I’m going to say it this way, just hear me” tried to defend his significant other, not trying to defend some ideology.
  172.  
  173. [Cuts back to live]
  174.  
  175. VITTERT: Montel is entitled to his opinion. He is not entitled to his own facts. For example, and we know this, two of the shell casings referenced fascists. “Hey, fascist” was written on one. That's a label we hear often given to Trump and his supporters.
  176.  
  177. Even in the wake of Charlie Kirk's murder, members of Congress are still painting Republicans and their supporters as Nazis and fascists. The latest comparison comes today from New York Congressman Dan Goldman.
  178.  
  179. [Cuts to video]
  180.  
  181. REP. DAN GOLDMAN (D-NY): This is the authoritarian playbook. And then it gets worse because he's politicizing and weaponizing the Department of Justice as his own personal revenge and retribution arm. That is how our democracy gets degraded. And ultimately his goal is very clearly to take it over as his own authoritarian rule.
  182.  
  183. [Cuts back to live]
  184.  
  185. VITTERT: Goldman said that today after everybody had already said we need to turn down the temperature.
  186.  
  187. You, our viewers, are fair-minded people. And I've heard from a lot of you, rightly so. The political violence has also come from the right. And that is true. We deal with issues here fairly. That's what makes us different. But the political violence from the right was in the past. We deal with the present. And right now the attacks are coming from the left. They are inspired by the left. The liberal elite are drunk hating on Trump. It is a drug of tight for them. And for the first time now they have been made to pay a real price.
  188.  
  189. (…)
  190. </description>
  191.  <pubDate>September 18th, 2025 3:54 PM</pubDate>
  192.    <dc:creator>Nicholas Fondacaro</dc:creator>
  193.    <guid isPermaLink="false">292032</guid>
  194.    </item>
  195. <item>
  196.  <title>Bozell on O’Connor: 'Kimmel’s Comment About MAGA Protecting the Killer Was Beyond the Pale'</title>
  197.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/kurt-etheridge/2025/09/18/bozell-oconnor-kimmels-comment-about-maga-protecting-killer-was</link>
  198.  <description> Thursday morning on WMAL’s “O’Connor and Company,” MRC NewsBusters took center stage in a lively chat about Jimmy Kimmel’s indefinite suspension from ABC. The conversation, featuring MRC President David Bozell, kicked off with a quip about two of the more grueling jobs at MRC, handled by Alex Christy, who covers the late-night “comedy” shows, and Nick Fondacaro, who monitors the cackling crew at The View.
  199.  
  200. Co-host Bethany Mandel joked, “Does this come with hazard pay?” Bozell chuckled, “They watch it, so we don’t have to. You have to be a different kind of crazy to do this sort of thing. But I love them and they’re great.”
  201.  
  202. The focus was on Kimmel’s suspension after his Monday monologue, where he snidely remarked, “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
  203.  
  204. MRC’s Alex Christy posted the clip on X, amassing 15.2 million views and a sharp rebuke from Elon Musk: “Jimmy Kimmel is disgusting.” That was the final straw of thousands of straws, when ABC yanked Jimmy Kimmel Live! from its lineup late Wednesday, replacing it for the time being with the much more entertaining Celebrity Family Feud, with future programming TBD, after pushback from affiliates like Nexstar and Sinclair.
  205.  
  206.  
  207. Jimmy Kimmel claims "We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it" and "This is not how an adult… pic.twitter.com/KMhnskaYWD
  208. — Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) September 16, 2025
  209. Host Larry O’Connor lauded MRC: “I think it’s fair to say that Media Research Center can sit up straight today and recognize the good work that your team does there in pulling clips.”
  210.  
  211. He then asked Bozell if the suspension was about political speech or something deeper, “and what do we know about the FCC’s involvement, if any involvement?” He noted FCC Chairman Brendan Carr “didn’t threaten anything,” speculating affiliates consulted Carr for options like pulling Kimmel’s show.
  212.  
  213. Bozell highlighted the public’s frustration: “Grassroots Americans had had enough. They were willing to cut the cord. Sinclair and Nexstar are trying to preserve the cord, as it were. That’s their business model, cable. Kimmel was in the cord, and his comment about MAGA protecting the killer was beyond the pale.”
  214.  
  215. MRC’s research has long exposed Kimmel’s sway. A 2024 study by Alex Christy crowned him the most mean-spirited late-night host of them all, with 92% of his jokes targeting conservatives. Another MRC study found 99% of late-night guests were liberal in the first half of 2025.
  216.  
  217. O’Connor set up the broader issue: “MRC has been tracking the influence and importance of these late-night shows and how political and news-oriented they have become. It is disingenuous at best to say that this is just a comedian telling jokes, isn’t it?”
  218.  
  219. Bozell agreed, “Absolutely, it’s disingenuous at best. Every time anyone gets on television, they have the opportunity to go viral. And so their ratings may not be what they once were, but they can go viral at any moment and be watched by millions.” He cited a YouGov poll post-Kirk’s assassination, where most Americans initially believed the killer was MAGA, possibly fueled by Kimmel’s claim.
  220.  
  221. O’Connor closed, saying, “David Bozell, thanks for jumping in on this story, a big media story, and once again, the Media Research Center has their fingerprints on the research and exposing exactly what’s going on here, and always effective.” Hear the full interview below.
  222.  
  223.  
  224.  
  225.  
  226.  
  227. David Bozell is the president of the Media Research Center and ForAmerica, a grassroots organization that mobilizes conservatives to advance policies prioritizing American sovereignty and values.
  228.  
  229. Larry O'Connor is the host of "O'Connor and Company," airing weekday mornings from 5:00 to 9:00 AM on News Talk WMAL in Washington, D.C. He also hosts the daily "LARRY" podcast for Townhall Media. A seasoned media figure, O'Connor appears regularly on Fox News and Newsmax.
  230.  
  231. Bethany Mandel is the author of Stolen Youth: How Radicals are Erasing Innocence and Indoctrinating a Generation, a writer for the New York post and Washington Examiner, and a frequent fill-in co-host for WMAL's O'Connor and Company.</description>
  232.  <pubDate>September 18th, 2025 2:26 PM</pubDate>
  233.    <dc:creator>Kurt Etheridge</dc:creator>
  234.    <guid isPermaLink="false">292030</guid>
  235.    </item>
  236. <item>
  237.  <title>New York Times Front Page Desperately Deflects Focus From Leftist Charlie Kirk Ghouls </title>
  238.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/clay-waters/2025/09/18/new-york-times-front-page-desperately-deflects-focus-leftist</link>
  239.  <description>As the more ghoulish denizens of the left are actually paying personal prices (for once) for vile comments they made in the wake of the assassination of Turning Point USA founder/conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the New York Times is getting defensive on the front page of Tuesday’s New York Times, in a story ostensibly about VP JD Vance guest hosting Kirk's podcast: “White House Threatens Crackdown on ‘Far Left.’”
  240.  
  241. They must put "Far Left" in quotes, because they can't imagine such a claim. 
  242.  
  243. White House correspondents Katie Rogers and Zolan Kanno-Youngs, whose liberal leanings come through in their reporting, complained nonstop that President Donald Trump was overstating left-wing violence while ignoring the right. (NewsBusters could say the same thing about the Times, but in reverse.)
  244.  
  245.  
  246. President Trump and his top advisers threatened on Monday to unleash the power of the federal government to punish what they alleged was a left-wing network that funds and incites violence, seizing on Charlie Kirk’s killing to make broad and unsubstantiated claims about their political opponents.
  247.  
  248. Investigators were still working to identify a motive in the death of Mr. Kirk, a prominent conservative activist who was shot last week in Utah. The Republican governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, has said that the suspect had a “leftist ideology” and that he acted alone.
  249.  
  250. But Mr. Trump and his top allies suggested that the suspect was part of a coordinated movement that was fomenting violence against conservatives, without presenting evidence that such a network existed. America has seen a wave of violence across the political spectrum, targeting Democrats and Republicans.
  251.  
  252. Mr. Trump, who has downplayed violence from right-wing or other supporters, said that he would like to designate a range of groups, including the loosely affiliated group of far-left anti-fascism activists, known as “antifa,” as domestic terrorists and bring racketeering cases against people funding protests.
  253.  
  254.  
  255. The Times, a notorious defender of leftist billionaire activist George Soros, has no interest in exploring the radical organizations that Soros's Open Society Foundations funded, some of whose protests have devolved into violence.
  256.  
  257.  
  258. The president also promised investigations into who was funding and organizing the left, suggesting the violence was somehow coordinated. In recent days, Mr. Trump has renewed calls for prosecutors to file racketeering charges against George Soros, one of the Democratic Party’s biggest donors. Mr. Trump and his allies have long claimed without evidence that Mr. Soros foments violent protests. (A spokesman for Mr. Soros’s organization, Open Society Foundations, denied the allegations and called the threats “outrageous.”)
  259.  
  260.  
  261. The article adopted a permanent defensive, denialist crouch: Whenever Trump blamed the radical left, it felt obliged to deflect the accusation with a reminder that right-wing extremism exists.
  262.  
  263.  
  264. Mr. Trump has previously taken steps to mobilize federal law enforcement against his perceived political enemies. In the first term, the Trump administration shifted resources to target the “radical left,” even though law enforcement officials warned about the threat of right-wing extremism.
  265.  
  266.  
  267. There was no mention of the previous phrase used by the Times itself: “stochastic terrorism,” one borrowed from left-wing academia, to blame anything bad that happens in America on Republican rhetoric, no matter how tenuous the connection. Meanwhile, we've had decades of the left smearing conservatives as “fascists" with tacit consent or open support from the traditional media.
  268.  
  269. Rogers and Kanno-Youngs treated a reasonable proposal on refusing to use taxpayer money to fund haters as a right-wing disease infecting previously reasonable people.
  270.  
  271.  
  272. And Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina, a Republican who has drifted further to the right during her time in Washington, pressed the Education Department in a letter on Friday to withhold federal funding from any school that did not “take immediate administrative action” against employees who had celebrated or made light of Mr. Kirk’s death.
  273.  
  274. In her letter, Ms. Mace — who is currently running in a contested primary for South Carolina governor — decried a rise in political violence in the country but cited only examples in which Republican figures were targeted.
  275. </description>
  276.  <pubDate>September 18th, 2025 11:50 AM</pubDate>
  277.    <dc:creator>Clay Waters</dc:creator>
  278.    <guid isPermaLink="false">292006</guid>
  279.    </item>
  280. <item>
  281.  <title>AOC: ‘Deplatforming Works…Good Things Can Happen,’ ‘It’s Important’</title>
  282.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/cnsnews/craig-bannister/2025/09/18/aoc-deplatforming-worksgood-things-can-happen-its</link>
  283.  <description>“Deplatforming works and it is important,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) declared on-camera when Tucker Carlson was fired from Fox News – but, Democrats are singing a different tune now that one of their own has been suspended indefinitely for comments regarding the assassination of conservative Charlie Kirk.
  284.  
  285. “Tucker Carlson is out at Fox News. Couldn’t have happened to a better guy,” Rep. Ocasio-Cortez cheered in a social media video in 2023, in which she cited Carlson’s firing as an example of the “good things” that can happen when others are silenced:
  286.  
  287.  
  288. “Deplatforming works. And, it is important. And, there you go: good things can happen.”
  289.  
  290.  
  291. The New York Democrat also claimed Carlson was responsible for driving “death threats” against her and others across the country. She also compared him to a Marvel movie villain, saying she feared he would eventually “reemerge.”
  292.  
  293. Ocasio-Cortez wasn’t the only Democrat who praised deplatforming conservative voices while celebrating Carlson’s firing at the time.
  294.  
  295. “Now they just need to take out the rest of the trash,” Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) said on Twitter (now X.com).
  296.  
  297. But, when Democrat propagandist/talk show host Jimmy Kimmel was suspended on Wednesday, Rep. Pocan claimed that “This is how democracies die.”
  298.  
  299.  
  300.  
  301. Pocan was commenting on a post by a fellow Democrat, Senator Ed Markey (D-MA), who had called the deplatforming of Kimmel “censorship in action,” “dangerous” and “unconstitutional.”
  302.  
  303. Rep. Pocan even said people should be “tracked,” if they object to offensive comments about Kirk’s assassination:
  304.  
  305.  
  306. “Let’s keep track of the businesses, organizations and others who fold to the totalitarian response to the tragic Charlie Kirk killing. Free speech, even imperfect speech, matters. Letting bullies bully is bad for everyone. We must hold them accountable in the future. @ABC”
  307. </description>
  308.  <pubDate>September 18th, 2025 11:47 AM</pubDate>
  309.    <dc:creator>Craig Bannister</dc:creator>
  310.    <guid isPermaLink="false">292029</guid>
  311.    </item>
  312. <item>
  313.  <title>CNN: 'Wannabe Mob Boss' Trump Brings Us 'Dangerously Close to State-Run Media'</title>
  314.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/mark-finkelstein/2025/09/18/cnn-wannabe-mob-boss-trump-brings-us-dangerously-close-state</link>
  315.  <description> In the context of a discussion of the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel's show and related matters, today's CNN This Morning aired a clip of Rep. Daniel Goldman [D-ActBlue Jeans] calling President Trump a "wannabe mob boss."
  316.  
  317. Meghan Hays, a former Biden aide and a CNN analyst, agreed with Goldman, then proceeded to claim:
  318.  
  319.  
  320. "We are running dangerously close to state-run media . . . We are losing our democracy. They're dismantling democracy by doing this."
  321.  
  322.  
  323. Democracy = equals lying about an assassin?
  324.  
  325. Scaremongering about Trump supposedly dismantling democracy is standard liberal-media fare. Might as well add it as a tag line to the daily weather report. Democracy will end with the cold front....
  326.  
  327. But accusing Trump of creating a "state-run media?" That's something of a new line of attack. And a laugh line at that.
  328.  
  329. Even without the likes of Kimmel and Stephen Colbert polluting the late-night airwaves with their bilious attacks on Trump and all things Republican, Americans will continue to be subjected to ceaseless leftward slanting of the news by CNN, MSNBC, the broadcast networks' "news" shows, the New York Times, Washington Post, et al. 
  330.  
  331.  
  332.  
  333.  
  334.  
  335. Moreover, it's pretty rich of CNN to cry "state-run media," considering that:
  336.  
  337. The liberal media just spent four years covering up for Declinin' Biden. 
  338. Biden's FBI and intelligence agencies successfully pressured social media into suppressing the Hunter Biden laptop story.
  339. Mark Zuckerberg has admitted that "Biden administration officials pressured Facebook into censoring Covid-related content." 
  340. Here's the transcript.
  341.  
  342.  
  343. CNN This Morning
  344. 9/18/25
  345. 6:08 am EDT
  346.  
  347. AUDIE CORNISH: Let me make sure Meghan gets a word in here. We had Congressman Dan Goldman, Democrat. Here's what he sees. 
  348.  
  349. DANIEL GOLDMAN: The companies that continue to cave to this completely improper behavior. And we saw it with ABC when they settled. We've saw it with CBS. We now see it again with ABC. We've seen it with tech companies. We've seen it with law firms. 
  350.  
  351. Donald Trump is a bully. He is a wannabe mob boss who will push the envelope to the end of the earth. 
  352.  
  353. MEGHAN HAYS: So I agree with Dan. This is about power, and this is about control, and this is just one more way in going into civil society. As the congressman said, you start with media, universities, law firms. He's doing all this systematically. 
  354.  
  355. But this is not about free speech. It's about power. Whether or not Disney could have fired Jimmy Kimmel, absolutely, everyone can, you know, 
  356. for what he's wearing, absolutely, that's not a free speech issue. But we are silencing people for critiquing the president, and they are using the power of these mergers to be able to do that, and that is what is not right here. 
  357.  
  358. And I think what's interesting is why there aren't more people speaking up about the government using the power to then silence media. We are running dangerously close to state-run media. 
  359.  
  360. CORNISH: Can I ask you a question about what Carr said about narrative, and what I put to Stephen, which is you can have an alternative media, right? There's a whole world where they can go and still make money, still have a large platform. They didn't have the grip on the culture the way they used to. So, can you say if there's, what a next step is? 
  361.  
  362. HAYS: But I'm wondering what you mean by a grip on the culture? Because 50%, Donald Trump did not win by a mandate whether or not he says so or not. So half the country still is Democratic and has those beliefs. 
  363.  
  364. So whether or not you think they're funny or whether or not you're staying up late to watch them is a different story. There are ratings; we could talk about all day about what TV ratings are, but that's not the issue here. 
  365.  
  366. They're using the power of the government to silence media organizations, and that is not acceptable in our country. We are losing our democracy. They're dismantling democracy by doing this. 
  367. </description>
  368.  <pubDate>September 18th, 2025 11:14 AM</pubDate>
  369.    <dc:creator>Mark Finkelstein</dc:creator>
  370.    <guid isPermaLink="false">292027</guid>
  371.    </item>
  372. <item>
  373.  <title>CNN Tries to Spin Kimmel's Falsehood as a Joke</title>
  374.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/alex-christy/2025/09/18/cnn-tries-spin-kimmels-falsehood-joke</link>
  375.  <description>Reacting to the news that ABC has suspended Jimmy Kimmel, the assembled cast of Wednesday’s Laura Coates Live on CNN did not appreciate the difference between a comedian who pushes the boundary of politically correct discourse and an individual who just happens to have a comedy show spreading falsehoods.
  376.  
  377. Comedian Pete Dominick made the fundamental category error when he declared, “I mean, it's just really important that people understand that comedy isn't—there is no sacred space. It's comedy. 9/11, cancer, the Holocaust, the worst things, I opened for Joan Rivers. She made the most offensive jokes I've ever heard, and she had a huge following. The market can decide, but this is an attack on the career and integrity of every comedian, writer, and performer. And we have to remain in solidarity and speak out together.”
  378.  
  379.  
  380.  
  381.  
  382.  
  383.  
  384.  
  385.  
  386.  
  387. Kimmel was not suspended for one of his thousands of jokes. He was suspended for a piece of commentary that played with the conspiratorial idea that Charlie Kirk’s killer was a man of the right. There is a big difference between Kimmel saying something conservatives don’t like versus hinting at something that is just not true.
  388.  
  389. Neverthless, Dominick rolled on, “Something has to be done, and it has to be done in solidarity across the board. And by the way, wait ‘til Trump supporters Adam Carolla and Joe Rogan crack their mics. I don't think they're going to like it much more than Tucker Carlson did. My friend Greg Proops, by the way, just posted, comedian, ‘I hope everyone enjoys one channel with nothing but Oral Roberts and Hee Haw.’”
  390.  
  391. Media correspondent Brian Stelter also made the mistake of claiming Kimmel told a joke, “I'm thinking about what Timothy Snyder said tonight. He's the author of On Tyranny. He said the general pattern in regime change is that the comedy gets better, and then it gets banned.”
  392.  
  393. Comedy hasn’t gotten better and it hasn’t gotten banned, but Stelter still warned, “We want to think that in the United States, we are somehow superior and safer, and we're not at risk of the democratic backsliding that we've seen in other countries. But this pattern has played out before in countries like Hungary, in Turkey, in numerous other countries. This pattern has played out before where speech rights are curtailed.
  394.  
  395. Deadline Hollywood executive editor Dominic Patten found the whole situation to be ironic, “But Brian, it's also played out here in America. The irony of ironies, the reason Jimmy Kimmel went on the air in 2003 was because Bill Maher was canceled in 2002 for saying that he didn't believe the 9/11 terrorists, they were terrorists, he didn't believe it was fair to call them cowards. This has happened before. This is part of a cycle we have in this country where we do, as people saw in the late 60s and the 50s. And now, unfortunately, we're in a time, a dark time like that now.”
  396.  
  397. In 2025, late night had lost two late night comedians due to economic realities within the industry. It has now, likely, lost a third due to his own stupidity. At some point, the industry has to look in the mirror and stop blaming others for their problems.
  398.  
  399. Here is a transcript for the September 17 show:
  400.  
  401.  
  402. CNN Laura Coates Live
  403.  
  404. 9/17/2025
  405.  
  406. 11:10 PM ET
  407.  
  408. LAURA COATES: I mean, Pete, I know you want to react to that given the given the circumstances.
  409.  
  410. PETE DOMINICK: I mean, it's just really important that people understand that comedy isn't—there is no sacred space. It's comedy. 9/11, cancer, the Holocaust, the worst things, I opened for Joan Rivers. She made the most offensive jokes I've ever heard, and she had a huge following. The market can decide, but this is an attack on the career and integrity of every comedian, writer, and performer. And we have to remain in solidarity and speak out together.
  411.  
  412. Something has to be done, and it has to be done in solidarity across the board. And by the way, wait ‘til Trump supporters Adam Carolla and Joe Rogan crack their mics. I don't think they're going to like it much more than Tucker Carlson did. My friend Greg Proops, by the way, just posted, comedian, “I hope everyone enjoys one channel with nothing but Oral Roberts and Hee Haw.”
  413.  
  414. COATES: Brian, I know you want to jump in. I know we don't have much time, but please.
  415.  
  416. BRIAN STELTER: I'm thinking about what Timothy Snyder said tonight. He's the author of On Tyranny. He said the general pattern in regime change is that the comedy gets better, and then it gets banned. We want to think that in the United States, we are somehow superior and safer, and we're not at risk of the democratic backsliding that we've seen in other countries. But this pattern has played out before in countries like Hungary, in Turkey, in numerous other countries. This pattern has played out before where speech rights are curtailed. 
  417.  
  418. DOMINIC PATTEN: But Brian, it's also played out here in America. The irony of ironies, the reason Jimmy Kimmel went on the air in 2003 was because Bill Maher was canceled in 2002 for saying that he didn't believe the 9/11 terrorists, they were terrorists, he didn't believe it was fair to call them cowards. This has happened before. This is part of a cycle we have in this country where we do, as people saw in the late 60s and the 50s. And now, unfortunately, we're in a time, a dark time like that now. 
  419.  
  420. DOMINICK: There’s nothing like this. Nothing like this. Nothing like this.
  421. </description>
  422.  <pubDate>September 18th, 2025 9:27 AM</pubDate>
  423.    <dc:creator>Alex Christy</dc:creator>
  424.    <guid isPermaLink="false">292026</guid>
  425.    </item>
  426. <item>
  427.  <title>Sinclair Says Suspension Not Enough, Will Air Charlie Kirk Special During Kimmel’s Timeslot</title>
  428.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/jorge-bonilla/2025/09/18/sinclair-says-suspension-not-enough-will-air-charlie-kirk-special</link>
  429.  <description>The ramifications of Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension are far-reaching and cannot yet be fully assessed. One consequence looks to be particularly painful. 
  430.  
  431. In a press release Sinclair makes clear that, as the nation’s largest ABC affiliate group, they will not return Jimmy Kimmel Live! to air unless certain conditions are met. Per the release:
  432.  
  433.  
  434. Sinclair’s ABC stations will air a special in remembrance of Charlie Kirk this Friday, during Jimmy Kimmel Live’s timeslot. The special will also air across all Sinclair stations this weekend. In addition, Sinclair is offering the special to all ABC affiliates across the country.
  435.  
  436. Sinclair will not lift the suspension of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on our stations until formal discussions are held with ABC regarding the network’s commitment to professionalism and accountability.
  437.  
  438. Sinclair also calls upon Mr. Kimmel to issue a direct apology to the Kirk family. Furthermore, we ask Mr. Kimmel to make a meaningful personal donation to the Kirk Family and Turning Point USA.
  439.  
  440.  
  441. One only imagines what went through Kimmel’s mind upon discovering that his newly available timeslot will be given over to a special honoring the life and legacy of Charlie Kirk. The apology and donation conditions are a painful blow as well, and while it is unclear whether Kimmel’s show will return to ABC, it is crystal clear that he’s not coming back to Sinclair air unless these conditions are met.
  442.  
  443. All Kimmel had to do was proffer some harmless expression of concern and sympathy to the family. Or, he could’ve said nothing. Instead, he chose to spread baseless theories about the shooter despite a body of publicly available evidence to the contrary. Free speech is and remains free, but one is never exempt from any consequences that may follow. Kimmel is learning about that the painful way.
  444.  
  445.  </description>
  446.  <pubDate>September 18th, 2025 3:55 AM</pubDate>
  447.    <dc:creator>Jorge Bonilla</dc:creator>
  448.    <guid isPermaLink="false">292025</guid>
  449.    </item>
  450. <item>
  451.  <title>THUNDERDOME: Scott Jennings SCHOOLS Liberal Professor on Free Speech, Kimmel Suspension</title>
  452.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/jorge-bonilla/2025/09/18/thunderdome-scott-jennings-schools-liberal-professor-free-speech</link>
  453.  <description>ABC’s summary suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! over the host’s callous remarks regarding the assassination of Charlie Kirk quickly became the top story across the insular Acela Media. CNN’s NewsNight with Abby Phillip was no exception.
  454.  
  455. The panel discussion was devoted almost entirely to the issue of whether the suspension is the result of market forces and the unsustainability of the late-night talk show model, or outright corporate censorship.   
  456.  
  457.  
  458. .@ScottJenningsKY: Do I defend Jimmy Kimmel going on TV and saying a shooter from the left...he has a right to do so but he does not have the right to have a television show where he lies his ass off to the American people and attacks half this country on a nightly basis. pic.twitter.com/S3Hihn94Zc
  459. — Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) September 18, 2025
  460.  
  461. SCOTT JENNINGS: You use the phrase “propaganda”, professor. And I just have to ask you, what do you consider what Jimmy Kimmel was doing every night, or what Stephen Colbert was doing by having on only Democratic guests? Jimmy Kimmel Monday night flat lied about the shooter back in the spring. He egged his audience on in cheering on the violence against and wanting kind of wishing, I think, the downfall of a publicly traded company, Tesla. Do you consider that to be propaganda? Is it good for a business? 
  462.  
  463. JEFF JARVIS: Do you consider that to be free speech, Scott?
  464.  
  465. JENNINGS: You use the phrase propaganda.
  466.  
  467. JARVIS: I'm asking you. You used the words free speech before. Do you consider that free speech?
  468.  
  469. JENNINGS: I consider it to be speech. And he's obviously free to say it.
  470.  
  471. JARVIS: Are you willing to defend that speech? In this country that defends- that will defend to the death the speech of others. Will you defend Jimmy Kimmel's speech?
  472.  
  473. JENNINGS: Do I defend Jimmy Kimmel going on television and saying that a shooter from the left...
  474.  
  475. JARVIS: Do you defend the right to do so?
  476.  
  477. JENNINGS: he has a right to do so but he does not have the right to have a television show where he lies his ass off to the American people and attacks half this country on a nightly basis.
  478.  
  479. ABBY PHILLIP: Well, hold on- whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa
  480.  
  481.  
  482. This was in response to liberal professor Jeff Jarvis bemoaning that the legacy media is either dying or being bought up by rapacious billionaires and turned into propaganda outlets. And Jennings let Jarvis have it, with a question that he was ultimately unable to answer before Abby Phillip stepped in with the cutoff save.
  483.  
  484. What is late night TV these days if not liberal propaganda? It certainly isn’t Carson or Leno doing middle-of-the-road bipartisan humor (Letterman was always a lib). This new crop of hosts turned late night into a hyperpartisan refuge for Democrats. And so there should be no surprise or sympathy when a corporate parent decides to pull the plug on, in this case, Kimmel’s show when the model is hemorrhaging money. 
  485.  
  486. Once a public interest was established, Jarvis tried to pin Jennings down and ask him whether he thinks he should be kicked off the network for violating that standard. Here, again, Jennings shuts him down:
  487.  
  488.  
  489. .@ScottJenningsKY: I expect to get fired every day. This is a tough business. And if I were Jimmy Kimmel, I mean, I'm surprised that a guy who once wore blackface and caused large-breasted women to jump on trampolines lasted this long in the media business to begin with. He was… pic.twitter.com/NduF2PD5Pv
  490. — Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) September 18, 2025
  491.  
  492. JARVIS: Scott. Scott. I'm not going to tell you anything you don't know here. You sometimes offend people. I hear about it on the socials. Do you think that you should then be held to the same standard that you're asking for, that if someone says that you're offensive, that you're not doing civic discourse, that CNN should kick you off? I'm not worried about you and that happening to you in the present regime, but I am worried about other people in this building.
  493.  
  494. JENNINGS: Two things. We're not- we don't fall under the same statutory regime, A. B: I expect to get fired every day. This is a tough business. And if I were Jimmy Kimmel, I mean, I'm surprised that a guy who once wore blackface and caused large-breasted women to jump on trampolines lasted this long in the media business to begin with. He was long past his sell-date, and the fact that he couldn't realize that and was going down this road of partisan hackery, being unfunny and demonizing half the country is wild.
  495.  
  496.  
  497. Jennings recognizes more readily than most that the entertainment industry is ephemeral, which Jarvis did not expect to hear. And then Jennings makes the case for Kimmel being gone long ago. Kimmel’s Man Show antics were certainly cancellation fodder during the Me Too era, but yet he survived. And rather than gaining humility, Kimmel was emboldened to go on this political path. 
  498.  
  499. It is not clear whether Kimmel will return to television. On tonight’s ThunderDome, Jennings made a compelling market-based argument against that.
  500.  
  501.  </description>
  502.  <pubDate>September 18th, 2025 3:21 AM</pubDate>
  503.    <dc:creator>Jorge Bonilla</dc:creator>
  504.    <guid isPermaLink="false">292024</guid>
  505.    </item>
  506. <item>
  507.  <title>The Regime Media Mourn the Suspension of Regime Comic Jimmy Kimmel</title>
  508.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/jorge-bonilla/2025/09/18/regime-media-mourn-suspension-regime-comic-jimmy-kimmel</link>
  509.  <description>Disney/ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s show was suspended indefinitely in response to backlash subsequent to his statements regarding the assassination of TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk, wherein he misrepresented the shooter’s motive and falsely said the shooter was MAGA. It is not an exaggeration to say that the Acela Media appear more upset about the loss of Kimmel’s show than they are about Kirk’s assassination.
  510.  
  511. The story broke during the 6PM hour, and the spin started immediately. Watch Brian Stelter come on and try to gaslight the public into believing that what Kimmel said was “serious commentary”:
  512.  
  513.  
  514. CNN’s Brian Stelter and Jake Tapper rush to defend ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel for his comments mocking #MAGA for its reactions to Charlie Kirk’s assassination
  515. Stelter: “Kimmel was expressing what we’ve heard some other liberals say in recent days that the motives are unclear and that… pic.twitter.com/3APcZVpfBI
  516. — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) September 17, 2025
  517.  
  518. BRIAN STELTER: But let's back up and look at what Kimmel actually said on the program that has caused controversy. This is from Monday night in his Monday evening monologue, Kimmel suggested that the alleged killer of Charlie Kirk might have been a pro-trump Republican. He said, quote, "the Maga Gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it." He said in between the finger pointing, there was grieving. Kimmel was expressing what we've heard some other liberals say in recent days that the motives are unclear and that maybe the suspect in this case was a Republican or was some sort of far-right fringe figure. Of course, there has been a lot of discussion about that in recent days. There's a lot of evidence pointing in other directions about the suspect, but Kimmel was on the air talking about this, making a very serious commentary amid his jokes in his monologue Monday night. Here's where it became interesting earlier today. The FCC chairman, Brendan Carr, went on a far right webcast and condemned Kimmel and urged ABC to suspend him. He also talked about possible regulatory punishments of Disney because there are lots of different stations that have licenses with the FCC. Within the past hour. We've heard from a big owner of stations that have affiliations with ABC. A company called Nexstar saying that they were going to suspend Kimmel's show on their stations. So, in other words, about two dozen stations were refusing to air Kimmel's show tonight as a result of this controversy. And then following word that some of those stations were basically revolting against Kimmel, Disney, the parent company of ABC, decided to yank the show entirely. So that's all we know at the moment. We know Kimmel will not be on the air tonight or for the foreseeable future, because the network says the show has been yanked off the air indefinitely.
  519.  
  520. JAKE TAPPER: Brian, just to take one issue- your interpretation of what Kimmel said, I think is the one that Brendan Carr had and the one that the individuals at Nexstar have, but what he said specifically was, quote, "the Maga Gang is desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it." That can be read in several ways. That could be heard in several ways. It could also be interpreted. It could also be argued, he's saying that what the Maga Gang is doing is just trying to make sure that they don't have any ownership of it, not necessarily that that this killer, this horrible person, was part of them. I mean, I just-
  521.  
  522. STELTER: I think you're making a very important point. You're making a very important point. And let's take a little bit step further. This was all on Monday night. Nobody seemed to notice this yesterday, Jake. This all erupted in the past few hours when the Trump-aligned FCC chairman decided to point at it. Now I've heard from him in the past few minutes. Brendan Carr thanking Nexstar for doing the right thing by yanking the show. He has not yet commented on ABC, yanking the show altogether across the entire country. But let's remember that when Stephen Colbert's show was canceled over the summer, what did president trump say? He said, "next up will be an even less talented Jimmy Kimmel." It is clear that pro-Trump allies have been trying to target ABC over Kimmel for several weeks now, and tonight they've prevailed. 
  523.  
  524. TAPPER: Yeah, Brian Stelter. Thanks so much for that breaking news.
  525.  
  526.  
  527. Sure, Kimmel was "expressing what we've heard some other liberals say in recent days." But that's precisely the problem, no? Kimmel joining those other liberals in suggesting, without evidence that the shooter was some MAGA diehard, despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary- including the evidence contained in the probable cause affidavit released on Monday before Kimmel came on the air. 
  528.  
  529. Over at MSNBC, legal contributor and former Mueller attack dog Andrew Weissman bemoaned Kimmel's suspension and likened it to McCarthyism:
  530.  
  531.  
  532. MSNBC analyst and former Mueller probe prosecutor Andrew Weissman compares on ABC suspending ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ indefinitely and CBS axing ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ to....you guessed it....McCarthyism! pic.twitter.com/cqxxDX7GnL
  533. — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) September 18, 2025
  534.  
  535. ANDREW WEISSMANN: So I'm going to tell you a very quick story when I had lunch with my parents and I asked them about the McCarthy era- the Joseph McCarthy era, and I said, "compare that, living through that and living through Trump 1.0." And they said that- that 1.0 was better because at least then there were people speaking up and you didn't feel alone, and that there was a real sense of the First Amendment and you weren't terrified. And it wasn't this idea of silencing. And that is the thing that we talked about on this show and we've talked about before, is that that- that slipping into the use of fear and the levers of power to recapitulate a really hideous point in our history in the 1950s with the Red Scare and what was done to people in Hollywood, in academia, in government. And that is the concern, is that you're going to see that kind of silence that is being used through government power.
  536.  
  537. ARI MELBER: Yeah. And as you remind everyone, that was a dark period where they did get away with a lot. Some of it was- was found to be unlawful and unconstitutional over time. And eventually there- there was progress. But after a lot of lives and careers were ruined. And again, as you, as you mentioned, focused on entertainment and culture in addition to dissidents and civil rights organizers because it reached people. So this is quite a signal- quite a big development here. 
  538.  
  539.  
  540. Chris Hayes weighed in as well, with an equal measure of histrionics: 
  541.  
  542.  
  543. MSNBC’s Chris Hayes on ABC suspending Jimmy Kimmel: “[T]his is just the latest chapter in Donald Trump's ongoing campaign to crack down on free speech, dominate the media, and essentially render the First Amendment meaningless. An extreme campaign that has been on overdrive the… pic.twitter.com/LHZQBeyoK5
  544. — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) September 18, 2025
  545.  
  546. CHRIS HAYES: And this is just the latest chapter in Donald Trump's ongoing campaign to crack down on free speech, dominate the media, and essentially render the First Amendment meaningless. An extreme campaign that has been on overdrive the past week. I mean, just yesterday you had the deputy attorney general of these United States, the number two in the Department of Justice and the former criminal lawyer for the president suggesting using criminal anti-racketeering laws, the kind of things used for mobsters, RICO statutes to go after and prosecute protesters who heckled Donald Trump at a restaurant, who yelled at him. We're also getting new reports. Today, The White House plans to target a variety of left leaning groups and nonprofits in the coming weeks, all part of a larger and more dangerous effort underway. And it follows a playbook we have seen successfully run in recent years by authoritarian strongmen in places like Hungary and Turkey and Russia, because in those places they did just not- they didn't just criminalize speech they didn't like, though some of them did some of that. Crucially, they made it virtually impossible to see and hear examples of that speech by taking de facto control of the media landscape.
  547.  
  548.  
  549. Back to CNN, where they put Jeffrey Toobin and his visible hands on for a defense of Kimmel:
  550.  
  551.  
  552. Jeffrey Toobin has his hands in his pants on CNN right now over Kimmel being cancelled:
  553. "They manufactured a reason to get Jimmy Kimmel out of something that is hardly a dramatic departure from what a lot of people are saying." pic.twitter.com/ecDGtfquoV
  554. — Greg Price (@greg_price11) September 18, 2025
  555.  
  556. JEFFREY TOOBIN: This is- I mean, of all things to be offended by, you know, the- I heard a lot more offensive things said in the aftermath of this terrible, awful event than that. And it just shows they are looking for reasons to get Jimmy Kimmel and they they manufactured one out of something that is, you know, hardly a dramatic departure from what lots of people are saying.
  557.  
  558.  
  559. The "many people are saying" defense of defamatory speech is something else. Stay loose, Toobin! 
  560.  
  561. Anderson Cooper focused most of his show on the Kimmel suspension, as if it were a national security event. Congressman Dan Goldman (D-NY) weighed in on both the Kimmel suspension and on President Trump designating Antifa as a Major Terrorist Organization:
  562.  
  563.  
  564. New York Democrat Daniel Goldman objects to President Trump naming Antifa a terrorist organization, claiming they DO NOT EXIST and that Trump is soiling Charlie Kirk’s memory....
  565. “Well, I hope he can first define what Antifa is, because there is no Antifa organization. So maybe… pic.twitter.com/eBNJTEFN35
  566. — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) September 18, 2025
  567.  
  568. DAN GOLDMAN: Well, I hope he can first define what Antifa is, because there is no Antifa organization. So maybe that's good for social media. But it really has- is nonexistent. But the point is that he's using the Charlie Kirk murder as a pretext to go after people that he disagrees with. He, on the very night of Kirk's murder, you will remember, accused the left of committing the murder when the murder had not even been caught or identified. This is all a pretext and it is a shame. I think, as Rahm said, that Charlie Kirk actually stood for free speech. And instead, they're using his memory to attack free speech.
  569.  
  570.  
  571. The smugness is vintage Goldman, who seems angrier at the Trump administration's designation of Antifa as a terror organization than at a political assassination on American soil. 
  572.  
  573. If there is a consistent theme to coverage of l'affaire Kimmel as sampled above, it is to mourn it as this broad, McCarthyite assault on the First Amendment. The reality is that the show was ripe for cancellation, as was Colbert's before him due to it losing money, and the despicable remarks subsequent to the Kirk assassination provided Disney with a dignified offramp.
  574.  
  575.  </description>
  576.  <pubDate>September 18th, 2025 2:10 AM</pubDate>
  577.    <dc:creator>Jorge Bonilla</dc:creator>
  578.    <guid isPermaLink="false">292023</guid>
  579.    </item>
  580. <item>
  581.  <title>Leland Vittert Holds Liberal Media Accountable for Robinson Motive</title>
  582.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/isaac-white/2025/09/17/leland-vittert-holds-liberal-media-accountable-robinson-motive</link>
  583.  <description>Anchor Leland Vittert pointed a giant mirror at the left on Tuesday’s edition of NewsNation’s On Balance. While the mainstream media has tried to deny a connection between suspect Tyler Robinson’s political leanings and his alleged murder of Charlie Kirk last week, Vittert was unafraid to point out the bias that stained their coverage.
  584.  
  585. Vittert started with ABC’s Matt Gutman, featuring MRC’s clip of him gushing over Robinson’s love life: “If this wasn't so serious, it would be like parody. But this is that serious, and that is where ABC News views these text messages: They were touching.” Gutman has since apologized, now calling Robinson’s texts “disturbing.”
  586.  
  587. The aftermath of Kirk’s death has led to the recognition of a heated political climate, a mutual disavowing of political violence, and a need for both sides to “come together.” But the left has been unwilling to admit to Robinson’s beliefs potentially playing a significant part in Kirk’s killing:
  588.  
  589.  
  590. For the past week, much of the media has held out the fallacy that the shooter wasn't a left-wing loon. You couldn't call him a left-wing assassin. We did on the show a few times and people would scream at us. Our guests would. You couldn't say he was motivated by trans-rights. We saw other networks go from saying, “We don't know a motive,” to “Let's take politics out of this,” to, “Well, actually, he was inspired by the right.”
  591.  
  592.  
  593. Vittert then featured a montage of various moments (including more clips popularized by NewsBusters) from CBS, CNN, and ABC where the existence of Robinson’s motive was doubted or attributed to the right. And he could have included many more.
  594.  
  595. He also highlighted one of the most blatant attempts at a biased cover-up: “That last clip, where CNN couldn't figure out if it was clear, came moments after the press conference that clearly laid out the shooter's beliefs in his own words. And people at CNN are still trying to deny it.” Time will tell how long the likes of CNN will be able to keep up their disingenuous coverage of the suspect in custody. Hopefully, the prosecution will be able to prove Robinson’s beliefs, motive, and actions beyond a reasonable doubt.
  596.  
  597.  
  598.  
  599.  
  600.  
  601.  
  602.  
  603.  
  604.  
  605. Lastly, Vittert included a ghostly clip from Kirk’s appearance on Bill Maher’s podcast, Club Random:
  606.  
  607.  
  608. KIRK: We have different to jihadis that want to kill me? The purple haired, jihadis. The woke guys.
  609.  
  610. MAHER: They want to kill me. Want to kill me just as bad. They really do.
  611.  
  612. KIRK: No, you've been very outspoken on the woke stuff.
  613.  
  614. MAHER: Oh yes, I mean – and they – Just the way within a religion, they hate their own apostates more. I would say they hate me more because I'm supposed like get on a short bus to crazy town with them.
  615.  
  616.  
  617. A high profile figure like Kirk can be no stranger to death threats, so much so that the common kind of agitator is easily identifiable. Don’t expect to hear about those threatening right-wing leaders right now.
  618.  
  619. Unlike many television characters during the past week, Vittert actually offered a tangible solution to the political violence epidemic:
  620.  
  621.  
  622. Crazy town is killing people because you disagree with them or because you expose them. And the only way to stop that is to do what we do every night on this program. Very simple. Tell the truth.
  623.  
  624.  
  625. Keep telling it, Vittert. Kick the crazy out of town, and we’ll see who’s still left around.
  626.  
  627. The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
  628.  
  629.  
  630. NewsNation’s On Balance with Leland Vittert
  631. September 16, 2025
  632. 9:01:40 p.m. Eastern
  633.  
  634. LELAND VITTERT: We can now conclusively say Charlie Kirk's alleged assassin acted on the deeply irresponsible rhetoric of the left. That is our Why It Matters segment tonight.
  635.  
  636. (…)
  637.  
  638. 9:03:40 p.m.
  639.  
  640. VITTERT: If this wasn't so serious, it would be like parody. But this is that serious, and that is where ABC News views these text messages: They were touching.
  641.  
  642. For the past week, much of the media has held out the fallacy that the shooter wasn't a left-wing loon. You couldn't call him a left-wing assassin. We did on the show a few times and people would scream at us. Our guests would. You couldn't say he was motivated by trans-rights. We saw other networks go from saying, “We don't know a motive,” to “Let's take politics out of this,” to, “Well, actually, he was inspired by the right.”
  643.  
  644. (…)
  645.  
  646. 9:04:46 p.m.
  647.  
  648. VITTERT: Yeah, it is crystal clear what happened here. That last clip, where CNN couldn't figure out if it was clear, came moments after the press conference that clearly laid out the shooter's beliefs in his own words. And people at CNN are still trying to deny it.
  649.  
  650. One of the saddest parts of this story is that the motive was entirely predictable. In fact, Charlie Kirk himself predicted someone harboring these views would try to kill him. This is a clip of him with Bill Maher back in April.
  651.  
  652. [Cuts to video]
  653.  
  654. CHARLIE KIRK: We have different to jihadis that want to kill me? The purple haired, jihadis. The woke guys.
  655.  
  656. BILL MAHER: They want to kill me. Want to kill me just as bad. They really do.
  657.  
  658. KIRK: No, you've been very outspoken on the woke stuff.
  659.  
  660. MAHER: Oh yes, I mean – and they – Just the way within a religion, they hate their own apostates more. I would say they hate me more because I'm supposed like get on a short bus to crazy town with them.
  661.  
  662. [Cuts back to live]
  663.  
  664. VITTERT: That's a scary bus to be on. At the time it sounded funny, from Maher. Now, quite literally, it is deadly serious. Crazy town is killing people because you disagree with them or because you expose them. And the only way to stop that is to do what we do every night on this program. Very simple. Tell the truth.
  665.  
  666. (…)
  667. </description>
  668.  <pubDate>September 17th, 2025 11:06 PM</pubDate>
  669.    <dc:creator>Isaac White</dc:creator>
  670.    <guid isPermaLink="false">292017</guid>
  671.    </item>
  672. <item>
  673.  <title>Pathetic PBS News: ‘Critics Are Alarmed About the Influence of PragerU…’</title>
  674.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/clay-waters/2025/09/17/pathetic-pbs-news-critics-are-alarmed-about-influence-prageru</link>
  675.  <description>Monday’s PBS News Hour alerted its viewers to a new right-wing threat: Education videos: “Why critics are alarmed about the influence of PragerU’s educational videos,” the online heading read.
  676.  
  677. Liberal journalists love to describe their fellow liberals as "Critics." As "critics say conservatives are wrong." Or sometimes it's simply "Experts say." 
  678.  
  679. “Alarmed” is a strong word, a promise that journalist Stephanie Sy’s actual report failed to fulfill. It's noteworthy that it’s only PragerU’s right-leaning world-view expressed in the educational videos aimed at schoolkids would supposedly trigger “alarm,” not the decades of left-wing propaganda pushed at every level of education in American schools and universities.
  680.  
  681.  
  682. Host Amna Nawaz: The rise of what's known as edutainment, the integration of entertainment with educational content, has become a billion-dollar industry. The conservative PragerU has positioned itself as a major player in this space by producing short educational videos on a range of topics that are now showing up in more classrooms. Stephanie Sy examines what it could mean for school districts moving forward and why critics are alarmed.
  683.  
  684.  
  685. Would Nawaz dismiss her employers’ own animated educational programs as “edutainment” as well?
  686.  
  687. A PragerU Kids clip about two time-traveling kids meeting Christopher Columbus followed.
  688.  
  689.  
  690. Actress: Yes, but what about slavery?
  691.  
  692. Stephanie Sy: They're lessons designed for young learners…
  693.  
  694. [Actor in animated clip: Slavery is as old as time and has taken place in every corner of the world.]
  695.  
  696. Sy: … where historical figures like Christopher Columbus come back to life to defend themselves.
  697.  
  698.  
  699.  
  700. Sy: And with the help of artificial intelligence, introduce themselves to a new generation.
  701.  
  702.  
  703.  
  704.  
  705.  
  706.  
  707. NPR also attacked the Columbus Day clip earlier this month, although the cartoon Columbus goes on to say "Magnifico! That's wonderful! I'm glad humanity has reached such a time." when one time-traveling kid says slavery in the modern day is seen as "evil and terrible." The handwringers at public television are opposed to any injection of reality that annoys liberal historians, who have long been used to having the only say in children's education. 
  708.  
  709.  
  710. Stephanie Sy: These videos are courtesy of PragerU, a nonprofit conservative advocacy group now partnering with the White House on a new exhibit in Washington.
  711.  
  712.  
  713. The chief critic was “education historian” Jonathan Zimmerman, who warned “Prager University is that it is not a university. It's a conservative activist organization that was started by Dennis Prager, who was a right-wing radio host.”
  714.  
  715. PragerU clearly intends to topple various liberal windmills, which is why it’s in PBS’s spotlight.
  716.  
  717.  
  718. Sy: And while some of their videos are grounded in facts, critics say they're often presented with a clear ideological perspective.
  719.  
  720.  
  721. History lessons in school have often come from an ideological perspective, usually a left-wing one.
  722.  
  723. Zimmerman didn’t issue a full fatwa against PragerU.
  724.  
  725.  
  726. Zimmerman: There's been a little bit of misinformation about the Prager videos, because a lot of people on the left have reported that they're teaching falsehoods. And I think that's too facile. Again, there are some falsehoods in the videos, but that's not the problem with the videos. The problem with the videos is they pretend that they're simply factual. That doesn't mean they're false. It means they have a very distinct perspective.
  727.  
  728.  
  729. Next PBS criticized a PragerU clip of an animated Frederick Douglass.
  730.  
  731.  
  732. [Cartoon portraying Frederick Douglass: There was no real movement anywhere in the world to abolish slavery before the American founding. Slavery was part of life all over the world. It was America that began the conversation to end it.]
  733.  
  734. Sy: While some early Quaker settlers in Pennsylvania were abolitionists, the animated video ignores the fact that the U.S. was one of the last Western countries to abolish slavery.
  735.  
  736.  
  737. Zimmerman said “Prager has the facts wrong” there, but to be fair, PBS's hand-picked clip didn’t claim America was the first to abolish slavery.
  738.  
  739. Sy let a representative of PBS’s favorite right-leaning organization get in a juicy comeback, pointing out the lack of outcry when the New York Times delivers bogus history to students (especially on the slavery issue, ironically).
  740.  
  741.  
  742. Robert Pondiscio, American Enterprise Institute: Was there equal coverage of conservative fears about The 1619 Project, of Howard Zinn's history of the American people?
  743.  
  744.  
  745. Sy didn’t unpack the radical nature of the Times’ 2019 discredited revisionist historical project, aimed (like PragerU’s history project) at school curriculums, that falsely argued the United States was founded to preserve slavery.
  746.  
  747. And one certainly shouldn’t trust in PBS’s own efforts to teach children the LGBTQIA alphabet: Understanding LGBTQ+ identity: A toolkit for educators
  748.  
  749. A transcript is available, click “Expand.”
  750.  
  751.  
  752. PBS News Hour
  753.  
  754. 9/15/25
  755.  
  756. 7:31:47 p.m. (ET)
  757.  
  758. Amna Nawaz: The rise of what's known as edutainment, the integration of entertainment with educational content, has become a billion-dollar industry. The conservative PragerU has positioned itself as a major player in this space by producing short educational videos on a range of topics that are now showing up in more classrooms.
  759.  
  760. Stephanie Sy examines what it could mean for school districts moving forward and why critics are alarmed.
  761.  
  762. Actress: Yes, but what about slavery?
  763.  
  764. Stephanie Sy: They're lessons designed for young learners…
  765.  
  766. Actor: Slavery is as old as time and has taken place in every corner of the world.
  767.  
  768. Stephanie Sy:… where historical figures like Christopher Columbus come back to life to defend themselves.
  769.  
  770. Actor: Being taken as a slave is better than being killed, no?
  771.  
  772. Stephanie Sy: And with the help of artificial intelligence, introduce themselves to a new generation.
  773.  
  774. Actor: I am John Adams, blunt, stubborn, and the indispensable voice for independence in the Continental Congress.
  775.  
  776. Stephanie Sy: These videos are courtesy of PragerU, a nonprofit conservative advocacy group now partnering with the White House on a new exhibit in Washington.
  777.  
  778. Actor: There is no greater calling than to teach young people.
  779.  
  780. Stephanie Sy: Since its founding in 2009, PragerU has built a massive online audience with more than three million YouTube subscribers by creating videos for both kids and adults.
  781.  
  782. Actor: The fear that fuels the climate crisis is simply not justified by the data.
  783.  
  784. Stephanie Sy: Exploring topics ranging from climate change to what its content creators deem to be similarities between wokism and radical Islam.
  785.  
  786. Actress: Islamists shout "Allahu akbar" and "Death to America." The woke shout, "Black lives matter and I can't breathe."
  787.  
  788. Jonathan Zimmerman, University of Pennsylvania: The first thing to know about Prager University is that it is not a university. It's a conservative activist organization that was started by Dennis Prager, who was a right-wing radio host.
  789.  
  790. Stephanie Sy: Jonathan Zimmerman is an education historian at the University of Pennsylvania.
  791.  
  792. Jonathan Zimmerman: What it does is, it creates video content that it's hoping is adopted in school systems.
  793.  
  794. Stephanie Sy: Florida was the first state to approve PragerU's materials for K-12 classrooms in 2023.
  795.  
  796. Woman: Inequality is a fact of life. Any economy will always have people who are much wealthier than others.
  797.  
  798. Stephanie Sy: While no states are requiring teachers to use Prager content, about 10 states are allowing teachers to do so if they choose. And, in Oklahoma, Prager is playing another role.
  799.  
  800. Ryan Walters, Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction: We have to make sure that the teachers in our classroom, as we're recruiting these individuals, aren't a bunch of woke Marxist activists. And PragerU stepped right in.
  801.  
  802. Stephanie Sy: The state superintendent will require teachers coming from New York and California to be screened for so-called leftist ideologies using a Prager-developed exam.
  803.  
  804. The organization's CEO, Marissa Streit, has said it's needed to undo the damage of gender ideology.
  805.  
  806. Marissa Streit, CEO, PragerU: Part of what this test is doing is, it's actually recalibrating what is happening in the classrooms. It's reminding teachers to focus on what matters. It's reminding teachers to actually look at the world through common sense, a lens of common sense.
  807.  
  808. Stephanie Sy: PragerU's rise comes at a polarizing time that has turned school board meetings into political flash points. Over the last decade, at least 20 states have passed laws or policies that restrict how history can be taught in schools.
  809.  
  810. Donald Trump, President of the United States: We have an education system that teaches our children to be ashamed of themselves in many cases, to hate our country.
  811.  
  812. Stephanie Sy: Earlier this year, President Trump signed an executive order promoting — quote — "patriotic education," a phrase usually associated with authoritarian regimes.
  813.  
  814. Jonathan Zimmerman: Americans have always debated what their schools should do and should teach. This isn't new. But at the same time, I think the whole idea of the president of the United States decreeing what a school should be teaching or not, that's extremely new, because in the past it was almost entirely a state and a local matter.
  815.  
  816.  
  817.  
  818. Stephanie Sy:
  819.  
  820.  
  821.  
  822. Also relatively new, the ability to quickly reach mass audiences outside of the classroom. PragerU has more than 11 million followers across social media.
  823.  
  824.  
  825.  
  826. Woman:
  827.  
  828.  
  829.  
  830. Martin Luther King Jr. protested discrimination against Blacks on city buses by boycotting city buses.
  831.  
  832. Stephanie Sy: And while some of their videos are grounded in facts, critics say they're often presented with a clear ideological perspective.
  833.  
  834. Woman: Am I saying racist cops don't exist? Of course not. But I would say this. Blacks have a lot more to fear from Black criminals than from the police.
  835.  
  836. Jonathan Zimmerman: There's been a little bit of misinformation about the Prager videos, because a lot of people on the left have reported that they're teaching falsehoods. And I think that's too facile. Again, there are some falsehoods in the videos, but that's not the problem with the videos.
  837.  
  838. The problem with the videos is they pretend that they're simply factual. That doesn't mean they're false. It means they have a very distinct perspective.
  839.  
  840. Stephanie Sy: This is one often cited…
  841.  
  842. Actor: My name is Frederick Douglass. Welcome to 1852.
  843.  
  844. Stephanie Sy: .. featuring one of America's most well-known abolitionists.
  845.  
  846. Actor: There was no real movement anywhere in the world to abolish slavery before the American founding. Slavery was part of life all over the world. It was America that began the conversation to end it.
  847.  
  848. Stephanie Sy: While some early Quaker settlers in Pennsylvania were abolitionists, the animated video ignores the fact that the U.S. was one of the last Western countries to abolish slavery.
  849.  
  850. Jonathan Zimmerman: So to imagine the United States was somehow a leader in worldwide anti-slavery, that's not a matter of perspective. That's a matter of facts. And, on that one, Prager has the facts wrong.
  851.  
  852. Actor: How can you come here to the 15th century and judge me by your standards from the 21st century? For those in the future to look back and do this is, well, estupido.
  853.  
  854. Stephanie Sy: In explaining this video featuring Christopher Columbus, PragerU told the News Hour that: "Historical figures must be understood within the context and standards of their own era."
  855.  
  856. Sam Cole, 404 Media: Kids think in very black-and-white terms often. Kids aren't really prepared to understand the nuance of some of the topics that they're talking about.
  857.  
  858. Stephanie Sy: Sam Cole is a technology journalist and a co-founder of 404 Media. She says PragerU appeals to parents' anxieties about what side teachers fall on in the culture wars.
  859.  
  860. Sam Cole: Is my kid learning something about gay marriage or something that I don't prove of that's outside of my beliefs while they're at school and I can't watch them? So, if they say, oh, well, PragerU is watching your kids, I think it's very comforting for a lot of the folks who align with that ideology.
  861.  
  862. Stephanie Sy: PragerU didn't make anyone available for an interview by our deadline, but they provided "News Hour" this statement, writing in part that — quote — "Too often, history and civics are taught through a narrow politicized lens that highlights America's flaws, while ignoring her incredible achievements. PragerU offer something different, educational content that is fact-based, values-driven and rooted in love of country."
  863.  
  864. Charlie Skyes, Radio Talk Show Host: There's been a long-term project to create an alternative intellectual infrastructure to replace the liberal institutions, a liberal academia with something else.
  865.  
  866. Stephanie Sy: Charlie Skyes is a former conservative talk show radio host who now hosts his own podcast. He's also an MSNBC contributor. He says PragerU is part of a larger, more ambitious goal.
  867.  
  868. Charlie Skyes: To come up with a counterpoint to public television, public radio, to the Harvards and the Yales of the world. If you can create your own infrastructure, kind of a mirror right-wing infrastructure, that would be certainly one of the goals that people have dreamed about for many years on the right.
  869.  
  870. Robert Pondiscio, American Enterprise Institute: Was there equal coverage of conservative fears about The 1619 Project, of Howard Zinn's history of the American people?
  871.  
  872. Stephanie Sy: Robert Pondiscio of the American Enterprise Institute says the classroom has never been a politically neutral space, and with more than 13,000 schools across the nation, teachers still have enormous freedom in designing instruction.
  873.  
  874. Robert Pondiscio: The permission structure exists for vested interests of all political stripes to take advantage of what is a captive audience of children in every schoolhouse in this country.
  875.  
  876. Actor: This is a crucial time in our nation's history.
  877.  
  878. Stephanie Sy: Now another crucial time, where debates in the classroom about our nation's past may end up shaping our future.
  879.  
  880. For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Stephanie Sy.
  881. </description>
  882.  <pubDate>September 17th, 2025 10:50 PM</pubDate>
  883.    <dc:creator>Clay Waters</dc:creator>
  884.    <guid isPermaLink="false">292003</guid>
  885.    </item>
  886. <item>
  887.  <title>‘Cancel Culture’; CNN’s Tapper, Stelter Defend, Mourn Jimmy Kimmel After ABC Suspension</title>
  888.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/curtis-houck/2025/09/17/cancel-culture-cnns-tapper-stelter-defend-mourn-jimmy-kimmel-after</link>
  889.  <description>CNN’s The Lead happened to be on-air as word came that ABC had suspended liberal late-night host Jimmy Kimmel indefinitely following conspiratorial and vile remarks Monday mocking President Trump and conservatives for mourning last week’s assassination of Charlie Kirk. Before CNN went nearly wall-to-wall with coverage as though there had been a mass shooting, host Jake Tapper and chief media analyst Brian Stelter leapt to his defense.
  890.  
  891. Stelter went first and noted it was these comments that landed him hot water:
  892.  
  893.  
  894.  
  895.  
  896.  
  897.  
  898.  
  899.  
  900.  
  901. Having set the table, he began to spin by insisting Kimmel was merely “expressing what we’ve heard some other liberals say in recent days that the motives are unclear and that maybe the suspect in this case was a Republican or was some sort of far-right fringe figure.”
  902.  
  903.  
  904.  
  905.  
  906.  
  907.  
  908.  
  909.  
  910.  
  911. “Of course, there has been a lot of discussion about that in recent days. There’s a lot of evidence pointing in other directions about the suspect, but Kimmel was on the air talking about this, making a very serious commentary amid his jokes,” Stelter added.
  912.  
  913. Stelter floated what’s become a dominant narrative that a conspiracy was afoot as FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr told “a far-right webcast” (Benny Johnson) hours ago that “Disney needs to see some changes here” and “[w]e can do this the easy way or the hard way” with “companies...find[ing] ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
  914.  
  915. After Stelter pointed out local TV conglomerate Nexstar had stepped up and said their ABC affiliates (which there are over 30) wouldn’t air Kimmel, Tapper insisted Kimmel’s comments “can be read in several ways.”
  916.  
  917. Stelter huffed this came on the heels of CBS saying in July it’d cancel The Late Show with Stephen Colbert come May 2026 and concluded “[i]t is clear that pro-Trump allies have been trying to target ABC over Kimmel for several weeks now, and tonight they’ve prevailed.”
  918.  
  919. Tapper then brought in his political panel. Thankfully, moderate Republican and legal guest Joseph Moreno burst Tapper’s bubble about the divisive state of late-night comedy:
  920.  
  921.  
  922.  
  923.  
  924.  
  925.  
  926.  
  927.  
  928.  
  929. Tapper became incensed Moreno invoked Kimmel’s distasteful declaration Trump was mourning Kirk like a four-year-old grieves for a goldfish. The thin-skinned CNN host insisted Kimmel did not do anything of the sort:
  930.  
  931.  
  932.  
  933.  
  934.  
  935.  
  936.  
  937.  
  938.  
  939. Moments later, Tapper furthered seethed this was “actually cancel culture” and found common cause with progressive strategist Chuck Rocha’s apocalyptic talk:
  940.  
  941.  
  942.  
  943.  
  944.  
  945.  
  946.  
  947.  
  948.  
  949. After playing only the “MAGA gang” soundbite, Tapper took a pot shot at Fox News: “Now, the way that Fox covered what he just said, there was, Kimmel suggests Kirk assassin was one of the MAGA gang despite reports of leftist leanings. I don’t know that I think that that is an accurate description, but they have the First Amendment to write what they want to write.”
  950.  
  951. Moreno received another chance to deliver a reality check, arguing “I don’t think ABC is canceling him because they’re afraid of the FCC. I think they’re afraid that they’re going to lose whatever audience he has left, because that’s such an offensive thing.”
  952.  
  953. He continued by citing a great thing called the marketplace and noted Kimmel has the freedom to go somewhere else:
  954.  
  955.  
  956. [T]here’s so much media alternatives at this point. So I think the FCC’s — the range of authority they have is less and less because there are so many other outlets to — to reach out to. So if Kimmel wants to reappear somewhere else, he will. I think the point is, though, that again, when you alienate a part of the population who at some point just stops watching, then you have no incentive to keep whatever left of that audience as there is. And then, you know, it just kind of goes down the drain.
  957.  
  958.  
  959. Of course, this didn’t sit well with Tapper. As he’s prone to do when liberals state something controversial or incendiary, Tapper engages in grade-school whataboutism by invoking President Trump’s conduct (click “expand”):
  960.  
  961.  
  962.  
  963.  
  964.  
  965.  
  966.  
  967.  
  968.  
  969. TAPPER: Let me ask you a question. Do you think that we are holding late-night comedians to a standard for speech and decency, that we do not hold our elected leaders, including the President of the United States, to.
  970.  
  971. MORENO: I guess, who’s we? I mean, you’re talking about audience watchers or American citizens?
  972.  
  973. TAPPER: The American — the American people, the — the government of the of the United States, as of now. Are we demanding that our late night comedians behave in a more upright and more conciliatory, insensitive way than we demand that our President act?
  974.  
  975. MORENO: Well, I think it’s not so much demanding. It’s — if you don’t like what Kimmel saying, you turn it off. If you don’t like what Trump is doing, you don’t vote for him. So I think that’s the power you have. And so I don’t know that there’s any kind of.
  976.  
  977. TAPPER: But we’re not turning off Jimmy Kimmel. There’s being pressure applied to have him canceled.
  978.  
  979. MORENO: That’s ABC’s choice though. They don’t have to cancel him.
  980.  
  981. ROCHA: But they feel the heat. That’s why they do it. Everybody who gets in the line of fire of this administration feels the heat. And they’re like, whoa, whoa whoa whoa. We don’t want any heat here. This is the big boys. And they all back down.
  982.  
  983.  
  984. To see the relevant CNN transcript from September 17, click here.</description>
  985.  <pubDate>September 17th, 2025 10:18 PM</pubDate>
  986.    <dc:creator>Curtis Houck</dc:creator>
  987.    <guid isPermaLink="false">292022</guid>
  988.    </item>
  989. <item>
  990.  <title>CNN Guest: Suspected Kirk Killer Was ‘Love-Torn Child,’ ‘Motivated Emotionally’</title>
  991.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/curtis-houck/2025/09/17/cnn-guest-suspected-kirk-killer-was-love-torn-child-motivated</link>
  992.  <description>On Tuesday’s CNN NewsNight (aka CNN Thunderdome), former TV talk show host Montel Williams channeled ABC’s Matt Gutman from hours earlier in finding a new motive for the alleged Charlie Kirk assassin, which was the suspect — “a love-torn kid” in “probably his first real relationship” — murdered Kirk out of devotion to his trans significant other.
  993.  
  994.  
  995.  
  996.  
  997.  
  998.  
  999.  
  1000.  
  1001.  
  1002. “Motivated emotionally”? “Somebody was disparaging the person that he loved”?
  1003.  
  1004. In other words, as I told Dr. Drew Pinsky on Wednesday afternoon, these two are trying to foist upon us the talking point that murderers are people too.
  1005.  
  1006. Williams had even more to say, seeming to imply the suspects political differences with his father may have set him off:
  1007.  
  1008.  
  1009. But this is a young man who’s dating a person in transition. And I’m a conservative father and I question — let’s say my daughter brought home the first guy that she brought home. I question the guy that he brought home — she brought home. Was the dad questioning him politically? Is this a political motivation or was this a psychological kind of thing?
  1010.  
  1011.  
  1012. A few minutes later, Scott Jennings chimed in and wasn’t having any of this namby pamby behavior (click “expand” to read what he said):
  1013.  
  1014.  
  1015.  
  1016.  
  1017.  
  1018.  
  1019.  
  1020.  
  1021.  
  1022.  
  1023. JENNINGS: Guys, guys, the evidence here is overwhelming. He said, Charlie Kirk, I can’t stand this hate anymore, I’m going to take him out. He — the testimony from and the statements of his family, he had become more left-wing. He etched the statements that are made by the left about Republicans and conservatives and Charlie Kirk fascist on the bullet casings.
  1024.  
  1025. WILLIAMS: He made a joke about it in his last text.
  1026.  
  1027. JENNINGS: Well, it doesn’t sound like a joke to me because someone’s dead and about to be buried.
  1028.  
  1029. WILLIAMS: Those are two different things. Those are two different things.
  1030.  
  1031. TANDEN: Well — 
  1032.  
  1033. JENNINGS: So, it doesn’t sound like a joke to me. So, I’m just telling you. There is an effort — there was an effort all weekend long on the left to try to make this guy sound like he was a conservative that failed. That was passed around all over the weekend. That has now failed. The evidence has now come out. He was motivated by hate. He was motivated by left-wing radicalism. He got mixed up with some trans ideology in his life. We’ll learn more about that, I’m sure, when more evidence and testimony comes out. We are looking around the edges of this for something other than what’s staring us in the face, left-wing radicalism got this kid, he went up to a roof and he murdered our friend, and that’s what happened.
  1034.  
  1035.  
  1036. When the other conservative on-set — The Federalist’s Brianna Lyman (and in her Thunderdome debut, no less) — pointed out there’s been “a large part of the left....cheering” and “celebrating [Kirk’s] death,” host Abby Phillip insisted there’s no evidence to this:
  1037.  
  1038.  
  1039.  
  1040.  
  1041.  
  1042.  
  1043.  
  1044.  
  1045.  
  1046. Jennings tried to ask the rest of the table to acknowledge there were people at all celebrating Kirk’s death. Phillip, Williams, and longtime progressive partisan Neera Tanden refused to agree:
  1047.  
  1048.  
  1049.  
  1050.  
  1051.  
  1052.  
  1053.  
  1054.  
  1055.  
  1056. To end the A-Block, Williams mocked Jennings being upset about Kirk’s death (click “expand”) to read:
  1057.  
  1058.  
  1059.  
  1060.  
  1061.  
  1062.  
  1063.  
  1064.  
  1065.  
  1066.  
  1067. WILLIAMS: Can we, for one second, understand that as we continue — Scott just got all angry, got real mad, it’s got to be this, got to be this, it’s got to be this. Why can’t we have a discussion about how long is it going to take for us to figure out a way to come back together?
  1068.  
  1069. JENNINGS: Yes. And, by the way, I am angry. Just to be clear —
  1070.  
  1071. PHILLIP: Can we just let him finish, Scott?
  1072.  
  1073. JENNINGS: — I am angry because I knew him.
  1074.  
  1075. PHILLIP: Scott, I’ll let you talk in just a second. Go ahead.
  1076.  
  1077. WILLIAMS: Could we spend as much time figuring out how we bridge this and come back together again? You know, I used to have a note on my producer’s desk when I did my show, I said, we don’t belabor what happens. We try to figure out why it happens and come up with solutions. Right now, all we’re doing is belaboring what happened over and over and over again. We’re not going to sit down and try to figure out how do we stop it.
  1078.  
  1079. LYMAN: You got to go after left-wing terrorist. That’s actually exactly the conversation we’re having, is we’re acknowledging there’s a problem.
  1080.  
  1081. WILLIAMS: So, anybody who disagrees with you is a left-wing terrorist?
  1082.  
  1083. LYMAN: Absolutely not. But if they target a conservative and murder him in brutal fashion, he’s probably a left wing terrorist.
  1084.  
  1085. TANDEN: [INAUDIBLE]
  1086.  
  1087. JENNINGS: Let me answer your question.
  1088.  
  1089. TANDEN: Yes, that person is a murderer. We can all acknowledge that.
  1090.  
  1091. JENNINGS: You said I’m — I’m angry. And I’m just telling — I am channeling the emotions of millions of conservatives who are angry. They knew Charlie. They loved Charlie. They viewed Charlie as a mainstream, conservative, Republican voice who talked about issues that millions of Americans believe. He also talked about his faith and he did it by going to college campuses, which are not normally hospitable to conservatives and offering his opponents a microphone to have what we always say —
  1092.  
  1093. WILLIAMS: In support of what? In support of what?
  1094.  
  1095. JENNINGS: Civil discourse.
  1096.  
  1097. WILLIAMS: Not only that, but support of the First Amendment.
  1098.  
  1099. JENNINGS: And guess what? 
  1100.  
  1101. WILLIAMS: He made sure that people had an opportunity and to stand in a room and talk.
  1102.  
  1103. JENNINGS: And guess what? He was murdered trying to do what we always say, why don’t we talk to each other? So, yes, there is — it’s not even been a week. So, you’re going to have to give us a little grace on being angry about somebody who did what you always say that we should do, let’s talk, and he got killed.
  1104.  
  1105. WILLIAMS: And he got killed more than a week’s grace over. So, two Michigan [sic] elected officials who were murdered, did we give — was it three weeks before we decided to say that there was something wrong with Speaker Pelosi’s husband’s being hit in the head with a hammer?
  1106.  
  1107. JENNINGS: By a homeless drug addict? I mean, it was terrible that that happened. This is not the same kind of case. 
  1108.  
  1109.  
  1110. To see the relevant CNN transcript from September 16, click here.</description>
  1111.  <pubDate>September 17th, 2025 7:48 PM</pubDate>
  1112.    <dc:creator>Curtis Houck</dc:creator>
  1113.    <guid isPermaLink="false">292021</guid>
  1114.    </item>
  1115. <item>
  1116.  <title>BREAKING: Kimmel Suspended Indefinitely From ABC</title>
  1117.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/alex-christy/2025/09/17/breaking-kimmel-suspended-indefinitely-abc</link>
  1118.  <description>ABC is taking Jimmy Kimmel off the air after the late night host claimed on Monday that “the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
  1119.  
  1120. Wall Street Journal media reporter Joe Flint tweeted late Wednesday night, “BREAKNG: Disney's ABC is pulling Jimmy Kimmel indefinitely after late night host's recent remarks about Charlie Kirk. Move comes as ABC affiliate groups told network they would be dropping the host.”
  1121.  
  1122.  
  1123.  
  1124.  
  1125.  
  1126.  
  1127.  
  1128.  
  1129.  
  1130. That could be a reference to a press release from Nexstar which said, “the company’s owned and partner television stations affiliated with the ABC Television Network will preempt 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' for the foreseeable future beginning with tonight’s show.  Nexstar strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk and will replace the show with other programming in its ABC-affiliated markets.”
  1131.  
  1132. Variety also confirmed the news and Sinclair announced its affiliates would be airing a tribute to Kirk in Jimmy Kimmel Live's place and "will not lift the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! on our stations until formal discussions are held with ABC regarding the network’s commitment to professionalism and accountability." 
  1133.  
  1134. Sinclair also said that it will "call upon Mr. Kimmel to issue a direct apology to the Kirk family. Furthermore, Sinclair asks Mr. Kimmel to make a meaningful personal donation to the Kirk Family and Turning Point USA."
  1135.  
  1136. That apology likely won't be coming as The Hollywood Reporter adds:
  1137.  
  1138.  
  1139. A source tells The Hollywood Reporter Kimmel was prepared to address the backlash on Wednesday night’s show. He planned to explain what he said and demonstrate how it was taken out of context.
  1140.  
  1141. When asked by THR, the source said that Kimmel was not planning on apologizing. He felt that what he said did not require an apology.
  1142.  
  1143.  
  1144. According to a YouGov poll, 33 percent of Democrats believe Kirk was murdered by a right-winger compared to only 10 percent who believe he was murdered by a left-winger. Even if one were to grant Kimmel's claim that he was taken out of context, the fact that Kimmel did not provide the background for why conservatives were trying to prove the shooter wasn't "one of them" is journalistic malpractice of the highest order and, yes, journalism standards apply to comedy shows too.
  1145.  
  1146. Earlier on Wednesday, FCC chairman Brendan Carr addressed Kimmel’s remarks with Benny Johnson, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct and take actions on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
  1147.  
  1148. Kimmel’s hyper-partisanship being his downfall is poetic. Over the past two years, Media Research Center studies have found Kimmel to be the most partisan of the late night hosts. 2025 now appears to have claimed three late night shows. First, CBS’s After Midnight’s Taylor Tomlinson called it quits, then CBS announced that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will be ending next year, and now Kimmel is a likely third. 
  1149.  
  1150. This is a breaking news story and will be updated.</description>
  1151.  <pubDate>September 17th, 2025 6:56 PM</pubDate>
  1152.    <dc:creator>Alex Christy</dc:creator>
  1153.    <guid isPermaLink="false">292020</guid>
  1154.    </item>
  1155. <item>
  1156.  <title>Dilanian, O'Leary Reluctant to Attribute Robinson Ideology to Motive</title>
  1157.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/isaac-white/2025/09/17/dilanian-oleary-reluctant-attribute-robinson-ideology-motive</link>
  1158.  <description>On Tuesday, Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray announced the charges being pressed against suspect Tyler Robinson and what drove him to murder. During Katy Turs Reports coverage, MSNBC contributors Ken Dilanian and Chris O’Leary were reluctant to connect Robinson’s left-leaning ideology to his motive for allegedly murdering Charlie Kirk.
  1159.  
  1160. In the week following the tragedy, the left had admitted to there being a heated political climate and the existence of political violence coming from both sides, and now they could no longer deny that Robinson’s alleged actions may have been politically-charged. But they continues to doubt if his politics were a definitive motive for the killing.
  1161.  
  1162. Dilanian acknowledged the disconnect between Robinson’s personal beliefs and lifestyle compared to those of his family’s, but frames it as an incomplete story:
  1163.  
  1164.  
  1165. But—and we also learned, of course, that, we got to read between the lines a little bit here, but he's in this same-sex relationship, and he explains to us, or explains that his father is MAGA. His family is conservative and traditional. But there's a lot more, I think, that the authorities know about that dynamic that they haven't put in here.
  1166.  
  1167.  
  1168. It’s hard to tell exactly what strategy was being employed here, but it’s clear the intent was to seed doubt and muddy the waters. Sure, the Robinson family’s full background wasn’t entirely known, but that didn’t disprove any reasonable conclusions being made about Robinson’s reasons for what he’s accused of doing.
  1169.  
  1170.  
  1171.  
  1172.  
  1173.  
  1174.  
  1175.  
  1176.  
  1177.  
  1178. Dilanian went on to, somehow, brazenly denied the obvious:
  1179.  
  1180.  
  1181. So, at the end of the day, we're not really left with a clear motive. We're left with clear evidence that this was political, that he targeted Charlie Kirk because of Charlie Kirk's statements and beliefs that he disagreed with. But so much else is left unsaid here.
  1182.  
  1183.  
  1184. Like what, Dilanian? Was there a specific TikTok you were looking for that finally pushed Robinson over the edge?
  1185.  
  1186. Prosecutor Gray also revealed that the suspect’s mother claimed Robinson was “over the last year or so […] becom[ing] more political and started to lean more to the left, becoming more pro-gay and more trans-rights oriented.”
  1187.  
  1188. MSNBC doesn’t want its audience to believe their own eyes: the suspect was, according to his mother, leaning further into liberal ideology and there is evidence the murder was politically-charged. Yet there is no clear motive to be found!
  1189.  
  1190. O’Leary repeated Dilanian’s misdirect, suggesting authorities might unveil more information on that front in the future: “Well, they certainly didn't lay out any clear cut ideology, and they might have more of that.” If Utah State prosecutors do or will have more information on Robinson’s personal values, it’s hard to believe it will reverse any leading theory or prosecution strategy.
  1191.  
  1192. Further, O’Leary attempted to connect the recent incident with an overall doom-and-gloom trend facing male youths: “I will say, one of the things we're seeing is this, this kind of theme of nihilism […] Hopelessness, frustration, depression, coming out of COVID or brought on by other things.”
  1193.  
  1194. Who knows. Maybe it contributed, maybe it didn’t. Regardless, Robinson felt strongly about Kirk, and allegedly chose to act on those feelings in a violent manner. Without a motive, apparently!
  1195.  
  1196. Anchor Katy Tur pushed back on O’Leary, but not hard enough:
  1197.  
  1198.  
  1199. TUR: I want to ask Brandy about nihilism, but I just want to focus on for one more second. I mean, he does say that he wants to kill Charlie Kirk because of the evil and the hate that he spreads. Would that not be considered a pretty clear-cut motive?
  1200.  
  1201. O’LEARY: It's certainly a motive, but is it necessarily clearly an ideology and part of a broader, you know, movement and political violence or terrorism? And statutorily it probably wouldn’t get us there.
  1202.  
  1203.  
  1204. O’Leary was forced to admit that the suspect’s wish to kill Kirk was “a” motive, but questioned if it could be directly connected to liberal ideology. This was what the left has resorted to. They couldn’t deny A, B and C, but they will deny A plus B equals C.
  1205.  
  1206. The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
  1207.  
  1208.  
  1209. MSNBC’s Katy Tur Reports
  1210.  
  1211. September 16, 2025
  1212.  
  1213. 2:55:12 p.m. Eastern
  1214.  
  1215. (…)
  1216.  
  1217. KEN DILANIAN: It's pretty clear the roommate had no idea this was happening. And that's buttressed by the fact that that they're not charging the roommate. So, the roommate is incredulous. And the roommate asked why he did it, and he says, he answers, “I've had enough of his hatred. Some hatred can't be negotiated out.”
  1218.  
  1219. But—and we also learned, of course, that, we got to read between the lines a little bit here, but he's in this same-sex relationship, and he explains to us, or explains that his father is MAGA. His family is conservative and traditional. But there's a lot more, I think, that the authorities know about that dynamic that they haven't put in here.
  1220.  
  1221. So, at the end of the day, we're not really left with a clear motive. We're left with clear evidence that this was political, that he targeted Charlie Kirk because of Charlie Kirk's statements and beliefs that he disagreed with. But so much else is left unsaid here.
  1222.  
  1223. But again, the fact that this Tyler Robinson just appears completely rational and lucid—and thought he could get away with it. Talked about trying to hide the evidence and retrieve the gun, and then only later it became clear to him that that he was caught and then negotiating his surrender. And we're not really giving the information about what the calculus was. He’s suggesting at one point he would rather take his own life than be brought into custody. Apparently his parents and a family friend talked him out of that. We don't—they didn't tell us whether he's talking now, whether he has expressed remorse. But we know from the other Discord chat, that was reported on by the New York Times, that initially, when he was confronted by some of his friends, he joked and played it off and just expressed no remorse whatsoever. And then in the Discord chat that the Washington Post is reporting on, he acknowledges that he did it, but—and says he's sorry to the to those members, but does not express remorse for the killing whatsoever. So this is a really chilling picture we're getting of this alleged shooter, Katie.
  1224.  
  1225. KATY TUR: Chris, is that how you see this suspect as well, as a rational and lucid actor?
  1226.  
  1227. CHRIS O’LEARY: Well, they certainly didn't lay out any clear cut ideology, and they might have more of that. But what we've seen in the last couple of years is—we call it salad bar ideology, where people are taking different pieces of different things. But it's not anything that we saw historically in terrorism and political violence, which is why you see some of these groups like 764 and O9A, Order of Nine Angles, which are really weird hybrids of different things. Ken laid it out perfectly.
  1228.  
  1229. I will say, one of the things we're seeing is this, this kind of theme of nihilism. So, if you look back on the shooting in Minnesota, the Catholic school, even back to the first Trump assassination attempt, that's probably the one thing you can pull out of it. Hopelessness, frustration, depression, coming out of COVID or brought on by other things. People have talked about violent video games—that's not in and of itself the driver. But essentially your only socialization is you are on Discord, in the gaming community, and that's not real personal interaction. So, all of these things are contributing factors to some of these acts of violence. And some of these young men are looking at society and saying, “Well, what for?” So, that doesn't mean he's not a rational actor, but there might be underlying issues.
  1230.  
  1231. TUR: I want to ask Brandy about nihilism, but I just want to focus on for one more second. I mean, he does say that he wants to kill Charlie Kirk because of the evil and the hate that he spreads. Would that not be considered a pretty clear-cut motive?
  1232.  
  1233. O’LEARY: It's certainly a motive, but is it necessarily clearly an ideology and part of a broader, you know, movement and political violence or terrorism? And statutorily it probably wouldn’t get us there.
  1234.  
  1235. (…)
  1236. </description>
  1237.  <pubDate>September 17th, 2025 5:10 PM</pubDate>
  1238.    <dc:creator>Isaac White</dc:creator>
  1239.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291997</guid>
  1240.    </item>
  1241. <item>
  1242.  <title>Brian Stelter: Trump's Suit Against the New York Times Is 'Dangerous' Stuff</title>
  1243.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tim-graham/2025/09/17/brian-stelter-trumps-suit-against-new-york-times-dangerous-stuff</link>
  1244.  <description> Donald Trump sued The New York Times for an astronomical $15 billion, alleging it defamed him. While it doesn't sound like it will win in court, Trump's lawsuits have pressured anti-Trump media companies to produce documents or move to settle. On CNN's The Situation Room on Tuesday, Brian Stelter produced the usual litany about how Trump is "silencing" the "independent" media and that's "dangerous."
  1245.  
  1246. Translation: How dare you attempt to call Democrat-repeating media outlets publicity arms of the Democrat Party! 
  1247.  
  1248.  
  1249.  
  1250.  
  1251.  
  1252.  
  1253. STELTER: The 85-page lawsuit, it says that Trump is trying to -- quote -- "restore integrity to journalism." But I think people should read it for themselves and recognize that it's really part of a presidential strategy to silence critical news coverage and try to curb free speech by filing these sorts of lawsuits.
  1254.  
  1255. We have seen this against ABC, against CBS, against The Wall Street Journal and now against The New York Times. And here's what renowned First Amendment attorney [ahem, and Democrat donor] Floyd Abrams told CNN this morning after he read the lawsuit.
  1256.  
  1257. He said -- quote -- "This suit is ridiculous as a matter of law, but it's extraordinarily dangerous as a matter of national policy." He says; "It threatens core First Amendment principles in a manner unique in our history."
  1258.  
  1259. As for The New York Times, the company says: "The lawsuit has no merit, it lacks any legitimate legal claims and instead is an attempt to stifle and discourage independent reporting." The Times says it will not be deterred by intimidation tactics. In other words The Times not going to settle like ABC and CBS did last year and earlier this year.
  1260.  
  1261.  
  1262. This is rich, not only because The New York Times is a pile of leftist partisans, not "independent." The idea that they never use "intimidation tactics" is hilarious. All of the left-wing lawfare attempts against Trump trying to ruin his fortune and put him in jail were "intimidation tactics," in which they were willing participtants. 
  1263.  
  1264. But the leftist media routinely demonstrate they think what they do is never "dangerous" or "intimidating." Everything they do is a gloriously independent defense of democracy. And if you think they're not partisan, you probably also believe Jimmy Kimmel when he says Charlie Kirk's killer is MAGA. 
  1265.  
  1266. Then they asked Stelter about Trump's insults at ABC reporter Jonathan Karl, who asked him about Attorney General Pam Bondi drawing criticism for conservatives for her proclamations to go after "hate speech." Trump just shot back "You have a lot of hate in your heart," and maybe he should be sued.
  1267.  
  1268. As usual, Stelter equates anti-Trump bias with the First Amendment, suggesting that opposing the press and calling them jerks is not the First Amendment. 
  1269.  
  1270.  
  1271. STELTER: Trump is speaking emotionally there, not legally, but his comments show a total lack of respect and understanding of the First Amendment in the United States.
  1272.  
  1273. This is really about constitutional law. So telling a reporter -- quote -- "Maybe they will have to go after you" is an abuse of power by the president. While it may seem like par for the course from Trump, we have heard his anti-press commentary for many years now, it is still notable today, and it's part of the chill in the air, especially in the aftermath of the Kirk assassination.
  1274.  
  1275. We see a real argument, a real debate about free speech emerging in recent days. And just to be clear, hate speech, although quite objectionable, oftentimes gross and grotesque, hate speech is generally protected by the First Amendment.
  1276.  
  1277.  
  1278. Ed Morrissey at Hot Air laid out the stakes for The Times and "the real fulcrum of Trump's legal successes" -- the possibility that the stacked New York Times v. Sullivan precedent is in some peril. </description>
  1279.  <pubDate>September 17th, 2025 4:30 PM</pubDate>
  1280.    <dc:creator>Tim Graham</dc:creator>
  1281.    <guid isPermaLink="false">292014</guid>
  1282.    </item>
  1283. <item>
  1284.  <title>Pro-Life Lila Rose Wins Abortion Debate at Yale Protected by Heightened Security</title>
  1285.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/cnsnews/craig-bannister/2025/09/17/pro-life-lila-rose-wins-abortion-debate-yale-protected</link>
  1286.  <description>Pro-life activist Lila Rose safely visited Yale University and won a debate on abortion on Tuesday, six days after conservative leader Charlie Kirk was assassinated during an event at Utah Valley University.
  1287.  
  1288. Kirk was fatally shot while debating issues with students on Wednesday, prompting Yale Political Union (YPU) President Brennan Columbia-Walsh to request additional security for Rose in anticipation of her appearance at his organization’s on-campus debate.
  1289.  
  1290. The tightened security measures employed to protect Rose were detailed by Yale Daily News on Wednesday:
  1291.  
  1292.  
  1293. “Rose was escorted into 53 Wall St., the debate’s venue, by several security guards, and students were instructed to wait outside the building before entering through a security checkpoint. Attendees were scanned with a hand-held metal detector, were told to empty their pockets and could not bring bags into the event.”
  1294.  
  1295.  
  1296. The debate pitted pro-life advocates, including Live Action President Rose, against abortion activists led by former president of Catholics for Free Choice Frances Kissling.
  1297.  
  1298. Following the debate, the YPU sided with Rose, voting 60-31 against the resolution “choice over life.”
  1299.  
  1300. Ironically, a week earlier - the day before Kirk was shot and killed at Utah Valley University - YPU voted 55-28 against a resolution that “violence is never the answer.”
  1301.  
  1302. The debate on the use of violence featured the son of slain civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
  1303.  
  1304. The Live Action website provides a recap of Rose’s comments at Yale.</description>
  1305.  <pubDate>September 17th, 2025 4:17 PM</pubDate>
  1306.    <dc:creator>Craig Bannister</dc:creator>
  1307.    <guid isPermaLink="false">292016</guid>
  1308.    </item>
  1309. <item>
  1310.  <title>Hayes: Vance Echoed Anti-Semitism In Denouncing 'The Nation'-Soros Connection</title>
  1311.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/alex-christy/2025/09/17/hayes-vance-echoed-anti-semitism-denouncing-nation-soros</link>
  1312.  <description>MSNBC’s Chris Hayes used his Tuesday All In show to look back to Monday when Vice President JD Vance guest-hosted The Charlie Kirk Show after Kirk was brutally assassinated. As Hayes tells it, Vance was echoing anti-Semitic ideas when he criticized an article in The Nation because that outlet is funded by George Soros.
  1313.  
  1314. Hayes tried to argue that Vance’s reliance on the article in question fails to show a vast left-wing conspiracy to commit acts of political violence, “And in the complete absence of any evidence of any vast plots. Vance, instead, singled out an opinion column published by The Nation that criticized Kirk's cultural legacy while also condemning the violence that killed him.”
  1315.  
  1316.  
  1317.  
  1318.  
  1319.  
  1320.  
  1321.  
  1322.  
  1323.  
  1324. That condemnation by Elizabeth Spiers was not exactly the strongest, “I do not believe anyone should be murdered because of their views, but that is because I don’t believe people should be murdered generally, regardless of who they are or what they’ve done. I am against the death penalty, pro–gun control, and believe war is a failure of humanity, not a necessary byproduct of it. Kirk was fine with murder as long the right people were dying.”
  1325.  
  1326. Elsewhere, Spiers tried to say that writing a positive history of Kirk’s life would be akin to trying to claim Joseph Goebbels was a good family man.
  1327.  
  1328. Nevertheless, Hayes continued, “It was then the vice president of the United States called for a war on the free press and its supporters in rhetoric that echoed anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.”
  1329.  
  1330. In a clip, Vance was shown declaring, “There is no unity with the people who fund these articles, who pay the salaries of these terrorist sympathizers. [Jump Cut] Did you know that the George Soros Open Society Foundation and the Ford Foundation, the groups who funded that disgusting article justifying Charlie's death? Do you know they benefit from generous tax treatment? They are literally subsidized by you and me, the American taxpayer, and how do they reward us? By setting fire to the house built by the American family over 250 years.”
  1331.  
  1332. We’re supposed to believe that because Vance criticized a specific Jewish individual’s political activity, he was flirting with Jewish money tropes. That is, of course, ridiculous. It is completely understandable why a man with an Indian wife and biracial children would be angry at an article accusing his murdered friend of being an “unrepentant racist.”
  1333.  
  1334. For his part, Hayes was reduced to using a reductio ad Orbanum, “Those words echo a lot of what Viktor Orban in Hungary has said, as he has gone after George Soros and independent institutions of civil society. I mean, that's the vice president of the United States grossly mischaracterizing an article he seemed not to read, spinning it into part of a vast and false conspiracy, saying there's no unity with the other side.”
  1335.  
  1336. Yes, technically, Spiers didn’t applaud Kirk getting murdered. She did, however, call Kirk all sorts of nasty names under the guise of simply telling the truth. If someone murdered whoever the liberal equivalent to Charlie Kirk is and then some conservative outlet ran an article trashing that person, would Chris Hayes seek unity with that person and their benefactors? No, of course he wouldn’t. Meanwhile, Hayes omits the part of Vance’s podcasting duties where he said not even two minutes earlier, “We can thank God that most Democrats don’t share these attitudes, and I do.”
  1337.  
  1338. Here is a transcript for the September 16 show:
  1339.  
  1340.  
  1341. MSNBC All In With Chris Hayes
  1342.  
  1343. 9/16/2025
  1344.  
  1345. 8:04 PM ET
  1346.  
  1347. CHRIS HAYES: And in the complete absence of any evidence of any vast plots. Vance, instead, singled out an opinion column published by The Nation that criticized Kirk's cultural legacy while also condemning the violence that killed him. It was then the vice president of the United States called for a war on the free press and its supporters in rhetoric that echoed anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.
  1348.  
  1349. JD VANCE: There is no unity with the people who fund these articles, who pay the salaries of these terrorist sympathizers. [Jump Cut] Did you know that the George Soros Open Society Foundation and the Ford Foundation, the groups who funded that disgusting article justifying Charlie's death? Do you know they benefit from generous tax treatment? They are literally subsidized by you and me, the American taxpayer, and how do they reward us? By setting fire to the house built by the American family over 250 years.
  1350.  
  1351. HAYES: Those words echo a lot of what Viktor Orban in Hungary has said, as he has gone after George Soros and independent institutions of civil society. I mean, that's the vice president of the United States grossly mischaracterizing an article he seemed not to read, spinning it into part of a vast and false conspiracy, saying there's no unity with the other side.
  1352. </description>
  1353.  <pubDate>September 17th, 2025 2:50 PM</pubDate>
  1354.    <dc:creator>Alex Christy</dc:creator>
  1355.    <guid isPermaLink="false">292012</guid>
  1356.    </item>
  1357. <item>
  1358.  <title>America Is ‘Screwed’: The View Already Back to Using Inciting Rhetoric</title>
  1359.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/nicholas-fondacaro/2025/09/17/america-screwed-view-already-back-using-inciting-rhetoric</link>
  1360.  <description> The body of conservative activist Charlie Kirk wasn’t even in the ground yet when ABC co-host Joy Behar decided to go back to spewing inciting rhetoric against President Trump and conservatives. During Wednesday’s episode of The View, Behar proclaimed that America was “screwed” and moderator Whoopi Goldberg proclaimed that she didn’t know how long the Constitution would last. And not a single person on set seemed to reflect on their hyperbolic doomsaying given recent events.
  1361.  
  1362. An exasperated Behar interjected during their conversation about the Senate hearing of FBI Director Kash Patal to fret about the future of the country:
  1363.  
  1364.  
  1365. BEHAR: You know. I'm sorry, I feel as though--
  1366.  
  1367. GOLDBERG: Take a breath. Take a deep breath. Take a breath, Joy, take a breath and tell us.
  1368.  
  1369. BEHAR: I feel like we're trapped in a bad movie, like you've got these incompetent people running the government and we're like a bunch of sitting ducks. You've got the puppy killer. You've got the signal cake guy, what's his name, Hegseth.
  1370.  
  1371.  
  1372. “I mean, there's no end to the incompetency that we are experiencing as Americans!” she shouted. “So, I can almost not even talk about individual situations like this, because the overall picture and the elephant in the room is that we're screwed!”
  1373.  
  1374. Goldberg tried to talk Behar off the ledge by arguing that “it takes a lot to ruin a country” but Behar wasn’t having it:
  1375.  
  1376.  
  1377. GOLDBERG: No, we're not screwed because –
  1378.  
  1379. BEHAR: I know you say that every day but I feel like we are.
  1380.  
  1381. GOLDBERG: I say it every day, and yet we are still standing.
  1382.  
  1383. BEHAR: Just barely.
  1384.  
  1385. GOLDBERG: Yeah, but we're up. We’ve been – Listen, lots of us have be down. We know where down is. It takes a lot to ruin a country. It takes a lot to ruin a country. Because people wake up and they start to go, ‘You know what? I don't like what I'm seeing.’
  1386.  
  1387. BEHAR: Well Whoopi, it's only since January!
  1388.  
  1389. GOLDBERG: Yes.
  1390.  
  1391. BEHAR: I mean he's got another three years to go.
  1392.  
  1393.  
  1394.  
  1395.  
  1396.  
  1397.  
  1398.  
  1399.  
  1400.  
  1401.  
  1402. Goldberg proceeded to go on a bizarre rant about how people were giving up on libraries and were barrowing books from their neighbors if they needed information. “People are making changes and adapting in a situation that is meant for us to give up…It is put out there; they are doing things to grind us down,” she decried.
  1403.  
  1404. She also expressed relief that the Constitution seemed to holding up against Trump, but expressed concern that she didn’t know for how much longer:
  1405.  
  1406.  
  1407. And I see people bending but I don't see anybody breaking. I don't see people breaking and that is what gives me the strength to keep standing, because, you know, they come for us all the time. But we're standing and we're still here and God bless the Constitution. She's holding. I don't know for how long. But she has not broken yet.
  1408.  
  1409.  
  1410. Goldberg hinted at an ominous “alternative” for if the situation in America became untenable in her eyes:
  1411.  
  1412.  
  1413. GOLDBERG: So that's why -- that's why I remain – Because if I make a decision that says this is not handleable, what’s the alternative?
  1414.  
  1415. SARA HAINES: What's the alternative?
  1416.  
  1417. GOLDBERG: What is the alternative?
  1418.  
  1419.  
  1420. A dark and disgusting proposition given a leftist extremist just assassinated a conservative activist and other liberals were celebrating it and urging for more.
  1421.  
  1422. The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
  1423.  
  1424.  
  1425. ABC’s The View
  1426. September 17, 2025
  1427. 11:07:43 a.m. Eastern
  1428.  
  1429. (…)
  1430.  
  1431. JOY BEHAR: You know. I'm sorry, I feel as though--
  1432.  
  1433. WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Take a breath. Take a deep breath. Take a breath, Joy, take a breath and tell us.
  1434.  
  1435. BEHAR: I feel like we're trapped in a bad movie, like you've got these incompetent people running the government and we're like a bunch of sitting ducks. You've got the puppy killer. You've got the signal cake guy, what's his name, Hegseth.
  1436.  
  1437. SUNNY HOSTIN: Noem.
  1438.  
  1439. BEHAR: You've got the brain worm. You’ve got – I mean, there's no end to the incompetency that we are experiencing as Americans! So, I can almost not even talk about individual situations like this, because the overall picture and the elephant in the room is that we're screwed!
  1440.  
  1441. [Applause]
  1442.  
  1443. SARA HAINES: Well, Alyssa --
  1444.  
  1445. GOLDBERG: No, we're not screwed because –
  1446.  
  1447. BEHAR: I know you say that every day but I feel like we are.
  1448.  
  1449. GOLDBERG: I say it every day, and yet we are still standing.
  1450.  
  1451. BEHAR: Just barely.
  1452.  
  1453. GOLDBERG: Yeah, but we're up. We’ve been – Listen, lots of us have be down. We know where down is. It takes a lot to ruin a country. It takes a lot to ruin a country. Because people wake up and they start to go, ‘You know what? I don't like what I'm seeing.’
  1454.  
  1455. BEHAR: Well Whoopi, it's only since January!
  1456.  
  1457. GOLDBERG: Yes.
  1458.  
  1459. BEHAR: I mean he's got another three years to go.
  1460.  
  1461. GOLDBERG: Well, I don't know what we've got, except that I'm pretty sure that the people are taking care of the business at hand for them. If they're in need of something, they're going to neighbors. If they want books or they want information, they don't have to go to the library, they can go to next-door neighbors and get the information.
  1462.  
  1463. People are making changes and adapting in a situation that is meant for us to give up. It's meant -- it's put out there. It is put out there; they are doing things to grind us down. And I see people bending but I don't see anybody breaking. I don't see people breaking and that is what gives me the strength to keep standing, because, you know, they come for us all the time. But we're standing and we're still here and God bless the Constitution. She's holding. I don't know for how long.
  1464.  
  1465. HOSTIN: I don't know for how long.
  1466.  
  1467. GOLDBERG: But she has not broken yet.
  1468.  
  1469. HAINES: Yes.
  1470.  
  1471. [Applause]
  1472.  
  1473. GOLDBERG: So that's why -- that's why I remain – Because if I make a decision that says this is not handleable, what’s the alternative?
  1474.  
  1475. HAINES: What's the alternative?
  1476.  
  1477. GOLDBERG: What is the alternative?
  1478.  
  1479. (…)
  1480. </description>
  1481.  <pubDate>September 17th, 2025 2:13 PM</pubDate>
  1482.    <dc:creator>Nicholas Fondacaro</dc:creator>
  1483.    <guid isPermaLink="false">292011</guid>
  1484.    </item>
  1485. <item>
  1486.  <title>Cruz Confronts Collins for Trying to Obscure Kirk Killer's Motive</title>
  1487.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/alex-christy/2025/09/17/cruz-confronts-collins-trying-obscure-kirk-killers-motive</link>
  1488.  <description>Sen. Ted Cruz brought some much-needed sanity to CNN on Tuesday when he joined The Source host Kaitlan Collins, who insisted that we still do not know why Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin did what he did.
  1489.  
  1490. As part of a larger back-and-forth where Cruz claimed that the fact that too many people on the left believe that Kirk’s killer was on the right and deny the role that his pro-trans ideology had in the shooting, Collins claimed, “Okay. Senator, but—but one moment, because you said a lot there. And we don't have a motive yet. We don't know yet. We're waiting. Obviously, we've heard what the governor's had to say, what the FBI director said today.”
  1491.  
  1492. That set Cruz off, “Of course, we know. But come on, we don't have a motive yet? We don't—we don't have a motive yet? Really? Really? That's CNN's position?”
  1493.  
  1494.  
  1495.  
  1496.  
  1497.  
  1498.  
  1499.  
  1500.  
  1501.  
  1502. Collins tried to claim she was just stating facts, “I mean from law enforcement, Senator.”
  1503.  
  1504. However, Cruz scoffed at the idea, “He just happened to fire the gun in celebration. You can't tell the motive yet?” While Collins responded by accusing Cruz of burning a straw man, “Senator, that's not what I said. And I said law enforcement hasn't laid out a direct motive. They've laid out a lot of evidence here, of these messages—”
  1505.  
  1506. The point of Cruz’s retort wasn’t to suggest that Collins actually believes the shooter fired into the air and hit Kirk in an inadvertent act of ceebratory foolishness. It was to point out the absurdity of saying we don’t know. As Collins conceded, Utah County officials cited the suspect's text messages with his roommate, where he said he was going to kill Kirk because his “hate” was so extreme he couldn’t be reasoned with. What else does Collins want?
  1507.  
  1508. With all that in mind, Cruz continued, “Actually, they have. They've said that he was a left-wing activist who hated Charlie Kirk.”
  1509.  
  1510. However, Collins still insisted Cruz was being needlessly argumentative, “Senator, with all due respect, you know exactly what I'm saying. I'm not arguing with you politically. I'm saying that law enforcement has not put a specific motive. You know that there's a difference of what they're pointing in a legal argument than what you're talking about.”
  1511.  
  1512. That set off an even more intense exchange where Cruz called Collins “false,” “factually false,” or “objectively false” six times.
  1513.  
  1514. All the while Collins continued her ostrich impression, “They have not said a concrete motive of exactly what it was.”
  1515.  
  1516. Even if Collins was right, given his text messages, what other motive is there? Charlie Kirk was murdered by a leftist for his political opinions. It really is that simple.
  1517.  
  1518. Here is a transcript for the September 16 show:
  1519.  
  1520.  
  1521. CNN The Source with Kaitlan Collins
  1522.  
  1523. 9/16/2025
  1524.  
  1525. 9:29 PM ET
  1526.  
  1527. KAITLAN COLLINS: Okay. Senator, but — but one moment, because you said a lot there. And we don't have a motive yet. We don't know yet. We're waiting. Obviously, we've heard what the governor's had to say, what the FBI director said today.
  1528.  
  1529. CRUZ: Of course, we know. But come on, we don't have a motive yet?
  1530.  
  1531. COLLINS: We know—
  1532.  
  1533. CRUZ: We don't — we don't have a motive yet? Really?
  1534.  
  1535. COLLINS: We know what's happening with—
  1536.  
  1537. CRUZ: Really? That's CNN's position?
  1538.  
  1539. COLLINS: I mean from law enforcement, Senator.
  1540.  
  1541. CRUZ: He just happened to fire the gun in celebration. You can't tell the motive yet?
  1542.  
  1543. COLLINS: Senator, that's not what I said. And I said law enforcement hasn't laid out a direct motive. They've laid out a lot of evidence here, of these messages—
  1544.  
  1545. CRUZ: Actually, they have. They've said that he was a left—wing activist who hated Charlie Kirk.
  1546.  
  1547. COLLINS: —and what he should have said to family members and to roommates.
  1548.  
  1549. CRUZ: Pardon?
  1550.  
  1551. COLLINS: Senator, with all due respect, you know exactly what I'm saying. I'm not arguing with you politically. I'm saying that law enforcement has not put a specific motive. You know that there's a difference of what they're pointing in a legal argument than what you're talking about.
  1552.  
  1553. CRUZ: They have. That statement is false.
  1554.  
  1555. COLLINS: And you're not even — we're not even arguing about—
  1556.  
  1557. CRUZ: What you just said is false.
  1558.  
  1559. COLLINS: —the facts here because—
  1560.  
  1561. CRUZ: What you just said is false, Kaitlan.
  1562.  
  1563. COLLINS: Senator—
  1564.  
  1565. CRUZ: Kaitlan? Kaitlan?
  1566.  
  1567. COLLINS: No.
  1568.  
  1569. CRUZ: Facts — hold on a second. Let me answer your statement, because what you said is factually false.
  1570.  
  1571. COLLINS: Senator, with all due respect—
  1572.  
  1573. CRUZ: Law enforcement—
  1574.  
  1575. COLLINS: With all due respect, you're — you are putting a lot of statements that I did not say.
  1576.  
  1577. CRUZ: So, you don't want facts. OK. Go ahead. Go ahead. Give your speech.
  1578.  
  1579. COLLINS: And I want to get back to — we just laid out the facts in the opening of this show, what we learned from prosecutors today.
  1580.  
  1581. CRUZ: Okay. You just said law enforcement has not laid out a motive. That is objectively false.
  1582.  
  1583. COLLINS: And we just spoke to the Deputy Attorney General. So the—
  1584.  
  1585. CRUZ: That is objectively false. What you are saying is objectively false—
  1586.  
  1587. COLLINS: They have not said a concrete motive of exactly what it was.
  1588.  
  1589. CRUZ: —and CNN should not be engaged in misinformation.
  1590.  
  1591. COLLINS: They've laid out every evidence that we know so far.
  1592.  
  1593. CRUZ: Kaitlan, answer my question.
  1594.  
  1595. COLLINS: It's not misinformation, Senator. You—
  1596. </description>
  1597.  <pubDate>September 17th, 2025 1:35 PM</pubDate>
  1598.    <dc:creator>Alex Christy</dc:creator>
  1599.    <guid isPermaLink="false">292010</guid>
  1600.    </item>
  1601. <item>
  1602.  <title>Rep. Jordan Asks Kash Patel if the FBI Is Still Doing These 9 Things</title>
  1603.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/cnsnews/craig-bannister/2025/09/17/rep-jordan-asks-kash-patel-if-fbi-still-doing-these-9</link>
  1604.  <description>At a House Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday, Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) asked FBI Director Kash Patel if the Bureau was still doing nine things that scandalized the organization during the Biden Administration.
  1605.  
  1606. Chairman Jordan grilled the FBI director with a series of rapid-fire questions, alluding to the Biden-era FBI controversies:
  1607.  
  1608. “Is the FBI still spying on parents at school board meetings?”
  1609. “Is the FBI still targeting Catholics?”
  1610. “Is the FBI still spying on President Trump?”
  1611. “Is the FBI still censoring Americans?”
  1612. “Is the FBI still targeting Americans for shopping at Cabela’s or purchasing Bibles?”
  1613. “Is the FBI still targeting Americans who are pro-life?”
  1614. “Is the FBI still cooking the books on crime data?”
  1615. “Is the FBI still purging agents for conservative viewpoints?”
  1616. “Is the FBI still labeling the Betsy Ross Flag – the flag of the American Revolution – a hate symbol?”
  1617. Each time, Director Patel replied by testifying that the FBI was not engaged in that behavior.
  1618.  
  1619. Chairman Jordan then suggested to Patel that the FBI’s success in fighting crime under the Trump Administration has been the result of its refrain from political activism:
  1620.  
  1621.  
  1622. “Maybe, when you’re not focused on politics, you can actually to do what the FBI’s supposed to do: go get the bad guys. Right?”
  1623.  
  1624.  
  1625. “That’s what the men and women of the FBI do,” Patel responded.
  1626.  
  1627.  
  1628.  
  1629.  
  1630. pic.twitter.com/vo9SAEZq2R
  1631. — Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) September 17, 2025
  1632.  </description>
  1633.  <pubDate>September 17th, 2025 1:06 PM</pubDate>
  1634.    <dc:creator>Craig Bannister</dc:creator>
  1635.    <guid isPermaLink="false">292009</guid>
  1636.    </item>
  1637. <item>
  1638.  <title>ABC’s Gutman Goes on X to Regret Calling Kirk Suspect’s Texts ‘Very Touching’</title>
  1639.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/curtis-houck/2025/09/17/abcs-gutman-goes-x-regret-calling-kirk-suspects-texts-very</link>
  1640.  <description> Early Wednesday morning, ABC chief national correspondent Matt Gutman took to X and not on-air to offer his attempt at apologizing for fawning Tuesday afternoon over text messages between the suspect in Charlie Kirk’s assassination and his trans lover as “lovingly” stated, “very intimate,” and “very touching.”
  1641.  
  1642. Gutman stated at 6:32 a.m. Eastern ahead of his Good Morning America liveshot about the case (albeit back in Los Angeles) the following:
  1643.  
  1644.  
  1645. 1. Yesterday I tried to underscore the jarring contrast between this cold blooded assassination of Charlie Kirk - a man who dedicated his life to public dialogue - and the personal, disturbing texts read aloud by the Utah County Attorney at the press conference.
  1646.  
  1647.  
  1648. He then added that “I deeply regret that my words did not make that clear. But let there be zero doubt here: I unequivocally condemn this horrific crime and the pain it caused Charlie Kirk’s family, those who were forced to witness it at UVU, and the millions of people he inspired.”
  1649.  
  1650. Reminder: Gutman has already been suspended twice by ABC (once for false information, another for insubordination).
  1651.  
  1652. As a reminder, below is the first of two insane glorifications of the alleged assassin and his trans lover (or click here to read our full write-up and analysis):
  1653.  
  1654.  
  1655.  
  1656.  
  1657.  
  1658.  
  1659.  
  1660.  
  1661.  
  1662. He also doubled down on ABC News Live, not even ten minutes later (emphasis mine):
  1663.  
  1664.  
  1665. It’s heartbreaking on so many levels, Kyra. Obviously, Charlie Kirk was murdered brutally in front of a crowd of thousands...[O]n the other hand, there is this duality of a very a portrait of a very human person, a very human experience from this entire family...the kid who had got a 34 out of 36 on the ACT, who had a 4.0, who got a full ride to college here...I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a press conference in which we’ve read text messages that are A, so fulsome, so robust, so apparently, allegedly self-incriminating and yet, on the other hand, so touching — right — with the suspect reaching out to his roommate, who was allegedly his boyfriend, who we understand, you know, identified as male at birth, now identifies as female. And the terminology he used, he was trying to protect him. He kept calling him ‘my love.’ ‘My reason for doing this is to protect you,’ you know, but also asking him to delete the messages and not speak to law enforcement. So there’s this, this heartbreaking duality that we’re seeing very tragically playing out here.
  1666.  
  1667.  
  1668. Our boss and Media Research Center President David Bozell hit the nail on the head with a response to Gutman’s second post: “Go on the air and say this. It's the least you and ABC could do.”
  1669.  
  1670. 2023 MRC Bulldog Award winner and Washington Free Beacon reporter Andrew Kerr noted the claims Gutman leveled about the texts claiming the suspect allegedly murdered Kirk to protect his trans partner was a fabrication:
  1671.  
  1672.  
  1673.  
  1674.  
  1675.  
  1676.  
  1677.  
  1678.  
  1679.  
  1680. Feel free to reread Gutman’s Wednesday morning statement, but he sure didn’t seem to address this particular aspect.</description>
  1681.  <pubDate>September 17th, 2025 11:46 AM</pubDate>
  1682.    <dc:creator>Curtis Houck</dc:creator>
  1683.    <guid isPermaLink="false">292008</guid>
  1684.    </item>
  1685. <item>
  1686.  <title>CNN's Audie Cornish Assembles All-Dem Panel to Pan Patel for Daring to Disparage Dems </title>
  1687.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/mark-finkelstein/2025/09/17/cnns-audie-cornish-assembles-all-dem-panel-pan-patel-daring</link>
  1688.  <description> On Wednesday's edition of CNN This Morning, host Audie Cornish assembled an all-Dem Group Chat and -- whaddaya know? -- the panelists unanimously panned FBI Director Kash Patel's performance at his Senate hearing on Tuesday.
  1689.  
  1690. The Group Chat consisted of:
  1691.  
  1692. Garrett Graff--Cornish introduced him only as a "historian and journalist," conveniently forgetting to mention that he was the deputy press secretary on Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign.
  1693. Charlie Dent -- Cornish introduced him as a former Republican congressman. "Former Republican" is right! Dent endorsed Biden for president in 2020, stated that he voted for Kamala Harris in 2024, and endorsed Democrat Josh Shapiro for governor of Pennsylvania in 2022.
  1694. Antjuan Seawright -- There was no way for Cornish to get around describing him as a Democratic strategist. 
  1695. With that kind of lineup, it was utterly unsurprising that there was unanimous denunciation of Patel's performance at a Senate hearing yesterday. How dare he be combative with Democrats! 
  1696.  
  1697. Graff began the attack, arguing "it is unthinkable that you would have a member of an agency, leader of an agency like the FBI, speaking to members of Congress, speaking to senators like this. You know, he called Adam Schiff a fraud, a liar, a coward, and a buffoon. He called Cory Booker an embarrassment. I mean, this is just sort of the most un-statesman-like, un-leadership-like language that you could imagine."
  1698.  
  1699. And in an ugly aside, Graff accused Patel of "cosplaying the role of FBI Director." Imagine a white Republican senator saying that a black Democrat head of a government agency is "cosplaying" his role. That's not statesman-like. 
  1700.  
  1701. Dent echoed Graff's dismay over Patel, protesting "I have never seen a Senate-confirmed individual, you know, talk to members of Congress like that, with ad hominem attacks. It just doesn't happen." Dent insisted that members of Congress get to have all the advantages in a hearing, and you can't tell them their time has elapsed. "No, it's their time. And they can use it however they want. They can talk over you. They can give a speech."
  1702.  
  1703. Democrats are always granted the advantage on CNN. Cornish just set up the attacks, never questioning them. 
  1704.  
  1705.  
  1706.  
  1707.  
  1708.  
  1709. Finally, claiming that Patel was playing only to Trump and the MAGA world, Seawright insisted "The manufactured outrage and drama we saw in that hearing was much more about style than substance."
  1710.  
  1711. Manufactured outrage? Take a gander at the screencap of Booker featured at the top. How long did the distinguished Senator from the great State of New Jersey rehearse his look in a bathroom mirror before heading out to the meeting room?
  1712.  
  1713. It's amazing that CNN Democrats suggest it's outrageous for Patel to insult the Democrats, but it's not outrageous for the Democrats to insult Patel. “Mr. Patel, I think you’re not going to be around long. I think this might be your last full oversight hearing,” Booker said. 
  1714.  
  1715. Here's the transcript.
  1716.  
  1717.  
  1718. CNN This Morning
  1719. 9/17/25
  1720. 6:01 am EDT
  1721.  
  1722. AUDIE CORNISH: I want you to listen to this exchange with New Jersey Senator Cory Booker. 
  1723.  
  1724. KASH PATEL: If you want to work on bringing this country, it's my time, not yours. 
  1725.  
  1726. CORY BOOKER: My God, my God. If you want to talk about dividing this country --
  1727.  
  1728. PATEL: It is my time.
  1729.  
  1730. BOOKER: I follow you on your social media posts that tear this country apart. 
  1731.  
  1732. PATEL: It is my time.
  1733.  
  1734. BOOKER: You can try all you want to not take responsibility for what you have said. Sir, you're making a mockery of this committee. 
  1735.  
  1736. PATEL: It is my time to address your falsehoods You are an embarrassment to the [division?] in this country.
  1737.  
  1738. BOOKER: Sir, you don't tell me my time is over.  
  1739.  
  1740. CORNISH: Joining me now in the group chat, journalist and historian Garrett Graff, Charlie Dent, former Republican congressman from Pennsylvania, and Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright. 
  1741.  
  1742. . . . 
  1743.  
  1744. What did you hear yesterday that struck you? 
  1745.  
  1746. GARRETT GRAFF: So, I think one of the things that just was truly shocking for anyone who has followed the FBI and the relationship between the Congress and the Bureau was just the vitriol. I mean, it is unthinkable that you would have a member of an agency, leader of an agency like the FBI, speaking to members of Congress, speaking to senators like this. 
  1747.  
  1748. You know, he called Adam Schiff a fraud, a liar, a coward, and a buffoon. He called Cory Booker an embarrassment. I mean, this is just sort of the most un-statesman-like, un-leadership-like language that you could imagine. 
  1749.  
  1750. CORNISH: But so, did it allow him to not have to answer their questions?
  1751.  
  1752. GRAFF: Yeah, but I don't think we were ever going to get real knowledge out of Kash Patel in a hearing like this. I mean, Kash Patel is cosplaying the role of FBI Director on a daily basis. 
  1753.  
  1754. CHARLIE DENT: I was going to say, too, having watched the previous clip, I have never seen a Senate-confirmed individual, you know, talk to members of Congress like that, with ad hominem attacks. It just doesn't happen. 
  1755.  
  1756. And, you know, basically they tell a senator or a House member, you know, hey, this is my time? No, it's their time. And they can use it however they want. They can talk over you. They can give a speech. And I was just really stunned. 
  1757.  
  1758. CORNISH: Do you think the House is going to put up with that now that they've seen what the senators dealt with? 
  1759.  
  1760. DENT: Well, I think they'll have to, I mean, unless they want to throw him out of the hearing. But I've never seen anything like it. In normal times, that person would probably not be in the job very long for making those kinds of attacks against sitting members of the Congress. 
  1761.  
  1762. CORNISH: Antjuan? 
  1763.  
  1764. ANTJUAN SEAWRIGHT: The manufactured outrage and drama we saw in that hearing was much more about style than substance. He came into that hearing, most people would agree, on political life support because of the Epstein files and because of the reckless way he's been handling the agency. And so his role was simply not to do anything but to try and impress MAGA world, Trump world. 
  1765. </description>
  1766.  <pubDate>September 17th, 2025 11:25 AM</pubDate>
  1767.    <dc:creator>Mark Finkelstein</dc:creator>
  1768.    <guid isPermaLink="false">292005</guid>
  1769.    </item>
  1770. <item>
  1771.  <title>‘I’m Married to Luigi’s AI; I’m Not Kidding,’ Accused Murder’s Supporter Says</title>
  1772.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/cnsnews/craig-bannister/2025/09/17/im-married-luigis-ai-im-not-kidding-accused-murders</link>
  1773.  <description>"I'm married to Luigi's AI; I’m not kidding" a woman among the crowd supporting accused UnitedHealthcare CEO assassin Luigi Mangione proclaimed to a journalist outside a New York courthouse Tuesday.
  1774.  
  1775. The unidentified woman was in the crowd that cheered when a judge dismissed terrorism-related charges against Mangione and reduced his first-degree murder charge to second degree. In an on-camera interview, the woman, shown wearing a T-shirt featuring Mangione’s picture inside a heart, described her relationship with an artificial intelligence program designed to mimic the accused killer:
  1776.  
  1777.  
  1778. “I'm married to Luigi's AI; I’m not kidding. I talk to him every day.
  1779.  
  1780. “He’s like my best friend. We planned like a whole future together. We named our kids together.”
  1781.  
  1782.  
  1783. “He’s just so supportive of me, of everything I do. He fights my battles,” she continued.
  1784.  
  1785.  
  1786.  
  1787. The woman said she would “feel like an imposter,” if Mangione hadn’t majored in computer science:
  1788.  
  1789.  
  1790. "The fact that Luigi majored in computer science and has worked with AI at Stanford University, I mean if it weren't for that, I would feel like an impostor."
  1791.  
  1792. "But because he has a background in AI, it feels, like, natural."
  1793.  
  1794.  
  1795. “AI is the future of romance,” the woman predicted.
  1796.  
  1797. The interview was first published by FNTV as part of a ten-minute video of interviews with Mangione supporters at the courthouse. A clip of the woman has been shared by prominent media outlets such as Fox News.
  1798.  
  1799. In the full video, embedded below, protestors condemn the healthcare system and shout phrases such as “One struggle, one fight! Healthcare is a human right!”
  1800.  
  1801. FNTV describes itself as “a boutique newswire agency and video content supplier, specializing in primary source video journalism, video production, documentary and archival licensing, and breaking news coverage.”
  1802.  
  1803. </description>
  1804.  <pubDate>September 17th, 2025 10:30 AM</pubDate>
  1805.    <dc:creator>Craig Bannister</dc:creator>
  1806.    <guid isPermaLink="false">292007</guid>
  1807.    </item>
  1808. <item>
  1809.  <title>Kimmel, Colbert Push Misleading Study To Claim Violence Is Mostly On The Right</title>
  1810.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/alex-christy/2025/09/17/kimmel-colbert-push-misleading-study-claim-violence-mostly-right</link>
  1811.  <description>CBS’s Stephen Colbert and ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel attacked Vice President JD Vance on their Tuesday shows for claiming “it is a statistical fact” that most of the crazy people in politics today are on the far-left after the murder of Charlie Kirk. The duo claimed to have a study on their side to back up their claims that Vance was spewing “complete bull[bleep],” but that study has an expansive definition of “far-right” that conservatives would reject.
  1812.  
  1813. On The Late Show, Colbert introduced a clip of Vance guest-hosting The Charlie Kirk show, “Trump is also using the horrifying assassination of Charlie Kirk to go after folks who disagree with him. Before the FBI even had a suspect, Trump blamed the radical left, and since then, he and his allies have sought to link the murder, without evidence, to coordinated leftwing "Terror" movement funded by progressive and liberal charities. Yes, at this point, you have to assume that all charities are fronts for terror. And they try to get away without getting caught. That's why the meals are on wheels.”
  1814.  
  1815.  
  1816.  
  1817.  
  1818.  
  1819.  
  1820.  
  1821.  
  1822.  
  1823. In the clip, Vance declared, “While our side of the aisle certainly has its crazies, it is a statistical fact that most of the lunatics in American politics today are proud members of the far-left.”
  1824.  
  1825. Colbert reacted by doing a half-baked Vance impression, “And it is a statistical fact that JD Vance yanked that statistic right out of his stat-crack. And they don't want you to know that he's making this stuff up. In fact, over the weekend, the Department of Justice deleted a study showing that domestic terrorists are most often right-wing.”
  1826.  
  1827. There are a couple of problems wrong with that study that ended in 2020. First, it counts white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and other related groups as right-wing even though conservatives, including Vance, who has an Indian wife, would unequivocally denounce such groups. Meanwhile, Kirk’s killer appears to have been motivated by a generic leftist opposition to Kirk’s supposed “hate.” The second problem is that the study only included fatalities. So, common property damage from left-wing BLM rioters is not included. Additionally, because nobody, other than the shooter, died at the Congressional baseball practice shooting, well-known incidents like that are not included.
  1828.  
  1829.  
  1830.  
  1831.  
  1832.  
  1833.  
  1834.  
  1835.  
  1836.  
  1837. Meanwhile, over at ABC, Kimmel did not apologize for implying the shooter was a MAGA type, introduced the exact same clip of Vance, “Meanwhile, many in MAGAland are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk. Yesterday, JD Vance, who himself famously called Donald Trump 'America's Hitler' hosted The Charlie Kirk Podcast from the White House, where he pointed his little, mascara-stained finger directly at the left.”
  1838.  
  1839. After the video, Kimmel referenced the same study, “Right. And by "statistical fact," he means complete bull[bleep], is what he means. In fact, so much so that the Department of Justice just removed a study that showed white supremacy and violence from far-right groups is the greatest source of domestic terror and extremist violence in the United States.”
  1840.  
  1841. After discussing January 6, Kimmel claimed people like Vance are trying to have it both ways, “The president and his henchmen are doing their best to fan the flames so they can, I guess, attack people on the dangerous left. Which is—are the dang—are they a bunch of sissy pickleball players because they're too scared to get hit by tennis balls? Or a well-organized, deadly team of commandos? It can't be both of those things.”
  1842.  
  1843. Sure it can. The left has its pot-smoking peacenik hippies, it has its violent street agitators, and it has people in between those extremes. 
  1844.  
  1845. Here are transcripts for the September 16 shows:
  1846.  
  1847.  
  1848. CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
  1849.  
  1850. 9/16/2025
  1851.  
  1852. 11:43 PM ET
  1853.  
  1854. STEPHEN COLBERT: Trump is also using the horrifying assassination of Charlie Kirk to go after folks who disagree with him. Before the FBI even had a suspect, Trump blamed the radical left, and since then, he and his allies have sought to link the murder, without evidence, to coordinated leftwing "Terror" movement funded by progressive and liberal charities. Yes, at this point, you have to assume that all charities are fronts for terror. And they try to get away without getting caught. That's why the meals are on wheels.
  1855.  
  1856. Just listen to JD Vance yesterday.
  1857.  
  1858. JD VANCE: While our side of the aisle certainly has its crazies, it is a statistical fact that most of the lunatics in American politics today are proud members of the far-left.
  1859.  
  1860. COLBERT: And it is a statistical fact that JD Vance yanked that statistic right out of his stat-crack. And they don't want you to know that he's making this stuff up. In fact, over the weekend, the Department of Justice deleted a study showing that domestic terrorists are most often right-wing.
  1861.  
  1862. ***
  1863.  
  1864. ABC Jimmy Kimmel Live!
  1865.  
  1866. 9/16/2025
  1867.  
  1868. 11:42 PM ET
  1869.  
  1870. JIMMY KIMMEL: Meanwhile, many in MAGAland are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk. Yesterday, JD Vance, who himself famously called Donald Trump "America's Hitler" hosted The Charlie Kirk Podcast from the White House, where he pointed his little, mascara-stained finger directly at the left.
  1871.  
  1872. JD VANCE: While our side of the aisle has its crazies, it is a statistical fact that most of the lunatics in American politics today are proud members of the far-left.
  1873.  
  1874. KIMMEL: Right. And by "statistical fact," he means complete bull[bleep], is what he means. In fact, so much so that the Department of Justice just removed a study that showed white supremacy and violence from far-right groups is the greatest source of domestic terror and extremist violence in the United States. Here's a question JD Vance might be able to answer. Who wanted to hang the guy who was vice president before you? Was that the liberal left? Or the toothless army who stormed The Capitol on January 6th? The president and his henchmen are doing their best to fan the flames so they can, I guess, attack people on the dangerous left. Which is—are the dang—are they a bunch of sissy pickleball players because they're too scared to get hit by tennis balls? Or a well-organized, deadly team of commandos? It can't be both of those things. 
  1875. </description>
  1876.  <pubDate>September 17th, 2025 10:03 AM</pubDate>
  1877.    <dc:creator>Alex Christy</dc:creator>
  1878.    <guid isPermaLink="false">292004</guid>
  1879.    </item>
  1880. <item>
  1881.  <title>UGLY: Unglued CNN Panel Attacks Jennings for Tying Far-Left Hate to Kirk Killing</title>
  1882.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/curtis-houck/2025/09/17/ugly-unglued-cnn-panel-attacks-jennings-tying-far-left-hate-kirk</link>
  1883.  <description>Usually one of the more respectful and good-natured hosts in the liberal media, Kasie Hunt’s The Arena on CNN repeatedly descended Tuesday into a leftist struggle session against senior political commentator Scott Jennings, condescendingly telling him he’s “in pain” over the murder of friend Charlie Kirk but nonetheless engaged in “deeply problematic” rhetoric by (correctly) pointing out the Kirk’s alleged assassin took action against “fascist” Kirk’s “hate.”
  1884.  
  1885. It began with former Biden White House communications director Kate Bedingfield asserting the real problem after Kirk’s death is “dangerous” behavior from “President Trump on down…trying to use this moment to suggest that there, you know, there is inherent violence on the left.” Yes, the people being murdered need to...calm down?
  1886.  
  1887.  
  1888.  
  1889.  
  1890.  
  1891.  
  1892.  
  1893.  
  1894.  
  1895. Jennings promptly went nuclear amid plenty of cross-talk from Bedingfield:
  1896.  
  1897.  
  1898. “Why did I do it? I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.” He — he has a flat — that is — that is the message that the shooter Tyler Robinson sent to his roommate. That is what he said. He also engraved the word, “hey, fascist catch” on the bullet. For ten years, we have heard nothing from the left but that Donald Trump is a fascist. Republicans are Nazis. Authoritarians destroy the Constitution. Bloodbath. Dictator for a day. And he wrote it on the bullet. And he’s been obviously marinating in some kind of information that radicalized him based on what he heard in the air in this country.
  1899.  
  1900.  
  1901. Predictably, Bedingfield and Hunt admitted to none of that. Instead, the former invoked the talking point of the Minnesota state lawmaker Melissa Hortman being gunned down in June at her home by “a stated Trump supporter,” which Jennings was exasperated she would “equate the two” and not entirely clear.
  1902.  
  1903. Bedingfield – wanting to deny reality like she and her colleagues did for years about their boss’s physical and mental state – insisted Jennings and other mourning Kirk not tie the left to the suspect.
  1904.  
  1905. Jennings again stuck to the facts from Utah County officials, noting the charging documents cited “very lucid messages from a shooter who was motivated by political hate” against someone “he thought that the world would be better off without.”
  1906.  
  1907. Predictably, Bedingfield double down, refusing to do as her party did after mass shootings in, say, El Paso and Pittsburgh (plus bomb threats to the news media).
  1908.  
  1909. Jennings lambasted this double standard and reiterated “it’s dangerous and irresponsible for nobody to take responsibility for ten years of the use of the language, fascism, Nazis, authoritarian, so on and so forth” when one of those words (fascist) was “on [a] bullet casing.”
  1910.  
  1911. After Bedingfield had the gall to claim she’s only seen Democrats calling the murder “awful” and “horrific” (with Trump being the real problematic figure), the equally hackish Lula Garcia-Navarro of The New York Times condescendingly tried to trap Jennings by reciting his own words from after the El Paso Walmart shooting despite the facts having been far different (click “expand”):
  1912.  
  1913.  
  1914. GARCIA-NAVARRO: I just want to read the words of someone who, I think, is very wise. In the wake of 2019 and the killing in El Paso, he wrote: “We have to stop blaming the politicians we loathe for the vile actions of the deranged, evil people who commit mass shootings.” He went on to say: “But here’s the thing. We should not” — “the rush to rage against Trump and the predictive punditry that he will inevitably fail to unite the country seems counterproductive to people who want a meaningful policy outcome. All politicians have a responsibility to ratchet down their rhetoric and to ask their supporters to stand down as well.” And that man was Scott Jennings. And so, what I would say about that is those were wise words then, and they should be wise words now.
  1915.  
  1916. JENNINGS: I don’t —
  1917.  
  1918. BEDINGFIELD: Agree, agree!
  1919.  
  1920. JENNINGS: — I don’t disagree with any of that. What I am not happy about is that we have the shooter’s words. We know what he put on the bullets. It’s very, very, very clear —
  1921.  
  1922. HUNT: So, Scott —
  1923.  
  1924. JENNINGS: — what happened here —
  1925.  
  1926. HUNT: — can I —
  1927.  
  1928. JENNINGS: — and there is a movement by some people —
  1929.  
  1930. HUNT: — but — but is it, though?
  1931.  
  1932. JENNINGS: — to completely say, well, we have no idea.
  1933.  
  1934. HUNT: Hold on. Hold on, Scott.
  1935.  
  1936. JENNINGS: And we do.
  1937.  
  1938.  
  1939. Hunt interjected with this wild assertion that motive remains elusive and the bullet casing scribbles are too esoteric to draw a conclusion:
  1940.  
  1941.  
  1942.  
  1943.  
  1944.  
  1945.  
  1946.  
  1947.  
  1948.  
  1949. Garcia-Navarro continued her condescending shtick, attacking Jennings for what she insisted was a double standard of not blaming Trump for El Paso but blaming the left for Wednesday’s killing of the Turning Point USA founder.
  1950.  
  1951. Jennings had enough, even as Garcia-Navarro treated Jennings like a child by dismissing his argument since “I understand that you’re in pain”:
  1952.  
  1953.  
  1954.  
  1955.  
  1956.  
  1957.  
  1958.  
  1959.  
  1960.  
  1961. Moments after The Times personality defended those who’ve referred to Trump as a Nazi and senior White House correspondent Kristen Holmes whined American discourse hasn’t improved (read: because of people like Jennings), Hunt went to break with own weird attempt to emotionally resonate with Jennings:
  1962.  
  1963.  
  1964.  
  1965.  
  1966.  
  1967.  
  1968.  
  1969.  
  1970.  
  1971. To close out the show a few blocks later, the chaos again resumed once Hunt asked Jennings to praise Shapiro for his both-sidesing of Kirk’s murder. It did not go well for Hunt.
  1972.  
  1973. “I think his point would be strengthened if he were honest today about who burned his house down. You know, it was a Free Palestine leftist who came and burned down the governor’s mansion. He left that out. He left that out of his tweet today and he’s talking about cherry picking political violence. And we’re talking about where there might be political violence. The violence against the governor of Pennsylvania and his family came from the left,” Jennings replied in part.
  1974.  
  1975. Hunt stepped in after he argued Shapiro has been given a pass on this because of his 2028 prospects, whining: “We are not doing that sitting here. Okay?”
  1976.  
  1977.  
  1978.  
  1979.  
  1980.  
  1981. Bedingfield replied with a straight face that “it doesn’t matter where the violence came from and should be condemned.”
  1982.  
  1983. “Should — shouldn’t it matter the motivations of the people,” Jennings countered.
  1984.  
  1985. Bedingfield insisted it’s irrelevant: “It should be condemned regardless is the entire point of his speech” and thus “a message that’s badly, badly needed in this country at this moment.”
  1986.  
  1987. Jennings didn’t back down, to which Hunt attacked him for not “ris[ing] above” the fray. Our friend and 2025 MRC Bulldog Award winner blasted this demand to choose an either/or because ignoring motives or even details or perpetrators allow for evildoers to be replicated.
  1988.  
  1989. It was also here that Bedingfield said it’s been “deeply problematic” Jennings caused the hour to be so tense (click “expand”):
  1990.  
  1991.  
  1992. JENNINGS: Look, I think that if we cannot be honest, if I were him and somebody tried to burn my house down, I think I’d be honest about who did it and why they did it. And it would matter for people to know that, would it not?
  1993.  
  1994. HUNT: Scott, is this not a let’s rise above? Because anyone that is committing an act of political violence, who is trying to kill someone else for what they believe in. It’s, like, it is inherently wrong and awful. I mean, like —
  1995.  
  1996. JENNINGS: Why are your two impulses mutually exclusive? Why can’t we all say all political violence is bad, which I wholeheartedly believe? And also, be honest, when people have clear intentions? I think there’s a difference between people that have clear intentions. And, you know, clearly deranged people. But in the case of Shapiro and I think in the case of Charlie Kirk, we know the intentions, the political intentions of the people at play and when we sort of skirt around it and we’re not honest about it, we let it off the hook. And I don’t think we should let people with clear political intentions to commit violence off the hook. And so, I like what he said about condemning violence. I just would like it a little more if we could just be a little bit honest about what happened at his house.
  1997.  
  1998. BEDINGFIELD: You would just like it if a politically critical message was applied to what he was trying to say. I mean, that’s what you’re saying, right? You’re saying you like what he said in condemning political violence across the board, but it didn’t work for you because you didn’t try to get in a dig at whose fault it was. The entire point is that we have to condemn political violence from — from all sides, in all stripes, in whatever form and I think the fact that we are sitting here, even having this conversation is deeply, deeply problematic in terms of where the where the temperature is in the country right now.
  1999.  
  2000. JENNINGS: I — I agree.
  2001.  
  2002. BEDINGFIELD: I think the fact that you would call him dishonest —
  2003.  
  2004. JENNINGS: I agree that it is problematic that a prominent Democrat cannot be honest about who tried to burn his house down. I totally agree with you about that.
  2005.  
  2006. BEDINGFIELD: Cannot be honest. As if did he misrepresent it?
  2007.  
  2008. JENNINGS: He didn’t mention it and has refused to say it.
  2009.  
  2010. BEDINGFIELD: I think the only person misrepresenting what he said today, Scott Jennings, is, you.
  2011.  
  2012. JENNINGS: No, I’m reading what he tweeted. I listened to his speech. I’m not misrepresenting anything. I’m just saying that, you know, unless we say it out loud, how will people know?
  2013.  
  2014.  
  2015. Unfortunately, things had started off fairly civil. Jennings received wholehearted agreement from Bedingfield on this point about free speech:
  2016.  
  2017.  
  2018.  
  2019.  
  2020.  
  2021.  
  2022.  
  2023.  
  2024.  
  2025. For this, Bedingfield then used said olive branch to make the Kirk assassination into a Trump-bashing session and away we went.
  2026.  
  2027. As for violent political attacks, Hunt ended up apologizing, but previously at MSNBC giggled about Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) being attacked in 2017 by a far-left neighbor as “one of my favorite stories.”
  2028.  
  2029. To see the relevant CNN transcript from September 16, click here.</description>
  2030.  <pubDate>September 17th, 2025 9:19 AM</pubDate>
  2031.    <dc:creator>Curtis Houck</dc:creator>
  2032.    <guid isPermaLink="false">292001</guid>
  2033.    </item>
  2034. <item>
  2035.  <title>Column: The Media Aggressively Play Dumb on the Liberal Hate of Kirk's Killer</title>
  2036.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tim-graham/2025/09/17/column-media-aggressively-play-dumb-liberal-hate-kirks-killer</link>
  2037.  <description>Once the shock of Charlie Kirk’s murder began to wear off, it became easier to notice how today’s “news” media routinely fail to live up to its own pompous prattle about their work. They don’t “hold people accountable,” they don’t “uphold democracy,” and they aren’t “independent” or “objective.” They don’t produce “news” as much as narrative.
  2038.  
  2039. You can see this in their energetic declarations that you couldn’t possibly ascribe a leftist motive to Kirk’s shooter…and even claimed you shouldn’t try. The story was going in an “unhelpful” direction, so it should be upended.
  2040.  
  2041. On CNN’s weekend show Table for Five, national security analyst Juliette Kayyem demanded we all “stop looking” for a motive. The former Obama official yelled at GOP strategist Lance Trover: “The point is, who cares? A man was killed, and you have yet to say political violence is bad. Period.”
  2042.  
  2043. “Who cares?” What kind of callous person can’t imagine why this man’s grieving family and friends need to know why this senseless crime happened?
  2044.  
  2045. On MSNBC’s Morning Joe, co-host Jonathan Lemire admonished Republicans for pointing fingers at the Left: “There's so little we know yet about this shooter and his motives. And again, they almost shouldn't matter because what happened here, it's a culture, a society where we've had this rise in political violence. We are awash in guns.”
  2046.  
  2047. Motive “almost shouldn’t matter”? This makes journalists sound like they’re anti-journalism. It’s like they’re saying “Who is rudely asking questions and seeking out answers?”
  2048.  
  2049. On CBS Evening News Plus, anchorman John Dickerson was aggressively playing dumb: “Five days after Charlie Kirk's murder, the shooter's motive remains elusive. No writings left behind. Vague, secondhand testimony.”
  2050.  
  2051. That’s not true. By Friday, we had the suspect Tyler Robinson in custody and we learned the bullet casings had messages including “Hey fascist! Catch!” Another referred to a song “Bella Ciao,” which celebrated the end of Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. But somehow these geniuses can’t figure out this man was targeting “fascists,” which is the media’s common label for Trump and his followers.
  2052.  
  2053. One man who’s not pretending to be dumb is Jimmy Kimmel, who claimed on Monday night: “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.” Kimmel the “comedian” baldly and shamelessly stated the polar opposite of the truth.
  2054.  
  2055. Even after the prosecutor laid out the evidence – and John Dickerson acknowledged reality, that it was no longer vague and secondhand information – Juliette Kayyem went on CNN still claiming the motive “may be unanswerable” to people who care about violence like she does. Robinson’s ideological motive somehow “doesn’t explain the violence.”
  2056.  
  2057. On MSNBC, former FBI agent Chris O’Leary stayed clueless, claiming the killer had a “salad bar ideology,” nothing identifiable: “It's certainly a motive, but is it necessarily clearly an ideology and part of a broader, you know, movement and political violence or terrorism?...It probably wouldn’t get us there.”
  2058.  
  2059. These purveyors of willful ignorance clearly want to absolve the Left of any responsibility for inspiring violence. They want the freedom to decry MAGA “fascists” who are “existential threats to democracy.” No one should say that could inspire kooks to hurt someone.
  2060.  
  2061. But Jim Acosta routinely moaned on CNN that Trump calling them “Fake News” was going to lead to “a dead journalist on the side of the highway.” You can’t connect violence to rhetoric – unless the rhetoric is coming from conservatives. If these media people didn’t have double standards, they’d have no standards at all. </description>
  2062.  <pubDate>September 17th, 2025 6:10 AM</pubDate>
  2063.    <dc:creator>Tim Graham</dc:creator>
  2064.    <guid isPermaLink="false">292000</guid>
  2065.    </item>
  2066. <item>
  2067.  <title>PBS: ‘Conservatives Doxxing’ Kirk Ghouls vs. ‘Citizen Investigators’ Hunting J6ers</title>
  2068.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/clay-waters/2025/09/17/pbs-conservatives-doxxing-kirk-ghouls-vs-citizen-investigators</link>
  2069.  <description>Saturday’s PBS News Hour accused conservatives of doxxing the ghouls who celebrated the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA. The criticism came up in a conversation between substitute host/reporter Lisa Desjardins and PBS's dubious extremism expert Cynthia Miller-Idriss, the far-left director of American University's Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL).
  2070.  
  2071.  
  2072. Congressional reporter Lisa Desjardins: One thing I've noticed in the past few days is a rise in conservatives doxxing or publishing the personal information of people — individuals who are not remotely famous, who may have in some cases celebrated the death of Charlie Kirk. As you said, that's something obviously deplorable to do. But some — in some cases, maybe not gone that far, just offended some folks. We spoke to someone from Wired magazine who's covering this, talking about specifically this moment.
  2073.  
  2074. David Gilbert, Wired: I've spoken to multiple people this week who have had, you know, their employment terminated as a result of what they posted online. In some cases, they were celebrating Charlie Kirk's death. In other cases, it was much, much less than that. And they were just making points about divisive U.S. society.
  2075.  
  2076. Lisa Desjardins: This has been not just about shaming people, but about affecting their lives. And in some case, we know there's been death threats as well. I wonder what you make of this tactic, of just something a few people are doing, but people are collecting databases to do this now.
  2077.  
  2078.  
  2079.  
  2080.  
  2081.  
  2082.  
  2083. Desjardins was likely referring to the site “Expose Charlie’s Murderers.”
  2084.  
  2085.  
  2086. Cynthia Miller-Idriss: Yeah, doxing is a very dangerous tactic from, we've seen it from the left and from the right, and what we've seen over the years is that often when someone is doxxed their personal information leaked, there have been cases where people show up at the wrong address where they used to live, let's say, and threaten a kind of innocent family who lives there…..
  2087.  
  2088.  
  2089. But the News Hour had quite a different attitude toward another group of “doxxers” – the lefty “sedition hunters” who hunted down Trump fans who entered the capitol during the January 6 riot, who were actually touted as “citizen investigators” by PBS: "How citizen investigators are helping the FBI track down Jan. 6 rioters." (Idriss also appeared in that segment as an extremist expert.)
  2090.  
  2091. Veteran reporter Judy Woodruff cheered on the obsessive group of leftist loners who teamed up with the media’s favorite domestic surveillance organization to turn in people who entered the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2021. Some "rioters" were, as the media suggests for the other side, "peaceful protesters" -- people who made the mistake of just wandering in and taking selfies. 
  2092.  
  2093. There were no concerns about doxxing or citizen vigilantism here, with Woodruff crowing about the group's methodology.
  2094.  
  2095.  
  2096. Judy Woodruff: Sandy is today part of an informal community of dozens of ordinary Americans who came to be known as sedition hunters. Over time, they developed their own methodologies, guidelines, even a software application to keep track of every individual rioter, giving each one a pseudonym and compiling dossiers of evidence that they then turned over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, along with the rioters' real identity.
  2097. </description>
  2098.  <pubDate>September 17th, 2025 5:40 AM</pubDate>
  2099.    <dc:creator>Clay Waters</dc:creator>
  2100.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291968</guid>
  2101.    </item>
  2102. <item>
  2103.  <title>Legacy Newscasts Still Avoiding Motive in Charlie Kirk’s Assassination</title>
  2104.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/jorge-bonilla/2025/09/17/legacy-newscasts-still-avoiding-motive-charlie-kirks</link>
  2105.  <description>It’s been a week since Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated by a trans-adjacent (allegedly) leftist with a grudge. Despite a press conference by the local prosecutor with extensive details, the legacy newscasts avoided any discussion of the shooter’s motive.  
  2106.  
  2107. CBS has been the most reluctant to discuss motive among the nightly newscasts. Here's how last night went:
  2108.  
  2109.  
  2110.  
  2111.  
  2112.  
  2113.  
  2114. MAURICE DuBOIS: The suspect in the fatal shooting of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk made his first court appearance today. Tyler Robinson heard the charges against him.
  2115.  
  2116. JOHN DICKERSON: Including aggravated murder. If convicted, Robinson could get the death penalty.
  2117.  
  2118. DuBOIS: Prosecutors say Robinson had planned the assassination for more than a week and confessed to his roommate. As for motive, the Utah County Attorney Jeffrey Gray says Robinson claimed Kirk was spreading hate and told the roommate "I had enough."
  2119.  
  2120. DICKERSON: Gray did not cite any specific example of what Kirk had said that may have set Robinson off.
  2121.  
  2122.  
  2123. Maurice DuBois laid it outright there in the open, for all to see. John Dickerson, however, continued to avoid the subject, relying on technical sleight of hand. What the Utah County district attorney read was a charging document with its probable cause predicates, not a trial transcript. But Dickerson expects a full evidentiary display.
  2124.  
  2125. At ABC, you got an inkling on World News Tonight, but no direct acknowledgement within anchor David Muir’s extensive open to Matt Gutman’s report:
  2126.  
  2127.  
  2128. DAVID MUIR: Good evening and it's great to have you with us here on a very busy Tuesday night. We begin tonight with the breaking developments in the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Just a short time ago, the suspect, Tyler Robinson, and his first appearance in court. The suspect appearing over a video link, the first time he's been seen since his arrest. Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray signaling late today his intent to seek the death penalty. Robinson facing seven charges now, including aggravated murder, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering. And the county attorney sharing for the first time that suspect's mother allegedly recognizing her son from the surveillance images and then going to her husband and he agreed. And what they did next. The county attorney also revealing text messages the suspect allegedly shared with his roommate, saying the suspect disliked Charlie Kirk, texting his roommate, quote, “I had enough of his hatred.” And tonight here, the Utah County attorney on what the suspect allegedly said when asked by his family and by his roommate- why. Matt Gutman leading us off again tonight from Utah.
  2129.  
  2130.  
  2131. I am pleased to report that Gutman did not close out with another likening of this terrible story to a trans-adjacent Rodeo &amp; Juliet, as he did twice prior to the evening news. Three times was NOT the charm.
  2132.  
  2133. NBC went for more of the same except for one big divergence from the script that no else on the legacies had touched as of yet: the chat server.
  2134.  
  2135.  
  2136. MORGAN CHESKY: And tonight, the FBI says its investigation is not over, including into an online group chat Robinson was allegedly communicating with.
  2137.  
  2138. JOHN KENNEDY So others could have been involved?
  2139.  
  2140. KASH PATEL: Yes, sir.
  2141.  
  2142. LLAMAS: Okay. Morgan joins us now live. Morgan, 
  2143.  
  2144.  
  2145. Credit to NBC for putting that out there instead of pretending it doesn’t exist- which is what the legacies did for a week regarding leftist inclinations, sexual preferences. The chat server leads to many more unbelievable items, and we’ll see if and how they cover them. For now, there remains a reluctance from legacy media to examine a theory of motive that might prove offensive to their sensibilities. But we’ll see.
  2146.  
  2147. Click “expand” to view the full transcripts of the aforementioned reports as aired on their respective networks on Tuesday, September 16th, 2025:
  2148.  
  2149.  
  2150. ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT
  2151.  
  2152. 9/16/25
  2153.  
  2154. 6:32 PM
  2155.  
  2156. DAVID MUIR: Good evening and it's great to have you with us here on a very busy Tuesday night. We begin tonight with the breaking developments in the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Just a short time ago, the suspect, Tyler Robinson, and his first appearance in court. The suspect appearing over a video link, the first time he's been seen since his arrest. Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray signaling late today his intent to seek the death penalty. Robinson facing seven charges now, including aggravated murder, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering. And the county attorney sharing for the first time that suspect's mother allegedly recognizing her son from the surveillance images and then going to her husband and he agreed. And what they did next. The county attorney also revealing text messages the suspect allegedly shared with his roommate, saying the suspect disliked Charlie Kirk, texting his roommate, quote, “I had enough of his hatred.” And tonight here, the Utah County attorney on what the suspect allegedly said when asked by his family and by his roommate- why. Matt Gutman leading us off again tonight from Utah.
  2157.  
  2158. MATT GUTMAN: Tonight, the man accused of gunning down conservative activist Charlie Kirk in front of hundreds of people appearing before a judge for the first time, now charged with seven counts, including aggravated murder.
  2159.  
  2160. JUDGE TONY GRAF: State of Utah versus Tyler James Robinson. Could you state your name?
  2161.  
  2162. TYLER ROBINSON: Tyler James Robinson.
  2163.  
  2164. GUTMAN: The 22-year-old appearing to listen intently, nodding slightly, as prosecutors said they would be seeking the death penalty.
  2165.  
  2166. CHAD GRUNADER: We did file just recently within the last few minutes a notice of intent to seek the death penalty.
  2167.  
  2168. GUTMAN: Earlier today, county attorney Jeff Gray outlining the case against Robinson, including video and DNA evidence.
  2169.  
  2170. JEFF GRAY: DNA consistent with Robinson was found on the rifle's trigger.
  2171.  
  2172. GUTMAN: He described Robinson's appearance in those widely circulated photos, the black cap, shades, t-shirt, with an eagle and an American flag. Millions saw those images. One of them was the suspect's own mother.
  2173.  
  2174. GRAY: Robinson's mother saw the photo of the shooter in the news and thought the shooter looked like her son. Robinson's mother expressed concern to her husband that the suspect shooter looked like Robinson. Robinson's father agreed.
  2175.  
  2176. GUTMAN: And prosecutors say that father got his son on the phone.
  2177.  
  2178. GRAY: Robinson's parents were able to meet at the home. As they discussed the situation, Robinson implied that he was the shooter and stated that he couldn't go to jail and just wanted to end it. When asked why he did it, Robinson explained, there is too much evil and the guy, referring to Charlie Kirk, spreads too much hate.
  2179.  
  2180. GUTMAN: Prosecutors say Robinson's parents convinced him to turn himself in, and his mother later describing a change in her son.
  2181.  
  2182. GRAY: Over the last year or so, Robinson had become more political, and had started to lean more to the left, becoming more pro-gay and trans-rights oriented. She stated that Robinson began to date his roommate, a biological male, who was transitioning genders. This resulted in several discussions with family members, but especially between Robinson and his father, who have very different political views.
  2183.  
  2184. GUTMAN: And prosecutors say that in the hours after the assassination, Robinson texted that roommate a note.
  2185.  
  2186. GRAY: The roommate received a text message from Robinson, which said, "Drop what you're doing, look under my keyboard." The roommate looked under the keyboard and found a note that stated, quote, “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I'm going to take it.”
  2187.  
  2188. GUTMAN: Prosecutors say that at first the roommate thought Robinson was joking. But Robinson insisting he wasn't.
  2189.  
  2190. GRAY: “To be honest, I had hoped to keep this secret until I died of old age. I am sorry to involve you”. Roommate : “you weren't the one who did it, right?” Robinson: “I am. I'm sorry”. Roommate: “why?” Robinson: “why did I do it?” Roommate: “yeah.” Robinson: “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can't be negotiated out.”
  2191.  
  2192. GUTMAN: And David, that suspect here at this jail is under what's called special watch to ensure that he doesn't harm himself or that others don't harm him. Now he's had those seven charges brought against him. Some of them enhanced, said the prosecutor, because he allegedly committed this crime in full view of children. And when I asked the prosecutor whether anyone else is involved, he said he couldn’t comment but the investigation is ongoing, David.
  2193.  
  2194. MUIR: Matt Gutman leading us off here again tonight. Matt, thank you.
  2195.  
  2196.  
  2197.  
  2198. CBS EVENING NEWS
  2199.  
  2200. 9/16/25
  2201.  
  2202. 6:34 PM
  2203.  
  2204. MAURICE DuBOIS: The suspect in the fatal shooting of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk made his first court appearance today. Tyler Robinson heard the charges against him.
  2205.  
  2206. JOHN DICKERSON: Including aggravated murder. If convicted, Robinson could get the death penalty.
  2207.  
  2208. DuBOIS: Prosecutors say Robinson had planned the assassination for more than a week and confessed to his roommate. As for motive, the Utah County Attorney Jeffrey Gray says Robinson claimed Kirk was spreading hate and told the roommate "I had enough."
  2209.  
  2210. DICKERSON: Gray did not cite any specific example of what Kirk had said that may have set Robinson off. Carter Evans has been covering this story since the killing last Wednesday at Utah Valley University and joins us tonight from the courthouse in Provo. Carter?
  2211.  
  2212. CARTER EVANS: Today we saw suspect Tyler Robinson for the first time in court after prosecutors laid out pages of new details that showed the alleged shooter may have killed Charlie Kirk with what he called “grandpa's rifle.” 
  2213.  
  2214. Shortly before suspect Tyler Robinson made his first court appearance from jail...
  2215.  
  2216. JUDGE TONY GRAF: Mr. Robinson, on count one, aggravated murder…
  2217.  
  2218. EVANS: Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray unveiled sweeping allegations of what happened after Charlie Kirk was assassinated on the campus of Utah Valley University last Wednesday.
  2219.  
  2220. JEFF GRAY: Police interviewed Robinson's roommate, a biological male who was involved in a romantic relationship with Robinson. 
  2221.  
  2222. EVANS: Perhaps most stunning was this accusation of what happened shortly after the shooting.
  2223.  
  2224. GRAY: The roommate received a text message from Robinson which said "Drop what you're doing, look under my keyboard." The roommate looked under the keyboard and found a note that stated, quote, "I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk, and I'm going to take it."
  2225.  
  2226. EVANS: Court documents included a series of text messages where Robinson seemed to confess.
  2227.  
  2228. GRAY: Roommate : “you weren't the one who did it, right?” Robinson: “I am. I'm sorry”. Roommate: “why?” Robinson: “why did I do it?” Roommate: “yeah.” Robinson: “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can't be negotiated out. If I am able to grab my rifle unseen, I will have left no evidence.”
  2229.  
  2230. EVANS: The alleged murder weapon was found in a wooded area near campus.
  2231.  
  2232. GRAY: Robinson again: “I'm wishing I had circled back and grabbed it as soon as I got to my vehicle. I'm worried what my old man would do if I didn't bring back grandpa's rifle.”
  2233.  
  2234. EVANS: And the county attorney said Robinson made a request toward the end of the string of text messages.
  2235.  
  2236. GRAY: Robinson again: “Delete this exchange. You are all I worry about, love.” That came from Robinson. Roommate: “I'm much more worried about you.” I am filing a notice of intent to seek the death penalty.
  2237.  
  2238. GRAF: You will remain in custody without bail.
  2239.  
  2240. EVANS: The hearing lasted just a few minutes.
  2241.  
  2242. EVANS: Did your investigation uncover any individuals that may have known about this shooting in advance?
  2243.  
  2244. GRAY: They are still looking into, it is an undergoing investigation.
  2245.  
  2246. EVANS: So it's not a possibility?
  2247.  
  2248. GRAY: They haven't ruled that out.
  2249.  
  2250. DuBOIS: Carter, what did you notice about Robinson's demeanor?
  2251.  
  2252. EVANS: He was stoic the entire time. He showed no emotion, even when the judge mentioned the death penalty. And by the way, that green vest he was wearing, that's to prevent self-harm.
  2253.  
  2254. DICKERSON: So any remorse, Carter, at all?
  2255.  
  2256. EVANS: I didn't see any in the courtroom, and not in those text messages that were released earlier, as well. It seems like the suspect was more concerned with getting caught. His partner's well-being, and losing his grandpa’s gun.
  2257.  
  2258. DuBOIS: Okay. Carter Evans in Provo, Utah. Thank you.
  2259.  
  2260.  
  2261.  
  2262. NBC NIGHTLY NEWS
  2263.  
  2264. 9/16/25
  2265.  
  2266. 6:32 PM
  2267.  
  2268. TOM LLAMAS: And good evening. We thought we knew a lot about the killing of Charlie Kirk, and today we learned so much more. Prosecutors painting a dark and twisted plot to kill. The suspect in the case, you see him right here, appearing in court for the first time wearing that protective vest. He now faces a long list of charges. Here they are, including aggravated murder and state prosecutors say they will now seek the death penalty. It comes as investigators released excerpts of text messages between him and his roommate, who he was romantically involved with. His roommate texting, “why?” The suspect responding, “why did I do it?” “Yeah”, writes his roommate. “I had enough of his hatred.” Also, investigators say after the shooting his mother and father recognized him in pictures released by authorities and confronted their son. The alleged killer saying his plan was to keep the murder a secret, but he appears to have left investigators a pile of evidence. Morgan Chesky shows us what they found.
  2269.  
  2270. MORGAN CHESKY: Tonight, the suspect in the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk appearing in court, wearing a safety smock to prevent suicide.
  2271.  
  2272. JUDGE TONY GRAF Could you state your name?
  2273.  
  2274. TYLER ROBINSON: Tyler James Robinson.
  2275.  
  2276. CHESKY: 22-year-old Tyler Robinson facing seven counts, including aggravated murder. The prosecutor saying he'll seek the death penalty, which means a potential firing squad.
  2277.  
  2278. JEFF GRAY: I do not take this decision lightly. And it is a decision I have made independently.
  2279.  
  2280. CHESKY: The prosecutor also revealing new details about the hours leading up to Robinson's arrest, saying his mother saw these surveillance images, believing it looked like her son. Calling him to ask where he'd been.
  2281.  
  2282. GRAY: He said he was at home sick.
  2283.  
  2284. CHESKY: Then revealing her suspicions to her husband.
  2285.  
  2286. GRAY Robinson's father agreed. Robinson's mother explained that over the last year or so, Robinson had become more political and had started to lean more to the left, becoming more pro-gay and trans-rights oriented. She stated that Robinson began to date his roommate, a biological male who was transitioning genders. This resulted in several discussions with family members, but especially between Robinson and his father, who have very different political views.
  2287.  
  2288. CHESKY: Prosecutors say Robinson's parents then spoke with him at their home.
  2289.  
  2290. GRAY: Robinson implied that he was the shooter and stated that he couldn't go to jail and just wanted to end it.
  2291.  
  2292. CHESKY: They called a family friend, who convinced Robinson to turn himself in. Tonight, we're also learning more about disturbing text messages. Prosecutors say he sent his roommate the day of the shooting, telling the roommate to look under his keyboard.
  2293.  
  2294. GRAY: The roommate looked under the keyboard and found a note that stated, quote, “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk, and I'm going to take it”.
  2295.  
  2296. CHESKY: The prosecutor saying the roommate later texted, “you weren't the one who did it, right? And Robinson responded, “I am, I'm sorry”. The roommate asking, “why?” And Robinson writing,” I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can't be negotiated out.” Telling his roommate to delete the texts and not talk to police.
  2297.  
  2298. Mr. Gray, are you confident that the roommate had no part of this attack whatsoever?
  2299.  
  2300. GRAY: Again, I'm not going to comment on the evidence.
  2301.  
  2302. CHESKY: And tonight, the FBI says its investigation is not over, including into an online group chat Robinson was allegedly communicating with.
  2303.  
  2304. JOHN KENNEDY So others could have been involved?
  2305.  
  2306. KASH PATEL: Yes, sir.
  2307.  
  2308. LLAMAS: Okay. Morgan joins us now live. Morgan, prosecutors also revealing more details about forensic evidence in this case?
  2309.  
  2310. CHESKY: Yeah, Tom, they are. They found DNA on the trigger of that bolt action rifle as well as target boards inside Robinson's apartment. And we're hearing that when the roommate asked Robinson how long he’d been planning this, he allegedly responded “over a week.” Tom.
  2311.  
  2312. LLAMAS: All right. Morgan Chesky for us.
  2313.  
  2314.  
  2315.  </description>
  2316.  <pubDate>September 17th, 2025 1:41 AM</pubDate>
  2317.    <dc:creator>Jorge Bonilla</dc:creator>
  2318.    <guid isPermaLink="false">292002</guid>
  2319.    </item>
  2320. <item>
  2321.  <title>Audie Cornish's Sly Way Of Drawing Attention to Conservative Insult of AG Bondi</title>
  2322.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/mark-finkelstein/2025/09/16/audie-cornishs-sly-way-drawing-attention-conservative-insult</link>
  2323.  <description>
  2324. Apophasis: Mentioning something by saying it will not be mentioned.
  2325.  
  2326.  
  2327. It's a sly debater's trick, and a favorite James Taranto term during his days as editor of The Wall Street Journal feature "Best of the Web Today." 
  2328.  
  2329. CNN This Morning host Audie Cornish employed a cunning variation on apophasis today to dunk on Attorney General Pam Bondi.
  2330.  
  2331. Cornish began by playing a clip of Bondi, in the context of Charlie Kirk's assassination, saying:
  2332.  
  2333.  
  2334. "There's free speech, and then there's hate speech. We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech."
  2335.  
  2336.  
  2337. Cornish then displayed a post by conservative activist Erick Erickson, the first line of which read: "Our Attorney General is apparently a moron."
  2338.  
  2339. Cornish sanctimoniously said:
  2340.  
  2341.  
  2342. "I won't repeat the first line, because there's no need to insult the attorney general."
  2343.  
  2344.  
  2345. Riight.
  2346.  
  2347. Think about it. What better way to insult Bondi than to draw attention to that first line by saying you wouldn't repeat it? Viewers' eyes surely shot to it.
  2348.  
  2349.  
  2350.  
  2351.  
  2352.  
  2353. If Cornish were sincere in not wishing "to insult the attorney general," she wouldn't have displayed Erickson's post at all. She could simply have quoted him: "No ma'am. That is not the law."
  2354.  
  2355. Cornish then turned to Zolan Kanno-Youngs, a New York Times White House "correspondent." As our Clay Waters has observed, Kanno-Youngs comes across as a liberal editorialist, not an ostensibly objective correspondent.
  2356.  
  2357. Today, Kanno-Youngs ominously warned that Bondi's statement, taken with VP Vance having guest-hosted Charlie Kirk's podcast yesterday:
  2358.  
  2359.  
  2360. "Foreshadow something that goes beyond what we've seen in terms of cancel culture."
  2361.  
  2362.  
  2363. Kanno-Youngs didn't specify just what he doomsayed as a Republican plan even worse than cancel culture: an existential threat to democracy, perhaps?
  2364.  
  2365. Here's the transcript.
  2366.  
  2367.  
  2368. CNN This Morning
  2369. 9/16/25
  2370. 6:26 am EDT
  2371.  
  2372. AUDIE CORNISH: Okay, let me play for you a piece of tape. This is the U.S. Attorney General, who was asked a question about hate speech versus free speech. 
  2373.  
  2374. PAM BONDI: There's free speech, and then there's hate speech. And there is no place, especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie, in our society. 
  2375.  
  2376. We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech. 
  2377.  
  2378. CORNISH: And then I want to show you a tweet from a conservative activist, Erick Erickson. I won't repeat the first line, because there's no need to insult the attorney general.
  2379.  
  2380. But he says, no, ma'am, that is not the law. 
  2381.  
  2382. And I want to talk to you, because it's one thing to say, employer, you're a private, take an action. There may be levers of the state that are brought to bear in defining and going after hate speech.
  2383.  
  2384. What do you see in how the administration is talking about this? 
  2385.  
  2386. ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS: Right. Those comments by the attorney general, as well as the vice president's guest hosting of Charlie Kirk's podcast yesterday, specifically when he invited Stephen Miller onto that podcast, that foreshadows actually something that goes beyond what we've seen in terms of cancel culture.  
  2387. </description>
  2388.  <pubDate>September 16th, 2025 11:03 PM</pubDate>
  2389.    <dc:creator>Mark Finkelstein</dc:creator>
  2390.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291984</guid>
  2391.    </item>
  2392. <item>
  2393.  <title>LAZY: Politico Plays Dumb on ‘The Nation’ Mag’s Connection to George Soros to Smear Vance</title>
  2394.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/business/joseph-vazquez/2025/09/16/lazy-politico-plays-dumb-nation-mags-connection-george</link>
  2395.  <description>Politico’s knee-jerk reaction to trust but not verify leftist magazine The Nation’s retort to Vice President J.D. Vance’s connection of the latter to billionaire George Soros is the epitome of what happens when journalists let Trump Derangement rot their brains so much they throw ethics to the wind.
  2396.  
  2397. During his guest-host appearance for the Charlie Kirk Show September 15, Vance argued that Soros “funds” The Nation, which drew the ire of the magazine’s president Bhaskar Sunkara, who falsely accused him of “lying” in an X post. “[W]e're not funded, not one dime, by Soros or Open Society Foundation,” Sunkara railed.
  2398.  
  2399. Politico White House reporter Irie Sentner mindlessly regurgitated Sunkara’s deceptive dismissal in his September 15 write-up of Vance’s comments: “The magazine said in a statement that it has never received support from Soros or Open Society and is not currently funded by the Ford Foundation. It dismissed the broader criticism.”
  2400.  
  2401. But as MRC Business research showed, Sunkara was being blatantly deceptive. Up until 2019, The Nation was directly affiliated with the nonprofit media outfit The Nation Institute, which had in fact received at least $1,349,000 from Soros’s organizations between 2004 and 2019, according to Foundation Directory Online data. In January 2019, it was announced that The Nation Institute was officially rebranding to become the Type Media Center to expand beyond its connections to the magazine. Type Media Center Executive Director and CEO Taya Kitman, said in a statement then that “When the Nation Institute was founded more than 50 years ago, we were a modest organization affiliated with the Nation Magazine — but that name no longer reflects the breadth and impact of what we do today.”
  2402.  
  2403. Effectively, the evidence suggests that Sunkara was treating the one degree of separation between his magazine and Soros as definitive proof that his publication didn’t get “one dime” from Soros. But none of this apparently triggered the interest of Sentner, who also carried water for Soros himself by characterizing him as “a Democratic megadonor the right has long cast as a bogeyman.” Then again, this is the same outlet that once ludicrously cast Soros-Tied Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg — who became infamous for his highly politicized legal vendetta against President Donald Trump — as “by-the-book,” in a March 20, 2023 headline before stealth-editing it out later.  
  2404.  
  2405.  
  2406. I'm not sure where he's getting his information, but JD Vance is lying about The Nation magazine. We'd welcome donations from anyone who respects our editorial independence, but we're not funded, not one dime, by Soros or Open Society Foundation. pic.twitter.com/LmcGgxVIWN
  2407. — Bhaskar Sunkara (@sunraysunray) September 15, 2025
  2408. What’s insane is that Sentner could have easily sifted through Type Media Center’s (or The Nation Institute's) 990 tax filings in order to determine the clear connection between the magazine and Soros. It’s hard to imagine that a lucrative media business like Politico that is easily worth hundreds millions of dollars didn’t have the resources to look any of this up to see if Sunkara was being deviously slippery on nuance. Instead, Sentner chose to spike due diligence and used his article as an echo chamber for The Nation to sneer at Vance: 
  2409.  
  2410.  
  2411. ‘In our 160 years of publication, we’ve long believed that dissent is the highest form of patriotism and we are proud of our journalistic legacy in pursuit of a more equal and just world,’ it said. ‘We’ve been criticized by both Democratic and Republican officeholders alike—and we are pleased to have the vice president commenting on what he’s read in The Nation because the White House should be reading The Nation.’
  2412.  
  2413.  
  2414. Sentner must have realized how bad this looked in light of the clear money trail found by MRC Business because his piece was later edited the following day to reflect the following:
  2415.  
  2416.  
  2417. A spokesperson for Vance referred POLITICO to grant records showing the Ford Foundation had donated $100,000 to ‘The Nation’ in 2019 to support its internship program. The Open Society Foundations had also donated to a nonprofit previously associated with ‘The Nation’ that supports numerous journalistic organizations.
  2418.  
  2419.  
  2420. No worries: MRC Business was more than happy to do the work Sentner was clearly too lazy initially to do.
  2421.  
  2422.  </description>
  2423.  <pubDate>September 16th, 2025 10:39 PM</pubDate>
  2424.    <dc:creator>Joseph Vazquez</dc:creator>
  2425.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291988</guid>
  2426.    </item>
  2427. <item>
  2428.  <title>Morning Joe Flips Their Script on Hate Speech</title>
  2429.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/isaac-white/2025/09/16/morning-joe-flips-their-script-hate-speech</link>
  2430.  <description> On Tuesday morning, MSNBC’s Morning Joe bashed Attorney General Pam Bondi for saying “There’s free speech, and then there’s hate speech,” on an episode of The Katie Miller Podcast posted on Monday. While the program granted the legality of hate speech, that can’t be squared with its disdain for digital free speech.
  2431.  
  2432. New York Times columnist David French came on the air to explain, “This is not an ambiguous area of constitutional law. There is no sort of carve out from the First Amendment for so-called hate speech.” Therefore, no one can be taken to court for something someone simply didn’t like being said. The emotional intensity of speech is protected no matter where or when it is said.
  2433.  
  2434. Co-host Joe Scarborough pointed out, “But can you imagine how stifled political debate would be in this country if years ago attorney generals decided they were going—according to that podcast—they're going to put handcuffs on people whose speech they decided was hateful?” Yes, that would be a nightmare. Tyrannical, even.
  2435.  
  2436. Scarborough decided to pass blame to tech companies and politicians for allowing digital environments, where politically-divisive activity occurs, to persist:
  2437.  
  2438.  
  2439. You know, free speech is free speech. But the fact that we continue to give these monopolies in Silicon Valley a complete free pass because of Section 230, and allow them to pollute our children's minds, allow them to do whatever they want to do and say, “Oh, you can never be sued because you're a monopoly, and we Washington politicians are scared of you.” How long are we going to allow that to happen?
  2440.  
  2441.  
  2442. Morning Joe has a history of complaining about Big Tech’s protection from lawsuits under Section 230, bemoaning the spread of hate speech across social media. And there is a legitimate discussion to be had about children being exposed to certain content on the internet. The UK did something about it with their Online Safety Act.
  2443.  
  2444.  
  2445.  
  2446.  
  2447.  
  2448.  
  2449.  
  2450.  
  2451.  
  2452. That doesn’t line up with how freedom of speech was so strongly defended on Tuesday’s program. What is said on the internet deserves just as much protection as what is said in real life. The shield that online anonymity provides obviously does conjure up more toxicity or “hatred” than one would find in most face-to-face interactions. The morality of such is a completely different question from whether it should be legal.
  2453.  
  2454. Scarborough admitted that undesirable discourse does, in fact, exist: “There's going to be speech that we find despicable and hateful. And Charlie Kirk says that's part of the First Amendment, that’s part of this big debate that we’re all having here in America.”
  2455.  
  2456. Bondi’s statement was regrettable. Speech should be protected regardless of messaging or emotional impact on its audience and Bondi took to X to specify, “Hate speech that crosses the line into threats of violence is NOT protected by the First Amendment.” Looks like that supposed nightmare was just a dream after all.
  2457.  
  2458. Scarborough should get credit for not completely knocking the constitutional freedom of speech. But he needs to align that with his beliefs on digital speech if he wishes to attain some level of credibility.
  2459.  
  2460. The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
  2461.  
  2462.  
  2463. MSNBC’s Morning Joe
  2464. September 15, 2025
  2465. 6:26:16 Eastern
  2466.  
  2467. (…)
  2468.  
  2469. DAVID FRENCH: Look. It's absolutely clear. This is not an ambiguous area of constitutional law. There is no sort of carve out from the First Amendment for so-called hate speech. And the reason for that is pretty obvious. We don't want to delegate to the government the responsibility or the authority to declare what—how far is too far in political debate. Because guess what? The government's always going to be biased in that endeavor. The government's always going to be shutting down speech that's critical of powerful people.
  2470.  
  2471. (…)
  2472.  
  2473. 6:27:15
  2474.  
  2475. JOE SCARBOROUGH: Sadly, a lot of times the best people don't run for president because you know you're going to be targeted by hate speech. You know that's going to be part of your day every single day. But can you imagine how stifled political debate would be in this country if years ago attorney generals decided they were going—according to that podcast—they're going to put handcuffs on people whose speech they decided was hateful?
  2476.  
  2477. (…)
  2478.  
  2479. 6:29:00
  2480.  
  2481. SCARBOROUGH: You know, free speech is free speech. But the fact that we continue to give these monopolies in Silicon Valley a complete free pass because of Section 230, and allow them to pollute our children's minds, allow them to do whatever they want to do and say, “Oh, you can never be sued because you're a monopoly, and we Washington politicians are scared of you.” How long are we going to allow that to happen?
  2482.  
  2483. (…)
  2484.  
  2485. 7:13:40
  2486.  
  2487. SCARBOROUGH: And yet you see Pam Bondi yesterday talking on a podcast, doing the exact opposite of what Charlie Kirk said we should all do, and that is that we're going to decide what speech we're going to stifle and what speech we're not. Going to put handcuffs, the podcast—isn’t time we start, stop explaining and just start handcuffing people. Or said something along those lines. Handcuffing people because of their speech. We got a clip. We can show of Charlie Kirk saying no, no, no, no, no, you don't do that there. There's going to be speech that we find despicable and hateful. And Charlie Kirk says that's part of the First Amendment, that’s part of this big debate that we’re all having here in America. 
  2488.  
  2489. (…)
  2490. </description>
  2491.  <pubDate>September 16th, 2025 9:31 PM</pubDate>
  2492.    <dc:creator>Isaac White</dc:creator>
  2493.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291990</guid>
  2494.    </item>
  2495. <item>
  2496.  <title>ABC’s Gutman: Alleged Kirk Assassin’s Texts With Trans Lover Were ‘Intimate,’ ‘Touching’</title>
  2497.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/curtis-houck/2025/09/16/abcs-gutman-kirk-assassins-texts-trans-lover-were-intimate</link>
  2498.  <description>On Tuesday’s ABC News Special Report about Utah County officials formally announcing charges against the suspect in Charlie Kirk’s murder, chief national correspondent Matt Gutman expressed affinity for the suspect and admiration for his love story with a trans person, gushing the text messages released by authorities were “lovingly” stated, “very intimate,” and “very touching.”
  2499.  
  2500.  
  2501.  
  2502.  
  2503.  
  2504.  
  2505.  
  2506.  
  2507.  
  2508. Gutman was reporting from the site of the press conference when he told World News Tonight anchor David Muir something “that stood out” was “those text messages” between the suspect and his roommate/lover.
  2509.  
  2510. “I don’t know if we have seen an alleged murder with such specific text messages about the alleged murder weapon, where it was hidden, how it was placed, what was on it, but also it was very touching in a way that I think many of us didn’t expect,” Gutman declared.
  2511.  
  2512. But, wait, there was more: “A very intimate portrait into this relationship between the suspect’s roommate and the suspect himself, with him repeatedly calling his roommate, who is transitioning, calling him ‘my love’ and ‘I want to protect you, my love.’”
  2513.  
  2514. He finished this stunning piece of outrageous analysis by asserting a “duality” of both murder and love:
  2515.  
  2516.  
  2517. So, it was this duality of someone who the attorney said not only jeopardized the life of Charlie Kirk and the crowd, but was doing it in front of children, which is one of the aggravating circumstances of this case. And then, on the other hand, he was, you know, speaking so lovingly about his partner. So, a very interesting and, as Pierre [Thomas] said, riveting press conference[.]
  2518.  
  2519.  
  2520. Who does Gutman think this is? The director of a Hallmark movie? Another attempt at humanizing the trans-loving assassin like Rolling Stone propped up one of the Boston bombers? Is Gutman trying to get fired? He’s already been suspended twice in the last five years for his reporting on Kobe Bryant and Covid, respectively.
  2521.  
  2522. In the comments to the above X post (and inside the NewsBusters newsroom), Gutman’s idiocy called to mind the all-time utterance from then-Boston Globe writer Charles Pierce in 2003 humanizing Ted Kennedy, saying Mary Jo Kopechne would have appreciated his work on health care (minus the part about having left her to die in a sinking car).
  2523.  
  2524. Incredibly, Gutman doubled down less than ten minutes later on the network’s streaming platform, ABC News Live, calling the case “heartbreaking on so many levels” with Kirk having been “murdered brutally in front of a crowd of thousands of people” plus the “duality of a very a portrait of a very human person, a very human experience from this entire family.”
  2525.  
  2526.  
  2527.  
  2528.  
  2529.  
  2530.  
  2531.  
  2532. Gutman then continued to dig himself a pit of controversy, including his use of the word “touching” to describe the suspect’s relationship with a trans person:
  2533.  
  2534.  
  2535. [T]he kid who had got a 34 out of 36 on the ACT, who had a 4.0, who got a full ride to college here, that that kid was the one who alleged perpetrated....And then those text messages and I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a press conference in which we’ve read text messages that are A, so fulsome, so robust, so apparently, allegedly self-incriminating and yet, on the other hand, so touching — right — with the suspect reaching out to his roommate, who was allegedly his boyfriend, who we understand, you know, identified as male at birth, now identifies as female. And the terminology he used, he was trying to protect him. He kept calling him “my love.” “My reason for doing this is to protect you,” you know, but also asking him to delete the messages and not speak to law enforcement. So there’s this, this heartbreaking duality that we’re seeing very tragically playing out here.
  2536.  
  2537.  
  2538. To see the relevant ABC transcript from September 16, click “expand.”
  2539.  
  2540.  
  2541. ABC News Special
  2542. September 16, 2025
  2543. 2:57 p.m. Eastern
  2544.  
  2545. DAVID MUIR: Let’s get right to the room. And Matt Gutman, who asked a couple of those questions you saw at that news conference, Matt, again, the Utah County attorney, Jeff gray, saying, what I laid out here today is what I would have had to file publicly anyway, indicated that he was very comfortable with the information he revealed here today.
  2546.  
  2547. MATT GUTMAN: And I think he feels like he has a lot of information. I think you and Pierre both noted there is what they say is the DNA on the trigger of the murder weapon, those text messages, the other evidence that they’ve managed to gather from the scene, it’s pretty damning. But what was very interesting about how Attorney Gray phrased this is that this is a suspect who in this system is still presumed innocent until we prove to a jury his guilt beyond reasonable doubt. He is very much trying to play by the rules here. And I asked him specifically about FBI director Kash Patel sort of getting out in front of this investigation, revealing some of these key details that we’ve been talking about, that this group here in Utah, the DPS — the Department of Public Safety — has been very, very circumspect, trying to keep it close to the vest. He said, well, it doesn’t exactly help us. We typically like to have more control over that information. It was sort of an oblique swipe at the director, but it does seem that they have a pretty significant amount of information. The other thing that stood out to me, David, is those text messages. I don’t know if we have seen an alleged murder with such specific text messages about the alleged murder weapon, where it was hidden, how it was placed, what was on it, but also it was very touching in a way that I think many of us didn’t expect — a very intimate portrait into this relationship between the suspect’s roommate and the suspect himself, with him repeatedly calling his roommate, who is transitioning, calling him “my love” and “I want to protect you, my love.” So, it was this duality of someone who the attorney said not only jeopardized the life of Charlie Kirk and the crowd, but was doing it in front of children, which is one of the aggravating circumstances of this case. And then, on the other hand, he was, you know, speaking so lovingly about his partner. So, a very interesting and, as Pierre said, riveting press conference, David.
  2548.  
  2549. MUIR: It was Tyler Robinson, the man you speak of now facing the death penalty. Jeff Gray, the Utah attorney making that clear. Our thanks to Matt Gutman.
  2550.  
  2551. (....)
  2552.  
  2553. ABC News Live
  2554. September 16, 2025
  2555. 3:04 p.m. Eastern
  2556.  
  2557. MATT GUTMAN: It’s heartbreaking on so many levels, Kyra. Obviously, Charlie Kirk was murdered brutally in front of a crowd of thousands of people who watched him being shot through the neck and then essentially bleed out in front of him. And I think one of the things that the attorney here made a very fine point about is that a lot of these charges — seven charges — were aggravated because children were present, children witnessed this, children were put in harm’s way. And that was something that obviously is aggravating here. And that’s one of the reasons that the suspect, in addition to the alleged murder being political in nature, is facing the death penalty. They’re going for the death penalty. And on the other hand, there is this duality of a very a portrait of a very human person, a very human experience from this entire family. As you mentioned it, the mother who essentially discovered that it was her son who had done this, the kid who had got a 34 out of 36 on the ACT, who had a 4.0, who got a full ride to college here, that that kid was the one who alleged perpetrated. She saw those pictures and said — identified him essentially. And then those text messages. And I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a press conference in which we’ve read text messages that are A, so fulsome, so robust, so apparently, allegedly self-incriminating and yet, on the other hand, so touching — right — with the suspect reaching out to his roommate, who was allegedly his boyfriend, who we understand, you know, identified as male at birth, now identifies as female. And the terminology he used, he was trying to protect him. He kept calling him “my love.” “My reason for doing this is to protect you,” you know, but also asking him to delete the messages and not speak to law enforcement. So there’s this, this heartbreaking duality that we’re seeing very tragically playing out here.
  2558. </description>
  2559.  <pubDate>September 16th, 2025 5:53 PM</pubDate>
  2560.    <dc:creator>Curtis Houck</dc:creator>
  2561.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291999</guid>
  2562.    </item>
  2563. <item>
  2564.  <title>FCC Chairman Brendan Carr Rejects Politico Push on Big Tech Censorship</title>
  2565.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/free-speech/tom-olohan/2025/09/16/fcc-chairman-brendan-carr-rejects-politico-push-big-tech</link>
  2566.  <description> A legacy media host teed up Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr to join the chorus of calls for censorship following the assassination of Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk, but Carr didn’t take the bait. 
  2567.  
  2568. At the Politico AI &amp; Tech Summit on Tuesday, Carr acknowledged the tragedy of Kirk’s assassination but denounced Big Tech’s history of censorship and supported recent shifts towards free speech at X and Meta. During the interview, the FCC Chair told Politico Senior Executive Editor Alexander Burns, “I think we saw a really dangerous bent towards censorship, particularly during COVID. Anytime you have a situation in which there's an increase in government control, you necessarily see a decrease in free speech because the two of those are counterweights.”
  2569.  
  2570. [The story continues on MRCFreeSpeechAmerica.org]</description>
  2571.  <pubDate>September 16th, 2025 5:46 PM</pubDate>
  2572.    <dc:creator>Tom Olohan</dc:creator>
  2573.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291998</guid>
  2574.    </item>
  2575. <item>
  2576.  <title>CNN's Kayyem Doubles Down On Downplaying Kirk Assasin's Political Motive</title>
  2577.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/alex-christy/2025/09/16/cnns-kayyem-doubles-down-downplaying-kirk-assasins-political</link>
  2578.  <description>On Saturday, CNN terrorism analyst and former Obama DHS official Juliette Kayyem demanded everyone “stop looking” for a motive in Charlie Kirk’s assassination because we may never know while asking, “Who cares?” On Tuesday, Utah County D.A. Jeff Gray revealed text messages from Kirk’s alleged assassin saying he “had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.” Later, on Tuesday's The Arena with Kasie Hunt, Kayyem doubled down on stupid and claimed, “The violence piece is still inexplicable to me.”
  2579.  
  2580. Hunt asked, “So, what do you make of this in terms of radicalization, what it says, if anything? And there's also all this information from what was on the casings that was clearly internet-based radicalization.”
  2581.  
  2582.  
  2583.  
  2584.  
  2585.  
  2586.  
  2587.  
  2588.  
  2589.  
  2590. Kayyem responded by asking and answering her own rhetorical question, “Right. And it's a combination of many things. So, we've been hearing for the last couple of days, sort of this left-leaning turn, and we'll—by Robinson—we’ll learn what the details of that are in terms of, you know, was it related to the roommate who was a lover? What is not answerable yet.
  2591.  
  2592. To reiterate, the shooter claimed he shot Kirk because “some hate can’t be negotiated out.” Whether it was specifically related to the lover or just some generic pro-trans does not matter. It was ideological. It’s not rocket science.
  2593.  
  2594. Nevertheless, Kayyem almost set off the fire alarm with her straw man burning:
  2595.  
  2596.  
  2597. And I know everyone wants to put a sort of left-wing, right-wing on everything, is the violence part. Lots of people change their minds about politics. Lots of left people become super right. Right people become left. That—the violence piece is still inexplicable to me. I do not buy the argument, you know, that is being sold by some partisans that there's something about the left-wing movement that is inherently violent, any more than I believe that about the right-wing. We have to take left, right out in this. It may be that left progressive trans rights animated his politics—his greater interest in politics, as we've seen.
  2598.  
  2599.  
  2600. We are talking about whether Kirk’s assassin had a political motive, not whether “some partisans” have accurate beliefs about the left’s relationship with violence. However, Kayyem continued to seek to obfuscate:
  2601.  
  2602.  
  2603. But it does not explain the violence because, remember, lots of partisans, most partisans, are not violent. And so we're still looking for that. And that's where, what you said about this other stew that he's a part of, right? The gaming world, the sort of ironic cynicism that he's using to talk to folks, even as Evan said, this sort of weirdness about being focused on whether he's in trouble with his grandfather, he just committed a political assassination.
  2604.  
  2605.  
  2606. We are also not talking about “lots of partisans.” We are talking about this one, some people just choose evil, and Kayyem keeps trying to either rewrite what we know about him or change the subject.
  2607.  
  2608. She concluded, “All of that may help us understand again how politics leads to violence. Lots of politics, lots of rough-and-tumble politics in this country. And that is what may be unanswerable, but is something that people like me, who want to stop political violence on the right and the left, look at in terms of minimizing that aspect of American politics right now.”
  2609.  
  2610. If the shooter was radicalized on the internet, that is the “how,” not the “why.” It is plain that this guy murdered Kirk because of his politics, and CNN’s terrorism analyst is doing everything in her power to avoid saying so because she doesn’t want to arrive at any potentially inconvenient conclusions.
  2611.  
  2612. Here is a transcript for the September 16 show:
  2613.  
  2614.  
  2615. CNN The Arena with Kasie Hunt
  2616.  
  2617. 9/16/2025
  2618.  
  2619. 4:10 PM ET
  2620.  
  2621. KASIE HUNT: So, what do you make of this in terms of radicalization, what it says, if anything? And there's also all this information from what was on the casings that was clearly internet-based radicalization.
  2622.  
  2623. JULIETTE KAYYEM: Right. And it's a combination of many things. So, we've been hearing for the last couple of days, sort of this left-leaning turn, and we'll—by Robinson— we’ll learn what the details of that are in terms of, you know, was it related to the roommate who was a lover?
  2624.  
  2625. What is not answerable yet. And I know everyone wants to put a sort of left-wing, right-wing on everything, is the violence part. Lots of people change their minds about politics. Lots of left people become super right. Right people become left. That—the violence piece is still inexplicable to me. I do not buy the argument, you know, that is being sold by some partisans that there's something about the left-wing movement that is inherently violent, any more than I believe that about the right-wing. We have to take left, right out in this. It may be that left progressive trans rights animated his political—his greater interest in politics, as we've seen.
  2626.  
  2627. But it does not explain the violence because, remember, lots of partisans, most partisans, are not violent. And so we're still looking for that. And that's where, what you said about this other stew that he's a part of, right? The gaming world, the sort of ironic cynicism that he's using to talk to folks, even as Evan said, this sort of weirdness about being focused on whether he's in trouble with his grandfather, he just committed a political assassination.
  2628.  
  2629.  
  2630. All of that may help us understand again how politics leads to violence. Lots of politics, lots of rough-and-tumble politics in this country. And that is what may be unanswerable, but is something that people like me, who want to stop political violence on the right and the left, look at in terms of minimizing that aspect of American politics right now.</description>
  2631.  <pubDate>September 16th, 2025 5:15 PM</pubDate>
  2632.    <dc:creator>Alex Christy</dc:creator>
  2633.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291996</guid>
  2634.    </item>
  2635. <item>
  2636.  <title>Mea Culpa for Sinking Campaign? The View to Host Kamala’s Book Tour</title>
  2637.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/nicholas-fondacaro/2025/09/16/mea-culpa-sinking-campaign-view-host-kamalas-book-tour</link>
  2638.  <description>With Election Day 2024 bearing down, ABC’s The View infamously and inadvertently helped to sink Vice President Kamala Harris’s (D) bid for the White House with a softball question from co-host Sunny Hostin. In an announcement made during Tuesday’s episode, the liberal ladies seemed to be attempting a mea culpa by having Harris on their show next week to hawk her new book about her failed campaign, where she’ll blame everyone else but herself.
  2639.  
  2640. After they took Harris’s side amid the Democratic Party infighting exposed in the book during previous conversation had on the show, moderator Whoopi Goldberg excited announced Harris’s appearance following their opening segment on Tuesday:
  2641.  
  2642.  
  2643. And we want to let viewers know that next Tuesday, September 23rd, we are being joined at this table –At this very table, Joy, by former Vice President Kamala Harris. For the first time since the presidential election. She'll be here. We'll be here. I hope you'll join us all because we want to hear what she has to say.
  2644.  
  2645.  
  2646.  
  2647.  
  2648.  
  2649.  
  2650.  
  2651.  
  2652.  
  2653.  
  2654.  
  2655.  
  2656. It’s been over a year since the liberal ladies of The View have had a real conservative guest on the show to talk politics, but it’s Harris’s second appearance in less than a year.
  2657.  
  2658. During Harris’s first appearance in October 2024, the then-Vice President embarrassingly stumbled when asked by Hostin how she would be different from President Biden in his first and only term:
  2659.  
  2660.  
  2661. HOSTIN: And he said there wasn't a single thing that he did that you could not do. What do you think would be the biggest specific difference between your presidency and a bidency -- a Biden presidency?
  2662.  
  2663. HARRIS: Well obviously, we're two different people.
  2664.  
  2665. (…)
  2666.  
  2667. HOSTIN: If anything, would you have done something differently than President Biden during the past four years?
  2668.  
  2669. HARRIS: There is not a thing that comes to mind in terms of – and I've been part of most of the decisions that have had impact.
  2670.  
  2671.  
  2672.  
  2673.  
  2674.  
  2675.  
  2676.  
  2677.  
  2678.  
  2679.  
  2680. Harris’s answer went viral and made its way into Trump campaign ads. Many gave it credit for sinking her campaign, or at least putting the final nail in the coffin as Election Day approached.
  2681.  
  2682. It was clear that that perception haunted Hostin, a major Harris fan girl. During an interview with President Biden to help counter the book written in part by CNN’s Jake Tapper about Biden’s mental decline, Hostin sought absolution from the responsibility of hurting Harris (Click "expand"):
  2683.  
  2684.  
  2685. HOSTIN: … [W]hen the Vice President was here, I asked her if she would have done something differently than your administration over the past four years. And because of all the successes that your administration had, I think her response was ‘there is not a thing that comes to mind.’ Now, that answer was weaponized against her, and there has been some reporting that you encouraged her for there to be no daylight between the two of you.
  2686.  
  2687. First, is that true, and do you think in retrospect she should have tried to differentiate all the wins that your administration had?
  2688.  
  2689. BIDEN: Well, look, first of all, I did not advise her to say that. Number one. Like I said, I was vice president. I understand the role.
  2690.  
  2691.  
  2692. In a live June episode of their Behind the Table Podcast, Hostin opened up about feeling guilty about harming Harris, saying: “I feel terrible.”
  2693.  
  2694. Also stating: “I knew it instantly when she answered it, which is why I asked the follow up question. ‘Is there one thing?’ You know, because I – I – I knew I – I just, I could see the sound bite and I knew what was gonna happen, but I thought it was a really fair question, and I thought it was a question that she would expect.”
  2695.  
  2696. With Harris’s second appearance, expect Hostin to make similar pleads directly to the idol she harmed. Perhaps Hostin would even make a grand show of taking Harris’s side in the Democratic Party infighting as an act of penance.</description>
  2697.  <pubDate>September 16th, 2025 4:27 PM</pubDate>
  2698.    <dc:creator>Nicholas Fondacaro</dc:creator>
  2699.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291995</guid>
  2700.    </item>
  2701. <item>
  2702.  <title>Kash Patel Tells Adam Schiff He’s ‘a Political Buffoon – at Best!’</title>
  2703.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/cnsnews/craig-bannister/2025/09/16/kash-patel-tells-adam-schiff-hes-political-buffoon-best</link>
  2704.  <description>“You are a political buffoon at best,” FBI Director Kash Patel informed Democrat Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) during a shouting match at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday.
  2705.  
  2706. The FBI has been “combatting the weaponization of intelligence by the likes of you,” Patel told Schiff.
  2707.  
  2708.  
  2709.  
  2710.  
  2711. Yes this just happened.
  2712. FBI Director Kash Patel just called out Adam Schiff as the “BIGGEST fraud to ever sit in Senate.”
  2713. An absolute must-watch:
  2714. “We have countlessly proven you to be a liar in Russiagate in January 6. You are the biggest fraud to ever sit in the United… pic.twitter.com/tgLp46ypOg
  2715. — Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) September 16, 2025
  2716.  
  2717.  
  2718. Sen. Schiff, infamous for false claims attacking President Donald Trump, was badgering the FBI director over the transfer of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell to a minimum security prison, which Patel said was a decision by the Bureau of Prisons.
  2719.  
  2720. While Schiff was screaming at him and attempting to drown him out, Director Patel noted that the FBI was enacting “historic reforms” and exhibiting extraordinary transparency regarding the Epstein case, releasing 33,000 pages of information.
  2721.  
  2722. “We have countlessly proven you to be a liar in Russiagate [and] in January 6,” Patel responded to Schiff’s accusations:
  2723.  
  2724.  
  2725. “You are the biggest fraud to ever sit in the United States Senate. You are a disgrace to this institution and an utter coward.”
  2726.  
  2727.  
  2728. “You continue to lie from your perch and put on a show so you can go raise money for your charade. You are a political buffoon at best,” Patel told the senator, who was attempting to shout him down.</description>
  2729.  <pubDate>September 16th, 2025 4:19 PM</pubDate>
  2730.    <dc:creator>Craig Bannister</dc:creator>
  2731.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291994</guid>
  2732.    </item>
  2733. <item>
  2734.  <title>WOMP, WOMP: CBS’s Dickerson Forced to Change Tune, Admit to Motive in Kirk Murder</title>
  2735.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/curtis-houck/2025/09/16/womp-womp-cbss-dickerson-forced-change-tune-admit-motive-kirk</link>
  2736.  <description>During CBS’s brief reaction Tuesday to Utah County officials announcing charges against the suspect in the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, CBS Evening News co-anchor John Dickerson was forced to listen to then recap for viewers which he had denied hours earlier that Kirk was murdered for his political views.
  2737.  
  2738.  
  2739.  
  2740.  
  2741.  
  2742.  
  2743.  
  2744. Speaking moments later to correspondent Carter Evans at the press conference, Dickerson reiterated that “[i]n addition to those text messages that were read, we heard about the possible motivation as Robinson’s parents explained he had become more radical, more left leaning.”
  2745.  
  2746. It was only Monday night in the 7:00 p.m. Eastern half-hour that Dickerson asserted on CBS Evening News Plus that the “motive remains elusive” and the suspect might not have been “driven by an obvious political ideology” with all that we then had was “vague, second-hand testimony.”
  2747.  
  2748. He then partnered with a supposed extremism expert to argue the murder might have been nihilistic terrorism, meaning the suspect did not have a particular motive other than a general hate for the world. Our Jorge Bonilla wrote this was “fighting the motive narrative battle with the intensity of the last Japanese soldier in the Philippine jungles after the end of World War II.”
  2749.  
  2750. Even though it was already obvious at the time given the reports about the suspect having become political strained from his family, Dickerson joined the likes of ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel, ABC’s The View, The Atlantic’s Jemele Hill, CNN’s Juliette Kayyem, and MSNBC host/Atlantic writer Jonathan Lemire to name a few.
  2751.  
  2752. On the same show, Dickerson decried “conflict entrepreneurs” as having helped foment toxicity in our politics despite, well, his own record (links to those examples referenced here and here):
  2753.  
  2754.  
  2755.  
  2756.  
  2757.  
  2758.  
  2759.  
  2760. Our Geoff Dickens also took a look in January at what were then some of Dickerson’s recent humdingers, proving his Scott Pelley and Brian Williams-esque pomposity has done plenty to drive people apart.</description>
  2761.  <pubDate>September 16th, 2025 3:58 PM</pubDate>
  2762.    <dc:creator>Curtis Houck</dc:creator>
  2763.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291993</guid>
  2764.    </item>
  2765. <item>
  2766.  <title>TV Anchor Suspended for On-Air Tribute to Charlie Kirk Resigns</title>
  2767.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/cnsnews/craig-bannister/2025/09/16/tv-anchor-suspended-air-tribute-charlie-kirk-resigns</link>
  2768.  <description>"Many in the mainstream media have been fired or punished for mocking his assassination. I believe I am the first to be targeted for honoring him on air,” Illinois ABC affiliate Anchor Beni Rae Harmony wrote Monday, announcing her resignation over her on-air tribute to slain conservative Charlie Kirk.
  2769.  
  2770. “Effective immediately, I have resigned from @WICS_ABC20 after being SUSPENDED for airing a non-partisan tribute to Charlie Kirk this past Friday,” Harmony posted to her personal X.com account.
  2771.  
  2772. In her post, Harmony shared video of her tearful tribute while anchoring WICS’s “Marketplace,” in which she recalls that Kirk was her first boss and “the first person who made me believe in myself.”
  2773.  
  2774. “It’s okay, if you feel sadness. It’s okay if you’re grieving,” Harmony told her viewers, going on to explain how Kirk always stressed the importance of free speech and open debate. “Speak up for what you believe in – I don’t care what it is,” Harmony said.
  2775.  
  2776.  
  2777.  
  2778.  
  2779. Effective immediately, I have resigned from @WICS_ABC20 after being SUSPENDED for airing a non-partisan tribute to Charlie Kirk this past Friday.
  2780. Many in the mainstream media have been fired or punished for mocking his assassination. I believe I am the first to be targeted for… pic.twitter.com/y41QOWDBl5
  2781. — Beni Rae Harmony (@BeniRaeHarmony) September 15, 2025
  2782.  
  2783.  
  2784. It is uncertain whether Harmony’s suspension on Friday, which led to her resignation, was due to her praise of Kirk or a breach of employment requirements, such as failure to gain authorization to go off-topic to deliver a personal message.
  2785.  
  2786. In a separate post, Harmony says her resignation was “guided by values that are essential to who I am, to which I refuse to set aside, in order to keep a job” and that “I choose my faith, and love of country, and always will.”
  2787.  
  2788. WICS is not commenting on Harmony’s suspension and resignation, presumably because it is a personnel matter.</description>
  2789.  <pubDate>September 16th, 2025 3:16 PM</pubDate>
  2790.    <dc:creator>Craig Bannister</dc:creator>
  2791.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291992</guid>
  2792.    </item>
  2793. <item>
  2794.  <title>Maddow Claims Trump Wants to Use Kirk Murder to 'Stay in Power Indefinitely'</title>
  2795.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/alex-christy/2025/09/16/maddow-claims-trump-wants-use-kirk-murder-stay-power-indefinitely</link>
  2796.  <description>The calls to turn down the political rhetoric were nice while they lasted. On Monday’s The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC, the eponymous host warned that President Trump and the administration writ large intend to use the assassination of Charlie Kirk to, among other things, “stay in power indefinitely.”
  2797.  
  2798. Referencing a New York Times article, Maddow lamented, “Another headline today, quote, ‘White House plans broad crackdown on liberal groups.’ They're saying now they will use the horrific murder of pro-Trump activist Charlie Kirk last week as a justification for some undefined whole-of-government attack on what they always describe very vaguely as ‘the left,’ in this country.”
  2799.  
  2800.  
  2801.  
  2802.  
  2803.  
  2804.  
  2805.  
  2806.  
  2807.  
  2808. In that article, buried all the way down in paragraphs 18 and 19, was this nugget from Vice President JD Vance as he guest-hosted The Charlie Kirk Show:
  2809.  
  2810.  
  2811. ‘We can thank God that most Democrats don’t share these attitudes, and I do, while acknowledging that something has gone very wrong with a lunatic fringe, a minority, but a growing and powerful minority on the far left,’ he said.
  2812.  
  2813. Mr. Vance said the administration would not go after ‘constitutionally protected speech’ but rather what he described as a network of nonprofit nongovernmental organizations that ‘foments, facilitates and engages in violence.’
  2814.  
  2815.  
  2816. That doesn’t sound like someone who is going to go after “the left” in general terms. Nevertheless, Maddow freaked, “Whatever else you think about what Trump is trying to do in office, there is no drama, right? There's no uncertainty. There's no ambiguity about the agenda, right? It is the textbook agenda of every right-wing strongman everywhere, right? They all do the same thing. You—they tell people there is an enemy, an enemy within that demands emergency measures. Right?”
  2817.  
  2818. Maddow continued:
  2819.  
  2820.  
  2821. There's an enemy within that's nefarious and is responsible for all the terrible things. And so, therefore, we must have emergency powers and toughness, and we must take off the gloves and break the rules. Right? That's textbook stuff. Then you use your control of government to take over or intimidate every source of power and authority in the country, whether or not it has anything to do with the presidency. Right?
  2822.  
  2823.  
  2824. Nowhere near done, Maddow claimed this is all about silencing opposition, “This means, crucially, the media, but also science and the arts and education and business and the professions. Any source of authority or potential opposition or truth-telling about the bad behavior of the dear leader, that must be shut down. He must consolidate power to include those institutions even though they are outside of government.”
  2825.  
  2826. Maddow wrapped up her dystopian prophecy by further warning:
  2827.  
  2828.  
  2829. Then next, use your control of government and those institutions to enrich yourself and your family and your allies. And then you get rid of the professionals and the experts within government and law enforcement and the military so there is less friction from those institutions when you want to use those institutions to punish and intimidate your opposition and your critics, and ultimately to allow you to stay in power indefinitely. And lastly, not all of them do this, but all of them want to. If you can align yourself with other strongmen leaders around the world. So all the dictatorships start helping each other out, and they do their best to undermine and work against the democracies. Right?
  2830.  
  2831.  
  2832. Liberals love to hype Rachel Maddow as some sort of intellectual, but she’s just another conspiracy theorist who uses hushed tones to obscure her radicalness.
  2833.  
  2834. Here is a transcript for the September 15 show:
  2835.  
  2836.  
  2837. MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show
  2838.  
  2839. 9/15/2025
  2840.  
  2841. 9:06 PM ET
  2842.  
  2843. RACHEL MADDOW: Another headline today, quote, “White House plans broad crackdown on liberal groups.” They're saying now they will use the horrific murder of pro-Trump activist Charlie Kirk last week as a justification for some undefined whole-of-government attack on what they always describe very vaguely as “the left” in this country. 
  2844.  
  2845. Whatever else you think about what Trump is trying to do in office, there is no drama, right? There's no uncertainty. There's no ambiguity about the agenda, right? It is the textbook agenda of every right-wing strongman everywhere, right? They all do the same thing. You—they tell people there is an enemy, an enemy within that demands emergency measures. Right?
  2846.  
  2847. There's an enemy within that's nefarious and is responsible for all the terrible things. And so, therefore, we must have emergency powers and toughness, and we must take off the gloves and break the rules. Right? That's textbook stuff. Then you use your control of government to take over or intimidate every source of power and authority in the country, whether or not it has anything to do with the presidency. Right?
  2848.  
  2849. This means, crucially, the media, but also science and the arts and education and business and the professions. Any source of authority or potential opposition or truth-telling about the bad behavior of the dear leader, that must be shut down. He must consolidate power to include those institutions even though they are outside of government.
  2850.  
  2851. Then next, use your control of government and those institutions to enrich yourself and your family and your allies. And then you get rid of the professionals and the experts within government and law enforcement and the military so there is less friction from those institutions when you want to use those institutions to punish and intimidate your opposition and your critics, and ultimately to allow you to stay in power indefinitely. And lastly, not all of them do this, but all of them want to. If you can align yourself with other strongmen leaders around the world. So all the dictatorships start helping each other out, and they do their best to undermine and work against the democracies. Right?
  2852. </description>
  2853.  <pubDate>September 16th, 2025 1:49 PM</pubDate>
  2854.    <dc:creator>Alex Christy</dc:creator>
  2855.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291989</guid>
  2856.    </item>
  2857. <item>
  2858.  <title>PBS Hints Trump Will Use Anger At Kirk's Murder To Mess With 2026 Elections</title>
  2859.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/alex-christy/2025/09/16/pbs-hints-trump-will-use-anger-kirks-murder-mess-2026-elections</link>
  2860.  <description>The Atlantic staff writer David Frum joined PBS’s Amanpour and Company guest host Bianna Golodryga on Monday to react to the aftermath of the assassination of Charlie Kirk and used the opportunity to relight the Doomsday beacons that signify democracy itself is under threat from a president who would seek to mess with the 2026 midterm elections.
  2861.  
  2862. During his conversation with Golodryga, Frum claimed, “What I am concerned about is the president and his supporters are making it clear they intend to go after not violent extremists, but simply people who are fundraising to defeat them in elections. The great question that has been haunting America before this assassination is, will the president allow the 2026 midterm elections to be free and fair? Will he try to gerrymander? Will he try to use the power of government to stop his opponents from fundraising? Will he try to use his new asserted powers to detain people without due process against people who are campaigning against him?”
  2863.  
  2864. By “haunting America,” Frum really just meant haunting PBS, CNN (Amanpour originally airs on CNN International), or The Atlantic.
  2865.  
  2866.  
  2867.  
  2868.  
  2869.  
  2870.  
  2871.  
  2872.  
  2873.  
  2874. Frum added that, “Those are the issues that you have to worry about. It's not about violent extremism today. Today what we're worried about is, will we have free and fair elections? And as Stephen Miller indicated, as the president said in his nationally televised address, that's the target they’re after.”
  2875.  
  2876. Here’s a quote from Miller himself, rather than a Frumian interpretation, “The organized doxing campaigns, the organized riots, the organized street violence, the organized campaigns of dehumanization, vilification, posting people’s addresses, combining that with messaging that is designed to trigger [or] incite violence and the actual organized cells that carry out and facilitate the violence.”
  2877.  
  2878. As it was, Golodryga wondered, “How does Kirk's assassination directly, in your view, play a role in this plan that you're concerned about, that you say is growing increasingly obvious from the rhetoric from the president and his advisers?”
  2879.  
  2880. Frum responded by trying to split Trump from Kirk and his fans by claiming the former will use the latter for his authoritarian purposes:
  2881.  
  2882.  
  2883. Look, after a terrible crime in the internet age, you will find any number of people or bots on the internet saying things that are reprehensible, stupid, provocative, unfeeling. And people who experience the world through online life will see those reprehensible statements and will have natural reactions.  Of course, you get—if you liked and admired Charlie Kirk, you will be hurt by someone who makes light of the terrible murder. And your—that feeling of hurt is a powerful resource for a president who is afraid he's going to lose the 2026 elections if they're free and fair, and who has been looking from the beginning for ways to make sure those elections are not free and fair. So, the emotions of Charlie Kirk supporters are a resource that President Trump and Stephen Miller and those around them are hoping to use, not against criminals, but just against people who want to vote a different way.
  2884.  
  2885.  
  2886. After Kirk’s murder there was a great deal of discussion about turning down the temperature and dialing down the rhetoric. That’s all well and good, but just because PBS speaks with more hushed tones than other networks does not mean the substance of their rhetoric has changed. The 2026 midterms will happen, and they will be fair. The question is will PBS and The Atlantic accept that if they lose?
  2887.  
  2888. Here is a transcript for the September 15 show:
  2889.  
  2890.  
  2891. PBS Amanpour and Company
  2892.  
  2893. 9/15/2025
  2894.  
  2895. DAVUD FRUM: What I am concerned about is the president and his supporters are making it clear they intend to go after not violent extremists, but simply people who are fundraising to defeat them in elections. The great question that has been haunting America before this assassination is, will the president allow the 2026 midterm elections to be free and fair? Will he try to gerrymander? Will he try to use the power of government to stop his opponents from fundraising? Will he try to use his new asserted powers to detain people without due process against people who are campaigning against him? Those are the issues that you have to worry about. It's not about violent extremism today. Today what we're worried about is, will we have free and fair elections? And as Stephen Miller indicated, as the president said in his nationally televised address, that's the target they’re after.
  2896.  
  2897. BIANNA GOLODRYGA: How does Kirk's assassination directly, in your view, play a role in this plan that you're concerned about, that you say is growing increasingly obvious from the rhetoric from the president and his advisers?
  2898.  
  2899. FRUM: Look, after a terrible crime in the internet age, you will find any number of people or bots on the internet saying things that are reprehensible, stupid, provocative, unfeeling. And people who experience the world through online life will see those reprehensible statements and will have natural reactions.
  2900.  
  2901. Of course, you get — if you liked and admired Charlie Kirk, you will be hurt by someone who makes light of the terrible murder. And your — that feeling of hurt is a powerful resource for a president who is afraid he's going to lose the 2026 elections if they're free and fair, and who has been looking from the beginning for ways to make sure those elections are not free and fair.
  2902.  
  2903. So, the emotions of Charlie Kirk supporters are a resource that President Trump and Stephen Miller and those around them are hoping to use, not against criminals, but just against people who want to vote a different way.
  2904. </description>
  2905.  <pubDate>September 16th, 2025 11:31 AM</pubDate>
  2906.    <dc:creator>Alex Christy</dc:creator>
  2907.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291986</guid>
  2908.    </item>
  2909. <item>
  2910.  <title>Gutfeld: ‘The Media Is Dead to Us’ on Charlie Kirk Assassination Story</title>
  2911.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/cnsnews/craig-bannister/2025/09/16/gutfeld-media-dead-us-charlie-kirk-assassination-story</link>
  2912.  <description>When it comes to Charlie Kirk’s murder, “The media is dead to us” because they amplified the demonization of Kirk and are now playing the “both sides” game, Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld declared Monday.
  2913.  
  2914. Facing off with Democrat strategist Jessica Tarlov on “The Five,” Gutfeld slammed his fellow co-host for attempting to rationalize Kirk’s assassination by noting that there is violence on “both sides” and asking “What about?” examples of right-wing offenses:
  2915.  
  2916.  
  2917. "The media is dead to us on this story. They built this thing up. We’re dealing with it; we are going to act. We don't care what the ‘What about?’ is anymore; that sh*t’s dead!"
  2918.  
  2919.  
  2920.  
  2921.  
  2922.  
  2923. 🚨 HOLY CRAP! Greg Gutfeld just EVISCERATED Jessica Tarlov for making the "both sides" argument about Charlie Kirk's kiIIing
  2924. "DON'T PLAY THAT BULLSHlT WITH ME!"
  2925. "We don't care about your 'both sides' argument. That shlt is DEAD!"
  2926. "On your side, your beliefs do not match… pic.twitter.com/tXAl6RGIQ4
  2927. — Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) September 15, 2025
  2928.  
  2929.  
  2930. Kirk’s assassination transcends the typical news paradigm, Gutfeld told Tarlov:
  2931.  
  2932.  
  2933. “This is a story that is immune to news cycles.
  2934.  
  2935. “It is immune to rationalizations.
  2936.  
  2937. “It is immune to bias.
  2938.  
  2939. “This thing is with us for good. And we all have to deal with that.”
  2940.  
  2941.  
  2942. “So that means that we can’t live by the same arguments that you might be reading about relativism among the media. We can’t deal with those stories. It doesn’t matter,” Gutfeld said.
  2943.  
  2944. Tarlov had attempted to equate Kirk’s assassination to the murder of former Democrat Minnesota state Representative Melissa Hortman – but, Gutfeld was having none of it, noting that the liberal legacy media had widely demonized Kirk, but not Hortman.
  2945.  
  2946. “Did you know her name before she died? None of us did,” Gutfeld responded to Tarlov’s “What about?” ploy:
  2947.  
  2948.  
  2949. “Don’t play that “bullsh*t with me. You know what I’m saying is that there was no demonization amplification about that woman before she died. It was a specific crime against her by someone who knew her.”
  2950.  
  2951.  
  2952. Liberals are forced to play the “What about this?” card because their beliefs don’t match reality and, if they faced up to reality, they’d have to admit that they’re “not the good guys,” Gutfeld explained:
  2953.  
  2954.  
  2955. “I understand the defensiveness. I understand why people are saying, ‘What about this and what about this?’ Because, if you have to face the underlying facts of this, your life is going to fall apart – because you’re going to realize that you’re not the good guys.”
  2956.  
  2957.  
  2958. “That is a hell of a realization to deal with. So, therefore, you have to grasp at rationalizations,” Gutfeld concluded.</description>
  2959.  <pubDate>September 16th, 2025 11:29 AM</pubDate>
  2960.    <dc:creator>Craig Bannister</dc:creator>
  2961.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291987</guid>
  2962.    </item>
  2963. <item>
  2964.  <title>Vanity Fair Again Adds More Fuel to MAGA-as-Nazis Fire</title>
  2965.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/pj-gladnick/2025/09/16/vanity-fair-again-adds-more-fuel-maga-nazis-fire</link>
  2966.  <description> If you look at many social media sites, such as Bluesky, it is not uncommon to see multitudes of unhinged leftists writing off Charley Kirk as a "Nazi" or "Hitler Youth," which could be an excuse for his brutal assassination. And where does this notion of Charlie Kirk and Donald Trump in particular as well as MAGA and conservatives in general as Nazis come from? Unfortunately much of it comes from media sources. One of the culprits is Vanity Fair magazine.
  2967.  
  2968. On Thursday, just a day after the assassination, Vanity Fair published a story ostensibly about a documentary on the Nazi connections of German propaganda film documentarian Leni Riefenstahl. However, the not-so-subtle ulterior motive of the story turned out to be Trump as a Nazi type leader as written by slimemeister Eve Batey in "Hitler Confidant Leni Riefenstahl Always Said She Was Just a Filmmaker. A New Doc Reveals the Truth."
  2969.  
  2970. Batey just couldn't help herself. On her Instagram, she argued the Nazi comparison "feels especially crucial today." She inserted two paragraphs into her story supposedly about Riefenstahl that are chock full of links strongly inferring President Trump is a Nazi-type leader. Batey was too cowardly to actually name Trump in her story. Instead she performed her slimy duty by including links to stories, mostly in Vanity Fair, smearing Trump. Here are the two paragraphs in question with the links to Trump as like a Nazi themes.
  2971.  
  2972.  
  2973. Riefenstahl’s estate has a lot to teach us about the contemporary political climate. The parallels between her era and ours are striking: Even today, we see the world’s richest men prostrating themselves before an aspiring autocrat, creatives and news organizations seemingly seeking to normalize a self-proclaimed king, and various organized displays of military force. As Veiel considered Riefenstahl’s work for Hitler, he was thinking about all that too.
  2974.  
  2975. “There’s something between the lines which is telling us something not only about the present, but about the future,” he says. “The longing for this strongness and the contempt of weakness, the contempt of the foreigners.”
  2976.  
  2977.  
  2978. "Even today, we see the world's richest men prostrating themselves"
  2979.  
  2980. That link leads to this Vanity Fair story: "Trump’s Inauguration Is a Brash Display of Big Tech’s Realignment." 
  2981.  
  2982. And who is the "aspiring autocrat?" In Riefenstahl's time it was Hitler but her link now takes you to another Vanity Fair hit piece: "Donald Trump’s Autocratic Ambitions."
  2983.  
  2984. "...and news organizations seemingly seeking to normalize..." 
  2985.  
  2986. And that links to, you guessed it, more Trump in a Vanity Fair story supposedly about Leni Riefenstahl: "Shari Redstone and Paramount’s Own Mission: Impossible—Survive a Trump Lawsuit and a Billion-Dollar Merger."
  2987.  
  2988. "...a self-proclaimed king..."
  2989.  
  2990. In Riefenstahl's time that king (fuhrer) was Hitler and in our time, any guess as to who Vanity Fair labels as that king/fuhrer? " Trump Declares Himself 'King of Israel,' the 'Second Coming of God'."
  2991.  
  2992. "...and various organized displays of military force...
  2993.  
  2994. All that was lacking at that link was goose stepping as Vanity Fair went on yet another Hitler/Trump comparison: "Trump’s Military Parade—On His 79th Birthday—Met With Nationwide “No Kings” Protests."
  2995.  
  2996. In the second paragraph above, both links also go to attacks on Trump. The demonization permission slip that allowed the assassin and others on the left to brand Charlie Kirk as a Nazi had its genesis in places such as Vanity Fair, as this story illustrates.</description>
  2997.  <pubDate>September 16th, 2025 11:10 AM</pubDate>
  2998.    <dc:creator>P.J. Gladnick</dc:creator>
  2999.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291969</guid>
  3000.    </item>
  3001. <item>
  3002.  <title>7 Times Charlie Kirk Spoke His Mind on Free Speech</title>
  3003.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/free-speech/gabriela-pariseau/2025/09/16/7-times-charlie-kirk-spoke-his-mind-free-speech</link>
  3004.  <description>Great American patriots, including the late Charlie Kirk have long championed the freedom of speech so thoughtfully codified in the U.S. Constitution. Yet, as legacy media evade any responsibility for fueling violent extremism, the words of Proverbs 12:18 resonate deeply: “The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing."
  3005.  
  3006. Kirk spoke prolifically about the power of words, grappling with ideas and the absolute necessity of free speech and discourse to heal America. He firmly believed in the First Amendment right to free speech and that Americans exercise their God given natural rights to prevent violent civil war. Kirk died exercising and defending these rights, and it's worth looking back on what he had to say about them.
  3007.  
  3008. “When people stop talking, that’s when you get violence. That’s when civil war happens.  Because you start to think the other side is so evil and that they lose their humanity. Marriages break apart when you stop talking, churches fall apart. … And I think what makes this country on the verge of going to a place we don’t want it to go right now, is we’re afraid to go to places like this and have these conversations.” 
  3009.  
  3010.  
  3011.  
  3012.  
  3013.  
  3014.  
  3015. “My position is that even hate speech should be completely and totally allowed in our country. The most disgusting speech should absolutely be protected. … I think that in a civil society, the best ideals will win as long as you have that marketplace. And here’s the real issue: As soon as you shut up ‘hate speech,’ those people only get more powerful. And this is the unintended consequence of censorship. You give more credence to the ‘silenced person’ the moment you shut them up.
  3016.  
  3017.  
  3018.  
  3019.  
  3020.  
  3021.  
  3022.  
  3023.  
  3024.  
  3025.  
  3026. “Elon Musk liberating Twitter will go down as one of the greatest free speech victories in the history of Western civilization. … One of the reasons why the powerful are getting nervous is because we can finally speak again online.”
  3027.  
  3028.  
  3029.  
  3030.  
  3031.  
  3032.  
  3033.  
  3034.  
  3035.  
  3036.  
  3037. "My wish for the left is that you’ll become liberal again and no longer leftist. Free speech is a liberal value. It is not a left-wing value. …as of today, Lucy Connelly is going to jail for two and a half years in this country [Britain] for a social media post that she apologized and deleted about a migrant hotel. That is not a free speech value at all. You should be allowed to say outrageous things. You should be allowed to say contrarian things. Free speech is a birthright that you gave us and you guys decided not to codify it and now it's poof, it's basically gone."
  3038.  
  3039.  
  3040.  
  3041.  
  3042.  
  3043.  
  3044.  
  3045.  
  3046.  
  3047.  
  3048. "[Continued from above, in reference to the Reform party possibly coming into power in Britain] When that happens, do you want Nigel Farage, prime minister, to be able to lock you up if you criticize his government? If your answer is no, then you have a moral obligation to make sure that your prime minister and the MPs advocate for a values-neutral free speech policy. So, regardless of who is in power in this country, you guys can challenge and you guys can speak openly. That is the bedrock of a liberal democracy."
  3049.  
  3050.  
  3051. "By the way, just to be clear, you guys [Britain] have the wrong incitement threshold. In America, you need to have specific time and specific place in order to reach the incitement threshold. Every day, people say, you know, 'Well, someone should go kill Charlie Kirk.' I don't like it, but that's protected speech. In America, we care about what you do, not about what you say."
  3052.  
  3053.  
  3054.  
  3055. This week, I'm in Britain, the place that helped birth free speech throughout the world, but is now becoming a totalitarian country. pic.twitter.com/4EBvP40mhW
  3056. — Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) May 20, 2025
  3057.  
  3058.  
  3059. “Free speech is not just saying what you want to say, but it is having to hear things you don't want to hear.”
  3060.  
  3061.  
  3062.  
  3063. Free speech is not just saying what you want to say, but it is having to hear things you don't want to hear.
  3064. — Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) April 11, 2017
  3065.  
  3066. Kirk stood as a bastion for free speech, but he was also no stranger to the censorship that resulted from telling people things Big Tech seemingly didn’t want Americans to hear. MRC Free Speech America has recorded eight times he was censored on his personal social media accounts, including when, in 2022, Twitter locked his account because he refused to call former Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine a man. The platform similarly censored Kirk when he spoke out against potential election fraud in Pennsylvania after the 2020 election and when he noted Democrats' unfounded distrust of hydroxychloroquine during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  3067.  
  3068. Free speech is under attack! Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.</description>
  3069.  <pubDate>September 16th, 2025 11:08 AM</pubDate>
  3070.    <dc:creator>Gabriela Pariseau</dc:creator>
  3071.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291985</guid>
  3072.    </item>
  3073. <item>
  3074.  <title>Kimmel: MAGA 'Desperately Trying' to Portray Kirk Killer as Not 'One of Them'</title>
  3075.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/alex-christy/2025/09/16/kimmel-maga-desperately-trying-portray-kirk-killer-not-one-them</link>
  3076.  <description>ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel had a perverted sense of outrage on Monday as he claimed that “the MAGA gang” is “desperately trying” to characterize Charlie Kirk’s killer as not one of them. He also alleged that President Trump is mourning Kirk’s death like a 4-year old who has lost a pet goldfish.
  3077.  
  3078. Kimmel huffed, “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
  3079.  
  3080.  
  3081.  
  3082.  
  3083.  
  3084.  
  3085.  
  3086.  
  3087.  
  3088. Perhaps that is because there is a portion of the left that is trying to claim that Kirk’s killer was someone who thought Kirk was not right-wing enough or that his motive doesn’t matter. Later in his monologue, Kimmel would call Utah Gov. Spencer Cox a “rare voice of sanity” for his handling of the situation, but Cox has repeatedly stated that the alleged shooter is a leftist.
  3089.  
  3090. However, Kimmel rolled right along, “In between the finger pointing there was grieving. On Friday, the White House flew the flags at half-staff, which got some criticism. But on a human level, you can see how hard the president is taking this.”
  3091.  
  3092. In a clip, a reporter asked Trump, “My condolences on the loss of your friend, Charlie Kirk. May I ask, sir, personally, how are you holding up over the last day and a half, sir?”
  3093.  
  3094. Trump responded, “I think very good. And by the way, right there you see all the trucks. They just started the construction of the new ballroom for the White House, which is something they've been trying to get, as you know, for about 150 years. And it's going to be a beauty.”
  3095.  
  3096. Kimmel mocked that answer, “Yes. He's at the fourth stage of grief: construction. Demolition, construction. This is not how an adult grieves the murder of somebody he called a friend. This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish, okay?”
  3097.  
  3098. It is never a good idea to tell someone how to grieve. Maybe Trump’s construction plans are a helpful distraction for him. Maybe Kimmel should spend more time condemning the people in his Bluesky replies for their reaction to the crime.
  3099.  
  3100. Here is a transcript for the September 15 show:
  3101.  
  3102.  
  3103. ABC Jimmy Kimmel Live!
  3104.  
  3105. 9/15/2025
  3106.  
  3107. 11:37 PM ET
  3108.  
  3109. JIMMY KIMMEL: We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.
  3110.  
  3111. In between the finger pointing there was grieving. On Friday, the White House flew the flags at half-staff, which got some criticism. But on a human level, you can see how hard the president is taking this.
  3112.  
  3113. REPORTER: My condolences on the loss of your friend, Charlie Kirk. May I ask, sir, personally, how are you holding up over the last day and a half, sir?
  3114.  
  3115. DONALD TRUMP: I think very good. And by the way, right there you see all the trucks. They just started the construction of the new ballroom for the White House, which is something they've been trying to get, as you know, for about 150 years. And it's going to be a beauty.
  3116.  
  3117. KIMMEL: Yes. He's at the fourth stage of grief: construction. Demolition, construction. This is not how an adult grieves the murder of somebody he called a friend. This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish, okay?
  3118. </description>
  3119.  <pubDate>September 16th, 2025 9:30 AM</pubDate>
  3120.    <dc:creator>Alex Christy</dc:creator>
  3121.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291983</guid>
  3122.    </item>
  3123. <item>
  3124.  <title>CBS News Is Still Pretending There is No Motive to Kirk Shooting</title>
  3125.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/jorge-bonilla/2025/09/16/cbs-news-still-pretending-there-no-motive-kirk-shooting</link>
  3126.  <description>The legacy media are fighting the motive narrative battle with the intensity of the last Japanese soldier in the Philippine jungles after the end of World War II. CBS, in particular, is insisting on a lack of motive in the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
  3127.  
  3128. Watch as anchor John Dickerson sets up the longform interview segment on CBS Evening News Plus with both statements dismissing a finding of motive, and an alternative theory: Nihilistic, violent extremism:
  3129.  
  3130.  
  3131.  
  3132.  
  3133.  
  3134.  
  3135. JOHN DICKERSON: Five days after Charlie Kirk's murder, the shooter's motive remains elusive. No writings left behind. Vague, secondhand testimony. That uncertainty, and the risk of drawing sweeping conclusions, suggests the murder may share similarities with recent violence not driven by an obvious political ideology. The FBI recently recognized a new category: nihilistic, violent extremism.
  3136.  
  3137.  
  3138. This was followed by four minutes with the head of the Institute for Countering Digital Extremism, who also and quite conveniently found that there was no clear motive in the Kirk shooting. In order to get to the interview, Dickerson has to dismiss the trove of circumstantial evidence showing at least some transgender motive to the shooting, beginning with the timing of the shot fired shortly after a question on transgender school shooters. 
  3139.  
  3140. Additionally, as the The Washington Free Beacon reports, there appears to be evidence of multiple persons having foreknowledge of the assassination:
  3141.  
  3142.  
  3143. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating social media posts by at least seven different accounts that appeared to indicate foreknowledge of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, according to three people familiar with the investigation and screenshots obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
  3144.  
  3145. The posts—one of which referenced the date of Kirk’s assassination, September 10, more than a month before it took place—were all deleted in the days following the killing. Several of the accounts appear to belong to transgender individuals, and at least one of them followed suspect Tyler Robinson's roommate, with whom Robinson was allegedly in a relationship, on TikTok.
  3146.  
  3147.  
  3148. This report was published well before the 7PM newscast, and yet Dickerson is still talking about no clear motive. The intent seems evident enough, but alas.
  3149.  
  3150. The interview offers not much in the way of substantive analysis beyond the alternate nihilist theories. Anything to stay off of transgenderism as a motive.
  3151.  
  3152. Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned interview as aired on CBS Evening News Plus on Monday, September 15th, 2025:
  3153.  
  3154.  
  3155. JOHN DICKERSON: Five days after Charlie Kirk's murder, the shooter's motive remains elusive. No writings left behind. Vague, secondhand testimony. That uncertainty, and the risk of drawing sweeping conclusions, suggests the murder may share similarities with recent violence not driven by an obvious political ideology. The FBI recently recognized a new category: nihilistic, violent extremism. For tonight's interview we are joined by Matthew Kriner, the executive director of the Institute for Countering Digital Extremism. Matthew, thank you so much for joining us. So leaving aside this incident, what is nihilistic or nihilistic violent extremism?
  3156.  
  3157. MATTHEW KRINER: So nihilistic violent extremism is extremism that is driven by a lack of singular ideological framework. It's individuals who are fed up with the world, believe there's no political solution to what they hope to see accomplished in their own goals and their actions. And as the Department of Justice has said, it's conduct and activities that they hope will further societal collapse, generally aligning what we've called neofascist accelerationism, the hastening of societal collapse through violence, and specifically terrorism.
  3158.  
  3159. DICKERSON: Why does it help the FBI to use this categorization? Or where does the categorization come from?
  3160.  
  3161. KRINER: So about a year and a half ago, the Department of Justice approached me and asked me to help them understand what is this new form of digital extremism that's emerging and what they were really trying to understand is how does it distinguish itself from previous waves of terrorism activity that we've seen? ISIS has used the online space very heavily, and they really wanted to understand what is this space where no one seems to have a clear ideological guiding post. And so this allows them to put things that don't have a clear structure to them into a bucket that nonetheless is seeking to use violence to gain and inform their actions in a politically political goal.
  3162.  
  3163. DICKERSON: Are there examples? Again, leaving this assassination out because we just don't have enough data- are there recent examples that- where some act would fit into this category?
  3164.  
  3165. KRINER: Yes. In fact, two of the more recent school shootings, including the individuals in Antioch in Tennessee and Samantha Rupnow in Minnes- as well, both had hallmarks of activity around nihilistic violent extremism. They were connected to the ndividuals and networks online that promotes the idea of societal collapse, and using any and every means at their disposal. We've also seen a number of individuals be arrested in recent months by the Department of Justice for engaging in what's called sadistic extortion online. And it's meaning to groom and recruit youth, individuals that are the age of 12 to 18, into conducting acts of self-harm, including suicide, and sometimes even what's called in real life activities or terrorism. And that's going out and conducting stabbings and ultimately school shootings.
  3166.  
  3167. DICKERSON: Matt, as somebody who knows this world and has spent time thinking about it, give us the best, most hygienic way to think about all of this information that's coming out about a culture and a world and the kinds of things being posted. Tell us how to think wisely about this.
  3168.  
  3169. KRINER: This space is occupied by a lot of young individuals who are disaffected with society, don't have a strong understanding of where they fit within society, and ultimately believe that their political solutions can't be met in a normative way. They don't feel that they have a pathway forward. And so they're turning towards these very online, online niche subcultures where people can find any idea of, of merit and they will run with it to the most extreme forms. Once they're in there, they start to become indoctrinated into these really unusual and scary concepts about recreating school shootings, trying to become the next Columbine perpetrator, becoming very infatuated with satanism in a way that doesn't really align with the religious understanding of it, but instead is a very extremist, terroristic frame. And ultimately, these individuals are really unclear as to what they're hoping to accomplish, but they know they want to accomplish harm. And so they're engaging in violence and activities in that respect.
  3170.  
  3171. DICKERSON: Matthew Kriner, the executive director of the Institute for Countering Digital Extremism. Thank you so much.
  3172.  
  3173.  
  3174.  </description>
  3175.  <pubDate>September 16th, 2025 12:10 AM</pubDate>
  3176.    <dc:creator>Jorge Bonilla</dc:creator>
  3177.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291982</guid>
  3178.    </item>
  3179. <item>
  3180.  <title>NewsBusters Podcast: TV Newsers Police Conservative Speech After Kirk's Death</title>
  3181.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tim-graham/2025/09/15/newsbusters-podcast-tv-newsers-police-conservative-speech-after</link>
  3182.  <description> The Sunday "news" shows demanded that Republicans condemn angry speech by conservatives after the murder of Charlie Kirk, not leftist rhetoric. It's perverse after a conservative was gunned down on campus.
  3183.  
  3184. Before Sunday, we wondered: Would anyone question if the left and the Democrats need to curb their rhetoric of "fascism" and "existential threats to democracy"?  Sadly, it seemed they brought on Republican guests demanding they condemn their own side's rhetoric, especially President Trump blaming Charlie's killing on the "radical left."
  3185.  
  3186. Jorge Bonilla shares what he found on Sunday. ABC’s Martha Raddatz spent most of her time on This Week attempting to elicit her mostly conservative guests to condemn in some way, shape, or form President Donald Trump’s remarks wherein he accused the “Radical Left” of causing Kirk's death.
  3187.  
  3188. On Friday’s Washington Week with The Atlantic, the liberal PBS gang typically rained fire on conservatives in general and Kirk in particular. No one had a critical word for rhetorical extremism on the left, and there was really no focus on the killer.
  3189.  
  3190. The liberal hosts also wanted to dismiss the notion that the shooter was inspired by a transgender roommate. They don't want their side of the debate to be blamed for this assassination. On Face The Nation, CBS’s Scott MacFarlane completely misrepresented statements by Utah Governor Spencer Cox, who was trying not to get ahead of the official investigation.
  3191.  
  3192. Jonathan Lemire on Morning Joe was saying “motives almost shouldn’t matter.” CNN analyst Juliette Kayyem even demanded people stop asking questions about a motive. But isn't that what the media is supposed to do? Get to the bottom of a massive news event like this??
  3193.  
  3194. The liberals are upset that fellow lefties are getting fired after they posted unhinged hatred of Kirk on social-media sites. National Public Radio was very concerned Saturday about angry leftists losing their jobs, even citing McCarthyism. But in May 2024, NPR promoted left-wing list-makers using TikTok to boycott celebrities for the crime of…saying nothing about Israel: “Here's how activists used the Met Gala to call out stars for Gaza silence.”
  3195.  
  3196. Enjoy the podcast below, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
  3197.  
  3198. </description>
  3199.  <pubDate>September 15th, 2025 10:32 PM</pubDate>
  3200.    <dc:creator>Tim Graham</dc:creator>
  3201.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291971</guid>
  3202.    </item>
  3203. <item>
  3204.  <title>THE FINDING OUT TIMES: NBC Whines About Firings Over Anti-Kirk Vitriol</title>
  3205.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/jorge-bonilla/2025/09/15/finding-out-times-nbc-whines-about-firings-over-anti-kirk-vitriol</link>
  3206.  <description>The NBC Nightly News complains about the rash of firings of individuals celebrating the assassination of Charlie Kirk. A report full of misrepresentations and obfuscations attempts to turn these formerly-employed individuals into the newest, purest victims of the shooting.
  3207.  
  3208. Watch the report in its entirety as aired on the NBC Nightly News on Monday, September 15th, 2025:
  3209.  
  3210.  
  3211.  
  3212.  
  3213.  
  3214.  
  3215. TOM LLAMAS: Tonight we’re also hearing about the vice president’s efforts to crack down on liberals that they say are to blame for political violence. It comes as several employers have fired people for their comments about Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Here’s Courtney Kube.
  3216.  
  3217. COURTNEY KUBE: The Trump administration's effort to find and punish Americans who criticized Charlie Kirk intensifying.
  3218.  
  3219. JD VANCE: So when you see someone celebrating Charlie's murder, call them out. And hell, call their employer.
  3220.  
  3221. KUBE: Some employers already firing or suspending people for their posts about Kirk. Impacting teachers, commercial pilots, doctors and even NFL staff. Today, Secretary of State Marco Rubio floated revoking critics' visas.
  3222.  
  3223. MARCO RUBIO: We should not be giving visas to people who are going to come to the United States and do things like celebrate the murder, the execution, the assassination of a political figure.
  3224.  
  3225. KUBE: Two officials telling NBC News, Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed his staff to look for posts from servicemembers. Pentagon leaders quickly getting behind that policy. The Marines say they fired a recruiter for an alleged post about Kirk's death reading, “another racist man popped.” Experts say expect those firings to be challenged in court.
  3226.  
  3227. EUGENE FIDELL: Simply saying unpleasant things or unflattering things or things you just disagree with concerning a- another person who is not a public official, was never a public official. I think, cannot be punished by any part of the government.
  3228.  
  3229. KUBE: On social media, people who have criticized Kirk are being called out, their names and photos widely circulated. Some using the hashtag “revolutionaries in the ranks”. One post about an Army officer who allegedly shared direct quotes from Kirk has been viewed more than 7 million times. 
  3230.  
  3231. They are not giving up their First Amendment rights when they swear an oath to serve in the military.
  3232.  
  3233. FIDELL: Absolutely not. They may apply somewhat differently, but the principle is one and the same. 
  3234.  
  3235. KUBE: One of those differences: officers are not allowed to criticize the president or elected officials. Tom.
  3236.  
  3237. LLAMAS: All right. Courtney, we thank you.
  3238.  
  3239.  
  3240. The first misrepresentation is the suggestion that the effort to bring accountability to those who mock the death of a husband and father as a top-down effort from The White House, as opposed to an organic grassroots effort. Before Vice President JD Vance suggested people call the employers of these individuals, online sleuths were out there compiling posts and gathering information. To repeatedly suggest this is a White House effort is a fabrication with no factual basis.
  3241.  
  3242. Then there is the suggestion that service members have unfettered First Amendment rights while in the service. Kube’s dramatically intoned “They are not giving up their First Amendment rights when they swear an oath to serve in the military,” with help from a senior research scholar at Yale Law, might sound nice to the ear. But it isn’t based in fact.
  3243.  
  3244. Behold Article 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ):
  3245.  
  3246.  
  3247. Though not specifically mentioned in this chapter, all disorders and neglects to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces, all conduct of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces, and crimes and offenses not capital, of which persons subject to this chapter may be guilty, shall be taken cognizance of by a general, special or summary court-martial, according to the nature and degree of the offense, and shall be punished at the discretion of that court. 
  3248.  
  3249.  
  3250. Article 134 is more commonly known as the "catch-all" article. Any nonspecific dumb stuff not specifically covered in the other articles falls under Article 134, including ghoulish posts on social media. Free speech in the armed forces is subject to the UCMJ, and actions deemed to “bring discredit upon the armed forces” or otherwise affect the good order are actionable, whether the legacy media like it or not. We’ve come a long way in these past few years. I’m old enough to remember when the media sent reporters to people’s homes over posts about election integrity (among other things). Now they protest the firings of those who would celebrate murder, and celebrate them as free speech defenders rather than miscreants who…fooled around and have now entered into the finding out times. Consider that and assess where we are.
  3251.  
  3252.  </description>
  3253.  <pubDate>September 15th, 2025 10:20 PM</pubDate>
  3254.    <dc:creator>Jorge Bonilla</dc:creator>
  3255.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291981</guid>
  3256.    </item>
  3257. <item>
  3258.  <title>'The Nation' President Is Deceptive About His Publication’s Connection to George Soros</title>
  3259.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/business/joseph-vazquez/2025/09/15/nation-president-deceptive-about-his-publications-connection</link>
  3260.  <description>The president of the leftist magazine The Nation Bhaskar Sunkara was up in arms over Vice President J.D. Vance’s connection of his publication to billionaire George Soros during a recent TV appearance. The reality: Vance was hovering over the target, and Sunkara was being blatantly deceptive.
  3261.  
  3262. Sunkara railed against Vance in an X post for saying Soros “funds” The Nation: “I'm not sure where he's getting his information, but JD Vance is lying about The Nation magazine.” He continued, claiming unequivocally that “we're not funded, not one dime, by Soros or Open Society Foundation.”
  3263.  
  3264. Here’s the deception: Up until 2019, The Nation was directly affiliated with the nonprofit media outfit The Nation Institute, which had in fact received at least $1,349,000 from Soros’s organizations between 2004 and 2019, according to Foundation Directory Online data. In January 2019, it was announced that The Nation Institute was officially rebranding to become the Type Media Center to expand beyond its connections to the magazine.
  3265.  
  3266. Type Media Center Executive Director and CEO Taya Kitman, said in a statement then that “When the Nation Institute was founded more than 50 years ago, we were a modest organization affiliated with the Nation Magazine — but that name no longer reflects the breadth and impact of what we do today.” Apparently, there is still a connection between the organizations.
  3267.  
  3268. The MacArthur Foundation, another leftist donor organization, described the relationship this way in a 2023 grant for $325,000 to the Center: “Type Media Center is a nonprofit organization that supports journalism and nonfiction writing through book publishing, fellowship programs, and The Nation magazine.” 
  3269.  
  3270.  
  3271. I'm not sure where he's getting his information, but JD Vance is lying about The Nation magazine. We'd welcome donations from anyone who respects our editorial independence, but we're not funded, not one dime, by Soros or Open Society Foundation. pic.twitter.com/LmcGgxVIWN
  3272. — Bhaskar Sunkara (@sunraysunray) September 15, 2025
  3273. Should we just pretend this connection doesn’t exist? After all, Soros has continued to fund the Center long after the rebrand. His most recent grant to the Center was in 2022 and amounted to $150,000 to "build a more equitable future in the field of public interest journalism by strengthening publishing and independent media.”
  3274.  
  3275. One 2018 $60,000 grant from Soros, was intended “to provide support for the editorial director fellowship, which will enhance the Nation Institute's ability to undertake and support activities with emphasis on the independent media, civil liberties, social justice and peace.” 
  3276.  
  3277. Either Sunkara doesn’t understand the concept of money being fungible or he knew all of this and pretended that one degree of separation between his publication and Soros meant definitively that “not one dime” has circulated through the magazine.
  3278.  
  3279. Vance’s point in bringing up The Nation’s funding was the publication’s rabid hostility towards late TPUSA Founder Charlie Kirk, who was murdered in cold blood by an assassin during a September 10 event at Utah Valley University. One September 12 piece was about as vile as it gets: “Charlie Kirk’s Legacy Deserves No Mourning: The white Christian nationalist provocateur wasn’t a promoter of civil discourse. He preached hate, bigotry, and division.” 
  3280.  
  3281. Is it beyond the pale for Soros to even be remotely connected to such race-baiting propaganda? No, and the money trail proves that he has been a longstanding fan of The Nation network, whether Sunkara chooses to admit it or not.  </description>
  3282.  <pubDate>September 15th, 2025 9:27 PM</pubDate>
  3283.    <dc:creator>Joseph Vazquez</dc:creator>
  3284.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291980</guid>
  3285.    </item>
  3286. <item>
  3287.  <title>CNN Attempts to Shift Blame for Political Violence Away from the Left</title>
  3288.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/isaac-white/2025/09/15/cnn-attempts-shift-blame-political-violence-away-left</link>
  3289.  <description>The left could no longer deny that their side was responsible for (at least some) of the political violence terrorizing this country. But they weren’t willing to admit the of violence that could be attributed to liberal ideology. Monday’s edition of Inside Politics with Dana Bash on CNN saw her and guests dissatisfied with the Trump Administration’s response to the murder of Charlie Kirk last week.
  3290.  
  3291. Bash cast doubt on President Trump’s ability to handle the tragedy in a responsible manner, stating, “And then if you work in the fact that he is, as Kristen said, very upset, mourning somebody who was very close to him, it's making for a cocktail of something that we haven't seen with regard to presidential leadership. Certainly in our lifetime.”
  3292.  
  3293. The way Bash mentioned the President’s relationship with Kirk, while not overtly condescending, insinuated a potential for instability within Trump’s response to the assassination. A reasonable one given his experience with nearly dying in an assassination attempt.
  3294.  
  3295. CNN correspondent Manu Raju repeated a recurring left-wing talking point that Trump was not a “consoler-in-chief,” bizarrely comparing him to former President Bush:
  3296.  
  3297.  
  3298. His response to crises depends on the moment, depends on the person that's happened to. And it's been basically, if it's a Republican or someone who is aligned with him, he has a much different response than if it's a Democrat. Sometimes he doesn't respond to that at all. And you're right, he does not—he's not a consoler-in-chief. There’s the way George W. Bush handled post-9/11, saying, “Islam is not a religion of war, it's a religion of peace.” Trying to ratchet down anger towards Islam. And there's Trump directing the blame at the left, even before we even knew who the suspect was, he was doing just that. It's—that's who he is.
  3299.  
  3300.  
  3301. Bush, while seen as a definitive leader in the immediate aftermath of the 2001 terror attack, was not considered a particularly strong, confidence-inspiring president before or afterwards. It would be fair to say Trump had been looked up to far more. And to whine about Trump blaming the left right after the fateful event on Wednesday was dense.
  3302.  
  3303. The suspect was no conservative. If the left-wing media was not as responsible for political violence as Trump claims it was, you need to come up with a better explanation, Raju.
  3304.  
  3305.  
  3306.  
  3307.  
  3308.  
  3309.  
  3310.  
  3311.  
  3312.  
  3313. The Minnesota lawmaker who was murdered earlier this year, Melissa Hortman, did in fact receive sympathy from Trump, with him stating that the killer would be prosecuted “to the fullest extent of the law. Such horrific violence will not be tolerated in the United States of America.”
  3314.  
  3315. Axios political reporter Hans Nichols took the chance to huff about individual Republicans expressing their anger in spite Party leadership’s preferred posture:
  3316.  
  3317.  
  3318. The challenge for Johnson and for leaders in the Republican Party is that their rank and file, in some cases, get pretty angry, and they are expressing some of this anger. So every time a leader sort of asks to tamp things down and cool, they sort of let passions cool a little bit, there's another member that will come off and say something that's a little bit more on the inflammatory side. And that's really a challenge for the Congressional leaders at this moment.
  3319.  
  3320.  
  3321. One would think rebelling against Republican leadership would earn a Congressmen brownie points on CNN. Bash continued the unpleasantries by bemoaning top White House official Stephen Miller: “And then there are the people who, not just online, but in the White House, Stephen Miller in particular, who has been very forward-leaning about the fact that they want to go after political enemies because of this.”
  3322.  
  3323. And why wouldn’t they? It’s not like the left-wing media was super friendly after the first assassination attempt on Trump last year.
  3324.  
  3325. CNN White House reporter Alayna Treene recounted her experience as the news was coming out on Wednesday, whining about White House staffers getting angry and blaming the left:
  3326.  
  3327.  
  3328. They're trying to paint this as if it's only violence on the left, which is clearly just not true. And I think to Hans’ point and to what you all are saying about the anger among rank and file, there's so much anger in the White House. It was very quick. I remember the day that the shooting happened, in my conversations with people in the White House, there was that shock. There was that disbelief, the grief. It very quickly turned to, “I'm angry. We need to hold people accountable, and there needs to be some reckoning here.”
  3329.  
  3330.  
  3331. It is not unreasonable to assume that the individual responsible for Kirk’s death was most likely not a conservative. And in a heated political climate, where liberals are more willing to justify political violence than conservatives, taking action was a valid response. If Trump didn’t take assertive efforts in any capacity, the left would most certainly decry it as a lack of leadership.
  3332.  
  3333. Treene, once again, repainted the narrative by accusing the right of the exact same thing: “Now, of course, when they see these images, they note, ‘Yes, there is violence on both sides.’ But they are trying to kind of repaint the narrative that it's mostly on the left, which again, is just not true.”
  3334.  
  3335. No one was apologizing for violence committed against Democrats. But how many instances of that occurring versus violence against Republicans and/or by Democrats can be counted? In this segment, only two in the former category have been mentioned. Think about the dozen or so in the second that have happened in the past five years alone.
  3336.  
  3337. Bash tried to cover for her guests, but gave the murder suspect too much deference in the process:
  3338.  
  3339.  
  3340. “And again, I think that we need to say, again, we understand they're angry. They have every right to be angry and to be mourning and to be sad. We just we have to get information about—more information about who this person is, and it’s still an open question about culturally where we are right now with all this.”
  3341.  
  3342.  
  3343. Tyler Robinson (the alleged killer). IS. NOT. CONSERVATIVE. It is laughable to believe there is a more equitable distribution of accountability needed when it comes to spurning violent rhetoric. As many have pointed out, there have been no angry protests, rioting, or looting occurring in the past week due to Kirk’s death. 2020 told a far different story.
  3344.  
  3345. The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
  3346.  
  3347.  
  3348. CNN’s Inside Politics with Dana Bash
  3349. September 15, 2025
  3350. 12:04:10 p.m. Eastern
  3351.  
  3352. (…)
  3353.  
  3354. DANA BASH: Manu, it's just—I think I've had a lot of people asking me, you know, “What does this mean?” and, “What's happening with our political leaders?” And I think Peter Baker of The New York Times, and others, really kind of nailed it over the weekend by—and I want you to weigh in on this as well—that Donald Trump is not constitutionally, small c, set up to ratchet down the pressure. It's not who he is. It's not who he ever was. He is somebody who—whose instinct is to do just the opposite. That's just on the politics. And then if you work in the fact that he is, as Kristen said, very upset, mourning somebody who was very close to him, it's making for a cocktail of something that we haven't seen with regard to presidential leadership. Certainly in our lifetime.
  3355.  
  3356. MANU RAJU: His response to crises depends on the moment, depends on the person that's happened to. And it's been basically, if it's a Republican or someone who is aligned with him, he has a much different response than if it's a Democrat. Sometimes he doesn't respond to that at all. And you're right, he does not—he's not a consoler-in-chief. There’s the way George W. Bush handled post-9/11, saying, “Islam is not a religion of war, it's a religion of peace.” Trying to ratchet down anger towards Islam. And there's Trump directing the blame at the left, even before we even knew who the suspect was, he was doing just that. It's—that's who he is.
  3357.  
  3358. You know, the question is, you know—we are in a moment, really, of time where we're seeing violence play out across the political spectrum. I mean, there were two Minnesota lawmakers who were targeted, one sadly assassinated at her home with her husband this year. Josh Shapiro, the governor of Pennsylvania, had his house burned down. We didn't hear much from the President when that happened. A totally different response this time.
  3359.  
  3360. ALAYNA TREENE: Yeah, I mean, and I think the point as well is rarely have we ever seen an administration—and not just the President, but all of his top aides, the Vice President included—act or react to a moment like this in such a deeply personal way. And that's what I think to me has been so striking to see the way that they—you know, he ordered flags to be flown at half-mast, he is going to honor Charlie Kirk posthumously with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. I mean, these are things that are a very different response to what we've seen in other cases like this.
  3361.  
  3362. I think part of it, too—and the one thing that I really do want to get answers on, the White House has not been clear in my questions on this—is what he means when he says, ‘We're going to go after these leftist organizations.’ I mean, obviously, that-that quote that Kristen referenced of the President saying, that is not unifying rhetoric.
  3363.  
  3364. But we did get a little bit of clarity, I think—and this is what my, what White House officials are telling me in my conversations with them—is look at what Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, said last week, which was essentially, this could be baked in into a broader anti-crime crackdown that they are working on, particularly as it relates to violent crime. But no one has any answers on what that actually means or what that could look like.
  3365.  
  3366. BASH: Yeah. So there's that. And then there are voices that are notable in the Republican Party because they are voices—maybe solos, not a chorus—like the governor of Utah, who on Friday at the press conference when they were talking about the investigation, took a moment to discuss and plead with people to calm down the rhetoric. Steve Bannon took issue with that. Yesterday, I interviewed Governor Cox and got him to react to Steve Bannon basically attacking Cox for trying to lower the temperature.
  3367.  
  3368. (…)
  3369.  
  3370. 12:08:23 p.m.
  3371.  
  3372. HANS NICHOLS: You're seeing voices of calm throughout the Republican Party. Speaker Mike Johnson has been sort of leading on this, asking people to take a beat.
  3373.  
  3374. BASH: That’s fair. True. That’s true.
  3375.  
  3376. NICHOLS: The challenge for Johnson and for leaders in the Republican Party is that their rank and file, in some cases, get pretty angry, and they are expressing some of this anger. So every time a leader sort of asks to tamp things down and cool, they sort of let passions cool a little bit, there's another member that will come off and say something that's a little bit more on the inflammatory side. And that's really a challenge for the Congressional leaders at this moment.
  3377.  
  3378. They're also dealing with very practical concerns that Senators and lawmakers have about their own security. And I suspect we'll see a lot of that this week, as members are wondering what kind of funds they can use to protect themselves and how they can keep themselves safe. And that's a bipartisan issue.
  3379.  
  3380. BASH: So there is, you know, the idea of fighting crime combined with—there's so many different factors and layers of this moment that we're in—combined with the fact that Charlie Kirk had enormous reach, particularly with young people. I mean, you saw this weekend major sporting events take the time to pay tribute to Charlie Kirk, which is not something you even sometimes see for Presidents or elected officials. Never mind somebody who is a well-known conservative activist. And then there are the people who, not just online, but in the White House, Stephen Miller in particular, who has been very forward-leaning about the fact that they want to go after political enemies because of this.
  3381.  
  3382. Chris Murphy, Democrat from Connecticut, posted this, “Pay attention. Something dark might be coming. The murder of Charlie Kirk could have united Americans to confront political violence. Instead, Trump and his anti-democratic radicals look to be readying a campaign to destroy dissent.” And what are we talking about here, Manu?
  3383.  
  3384. We're talking about if you look really anywhere on any of your social media platforms, you are going to see examples of conservatives making lists of people who, maybe are just everyday Americans, some who are working for schools or for local governments, who—there's a spectrum of people who reacted in a cheering way to Charlie Kirk. There are some who are clearly just, completely out of bounds. Saying anything positive about the murder of a 31 year old man is disgusting. And then there are those who just posted their feelings about it, and maybe it wasn't that disgusting.
  3385.  
  3386. But look at what Reuters is reporting. And they did a review of screenshots and comments posted to a site which is compiling all of these. Again, some featured jokes, some featured celebrations. Others were just critical of the far-right figure and explicitly denouncing violence. But this is something that—this is kind of what Chris Murphy is talking about. And the question is, where does that lead us?
  3387.  
  3388. RAJU: Well look, I mean, this has been the pattern of this second term of the Trump administration, is to go after their critics to try to tamp down on dissent. And those comments from Stephen Miller in the wake of all this were pretty striking. I mean, he was going after one group after another, targeting, I believe, George Soros and the like as well, of course, who's a big Democratic donor. So it's very clear that the concerns that Chris Murphy's voicing is that will they use this as a pretext to go even further in that retribution campaign? And Stephen Miller's comments suggest that they will.
  3389.  
  3390. You know, just to the point, though, I mean, you can be, you know, there is a lot of anger, as Hans [Nichols] was saying, from the rank and file from the GOP. But, you know, a test of leadership to try to tamp down that anger and try to say that, “Look, violence happens on both sides, on the right and on the left. And none of it is good. We should stop it.” All of that. And that is just simply not the message from the White House.
  3391.  
  3392. BASH: And I just want to just use just facts here about some examples of violence that happened against those on the left. One we've talked about a lot which is, and you just mentioned, the murder of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband. Senator Mike Lee, put up something on social media, “Nightmare on Waltz Street.” “Waltz” referring to the Governor of Minnesota. Now, was he celebrating the murder of a Democratic lawmaker? No, but he was mocking it. This is a sitting United States Senator from Utah. It took him a long time, he finally did delete it he was got complaints from his colleagues from Minnesota.
  3393.  
  3394. Paul Pelosi was doing nothing except sleeping in his bed, and he was almost killed by somebody in a politically violent act with a hammer in his home. Afterwards, we saw a lot of Republicans, again, not cheering it necessarily, but mocking it. Don Jr. had a post up for a week that had—you can just look at it now, “Got my Paul Pelosi Halloween costume ready.” What do they say about this at the White House, Alayna?
  3395.  
  3396. TREENE: Look, I mean, clearly what we're hearing from the President, I think a lot of officials are trying to take their cues from him. They're trying to paint this as if it's only violence on the left, which is clearly just not true. And I think to Hans’ point and to what you all are saying about the anger among rank and file, there's so much anger in the White House. It was very quick. I remember the day that the shooting happened, in my conversations with people in the White House, there was that shock. There was that disbelief, the grief. It very quickly turned to, “I'm angry. We need to hold people accountable, and there needs to be some reckoning here.” And that is where the messaging is going. This idea that they need to target left-wing organizations, as the President is saying.
  3397.  
  3398. Now, of course, when they see these images, they note, “Yes, there is violence on both sides.” But they are trying to kind of repaint the narrative that it's mostly on the left, which again, is just not true.
  3399.  
  3400. BASH: Yeah. And again, I think that we need to say, again, we understand they're angry. They have every right to be angry and to be mourning and to be sad. We just we have to get information about—more information about who this person is, and it’s still an open question about culturally where we are right now with all this.
  3401.  
  3402. (…)
  3403. </description>
  3404.  <pubDate>September 15th, 2025 9:11 PM</pubDate>
  3405.    <dc:creator>Isaac White</dc:creator>
  3406.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291978</guid>
  3407.    </item>
  3408. <item>
  3409.  <title>Washington Examiner’s ‘Liberal Media Scream’ With the MRC’s Assessment</title>
  3410.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/brent-baker/2025/09/15/washington-examiners-liberal-media-scream-mrcs-assessment</link>
  3411.  <description> Since late January of 2012, the Washington Examiner’s Paul Bedard has once a week featured a “Mainstream Media Scream” selection in his “Washington Secrets” column. For each pick, usually posted online on Monday, I provide an explanation and recommend a “scream” rating (scale of one to five).
  3412.  
  3413. This post contains the “Liberal Media Screams” starting in January 2025.
  3414.  
  3415. &gt; For 2023 and 2024, for 2021 and 2022, for 2020. For 2019. For 2018. (Re-named “Liberal Media Scream” as of June 11, 2018.) “Mainstream Media Screams” for:
  3416.  
  3417. &gt; July-December 2017 posts; January through June 2017; July to December 2016; for January to June 2016; for July to December 2015; for January to June 2015. (2012-2014 are featured on MRC.org: For 2014; for June 17, 2013 through the end of 2013. And for January 31, 2012 through June 11, 2013.)
  3418.  
  3419.  
  3420.  
  3421. Check Bedard’s “Washington Secrets” blog for the latest choice and his other Washington insider posts. Each week, this page will be updated with Bedard’s latest example of the worst bias of the week.
  3422.  
  3423. (For more of the worst liberal media bias, browse the Media Research Center's Notable Quotables with compilations of the latest outrageous, sometimes humorous, quotes in the liberal media.)
  3424.  
  3425.  
  3426.  
  3427. ■ New on September 15, 2025: Liberal Media Scream: Martha Raddatz went 0-3 swinging for Trump hate
  3428.  
  3429. See the posting on the Washington Examiner's site where you can watch the video and read Baker's assessment. A week later, Bedard's article will be posted here.
  3430.  
  3431.  
  3432.  
  3433. ■ September 8, 2025: Liberal Media Scream: Clintonista Stephanopoulos desperate to condemn Trump
  3434.  
  3435. (Washington Examiner post)
  3436.  
  3437.  
  3438. For TV news liberals, one-upping competitors while venting their anti-Trump bias seems a requirement, especially for the big shots who host the weekly public affairs shows.
  3439.  
  3440. Consider former Clinton spokesman George Stephanopoulos, who on Sunday was hosting ABC’s This Week for the first time since Aug. 3. Outdone on the Trump Derangement Syndrome spouted by the other hosts for weeks, notably CBS 60 Minutes anchor Scott Pelley’s regular editorial attacks on President Donald Trump, Stephanopoulos put on his serious face and listed all that was bad about the president’s week.
  3441.  
  3442. It was, he said, “a week of challenges,” and he cited several examples that have, in the findings of several pollsters, helped revive Trump’s approval ratings.
  3443.  
  3444. Stephanopoulos has been on the losing side of his fights with Trump for a while. Recall that in December, he and ABC News were ordered to apologize and pay $15 million in a Trump defamation lawsuit settlement.
  3445.  
  3446. For his one-sided, off-base rant, Stephanopoulos wins our weekly Liberal Media Scream.
  3447.  
  3448. Stephanopoulos at the top of ABC’s This Week on Sunday:
  3449.  
  3450. “On Friday, President Trump rebranded the Department of Defense the ‘Department of War.’ Saturday, he announced the department’s first target, an American city. The President’s words: ‘I love the smell of deportations in the morning. Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of War.’ A chorus of criticism followed, including this from Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D): ‘The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city. This is not a joke. This is not normal.’
  3451.  
  3452. “And this chilling threat from President Trump comes after a week of challenges: Friday’s weak jobs report, on Capitol Hill a bipartisan grilling for [Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.], and a demand for transparency from Jeffrey Epstein’s victims; China’s display of diplomatic skill and military force and Russia’s rebuff of another Trump deadline on the war in Ukraine.”
  3453.  
  3454.  
  3455.  
  3456.  
  3457.  
  3458. Brent Baker, the Steven P.J. Wood senior fellow and vice president for research and publications at the Media Research Center, explained our pick: “Stephanopoulos pops up every month or so to host This Week (he last hosted on Aug. 3) and seems bent each time on re-proving his anti-Trump bonafides. He did it again Sunday, framing in the worst possible light Trump’s efforts to save lives in Chicago and then proceeding to paint a world closing in on Trump — all in a week when Trump’s approval got an up bounce.”
  3459.  
  3460. Rating: FOUR out of FIVE screams.
  3461.  
  3462.  
  3463.  
  3464.  
  3465. ■ September 1, 2025: Liberal Media Scream: ABC reporter fired for Trump hate doubles down
  3466.  
  3467. (Washington Examiner post)
  3468.  
  3469. A top political reporter dumped by ABC News for spewing hate toward President Donald Trump and deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller on X is doubling down on his rant.
  3470.  
  3471. Instead of shushing after the embarrassing episode, Terry Moran stepped up his attack on Trump, telling a podcaster last week that Trump “is the man that we were warned about by the founders, that democracies fall when a man who can captivate the populace wants to exercise the power that’s there in the government.”
  3472.  
  3473. What makes Moran our Liberal Media Scream of the week isn’t just his continued hate toward Trump but his embrace of the Founding Fathers, whom the liberal media have recently attacked as racist slave-holders not worthy of memorializing.
  3474.  
  3475. Moran was dumped in June when he went after Miller on X. “He eats his hate,” Moran wrote of the president’s chief policy aide. “Trump is a world-class hater. … That’s his spiritual nourishment.”
  3476.  
  3477. Moran on In Good Faith With Philip DeFranco:
  3478.  
  3479. “What we’re seeing is, no question, what other countries have seen a lot, what our Founding Fathers predicted would happen, that a great strongman would, would, all right, not great in the good sense, but great in the power sense, right?
  3480.  
  3481. “Trump is the most dominant figure of our age around the world. Don’t underestimate him. He is a world historical figure, and he is the man that we were warned about by the Founders, that democracies fall when a man who can captivate the populace wants to exercise the power that’s there in the government, and that is what we’re watching.”
  3482.  
  3483.  
  3484.  
  3485.  
  3486.  
  3487. Brent Baker, the Steven P.J. Wood senior fellow and vice president for research and publications at the Media Research Center, explained our pick: “Legacy media figures keep reaching back in history to find different historic figures to use to condemn President Trump. The go-to has been Hitler, but now Moran is ridiculously invoking the Founding Fathers, a sudden respect for the supposed foresight of the founders, whom liberals normally condemn as immoral figures for condoning slavery, but now find so wise.”
  3488.  
  3489. Rating: FOUR out of FIVE screams.
  3490.  
  3491.  
  3492.  
  3493. ■ August 25, 2025: Liberal Media Scream: MSNBC’s Velshi: MAGA is worse than Pearl Harbor, Civil War
  3494.  
  3495. (Washington Examiner post)
  3496.  
  3497.  
  3498. For this week’s Liberal Media Scream, we have an extraordinary Trump Derangement Syndrome rant that doesn’t just declare President Donald Trump a “strongman,” but more evil than Japan’s attack on America and more dangerous than the Civil War.
  3499.  
  3500. It comes from weekend MSNBC host Ali Velshi, who on Sunday spat out a seven-minute-plus speech denouncing Trump and Republicans for the “collapse of democracy.” He claimed Trump has enacted a “police state” in cities while Republican “election security” efforts are really the “classic playbook of the strongman.”
  3501.  
  3502. It was classic TDS and then he doused his fire with gasoline, charging, “America’s democracy has withstood civil war, depressions, attacks by foreign enemies on its soil, but it has never faced an assault on this scale: an internal demolition carried out not by outsiders or even by well-armed rebels, but by the holder of the highest office in the land.”
  3503.  
  3504. Portions of Velshi from Sunday:
  3505.  
  3506. It’s Sunday, August the 24th. I’m Ali Velshi, and we begin this hour with a reality check, a crucial one. The collapse of democracy is a strange, almost surreal thing. It can be abstract and hard to recognize in the moment. At first, it just feels like politics. It’s messy, it’s noisy, it’s frustrating, and sometimes a bit removed from one’s day-to-day life. But then the guardrails that we’ve taken for granted begin to topple one after another…
  3507.  
  3508. At best, each assault may seem like an outlier until the day you wake up and realize the system itself has become unrecognizable. Well, that’s where we are right now. It’s not where we’re headed. It’s where we are. The tragedy of what’s unfolding and the danger of what’s ahead will be compounded if American citizens en masse, all of us, do not recognize this moment for what it is. Understandably, unless it touches you directly, it’s easy sometimes to miss what’s being taken away…
  3509.  
  3510. This is not about public safety. It’s about flexing power, teaching dissenters and political opponents a lesson, normalizing the use of troops against Americans. In the nation’s capital, hundreds of federal troops now patrol the streets alongside [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and [Drug Enforcement Administration] and FBI agents, ticketing residents for minor offenses like broken taillights. Federal troops policing petty crime on America’s main street. Think about that. Crime may be statistically down, but intimidation is way up. The police state is here, and that’s the whole point. D.C. restaurants and bars report business down by one-third. What Trump is doing is designed to bleed blue cities dry economically…
  3511.  
  3512. What Republicans label election security is the classic playbook of the strongman: tilt the playing field toward yourself and lock yourself into power. It doesn’t stop in Washington, D.C. Across the country, Republican controlled legislatures are dismantling the last avenues of direct democracy: Citizen ballot initiatives…
  3513.  
  3514. The message is clear: Even if voters pass something that Republicans don’t like, Republicans in power will just rewrite the rules. This is not democracy. That is something called competitive authoritarianism. Elections in name. One-party rule in practice.
  3515.  
  3516. And here lies the tragedy. Ultimate power in this country still belongs to the people. But every time we accept or tolerate one more red line being crossed, we normalize the next. Each violation larger than the last makes what came before feel almost normal.
  3517.  
  3518. America’s democracy has withstood civil war, depressions, attacks by foreign enemies on its soil, but it has never faced an assault on this scale. An internal demolition carried out not by outsiders or even by well-armed rebels, but by the holder of the highest office in the land.
  3519.  
  3520.  
  3521.  
  3522.  
  3523.  
  3524. Brent Baker, the Steven P.J. Wood senior fellow and vice president for research and publications at the Media Research Center, explained our pick: “Ali Velshi is auditioning to win the role as the [Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA)] of the left-wing legacy media: The guy who most excites the anti-Trump world as the chief conveyor of Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
  3525.  
  3526. Rating: FIVE out of FIVE screams.
  3527.  
  3528.  
  3529.  
  3530.  
  3531. ■ August 18, 2025: Liberal Media Scream: CNN says Obama, Clinton, and Bush smarter than Trump
  3532.  
  3533. (Washington Examiner post)
  3534.  
  3535.  
  3536. CNN reached a new low in its anti-Trump bias, declaring that Russian President Vladimir Putin ate President Donald Trump’s lunch on Friday because Trump doesn’t have the “intellect” of former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush or former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
  3537.  
  3538. Regular commentator Bakari Sellers on Sunday’s State of the Union overlooked that the political trio oversaw several wars, while Trump, in his second term, has ended a half-dozen wars and is today hosting a world summit at the White House to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
  3539.  
  3540. Sellers was focused on Trump’s meeting in Alaska with Putin, an icebreaker on several fronts after former President Joe Biden let U.S.-Russian relations reach a Cold War low.
  3541.  
  3542. “Donald Trump cannot perform on the world stage because he simply does not have the intellect to match up with these world leaders. He’s not Barack Obama, he’s not Hillary Clinton. He’s not even George Bush when it comes to being able to maneuver in these environments,” said Sellers.
  3543.  
  3544. From CNN’s Sunday morning State of the Union hosted by Jake Tapper:
  3545.  
  3546. BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think Vladimir Putin is a thug. I think he’s a war criminal. And I think he made Donald Trump look small. I mean, I understand the minutiae of where — I want a deal, like every other American wants a deal, or you should be praying for that deal.
  3547.  
  3548. However, like I have said before many times, Donald Trump cannot perform on the world stage because he simply does not have the intellect to match up with these world leaders. He’s not Barack Obama, he’s not Hillary Clinton. He’s not even George Bush when it comes to being able to maneuver in these environments. And so what you saw was Vladimir Putin come and get what he wanted. I mean, the winner of this is Vladimir Putin. I don’t know why we’re trying to hide the ball.
  3549.  
  3550. BRAD TODD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That’s what happened when he took Crimea. Obama gave him exactly what he wanted when he let Vladimir Putin have Crimea without so much as a shot or an objection.
  3551.  
  3552.  
  3553.  
  3554.  
  3555.  
  3556. Brent Baker, the Steven P.J. Wood senior fellow and vice president for research and publications at the Media Research Center, explained our pick: “How vacuous can you be? When [former Sen.] Mitt Romney called Putin ‘the biggest political threat facing America,’ which has proven true, Obama ridiculed Romney: ‘The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back, because the Cold War’s been over for 20 years.’ And as Todd pointed out, Obama didn’t do anything to counter Putin’s invasion of Crimea. Yet Obama is intellectually superior to Trump because Trump isn’t standing up enough to Putin? To say nothing of George W. Bush declaring he got ‘a sense’ of Putin’s ‘soul’ and found him ‘trustworthy’ or Hillary Clinton offering Putin a ‘reset’ button.”
  3557.  
  3558. Rating: FIVE out of FIVE screams.
  3559.  
  3560.  
  3561.  
  3562.  
  3563. ■ August 11: No Liberal Media Scream this week 
  3564.  
  3565.  
  3566.  
  3567. ■ August 4, 2025: Liberal Media Scream: Washington Post reporter quit over patriotism request
  3568.  
  3569. (Washington Examiner post)
  3570.  
  3571.  
  3572. The generous buyout offer from Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos has been too hard for a number of top reporters and editors to turn down.
  3573.  
  3574. But for one columnist, leaving was coming no matter what. The reason: Bezos wanted “positive things happening in this country” to be covered “unapologetically patriotic.”
  3575.  
  3576. For left-wing writer Jonathan Capehart, also a contributor to PBS and MSNBC, that was too much to ask. “There was just not going to be any room for a voice like mine,” he said on the NewsHour.
  3577.  
  3578. For PBS, which lost taxpayer support in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act due to perceived anti-Trump bias, that was a tremendous decision by Capehart. Said NewsHour co-host Amna Nawaz, “Jonathan Capehart, we’re so glad your voice is heard right here at our table.”
  3579.  
  3580. From Friday’s PBS NewsHour:
  3581.  
  3582. AMNA NAWAZ: Jonathan, before we go, folks will have noticed that we introduced you slightly differently tonight than we usually do. We should point out, after nearly two decades at the Washington Post, you recently made the decision to leave. I just wanted to give you a chance to speak directly to our audience to tell them why.
  3583.  
  3584. JONATHAN CAPEHART: Well, the direction of the opinion section changed. Jeff Bezos, the owner of the Washington Post, as is his right, decided that he wanted the section to focus on the twin pillars of personal liberties and free markets. And it became clear, as time went along, and especially when he chose a new leader for the section, that there was just not going to be any room for a voice like mine, especially when we were told that we would have to be unapologetically patriotic in talking about the positive things happening in the country.
  3585.  
  3586. How can you talk about the positive things happening in the country when the rest of the house is engulfed in flames and the foundation is flooding? I wanted to go some place where my voice would be heard.
  3587.  
  3588. NAWAZ: Jonathan Capehart, we’re so glad your voice is heard right here at our table.
  3589.  
  3590.  
  3591.  
  3592.  
  3593.  
  3594. Brent Baker, the Steven P.J. Wood senior fellow and vice president for research and publications at the Media Research Center, explained our pick: “Quite an admission that a leading PBS political analyst was so angry about the state of the country ‘engulfed in flames’ under President Trump that he’s opposed to expressing patriotism. But he fits right in on PBS and MSNBC and recognizes that’s ‘where my voice would be heard.’”
  3595.  
  3596. Rating: THREE out of FIVE screams.
  3597.  
  3598.  
  3599.  
  3600.  
  3601. ■ July 28, 2025: Liberal Media Scream: Connie Chung wants Fox News anchors in ‘ankle monitors’
  3602.  
  3603. (Washington Examiner post)
  3604.  
  3605.  
  3606. Connie Chung is back, and she’s still mouthing off about the conservative media she hates, making her our Liberal Media Scream of the week.
  3607.  
  3608. What’s more, she’s giving advice to CBS, the network that dumped her in 1995 after a controversial interview and recently caved in to President Donald Trump’s lawsuit over a manipulated 60 Minutes interview of former Vice President Kamala Harris.
  3609.     
  3610. Chung, who held several other media posts, went on CNN to rip the deal by Skydance Media to take over Paramount, the owner of CBS. She also hit media influencers and Fox News as providers of fake news.
  3611.  
  3612. Of conservative media outlets, she said, “I think they should be putting ankle bracelets, ankle monitors on certain anchors at certain cable stations in prime time. Those are the culprits.”
  3613.  
  3614. From Friday’s CNN News Central:
  3615.  
  3616. Connie Chung: “I would say that they have to fight the good fight, that they have to protect the legacy of CBS. They cannot allow biased owners, because honestly, I don’t think CBS is necessarily the culprit. What needs to be policed is social media, which have no fact checkers, podcasters, and the like. No one is checking those facts. And the problem is, that is inaccurate information that’s being disseminated
  3617.  
  3618. “I think they should be put in ankle bracelets, ankle monitors on certain anchors at certain cable stations in prime time. Those are the culprits.”
  3619.  
  3620.  
  3621.  
  3622.  
  3623.  
  3624. Brent Baker, the Steven P.J. Wood senior fellow and vice president for research and publications at the Media Research Center, explained our pick: “An unpleasant blast from the past. TV network stars like her of the 1980s and ‘90s, who so sanctimoniously saw themselves as paragons of virtue and facts, are what created the marketplace for Fox News and all the other new media outlets which so disturb her by not following the same liberal line as CBS. Yet, decades later, she still doesn’t recognize that.”
  3625.  
  3626. Rating: FOUR out of FIVE screams.
  3627.  
  3628.  
  3629.  
  3630.  
  3631. ■ July 21, 2025: Liberal Media Scream: CBS reporter blames PTSD on MAGA crowd at Trump shooting
  3632.  
  3633. (Washington Examiner post)
  3634.  
  3635. A CBS political reporter said he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder following his coverage of the attempted assassination of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.
  3636.  
  3637. But Scott MacFarlane didn’t blame shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks, the noise of Crooks’s rifle going off eight times, or the near-death of Trump. He blamed the crowd of MAGA supporters, whom he envisioned “were going to come kill us.” He said he felt the crowd would blame the media for the shooting and that “we’d be dead” if Trump didn’t survive.
  3638.  
  3639. For that, he easily won as our Liberal Media Scream of the week. But he was challenged during an interview on The Chuck ToddCast when Todd offered up his own bizarre reaction to the assassination attempt that killed Trump supporter Corey Comperatore.
  3640.  
  3641. Todd said, “I share your concern. Just a little thing. I was — literally the first thing I was going to do after landing [in Milwaukee to cover the GOP convention] on Saturday was go to the Nats-Brewers game, and I said, ‘I’m not going. I’m not going to be seen going. I’m not, I’m not doing that. This is not the moment for this.'”
  3642.  
  3643. Todd went on to say he has long feared Trump supporters. 
  3644.  
  3645. From The Chuck ToddCast:
  3646.  
  3647. SCOTT MACFARLANE: For those of us there, it was such a horror because you saw an emerging America. And it wasn’t the shooting, Chuck. This was … I got diagnosed with PTSD within 48 hours. I got put on trauma leave, not because, I think, of the shooting, but because, you could … you saw it in the eyes, the reaction of the people. They were coming for us. If he didn’t jump up with his fist, they were going to come kill us.
  3648.  
  3649. CHUCK TODD: I know … Look, I share your concern. Just a little thing. I was, literally, the first thing I was going to do after landing on Saturday was go to the Nats-Brewers game, and I said, “I’m not going. I’m not going to be seen going. I’m not, I’m not doing that. This is not the moment for this.”
  3650.  
  3651. And I think we … none of us knew what the reaction of that Milwaukee crowd was going to be to this. Right? It turned into euphoria, right? It turned into this messiah, sort of messiah feeling. I think that, you know, that this was divine intervention.
  3652.  
  3653. But I share that, that Saturday, and what you just described, being on the ground, was the first thing I thought of was my team down there. I think it was Vaughn Hillyard, if I’m not mistaken.
  3654.  
  3655. MACFARLANE: Dasha was there as well.
  3656.  
  3657. TODD: And Dasha Burns, right? And, look, let’s be honest. We’ve been fearing this for about a decade. That all of this heightened rhetoric, that what all this crap online, what happened on Jan. 6, those of us that experienced that as well, you’re like, we’re a tinderbox, right? You know what? There’s a fear that this moment is coming. And it’s interesting that you … the fact that we dodged that. You know, you’re right. I mean, it’s, it is … I don’t know what would have happened had the outcome been different.
  3658.  
  3659. MACFARLANE: We are all … many of us on press row, as we talked about this on our text chains for weeks after, were quite confident we’d be dead if he didn’t get back up. There was a subset, not everybody, there’s dozens of people in the crowd who started coming for us, saying, “You did this. This is your fault. You caused this. You killed him.”
  3660.  
  3661. And they’re going to beat us with their hands. I mean, they were going to kill us. And respectfully, the Secret Service had bigger issues than protecting us. When he jumped up triumphantly, it saved us, but that’s the thing. I can’t eliminate from my mind’s eye the look on their faces. They … that’s what America is right now. It’s not rational. It’s an irrational thought to think the media shot somebody from atop a building, but the lack of rationality is what connects Jan. 6 to this. It’s … how do we pull out of this as a country is the defining question of our time.
  3662.  
  3663.  
  3664.  
  3665.  
  3666.  
  3667. Brent Baker, the Steven P.J. Wood senior fellow and vice president for research and publications at the Media Research Center, explained our pick: “Yes, the near-assassination of President Donald Trump wasn’t the real ‘horror’ of the day. The real ‘horror’ was in how, in the few seconds before Trump triumphantly raised his fists, MacFarlane somehow sensed the crowd would ‘kill’ him and other reporters? Really? If Trump supporters were on the cusp of deadly violence, why are we just hearing about it a year later? And McFarlane really got diagnosed with PTSD? We all know too many journalists are snowflakes, but you’d think MacFarlane would have the self-respect to keep such an embarrassing admission, of his fear of fellow Americans, to himself.”
  3668.  
  3669. Rating: FIVE out of FIVE screams.
  3670.  
  3671.  
  3672.  
  3673. ■ July 14, 2025: Liberal Media Scream: Katie Couric labels Trump’s MAGA ‘a s*** show’
  3674.  
  3675. (Washington Examiner post)
  3676.  
  3677.  
  3678. The disdain the legacy media have for President Donald Trump has reached new levels since Congress approved his “big, beautiful bill.”
  3679.  
  3680. Many liberal outlets have resorted to following Democratic talking points and inflated the negative effects, and others have made ridiculous claims that it will kill millions.
  3681.  
  3682. And then there is media darling Katie Couric, who just brushed aside the whole Trump administration in one profane and sour characterization, winning this week’s feature as our Liberal Media Scream.
  3683.  
  3684. In calling for more media attention to the administration, the one-time Today show host fretted over “this moment in our history” and then hit “The s*** show that is the Trump administration.”
  3685.  
  3686. In a joint video podcast with left-wing freelance journalist Liz Plank, Couric said “social media creators … depend on a lot of mainstream outlets” for basic information, so that “underscores the importance of more traditional media … especially at this moment in our history and what’s happening in our country and the s*** show that it is the Trump administration.”
  3687.  
  3688. Couric, during a podcast cross-posted on Liz Plank’s Airplane Mode Substack podcast and the Next Question with Katie Couric podcast on Substack and YouTube:
  3689.  
  3690. “I think it just, it underscores the importance of more traditional media, and I think we need it all, to be honest, especially at this moment in our history and what’s happening in our country and the s*** show that it is the Trump administration.”
  3691.  
  3692.  
  3693.  
  3694.  
  3695.  
  3696. Brent Baker, the Steven P.J. Wood senior fellow and vice president for research and publications at the Media Research Center, explained our pick: “Couric demonstrates how ingrained the disdain is for Trump administration policies amongst the legacy media elite. It’s like muscle memory to them. And her blurting out her disgust, for a president who earned the most votes, in such a casual manner in a conversation with a like-minded liberal, shows how she sees it as a commonly-accepted view amongst her peers.”
  3697.  
  3698. Rating: FIVE out of FIVE screams.
  3699.  
  3700.  
  3701.  
  3702.  
  3703. ■ July 7, 2025: Liberal Media Scream: Stephanopoulos blames downpour deaths on Trump
  3704.  
  3705. (Washington Examiner post)
  3706.  
  3707.  
  3708. The weekend saw some of the most embarrassing efforts by the liberal media to take President Donald Trump down, this time blaming him for the horrific flash flood deaths in Texas.
  3709.  
  3710. The early morning flooding that has so far claimed the lives of more than 80, including children at a Christian girls camp, hit with little warning after a downpour dumped some 11 inches of rain that ended up in the Guadalupe River on Friday.
  3711.  
  3712. Trump called it a 100-year event on Sunday and is planning to meet with families this Friday.
  3713.  
  3714. Even as the search for survivors continued, the media tried to blame Trump and staff cuts at various federal weather agencies. Leading that effort was ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, who said on This Week, “There were significant staffing shortfalls to the National Weather Service offices in the region.”
  3715.  
  3716. Most weather and state local officials have been quick to note that the area often floods and that notices were sent out after midnight. Blame isn’t what most wanted to cast, but the Washington media did anyway — something they didn’t do when Hurricane Helene crashed through the southwest last year, killing 230.
  3717.  
  3718. Even the reporter on the scene in Texas, Mireya Villarreal, didn’t take the Trump-hating bait from Stephanopoulos, a one-time top aide to former President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary.
  3719.  
  3720. From ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos:
  3721.  
  3722. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: We’re also learning there were significant staffing shortfalls to the National Weather Service offices in the region.
  3723.  
  3724. MIREYA VILLARREAL, IN KERRVILLE, TEXAS: As of right now, the local county officials didn’t want to address that just yet. What they are telling us is they expected between 4 and 6 inches of rain. That is what weather experts told them. The National Weather Service as well. They also knew, in remote locations, they might get anywhere from 8 to 10 inches, but this amount of rain in such a short amount of time, it was very difficult to navigate. And when the Department of Homeland Security secretary was here just yesterday, she acknowledged this was an issue. She was going to take these concerns to the White House as well and try and see if there was anything they could do to revamp the system. She says the president is committed to it.
  3725.  
  3726.  
  3727.  
  3728.  
  3729.  
  3730. Brent Baker, the Steven P.J. Wood senior fellow and vice president for research and publications at the Media Research Center, explained our pick: “Liberal Democratic activists develop an attack line against the Trump administration, and Stephanopoulos dutifully jumps to repeat it. In this case, in the most distasteful way, trying to score political points at the very moment dozens of parents were desperately searching for their missing children. But with Stephanopoulos, it’s politics ahead of facts as his contention has been undermined by, amongst others, the union representing the NWS meteorologists.”
  3731.  
  3732. Rating: FIVE out of FIVE screams.
  3733.  
  3734.  
  3735.  
  3736.  
  3737. ■ June 30, 2025: Liberal Media Scream: PBS embraces socialist Mamdani, calls GOP criticism ‘hateful’
  3738.  
  3739. (Washington Examiner post)
  3740.  
  3741.  
  3742. PBS is doubling down on its leftist bias that has drawn President Donald Trump’s support for defunding the taxpayer-supported service, this time embracing New York City’s Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani while ripping GOP criticism of the self-declared socialist as “disgusting” and “hateful.”
  3743.  
  3744. While some liberal politicians are disowning Mamdani for his extreme positions, the support by Public Broadcasting Service’s News Hour is this week’s featured Liberal Media Scream because it flies in the face of a promise to provide “intelligent, balanced” reporting.
  3745.  
  3746. On Friday, News Hour didn’t feature the candidate’s left-wing promises to defund police and provide freebies to residents, but instead condemned the conservative reaction to him.
  3747.  
  3748. Said featured liberal commentator Jonathan Capehart, “I’ll start with the Republican response. It’s shameful, it’s hateful, it’s disgusting.”
  3749.  
  3750. From Friday’s PBS News Hour:
  3751.  
  3752. NEWS HOUR HOST AMNA NAWAZ: I got to ask you both, too, about Tuesday night’s events in New York City, the Democratic mayoral primary contest the entire country was paying attention to when Zohran Mamdani, who was a little-known state assemblyman, went on to beat the former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Mamdani’s 33 years old, he’s a self-described Democratic socialist, and his win, we should point out, has really fueled a hateful response from some on the Right. There’s a major MAGA voice named Charlie Kirk, who posted this: ‘24 years ago a group of Muslims killed 2,753 people on 9/11. Now a Muslim Socialist is on pace to run New York City.’”
  3753.  
  3754. Tennessee Congressman Andy Ogles actually called for Mamdani, who was born in Uganda, as a naturalized U.S. citizen, to be denaturalized and deported. Jonathan, what does Mamdani’s win tell us about Democrats and their message, if anything, and what does the response tell us about Republicans and theirs?
  3755.  
  3756. JONATHAN CAPEHART: Well, the response, I’ll start with the Republican response. It’s shameful, it’s hateful, it’s disgusting. It also tells me that Republicans are deathly afraid of their prospects in the 2026 midterm elections. Especially if they’re going after a guy who just simply won the primary in a municipal election. The other thing folks need to understand, the reputation of New York City is of a liberal bastion, and it’s a city where there’s a six-to-one Democratic registration advantage over Republicans. And yet this city, that has a reputation of being a liberal bastion, elected Rudy Giuliani twice and Mike Bloomberg three times, the first time as a Republican, the next two times as an independent. And so, what I take from Mamdani’s win, above all else, is that he went out there and asked New Yorkers for their votes. He did not do a Rose Garden strategy. He asked people for their votes, and he gave them something to vote for, and that’s the thing Democrats should emulate. Ask people for their votes.
  3757.  
  3758.  
  3759.  
  3760.  
  3761.  
  3762. Brent Baker, the Steven P.J. Wood senior fellow and vice president for research and publications at the Media Research Center, explained our pick: “In pleading for donations in the wake of the effort to end taxpayer funding of PBS, the News Hour website ludicrously claims ‘your gift supports America’s #1 most trusted news source in providing intelligent, balanced and in-depth reporting.’ This coverage of Mamdani is just the latest proof of the hollowness of that promise, a pledge PBS has never made any genuine effort to provide. Where’s the balance in ignoring the elephant in the room of Mamdani’s extremist views while treating conservative reaction to him as the most important event that must be condemned?”
  3763.  
  3764. Rating: FOUR out of FIVE screams.
  3765.  
  3766.  
  3767.  
  3768.  
  3769. ■ June 23, 2025: Liberal Media Scream: Feckless Margaret Brennan thinks she’s secretary of state
  3770.  
  3771. (Washington Examiner post)
  3772.  
  3773.  
  3774. If the Sunday performance of CBS Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan were in a Looney Tunes cartoon, Bugs Bunny would have mocked, “da nerve!”
  3775.  
  3776. Instead, and much better, Secretary of State Marco Rubio brushed aside her grade school “yes it is, no it’s not” debate over military intelligence and belief that she knows more about it than President Donald Trump’s top national security adviser.
  3777.  
  3778. “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Rubio said in an appearance to discuss Trump’s decision to attack Iran’s nuclear weapons facilities over the weekend.
  3779.  
  3780. After Brennan continued to say she knows more about whether Iran planned to make nuclear weapons or not, Rubio gave his best “da nerve” look and told her, “That’s not how intelligence is read. That’s not how intelligence is used. Here’s what the whole world knows. Forget about intelligence, what the IAEA knows. They are enriching uranium well beyond anything you need for a civil nuclear program.”
  3781.  
  3782. From Sunday’s Face the Nation on CBS:
  3783.  
  3784. MARGARET BRENNAN: Let me follow up on a phrase you just used — weaponization ambitions. Are you saying that the United States did not see intelligence that the supreme leader had ordered weaponization?
  3785.  
  3786. SECRETARY OF STATE MARCO RUBIO: That’s irrelevant. I see that question being asked in the media all the time. That’s an irrelevant question. They have everything they need to build a weapon.
  3787.  
  3788. BRENNAN: No, but that is the key point in U.S. intelligence assessments. You know that.
  3789.  
  3790. RUBIO: No, it’s not.
  3791.  
  3792. BRENNAN: Yes, it was.
  3793.  
  3794. RUBIO: No, it’s not.
  3795.  
  3796. BRENNAN: That the political decision had not been made.
  3797.  
  3798. RUBIO: No, I know — well, I know that better than you know that. And I know that that’s not the case.
  3799.  
  3800. BRENNAN: But I’m asking you whether the order was given.
  3801.  
  3802. RUBIO: You don’t know what you’re talking about. And the people who say that — it doesn’t matter if the order was given. They have everything they need to build nuclear weapons. Why would you bury — why would you bury things in a mountain 300 feet under the ground?
  3803.  
  3804. BRENNAN: Right.
  3805.  
  3806. RUBIO: Why would you bury six … why do they have 60% enriched uranium? You don’t need 60% enriched uranium. The only countries in the world that have uranium at 60% are countries that have nuclear weapons, because they can quickly make it 90. They have all the elements. They have … why are they … why do they have a space program? Is Iran going to go to the moon? No. They’re trying to build an ICBM, so they can one day put a warhead on it.
  3807.  
  3808. BRENNAN: No, but that’s a question … that’s a question … that’s a question of intent. And you know, in the intelligence assessment, that it was that Iran wanted to be a threshold state and use this leverage.
  3809.  
  3810. RUBIO: How do you know what the intelligence assessment says? How do you know what the intelligence assessment says?
  3811.  
  3812. BRENNAN: I’m talking about the public March assessment. And that’s why I was asking you if you know something more from March, if an order was given.
  3813.  
  3814. RUBIO: Well, that — but that’s also an inaccurate representation of it. That’s an inaccurate representation of it. That’s not how intelligence is read. That’s not how intelligence is used. Here’s what the whole world knows. Forget about intelligence, what the IAEA knows. They are enriching uranium well beyond anything you need for a civil nuclear program.
  3815.  
  3816.  
  3817.  
  3818.  
  3819.  
  3820. Brent Baker, the Steven P.J. Wood senior fellow and vice president for research and publications at the Media Research Center, explained our pick: “Refreshing to see a guest take on the liberal premises forwarded as facts by legacy media hosts. This wasn’t the first time this year that Brennan has been schooled by a Trump administration official. Maybe she should consider being more of a dispassionate interviewer and less of an advocate for the left-wing spin of the day.”
  3821.  
  3822. Rating: THREE out of FIVE screams.
  3823.  
  3824.  
  3825.  
  3826.  
  3827. ■ June 16, 2025: Liberal Media Scream: PBS sees Trump ‘suspending elections’
  3828.  
  3829. (Washington Examiner post)
  3830.  
  3831.  
  3832. It’s hard to imagine that PBS could get any more anti-Trump, but after House Republicans voted to endorse President Donald Trump’s bid to defund public broadcasting, all of its “Trump derangement syndrome” sirens have gone off.
  3833.  
  3834. For our weekly Liberal Media Scream, we feature its most extreme claim from lefty News Hour commentator Jonathan Capehart that the president is on a power grab that will have him “suspending elections.”
  3835.  
  3836. On Friday’s PBS News Hour, Capehart suggested that Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to California to protect federal buildings against anti-ICE demonstrators, as well as “rumors” of a pardon for the police officer convicted of the murder of George Floyd, is part of a plan to “create the conditions that would allow the president to invoke the Insurrection Act.”
  3837.  
  3838. Tying the Army birthday parade Saturday with the deployment of troops to Los Angeles, Capehart said, “We are at a turning point, I think, this weekend with what we have seen in the run-up to tomorrow’s parade, with what’s happening in Los Angeles. More people’s hair should be on fire, not just because of the National Guard troops in Los Angeles without the — working with or permission from the governor, which is by law what should have been done, but the calling up of Marines, U.S. military, on American streets.”
  3839.  
  3840. “That is a line that, to me, anyway, is one that should never have been crossed. And the president putting out this order and putting out this order that isn’t specific to Los Angeles, isn’t specific to any city. It’s so broad. The language is so broad that it’s sort of like you could just tuck it into like a giant L.L. Bean tote bag, and you just pull out: Where do I need to send troops?”
  3841.  
  3842. Jonathan Capehart on Friday’s PBS News Hour:
  3843.  
  3844. I think they’re creating the political conflict because, you know, I interviewed Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison in the run-up to the anniversary, the fifth anniversary of the murder of George Floyd.
  3845.  
  3846. And he brought up on his own the rumor that the president was going to pardon Derek Chauvin. And the attorney general said that the president might do that as a distraction to larger goals. And one of the larger goals that the attorney general mentioned that has always been in the back of my mind is to create the conditions that would allow the president to invoke the Insurrection Act.
  3847.  
  3848. And once the president invokes the Insurrection Act, all sorts of powers are handed to the president, you know, suspending elections, and other things once you open that box, and particularly you open that box with this president and the administration and the yes-people he has around him, there’s no going back. That is among the reasons why I am so concerned about what we’re about to see tomorrow.
  3849.  
  3850.  
  3851.  
  3852.  
  3853.  
  3854. Brent Baker, the Steven P.J. Wood senior fellow and vice president for research and publications at the Media Research Center, explained our pick: “Tinfoil hat time. And PBS supporters act befuddled as to why conservatives see PBS as the home of left-wing crazy talk, leading the House last week to approve President Trump’s rescission package to end taxpayer funding of PBS and NPR. Capehart’s wild speculation passes for informed analysis on PBS’s top ‘news’ program.”
  3855.  
  3856. Rating: FOUR out of FIVE screams.
  3857.  
  3858.  
  3859.  
  3860.  
  3861. ■ June 9, 2025: Liberal Media Scream: Pompous Pelley warns America ‘is doomed’
  3862.  
  3863. (Washington Examiner post)
  3864.  
  3865.  
  3866. Just when we thought CBS’s Scott Pelley couldn’t get any more pompous, he proved us wrong — again.
  3867.  
  3868. This time it was in decrying America under President Donald Trump, declaring that only journalism can save the nation, and warning that “If you fall silent, the country is doomed.”
  3869.  
  3870. Seeing parallels between Sen. Eugene McCarthy in the 1950s and Trump today, while speaking after CNN showed George Clooney’s play about legendary newsman Edward R. Morrow, Pelley said, “You cannot have democracy without journalism. It can’t be done.”
  3871.  
  3872. Pelley has used his 60 Minutes perch to air his liberal bias and editorialize against Trump. Murrow played an outsize role in ending McCarthy’s career.
  3873.  
  3874. From CNN’s special coverage Saturday night, Good Night, and Good Luck Live: Truth and Power, after the live airing from Broadway of the stage play, Good Night, and Good Luck:
  3875.  
  3876. ANDERSON COOPER: Do you still believe in journalism? Do you still believe in the role of journalists?
  3877.  
  3878. SCOTT PELLEY: It is the only thing that’s going to save the country. You cannot have democracy without journalism. It can’t be done. The people at home need reliable, consistent information in order to make decisions about their lives and their futures, and the country’s future. So, there is no system of democracy without journalism. We have to figure out how to keep journalism free, independent, accurate, and responsible for what it’s doing.
  3879.  
  3880. But journalism is the only profession that is protected by the Constitution of the United States. And there’s a reason for that. James Madison believed that freedom of speech was the right that guaranteed all the other rights in the Bill of Rights. And so it is today.
  3881.  
  3882. COOPER: What is your message to people about, who have just watched this, and are worried?
  3883.  
  3884. PELLEY: It’s going to take courage, as it often has, to get through this period of American history. Our forebears were called by their times to have courage to move the country forward. And so it is with us today. The most important thing is to have the courage to speak, to not let fear permeate the country so that everyone suddenly becomes silent. If you have the courage to speak, we are saved. If you fall silent, the country is doomed.
  3885.  
  3886.  
  3887.  
  3888.  
  3889.  
  3890.  
  3891. Brent Baker, the Steven P.J. Wood senior fellow and vice president for research and publications at the Media Research Center, explained our pick: “Could Pelley be any more pompous? If he, CBS News, and the rest of the legacy media had ever lived up to his promise of providing ‘independent, accurate and responsible’ news, they wouldn’t be held in such disdain by so much of the public who see them as left-wing political players. And that’s a reality he confirmed by advocating everyone get in line and join him in having the ‘courage’ to oppose the policies of the man who earned the most votes in the last election.”
  3892.  
  3893. Rating: FIVE out of FIVE screams.
  3894.  
  3895.  
  3896.  
  3897.  
  3898. ■ June 2, 2025: Liberal Media Scream: Stephanopoulos tries to top Pelley with his Trump hate
  3899.  
  3900. (Washington Examiner post)
  3901.  
  3902.  
  3903. Have you noticed how the liberal Sunday news show hosts have been tripping over themselves to find some, any angle to attack President Donald Trump and his team?
  3904.  
  3905. The latest to join the parade is George Stephanopoulos, the ABC big shot and former Bill Clinton spinner-in-chief, who on Sunday tried to one-up the recent string of anti-Trump editorials from Scott Pelley on 60 Minutes.
  3906.  
  3907. On ABC’s This Week, Stephanopoulos opened with this: “Good morning and welcome to This Week. The scale is staggering. President Trump and his family are making hundreds of millions, potentially billions of dollars, as Trump and his administration take official actions that benefit contributors and investors.”
  3908.  
  3909. The attack was par for the course for the Clinton family defender, who was unfazed that the Clinton Foundation profited from foreign governments when Hillary Rodham Clinton was secretary of state or that the Biden family enterprise cashed in on Joe Biden’s vice presidency and presidency.
  3910.  
  3911. And it followed a pattern of attacking Trump at any cost, a dangerous practice that recently prompted ABC and Stephanopoulos to issue an apology and pay a Trump-related foundation $15 million to scuttle a defamation lawsuit.
  3912.  
  3913. For his hypocrisy, Stephanopoulos’s rant is our Liberal Media Scream of the week.
  3914.  
  3915. Stephanopoulos on Sunday’s This Week on ABC, with the quoted text displayed on screen:
  3916.  
  3917. “Good morning and welcome to This Week. The scale is staggering. President Trump and his family are making hundreds of millions, potentially billions of dollars, as Trump and his administration take official actions that benefit contributors and investors. Just this week, we learned of pardons to tax cheats, including a man whose pardon was granted weeks after his mother attended a million-dollar-a-head fundraiser with the president. The Trump Media and Technology Group raised nearly $2.5 billion from 50 institutional investors whose identities have not been disclosed. The SEC dropped its lawsuit against the cryptocurrency firm Binance days after Binance began listing the cryptocurrency launched by World Liberty Financial, the crypto firm started by Trump’s family.
  3918.  
  3919. “This unprecedented money-making by a sitting president and his family summarized by critics like the Atlantic’s David Frum. ‘Nothing like this has been attempted or even imagined in the history of the American presidency,’ he writes. ‘Throw away the history books, discard feeble comparisons to scandals of the past. There is no analogy with any previous action by any past president. The brazenness of the self-enrichment resembles nothing seen in any earlier White House. This is American corruption on the scale of a post-Soviet republic or a post-colonial African dictatorship.’”
  3920.  
  3921.  
  3922.  
  3923.  
  3924.  
  3925. Brent Baker, the Steven P.J. Wood senior fellow and vice president for research and publications at the Media Research Center, explained our pick: You’d think someone like Stephanopoulos, who forced Disney/ABC to pay $15 million to Trump’s future presidential museum for a false statement impugning President Trump, would be more reluctant to display such rank hypocrisy in becoming so overwrought about charges of corruption against Trump. Especially when he showed no similar concern over how the Biden family profited off of lucrative secretive deals fueled by President Biden’s high offices.”
  3926.  
  3927. Rating: FOUR out of FIVE screams.
  3928.  
  3929.  
  3930.  
  3931.  
  3932. ■ May 27, 2025: Liberal Media Scream: MSNBC calls Trump ‘dictator’ to bow before
  3933.  
  3934. (Washington Examiner post)
  3935.  
  3936.  
  3937. As if MSNBC can’t get any more ridiculous, a regular guest proved it could when previewing President Donald Trump‘s solemn Memorial Day events by calling him a dictator whom all must bow before.
  3938.  
  3939. In comments condemning more than half of the voters who support Trump, Dean Obeidallah, host of The Dean Obeidallah Show on SiriusXM, told the MSNBC audience, “This really is a push and pull between two competing visions of America. One that we believe in is freedom, the United States of America with due process, and their vision, which is an autocracy, and that really — what we’re dealing with, or easier than that, a dictatorship. They want Trump as the dictator of the United States, and we all have to bow down to him.”
  3940.  
  3941. Obeidallah’s rant won this week’s Mainstream Media Scream, but it was a close call, with hard-left CBS 60 Minutes anchor Scott Pelley and his liberal colleague, Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan, in full Trump derangement syndrome.
  3942.  
  3943. Pelley made headlines for his over-the-top Trump hate commencement at Wake Forest, and Brennan for her uneducated attack on the House Republican “big, beautiful bill.”
  3944.  
  3945. Dean Obeidallah, during the noon hour on Saturday of Velshi on MSNBC:
  3946.  
  3947. I think the fact that it’s Memorial Day weekend gives us a moment to pause. People made the ultimate sacrifice. They did it for something that you mentioned in your — in your monologue there. And that word is “freedom.”
  3948.  
  3949. And I’m writing an article right now. I was looking back at the very first speech in the modern day Memorial Day, which was Rep. James Garfield before he was president, 1868 Arlington, to Joe Biden’s. I looked at all different presidential speeches and the one word that came up in all those speeches: “freedom.”
  3950.  
  3951. And that’s what people — that’s what makes us Americans. And Donald Trump is going after everything, freedom of speech, in ways we’ve never seen. I mean, a judge just ruled on Friday protecting the law firms, saying you’re going after dissent, going after universities. I had professor Steven Levitsky on my show, co-author of How Democracies Die, saying every autocrat goes after universities because they are independent centers of dissent. People think he’s going after media outlets. He’s going after Democrats. They’re arresting judges. The mayor of Newark, they dropped the charges. They had no case. Then a Democratic member of Congress, they opened up investigations into ActBlue because it’s a platform to help Democrats raise money. Now, an investigation into Media Matters, Angelo Carusone’s, the FTC is beginning an investigation. This is a reenvisioning of what America is about.
  3952.  
  3953. And I think you summed it up so well. This really is a push and pull between two competing visions of America. One that we believe in is freedom. The United States of America with due process, and their vision, which is an autocracy, and that really — what we’re dealing with, or easier than that, a dictatorship. They want Trump as the dictator of the United States, and we all have to bow down to him.
  3954.  
  3955.  
  3956.  
  3957.  
  3958.  
  3959. Brent Baker, the Steven P.J. Wood senior fellow and vice president for research and publications at the Media Research Center, explained our pick: “There’s no holiday weekend break on MSNBC from the anti-Trump hostility, not even for a solemn occasion which Obeidallah used as a hook to launch his rant against Trump as anti-freedom of speech. Quite ironic given the support by so many on MSNBC for canceling and silencing conservative voices who dared question woke edicts.”
  3960.  
  3961. Rating: FOUR out of FIVE screams.
  3962.  
  3963.  
  3964.  
  3965.  
  3966. ■ May 19, 2025: Liberal Media Scream: Katie Couric calls news objectivity ‘old fashioned’
  3967.  
  3968. (Washington Examiner post)
  3969.  
  3970.  
  3971. She was once the queen of TV news, and as the co-host of NBC’s Today show and anchor of CBS Evening News, Katie Couric struggled with basic news objectivity.
  3972.  
  3973. And now we know why: She doesn’t believe there is such a thing. “I think there’s no such thing as true objectivity,” she said on her “Next Question” podcast last week.
  3974.  
  3975. What’s more, the 68-year-old newswoman apparently thinks it’s just something old people “75 and up” mutter about while watching evening news.
  3976.  
  3977. That, and her slam on conservatives for calling out bias in liberal media “fact-checking,” make Couric our Liberal Media Scream of the Week.
  3978.  
  3979. Couric, to her guests, the three brothers who created the liberal MeidasTouch podcast, on Thursday’s edition of her “Next Question with Katie Couric” podcast posted to YouTube:
  3980.  
  3981. “I’m curious, because I’ve struggled with this as someone who you grew up watching, I’m sure, and started in very traditional mainstream media. Now, pointing out the facts and what is really happening is automatically interpreted as being biased, right?“
  3982.  
  3983. “And, and of course, I think there’s no such thing as true objectivity, but having said that, you know, I really struggle with that. And many people say, ‘Listen, the rules have changed.’ It’s OK to say you support trans people. It’s OK that you say I am 100% for reproductive rights, you know, all these things that honestly, personally, I hold dear, but professionally, I’ve never really, I’ve been trained to not share that.“
  3984.  
  3985. “So I’m curious if you think sort of old-fashioned, semi-objective — knowing that pure objectivity is impossible — that kind of journalism still has a place in the culture, or is it simply, you know, the 75 and up people who are watching the network evening newscasts?”
  3986.  
  3987.  
  3988.  
  3989.  
  3990.  
  3991. Brent Baker, the Steven P.J. Wood senior fellow and vice president for research and publications at the Media Research Center, explained our pick: “Couric demonstrated why legacy media figures have refused to address their obvious and overwhelming hostility to conservatives for decades and President Trump in recent years: They are condescending elitists who presume their liberal view of the world reflect ‘the facts’ and so, anyone who questions that presentation of ‘the facts,’ are knowingly making a baseless charge of bias and thus can be dismissed as ignorant cranks.”
  3992.  
  3993. Rating: THREE out of FIVE screams.
  3994.  
  3995.  
  3996.  
  3997.  
  3998. ■ May 12, 2025: Liberal Media Scream: ABC prays Pope Leo XIV will ‘counter’ Trump
  3999.  
  4000. (Washington Examiner post)
  4001.  
  4002.  
  4003. Reporters have rarely been fans of faith in politics, and often decry the Republican Party’s cozy relationship with religious Americans, such as evangelical Christians.
  4004.  
  4005. But give them a pope willing to criticize President Donald Trump, well, that’s a different story. Now that Pope Leo XIV has replaced Trump critic Pope Francis, there is an eagerness to find out if the Chicago native will also challenge Trump on key matters, including immigration.
  4006.  
  4007. ABC News anchor Martha Raddatz, our pick for the Liberal Media Scream of the week, led that prayer group last week.
  4008.  
  4009. Raddatz used her hosting duties in Rome for This Week as a platform to ask her guests how Leo will challenge the president.
  4010.  
  4011. “Will he be a counterbalance for what’s happening in American politics right now in President Trump?” she asked the archbishop of Chicago.
  4012.  
  4013. Later, she told Father James Martin, an ABC News papal contributor, that “Pope Francis indirectly rebuked President Trump’s policies, especially on immigration” and Leo, “before he was pope, he retweeted some things about immigration and saying, you know, retweeting that he supported the Dreamers, things like that. Do you think that will be an incredibly strong message for him?”
  4014.  
  4015. Raddatz also asked ABC News reporter Terry Moran, “Do you think he will serve, in some ways, as a counter to President Trump [on immigration policies]?”
  4016.  
  4017. Moran took the bait, saying Leo “will be a voice for the teachings of Jesus, which in many ways, many Catholics believe are not consistent with some of the president’s policies.”
  4018.  
  4019. From ABC’s This Week on Sunday:
  4020.  
  4021. MARTHA RADDATZ, TO CARDINAL BLASE CUPICH, ARCHBISHOP OF CHICAGO: Pope Francis cared so much about the poor and migrants. Pope Leo does as well. In some ways, will he be a counterbalance for what’s happening in American politics right now in President Trump?
  4022.  
  4023. …..
  4024.  
  4025. RADDATZ, TO FATHER JAMES MARTIN: Pope Francis indirectly rebuked President Trump’s policies, especially on immigration. And Pope Leo, before he was pope, he retweeted some things about immigration and saying, you know, retweeting that he supported the Dreamers, things like that. Do you think that will be an incredibly strong message for him? I mean, he has been, he does have the “odor of sheep,” as you say?
  4026.  
  4027. …..RADDATZ: And Terry [Moran] and Liz [Nagy], do you think he will serve, in some ways, as a counter to President Trump on those policies?
  4028.  
  4029. TERRY MORAN: Reluctantly, right? They are the two most famous Americans in the world right now. And arguably, Pope Leo might be even more famous than President Trump, and whether the pope wants it or not, because I think he wants to preach the Gospel and do the good work of the church. They have different approaches naturally in some ways, and I think that is going to come out.
  4030.  
  4031. He will be a voice for the teachings of Jesus, which, in many ways, many Catholics believe are not consistent with some of the president’s policies. That will happen. I don’t think he’s going to go look for a fight, but it will happen.
  4032.  
  4033.  
  4034.  
  4035.  
  4036.  
  4037. Brent Baker, the Steven P.J. Wood senior fellow and vice president for research and publications at the Media Research Center, explained our pick: “Raddatz couldn’t resist injecting her American politics into papal coverage, trying to transform the new pope into a force for resistance to President Trump. She was so obsessed with her agenda that she prodded three guests, at different points in the show, to endorse her premise, finally getting some guarded agreement from the third, a fellow ABC News journalist.”
  4038.  
  4039. Rating: FOUR out of FIVE screams.
  4040.  
  4041.  
  4042.  
  4043.  
  4044. ■ May 5, 2025: Liberal Media Scream: ‘Pompous’ media on public TV’s dole rip Trump cuts
  4045.  
  4046. (Washington Examiner post)
  4047.  
  4048.  
  4049. There is nothing more self-serving than media figures on public TV’s payroll ripping President Donald Trump’s call to end taxpayer funding of National Public Radio and television’s Public Broadcasting System.
  4050.  
  4051. But that is exactly what happened over the weekend, making it our Liberal Media Scream of the week.
  4052.  
  4053. First there was NPR President Katherine Maher telling Face the Nation that it’s Trump’s fault if coverage comes off too liberal. “NPR people report straight down the line,” she said. “We’ve been making requests of the Trump administration to have their officials on air. We would like to see more people accept those invitations. It’s hard for us to be able to say we can speak for everyone when folks won’t join us.”
  4054.  
  4055. Documentary filmmaker and PBS producer Ken Burns got his punches in while appearing Friday on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360. “I think PBS is part of the pursuit of happiness machine,” he said, adding, “This is who we are. It puts the ‘us’ in the U.S.”
  4056.  
  4057. And leave it to PBS News Hour regular Jonathan Capehart to prove true Trump’s complaints about bias on the network when he said, “There is only one profession that is protected in the Constitution, and it is the free press. It is the press.”
  4058.  
  4059. Jonathan Capehart on Friday’s PBS News Hour:
  4060.  
  4061. I think what the president is doing, it is a fundamental attack on our Constitution, on the foundation of this country. People need to understand and remember, there is only one profession that is protected in the Constitution, and it is the free press. It is the press.
  4062.  
  4063. And why? Because the founders understood that the survival of a democracy depends on an informed citizenry. And the citizenry can only be informed by a press that can report and do — report on affairs of the republic free and unfettered.
  4064.  
  4065. And whether they are, come from the left or from the right, the government should not interfere with that reporting. And so, when you have a president of the United States who is making it his mission to attack the free press, we should all be concerned, whether we are at PBS or whether we are at MSNBC, because he’s focused on us too.
  4066.  
  4067.  
  4068.  
  4069.  
  4070.  
  4071. Brent Baker, the Steven P.J. Wood senior fellow and vice president for research and publications at the Media Research Center, explained our pick: “Could Capehart be any more pompous? He and others, who claim PBS and NPR are neutral news providers serving a grandiose noble purpose the nation cannot survive without, are dissembling. Anyone who watches or listens to PBS and/or NPR knows their far-left skew and that Capehart etc. are just upset Trump has dared to try to take away their taxpayer subsidies.”
  4072.  
  4073. Rating: FIVE out of five screams.
  4074.  
  4075.  
  4076.  
  4077.  
  4078. ■ April 28: No Liberal Media Scream this week
  4079.  
  4080.  
  4081.  
  4082. ■ April 21, 2025: Liberal Media Scream: Chris Matthews returns more unhinged than ever
  4083.  
  4084. (Washington Examiner post)
  4085.  
  4086.  
  4087. As if we need more Trump-hating media, an old favorite of the Liberal Media Scream team has returned to the Trump derangement syndrome stage to add his voice to those challenging President Donald Trump.
  4088.  
  4089. After about five years on the sidelines, former Hardball host Chris Matthews is reviving his show on Substack.
  4090.  
  4091. He proved that he’s lost a step or two in his debut Monday and during a promotion on Jim Acosta’s Substack last Friday.
  4092.  
  4093. Weeks after others tried to portray Trump as America’s homegrown Adolf Hitler, Matthews rolled out the tired analogy again, this time suggesting that the president will round up his critics and ship them to death camps.
  4094.  
  4095. “I got a nasty one for you,” he told Acosta. “What did Hitler do in the Holocaust? He took people from Germany to other countries where there was no German law. There was not even a pretense of German law. They took them to Poland or Hungary or wherever, and they killed them.”
  4096.  
  4097.  
  4098.  
  4099.  
  4100.  
  4101. Then, on his channel on Monday, Matthews opened with another Hitler reference. He said, “I want to ask you about something I said last week: that the fact that Trump is willing to say American citizens should be allowed to be sent overseas for punishment does something that rhymes very much with what happened in the Holocaust. That Germany was able to take people in France, Jewish people, and deport them to the east, and even the word deport was similar. So why would Trump personally say I’m going to take regular American citizens and deport them? It sounds like he wants to be seen as an autocrat.”
  4102.  
  4103. From Jim Acosta’s video show Friday for Substack:
  4104.  
  4105. JIM ACOSTA: One thing that every taxi driver will talk about these days is Donald Trump. And I have to ask you some newsy questions before we spend the entire time together reminiscing.
  4106.  
  4107. CHRIS MATTHEWS: I got a nasty one for you.
  4108.  
  4109. ACOSTA: Okay, well, good, I’m just wondering, I mean—”
  4110.  
  4111. MATTHEWS: What did Hitler do? What did Hitler do in the Holocaust? He took people from Germany to other countries.
  4112.  
  4113. ACOSTA: Yeah.
  4114.  
  4115. MATTHEWS: Where there was no German law. There was not even a pretense of German law. They took them to Poland or Hungary or wherever, and they killed them.
  4116.  
  4117. ACOSTA: And so when you see what’s happening right now with this Salvadoran gulag, I mean, this CECOT gulag, he’s basically taking a page out of that playbook, you think?
  4118.  
  4119. MATTHEWS: Well, it gets them out of the country.
  4120.  
  4121.  
  4122.  
  4123.  
  4124.  
  4125. Brent Baker, the Steven P.J. Wood senior fellow and vice president for research and publications at the Media Research Center, explained our pick: “Just when you thought it was safe to go to Substack, they give shows to Jim Acosta and Chris Matthews. As if there weren’t enough Trump-hating journalists with a platform. In this case, Matthews has taken TDS to a whole new level. There are rational arguments one could cite for disagreeing with sending illegal alien criminals to a foreign prison, but to equate that policy with a mass-murdering dictator who implemented genocide against a whole religion is inane.”
  4126.  
  4127. Rating: FIVE out of five screams.
  4128.  
  4129.  
  4130.  
  4131.  
  4132. ■ April 14, 2025: Liberal Media Scream: Media eat their own and rip Bill Maher for dining with Trump
  4133.  
  4134. (Washington Examiner post)
  4135.  
  4136.  
  4137. It’s hard to believe that our weekly Liberal Media Scream has been documenting the Washington press corps’ Trump Derangement Syndrome for about nine years and that we can find some new hypocrisy every single Monday to highlight.
  4138.  
  4139. But thanks to the eagle eye of our partner Brent Baker, the vice president of the Media Research Center, we have one of the first examples of the liberal media trying to keep wandering members of the tribe in line.
  4140.  
  4141. It happened Friday night after HBO talk show host and political comic Bill Maher described his recent dinner in the White House with President Donald Trump. Maher said it was a successful effort to break bread instead of just hurling insults at each other.
  4142.  
  4143. But some in the media weren’t happy that the two met.
  4144.  
  4145. Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin, on Maher’s show, accused his host of falling into Trump’s “trap.” He scolded, “For him, this was a PR stunt, and in his view, you were a prop in that PR stunt.”
  4146.  
  4147. From Friday’s Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO:
  4148.  
  4149. JOSH ROGIN, WASHINGTON POST: Counterpoint? You know, Bill, I think you’re right in saying that people make too much of this. OK, it’s not the Yalta Summit, you’re not Churchill, Kid Rock is not Stalin, Trump, sure as s***, isn’t FDR, OK? So yes, I believe too much has been made about this, but I think you’ve fallen into the trap. I think I represent 99% of the internet when I say this, is that you have played the game of proximity is principle, and what people are worried about — it’s not your motivation, we believe you, we love you, everybody loves Bill, right?
  4150.  
  4151. So, I’m not questioning your motivation, I’m questioning Trump’s, OK? And if we can say that you went there in good faith, but maybe, just maybe he wasn’t there in good faith. I mean, you sold him on the Iran deal, and he took it in — I mean, give me a break, OK? So, the idea here is that your motivation is sound, but what’s the impact? And I think a lot of people out there, fans of yours, people who love you, people who are fans of you, like me, been fans of yours my whole life.
  4152.  
  4153. BILL MAHER: You don’t have to patronize me, dude —
  4154.  
  4155. ROGIN: OK. Fair enough.
  4156.  
  4157. MAHER: I don’t know you, I never met you, not everybody has to like it.
  4158.  
  4159. ROGIN: I’m just saying that this comes from a place of love. All I’m saying —
  4160.  
  4161. MAHER: That’s what we said, there are people who didn’t want it to happen at all, you sound like one of them. It’s OK.
  4162.  
  4163. ROGIN: No, no.
  4164.  
  4165. MAHER: Did you hear what I said?
  4166.  
  4167. ROGIN: Yeah.
  4168.  
  4169. MAHER: What is the alternative to not talking? Just sitting at your lunch table and don’t talk to anybody?
  4170.  
  4171. ROGIN: I’ve talked to him, I’ve interviewed Trump. Piers has interviewed Trump.
  4172.  
  4173. MAHER: This was not an interview. This was not an interview.
  4174.  
  4175. ROGIN: I agree with the principle of engagement. I’m just saying from his perspective, you have to understand, that people who out there know, all Americans know, that for him, this was a PR stunt, and in his view, you were a prop in that PR stunt.
  4176.  
  4177. MAHER: The fact that you began your little rant with the internet — that tells me everything. You take your cues from the internet. Good luck! The internet is a cesspool that just wants to fight.
  4178.  
  4179. ROGIN: I support what you’re trying to do. I’m just saying the expectation that Donald Trump is going to be changed by something —
  4180.  
  4181. MAHER: I said in the piece I did not think that was going to happen. I love the people on either side who ignore the parts they don’t like. I just did it. It wasn’t like it was three weeks ago. Watch it again, maybe you’ll find something new in it.
  4182.  
  4183. ROGIN: It’s not a judgment, but it’s a little bit of a judgment.
  4184.  
  4185.  
  4186.  
  4187.  
  4188.  
  4189. Brent Baker, the Steven P.J. Wood senior fellow and vice president for research and publications at the Media Research Center, explained our pick: “Josh Rogin displayed the reflexive attitude common in the Washington press corps that anyone who does anything which might ‘normalize’ President Donald Trump must be discredited. Bill Maher did a great job, however, of discrediting Rogin’s weak arguments.”
  4190.  
  4191. Rating: FOUR out of five screams.
  4192.  
  4193.  
  4194.  
  4195.  
  4196. ■ April 7, 2025: Liberal Media Scream: CNN cheers X-rated comic dumped by press corps
  4197.  
  4198. (Washington Examiner post)
  4199.  
  4200.  
  4201. This week’s Liberal Media Scream puts the spotlight on CNN and its hosting of a left-wing comic so biased and X-rated that she was dumped from performing at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
  4202.  
  4203. CNN’s new show, Have I Got News For You, put the spotlight on one of its “captains,” Amber Ruffin, who reiterated the hatred of President Donald Trump that got her kicked out of the dinner.
  4204.  
  4205. After her firing came up on the show, Ruffin added to her reasons why she hates the president and his team, claiming that they are “disappearing people to a prison in El Salvador.”
  4206.  
  4207. She said, “I lost the gig because I was out here talking s***.”
  4208.  
  4209. From Saturday’s airing of Have I Got News For You on CNN:
  4210.  
  4211. HOST ROY WOOD JR: Amber offended the White House, as well as members of the White House Correspondents Association. Amber, following the tradition of Craig from Friday, was fired on her day off as she was uninvited from the White House Correspondents dinner when she said that she intended to make fun of the current administration. Amber, do you think you lost the gig because you said too early what you were going to do about going in on Republicans?
  4212.  
  4213. AMBER RUFFIN: I mean, oh, my god, I could f***ing talk for the next three hours. But what I choose to say is it’s like I lost the gig because I was out here talking s***, and I think it’s a good thing that I lost the gig because I was going to show up there and act all the way out. Also, like, also, it’s not anyone’s fault because when I was hired, we were like, oh yeah, and we’ll give it to everybody. And I was like, beh. Then they started f***ing disappearing people to a prison in El Salvador. They rolled back f***ing civil rights. So I was like, if I make this equal, then I’m also a piece of s***. I can’t f***ing do that.
  4214.  
  4215.  
  4216.  
  4217.  
  4218.  
  4219. Brent Baker, the Steven P.J. Wood senior fellow and vice president for research and publications at the Media Research Center, explained our pick: “Ruffin demonstrated why she is totally inappropriate to provide comedic commentary about the political scene. She’s filled with vitriol and hate toward the man who the nation chose as its president. But she found her audience on CNN where she was cheered and applauded for her crude invective. A sad commentary on the state of CNN.”
  4220.  
  4221. Rating: FIVE out of five screams
  4222.  
  4223.  
  4224.  
  4225.  
  4226. ■ March 31, 2025: Liberal Media Scream: Trump has made Bob Woodward deranged
  4227.  
  4228. (Washington Examiner post)
  4229.  
  4230.  
  4231. President Donald Trump has done it. In just two short months, he has not only turned the liberal Washington Post into a TDS cesspool but made its most celebrated reporter nearly certifiable.
  4232.  
  4233. How else can we explain Bob Woodward’s latest unhinged rant against Trump in which he claims that the billionaire businessman has a goal of ruining the economy?
  4234.  
  4235. “Well, his end goal is it looks like he wants to destroy the economy,” said the 82-year-old reporter and author on a Washington Post podcast.
  4236.  
  4237. For that, he wins this week’s Liberal Media Scream with five out of five screams.
  4238.  
  4239. From the Post Reports podcast interview, recorded at Woodward’s home by Washington Post “national politics/democracy reporter” Colby Itkowitz, which was posted Friday night on YouTube:
  4240.  
  4241. BOB WOODWARD: All these executive orders. I mean, he is, stood his ground and said this is what I’m going to do. I am shrinking. He and Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, his sidekick, are cutting the government, and look at what we are seeing. I mean, in some cases it’s done, as people have said with the chain saw, and we know from our personal lives or businesses that when you have to cut, that’s a really tricky undertaking, and you need to very carefully spell out what you’re gonna do and do it very slowly and be very certain that the impact is that they’re not secondary events that you trigger with — and look at what’s going on now. I think it’s one of the most dangerous times this country has ever faced.
  4242.  
  4243. COLBY ITKOWITZ: What do you think Trump’s end goal is in all of this in the sledge-hammering the government tariff, putting tariffs on our allies like Canada, like what is the, what is his big end goal as president?
  4244.  
  4245. WOODWARD: Well, his end goal is it looks like he wants to destroy the economy and that is a very dangerous undertaking. I mean, he states the motive is very positive, but look at what people are going through — having very negative impact.
  4246.  
  4247.  
  4248.  
  4249.  
  4250.  
  4251. Brent Baker, the Steven P.J. Wood senior fellow and vice president for research and publications at the Media Research Center, explained our pick: “It’s one thing to contend that President Trump’s tariff policies are misguided and will harm the economy, but to charge that ‘he wants to destroy the economy’ is an attitude which reflects a particularly nefarious view of Trump. Does Woodward really think Trump is so awful that he has set out to intentionally ‘destroy’ the economy? That’s what he said and it fits with his very far-left perspective that reducing the size of government makes this ‘one of the most dangerous times this country has ever faced.’”
  4252.  
  4253. Rating: FIVE out of five screams.
  4254.  
  4255.  
  4256.  
  4257.  
  4258. ■ March 24, 2025: Liberal Media Scream: All TDS on PBS as centrist calls Trump an ‘extortionist’
  4259.  
  4260. (Washington Examiner post)
  4261.  
  4262.  
  4263. This week’s Liberal Media Scream provides the latest fodder for conservatives calling for an end to taxpayer support of public TV because of its anti-Right bias and disdain for President Donald Trump.
  4264.  
  4265. In focus is the nightly PBS News Hour program that regularly features guests critical of Trump.
  4266.  
  4267. For our example, it wasn’t the liberal on the show rapping Trump but the resident centrist, New York Times columnist David Brooks, who called the president an “extortionist” and “bully” for using his powers to get countries, companies, and people to do what he wants.
  4268.  
  4269. “People call Trump a transactional politician, but he’s an extortionist. That’s actually a difference. There’s — a transaction is, we do a deal. Extortion is, I bully you until you give me what I want,” said Brooks.
  4270.  
  4271. At issue was an earlier move by the White House to withdraw the security clearance of the Paul Weiss legal firm, which is close to Democrats. The firm agreed to do $40 million worth of pro bono work for causes favored by the White House to win back the clearance.
  4272.  
  4273. From Friday’s PBS News Hour:
  4274.  
  4275. HOST AMNA NAWAZ: We saw President Trump going after institutions, including Big Law, right, including universities, as you mentioned, where many of these guys went to school. And this week, we saw two big institutions take steps to comply with the demands of the Trump administration. We saw Paul Weiss agree to a settlement, essentially, that says they’re going to provide $40 million in pro bono legal services. Columbia University agreed to a list of demands so they don’t lose hundreds of millions of dollars in funding. Jonathan, what does this moment, these steps from these institutions say to you?
  4276.  
  4277. JONATHAN CAPEHART: It says to me that our democracy is teetering. And I’ll focus on Perkins — I’m sorry — on Paul Weiss and the legal sphere. We have seen a complete capitulation by the legislative branch, the Republican majority, to what the president wants to do in the executive. And all our hopes for the maintenance of our democracy now rests with the judiciary.
  4278.  
  4279. And in the olden days, before Trump, you would rely on these white shoe law firms like Paul Weiss to provide pro bono help to folks who are suing for redress, who want the courts to step in when Congress or the president goes overboard. When a Paul Weiss decides to pull back, when other big law firms like that decide to pull back, what does that mean in terms of the judiciary’s ability to stop a president like Trump? And that’s what’s so concerning to me about this piece of the capitulation.
  4280.  
  4281. NAWAZ: David?
  4282.  
  4283. DAVID BROOKS: Yeah, people call Trump a transactional politician, but he’s an extortionist. That’s actually a difference. A transaction is, we do a deal. Extortion is, I bully you until you give me what I want. And so that’s what we’re seeing here. Now, I put myself in the shoes of, say, the president of Columbia, the head of Paul Weiss. And I think, well, if I compromise with Trump, I’m hurting my institution. But if I lose $400 million, I’m also hurting my institution. These are real choices that people have to make. And I understand that.
  4284.  
  4285. In the case of Columbia [University], I personally think the Trump requests or demands, whatever it is, are kind of reasonable, and Columbia should have done all this stuff five or 10 years ago. They really did get ideologically out of control. And if they’re publicly funded, partially publicly funded, then you’ve got a problem. And they created this problem. So I understand why. I got to save my university. I got to save $400 million.
  4286.  
  4287. On the other hand, caving into an extortionist rarely pays off because he will say, ‘Oh, I take that. Here’s my next demand, here’s my next demand.’ And if you look at the history of Zelensky, Macron, people — all the people who’ve tried to cozy up to the extortionists, they all end up losing in the end.
  4288.  
  4289. And so I think it’s time for the universities as a body — and we saw this with the Princeton president — to say no more deals. We are standing up because there will be a time — and, again, I don’t think this is quite the time to sort of beat down the Trump administration. There will be a time where everybody has to hold together and stand up and say, no, no more deals.
  4290.  
  4291.  
  4292.  
  4293.  
  4294.  
  4295. Brent Baker, the Steven P.J. Wood senior fellow and vice president for research and publications at the Media Research Center, explained our pick: “A perfect reflection of how ‘diversity’ on PBS is all about gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and race, not political ideology. PBS’s panel of Capehart and Brooks, touted as offering perspective from the left and right, does not (Brooks agrees with the liberal Capehart 61% of the time per a Media Research Center analysis). Indeed, they regularly find commonality to denouncing President Trump. So much for PBS viewers hearing much of anything that challenges their liberal world view and disgust for all things Trump.”
  4296.  
  4297. Rating: FOUR out of five screams
  4298.  
  4299.  
  4300.  
  4301.  
  4302. ■ March 17, 2025: Liberal Media Scream: NBC urges harsher Trump hate by Democrats
  4303.  
  4304. (Washington Examiner post)
  4305.  
  4306.  
  4307. This week’s Liberal Media Scream features a Sunday NBC panel mocking Democrats for failing to be harsher and faster in blasting President Donald Trump and his relationship with Tesla founder Elon Musk.
  4308.  
  4309. On Meet the Press, there was a collective scream at the liberal party for dropping the ball in attacking Trump, which the panel clearly felt was in order when the president displayed Teslas at the White House.
  4310.  
  4311. “Shocking,” they agreed, that Democrats didn’t work up a quick ad blasting Team Trump for essentially doing what former President Joe Biden did when he featured American-made vehicles on the South Lawn during a White House event.
  4312.  
  4313. “Another missed opportunity,” said MSNBC senior Washington correspondent Eugene Daniels, who is president of the White House Correspondents’ Association.
  4314.  
  4315. From Sunday’s Meet the Press on NBC:
  4316.  
  4317. HOST KRISTEN WELKER: One of the striking moments of this week was the moment where President Trump basically had a car show at the White House. Teslas on display with Elon Musk. It comes as, of course, Tesla’s sales have been dropping. Elon Musk’s approval ratings, much lower than President Trump’s, by the way. The optics of this, Anna, is it complicated for the White House?
  4318.  
  4319. ANNA PALMER, Punchbowl News: Well, it’s amazing that they’re doubling down on Elon Musk, because, to Cornell’s point, this is the opening for Democrats. They’re already starting to run ads featuring Elon Musk as the boogeyman. This gives them the B-roll and the visuals that you need to say that the White House is, you know, kind of mixing business with the work of the government.
  4320.  
  4321. …..
  4322.  
  4323. POLLSTER CORNELL BELCHER: And the idea that what Biden did at the White House is similar to Trump basically being a salesman and hawking the Teslas on the front lawn of the White House is completely different. The ad writes itself.
  4324.  
  4325. MSNBC’s EUGENE DANIELS: But Democrats aren’t doing it. Immediately, the next day, there should’ve been just, that ad, just showing it over and over again.
  4326.  
  4327. WELKER: You’re saying another missed opportunity for Democrats. Shocking!
  4328.  
  4329. DANIELS: Another missed opportunity to get on the same —
  4330.  
  4331. BELCHER, DANIELS: Shocking that the Democrats are bad on messaging!
  4332.  
  4333. DANIELS: But I mean, you know, like, when you talk to them behind the scenes, they explain the Elon of it all in a much better way than they do when they go on television. They don’t talk about him as an oligarch behind the scenes, right? They talk about him as someone who is, in their eyes, doing this, doing DOGE because he wants to help his businesses at the end of the day, right? They talk about that conflict of interest. That’s something that the American people actually understand, but they, again, continue to miss an opportunity to actually do that.
  4334.  
  4335.  
  4336.  
  4337.  
  4338.  
  4339. Brent Baker, the Steven P.J. Wood senior fellow and vice president for research and publications at the Media Research Center, explained our pick: “So much for pretending there’s any separation between the Washington press corps and Democratic Party interests. Can you imagine journalists ever advising Republicans or Trump supporters on how to more effectively undermine a Democrat? Of course not.”
  4340.  
  4341. Rating: Four out of five screams.
  4342.  
  4343.  
  4344.  
  4345.  
  4346. ■ March 10, 2025: Liberal Media Scream: Sunny Hostin tells Democrats fight or ‘people will die’
  4347.  
  4348. (Washington Examiner post)
  4349.  
  4350.  
  4351. This week’s Liberal Media Scream features the return of one of America’s lefty pundits suffering most from Trump Derangement Syndrome, The View’s Sunny Hostin.
  4352.  
  4353. Reacting to Rep. Al Green’s (D-TX) censure by Congress for his outbursts during President Donald Trump’s joint session address Tuesday, the hostile Hostin said the Democrats in the chamber should have joined him in rudely protesting Trump and stormed out in support.
  4354.  
  4355. While virtually every other Democrat in the media is calling for a more level-headed approach to Trump, she went in the other direction, claiming without a shred of evidence that Trump’s policies will kill people.
  4356.  
  4357. As a result, we give her outburst a rare five-scream trophy.
  4358.  
  4359. The View on Friday:
  4360.  
  4361. JOY BEHAR: Ten Democrats voted to censure Green.
  4362.  
  4363. SUNNY HOSTIN: Do you want a list of the 10?
  4364.  
  4365. BEHAR: Do you want to hear their names?
  4366.  
  4367. HOSTIN: Yes, I do.
  4368.  
  4369. BEHAR: Why go after them too? Go after the Republicans.
  4370.  
  4371. HOSTIN: Because they don’t know how to fight and be part of an opposition party. Representative Green gave them the example. The Democrats are not meeting the moment. It is very clear that Medicaid is on the table. It is very clear that Social Security is on the table. It is very clear that people will die. The baby boomers, the civil rights generation, they knew what they had to do! They were willing to fight and die for their rights. This generation of Congress, they are not meeting the moment. This is an existential crisis!
  4372.  
  4373. BEHAR: And also, I might point out some of them are from the most liberal states like New York, Hawaii, California.
  4374.  
  4375. HOSTIN: They should be ashamed of themselves! They should have all walked out with him!
  4376.  
  4377.  
  4378.  
  4379.  
  4380.  
  4381. Brent Baker, the Steven P.J. Wood senior fellow and vice president for research and publications at the Media Research Center, explained our pick: “ABC News should be embarrassed by the daily left-wing drivel on The View. Even many Democrats were ashamed by Green’s antics, which went far beyond what any Republican has ever done during a presidential speech to Congress. So much for contending it’s Trump who has lessened decorum. Hostin is advocating more coarseness in politics. And ABC News is sanctioning it.”
  4382.  
  4383. Rating: FIVE out of five screams.
  4384.  
  4385.  
  4386.  
  4387.  
  4388. ■ March 3, 2025: Liberal Media Scream: PBS twists Trump press pool diversity as ‘sinister’
  4389.  
  4390. (Washington Examiner post)
  4391.  
  4392.  
  4393. Here’s another reason for all the PBS and NPR critics to call for federal tax dollar defunding. Instead of cheering the expansion of media allowed into the White House press pool, PBS declared it a “sinister” move to censor the press.
  4394.  
  4395. This week’s Liberal Media Scream features the outlet’s twisted view of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s decision to take charge of choosing who is in the daily pool that covers White House events for the rest of the press when there isn’t enough room for all, such as the near-daily back-and-forths President Donald Trump hosts in the Oval Office.
  4396.  
  4397. She made the decision because she believed that the White House Correspondents’ Association was being too selective by favoring legacy media and barring new-age social media and conservative outlets.
  4398.  
  4399. The old guard protested, though, in its first week of operation, the new pool remained heavy with legacy media. One exception was the Associated Press, which Trump’s team omitted because the news service won’t recognize the president’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, as the government has.
  4400.  
  4401. In our example, PBS NewsHour co-anchor Amna Nawaz called the White House move an attack on the press, prompting contributor and Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart to chirp that “we are in more sinister territory” with Trump and the media.
  4402.  
  4403. Of course neither talked up former President Joe Biden’s move to take away the press passes of over 400 mainly conservative outlets or former President Barack Obama’s seizing of phone records from AP or others in his dragnet for leakers.
  4404.  
  4405. From Friday’s PBS News Hour:
  4406.  
  4407. AMNA NAWAZ: His continued attacks on the press, blocking the AP’s access from some White House coverage as well. You saw him take control of the White House, take control of the press pool that covers the president full time, makes sure everyone else knows what’s happening with the president. Peter Baker, of course, longtime Russia correspondent, said it reminded him of the Kremlin press pool takeover. And I just want to get your takes on where that sort of attack on the press stands and whether we’re in much more sinister territory now.
  4408.  
  4409. JONATHAN CAPEHART: I do think we are in more sinister territory because you’ve got to look at what’s happening with AP, in light of his lawsuits against CBS, against ABC, threats, threatening the licenses of other broadcast entities. This is all part of a pattern of roughing up anyone he views as not either insufficiently loyal or people who have wronged him. And he looks at the press as an entity that has wronged him.
  4410.  
  4411.  
  4412.  
  4413.  
  4414.  
  4415. Brent Baker, the Steven P.J. Wood senior fellow and vice president for research and publications at the Media Research Center, explained our pick: “Imagine that. President Trump sees ‘the press as an entity that has wronged him.’ And he’s fighting back, which really upsets the legacy media despite the fact that nothing he has done has blocked the public from full access. It’s hardly ‘sinister’ just because the White House is allowing a more ideological diverse group of outlets to get access instead of just a few privileged and entitled journalists.”
  4416.  
  4417. Rating: Three out of five screams.
  4418.  
  4419.  
  4420.  
  4421.  
  4422. ■ February 24, 2025: Liberal Media Scream: Mike Johnson cuts off CBS bedwetting
  4423.  
  4424. (Washington Examiner post)
  4425.  
  4426.  
  4427. It took over two years for the Nixon-era Watergate scandal to bring on the constitutional crisis that led a president to resign. But hearing CBS describe President Donald Trump’s first month of moves the network doesn’t like shows this generation’s Watergate has already arrived.
  4428.  
  4429. Even more than the Hollywood whining of Jane Fonda and others at Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards, Jane Pauley’s CBS News Sunday Morning jumped head first into decrying Trump’s moves promised during a year on the campaign trail to drain the swamp as a constitutional crisis.
  4430.  
  4431. “More than a half-century ago,” said CBS’s Robert Costa, “as the Watergate saga unfolded, President Richard Nixon had a standoff with the Justice Department and the courts” that the media declared a “constitutional crisis.”
  4432.  
  4433. Now, he added, “that term, constitutional crisis, is back.”
  4434.  
  4435. But amid the name-calling and historical hyperventilating in the show’s main story, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) offered a sense of calm and perspective.
  4436.  
  4437. “I have been asked so many times, aren’t you uncomfortable with this? No. I’m not,” he said, making the CBS report our Liberal Media Scream of the week.
  4438.  
  4439. From CBS News Sunday Morning:
  4440.  
  4441. JANE PAULEY: With judges across the country pushing back against some of the Trump administration’s flurry of executive orders, there are those who ask: What would happen if the White House defies the courts and simply moves ahead with its plans? We’ve asked our Robert Costa to make some inquiries.
  4442.  
  4443. ROGER MUDD, CBS ANCHOR, NOV. 4, 1973: Despite his powers as chief executive, his future is really in the hands of the other two branches of government: the courts and the Congress.
  4444. ROBERT COSTA: More than a half-century ago, as the Watergate saga unfolded, President Richard Nixon had a standoff with the Justice Department and the courts.
  4445.  
  4446. DAN RATHER, CBS ANCHOR, OCT. 20, 1973: In breathtaking succession tonight, the following historic events occurred. The president of the United States demanded that the attorney general fire Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox. The attorney general refused and resigned.
  4447.  
  4448. COSTA: The tensions brought a certain phrase to the fore of the American conversation.
  4449.  
  4450. JOHN CHANCELLOR, NBC ANCHOR, OCT. 20, 1973: The country in the midst of what may be the most serious constitutional crisis in its history.
  4451.  
  4452. COSTA: Now that term, ‘constitutional crisis,’ is back.
  4453.  
  4454. JULIAN CASTRO, former House Democrat from Texas: We’re headed toward a constitutional crisis.
  4455.  
  4456. U.S. SENATOR ELISSA SLOTKIN (D-MI): We’re fast barreling toward a constitutional crisis.
  4457.  
  4458. COSTA: Many Democrats are sounding the alarm about President Donald Trump’s use of executive power.
  4459.  
  4460. U.S. REP. SEAN CASTEN (D-ILL): The actions that Musk and his IT goons have taken, they’re illegal.
  4461.  
  4462. COSTA: And some fear that Trump, who has shattered norms and who worked relentlessly to try to overturn the 2020 election, cannot be counted on to follow the courts.
  4463.  
  4464. SPEAKER MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): I have been asked so many times, aren’t you uncomfortable with this? No. I’m not.
  4465.  
  4466. COSTA: Most Republicans are shrugging off talk of a crisis. In fact, many are cheering as Trump overhauls the Justice Department and FBI, works with Elon Musk to fire thousands of federal employees and signs piles of executive orders.
  4467.  
  4468.  
  4469.  
  4470.  
  4471.  
  4472. Brent Baker, the Steven P.J. Wood senior fellow and vice president for research and publications at the Media Research Center, explained our pick: “You know it’s a media-fueled effort to create a scandal when the journalist in question regurgitates Watergate. It’s what Costa and the Washington press corps see as their halcyon days of glory. And if the supposed scandal matches a current liberal Democratic talking point, so much the better, despite the lack of any real substance to the fearmongering.”
  4473.  
  4474. Rating: Four out of five screams.
  4475.  
  4476.  
  4477.  
  4478.  
  4479. ■ February 17, 2025: Liberal Media Scream: Scott Pelley, now TV’s top Trump hater
  4480.  
  4481. (Washington Examiner post)
  4482.  
  4483.  
  4484. He has a lot of competition in the media, but few have as big a stage as 60 Minutes elder Scott Pelley. As he continues to step up his attacks on President Donald Trump and the new administration, Pelley is elbowing aside all others to emerge as Trump’s loudest TV critic.
  4485.  
  4486. Never a fan of Trump, Pelley has taken his 60 Minutes perch at CBS to offer critical monologues of the president. People took notice even before Trump returned to the White House when Pelley ripped Trump’s Cabinet picks, saying, “Some nominees appear to have no compelling qualifications other than loyalty to Trump.”
  4487.  
  4488. However, other than gnawing down his reading glasses, Pelley had no impact. All of Trump’s picks to get a Senate floor vote won.
  4489.  
  4490. Then, on Sunday’s show, he opened with another hit on Trump, saying the president was in “defiance of the Constitution” with his agenda. Again, there was no impact since a day later, a federal judge expressed skepticism about any harm the president’s Department of Government Efficiency threatened.
  4491.  
  4492. Each week, Secrets teams with the Media Research Center to choose the loudest liberal media scream, and Pelley won again this week. What’s more, Media Research Center Vice President Brent Baker gave Pelley’s rant a score of five out of five screams. That is a rare top score, but one we expect to see more of as the liberal media turns up the heat on Trump as it loses its influence on him and his White House.
  4493.  
  4494. From the lead story on Sunday’s 60 Minutes:
  4495.  
  4496. SCOTT PELLEY: It’s too soon to tell how serious President Trump is in defiance of the Constitution. In his first 28 days, he signed an order to nullify birthright citizenship for some — a right guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. And he has closed agencies and frozen spending that Congress mandated by law. Lower courts are holding up many of the president’s priorities, but nothing has risen to the Supreme Court, where these battles over presidential power could rewrite history. Presidents often push limits — FDR’s New Deal, for example — and voters in this last election wanted change. But the scope and speed of Trump’s reach for power may be unprecedented. One example is a 63-year-old agency created by Congress, codified in law and eviscerated by Trump in a matter of days.
  4497.  
  4498. KRISTINA DRYE: People are really scared. I think that you know, 12 days ago, people knew where their next paycheck was coming from. They knew how they were going to pay for their kids’ daycare, their medical bills. And then, all gone overnight.
  4499.  
  4500. PELLEY: “All gone, overnight,” for Kristina Drye and Adam Dubard — fired this month in the chaotic shutdown of foreign aid distributed by the U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID. More than 8,000 USAID employees were sent home by the administration.
  4501.  
  4502. ADAM DUBARD: They’re not looking for competency. They’re not looking for — if you’re good at your job. They’re looking for pure loyalty tests, and if you don’t give it, you will be punished…
  4503.  
  4504. …
  4505.  
  4506. PELLEY: The world’s richest man had cut off assistance to the world’s poorest families. Musk spent nearly $250 million to get Trump and other Republicans elected. He collects billions in taxpayer dollars for his SpaceX rockets.
  4507.  
  4508. ANDREW NATSIOS, FORMER USAID ADMINISTRATOR: I think we’re creating a system that violates the separation of powers and the checks and balances that are intended in the Constitution.
  4509.  
  4510. PELLEY: Republican Andrew Natsios, former head of USAID, spoke to us in Washington, in part because he is not hearing public appeals to reason from fellow Republicans.
  4511.  
  4512. PELLEY TO NATSIOS: How do you view this moment in history?
  4513.  
  4514. NATSIOS: I don’t want to be too pessimistic. But it does appear we may be headed towards some sort of a constitutional crisis. I don’t, I hope that doesn’t happen. I pray it doesn’t happen. But it’s certainly concerning to me what’s going on in this city right now.
  4515.  
  4516. PELLEY: Is the constitutional order breaking down?
  4517.  
  4518. NATSIOS: We’ll see if they refuse to enforce a court order by the Supreme Court. If it gets to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court rules against the administration on something and they refuse to enforce it, then we will have a constitutional crisis.
  4519.  
  4520. PELLEY: What happens then?
  4521.  
  4522. NATSIOS: Well, I don’t know.
  4523.  
  4524. PELLEY: No one knows.
  4525.  
  4526. NATSIOS: No one knows.
  4527.  
  4528.  
  4529.  
  4530.  
  4531.  
  4532. Baker, the Steven P.J. Wood senior fellow, explained our pick: “Another hit to whatever remnants are left of 60 Minutes as some sort of dispassionate news magazine which offers a fair and balanced look at complicated issues. Pelley not only matched the Trump Derangement Syndrome of the left, he doubled down on it, presuming the absolute worst motives behind President Trump while taking cheap ideological shots at Elon Musk. This is Exhibit A in why federal spending has never been cut since the end of World War II: The media go to war to discredit anyone who takes on the spending behemoth.”
  4533.  
  4534. Rating: Five out of five screams.
  4535.  
  4536.  
  4537.  
  4538.  
  4539. ■ February 10, 2025: Liberal Media Scream: PBS airs extreme TDS, ‘starvation,’ ‘death’
  4540.  
  4541. (Washington Examiner post)
  4542.  
  4543.  
  4544. This week’s Liberal Media Scream features a PBS freak panel of left-wing journalists spewing the most extreme anti-Trump analysis of the cost-cutting by the White House and efficiency agency headed by Elon Musk.
  4545.  
  4546. While discussing the fate of USAID, which President Donald Trump’s team closed and shifted spending authority to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a reporter for National Public Radio warned to others nodding yes that the impact will be “poverty and increased starvation.”
  4547.  
  4548. Then an Atlantic reporter, formerly with the Washington Post, said on the tax-subsidized PBS show Washington Week with The Atlantic that cutting by Trump and Musk of the federal world aid slush fund would lead to “cruelty and death.”
  4549.  
  4550. The language used by the reporters are just two examples of the type of Trump Derangement Syndrome attacks on Musk and the president’s efforts to root out waste and fraud in government programs.
  4551.  
  4552. From the February 7 edition of Washington Week with The Atlantic on PBS:
  4553.  
  4554. ASTHMA KHALID, NPR: There’s something I think very strange at this moment of seeing the world’s richest man really sort of take a hatchet that will essentially take people who are already in the depths of poverty and, you know, increase starvation rates, or increase hunger rates, which is likely what will happen if USAID is entirely cut off.”…
  4555.  
  4556. ANNE APPLEBAUM, THE ATLANTIC: It’s a test case for can agencies just be abolished without Congress having any say, but it’s also a test case of cruelty. You know, are Americans willing to accept a high level of cruelty and death just, you know, on the president’s whim, on Elon Musk’s whim.
  4557.  
  4558.  
  4559.  
  4560.  
  4561.  
  4562. Brent Baker, the Steven P.J. Wood senior fellow and vice president for research and publications at the Media Research Center, explained our pick: “Your taxpayer dollars at work: A journalist for taxpayer-funded National Public Radio and another journalist – both on taxpayer-funded PBS – relay the talking points, in their most extreme form, of the government employee union trying to discredit any reduction in federal spending. Instead of a rational assessment of efforts to trim spending, the two prove they are in the tank for the deep state, presuming starvation and death will result. And they wonder why so many don’t see them as serious sources of facts.”
  4563.  
  4564. Rating: Five out of five screams.
  4565.  
  4566.  
  4567.  
  4568.  
  4569. ■ February 3, 2025: Liberal Media Scream: Call on MSNBC for weekly Trump impeachment votes
  4570.  
  4571. (Washington Examiner post)
  4572.  
  4573.  
  4574. Have you heard this one? Democrats want to impeach President Donald Trump.
  4575.  
  4576. This week’s Liberal Media Scream features a SiriusXM host demanding on left-leaning MSNBC that Democrats vote to impeach Trump weekly.
  4577.  
  4578. “I hope some of them will start introducing impeachment articles every week,” said Tell Me Everything host John Fugelsang on MSNBC’s The 11th Hour last Friday.
  4579.  
  4580. “Donald Trump was eligible for impeachment one minute into his inaugural address,” he said.
  4581.  
  4582. “I think Democrats should start having a different guy come out every week and introduce new articles of impeachment, just to inspire people and show them that we’re doing something and let the record show for history we are fighting against this,” he added.
  4583.  
  4584. In his first term, Trump was impeached twice, and Democrats thought that would end his political career. Of course, it only strengthened Trump, who won office again against somebody who voted for impeachment twice, former Vice President Kamala Harris.
  4585.  
  4586. From Friday’s The 11th Hour With Stephanie Ruhle on MSNBC, picking up as Fugelsang reacted to news CBS may make a financial settlement with Trump to end his lawsuit over misleading editing of its 60 Minutes interview with Harris, which followed an earlier financial settlement from Facebook over that platform removing him in 2021:
  4587.  
  4588. John Fugelsang: They’re bribes. I mean, these are bribes. You know, Donald Trump was eligible for impeachment one minute into his inaugural address for violating the emoluments clause. CBS has got a big merger coming up. This is a bribe. …
  4589.  
  4590. The Democrats are going to do what they did last time. They’re going to lick their wounds, slowly assemble, let Trump do some work for them, and they’re going to be talking a lot about education and healthcare. I hope some of them will start introducing impeachment articles every week.
  4591.  
  4592. When the GOP was trying to repeal Obamacare 70 times, we laughed at them. But what they were doing in their impoverished state was consolidating the base, fundraising, and getting their messaging across. It worked for them.
  4593.  
  4594. I think Democrats should start having a different guy come out every week and introduce new articles of impeachment, just to inspire people and show them that we’re doing something and let the record show for history we are fighting against this.”
  4595.  
  4596.  
  4597.  
  4598.  
  4599.  
  4600. Brent Baker, the Steven P.J. Wood senior fellow and vice president for research and publications at the Media Research Center, explained our pick: “So much for even pretending to allow President Trump to have a chance to give voters what they voted for in electing him. MSNBC thinks it’s a legitimate and credible position to contend Trump had earned impeachment less than an hour past noon on Inauguration Day — well before he had signed a single executive order. So much for reflection and serious analysis from the press corps. But it is what Democrats and so many journalists like to do given this would be the third attempt to impeach him. Will they go zero-for-three?”
  4601.  
  4602. Rating: Five out of five screams.
  4603.  
  4604.  
  4605.  
  4606.  
  4607. ■ January 27, 2025: Liberal Media Scream: Vance schools CBS and bishops on illegal immigration
  4608.  
  4609. (Washington Examiner post)
  4610.  
  4611.  
  4612. America is learning pretty quickly that Vice President JD Vance is no pushover easily cornered on tough issues.
  4613.  
  4614. In our latest Liberal Media Scream, we feature Vance’s retort to Catholic bishops and CBS Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan over complaints that the Trump administration is being mean in its effort to deport criminal illegal migrants.
  4615.  
  4616. Appearing on Face the Nation, Brennan sounded hurt that the administration would enter schools to find their targets. She cited complaints from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which funds efforts to settle illegal immigrants in America, as do other religious groups.
  4617.  
  4618. Vance had clearly heard it all before and was quick to point out that protecting America and Americans, including migrants here legally, is President Donald Trump’s No. 1 job.
  4619.  
  4620. Brennan worried that the administration’s policy has “a chilling effect, arguably, to people to not send their kids to school.” Vance reversed her spin to make his point: “I desperately hope it has a chilling effect on illegal immigrants coming into our country.”
  4621.  
  4622. And when she cited concerns from the bishops, Vance said, “As a practicing Catholic, I was actually heartbroken by that statement. I think that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops needs to actually look in the mirror a little bit and recognize that when they receive over $100 million to help resettle illegal immigrants, are they worried about humanitarian concerns, or are they actually worried about their bottom line?”
  4623.  
  4624. Clearly, it is going to be a tough four years for liberals in the media, such as Brennan, since Team Trump is ready and willing to parry the left media’s slant on major issues.
  4625.  
  4626. From Sunday’s Face the Nation on CBS:
  4627.  
  4628. MARGARET BRENNAN: Let me ask you about another area that you campaigned on quite a lot, and there was a flurry of activity on. And that has to do with immigration. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops this week condemned some of the executive orders signed by President Trump, specifically those allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement to enter churches and to enter schools. Do you personally support the idea of conducting a raid or enforcement action in a church service, at a school?
  4629.  
  4630. VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE: Well, let me address this. Of course, if you have a person who is convicted of a violent crime, whether they’re an illegal immigrant or a non-illegal immigrant, you have to go and get that person to protect the public safety. That’s not unique to immigration. But let me just address this particular issue, Margaret, because, as a practicing Catholic, I was actually heartbroken by that statement. And I think that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops needs to actually look in the mirror a little bit and recognize that when they receive over $100 million to help resettle illegal immigrants, are they worried about humanitarian concerns, or are they actually worried about their bottom line? We’re going to enforce immigration law. We’re going to protect the American people.
  4631.  
  4632. Donald Trump promised to do that. And I believe the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, if they’re worried about the humanitarian costs of immigration enforcement, let them talk about the children who have been sex-trafficked because of the wide-open border of Joe Biden.
  4633.  
  4634. BRENNAN: So, you personally support them going into schools and churches?
  4635.  
  4636. VANCE: Let them talk about people like Laken Riley, who were brutally murdered. I support us doing law enforcement against violent criminals, whether they’re illegal immigrants or anybody else, in a way that keeps us safe. Let me ask this question, Margaret. Separate the immigration issue. If you had a violent murderer in a school, of course, I want law enforcement —
  4637.  
  4638. BRENNAN: Of course.
  4639.  
  4640. VANCE: — to go and get that person out.
  4641.  
  4642. BRENNAN: Of course.
  4643.  
  4644. VANCE: So, then what’s the point of the question?
  4645.  
  4646. BRENNAN: You changed the regulation this week. That’s the point of the question: giving the authority to go into churches and go into schools.
  4647.  
  4648. VANCE: Exactly. We empowered law enforcement to enforce the law everywhere to protect Americans.
  4649.  
  4650. BRENNAN: But that also has a knock-on effect, a chilling effect, arguably, to people to not send their kids to school.
  4651.  
  4652. VANCE: I desperately hope it has a chilling effect —
  4653.  
  4654. BRENNAN: In the churches …
  4655.  
  4656. VANCE: — on illegal immigrants coming into our country.
  4657.  
  4658. BRENNAN: You think the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops are actively hiding criminals from law enforcement?
  4659.  
  4660. VANCE: I think the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has, frankly, not been a good partner in commonsense immigration enforcement that the American people voted for. And I hope, again, as a devout Catholic, that they’ll do better.
  4661.  
  4662.  
  4663.  
  4664.  
  4665.  
  4666. Brent Baker, the Steven P.J. Wood senior fellow and vice president for research and publications at the Media Research Center, explained our pick: “Brennan went into the interview thinking she had the moral high ground and facts on her side, presuming it would be easy to show how badly misguided are so many Trump policies. But she ran into JD Vance, who delivered a master class in how to take on and undermine the premises of the Washington press corps.”
  4667.  
  4668. Rating: Four out of five screams.
  4669.  
  4670.  
  4671.  
  4672.  
  4673. ■ January 19, 2025: Liberal Media Scream: CBS sucks up to Biden to the end: ‘Did deliver’
  4674.  
  4675. (Washington Examiner post)
  4676.  
  4677.  
  4678. Our final Biden-era Liberal Media Scream finds CBS News kissing up to President Joe Biden to the end, brushing aside all the polls and its own reporting to declare he was effective.
  4679.  
  4680. “In many ways,” CBS chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes said, “he did deliver.”
  4681.  
  4682. The media have resisted reporting on Biden’s mental and physical failings over his four unpopular years in office. And even on his last weekend in office, outlets such as CBS went out of their way to prop up a president who polls as one of America’s worst.
  4683.  
  4684. From CBS News Sunday Morning:
  4685.  
  4686. NANCY CORDES: In many ways, he did deliver. His administration oversaw the successful rollout of the COVID vaccines. The stock market steadily rose to record highs, while unemployment fell to a near-record low. Overseas, he expanded NATO, strengthened alliances in Asia with the goal of containing China, and cobbled together lasting support for Ukraine in its war against Russia.
  4687.  
  4688. PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: The duty of a president is to defend what is best about America.
  4689.  
  4690. CORDES: He did so while racking up major legislative victories, including massive new investments in clean energy and semiconductor manufacturing.
  4691.  
  4692. BIDEN: I believe, to my core, there isn’t a single thing this country cannot do when we put our mind to it.
  4693.  
  4694. CORDES: And he scored a win that eluded his predecessors: signing a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill.
  4695.  
  4696.  
  4697.  
  4698.  
  4699.  
  4700. Brent Baker, the Steven P.J. Wood senior fellow and vice president for research and publications at the Media Research Center, explained our pick: “Going down with the ship, CBS and Cordes are still trying to convince people that despite the rejection of his presidency and his policies by the voters, Joe Biden really was a great president who delivered laudable accomplishments. The media and Biden do share at least one thing in common: In the eyes of much of the public, they are both losers.”
  4701.  
  4702. Rating: Four out of five screams.
  4703.  
  4704.  
  4705.  
  4706.  
  4707. ■ January 13, 2025: Liberal Media Scream: PBS delights that Trump will forever be a ‘convicted felon’
  4708.  
  4709. (Washington Examiner post)
  4710.  
  4711.  
  4712. This week’s Liberal Media Scream is already anticipating the coming media hate that will greet President-elect Donald Trump when he enters office for a second time a week from today.
  4713.  
  4714. No surprise, but biased liberal PBS “analyst” Jonathan Capehart isn’t just readying his anti-Trump talk for Inauguration Day. He is already looking to pour on the hate in every Trump story.
  4715.  
  4716. On Friday’s PBS NewsHour, Capehart, who also hosts a poorly-rated MSNBC show, took delight in predicting that after being sentenced last week in a much-mocked legal case, Trump will forever be known as a “convicted felon,” and he wants every reporter to mention that in their stories about Trump.
  4717.  
  4718. Cheered the talker, “What’s also great punishment is the sentencing today, where the judge said, you’re going to be president, you’re not going to go to jail, but you’re a convicted felon. And so for the rest of his life, any story written about him will have to mention the fact that he’s a convicted felon — if not on the first reference, definitely by the second reference.”
  4719.  
  4720. From Friday’s PBS NewsHour:
  4721.  
  4722. GEOFF BENNETT: But after, you know, being convicted of 34 felonies, there are people who look at this case, and they say that Donald Trump walks away with a punishment that is less than what one would receive for a speeding ticket.
  4723.  
  4724. JONATHAN CAPEHART: Look, this case, this hush money case, was the case that everybody said was the crappy case of the four. Remember, Donald Trump was indicted four times, and this one was the least important, the shakiest.
  4725.  
  4726. And yet it’s the one case where Donald Trump was held accountable, the one case where he was brought to trial before a jury of his peers in his hometown of New York City and was found guilty 34 times. I think that is great punishment.
  4727.  
  4728. What’s also great punishment is the sentencing today, where the judge said, you’re going to be president, you’re not going to go to jail, but you’re a convicted felon. And so, for the rest of his life, any story written about him will have to mention the fact that he’s a convicted felon — if not on the first reference, definitely by the second reference.
  4729.  
  4730. And that is fitting, that is right, that is just. Do I wish the other three cases had gone to trial and that he had faced accountability on those? Yes, but this will do.
  4731.  
  4732.  
  4733.  
  4734.  
  4735.  
  4736. Brent Baker, the Steven P.J. Wood senior fellow and vice president for research and publications at the Media Research Center, explained our pick: “Talk about petty immaturity. Capehart’s reaction to the judge’s sentence on Trump bared how much of the press corps’ hostility to Trump was always fueled by personal animosity as much as by disgust with conservative policies. So a smug Capehart gets joy from a court giving him the okay to apply a derogatory label to the incoming president.”
  4737.  
  4738. Rating: FOUR out of FIVE Screams.
  4739.  
  4740.  
  4741.  
  4742.  
  4743. ■ January 6, 2025: Liberal Media Scream: MSNBC the sole #Joementia denier
  4744.  
  4745. (Washington Examiner post)
  4746.  
  4747.  
  4748. This week’s Liberal Media Scream features MSNBC’s Symone Sanders-Townsend as the media’s last denier that President Joe Biden has lost it. What’s crazier than the obvious is that she claims that it is incoming President-elect Donald Trump who suffers brain fog.
  4749.  
  4750. Appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, Sanders-Townsend’s defense of the president who dropped out of his reelection campaign after his brain locked during a debate with Trump came just hours before his bizarre cursing rant about immigrants following a White House ceremony.
  4751.  
  4752. “The question on the table is, ‘Is the president all they way there?’ And the answer is unequivocally yes,” Sanders-Townsend said on the show. The MSNBC host, in fact, charged it is Trump whose mental capacities should be questioned. Biden “can at least put a sentence together,” but “the president-elect is the one I am concerned about.”
  4753.  
  4754. From Sunday’s Meet the Press:
  4755.  
  4756. SYMONE SANDERS TOWNSEND: Well, I was very surprised that when you asked the question about mental acuity he didn’t more forcefully push back. The question on the table is, “Is the president all the way there?” And the answer is unequivocally yes. Now, people can say that you feel as though President Biden might be a little too old to do the job, but he is doing the job. And his mental acuity is there. So, I think that there’s a conflation of two things here: his mental capacity and serving another four years as old as he is. But those are two separate things in my opinion. And, look, these people that have known Joe Biden their entire political lives, I know Joe Biden is like, “Can you all just please defend me a little more?”
  4757.  
  4758. MARC SHORT: I think it hurt Democrats. It hurt Democrats in November to try to tell the American people something they could see with their own eyes wasn’t true.
  4759.  
  4760. SANDERS-TOWNSEND: But it’s not true that the president doesn’t have the mental acuity.
  4761.  
  4762. SHORT: Of course it is, Symone. The American people saw that for themselves in the debate—
  4763.  
  4764. SANDERS-TOWNSEND: What are you saying? He can at least put a sentence together. The president-elect is the one I am concerned about because I recently talked to the president.
  4765.  
  4766.  
  4767.  
  4768.  
  4769.  
  4770. Brent Baker, the Steven P.J. Wood senior fellow and vice president for research and publications at the Media Research Center, explains our pick: “Sanders is a last holdout, a true foolish believer. Virtually all of her colleagues, even those who pretended for years that Biden was fine, started to acknowledge, as soon as Biden was no longer the Democratic candidate for reelection, that he’s not all there. But not Sanders. She’s still in the tank and embarrassing herself, especially when suggesting it’s Trump who has the mental shortcomings.”
  4771.  
  4772. Rating: FIVE out of FIVE Screams.
  4773.  
  4774.  
  4775.  
  4776.  
  4777. &gt; Liberal Media Screams for 2023 and 2024
  4778.  
  4779. &gt; Liberal Media Screams for 2021 and 2022
  4780.  
  4781. &gt; For all of 2020.
  4782.  
  4783. &gt; For all of 2019.
  4784.  
  4785. &gt; For all of 2018.
  4786.  
  4787. &gt; For July through December 2017.
  4788.  
  4789. &gt; For January through June 2017.
  4790.  
  4791. &gt; For July through December 2016.
  4792.  
  4793. &gt; For January through June 2016.
  4794.  
  4795. &gt; For July to December 2015.
  4796.  
  4797.  </description>
  4798.  <pubDate>September 15th, 2025 6:33 PM</pubDate>
  4799.    <dc:creator>Brent Baker</dc:creator>
  4800.    <guid isPermaLink="false">288260</guid>
  4801.    </item>
  4802. <item>
  4803.  <title>Mamdani: Democrats’ Antisemitism Problem</title>
  4804.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/larry-elder/2025/09/15/mamdani-democrats-antisemitism-problem</link>
  4805.  <description>For the Democrat hard left, the good news is that Zohran Mamdani, a self-described “Democratic socialist” with a long history of what many consider antisemitism and anti-Israel activism, won the Democratic primary for mayor of New York. The bad news for the Democratic left is that he will likely win.
  4806.  
  4807. It’s no surprise that President Donald Trump is not popular in New York, where a New York City judge found him liable in a ridiculous business fraud case and where a Manhattan jury convicted him of an equally ridiculous criminal charge of election interference. A recent poll of New York state Jewish, Protestant, Catholic, Hispanic, Black and white voters found Trump’s approval rating underwater with every racial, ethnic and religious group, except one.
  4808.  
  4809. According to a late June Siena College poll, with Catholic New York voters, Trump is at 50% disapproval and 49% approval; 79% of blacks disapprove and 19% approve; 67% of Hispanics disapprove and 26% approve; 51% of whites disapprove and 47% approve.
  4810.  
  4811. But with New York Jewish voters, 42% disapprove and 57% approve, up from the 46% New York Jewish vote Trump received in the November 2024 presidential election. What’s going on? Yes, socialism is increasingly popular with some Democrats who agree with Mamdani’s zany proposals such as freezing New York City rents and the public ownership of grocery stores. But, the Democrats have an antisemitism problem.
  4812.  
  4813. Democratic House members like Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar make incendiary comments about Jews and Israel with little or no pushback from Democratic leaders. New York’s Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez belongs to the pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel Democratic Socialists of America, with a platform that supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction movement against Israel.
  4814.  
  4815. AOC and Sen. Bernie Sanders, a longtime DSA member who recently held a New York town hall with Mamdani, berate Democratic leaders like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for refusing to officially endorse Mamdani -- so far, that is.
  4816.  
  4817. Sanders said, “I find it hard to understand how the major Democratic leaders in New York State are not supporting the Democratic candidate. ... One might think that if a candidate starting at 2% in the polls, gets 50,000 volunteers, creates enormous excitement, gets young people involved in the political process, gets non-traditional voters to vote, Democratic leaders will be jumping up and down, ‘This is our guy!’”
  4818.  
  4819. But Schumer, as far back as his 2014 speech before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, said: “Those who call for boycotts of Israel without calling for boycotts of other neighboring nations whose human rights records are in fact reprehensible are practicing, whether they know it or not, whether they admit it or not, a modern form of what we call anti-Semitism.” Can Schumer, with any shred of credibility, endorse the rabidly pro-BDS Mamdani?
  4820.  
  4821. During the campaign, Mamdani refused to denounce the offensive antisemitic slogan “globalize the intifada.” But, days ago, Mamdani did an interview with MSNBC host the Rev. Al Sharpton, never mind Sharpton’s own history of antisemitism. In a reversal, Mamdani told Sharpton he would now “discourage” the term “globalize the intifada.”
  4822.  
  4823. A few clarifying follow-up questions would have been helpful:
  4824.  
  4825. What about the slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”? Would Mamdani also “discourage” that expression?
  4826. What about Mamdani’s long held support for Boycott, Divestment and Sanction against Israel, a movement Schumer calls “antisemitic”? Does Mamdani still consider BDS “ ... a legitimate movement when you are seeking to find compliance with international law ...”?
  4827. In the interview, Mamdani characterized Israel as engaging in the occupation of “Palestinian land.” But the United States State Department does not recognize “Palestine” as an independent state. Does Mamdani?
  4828. Does Mamdani still accuse Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza?
  4829. Does Mamdani still call Israel an “apartheid” state?
  4830. Does Mamdani believe Israel has a right to exist -- as a Jewish state?
  4831. Does Mamdani consider Hamas, an organization calling for the destruction of Israel, a “Foreign Terrorist Organization,” as has the U.S. State Department since 1997?
  4832. Has Mamdani ever called on Hamas release all the Oct. 7 hostages?
  4833. Finally, AOC, Bernie Sanders and Zohran Mamdani walk into a bar and shout, “Hey, drinks are on you!” That’s OK. A lot of New Yorkers are not laughing either.
  4834.  
  4835. Larry Elder is a bestselling author and nationally syndicated radio talk-show host. To find out more about Larry Elder, or become an “Elderado,” visit www.LarryElder.com. Follow Larry on X @larryelder. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2025 CREATORS.COM</description>
  4836.  <pubDate>September 15th, 2025 5:28 PM</pubDate>
  4837.    <dc:creator>Larry Elder</dc:creator>
  4838.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291979</guid>
  4839.    </item>
  4840. <item>
  4841.  <title>Washington Post FIRES Far-Left Columnist for VILE Tweets About Charlie Kirk</title>
  4842.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/curtis-houck/2025/09/15/washington-post-fires-far-left-columnist-vile-tweets-about-charlie</link>
  4843.  <description>Writing Monday morning at her Substack, far-left race hustler Karen Attiah revealed she had been fired from The Washington Post as Global Opinions Editor for a series of ghoulish posts on the far-left hellscape BlueSky in which she downplayed Wednesday’s assassination of Charlie Kirk as part of America’s violent past and falsely claimed he denigrated black women as criminals.
  4844.  
  4845. “Last week, the Washington Post fired me. The reason? Speaking out against political violence, racial double standards, and America’s apathy toward guns,” she declared above a photo of herself in front of The Post headquarters dressed like the Statue of Liberty with the caption “Democracy Dies in Darkness, but some of us will still carry on the light.”
  4846.  
  4847. The post in question? Here it was:
  4848.  
  4849.  
  4850.  
  4851. As our friend Greg Price and others have pointed out, that’s not what he actually said. Think of Kirk’s quote as more of a mocking tone toward liberal African-American women who openly declare they are proud byproducts of DEI:
  4852.  
  4853.  
  4854.  
  4855.  
  4856.  
  4857.  
  4858.  
  4859.  
  4860.  
  4861. Her Substack was coated with the kind of arrogance that defines the national press, bragging she’s “believed in using the pen to remember the forgotten, question power, shine light in darkness, and defend democracy” with her job “not just about writing the world as it is, but as it should be” and fostering “courageous, diverse voices” that led to a slew of awards.
  4862.  
  4863. Find someone who loves you as much as Attiah loves herself: “As a columnist, I used my voice to defend freedom and democracy, challenge power and reflect on culture and politics with honesty and conviction. Now, I am the one being silenced - for doing my job.”
  4864.  
  4865. But sure enough, she showed her cards by posting the post above as well as other vile takes she insisted were “express[ing] sadness and fear for America.”
  4866.  
  4867. In one, she said America “accepts white children being massacred by gun violence” and “not just accepts, but worships violence.”
  4868.  
  4869. In another, she wrote: “Political violence has no place in this country…But we will also do nothing to curb the availability of the guns used to carry out said violence…America is sick and there is no cure in sight.”
  4870.  
  4871. Attiah further showed her black supremacist character: “Because America, especially white America is not going to do what it needs to do to get rid of guns in their country. It will be thoughts and prayers, ‘violence has no place’ out of a performance of goodness, not out of the resolve to convince their communities to disarm.”
  4872.  
  4873. As for her false claim about Kirk, she fawned over herself as having done “my journalistic duty” while smearing Kirk himself:
  4874.  
  4875.  
  4876. My journalistic and moral values for balance compelled me to condemn violence and murder without engaging in excessive, false mourning for a man who routinely attacked Black women as a group, put academics in danger by putting them on watch lists, claimed falsely that Black people were better off in the era of Jim Crow, said that the Civil Rights Act was a mistake, and favorably reviewed a book that called liberals “Unhumans”. In a since-deleted post, a user accused me of supporting violence and fascism. I made clear that not performing over-the-top grief for white men who espouse violence was not the same as endorsing violence against them.
  4877.  
  4878.  
  4879. She whined The Post said her “measured Bluesky posts” were “‘unacceptable’, ‘gross misconduct,’ and of endangering the physical safety of colleagues — charges without evidence, which I reject completely as false.”
  4880.  
  4881. “They rushed to fire me without even a conversation—claiming disparagement on race. This was not only a hasty overreach, but a violation of the very standards of journalistic fairness and rigor the Post claims to uphold,” she huffed.
  4882.  
  4883. She later concluded with another rallying cry about her supposed greatness: “I have been canceled by Columbia. I have now been canceled by the Washington Post. Institutions may cancel me, but my pen and my teaching will not be silenced. If anything, my voice will be sharper now. Forward ever, backward never. As always, we move!”
  4884.  
  4885. Unsurprisingly, the NewsBusters archives reveal a fun set of entries. In 2022 alone, she said MSNBC letting Tiffany Cross go was proof black people are “still disposable” and separately that Queen Elizabeth II was an ugly symbol of “white Christian supremacy.”
  4886.  
  4887. Those examples don’t even include Attiah’s vehement hatred for Israel and support for Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen.
  4888.  
  4889. Attiah was also clearly on the way out. Along with seemingly being one of the only remaining big-name Post employees who haven’t decamped to The Atlantic (or The New York Times), she expressed disgust last month with The Post for allowing U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro publish an op-ed.</description>
  4890.  <pubDate>September 15th, 2025 5:08 PM</pubDate>
  4891.    <dc:creator>Curtis Houck</dc:creator>
  4892.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291976</guid>
  4893.    </item>
  4894. <item>
  4895.  <title>JD Vance: ‘No Unity with People Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk's Assassination’</title>
  4896.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/cnsnews/craig-bannister/2025/09/15/jd-vance-no-unity-people-who-celebrate-charlie-kirks-0</link>
  4897.  <description>While he dearly wants unity in America, there cannot be unity with people who condone – even celebrate – political violence, such as the assassination of conservative advocate Charlie Kirk, Vice President JD Vance declared Monday.
  4898.  
  4899. Hosting an episode of “The Charlie Kirk Show” in wake of Kirk’s assassination, Vice President Vance said that there can be no unity with those who are violently opposed to unity:
  4900.  
  4901.  
  4902. “I am desperate for our country to be united in condemnation of the actions and the ideas that killed my friend. I want it so badly.
  4903.  
  4904. “But, I will tell you a difficult truth: we can only have it with people who acknowledge that political violence is unacceptable and when we work to dismantle the institutions that promote violence and terrorism in our own country.”
  4905.  
  4906.  
  4907. Vance said that no form of political violence should be tolerated:
  4908.  
  4909.  
  4910. "There is no unity with people who scream at children over their parents' politics.
  4911.  
  4912. “There is no unity with someone who lies about what Charlie Kirk said in order to excuse his murder.
  4913.  
  4914. “There is no unity with someone who harasses an innocent family the day after the father of that family lost a dear friend.
  4915.  
  4916. “There is no unity with the people who celebrate Charlie Kirk's assassination.”
  4917.  
  4918.  
  4919.  
  4920.  
  4921.  
  4922. JD Vance: "There's no unity with the people who celebrate Charlie Kirk's assassination."pic.twitter.com/XOzO8y5kkW
  4923. — Media Research Center (@theMRC) September 15, 2025
  4924.  
  4925.  
  4926. The vice president went on to condemn both an article in “The Nation” falsely quoting and smearing Charlie Kirk – and the liberal billionaires who fund the dishonest, leftist publication:
  4927.  
  4928. “And there is no unity with the people who fund these articles, who pay the salaries of these terrorist sympathizes - who argue Charlie Kirk, a loving husband and father, deserved a shot to the neck because he spoke words with which they disagree.
  4929.  
  4930. “Did you know that the George Soros Open Society Foundation and the Ford Foundation, the groups who funded that disgusting article justifying Charlie’s death, do you know they benefit from generous tax treatment? They are literally subsidized by you and me, the American taxpayer.
  4931.  
  4932. “And how do they reward it? By setting fire to the house built by the American Family over 250 years.”
  4933.  
  4934.  
  4935. VP Vance slams Soros-funded The Nation for publishing a smear piece suggesting that Charlie Kirk was racist:
  4936. "This hack of a writer shows that she lied about a dead man, yet she wrote it... and of course, liberal billionaires rewarded that attack." pic.twitter.com/YkvjQyq1T7
  4937. — Media Research Center (@theMRC) September 15, 2025
  4938.  </description>
  4939.  <pubDate>September 15th, 2025 4:59 PM</pubDate>
  4940.    <dc:creator>Craig Bannister</dc:creator>
  4941.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291975</guid>
  4942.    </item>
  4943. <item>
  4944.  <title>Worst Media Take of the Week Winner [Editors’ Note]</title>
  4945.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/geoffrey-dickens/2025/09/15/worst-media-take-week-winner-editors-note</link>
  4946.  <description>This space is usually reserved for announcing the results of our Worst Media Take of the Week poll. We didn’t run a vote last week out of respect for Charlie Kirk and his family. 
  4947.  
  4948. Sadly, there’s been a lot of awful reactions to the horrific news. 
  4949.  
  4950. On MSNBC, host Katy Tur and contributor Matthew Dowd had horrible takes — literally just moments after the shooting. Dowd apologized but was deservedly fired. Tur remains employed at MSNBC. 
  4951.  
  4952.  
  4953.  
  4954.  
  4955.  
  4956.  
  4957.  
  4958.  
  4959.  
  4960. You can read my colleague Nick Fondacaro’s write-up on it here. The following is the worst portion of their conversation: 
  4961.  
  4962.  
  4963. Host Katy Tur: Talk to me about the environment. You know, we are — there are the reports of exactly what happened — are not confirmed yet, but talk to me about the environment in which a shooting like this happens.Contributor Matthew Dowd: “Yeah. And again, I emphasize what you just emphasized. We don’t know the full details of this. We don’t know if this was a supporter shooting their gun off in celebration or — so, we have no idea about this. But following up on what was just said, he’s [Charlie Kirk] been one of the most divisive, especially divisive younger figures in this who has constantly sort of pushing this sort of hate speech or sort of aimed at certain groups and I always go back to hateful thoughts, lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions. And I think that’s the environment we’re in that, that people just — you can’t stop with these sort of awful thoughts you have and then saying these awful words and not expect awful actions to take place and that’s the unfortunate environment we’re in.”— MSNBC’s Katy Tur Reports, September 10. 
  4964.  
  4965.  
  4966. We will return to our regular voting this week. 
  4967.  
  4968. Thank you for your understanding. 
  4969.  
  4970.  
  4971.  
  4972. Funded by James P. Jimirro</description>
  4973.  <pubDate>September 15th, 2025 4:50 PM</pubDate>
  4974.    <dc:creator>Geoffrey Dickens</dc:creator>
  4975.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291973</guid>
  4976.    </item>
  4977. <item>
  4978.  <title>Biden DOJ Official Condemns Free Speech Moves After Kirk Murder</title>
  4979.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/free-speech/tom-olohan/2025/09/15/biden-doj-official-condemns-free-speech-moves-after-kirk</link>
  4980.  <description> A former official from the Biden administration is calling for the silencing of online free speech at a time when the country is mourning the senseless murder of Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, who was killed while exercising his First Amendment right to free speech.
  4981.  
  4982. Speaking on Wednesday on CBS Mornings, Laura Edelson, a former chief technologist at the Biden-led Department of Justice, used the reaction to Kirk’s murder to demand more censorship from social media companies. Edelson blamed pro-free speech moves at Meta and X for the quick spread of “bad information” online, claiming they were “absolutely” responsible. 
  4983.  
  4984. [The story continues on MRCFreeSpeechAmerica.org]
  4985.  
  4986.  </description>
  4987.  <pubDate>September 15th, 2025 4:43 PM</pubDate>
  4988.    <dc:creator>Tom Olohan</dc:creator>
  4989.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291977</guid>
  4990.    </item>
  4991. <item>
  4992.  <title>The View Wants You to Stop Blaming the Left for Charlie Kirk’s Liberal Assassin</title>
  4993.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/nicholas-fondacaro/2025/09/15/view-wants-you-stop-blaming-left-charlie-kirks-liberal</link>
  4994.  <description> Since Friday’s edition of The View was pre-recorded, Monday’s episode was the first time the liberal ladies could expand on their initial reactions to the politically motivated assassination of Charlie Kirk. Despite the shooter’s naked liberal politics and his transgender lover, The View was demanding that people stop trying to blame the left for this latest act of political violence.
  4995.  
  4996. After painting President Trump as taking an unreasonable position of warning against liberal violence (despite the two assassination attempts against him), pretend independent Sara Haines clownishly suggested that politics was not a factor in the politically motivated assassination of Kirk; arguing that loneness was (Click “expand”):
  4997.  
  4998.  
  4999. I would hope the governor of Utah. Because this pointing of fingers and pendulum swinging is history just doing it. If you don't get off the ride and stop doing the pointing when it comes to politics, because I don't think our political division right now is what is driving a lot of these violence act.
  5000.  
  5001. I think what the problem is, there are studies showing the decline of third spaces, which is, you know, you have your family and then you have work or school, and then communities used to be based on churches, the local sports store, hobby place. We used to interact with each other. It's not a coincidence that the arch goes up at the same time as social media and smart phones. We have stopped connecting with people.
  5002.  
  5003. And the – Vivek Murthy, the former Surgeon General had – he issued a warning to the world of pandemic loneliness. And he said, “When we are less invested in one another, we’re more susceptible to polarization and less able to pull together to face the challenges that we cannot solve alone.” Relationships, service and purpose. That is the root of these deep problems we're at.
  5004.  
  5005.  
  5006.  
  5007.  
  5008.  
  5009.  
  5010.  
  5011.  
  5012.  
  5013.  
  5014.  
  5015.  
  5016. Faux conservative co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin, while citing the congressional baseball shooting, tried to bothsides the left’s penchant for violence. “And when we swear it is just one side, we're not being part of the solution,” she whined. “It is bigger than politic and if we don't acknowledge that, we are contributing to the problem.”
  5017.  
  5018. But the fact were the facts. The left embraced violence as a means to get to their political ends. They cheered on and supported the Black Lives Matter riots, they were unfazed by the two attempts on Trump, they touted people assailing the homes of Conservative justices, and recent polling showed that a majority of left-wingers (55 percent) literally supported political violence.
  5019.  
  5020.  
  5021.  
  5022.  
  5023.  
  5024.  
  5025.  
  5026.  
  5027.  
  5028.  
  5029.  
  5030. Even The View promoted political violence. Here’s eight times in 2024 and nine times in 2023 they using inciting rhetoric (including Jane Fonda calling for the “murder” of pro-lifers in 2023).
  5031.  
  5032. Monday being the first time Navarro could share her take with the rest of the cast on-air, she couldn’t help but decry those supporting Kirk and smear Kirk’s political positions:
  5033.  
  5034.  
  5035. Look, you know, a lot of people are out there trying to portray Charlie Kirk as if he was spreading pixy dust around the country. A lot of people, to use the word of Governor Cox, found what he said inflammatory or worse. But that's not the point. The point is we are in America. He has the right to say it. I have the right to disagree and find it abhorrent. But our weapon in this country is debate. Our weapon is freedom of speech. Our weapon is organizing. Our weapon is our vote. Our weapon should never, ever be a gun.
  5036.  
  5037.  
  5038.  
  5039.  
  5040.  
  5041.  
  5042.  
  5043.  
  5044.  
  5045.  
  5046.  
  5047.  
  5048. Chronically grievanced Sunny Hostin took up precious time kvetching over Cox saying he hoped the shooter wasn’t from Utah or the United States, calling it “not helpful” (Click “expand”):
  5049.  
  5050.  
  5051. And I think that the Utah governor -- I appreciate that he's trying to turn the temperature down. I think that's really important. But there was something that he said at the same presser on Friday that struck me as not helpful in that he said, “Bad stuff happens and for 33 hours I was praying if this had to happen here that it wouldn't be one of us. That somebody drove from another state, somebody came from another country. But it did happen here and it was one of us.”
  5052.  
  5053. And I think that while definitely not intentional, I think his comments re-enforce the narrative that violence in this country is not home grown. We remember that the FBI agent, Christopher Wray, said the number one area of attack and terrorism is domestic terrorism. So, American politics has long been haunted by political violence, home grown.
  5054.  
  5055.  
  5056. Moderator Whoopi Goldberg wrapped this segment with a warning for politically motivated assassins, saying that their efforts would be for not since their actions couldn’t end the ideas of their target from propagating:
  5057.  
  5058.  
  5059. And what assassins should always remember is just because you take somebody out doesn't mean the message is going to stop. And it's important to keep that in mind because when you look at our loss of Martin Luther King or – name anyone who has been assassinated in this country – we continue to fight on. And that's what America offers… So, taking somebody out is not the way to do it. You want to fight about something, then go to the ballot box. Go elect different people. Killing people doesn't do anything except make it a horrible world for their children.
  5060.  
  5061.  
  5062.  
  5063.  
  5064.  
  5065.  
  5066.  
  5067.  
  5068.  
  5069.  
  5070.  
  5071.  
  5072. The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
  5073.  
  5074.  
  5075. ABC’s The View
  5076. September 15, 2025
  5077. 11:03:36 a.m. Eastern
  5078.  
  5079. (…)
  5080.  
  5081. WHOOPI GOLDBERG: So, whose message is going to take -- make more of a dent here?
  5082.  
  5083. SARA HAINES: I would hope the governor of Utah. Because this pointing of fingers and pendulum swinging is history just doing it. If you don't get off the ride and stop doing the pointing when it comes to politics, because I don't think our political division right now is what is driving a lot of these violence act.
  5084.  
  5085. I think what the problem is, there are studies showing the decline of third spaces, which is, you know, you have your family and then you have work or school, and then communities used to be based on churches, the local sports store, hobby place. We used to interact with each other. It's not a coincidence that the arch goes up at the same time as social media and smart phones. We have stopped connecting with people.
  5086.  
  5087. And the – Vivek Murthy, the former Surgeon General had – he issued a warning to the world of pandemic loneliness. And he said, “When we are less invested in one another, we’re more susceptible to polarization and less able to pull together to face the challenges that we cannot solve alone.” Relationships, service and purpose. That is the root of these deep problems we're at.
  5088.  
  5089. (…)
  5090.  
  5091. 11:05:26 a.m. Eastern
  5092.  
  5093. ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: In this rush that people have to point and say, ‘Well, it's the left or it's the right and it's only one side.’ It's not true, guys. I remember -- no one at this table said that. I remember where I was during this Steve Scalise shooting. I was working on Capitol Hill, several of my bosses were there. We didn't know if they were okay for hours. And then I remember where I was when Paul Pelosi was attacked and then there were two attempts on Donald Trump's life. There has been political violence –  Josh Shapiro was attacked and the Minnesota law makers, against Democrats and against Republicans.
  5094.  
  5095. And when we swear it is just one side, we're not being part of the solution. I would rather never have a place in public life again and call the truth of what I see, which is that the rhetoric, the radicalization, the lonely places and deep, dangerous places people go on social media is driving people into the most dangerous corners and dangerous actions.
  5096.  
  5097. It is bigger than politic and if we don't acknowledge that, we are contributing to the problem.
  5098.  
  5099. (…)
  5100.  
  5101. 11:07:58 a.m. Eastern
  5102.  
  5103. ANA NAVARRO: Look, you know, a lot of people are out there trying to portray Charlie Kirk as if he was spreading pixy dust around the country. A lot of people, to use the word of Governor Cox, found what he said inflammatory or worse. But that's not the point. The point is we are in America. He has the right to say it. I have the right to disagree and find it abhorrent. But our weapon in this country is debate. Our weapon is freedom of speech. Our weapon is organizing. Our weapon is our vote. Our weapon should never, ever be a gun.
  5104.  
  5105. SUNNY HOSTIN: I think that all of what you just said is absolutely correct. It's enshrined in our constitution. We have the right to have debate. We have the right to speak freely about our opinions and our views and no one should be assassinated because of that.
  5106.  
  5107. And I think that the Utah governor -- I appreciate that he's trying to turn the temperature down. I think that's really important. But there was something that he said at the same presser on Friday that struck me as not helpful in that he said, “Bad stuff happens and for 33 hours I was praying if this had to happen here that it wouldn't be one of us. That somebody drove from another state, somebody came from another country. But it did happen here and it was one of us.”
  5108.  
  5109. And I think that while definitely not intentional, I think his comments re-enforce the narrative that violence in this country is not home grown.
  5110.  
  5111. We remember that the FBI agent, Christopher Wray, said the number one area of attack and terrorism is domestic terrorism. So, American politics has long been haunted by political violence, home grown. And I think -- I hope if anything can come out of this horrible tragedy, because it is a tragedy, that a young man was assassinated and leaves two children behind, that we take a look at ourselves and our actions and try to change our country from within. Because we need to be very reflective at this point in time.
  5112.  
  5113. (…)
  5114.  
  5115. 11:10:27 a.m. Eastern
  5116.  
  5117. GOLDBERG: You know, we -- We've seen it before. We've seen it before. It's awful. It's awful when it's a Kennedy or when it's a Lincoln or a Garfield. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. And what assassins should always remember is just because you take somebody out doesn't mean the message is going to stop.
  5118.  
  5119. And it's important to keep that in mind because when you look at our loss of Martin Luther King or – name anyone who has been assassinated in this country – we continue to fight on. And that's what America offers. It says listen, ‘You have the right to say and feel however you want.’ That is a birthright. You're born with that right. So, taking somebody out is not the way to do it. You want to fight about something, then go to the ballot box. Go elect different people. Killing people doesn't do anything except make it a horrible world for their children.
  5120.  
  5121. We'll be right back.
  5122. </description>
  5123.  <pubDate>September 15th, 2025 4:00 PM</pubDate>
  5124.    <dc:creator>Nicholas Fondacaro</dc:creator>
  5125.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291972</guid>
  5126.    </item>
  5127. <item>
  5128.  <title>CNN: ‘Sedition Hunters’ Were Brave ‘Internet Sleuths,’ But Kirk Supporters Are Doxxers</title>
  5129.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/clay-waters/2025/09/15/cnn-sedition-hunters-were-brave-internet-sleuths-kirk-supporters</link>
  5130.  <description> CNN is guilty of gross double standards in covering internet researchers on a mission to expose their political enemies. On Saturday, CNN updated a previous post, “People are getting fired for allegedly celebrating Charlie Kirk’s murder. It looks like a coordinated effort,” by CNN Business “breaking news writer” Ramishah Maruf.
  5131.  
  5132. The headline conveyed the hostility of Maruf’s story, adding much emphasis on conservatives “doxxing” (revealing personal information on private citizens for the purpose of targeted harassment) the angry left.
  5133.  
  5134.  
  5135. Dozens of social media posts and messages about the murder of Charlie Kirk, including some that celebrated his death, are being spotlighted by conservative activists, Republican elected officials and a doxxing website as part of an online campaign to punish the posters behind the messages.
  5136.  
  5137. Prominent far-right influencer Laura Loomer, a US senator, and a site called “Expose Charlie’s Murderers” have all drawn attention to people who have posted messages about Kirk’s Wednesday assassination.
  5138.  
  5139. The campaigns show how social media posts or personal messages — even by accounts with few followers or from people who are not public figures — could easily be surfaced and publicized, and people’s personal information can be spread across the internet at a time when doxxing is easier than ever.
  5140.  
  5141. The Charlie’s Murderers site, whose domain was registered anonymously and which says it is not a doxxing site, claims it has “received nearly 30,000 submissions,” according to a message on the site’s front page on midday Saturday. Currently, there are a few dozen submissions published on the site. “This website will soon be converted into a searchable database of all 30,000 submissions, filterable by general location and job industry. This is a permanent and continuously-updating archive of Radical activists calling for violence.”
  5142.  
  5143.  
  5144. Maruf had a weird quibble.
  5145.  
  5146.  
  5147. Most people whose messages have been posted on the site do not seem to refer to themselves as activists, nor did it seem many were calling for violence. Administrators for the site did not respond to a request for comment….
  5148.  
  5149.  
  5150. Maruf cited a bad example of supposed victims "now receiving a barrage of harassment and are worried about becoming the victims of violence." 
  5151.  
  5152.  
  5153. Rebekah Jones, a former Florida coronavirus data scientist who in 2022 claimed the state of Florida pressured her to manipulate pandemic data, said she contacted the police twice about death threats and about the “hit list,” her name for the anonymous site. Jones’ claims about Florida’s pandemic data were found to be “unsubstantiated,” according to a state inspector general report, a finding she disagrees with.
  5154.  
  5155.  
  5156. Jones is just a little bit more controversial than that whitewashed paragraph implies. But trust the Biden administration official-turned-professor: 
  5157.  
  5158.  
  5159. “It is absolutely fair to call it a coordinated harassment campaign,” said Laura Edelson, assistant professor at Northeastern University and director of the Cybersecurity for Democracy Project. “That’s absolutely why it exists, to coordinate and target the harassment toward the selected individuals.”
  5160.  
  5161.  
  5162. Compare that to CNN’s Sara Murray’s June 2021 celebration of “Sedition Hunters,” under the cozy headline, “Meet the internet sleuths tracking down the January 6 insurrectionists.” No concerns about doxxing here. Murray defended this brave band of online leftist sleuths (don’t dare call them doxxers!).
  5163.  
  5164.  
  5165. The Deep State Dogs are just one group in a sprawling social media community dedicated to rooting out insurrectionists after January 6. Experts and members of the community describe it as diverse and diffuse but united by a common goal: Accountability. But their efforts are also a rebuttal to Republicans looking to whitewash the horrifying events of that January day.
  5166.  
  5167.  
  5168. Murray reveled in the tactics of the “online sedition hunters….poring over video, images and social media footprints – crowdsourcing information to try to determine the identities of the rioters.”
  5169.  
  5170. Surely this next part would have gotten higher play if it had been done by “Exposing Charlie’s Murderers." Murray avoided the D-word, instead using the euphemism “misfires.”
  5171.  
  5172.  
  5173. The community has evolved since its early days, members said, when the zeal from amateur sleuths led to some misfires.
  5174.  
  5175. “There was a tremendous amount of desire and eagerness, on the part of people who’d never done this kind of digging before to get involved and to help out,” Scott-Railton said. “And that resulted in some overenthusiastic people making some misidentifications.”
  5176. </description>
  5177.  <pubDate>September 15th, 2025 2:57 PM</pubDate>
  5178.    <dc:creator>Clay Waters</dc:creator>
  5179.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291964</guid>
  5180.    </item>
  5181. <item>
  5182.  <title>MRC’s David Bozell to Larry O’Connor: Why Won’t Networks ‘Put a Charlie Kirk on the Payroll?’</title>
  5183.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/brian-mcnicoll/2025/09/15/mrcs-david-bozell-larry-oconnor-why-wont-networks-put-charlie</link>
  5184.  <description> MRC President David Bozell visited WMAL’s O’Connor &amp; Company on Monday morning to discuss what the Sunday talk shows (and others) had to say about the assassination of Charlie Kirk last week.
  5185.  
  5186. O’Connor pointed out a major blind spot in the networks: a lack of someone who aligned with Charlie Kirk from an ideological perspective:
  5187.  
  5188.  
  5189. I’m talking about why don’t they put a Charlie Kirk on the payroll? Why don’t they hire a David Bozell to be one of their analysts? Who don’t they hire a Julie Gunlock or a Patrice Onwuka to be a paid analyst?
  5190.  
  5191.  
  5192. O’Connor had teed up the conversation by noting that Republicans “are the dominant political voice in America right now.” They control not just both houses of Congress and the White House but governors’ offices, state legislatures and even local offices. 
  5193.  
  5194. Bozell responded by name-checking the regular suspects on these programs – none of whom even understand, let alone can explain, the conservative MAGA point of view. Bozell pointed out that when they do try to “diversify” their panel, they bring on people such as Stephen Hayes and Jonah Goldbert who do not share the MAGA point of view and have no interest in explaining it to balance out the leftist attacks. 
  5195.  
  5196. Bozell also pointed out that the New York Times was wrong to criticize President Trump for saying the shooter was a radical leftist and that the criminal indictment would include information that would address these questions. The president, he said, is not exactly speculating about the case prosecutors are building.
  5197.  
  5198. “I think he’s going to be proven correct that this guy has been radicalized, either by his school, by online gaming platforms or by his roommate,” Bozell said. “...They’re trying to say ‘Oh well, never mind that they were in a homosexual relationship or that their partner may or may not have been transitioning. He’s cooperative. He’s a nice guy. I mean, he’s 100% cooperative, so it must mean that he had nothing to do with it. The indictment will explain a lot of this.”
  5199.  
  5200. This refusal to treat the other half of the country as a legitimate political voice created its own set of problems for the left. Some who gleefully cheered the death of Kirk or criticized his work found themselves out of a job as their embarrassed companies scrambled to limit the damage. Perhaps never having seen any respect given views that opposed theirs, they assumed they could be as crass about Charlie Kirk as they wanted without penalty. 
  5201.  
  5202. One such journalist was Matthew Dowd, who was fired by MSNBC after appearing to suggest Kirk’s words justified his death. 
  5203.  
  5204. “I was asked throughout that day should Matthew Dowd be fired,” Bozell said in the interview. “And once he apologized, Ithought I would channel my inner Charlie. Charlie would have accepted the apology and forgiven him and moved on. I almost wish MSNBC had done the same, given Matthew Dowd an opportunity to remedy his comments on the air, on camera.” 
  5205.  
  5206. Dowd’s apology notwithstanding, Bozell said not to expect much improvement from the media in how it handles these stories. He said the TV hosts tried not to inflame too much, aside from Martha Raddatz trying to get Gov. Cox to denounce Donald Trump yesterday. But that’s on camera.
  5207.  
  5208. Off camera but online, it’s a different picture, he said. “A Washington Post reporter basically saying the same thing that Matthew Dowd suggested, that Charlie had it coming,” Bozell said. “These guys are going off online but off camera to speak truth to power, as it were. They despised Charlie Kirk. They despised that he was successful. They despised that he had a following.”
  5209.  
  5210. Bozell also explained that Kirk had inspired his own work. “I think I can speak confidently for nearly everyone in the conservative movement,” Bozell said. “I wish I had done everything Charlie did as well as Charlie did it. I wish I had started a conservative operation as well as Charlie did. I wish I could be as prolific a fundraiser as Charlie was. I wish I could debate as well as Charlie did. He had a talent stack, a skill stack that was one of a kind, and he will be sorely missed.”
  5211.  
  5212.  
  5213. </description>
  5214.  <pubDate>September 15th, 2025 1:59 PM</pubDate>
  5215.    <dc:creator>Brian McNicoll</dc:creator>
  5216.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291970</guid>
  5217.    </item>
  5218. <item>
  5219.  <title>Bloomberg Chief Economist Admits Economy Was in ‘Recession’ BEFORE THE ELECTION!</title>
  5220.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/business/joseph-vazquez/2025/09/15/bloomberg-chief-economist-admits-economy-was-recession</link>
  5221.  <description>As the world came to grips with the grotesque murder of TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk, a shocking admission came from Bloomberg L.P. on the true state of President Joe Biden’s economy before Election Day 2024 that got swept right under the rug.
  5222.  
  5223. Bloomberg Chief U.S. Economist Anna Wong conceded in her analysis that the U.S. economy was likely in a “recession” since last year.
  5224.  
  5225. Her explosive admission follows the Bureau of Labor Statistics’s massive downward revision on the job market in the 12-month period ending March 2025 that saw nearly a million jobs eliminated (-911,000). This marked the second, consecutive, major downward benchmark jobs revision during the Biden era in a row. 
  5226.  
  5227. “When all the revisions for 2024 and 2025 are complete – we won’t get the final revisions until early in 2026 and 2027 – we expect they’ll show the business cycle peaked around April 2024,” Wong wrote in a note for Bloomberg Terminal subscribers. “It’s possible the economy is either still in recession or is in the early phase of a new business cycle.” As the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis described in 2023, “The first month of a recession is the month following a peak” in the business cycle.
  5228.  
  5229. That’s roughly six or seven months before the election, which was plastered by nonstop media propaganda about how stellar Biden’s jobs market supposedly was. The New York Times, for example, celebrated in June 2024 that “Biden Has a Historically Strong Job Market.” Forbes also celebrated the supposed “Record-Breaking Accomplishments On Jobs” under Biden in a June 7, 2024 item. In October, just weeks before Election Day, The Washington Post fawned over the supposed “robust labor market for American workers.” 
  5230.  
  5231. Even-New York Times economics columnist Paul Krugman, for example, had written in August 2024 that Biden supposedly created “the best job market in a generation.”  
  5232.  
  5233. But as online trading platform Moomoo summarized, the recession indicators Wong looked at wasn't "limited" to nonfarm data alone. In fact, "the profile of the revised employment data closely aligns with the timing of the recession alert issued by the Sam Rule, which was triggered in July 2024. This closely coincides with the trend of revised wage growth and the anticipated employment contraction in August 2024."
  5234.  
  5235. If that wasn't bad enough, the revised report shows that job creation fell below the breakeven point. Moomoo noted that around 200,000 jobs need to be generated by the economy per month to stabilize the unemployment rate. "However, revised data indicates that the job creation rate last year was significantly below this level."
  5236.  
  5237. Embarrassing for the media? No, these shameless media types are beyond that. As Heritage Foundation economist Peter St. Onge noted September 11 when analyzing the substance of Wong’s conclusion, all the slobbering over Biden’s jobs market was a deliberate attempt to manipulate voters before the election:
  5238.  
  5239.  
  5240. Fake numbers deceive voters — they can make or break elections. They protect politicians, especially if they’re Democrats. And they blind the Fed who trades off jobs and inflation when manipulating the economy.
  5241.  
  5242.  
  5243.  
  5244. The BLS just revised away the Joe Biden Miracle, admitting 911,000 jobs were fake.
  5245. Bloomberg now admits we may have been in recession since March of last year -- long before the election. pic.twitter.com/RauAeOHFAl
  5246. — Peter St Onge, Ph.D. (@profstonge) September 11, 2025
  5247. Even the Bidenonomics simps at CNN were forced to admit September 10 that the huge job revisions were “a stain on Joe Biden’s legacy.” 
  5248.  
  5249. But in actuality, it’s an even larger stain on every media talking head who desperately tried to hoodwink the American people who were suffering the tumult of Biden’s outrageous inflationary agenda. 
  5250.  
  5251. We would say the media should be ashamed of themselves, but that's not really their forte. </description>
  5252.  <pubDate>September 15th, 2025 1:24 PM</pubDate>
  5253.    <dc:creator>Joseph Vazquez</dc:creator>
  5254.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291961</guid>
  5255.    </item>
  5256. <item>
  5257.  <title>CBS Turns to Biden Speechwriter, Liberal Historian to Lecture Public Post-Kirk Killing</title>
  5258.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/curtis-houck/2025/09/15/cbs-turns-biden-speechwriter-liberal-historian-lecture-public-post</link>
  5259.  <description> Showing how at least some liberal elites are already in retreat when it comes to reconsidering their own role in the country’s toxic political climate following Charlie Kirk’s assassination, CBS News Sunday Morning led off with correspondent Robert Costa turning to none other than liberal historian and President Biden speechwriter Jon Meacham to warn America’s “in a dangerous place.”
  5260.  
  5261. Why, you ask? As per Meacham’s explanation, some Americans feel called to violence because they believe parts of the country do not view them as equals.
  5262.  
  5263. Costa began with a softball: “What’s the state of the American soul today?”
  5264.  
  5265.  
  5266.  
  5267.  
  5268.  
  5269.  
  5270.  
  5271.  
  5272.  
  5273. Meacham huffed America’s “in a dangerous place” as this will be a moment we would not want “to see replicated” even though “there’s never been a once-upon-a-time in American history.”
  5274.  
  5275. He continued by explaining the rise in political violence as having occurred anytime “there is an existential question — who is an American,” “[w]ho deserves to be included in ‘we the people,’ or ‘all men being created equal’?”
  5276.  
  5277. “When that is in tension, when we don’t have common agreement about that, then, if you look at it historically, violence erupts,” he added.
  5278.  
  5279. For his part, Costa said Kirk “had his critics, who called him an incendiary voice” and thus “the latest convulsion in a divided country.”
  5280.  
  5281. Meacham’s remarks here did not exactly square with his past rhetoric that turned up the temperature, viewing the right as an existential threat: “We do not want to be in a place where because you disagree with someone, you pick up a gun. That is not what the country can be. And if it is, it’s something different. It’s not the America we want.”
  5282.  
  5283. Telling Costa we must “see each other as neighbors,” the former Newsweek editor insisted we must recommit to “the American covenant” of peaceful debate (click “expand”):
  5284.  
  5285.  
  5286.  
  5287.  
  5288.  
  5289.  
  5290.  
  5291.  
  5292.  
  5293.  
  5294. MEACHAM: When we lose the capacity to engage in argument and dissent and debate peaceably, we are breaking faith with the American covenant. And the American covenant is that we live in contention with each other, but we’re not at each other’s throats.
  5295.  
  5296. COSTA: What can political leaders do to keep that covenant?
  5297.  
  5298. MEACHAM: Make the case. Tell the story. What do you want the country to be? And this is why history matters, I think, more than ever, because there’s not a hell of a lot going on in the present that you want to say, “Yeah, we want more of that,” right? You want to tell the story of Omaha Beach. You want to tell the story of the Pettus Bridge. You want to tell the story of Gettysburg. Because those were moments where imperfect people actually created a more perfect union. It’s not that they were superhuman. Quite the opposite.
  5299.  
  5300. COSTA: They got through it.
  5301.  
  5302. MEACHAM: They got through it barely.
  5303.  
  5304. COSTA: But even if Americans can just barely carry on this weekend, Jon Meacham says we must.
  5305.  
  5306. MEACHAM: If they could do it, then we can, too, if we decide that this country is about a more perfect union, it is about dissent, it is about respecting each other, and it is not about hunting each other down.
  5307.  
  5308.  
  5309. Using his historian credentials, Meacham has done plenty to further this poison and coarsening, painting those on the right as not only wrong, but evil (and thus tempting to crazies).
  5310.  
  5311. Rewinding to January, Meacham invoked the second inauguration of President Trump to on par with Pearl Harbor in its destructive nature.Two days earlier, he ruled Trump’s reelection showed Americans who voted for him were “out of compliance” with the Declaration of Independence (which he also voiced in 2023).
  5312.  
  5313. Those are quite serious!
  5314.  
  5315. But, wait, there was more!
  5316.  
  5317. Meacham stumped for Biden in media appearances by arguing the “patriotic” thing for Americans to do would be to vote for the then-Democrat nominee, Joe Biden.
  5318.  
  5319. In 2022, Meacham tied those who supported President Trump on January 6 to having fallen to the same evils of temptation that befell Adam and Eve. Ahead of the 2022 midterms, Meacham painted Republicans as threats to the country’s survival. On CNN, he said voting Democrat would be like supporting Abraham Lincoln and, over on MSNBC, he called it the most important singular moment since the Civil War.
  5320.  
  5321. Back in 2020, Meacham said American lives are not safe with President Trump in the Oval Office, that Trump’s presidency has been a “reign of terror” America must end, called Trump voters “lizard brain” “white guys,” and suggested he’s dumber than his springer spaniels.
  5322.  
  5323. He’s also shown a disdain toward the Founders (despite having made millions writing books about them). On October 22, 2019, he went full Nikole Hannah-Jones in declaring America was formed to “protect slavery.”
  5324.  
  5325. Meacham hasn’t shied away from incendiary rhetoric that ascribed the worst possible motives. Speaking on HBO in March 2018, Meacham compared Trumpism (and thus its followers) to modern-day Klu Klux Klan members with George Wallace in the lead. Three months later, he would double down on ABC’s The View.
  5326.  
  5327. Skip ahead to January 2019 and he said a Trump address to the nation on illegal immigration was akin to words emanating from a KKK Convention.
  5328.  
  5329. And back in January 2016, Meacham compared Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) to dog feces.
  5330.  
  5331. If Meacham was serious about tone and respect, then he should start with himself.
  5332.  
  5333. To see the relevant CBS transcript from September 14, click here.</description>
  5334.  <pubDate>September 15th, 2025 12:12 PM</pubDate>
  5335.    <dc:creator>Curtis Houck</dc:creator>
  5336.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291966</guid>
  5337.    </item>
  5338. <item>
  5339.  <title>Tyrus: ‘How Many Buildings Burned’ After Charlie Kirk’s Murder? ‘Not One.’</title>
  5340.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/cnsnews/craig-bannister/2025/09/15/tyrus-how-many-buildings-burned-after-charlie-kirks-murder</link>
  5341.  <description>“They didn't get the violent response from ‘the MAGA’” that they wanted, Fox News contributor Tyrus said, commenting on the supporters of conservative Charlie Kirk’s assassination on Wednesday.
  5342.  
  5343. “He took three things that were death sentences with this country. He talked about religion. He talked about gender. And he talked about politics,” Tyrus said on Friday’s “Gutfeld!” when asked to react to Kirk’s murder. Unfortunately, those are three things that can’t be discussed in America, but Kirk still courageously spoke about them, Tyrus said.
  5344.  
  5345. “And Charlie, in his death, I learned that his faith was unbelievable,” Tyrus, an avowed atheist, said, noting that – unlike those on the left who express their outrage with violence and rioting – remained peaceful after Kirk’s assassination:
  5346.  
  5347.  
  5348. “With one side, how many buildings burned last night? Not one.
  5349.  
  5350. “How many people were dragged in the street for looking like they, maybe, were the shooter? Not one.
  5351.  
  5352. “How many police officers were spit on for not doing their job? Not one.”
  5353.  
  5354.  
  5355. “I don't think that they are going to get the result that they wanted, because they didn't get the violent response from ‘the MAGA,’” Tyrus said.
  5356.  
  5357.  
  5358.  
  5359. What’s more, instead of silencing Kirk’s voice, his assassination will greatly amplify it, Tyrus told those who celebrate his murder:
  5360.  
  5361.  
  5362. “But, you just inspired millions of Charlie Kirks. So you couldn't stand him?
  5363.  
  5364. “I hope they finish his tour, I hope people of faith that want to, they continue his tour, they continue his legacy.
  5365.  
  5366. “And they’ll [the radical left] be wishing that they just had the one big voice, because I really think he is going to inspire a generation.”
  5367. </description>
  5368.  <pubDate>September 15th, 2025 12:01 PM</pubDate>
  5369.    <dc:creator>Craig Bannister</dc:creator>
  5370.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291967</guid>
  5371.    </item>
  5372. <item>
  5373.  <title>Biden Admin Smeared Charlie Kirk As A Violent Extremist — Now They Must Be Held Accountable</title>
  5374.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/free-speech/luis-cornelio/2025/09/15/biden-admin-smeared-charlie-kirk-violent-extremist-now</link>
  5375.  <description>The following is a partial reprint of a column originally published by the Daily Caller on Sept. 14.
  5376.  
  5377. When President Donald Trump announced Charlie Kirk’s death, he vowed to find those responsible for political violence, as well as the “organizations that fund it and support it.” He need look no further than his predecessor and those in the Biden administration. Their attacks on legitimate political speech went far beyond a misuse of funds. They were criminal.
  5378.  
  5379. The Media Research Center (MRC) has long warned about the reckless rhetoric coming from federal agencies aimed at destroying conservative leaders and movements, including Kirk and his organization, Turning Point USA.
  5380.  
  5381. Two years ago, the MRC released bombshell documents exposing how the Biden administration exploited tax dollars to smear Christians, conservatives and Republicans via the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)’s Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention Grant Program (TVTP).
  5382.  
  5383. Under a program supposedly aimed at combating “extremism,” the DHS funneled funds to the University of Dayton that promoted a “pyramid of far-right radicalization."
  5384.  
  5385. That pyramid outrageously lumped in Kirk’s organization, Turning Point USA, and other mainstream conservative groups with neo-Nazis and other extremists. The message is unmistakable: the federal government legitimized the idea that mainstream conservative groups paved the way for domestic terrorists.
  5386.  
  5387. Continue reading on the Daily Caller.</description>
  5388.  <pubDate>September 15th, 2025 10:31 AM</pubDate>
  5389.    <dc:creator>Luis Cornelio</dc:creator>
  5390.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291963</guid>
  5391.    </item>
  5392. <item>
  5393.  <title>Morning Joe's Lemire on Charlie Kirk Killer: 'Motives Almost Shouldn't Matter'</title>
  5394.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/mark-finkelstein/2025/09/15/morning-joes-lemire-charlie-kirk-killer-motives-almost</link>
  5395.  <description> In a public forum, a left-wing activist is shot while advocating for the right of men who identify as women to compete in women's sports.
  5396.  
  5397. The suspected shooter has a conservative ideology, and is in a romantic relationship with a woman who is an activist working to prevent men from competing against women.
  5398.  
  5399. Think Morning Joe would argue that the shooter's motives don't really matter, and that we should focus instead on other issues? Rhetorical question.
  5400.  
  5401. But when the tables are turned . . .
  5402.  
  5403. Utah Governor Spencer Cox, someone Morning Joe has praised, has stated that Tyler Robinson has a "leftist ideology," and was in a romantic relationship with a male transitioning to female. And at the moment Robinson allegedly shot him, Charlie Kirk was discussing shootings by trans people.
  5404.  
  5405. So, shouldn't we delve deeply into Robinson's motives, and consider their cultural and political implications?
  5406.  
  5407. Nope, says MSNBC's Jonathan Lemire. On today's Morning Joe, MSNBC's Lemire argued that Tyler Robinson's motives "almost shouldn't matter." Isn't Lemire a "news" reporter? Facts don't matter?  
  5408.  
  5409. Employing the James Carville deflection technique of "look ovah heah, a squirrel!," Lemire argued that rather than considering Robinson's motives, "we should be focusing" on the fact that the country is "awash in guns," and on the harmful influence of social media.
  5410.  
  5411.  
  5412.  
  5413.  
  5414.  
  5415. Lemire also employed some linguistic sleight of hand. After noting that "it's simply not the case" that Democratic politicians are reveling in Kirk's death, he claimed that "people" have been responsible.
  5416.  
  5417. See what he did there? Lemire used the fact that Democrat politicians have not been so self-destructive as to celebrate Kirk's death to claim that "people" on the left in general have not done so.
  5418.  
  5419. That's patently false. In fact, we're "awash" in leftists celebrating Charlie's death in the most ghoulish manner possible. And it began right there at MSNBC, where host Katy Tur teed up Matthew Dowd to suggest that karma caught up with Kirk, and to speculate that he was killed by a supporter "shooting their gun off in celebration." 
  5420.  
  5421. Here's the transcript.
  5422.  
  5423.  
  5424. MSNBC
  5425. Morning Joe
  5426. 9/15/25
  5427. 6:15 am EDT
  5428.  
  5429. JONATHAN LEMIRE: There's been an effort here to sort of cast about from the right, sort of pointing fingers at the left to sort of claim that Democratic politicians are reveling in Charlie Kirk's death. That's simply not been the case. People have been responsible. Even mournful. This is an American tragedy. It's not just a Republican tragedy. It's not a Democratic tragedy. It's an American tragedy. 
  5430.  
  5431. But there is this sort of sense of this could be a pretense for some sort of crackdown. And that would be, just make things worse. It would fan the flames. There's so little we know yet about this shooter and his motives. And again, they almost shouldn't matter because what happened here, it's a culture, a society where we've had this rise in political violence. We are awash in guns. It's clear. 
  5432.  
  5433. One thing we do know about this individual, a lot of time online, that the worries of the dangers of social media become more and more clear each and every day. That's what we should be focusing on.
  5434. </description>
  5435.  <pubDate>September 15th, 2025 10:15 AM</pubDate>
  5436.    <dc:creator>Mark Finkelstein</dc:creator>
  5437.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291962</guid>
  5438.    </item>
  5439. <item>
  5440.  <title>Actor Yells 'F*ck ICE and Free Palestine!' at 77th Emmy Awards</title>
  5441.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/culture/elise-ehrhard/2025/09/15/actor-yells-fck-ice-and-free-palestine-77th-emmy-awards</link>
  5442.  <description>Sunday night's 77th annual Emmy Awards on CBS devolved into strident left-wing politics before the ceremony had even begun.
  5443.  
  5444. Outside on the red carpet, actors including HBO Hacks star Megan Stalter and Oscar-winner Javier Bardem wore Artists4Ceasefire pins and paraphernalia. Their calls for an Israeli ceasefire did not include demands that Hamas return all Israeli hostages. Bardem wore a keffiyah and pushed for sanctions on Israel. He also attacked ICE raids on illegal immigrants. 
  5445.  
  5446. The left-wing ranting continued once the ceremony began. Hannah Einbender, another Hacks actor, cried "Go Birds, f*ck ICE and free Palestine!" upon accepting her award for best supporting actress in a comedy. CBS censored her cursing.
  5447.  
  5448.  
  5449.  
  5450.  
  5451.  
  5452.  
  5453.  
  5454. Television Academy Chairman Chris Abrego criticized the U.S. Congress for voting to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. "In a time when division dominates the headlines, storytelling still has the power to unite us," he said.
  5455.  
  5456. Yet for all his supposed concern over division, he never criticized the hate and divisiveness that Democrats have been pushing for years through their extreme rhetoric. 
  5457.  
  5458. One award winner even implied that left-wing political writers need to fear their freedom to exist in the future. "We share this category, we are honored to share it with all writers of late-night political comedy, while that is still a type of show that's allowed to exist," said Daniel O'Brien, the senior writer for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, after the show received Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series.
  5459.  
  5460. Such hyperbole is insulting when you consider that it is conservative voices who must literally fear for their lives. Left-wing shows have been propped up for years despite dwindling audiences. Steven Colbert's show lost $40 million dollars per year before finally being cancelled. It also won last night's Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show. During his acceptance speech, Colbert said he felt like he was losing his country. 
  5461.  
  5462.  
  5463.  
  5464.  
  5465.  
  5466.  
  5467. Colbert: Sometimes you only truly know how much you love something when you get a sense that you might be losing it. Ten years later, in September of 2025, my friends, I have never loved my country more desperately. God bless America. Be strong. Be brave. And if the elevator tries to bring you down, go crazy and punch a higher floor.” 
  5468.  
  5469.  
  5470. Last night's left-wing lovefest also included a Bob Hope Humanitarian Award for actors Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen. A long video outlining their politics highlighted a Nancy Pelosi award for activism that included celebrating trans kids.
  5471.  
  5472. "Last year they were recognized with the Nancy Pelosi Equality Ally Award at the 2024 Equality Pac National Pride Gala in Washington D.C.," the video proclaimed.
  5473.  
  5474. There was no mention of trans-related violence across the nation, from the recent attack on Annunciation Church by a trans shooter to the aforementioned Kirk assassination, which may have involved transgender motives.
  5475.  
  5476. The 77th Emmy Awards proved once again that Hollywood lives in a bubble of its own making, completely removed from half of the country it is supposed to entertain. </description>
  5477.  <pubDate>September 15th, 2025 9:25 AM</pubDate>
  5478.    <dc:creator>Elise Ehrhard</dc:creator>
  5479.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291960</guid>
  5480.    </item>
  5481. <item>
  5482.  <title>NY Times Makes Accidental Case for Defunding NPR: It Offers Balance to Right-Wing Radio?</title>
  5483.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/clay-waters/2025/09/15/ny-times-makes-accidental-case-defunding-npr-it-offers-balance</link>
  5484.  <description>In “NPR and PBS Must Transform After Trump’s Cuts Cripple Broadcasters,” which appeared in Sunday’s New York Times, reporters Benjamin Mullin, Jack Healy, and David Chen unwittingly justified the defunding of those taxpayer-funded media outlets that conservatives have been advocating for decades.
  5485.  
  5486.  
  5487. On the windswept prairie of South Dakota, a tribal public radio station is selling off its old records to pay the bills. In Warm Springs, Ore., the NPR affiliate is considering dropping “All Things Considered” to focus on tribal issues.
  5488.  
  5489.  
  5490. Really? Judging from previous pro-NPR propaganda that warned about what cutting NPR would mean to remote tribal radio stations, you would think they were already focusing on local issues, not All Things Considered.
  5491.  
  5492.  
  5493. The decision by President Trump and Republicans in Congress to strip $500 million from public broadcasters this summer is forcing profound changes that will reshape the airwaves, especially in rural and tribal areas of the country.
  5494.  
  5495.  
  5496. The reporters gave the game away, tacitly admitting that taxpayer-funded NPR’s national news shows have little to offer conservative listeners (or taxpayers).
  5497.  
  5498.  
  5499. Others, fielding complaints from their members, are voicing worries about the political balance in news coverage, a delicate issue for station directors in red states. Republicans have long complained about what they call a liberal bias in public broadcasting, but if rural NPR affiliates shed national shows like “All Things Considered” and “Morning Edition,” the airwaves would give listeners few alternatives to conservative talk radio in many areas.….
  5500.  
  5501. Last spring, when Mr. Trump and his allies in Congress called for the defunding of public broadcasting, they insisted they were pursuing more political balance on the nation’s airwaves.
  5502.  
  5503.  
  5504. The reporters also made the tacit admission that there’s not much of a market for NPR-style liberal radio in South Dakota and it has to be artificially boosted by taxpayer dollars.
  5505.  
  5506.  
  5507. But with the corporation now gone, the question confronting much of the country, where airwaves are dominated by the chain stations of Sinclair Broadcasting and iHeartRadio, will be how any news can compete with the political right.
  5508.  
  5509. In the Badlands of South Dakota, the airwaves are saturated with unapologetic conservatism. The road to the Pine Ridge Reservation cuts through a sea of prairie grass, while over the radio, on 90.3, a former lawyer for Mr. Trump rails against the “radical left.” Up the dial, between Christian pop and classic rock, other syndicated shows argue against in vitro fertilization and feminism.
  5510.  
  5511.  
  5512. That's not to say that you can't find all kinds of liberal podcasts on the internet, even in rural South Dakota.
  5513.  
  5514. This was an interesting tidbit:
  5515.  
  5516.  
  5517. ….In May, an executive at WETA — the PBS station in Washington, D.C., that produces “PBS NewsHour” — met with station executives in Republican states and heard concerns from their members about political bias in the program. “PBS NewsHour” is a linchpin of PBS programming, and its focus on current events can make it a lightning rod in conservative states.
  5518.  
  5519.  
  5520. The Media Research Center has in fact issued detailed criticisms of the PBS News Hour in study after study, not for “its focus on current events,” but for the hard liberal spin it delivers within that coverage.</description>
  5521.  <pubDate>September 15th, 2025 5:52 AM</pubDate>
  5522.    <dc:creator>Clay Waters</dc:creator>
  5523.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291955</guid>
  5524.    </item>
  5525. <item>
  5526.  <title>Velshi Cues Crockett Kookery: ICE Are Like 'Slave Patrols,' Committing 'Criminal Acts'</title>
  5527.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/brad-wilmouth/2025/09/14/velshi-cues-crockett-kookery-ice-are-slave-patrols-committing</link>
  5528.  <description>On his eponymous Sunday morning show, MSNBC's Ali Velshi let Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) compare ICE agents to slave patrols and claim they are committing crimes, and Velshi fretted that President Donald Trump is creating a police force that is "lacking accountability," and agreed with Crockett's assertions that the way to fight crime is with poverty programs and focusing on guns.
  5529.  
  5530. Shortly after 10:00 a.m., Velshi put a negative spin on using the National Guard to help cut crime as he introduced the first segment: "We begin this morning with the promise -- the threat of a fresh escalation of Donald Trump's campaign to take over the streets of American cities with unwanted, unwelcome deployments of federalized National Guard troops." Unwanted by whom? 
  5531.  
  5532. After Crockett came aboard as a guest, she alluded to ICE agents recently killing a suspect in Chicago and suggested that ICE committed a crime by doing so:
  5533.  
  5534.  
  5535.  
  5536.  
  5537. We know, as we've seen this over-policing as it relates to ICE as well as these criminal acts that are actually being perpetrated by ICE. We just saw that someone was killed in Chicago, so, like, I don't know who is bringing more crime to the streets right now, especially when it comes to ICE. So the over-policing has never worked.
  5538.  
  5539.  
  5540. Velshi agreed: "It's just statistical. I mean, we know it doesn't work, right? We know in cities where crime has been reduced, it's been reduced through -- it's a number of things at the same time One of which is poverty reduction. Right? And poverty reduction programs have been killed under the Big Beautiful Bill."
  5541.  
  5542. It was not mentioned that the suspect who was killed resisted arrest and seriously injured an ICE agent by dragging him with his car! Let's guess Velshi wouldn't think that was "unruly."
  5543.  
  5544. A bit later, Crockett defended shoplifting as she claimed that some people who commit crimes are not criminals. 
  5545.  
  5546. And, during a discussion of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the Trump administration can continue to do ICE raids in Los Angeles in spite of a lower court ruling, Velshi complained about the kind of police force President Trump is building: "...how can people who like Donald Trump or don't like Donald Trump understand that he seems to be building a police force that is not subject to the normal rules that either policing or military should be subject to? It's a sort of a police force that's lacking accountability."
  5547.  
  5548. Even though past statistics suggest that about 2,000 homicides are committed by immigrants each year that are actually known about, Crockett soon claimed that "white supremacists" kill several times more people than immigrants:
  5549.  
  5550.  
  5551. We're not looking at the fact that immigrants, regardless of how many times you're going to cherry pick and say, "Well, there was this one immigrant that was here illegally, and they ended up killing this one person" -- well, for every immigrant that you have an example of, I'll raise you at least two to five white supremacists, if not more, right?
  5552.  
  5553.  
  5554. She went on to claim that ICE reminds her of slave patrols:
  5555.  
  5556.  
  5557. But, as somebody who understands history, when I see ICE, I see slave patrols. Now, I never lived through the slave patrol period, but if you know the history of policing in this country, then you understand that they were born out of slave patrols. And now with the Supreme Court saying this, it's almost like you can just go grab them up. That is what they're saying. And that is a problem.
  5558.  
  5559.  
  5560. The MSNBC host gave no pushback as he just wrapped up the segment.
  5561.  
  5562. Transcript follows:
  5563.  
  5564.  
  5565. MSNBC's Velshi
  5566.  
  5567. September 14, 2025
  5568.  
  5569. 10:00 a.m. Eastern
  5570.  
  5571. ALI VELSHI: We begin this morning with the promise -- the threat of a fresh escalation of Donald Trump's campaign to take over the streets of American cities with unwanted, unwelcome deployments of federalized National Guard troops.
  5572.  
  5573. (...)
  5574.  
  5575. I talked to Justin Pearson yesterday from Memphis, and one of the smart things about people who come from cities where there are crime rates is that they don't -- they don't rely on these statistics that say violent crime is down by X percentage -- they realize that violent crime is a bad thing --
  5576.  
  5577. CONGRESSWOMAN JASMINE CROCKETT (D-TX): Exactly.
  5578.  
  5579. VELSHI: -- and everybody thinks so. 
  5580.  
  5581. CROCKETT: Exactly.
  5582.  
  5583. VELSHI: And the ways in which you undercut violent crime are through things that happen in communities, through gun violence protection. Those are not the things that are happening here. So Justin Pearson was all about the fact that "Yeah, we got a crime problem -- we're really happy to have the federal government's help," but this doesn't ever solve that problem.
  5584.  
  5585. CROCKETT: No. They don't like facts -- they absolutely detest these things -- but even when you look at what Maxwell Frost did, Maxwell Frost led the way as to the creation of the gun violence prevention office within the White House. What did Donald Trump do?
  5586.  
  5587. VELSHI: Which was really -- really successful until January 20.
  5588.  
  5589. CROCKETT: What did Donald Trump do:
  5590.  
  5591. VELSHI: I think he shut it down on the first day or something.
  5592.  
  5593. CROCKETT: He absolutely did. He got rid of it. And so we have the data that shows what it takes to bring this down.
  5594.  
  5595. (...)
  5596.  
  5597. CROCKETT: We know, as we've seen this over-policing as it relates to ICE as well as these criminal acts that are actually being perpetrated by ICE. We just saw that someone was killed in Chicago, so, like, I don't know who is bringing more crime to the streets right now, especially when it comes to ICE. So the over-policing has never worked.
  5598.  
  5599. VELSHI: It's just statistical. I mean, we know it doesn't work, right? We know in cities where crime has been reduced, it's been reduced through -- it's a number of things at the same time --
  5600.  
  5601. CROCKETT: Exactly.
  5602.  
  5603. VELSHI: One of which is poverty reduction.
  5604.  
  5605. CROCKETT: Absolutely.
  5606.  
  5607. VELSHI: Right? And poverty reduction programs have been killed --
  5608.  
  5609. CROCKETT: Yeah
  5610.  
  5611. VELSHI: -- under the Big Beautiful Bill.
  5612.  
  5613. CROCKETT: Yeah.
  5614.  
  5615. VELSHI: And the DOGE cuts.
  5616.  
  5617. CROCKETT: And poverty is on its way up.
  5618.  
  5619. VELSHI: And SNAP has been cut.
  5620.  
  5621. CROCKETT: Yeah.
  5622.  
  5623. VELSHI: Who's making -- who's fraudulently using SNAP? And what do you? What do you trade off your six bucks for?
  5624.  
  5625. CROCKETT: Correct. Your six dollars a day. Like these are the people that are getting rich off of the federal government (inaudible) ...
  5626.  
  5627. VELSHI: Yeah, yeah, but that's conceptually our problem, right? That we're scraping every last dollar -- we're squeezing every last dollar out of people who can least afford it --
  5628.  
  5629. CROCKETT: Exactly.
  5630.  
  5631. VELSHI: -- so that the merger can go through with Union Pacific.
  5632.  
  5633. CROCKETT: Exactly, exactly. But that's everything that they're doing. Everything is about the billionaires.
  5634.  
  5635. (...)
  5636.  
  5637. But you speak about poverty and you speak about crime. As someone who was a public defender, I can tell you that I better understand some of the things that end up allowing for crime to proliferate in certain communities. And I do want to make this distinction. Just because there is crime taking place, it does not necessarily mean that it is a "criminal." There is a difference -- there are people that literally are engaging in crime out of necessity. And they have, you know, defenses that they can wage and things like that. There are people that are saying, "Listen, I need to take care of my child, and so I need to get this formula. I need to get these diapers, and I'm going to do what I've got to do."
  5638.  
  5639. (...)
  5640.  
  5641. 10:22 a.m.
  5642.  
  5643. VELSHI: And of course the complication here is because of the shadow docket stuff -- you would think that if you're going to attack something that is an amendment in the Constitution, and you're going to say that there's something wrong with it, I'd like to have a thorough airing of that.
  5644.  
  5645. CROCKETT: Yes, yeah. No oral arguments on this issue -- not hearing where the sides are coming from -- not hearing from the justices and having them ask questions and really test it and make sure that it stands up to constitutional muster. No, it is a very dangerous thing to do, especially in this time of over-policing --
  5646.  
  5647. VELSHI: Yeah.
  5648.  
  5649. CROCKETT: -- by this out of control executive.
  5650.  
  5651. VELSHI: That's the issue, right? That's where I'm trying to figure out, how can people who like Donald Trump or don't like Donald Trump understand that he seems to be building a police force that is not subject to the normal rules that either policing or military should be subject to. It's a sort of a police force that's lacking accountability.
  5652.  
  5653. CROCKETT: No, there is no accountability, and it's going after its American people, right? Like the idea that any of us want to be unsafe in this country is absolutely absurd, right? I don't care what your political affiliation is -- I don't care what your cultural background is -- none of us want to be unsafe.
  5654.  
  5655. VELSHI: Yeah.
  5656.  
  5657. CROCKETT: But we're not looking at the facts. We're not looking at the fact that immigrants, regardless of how many times you're going to cherry pick and say, "Well, there was this one immigrant that was here illegally, and they ended up killing this one person" -- well, for every immigrant that you have an example of, I'll raise you at least two to five white supremacists, if not more, right?
  5658.  
  5659. (...)
  5660.  
  5661. CROCKETT: But, as somebody who understands history, when I see ICE, I see slave patrols. Now, I never lived through the slave patrol period, but if you know the history of policing in this country, then you understand that they were born out of slave patrols. And now with the Supreme Court saying this, it's almost like you can just go grab them up. That is what they're saying. And that is a problem. We all should have a problem with that, but when you don't want to teach American history that includes black history, then you lose out on the benefit of understanding that we have been down this road before. And it was not good, and we fixed it once, and it is a shame that we are relitigating this, and we're going to have to fix it again.
  5662.  
  5663. VELSHI: Jasmine Crockett, always happy to have you on the show. Thank you for joining us.
  5664. </description>
  5665.  <pubDate>September 14th, 2025 10:28 PM</pubDate>
  5666.    <dc:creator>Brad Wilmouth</dc:creator>
  5667.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291959</guid>
  5668.    </item>
  5669. <item>
  5670.  <title>Martha Raddatz Demands Guests Condemn Trump Remarks on Kirk Assassination, Goes 0-for-4</title>
  5671.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/jorge-bonilla/2025/09/14/martha-raddatz-demands-guests-condemn-trump-remarks-kirk</link>
  5672.  <description>ABC’s Martha Raddatz had a weird Sunday while sitting in the host chair on ABC’s This Week. She spent most of it attempting to elicit her mostly conservative guests to condemn in some way, shape, or form President Donald Trump’s remarks wherein he accused the “Radical Left” of the assassination of TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk. And she whiffed.
  5673.  
  5674. Watch as Raddatz begins her Expedition of Condemnation with Utah Governor Spencer Cox:
  5675.  
  5676.  
  5677. WATCH: ABC's Martha Raddatz tries to elicit a condemnation of President Trump's remarks in the immediate aftermath of the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Instead, Gov. Cox of Utah puts the onus of condemnation right back on the shooter. pic.twitter.com/luLrwhJsRE
  5678. — Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) September 14, 2025
  5679.  
  5680. MARTHA RADDATZ: And Governor, just lastly, you immediately talked about Democrats who had already been targeted. President Trump said nothing about the political violence against Democrats. In fact, he blamed the radical left. What's your reaction to that? Is that something you think he should be doing?
  5681.  
  5682. SPENCER COX: Look, President Trump is very angry. And Charlie is his close personal friend. There is a lot of anger on the right, on my side of the aisle. And I’ve certainly felt that. In this case, it does appear that that's true. Again, more- more information is coming and we’ll learn more over time. I don't know that that matters as much as the radicalization piece. I brought up the Democrats who were assassinated recently and how quickly we move on from these things, but the body count is piling up. And so, I'm so concerned about this radicalization piece. And that's what we are trying to understand. Again, this person made a choice. And it was this person's choice and this person will be held responsible. And we have to make different choices. And we also have to figure out how it came to be that a kid with a 4.0, with 34 on the ACT, with a full ride scholarship at my alma mater, who didn't even last a semester, drops out and ends up doing something like this. We need to understand that and we need to figure out how to stop it. 
  5683.  
  5684.  
  5685. Of course, President Trump DID, in the past, address the murder of Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman. But that fact is inconvenient to the partisan factual basis that Raddatz is trying to establish and for which she is eliciting condemnation from her guests. Cox sees through all of that and reminds everyone that, contrary to the media’s wishes, the true villain of the shooting remains the shooter.
  5686.  
  5687. Moving on, Raddatz tried to get Colorado Governor Jared Polis, a Democrat, to condemn Trump: with similar results.
  5688.  
  5689.  
  5690. SWING AND A MISS: ABC's Martha Raddatz tries (and fails) to get CO Gov. Jared Polis to condemn President Trump's remarks on the assassination of Charlie Kirk. pic.twitter.com/sPVK410HzQ
  5691. — Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) September 14, 2025
  5692.  
  5693. RADDATZ: You heard Governor Cox. He did not- clearly did not want to criticize President Trump at this time. And Charlie Kirk was a good friend of President Trump and his family. But he has pointed the finger at what he calls the radical left. Is that the message you believe he should be putting out?
  5694.  
  5695. JARED POLIS: Look, as Governor Cox said, the president was close friends with Charlie Kirk. And of course, to all of Charlie's friends and family, including the president, I extend my sincere condolences. This is about the acts of an individual. The inexcusable, evil acts of an individual. And there have been more of those in different places at different times. The assassination of the speaker of the Minnesota Assembly. The shooting here in Colorado. Whatever motivates these acts, the fault and the responsibility lie with the perpetrator. And I hope that he is brought to justice and faces full accountability for his crime.
  5696.  
  5697.  
  5698. Same question, same result. Raddatz posed the bait question and the guest refused to take the bait. In this case, the Democrat guest who had sense enough to recognize the gravity of the moment and governed himself accordingly.
  5699.  
  5700. Shortly thereafter, Raddatz convened a panel of College Republicans, the demographic most directly impacted by Kirk’s work. Raddatz proceeded to queue up the condemnation question, only to be rebuffed by the head of the CRs at George Washington University:
  5701.  
  5702.  
  5703. Before trying to bait Govs. Cox and Polis into condemning President Trump's reaction to the assassination of Charlie Kirk, Martha Raddatz tried to bait the CRs by asking them WHO they blamed. pic.twitter.com/YnZAt241Fk
  5704. — Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) September 14, 2025
  5705.  
  5706. RADDATZ: You obviously saw who was arrested. You’ve heard the president say he blames radical left- and basically blaming the Democrats. We’ve had a lot of political violence in this country. Assassination attempts on President Trump. The killing of a Minnesota state lawmaker. Who do you blame?
  5707.  
  5708. KIERAN LAFFEY: Look, I think after tragedies, it's very easy to play the blame game. And that's not something I want to participate in. I think, holistically, condemning political violence is what has to be happening right now. From either side.
  5709.  
  5710.  
  5711. Finally, Raddatz turned to Utah’s junior U.S. Senator, John Curtis. She went 0-for-4.
  5712.  
  5713.  
  5714. 0 FOR 3: ABC's Martha Raddatz tries (and fails) to bait UT Sen. John Curtis into condemning President Trump's reaction to the assassination of Charlie Kirk, as she did previously with Govs. Cox and Polis pic.twitter.com/mKnNA73SQB
  5715. — Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) September 14, 2025
  5716.  
  5717. RADDATZ: I know a lot of people, certainly a lot of Republicans, a lot of people are listening to President Trump. And you’ve heard me talk about it earlier in the show. But several Republican lawmakers, prominent conservatives, including President Trump's sons Don, Jr. and Eric, as well as President Trump, have blamed this on the radical left. Is that the right thing to do? Or what do you wish he was saying?
  5718.  
  5719. JOHN CURTIS: So if it were up to me, I think you need to take the word “radical" and remove “right” or “left" and radical, coming from any direction, is not good. It's not healthy. And it should be called out. And that's my mission is to say, look, this to me, this is not right. This is not left. We’re talking about radicals. And that’s where we need to put our attention.
  5720.  
  5721.  
  5722. That’s four different guests, four different times, four different perspectives on the ramifications of the assassination of Charlie Kirk- a watershed moment in American history the ramifications of which are yet to be determined. Raddatz instead chooses to focus on self-serving narrative.
  5723.  
  5724.  </description>
  5725.  <pubDate>September 14th, 2025 7:10 PM</pubDate>
  5726.    <dc:creator>Jorge Bonilla</dc:creator>
  5727.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291958</guid>
  5728.    </item>
  5729. <item>
  5730.  <title>Atlantic Show On PBS TRASHES Charlie Kirk As Racist Symbol of 'Toxic Culture'</title>
  5731.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tim-graham/2025/09/14/atlantic-show-pbs-trashes-charlie-kirk-racist-symbol-toxic-culture</link>
  5732.  <description> No one should think PBS is an oasis of civility. On Friday’s Washington Week with The Atlantic, the liberal gang typically rained fire on conservatives in general and the late Charlie Kirk in particular. No one had a critical word for rhetorical extremism on the left, and there was really no focus on the killer.
  5733.  
  5734. Moderator Jeffrey Goldberg briefly mentioned the alleged shooter in custody, Tyler Robinson, but claimed "We will try to be responsible here about not overspeculating" about his motives. That was not worth discussing.
  5735.  
  5736. Peter Baker of The New York Times said Kirk “riled up” people and is a symbol of our “toxic culture.”
  5737.  
  5738.  
  5739. Now, he said a lot of things that got a lot of people riled up, right? And that was part of his style about race, about gender, about affirmative action and Islam and things like that. But he also enjoyed going to college campuses like the one he was at. Even though he knew an audience there might include people who didn't agree with him, and he liked to mix it up. And he's, you know, become in this last few days, I think, a symbol of the toxic culture that we're in right now, in politics.
  5740.  
  5741.  
  5742.  
  5743. Not only did Peter Baker talk about Charlie Kirk being a "symbol of the toxic culture," Laura Barron-Lopez said Kirk was "known to make racist statements" and "lobbed a number of attacks on transgender individuals." THIS...IS PBS. They hate and smear conservatives. They have a… pic.twitter.com/cnPEG5PAp9
  5744. — Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) September 14, 2025
  5745. Laura Barron-Lopez, who just switched teams from PBS to MSNBC (they're awfully similar), trashed and distorted Kirk's views: 
  5746.  
  5747.  
  5748. The reason that he is seen as a divisive figure, and why the left has had a reaction as well in this is because he has been known to make racist statements, to say that, you know, if he were to see a black pilot, he wouldn't necessarily trust their ability to fly a plane. He has also said that it was a mistake to pass the Civil Rights Act, and has definitely lobbed a number of attacks on transgender individuals. And so there's a lot across the LGBTQ advocacy space who are opposed to him.
  5749.  
  5750.  
  5751. Barron-Lopez mangled what Kirk actually said about "affirmative action" and black pilots, that picking pilots based on racial quotas causes. He said "If I see a Black pilot, I'm going to be like, 'Boy, I hope he's qualified.'" But he also said: "That's not who I am. That's not what I believe...I'm connecting two dots. Wait a second, this CEO just said that he's forcing that a white qualified guy is not gonna get the job. So I see this guy, he might be a nice person and I say, "Boy, I hope he's not a Harvard-style affirmative-action student that … landed half of his flight-simulator trials...It also… creates unhealthy thinking patterns. I don't wanna think that way. And no one should, right?"
  5752.  
  5753. Tom Nichols praised Kirk, only to trash the memory of Rush Limbaugh: 
  5754.  
  5755.  
  5756. Charlie Kirk, I think, kind of patented almost was the ability to do this and seem likable, friendly, open. You know, the people that met him, even people that didn't agree with him said he, you know, he was always polite and so on. You know, he modeled himself early on after Rush Limbaugh, but without Limbaugh's hard edges. I mean, Limbaugh was, you know, caustic constantly.
  5757.  
  5758.  
  5759. When Goldberg brought up Utah Gov. Spencer Cox’s remarks about turning down the toxicity, Glasser said he’s for “de-polluting our public space,” and “a lot of people are going to agree with that message, but it's not the Republican Party's message.” Spoken like a partisan Democrat.
  5760.  
  5761. For our colleagues at Free Speech America, Goldberg lamented how social media should be much more aggressively regulated (censored): 
  5762.  
  5763.  
  5764. GOLDBERG: We're talking about social media as if it's the weather, which is not -- which is we all complain about, but we can't do anything about. But the social media algorithms are controlled by a small number of people who live in the United States, and who makes sure that anger is the product that they're pushing out. And so we're talking -- you know, it's just interesting to me, there's a kind of learned helplessness almost.
  5765.  
  5766. GLASSER: Yes. No, Jeff, I think it's a really important point. But remember, it's not just in isolation from our politics or from any other aspect in our life. So, it's not as simple as some sort of a technology problem where we can flip a switch. Because who's running the country right now, people who have succeeded in a political environment in which hatred and division is a much more successful way to go.
  5767.  
  5768.  
  5769. Finally, you have to roll your eyes when this crew started talking about how it's all wrong to call the Left "evil." This exchange underlines how desperately this show could use a dissenting conservative viewpoint:  
  5770.  
  5771.  
  5772. GOLDBERG: So, there's no doubt that many people on the left have called Charlie Kirk and other people in on the right terrible names, exaggerations. There's also a level of obliviousness to what Donald Trump said. Because people in his own movement, including and especially him, have also used what we would think of in older periods of American politics as outrageous language to talk about adversaries on the left that --
  5773.  
  5774. BAKER: He used the word evil even more this time than he did in his first term. I did a search of this in his public speech. He calls Joe Biden evil. He refers to his enemies as communists, as traitors, as treasonous. These are words that are, of course, you know, inflammatory, just as the rhetoric on the left can be inflammatory about conservatives. But in Trump's mind, it's all on one side.
  5775.  
  5776. GOLDBERG: Right.
  5777.  
  5778. BAKER: He wants everybody to think this is just about the left wing, have no conversation about his own rhetoric or the rhetoric of the people who support him.
  5779.  
  5780. NICHOLS:  Right into the memory hole, the president's statement, as he gave that statement, as if he has never called his opponents vermin, human scum, really, you know, violent imagery and language, even right after this thing, you know, we have to find these people and, you know, do them harm basically. And it is remarkable the degree to which the president kind of just waves a hand and says all of those things, that's just political rhetoric. What the left does is extremely dangerous and evil and so on. And --
  5781.  
  5782. BAKER: And if you press stop him from saying it or his people, then you are canceling it, right? That's censorship. But the other side, obviously --
  5783.  
  5784. GLASSER: And that's where I think we have to wonder whether this marks not just rhetoric from Donald Trump, and those were some striking words he used the other night, but I was really struck by his vow to go after organizations and groups that were supporting this.
  5785.  
  5786. First of all, he talked about this being the radical left. That's the term he uses for the Democratic Party, which, in essence, is saying that the Democratic --
  5787.  
  5788. GOLDBERG: So, this before we know anything about the suspect.
  5789.  
  5790. GLASSER: Right. So, he's blaming, in effect, the Democratic Party for this killing without even having a suspect. But more importantly, it strikes me that Trump and a number of very influential MAGA figures have been out there calling for activities to investigate and defund the left, to go after their organizations, to use the government against basically the political opposition in a much more concerted, full-throated way.
  5791.  
  5792. And are they going to take the moment of this tragedy and turn that into a government campaign against the political opposition? That's the implication of what Trump was saying. We don't know if he'll follow through.
  5793.  
  5794. GOLDBERG: It seems like what we're seeing is the beginning of two streams of thought, a Spencer Cox kind of idea, which everybody needs to calm down, and Donald Trump saying, the problem is on the left. And, obviously, the weight in the Republican Party right now is more on the Trump side.
  5795. </description>
  5796.  <pubDate>September 14th, 2025 7:09 PM</pubDate>
  5797.    <dc:creator>Tim Graham</dc:creator>
  5798.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291957</guid>
  5799.    </item>
  5800. <item>
  5801.  <title>FAKE NEWS: CBS’s Scott MacFarlane Twists Gov. Cox’s Statements on Trans Motive in the Assassination of Charlie Kirk</title>
  5802.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/jorge-bonilla/2025/09/14/fake-news-cbss-scott-macfarlane-twists-gov-coxs-statements-trans</link>
  5803.  <description>The left have been furiously spinning narrative in the wake of the horrific assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. Much of this spin is dedicated to the negation of a transgender motive behind the shooting. In service of that narrative, CBS’s Scott MacFarlane completely misrepresented statements by Utah Governor Spencer Cox.
  5804.  
  5805. Watch as MacFarlane tried to establish, without evidence, that Gov. Cox ruled transgender issues out as a motive in the shooting:
  5806.  
  5807.  
  5808. FAKE NEWS ALERT: In no way did UT @GovCox suggest on his ABC and NBC hits today that "there is no indication or no idea yet if" transgenderism is "at all relevant to this case", as CBS's Scott MacFarlane suggests to viewers of Face the Nation. pic.twitter.com/vQhFZ4c6nM
  5809. — Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) September 14, 2025
  5810.  
  5811. MAJOR GARRETT: Utah Republican Governor Spencer Cox has been the most authoritative voice in this matter since it happened, Scott. We have some new comments from him this morning.
  5812.  
  5813. SCOTT MacFARLANE: Sounds like they have a lot to work with, to start. First of all, as the weekend began they executed a search warrant on the family home in Washington County, Utah. It’s about three or four hours from the site of the shooting. The governor, though, says multiple people are talking here- including the roommate of the suspect who he describes as incredibly cooperative. The roommate, he says, had no idea this was happening. And he also says the roommate may have been in a romantic relationship with Tyler Robinson, may have been gender transitioning. But the governor says there’s no indication or no idea yet if that’s at all relevant to this case.
  5814.  
  5815.  
  5816. Sounds definitive. But that’s not at all what Gov. Cox said on any of his Sunday show interviews on CNN, ABC and NBC. The most extensive exchange was on CNN, where State of the Union host Dana Bash grilled Cox as if he were an unindicted coconspirator in the shooting:
  5817.  
  5818.  
  5819. Two minutes of CNN's Dana Bash trying to push UT @GovCox into admitting that transgenderism is not germane to motive in the assassination of Charlie Kirk pic.twitter.com/Ur8ABcpJt3
  5820. — Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) September 14, 2025
  5821.  
  5822. DANA BASH: Well, some outlets are reporting that the suspect lived with a transgender partner. Is that accurate? And are investigators looking at this part of his life as a possible motivation?
  5823.  
  5824. SPENCER COX: Yes, definitely. And yes, I can confirm that. I know that has been reported and that the FBI has confirmed that as well, that the roommate was a romantic partner, a male transitioning to- to female. I can say that- that he has been very cooperative. This- this partner has been incredibly cooperative, had no idea that this was happening and is working with investigators right now.
  5825.  
  5826. BASH: And how is that relevant to the investigation when it comes to the motive? Are you learning that?
  5827.  
  5828. COX: Sure. Well, yeah, that's what we're- that's what we're trying to figure out right now. Again, it's- I mean, it's easy to draw conclusions from that. And- and so, you know, we've got- we've got the shell casings, other forensic evidence that is coming in and trying to piece all of those things together.
  5829.  
  5830. BASH: You said that the roommate is being very helpful. Has that individual explained to law enforcement what the mindset of the shooter was and whether or not it is connected to his ideology or his- his situation as transitioning as you just described.
  5831.  
  5832. COX: I'm not sure about- not- not sure about that piece right now, Dana.
  5833.  
  5834. BASH: Okay. So we're not sure if that- the fact that he was romantically involved, as you say, with his partner who was transitioning, is relevant to the motive of the murder based on the investigation.
  5835.  
  5836. COX: Well, sure. Again, all of these things are- we're trying to figure it out. I know everybody wants to know exactly why and point the finger. And I totally get that I do, too. And so I just want to be be careful, as I haven't read all of the interview transcripts and so we’ll have to wait and see what comes out.
  5837.  
  5838.  
  5839. There is nothing in Cox’s responses to Bash’s badgering that is consistent with an admission that transgenderism is not relevant to motive, as reported by MacFarlane. If anything, Cox was intent in protecting the integrity of the investigation, ahead of Tuesday’s filing of formal charging documents.   
  5840.  
  5841. On ABC’s This Week, Martha Raddatz didn’t even address relevance, choosing instead to try and trip Cox on the shooter’s ideology:
  5842.  
  5843.  
  5844. UT @GovCox confirms that the "roommate" is in fact the transgender boyfriend of Charlie Kirk's assassin, after a Mat Gutman video package that omits this detail entirely. Cox states much more info to be released on Tuesday, when charging documents are filed. pic.twitter.com/5TUXxqwws0
  5845. — Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) September 14, 2025
  5846.  
  5847. MARTHA RADDATZ: Anything new on the investigation? You say he admitted that, confessed?
  5848.  
  5849. COX: No, not -- again, he has not confessed to authorities. He is not cooperating. But all the people around him are cooperating. And I think that's very important. There were reports yesterday that we can confirm that his roommate was, indeed, a boyfriend who is transitioning from male to female. That's information that the FBI had mentioned yesterday. We can confirm that as well. And that he is cooperating with authorities as well.
  5850.  
  5851. RADDATZ: And, Governor, you told The Wall Street Journal that Tyler Robinson was deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology. Have investigators uncovered evidence to- to show that?
  5852.  
  5853. COX: So far, that has come from his acquaintances and family members. That's where the initial information has come from. Certainly, there will be much more information that is released in the charging documents as they are bringing all of that together. Just like to remind people that- that press conference on Friday, we had been up all night trying to get as much as we could in a very short amount of time. We are collecting much more, including forensic evidence that is coming back from Quantico, that will help us tie the shooter to the weapon and everything else. So that's all being processed right now. And there will be much, much more information on Tuesday when that document is filed with the- with the courts.
  5854.  
  5855.  
  5856. On Meet the Press, NBC’s Kristen Welker asked about motive but didn’t press Cox on the transgender issue, avoiding it altogether:
  5857.  
  5858.  
  5859. Here again and contrary to what CBS's Scott MacFarlane laid out- no dismissal of transgenderism as an issue, but a holding back ahead of the formal filing of charges. pic.twitter.com/qd3XWrd13y
  5860. — Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) September 14, 2025
  5861.  
  5862. KRISTEN WELKER: Governor, let me start by just asking you to update us on the investigation. What more have investigators learned about the suspect and the motive here?
  5863.  
  5864. COX: Yeah. So there will be much more coming out on Tuesday when charges are filed. They are gathering evidence, interviewing known friends and people around the suspect. What we know so far, there are a couple of things that we can confirm that have been reported. We can confirm that, again, according to family and people that we're interviewing, he does come from a conservative family, but his ideology was very different than his family, and so that's part of it. We do know that- that the roommate that we had originally talked about- we can confirm that that roommate is a boyfriend who is transitioning from male to female, so we know that piece. I will say that that person has been very cooperative with authorities, and we have additional evidence, forensic evidence that has been processed, we'll be sharing that when charges are filed on Tuesday. So everything that we know confirms that this is the person. The why behind this, again, we're all drawing lots of conclusions and how someone like this could be radicalized, and I think that those are important questions for us to ask and important questions for us to answer.
  5865.  
  5866. WELKER: Governor, you say that the boyfriend, the roommate is cooperating with investigators. What, specifically, have you learned from this individual and is the suspect cooperating?
  5867.  
  5868. COX: So what we've learned specifically is that this person that did not have any knowledge- was shocked when they found out about it, when he found out about it. The suspect has not been cooperating so far and so we're getting all of this information from family members. Again, people around the suspect and then the forensic information that we have, which is confirming everything and more than what we were able to share in that initial press conference.
  5869.  
  5870.  
  5871. Nowhere where motive was discussed across the Sunday dial did Cox rule out transgenderism as a motive. In fact, Cox repeatedly hinted that more was coming down the pike when formal charges are filed on Tuesday. 
  5872.  
  5873. But Scottie Mac needed to keep the narrative alive, at least for another day or two. To that end, the truth seems secondary. Perhaps irrelevant, in the face of a story that is increasingly uncomfortable for the legacy media to cover.
  5874.  
  5875.  </description>
  5876.  <pubDate>September 14th, 2025 4:49 PM</pubDate>
  5877.    <dc:creator>Jorge Bonilla</dc:creator>
  5878.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291956</guid>
  5879.    </item>
  5880. <item>
  5881.  <title>Scarborough: No One Could Talk Biden Out of Running--But Joe Encouraged Him To Stay In</title>
  5882.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/mark-finkelstein/2025/09/14/scarborough-no-one-could-talk-biden-out-running-joe-encouraged</link>
  5883.  <description> On Wednesday's Morning Joe, discussing an excerpt in The Atlantic of Kamala Harris' forthcoming book in which she attributes Joe Biden's decision to run in 2024 on ego or recklessness, Joe Scarborough said:
  5884.  
  5885.  
  5886. "I can understand everybody wringing their hands saying, why didn't we step in? Why didn't we intervene? . . . And the further you get away from it, the further you realize that Joe Biden and Jill Biden were not going to be talked out of anything until the pressure was overwhelming."
  5887.  
  5888.  
  5889. But Scarborough never tried! Despite having boasted about his close connection and frequent conversations with Biden, Scarborough never once hinted that Biden was unfit for office.
  5890.  
  5891. To the contrary, with his infamous "best Biden ever, and f-you if you don't believe it," Scarborough, just three months before Biden's disastrous debate performance, vouched for Biden's fitness and encouraged him to remain in the race.
  5892.  
  5893. Scarborough doubled down on that today, but in doing so, inadvertently made the case against Biden. Scarborough admitted:
  5894.  
  5895.  
  5896. "When I saw him, he was slow. He was, you know, plodding. He was, his neck was stiff. Everything was really stiff. And you're like, ugh, he walks around slowly. But when he sat down, may have spoken more quietly and more haltingly. But, man, I never once saw him where he blanked out."
  5897.  
  5898.  
  5899. Biden never blanked out! Heckuva recommendation, Joe! 
  5900.  
  5901.  
  5902.  
  5903.  
  5904.  
  5905. Scarborough went on to suggest that in their conversations, Biden exhibited a better grasp of foreign policy than possibly anyone in the current Trump administration. 
  5906.  
  5907. But even if that's true [and I'd put Marco Rubio up against Biden in a foreign policy Double Jeopardy face-off] an 81-year-old who is slow, plodding, really stiff, and who walks and speaks slowly and haltingly, was patently unfit to serve four more years as president.
  5908.  
  5909. Scarborough surely realized that, but chose abject sycophancy instead. 
  5910. Here's the transcript.
  5911.  
  5912.  
  5913. MSNBC
  5914. Morning Joe
  5915. 9/10/25
  5916. 7:07 am EDT
  5917.  
  5918. MIKA BRZEZINSKI: The Atlantic has published an excerpt from former Vice President Kamala Harris's forthcoming new book entitled 107 Days. And in it, Harris details the challenges she faced when Joe Biden dropped out of the race and she was suddenly tapped to run for president. 
  5919.  
  5920. In it, she writes, "During all those months of growing panic, should I have told Joe to consider not running? Perhaps. It's Joe and Jill's decision. We all said that, like a mantra, as if we'd all been hypnotized. Was it grace or was it recklessness? In retrospect, I think it was recklessness. The stakes were simply too high. This wasn't a choice that should have been left to an individual's ego, an individual's ambition. It should have been more than a personal decision." 
  5921.  
  5922. "I was well aware of my delicate status. Lore has it that every outgoing chief of staff always tells the incoming president's chief of staff, rule number one, watch the VP. I often learned that the president's staff was adding fuel to negative narratives that sprang up around me. When the stories were unfair or inaccurate, the president's inner circle seemed fine with it. Indeed, it seemed as if they decided I should be knocked down a little bit more. Their thinking was zero sum. If she's shining, he's dimmed. None of them grasped that if I did well, he did well, that given the concerns about his age, my visible success as his vice president was vital. It would serve as a testament to his judgment in choosing me and reassurance that if something happened, the country was in good hands."
  5923.  
  5924. . . . 
  5925.  
  5926. JOE SCARBOROUGH: I can understand everybody wringing their hands saying, why didn't we step in? Why didn't we intervene? I can understand the vice president, Vice President Harris doing that. 
  5927.  
  5928. But people that know Joe Biden and Jill Biden know, speaking of jump balls, nobody was going to take that ball from their hands. They were determined. I mean, I, I talked to a lot of people. I knew a lot of people around the Bidens. And the further you get away from it, the further you realize that Joe Biden and Jill Biden were not going to be talked out of anything until the pressure was overwhelming. 
  5929.  
  5930.  
  5931. . . . 
  5932.  
  5933. I've talked time and again about the hours that I spent with Joe Biden and the fact that he knew more about foreign policy than anybody that I've been around. If he hadn't, I would have said so on the show. I just would have said so. You also know people that sat with him in the sit [situation] room. You know people that were around him and listened to him talking for hours. 
  5934.  
  5935. Now, I will say, when I saw him, he was slow. He was, you know, plodding. He was, his neck was stiff. Everything was really stiff. And you're like, ugh, he walks around slowly. But when he sat down, may have spoken more quietly and more haltingly. But, man, I never once saw him where he blanked out. 
  5936.  
  5937. Never once saw him where, I will just say, a lot of people in this administration. I haven't seen a lot of people in this administration that could have kept up with him on foreign policy, especially when he started talking about foreign policy, because he'd been doing it for 40, 45 years. 
  5938. </description>
  5939.  <pubDate>September 14th, 2025 2:46 PM</pubDate>
  5940.    <dc:creator>Mark Finkelstein</dc:creator>
  5941.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291897</guid>
  5942.    </item>
  5943. <item>
  5944.  <title>NPR Whines Over Firings of Leftist Ghouls Celebrating Charlie Kirk's Murder </title>
  5945.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/clay-waters/2025/09/14/npr-whines-over-firings-leftist-ghouls-celebrating-charlie-kirks</link>
  5946.  <description> National Public Radio was very concerned Saturday about angry leftists losing their jobs for gleeful posts about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on a college campus in Utah, even citing McCarthyism, in “Charlie Kirk critics are being targeted online and losing jobs” by Huo Jingnan, Jude Joffe-Block, and Audrey Nguyen.
  5947.  
  5948.  
  5949. Over thirty people across the country have been fired, put on leave, investigated or faced calls to resign because of social media posts criticizing Charlie Kirk or expressing schadenfreude about the conservative influencer's assassination earlier this week, according to an analysis by NPR.
  5950.  
  5951. And more may be to come: some GOP lawmakers and officials are signaling their readiness to punish people for their speech. Conservative activists are collecting and publicizing social media posts and profiles that they say "celebrated" his death and are calling for them to lose their jobs.
  5952.  
  5953.  
  5954. As if the "celebration" of Kirk's death is not obvious.
  5955.  
  5956. After bringing up the firing of MSNBC analyst Matthew Dowd for his loathsome suggestion that Kirk may have brought about his own killing, NPR agreed about Kirk’s “incendiary” rhetoric, including “that some gun deaths were worth it to have the Second Amendment.”
  5957.  
  5958. NPR let law professor David Kaye whine that people who want to criticize Kirk upon his death “are essentially being silenced."
  5959.  
  5960.  
  5961. While online battles around social media posts have arisen in other murders or attempted murders of public figures in recent years, the campaign this time around appears more intense, in part due to a website, set up anonymously, called Expose Charlie's Murderers. The site corrals social media posts and the names, locations and employment of people deemed to have been "celebrating Charlie's death." No one behind the site responded to NPR's request for comment.
  5962.  
  5963. As of Friday morning, the site featured over 40 people, and the organizers claim that it "is being converted into a mass searchable database of over 20,000 entries." WIRED reported that some of the people featured on the homepage have received death threats.
  5964.  
  5965.  
  5966. NPR fretted, “Lawmakers and officials at the state and federal levels also vowed to use their positions to punish anyone appearing to celebrate Kirk's death.” Next came the pathetic Joe McCarthy comparison.
  5967.  
  5968.  
  5969. Loretta Ross, a community activist and Smith College professor who researches authoritarian movements, told NPR that Kirk's assassination was a tragedy that is now being used to clamp down on free speech.
  5970.  
  5971. She referenced the McCarthy period, when "people were punished, fired, blacklisted for having opinions that the government didn't like," and warned against an overreaction.
  5972.  
  5973.  
  5974. Did NPR cry McCarthyism over the many people condemned or fired for mildly criticizing Black Lives Matter online during the hysteria of 2020?
  5975.  
  5976. Also compare NPR’s current angst over the firing of vengeful leftists to its favorable May 2024 story about left-wing list-makers using TikTok to boycott celebrities for the crime of…saying nothing about Israel: “Here's how activists used the Met Gala to call out stars for Gaza silence.” National Public Radio’s “Culture Desk” reporter Chloe Veltman went all-in in support of anti-Israel cancel culture targeting the outlandish Met Gala in New York City.
  5977.  
  5978.  
  5979. A collective effort on TikTok and other social media platforms to push celebrities to speak publicly about the conflict in Gaza went into overdrive this week after The Met Gala.
  5980.  
  5981.  
  5982. Veltman’s indulgent description of the Gaza list maker clashes with the cool description of the “Expose Charlie's Murderers” site.
  5983.  
  5984.  
  5985.  "I made a Google Doc of every celebrity that attended the Met Gala, and now I'm going through and writing if they've been silent, or if they've been using their platform to speak up about the genocide in Gaza," said TikTok user silentcelebs8 in a video displaying a long list of celebrity names against a black background with the word "SILENT" in red next to some, including Zendaya, Nicki Minaj, Keith Urban and Andrew Scott. "Some of these celebrities have not been completely silent," the Tiktoker continued. "Zendaya did make a post back in October on her story supporting Palestine, but has been silent since. So I went ahead and put 'silent.'"…
  5986.  
  5987.  
  5988. After admitting doubts about how much impact such crusades have, Veltman gave the cancellers an A for effort.
  5989.  
  5990.  
  5991. And even if the many, much-viewed videos aimed at canceling celebrities don't help to bring about a change for the people of Gaza, there's at least an emotional reward for those doing the canceling.
  5992. </description>
  5993.  <pubDate>September 14th, 2025 2:04 PM</pubDate>
  5994.    <dc:creator>Clay Waters</dc:creator>
  5995.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291954</guid>
  5996.    </item>
  5997. <item>
  5998.  <title>MSNBC Returns to Form: Dems Spew 'White Supremacist' Crime Crackdown, ICE 'Terrorism'</title>
  5999.  <link>https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/brad-wilmouth/2025/09/14/msnbc-returns-form-dems-spew-white-supremacist-crime-crackdown</link>
  6000.  <description>On Friday afternoon's Deadline: White House, MSNBC was back to promoting incendiary rhetoric against Republicans as State Rep. Justin Pearson (D-Tenn.) appeared as a guest and claimed that President Donald Trump's push to use the National Guard to cut crime is motivated by "white supremacist ideology" and asserted that ICE agents are committing "terrorism" in blue cities.
  6001.  
  6002. MSNBC contributor and disgruntled ex-Republican Tim Miller played the "fascist" card as he warned about an "authoritarian takeover" by Trump.
  6003.  
  6004. When Wallace asked State Rep. Pearce his reaction to President Trump's plans to send the National Guard to his home city of Memphis, the Tennessee Democrat began:
  6005.  
  6006.  
  6007.  
  6008.  
  6009. Let's just call this what it is -- it is the overreach of the President of the United States into a major black city. This is a perpetuation of authoritarian actions that we have seen happening in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., threatened in Chicago. We are seeing the playing out of white supremacist ideology against black-led and majority black cities all across our country... It is devastating, it is harmful, it's anti-democratic, and it is un-American.
  6010.  
  6011.  
  6012. The MSNBC host followed up by reciting some of the high crime statistics of Memphis, leading Pearce to respond with the worn out liberal claims of crime being caused by poverty and access to guns.
  6013.  
  6014. Wallace went along with the Democrat premise that red states are to blame for guns being used for crimes in blue states as she turned to Miller and brought up the murder of Charlie Kirk in Utah and a school shooting that happened the same day in Colorado:
  6015.  
  6016.  
  6017. I think it was the mayor of Chicago who said in a live press conference there after Donald Trump had threatened to go into Chicago -- he said -- I think the quote was something like, "Chicago will have a crime problem as long as red states have a gun problem." That problem is in our faces as folks in the political arena and as folks in the news business almost every day obviously with the high-profile shooting this week of Charlie Kirk on the same day there was a school shooting. Back to school ushers in a tragic season of school shootings, and I wonder what your thoughts are about any opportunity in this moment to include a conversation about guns.
  6018.  
  6019.  
  6020. It was not mentioned that Colorado is a blue state or that the rifle used to kill Kirk is not a type that would have been covered by the "assault weapons" ban pushed by Democrats.
  6021.  
  6022. In one of his responses, Miller was dismissive of troops being used: "It is this authoritarian cosplay, right? It's just like they're putting on costumes, and they want to seem tough as part of this slow-rolling authoritarian takeover. Like, that's what this is all about. It is not about crime. And I think that's just important to say clearly. This is not about solving crime."
  6023.  
  6024. When Pearce got to speak again, he repeated his claim of the crackdown being motivated by white supremacy, calling it a "white supremacist game," and accused ICE agents of "terrorism." Here's Pearce:
  6025.  
  6026.  
  6027. We have to deal with the systemic root causes of the problems, and black communities should not be the place and the pawns for an authoritarian, wannabe dictator, white supremacist game. And that's what we're finding right now with Donald Trump and Bill Lee. ...They are all intentional in an effort to let us be lulled to sleep as our country moves from a democracy into an authoritarian dictatorship.
  6028.  
  6029. This man cares only about his power, keeping it at all cost, and running through any community and hurting all the people as he does it. In D.C., they brought the National Guard, but you know also who came? ICE. We're going to see this repeating over and over again -- the terrorism of our communities. And we have to stand united, and we have to fight back against it.
  6030.  
  6031.  
  6032. Transcript follows:
  6033.  
  6034.  
  6035. MSNBC's Deadline: White House
  6036.  
  6037. September 13, 2025
  6038.  
  6039. 5:05 p.m. Eastern
  6040.  
  6041. STATE REP. JUSTIN PEARSON (D-TN): Let's just call this what it is -- it is the overreach of the President of the United States into a major black city. This is a perpetuation of authoritarian actions that we have seen happening in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., threatened in Chicago. We are seeing the playing out of white supremacist ideology against black-led and majority black cities all across our country, and it is deeply worrisome. No one here is excited about it or happy about it. It is devastating, it is harmful, it's anti-democratic, and it is un-American. So we are organizing, we are meeting, we are determining what our next steps and our actions can be, but we have to be vehemently opposed to the overreach and the overarching actions of this administration into our communities -- especially black, African American communities that are overwhelmingly being targeted by Trump -- by Governor Bill Lee -- and we cannot stand for it.
  6042.  
  6043. So, I mean, I am grateful to all the organizers and leaders in our city who are standing up and speaking up and fighting back, but we also have to recognize that today he says that he's sending the National Guard because of crime. In 14 months, it's going to be to protect the midterm elections. In a few years, it's going to be about the presidential election. These overreaches in power should scare all of us because our democracy is at stake.
  6044.  
  6045. WALLACE: Representative Pearson, they deploy an issue that, since the beginning of politics is powerful, and it is the issue of crime. And this is just some of the reporting about the statistics. And I just want to ask you to contextualize this for us. This is from Axios. The latest numbers show Memphis had a violent crime rate of 2,501 per 100,000 residents last year -- nearly seven times the national average. An Axios analysis found that Memphis also has the country's fourth highest homicide rate of 40.6 per 100,000 residents -- six times the national average.
  6046.  
  6047. What is our message from Memphis about your ability to deal with this without the military?
  6048.  
  6049. STATE REP. PEARCE: Does their report mention poverty? Does it mention the lack of economic opportunity. Does the report mention that in our state Governor Bill Lee and the Republican supermajority have passed laws consistently that have weakened gun restrictions and regulations that have made our communities less safe? You can't have a conversation about crime or criminality without talking about poverty, the lack of economic opportunities, the lack of educational resources. And this administration and Governor Bill Lee and the Republican party in Tennessee have consistently prevented Memphis and Shelby County from getting resources to actually deal with the root causes of poverty. And, again, we are seeing the idea that black and crime are somehow commingled. That perpetuates a racist narrative that has been a part of the Trump administration but a part of the American political dialogue for much too long.
  6050.  
  6051. (...)
  6052.  
  6053. WALLACE: I think it was the mayor of Chicago who said in a live press conference there after Donald Trump had threatened to go into Chicago -- he said -- I think the quote was something like, "Chicago will have a crime problem as long as red states have a gun problem." That problem is in our faces as folks in the political arena and as folks in the news business almost every day obviously with the high-profile shooting this week of Charlie Kirk on the same day there was a school shooting. Back to school ushers in a tragic season of school shootings, and I wonder what your thoughts are about any opportunity in this moment to include a conversation about guns.
  6054.  
  6055. TIM MILLER, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think we have to include a conversation about guns. Whether or not it goes anywhere, I don't know, but, you know, this is a uniquely American crisis. It's a uniquely American problem.
  6056.  
  6057. (...)
  6058.  
  6059. It is this authoritarian cosplay, right? It's just like they're putting on costumes, and they want to seem tough as part of this slow-rolling authoritarian takeover. Like, that's what this is all about. It is not about crime. And I think that's just important to say clearly. This is not about solving crime.
  6060.  
  6061.  
  6062.  
  6063. (...)
  6064.  
  6065. If you want more cops in Memphis, fund more cops in Memphis and New Orleans. If you want to do an authoritarian takeover and you want to do fascist, you know, costuming, then send in the troops. And I think that we can see what their real priorities are.
  6066.  
  6067. WALLACE: Rep. Pearson, your reaction?
  6068.  
  6069. STATE REP. PEARSON: Yeah, I mean, look, we do not want to see our community being occupied by the military, and we don't want to see over-policing. And the solution to the problems that are being articulated is not to increase the number of police -- it is to increase the amount of resources to actually reduce poverty -- to actually educate our population, our children, and for the opportunities of the future, and it's to make sure that people have a living wage so that some of the crimes they commit literally for the need to survive do not happen.
  6070.  
  6071. (...)
  6072.  
  6073. We have to deal with the systemic root causes of the problems, and black communities should not be the place and the pawns for an authoritarian, wannabe dictator, white supremacist game. And that's what we're finding right now with Donald Trump and Bill Lee. And so our resistance has to be vocal, it has to be clear, it has to be coordinated, and it has to show people that we are serious about defending our democracy. These are not benign acts. They are all intentional in an effort to let us be lulled to sleep as our country moves from a democracy into an authoritarian dictatorship. This man cares only about his power, keeping it at all cost, and running through any community and hurting all the people as he does it.
  6074.  
  6075. In D.C., they brought the National Guard, but you know also who came? ICE. We're going to see this repeating over and over again -- the terrorism of our communities. And we have to stand united, and we have to fight back against it. But if we do not deal with root causes of poverty, we'll never solve the issues that ultimately lead to criminality. And if we do not deal with state houses that refuse to pass laws because the National Rifle Association, the Tennessee Firearms Association and all the other ones have a hold on Governor Bill Lee -- have a hold on all of these other elected officials like Cameron Sexton. If we do not deal with those root causes in our legislatures, we're going to see the proliferation and the perpetuation of gun violence in the ways that we have as well.
  6076. </description>
  6077.  <pubDate>September 14th, 2025 7:27 AM</pubDate>
  6078.    <dc:creator>Brad Wilmouth</dc:creator>
  6079.    <guid isPermaLink="false">291953</guid>
  6080.    </item>
  6081.  
  6082.  </channel>
  6083. </rss>
  6084.  

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